Health Workers Strike
Individual Documents
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"It has been nearly two years since Tracy last saw her parents. She left her family in Yangon, where she was in her final year at the University of Medicine (1), one day after celebrating her 23rd birthday in February 2021.
Now 24, Tracy is among many in Myanmar’s young generation who have traded comfortable urban lives and promising futures for a tough jungle existence with the anti-regime resistance.
The regime’s deadly crackdowns on peaceful protests after the February 2021 coup drove multitudes of young people like Tracy to seek refuge in areas controlled by ethnic armed groups who reject military rule.
Some are now fighting with the ethnic resistance forces, while others, like Tracy, are making essential contributions with what they have learned, providing medical care to comrades and locals.
Tracy now lives in Karenni State (Kayah State), which has been rocked by daily clashes between regime troops and ethnic armed forces since May last year.
Like many others across Myanmar, she took part in the 2021 anti-junta protests following the coup. As a secretary of her student union, she joined the nationwide strikes to protest military rule. However, she fled after regime troops raided her house and attempted to detain her on an incitement charge.
“I decided I would keep struggling against the regime for as long as the revolution existed. So I left Yangon,” Tracy told The Irrawaddy.
“I can’t stand by and just watch this injustice. I don’t want the future of our people to be lost. I will do whatever I can to resist this dictatorship,” she said.
Tracy arrived at Demoso township in Karenni State and began working as a medic for People’s Defense Force (PDF) members, residents and internally displaced people (IDPs). She also helps to distribute learning materials for students in remote areas of the township and provides health education in schools under the parallel civilian National Unity Government.
She arranges food supplies for IDP camps with support from Yangon Medical University 1 seniors and the public. Moreover, she and her colleagues have set up mobile medical services in their area.
A clinic in their area has now been upgraded to a hospital capable of conducting different types of surgery. Tracy said the hospital is operating with support from her university seniors, NGOs that do not want to be named, public volunteers and the NUG’s Health Ministry.
The hospital sees more than a dozen badly wounded patients after every clash between regime troops and resistance forces. At these times, Tracy and her colleagues perform surgery both day and night.
“Patients arrive in the operating theatre with missing legs, hands or with gaping belly wounds,” she said of injured resistance members.
She remembers one young comrade wheeled in with catastrophic stomach wounds after being hit by regime artillery. Tracy and other doctors operated on the youth despite knowing his chance of survival was low. He emerged from surgery alive after six hours of desperate battle, only to die 30 minutes later.
Tracy said she and her colleagues were almost broken by their grief when he died.
“I felt distraught over the struggle of the young resistance fighter. At the same time, I feel hatred, disgust and anger at the sit-khwe [junta military “dogs”] and the people who work for them” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Tracy admitted to sadness at being parted from her parents, who support her decision to join the resistance.
“When I get depressed, I just think about the sacrifice being made by resistance fighters. They give their lives and they never see their parents again,” she told The Irrawaddy.
It’s not just PDF combatants who depend on Tracy and her colleagues, but also civilians and IDPs in the area. Civilian residents get injured in frequent junta artillery attacks on their villages, which also destroy homes. Meanwhile IDPs in local camps often suffer poor health and emergencies through lack of humanitarian aid.
IDP camps have insufficient blankets, which leaves children prone to pneumonia in the cold weather, while lack of clean water means many residents suffer diarrhea. Meanwhile, older IDPs with chronic conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes often arrive at the hospital desperately ill due to medicine shortages.
“We take care of them day and night. If they recover from their life-threatening condition, we are very happy,” she said.
Like Tracy, Julia travels around an ethnic area providing health services to civilians and ethnic armed combatants, in Chin State.
The strength of CDM medics
Julia, 33, was a civil servant in the public health department in Mindat Township, Chin State, before the military took power. In late February 2021, she and her friends joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Health workers nationwide were the first professionals to go on strike in protest against military dictatorship. Medics from government hospitals across the country participated in daily anti-coup protests and rejected the regime by hanging CDM hospital banners.
Myanmar’s health system ground to a halt as 60,000 of the country’s 110,000 health workers joined the CDM.
Nearly 5,000 of the CDM health workers are now working among resistance groups under the shadow civilian National Unity Government (NUG), according to the CDM Medical Network, which compiles lists of health workers. They include 320 specialist doctors, 560 nurses, 1,554 basic health workers, and volunteers, according to the NUG.
Julia is among them, having served both in a resistance group’s base camp and also in remote areas of Mindat township. Previously, she had worked at the Ministry of Health for 10 years.
“I joined the CDM movement because I strongly oppose and condemn the coup,” Julia told The Irrawaddy.
