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Red Cross to return to Burma prisons after 7-year hiatus

The International Committee of the Red Cross will resume visits to detainees in Myanmar's prisons next week after a hiatus of seven years.
The Associated Press ·
A refugee woman from Burma holds her child after receiving some aid at a refugee camp along the Thai-Burma border. Red Cross officials have said they will resume visits to prisons in Burma, also known as Myanmar, seven years after a military junta. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

The International Committee of the Red Cross will resume visits to detainees in Burma's prisons next week after a hiatus of seven years. 

Peter Maurer, the head of the Geneva-based organization, announced the change Thursday after meeting President Thein Sein this week in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar.

Restrictions made by Myanmar's long-ruling junta have prevented Red Cross visits to the nation's prisons since December 2005. The junta ceded power to an elected government in 2011 that has made democratic reforms since then.

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