Below is an article published by the Irrawaddy

Five ethnic parties issued a joint statement on Wednesday urging Burma's new government, as well as NGOs and relief groups both inside and outside the country, to provide aid to war refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Kachin, Shan and Karen states and their respective borders.

The statement was issued by the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP), the Phalon Sawaw Democratic Party (PSDP), the Shan Nationalities Development Party (SNDP) and the Chin National Party (CNP).

The statement also called for a ceasefire between Burmese government forces and ethnic armed group, and voiced the group's support for the increase in pensions issued to retired services personnel.

“More than 10,000 innocent people are in trouble at the border,” said Salai Ceu Bik Thawng, the general-secretary of the CNP. “Without viewing the refugees from a political point of view, we urge that aid be provided to the refugees on humanitarian grounds.”

State-run newspapers and private media in Burma have to date failed to cover the current crisis facing thousands of ethnic minority people in northern and eastern Burma.

“The refugee situation is not being publicized at all,” said  Salai Ceu Bik Thawng. “So people don't know what is happening and don't make donations or apply pressure on relief groups to react.”

At the Sino-Burmese border, in the Maijayang and Magayang areas under the control of the Kachin independence Army, there are  17,521 refugees, most of whom are women and children, said La Rit who heads the Kachin refugee support group.

“Most of the children under the age of five suffer from diarrhea,” he said. “Among postnatal and pregnant women the most urgent requirement is medication and food.”

Asked by The Irrawaddy how he regarded the ethnic parties' call for action, La Rit said he welcomed the statement, but did not expect the government to allow aid through.

According to various news reports, Yunnanese authorities donated a supply of medicine last month, but refugees at the border claim it was never received.

According to the 2010 report by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, there are 128,750 war refugees in Shan State, and 113,500 in Karen State.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, Dr. Sai Kyaw Ohn, a Lower House MP representing the SNDP, said he believed that if Burma was able to support the war refugees, they would not be so inclined to seek resettlement in third countries. 

The five ethnic parties have also issued a statement calling for the formation of a peace commission to resolve the ongoing armed conflicts in ethnic areas in eastern and northern Burma.

However, a proposal to form a peace commission was outvoted earlier this year at the first session of parliament in the Lower House.