She and her friends had opened a CDM clinic just before May 2021, when the clashes erupted in Mindat. She then moved to a remote area where Chin Defense Forces (Mindat) were fighting regime troops.
She and the other five health workers served on the front line for 14 days in May 2021.
“Our side suffered casualties because of a shortage of weapons. I used a lot of bandages on comrades who were badly wounded and bleeding profusely,” Julia recalled of the battles.
Having never experienced combat conditions before, she was scared at first. But she overcame the fear by focusing on treating CDF comrades injured in battle.
She recalls seeing a tarpaulin on the ground soaked so heavily with the blood of wounded combatants that health staff could not sit down.
“One comrade was killed by a shell that shattered his skull. Others suffered smashed jaws or bullet fragments lodged in their legs. I felt sorry for them, these youths who had to take up arms instead of pens,” she muttered.
Away from the front line, she provides health services at CDF base camps. She said many resistance fighters suffer from kidney stones because the water is not clean. Some also fall sick because of the bad weather and training.
She is always ready if needed on the front line. Meanwhile, she provides maternity and child health services, her field of expertise, in remote villages in the township.
She faces many difficulties because these remote rural villages do not have enough medical equipment.
“Before the coup, we offered full services as a department.
But since last year we have been doing this work on our own. Since the coup, we have encountered a lack of equipment and inadequate medicine,” she explained of the challenges in public health provision.
However, Julia and other CDM medics remain determined to provide health services for areas under their care.
Doe Myae Medical Team
The Doe Myae Medical Team was formed by CDM health staff three months ago to provide healthcare services in western Sagaing Region, an anti-regime stronghold. The team is working for both IDPs and resistance forces.
Ko Myat Thu, 36, is the CDM medic who founded Doe Myae Medical Team.
He worked as a public health official for more than 18 years before joining the CDM movement on February 3, 2021 – two days after the military takeover.
“Our driving force to join the CDM movement was the coup,” Ko Myat Thu told The Irrawaddy.
Like other CDM medics, he has traveled around villages providing basic health care to the populace since last year. He and his colleagues have extended those services to PDF members in the last three months.
Ko Myat Thu and two other medics have stationed themselves just behind the battle lines to give first aid to wounded comrades. Seriously wounded combatants are transferred to the hospital in resistance-controlled territory.
He has seen many young resistance fighters killed, or lose legs and hands in battle.
“There is more pain than pleasure here,” he said quietly.
His family worries for him, but he also worries for them – regime troops launch artillery attacks on villages in his region almost daily.
The junta’s air force also carries out frequent airstrikes in the region.
“If the planes come, we can’t do anything. We have to run,” Ko Myat Thu said.
CDM medics unbeaten and unbowed
Having set up public health coverage in their respective areas by themselves, the CDM medical staff are determined to keep doing their jobs despite shortages of medicines and other necessities.
“I will continue to fight with my comrades until the revolution ends. After the revolution, I will return to my department,” Ko Myat Thu told The Irrawaddy.
Julia strongly believes the struggle against military rule will succeed because the public and the resistance are fighting a righteous war.
“We will inevitably succeed, but it will take time. I won’t abandon my fallen comrades, I will fight against the military to the end,” she said.
The medics also asked the public to donate to their medical teams around the country, as they provide health services not just to PDF camps but also IDP camps and civilian areas.
Tracy urged people not to relax under military rule but to participate in any way they could to support the revolutionary forces.
“We are struggling to finish the revolution as quickly as possible. I want to ask you to be part of this struggle.”
Topics: civil disobedience movement, ethnic armed organizations, Healthcare, medics, People’s Defense Forces, people’s war, resistance.."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-11-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-11-21
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Individual Documents
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2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Human Rights Defenders
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"The human rights situation in Myanmar is becoming increasingly unstable. Hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced. Among those trying to help injured civilians, protesters and combatants from the People’s Defense Forces are medical professionals. They too have been targeted by the Myanmar junta who have used their weapons to destroy clinics and confiscate medicine. In the midst of a pandemic, these actions are increasingly volatile.
Doctors and nurses, who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) have been forced into hiding. Despite mass arrest warrants issued, many are still providing treatment and care in secret. Their will and spirit cannot be marred by the junta.
The war that the Myanmar military is waging in their cruel pursuit for power has destabilized the country beyond repair. The health care sector is one of many which has been obliterated. Health care services are now largely beyond reach of every day civilians who are struggling to survive on the bare minimum as conflict wreaks havoc across the country.
On World Health Day, the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma recognizes the many injustices perpetrated against health care workers by the soldiers of the Myanmar Army. We condemn these unlawful attacks and call for their immediate protection, as well as for those arrested and detained to be released and all charges dropped..."
