We were pleased to host the Chiang Mai launch of Exile Hub’s latest research publication, Fragmented Aid & Resistance along the India–Myanmar Border, on 16 September 2025 at Brick X @ NSP, Chiang Mai University’s Science and Technology Park.
The report draws on fieldwork in Mizoram and Delhi and offers critical insights into the challenges faced by Myanmar’s refugee and resistance communities as they navigate fragmented support systems, legal precarity, and ongoing repression in exile. The report can be accessed, here.
Community
Chiang Mai is a well-recognised hub for Burmese civil society and the community gathered at the event reflected this:
This gathering brought together a mix of over 55 participants — with a strong showing from NGO and civil society actors, academics, followed by media professionals, along with a few voices from government, industry, think tanks, and Web3. Most participants were rooted in Chiang Mai, joined by 19 nomads and several visitors and tourists.
Institutions represented included Exile Hub, Myanmar Women in Media (MWiM), Chin Human Rights Organization, Fortify Rights, Sisters 2 Sisters, Mosaic Myanmar, Nyan Corridor, Myanmar Internet Project, Phandeeyar, Narinjara News, Kachin News Group, Myanmar Action Group Denmark, COAR, RCSD (CMU), Faculty of Political Science at CMU, Lakher Social Welfare Foundation, New Energy Nexus, Shevolts, and others — alongside independent journalists, researchers, and students.
Program
Yucca Wai presented key findings from a study on Myanmar refugee and resistance support networks in India, with an overview of methodology, insights, and implications, followed by a panel discussion.
The panel explored how the politics of borders shape humanitarian access, protection, and organizing spaces — comparing the India–Myanmar and Thai–Myanmar borderlands. While Thailand’s border has long served as a base for civil society organizing, India’s northeast presents a more fragmented and constrained environment.
Key themes included:
• Cross-border solidarity, donor engagement, and grassroots support networks.
• Tensions between formal and informal systems of aid and refugee identity.
• Lessons from Myanmar’s borderlands for global humanitarian action in complex political contexts.
Thank you to all who joined us for this conversation and to the frontline researchers and analysts who shared their insights.
The panel took place at Brick X @ NSP in Science and Technology Park, Chiang Mai University on September 16 and co-hosted in partnership between Exile Hub & digi-cnx, and School of Public Policy, Chiang Mai University.
Speakers
Yucca Wai
Yucca Wai is the lead researcher of Fragmented Aid & Resistance along the India-Myanmar Border and Program Director at Exile Hub. Her work focuses on documenting the lived realities of Myanmar’s resistance networks and displaced communities in exile, with a focus on humanitarian response, civil society resilience, and evidence-based advocacy. She brings experience working at the intersections of activism, research, and grassroots organizing.
June Nilian Sang
June Nilian Sang is a conflict and political analyst on Myanmar, in particular the country’s north-west and India-Myanmar Border. He holds a Master of Social Science degree from Chiang Mai University, and built a background in academic research and local journalism. June has over ten years of experience in observing Myanmar’s peace and conflict. He worked with peace negotiators from Myanmar’s ethnic revolutionary organisation, delivering technical support to the office of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement signatory groups between 2019-2022. He continues to engage in facilitation work with the Chin stakeholders while delivering regular analysis on conflict and political issues in Myanmar’s north-western border region.
Hayso Thako
Hayso Thako is a post-doctoral researcher based at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. He has been working with the refugee community in Thai-Burmese border since 2015. He was former chair of Karen Peace Support Network and currently serves as technical assistant to Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) and member of Asia Pacific Network of Refugee (APNOR). His latest publication is Schooling, Identity and Nationhood: Karen Mother-Tongue-Based Education in the Thai-Burmese Border Region.
Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai
Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai is a lecturer at School of International Affairs, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University. She also currently serves as a Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia at the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD). She graduated with a PhD in Politics and International Studies from SOAS, University of London. Her research interests include the contemporary politics of Myanmar, human rights in International Relations, and the politics of international migration. Her ongoing research projects are related to border security at Myanmar-Thailand border after the 2021 coup and internationalization of Myanmar’s political crisis, especially migration from Myanmar.
Hosts
Exile Hub, a feminist, on-the-ground organization committed to providing holistic support to Myanmar human rights defenders (HRDs), enabling them to safely continue their work and amplify the voices shaping Myanmar’s human rights discourse. Exile Hub is committed to upholding independent media and free expression as fundamental pillars in building and defending the values of democracy and pluralism. Our existence is rooted in the belief that these HRDs are the backbone of a just society, especially in the face of adversity and persecution. https://www.exilehub.org/