Source/publisher:
Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of publication:
2022-04-07
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
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"မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအခြေအနေမှာ ပို၍ မတည်မငြိမ်ဖြစ်လျှက်ရှိသည်။ သိန်းနှင့်ချီသည့် ပြည်သူလူထု မှာ မဖြစ်မနေ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရသည်။ ဒဏ်ရာရ ပြည်သူများ၊ ဆန္ဒပြသူများနှင့် PDFs တပ်သားများအား ကြိုးစား ကုသပေးနေသူများမှာ ဆေးဘက်ဆိုင်ရာကျွမ်းကျင်သူများဖြစ်သည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် လက်နက်အားကိုးဖြင့် ဆေးရုံ၊ ဆေးခန်းများအား ဖျက်ဆီး၍ဆေးဝါးများ မတရားသိမ်းဆည်းနေသည့် မြန်မာစစ်အာဏာရှင်တပ် များ၏ ပစ်မှတ်ထားခြင်းခံနေရသည်။ကမ္ဘာ့ကပ်ရောဂါ ဖြစ်ပွားနေချိန်တွင် ထိုသို့လုပ်ဆောင်မှုကြောင့် ကျန်းမာရေးဆိုင်ရာ ပြဿနာများကို ပို၍ဖြစ်ပေါ်စေသည်။
CDM တွင် ပူးပေါင်းပါဝင်သည့် ဆရာဝန်နှင့် သူနာပြုများသည် တိမ်းရှောင်နေကြရသည်။ ဖမ်းဝရမ်းများ အထုတ်ခံထားကြရသော်လည်း ဆရာဝန်နှင့် သူနာပြုများက တိတ်တဆိတ် ကုသ၍ ကျန်းမာရေး စောင့်ရှောက်ပေးကြသည်။ ၎င်းတို့၏ စိတ်ဓာတ်နှင့် ဆန္ဒကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်များမှ ရိုက်ချိုး၍ မရပေ။ အာဏာကို ငန်းငန်းတက် လိုချင်၍ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ ရက်ရက်စက်စက် ဆင်နွှဲနေသည့် စစ်ပွဲသည် ထိန်းချုပ် ပြုပြင်၍ မရလောက်အောင် မတည်မငြိမ်ဖြစ်ပေါ်စေသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှု ကဏ္ဌသည် ဖျက်ဆီးခံရသည့် ကဏ္ဌများထဲမှ တခုဖြစ်သည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုသည် နိုင်ငံတဝှန်း ပဋိပက္ခများကြောင့် အကြီးအကျယ်ထိခိုက်ကသောင်းကနင်း ဖြစ်နေပြီး အနိမ့်ဆုံးအဆင့်ဝင်ငွေဖြင့် အသက်ရှင်သန်ရန် ရုန်းကန်နေရသည့် အရပ်သားပြည်သူများ လက်လှမ်းမမီနိုင်သည့် အခြေအနေတွင် ရှိနေသည်။
ကမ္ဘာ့ကျန်းမာရေးနေ့တွင် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ စစ်သားများက ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများအပေါ် မတရားမှုများကျူးလွန်နေသည်ကို မိမိတို့ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးမှတ်တမ်းကွန်ရက် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) (ND-Burma) မှ သိရှိနားလည်သဘောပေါက်ပါသည်။ ယခုလို မတရား တိုက်ခိုက်နေမှုများကို ပြစ်တင်ရှုံ့ချပြီး ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများအား အလျင်အမြန် အကာအကွယ်ပေးရန်နှင့် ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်း ခံထားရသူများအားလည်း အမှုများမှ ရုပ် သိမ်း၍ အမြန်ဆုံးလွှတ်ပေးရန် တောင်းဆိုပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of publication:
2022-04-07
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Health Workers Strike, Anti-coup protesters, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
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The junta has also revoked the licences of 14 medics and threatened to shut down private clinics that employ CDM doctors
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"Military officials in Mandalay have revoked the licences of medical professionals and threatened to shut down clinics that employ doctors taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the junta.
Major General Ko Ko Oo, who heads the military’s central regional command, called a meeting with the owners of private hospitals in the city on March 12 and said they would also have to submit lists of patients to the junta every day.
The junta also recently revoked the licences of 14 medical practitioners in the city, including teaching professors and specialists, who are taking part in CDM, according to Dr Soe Thura Zaw, who is one of the 14.
The demand for daily patient lists is believed to be an attempt to prevent hospitals from treating injured People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters, and a way of tipping the military off to their whereabouts if they seek medical care.
“They don’t want doctors and hospitals secretly treating PDF members,” said another Mandalay-based doctor, who asked not to be named.
Medics said that submitting patient lists would be illegal and would violate doctor-patient confidentiality and the patients’ right to privacy. It is unclear to what extent hospitals and clinics will comply with the order, or whether it will be enforced in other parts of Myanmar.
Dr Soe Thura Zaw said that under the Labor Law, doctors taking part in CDM can be fired from their jobs and have their medical licences revoked if they have been absent from their official places of work for more than three months.
“Everyone is facing all sorts of troubles under the military’s reign,” he said. “The only way to solve all those problems once and for all is to end the dictatorship for good.”
Medical professionals have been at the forefront of the movement to eliminate the military dictatorship since the immediate aftermath of last year’s coup, and were the first to refuse to work under the new junta.
About 80% of Mandalay’s medical personnel have joined the CDM, according to data compiled by members of the movement, with many opting to treat people privately rather than work under the junta-controlled health ministry.
Medics have suffered brutal reprisals for challenging the military. In August last year Dr Maung Maung Nyein Tun died in custody of Covid-19 after being beaten and denied medical treatment.
Dr Thiha Tin Tun was among over 100 people shot dead by security forces on March 27 last year.
In June, the former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Dr Htar Htar Lin, was arrested and charged with high treason after she sought to prevent the junta from accessing funds meant to fight the virus..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2022-03-18
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Health Workers Strike, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders
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"On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar armed forces seized control of the country, following a general election that the National League for Democracy party won by a landslide. Since then, hundreds of people have been killed and many injured during nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) protests and violent crackdowns on those opposing the coup. Doctors and nurses have been served with warrants and arrests for providing medical care to protesters, health workers have been injured while providing care to protesters, ambulances have been destroyed, and health facilities have been raided. Below are eight incidents identified between 09-22 February 2022.
23 February-08 March 2022: Eight documented incidents
23 February 2022: In Kayah state, State Administration Council (SAC) aircraft dropped bombs on a village, injuring civilians, including a medic. Source: Facebook
24 February 2022: In Dawkamee village, Kayah state, two doctors of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) were killed by SAC airstrikes that also destroyed six houses. Source: Radio Free Asia
27 February 2022: In Lo Bar Kho village, Demoso township, Kayah state, SAC aircraft dropped bombs near a clinic for displaced civilians. Source: The Irrawaddy
27 February 2022: In Ye-U township, Sagaing region, People’s Defence Force (PDF) fighters shelled a traditional medicine hospital occupied by SAC forces. Two SAC soldiers were reportedly killed in the attack. Source: Mizzima
27 February 2022: In Pakokku township and Region, a nurse and teacher affiliated with the CDM were arrested by SAC forces. Sources: AAPP and Twitter
03 March 2022: In Mindat township, Chin state, SAC forces continue to confiscate medication at checkpoints intended for displaced civilians. The blockade of medication into Mindat township has been documented since July 2021. Source: Ayeyarwaddy Times
04 March 2022: In Pyay township, Bago region, SAC forces arrested a nurse. Source: Twitter
05 March 2022: In Chaungma village, Kani township, Yinmabin district, Sagaing region, approximately 70 SAC forces set fire to the village, destroying a rural clinic as well as over twenty homes and farm equipment. Source: Khit Thit Media..."
Source/publisher:
Insecurity Insight via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-03-16
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders, Health Workers Strike
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"415 Attacks on Health Care in Myanmar During One Year of Crackdowns Following Military Coup: Report
Ahead of February 1 coup anniversary, new report spotlights Myanmar armed forces’ brutal violence against health workers and facilities
January 26, 2022
At least 415 attacks and threats against health workers and health infrastructure in Myanmar were perpetrated during the one year since the country’s coup and the ongoing crackdown, according to a new report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Insecurity Insight, and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR). February 1 marks the one-year anniversary of the Myanmar coup d’état and the military’s ensuing crackdown on civilians, which has been characterized by targeted violence against health workers and obstruction of health care services, in gross violation of international law.
“Our Health Workers Are Working in Fear”: After Myanmar’s Military Coup, One Year of Targeted Violence against Health Care,” based on open-source information, documents and analyzes trends in violence against health workers and facilities during the military crackdown since the coup, highlighting:
A total of 415 attacks on health care
286 health workers arrested or detained
128 health facilities attacked
30 health workers killed
“In the year since Myanmar’s coup, nurses and doctors have been in the military’s crosshairs. Armed forces have harmed and intimidated health care workers, raided COVID-19 clinics and blocked vital humanitarian aid, resulting in the decimation of the Myanmar health system amid a pandemic,” said Lindsey Green, program officer for PHR and a report co-author. “Without immediate action from the international community to pressure the Myanmar military to end the bloodshed, Myanmar’s besieged health workers and civilians will enter a second year of a health and human rights catastrophe.”
The data featured in the new report covers February 1, 2021 through January 10, 2022. Researchers from the CPHHR, Insecurity Insight, and PHR used an open-source methodology informed by the Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations. The incidents reported are neither a complete nor a representative list of all incidents. Data collection is ongoing and data may change as more information is made available. However, the research provides a snapshot of how Myanmar’s military is persecuting health workers and targeting facilities amid its broader crackdown on civilians in the past year. The underlying data set can be explored at Humanitarian Data Exchange on a global map on threats and violence against health care.
Attacks on health care have become a prominent feature of the country’s coup d’état. Today, Myanmar is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a health worker, with more reported attacks against health care in Myanmar in the past year than in any other country on Earth.
While the highest number of monthly incidents were documented amid nationwide protests in March 2021, there has been a gradual increase in reported attacks from September 2021 through early January 2022, amid escalating armed resistance across the country and crackdowns by the Myanmar military.
The new report also analyzes how forms of violence against health care have evolved alongside wider events happening in the country over the 12 months since the coup, including the nationwide protests, the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), the disastrous third wave of COVID-19, and the declaration of a people’s defensive war.
The report shows how, today, the people of Myanmar are facing gravely diminished access to routine and emergency health care services, with ongoing and egregious deliberate targeting of health care by the Myanmar military and other armed actors.
Mandalay Medical Cover, a volunteer medical organization, provided a statement alongside PHR to the UN Human Rights Council about the impacts of violence against health care:
“Our healthcare workers are working in fear. We are being oppressed, we are forcefully arrested – as are our family members if we cannot be found – and are being prevented from providing proper medical care, resulting in permanent damage to patients and the loss of many lives…. By effectively and forcibly preventing doctors from providing essential medical care to these people, many lives which could otherwise have been saved are unnecessarily lost.”
Attacks on health workers violate human rights and are grave breaches of international law. The researchers offer a series of detailed recommendations to the State Administration Council, Myanmar military (Tatmadaw), National Unity Government, ethnic armed organizations, People’s Defence Force, and the international community.
PHR is calling on the Myanmar military-led State Administration Council and Tatmadaw to immediately cease the targeting of health care workers with warrants and arrests for participating in the CDM and peaceful protests or for their provision of health care, as well as to immediately release people arbitrarily detained. All parties to the conflict must adhere to the provisions of international humanitarian and human rights law regarding respect for and the protection of health services and the wounded and sick, and regarding the ability of health workers to adhere to their ethical responsibilities of providing impartial care to all in need.
PHR is calling on international actors to provide COVID-19 vaccines, medical aid, and broader humanitarian support to the people of Myanmar through flexible mechanisms that recognize the evolving nature of conflict dynamics and difficulty in reaching all people in need. This should include support for cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid (along borders with China, India, and Thailand) to reach those in need who cannot be reached otherwise.
PHR is also calling on the United States Congress to pass the BURMA Act, which calls for the authorization of humanitarian assistance and targeted sanctions with respect to human rights abuses perpetrated by the Myanmar military. In addition to the February 2021 coup and ongoing crackdown against civilians, Myanmar security forces also perpetrated atrocities against the Rohingya people, which resulted the exodus of more than one million people from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
As the one-year anniversary of the coup is marked on February 1, the human rights and health crisis continues to grow in Myanmar, with escalating conflict, increasing numbers of internally displaced people and refugees, and the effective collapse of the public health care system.
“The impacts on the people of Myanmar of the military coup d’état and attacks on health care over this past year are incalculable and will continue to have implications for many years to come – especially as these attacks continue unabated,” the report states..."
Source/publisher:
Insecurity Insight, Johns Hopkins University and Physicians for Human Rights via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2022-01-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Health Workers Strike, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar
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A significant proportion of healthcare in Myanmar is now being delivered outside state hospitals, by doctors and nurses who oppose the military and are loyal to the National Unity Government challenging the junta's legitimacy, medical workers in the country told the BBC.
Description:
"Organised resistance to the 1 February coup in Myanmar started with healthcare workers announcing a boycott of state-run hospitals. They led the first street protests, calling it the "white coat revolution".
That put medics on a collision course with the junta, and has resulted in much of Myanmar's healthcare system going underground.
In many areas more than 70% of health workers are believed to have abandoned their jobs, their hospitals and their patients. It was a difficult ethical decision, one defended by senior doctors in a letter they sent to the medical journal The Lancet.
"Our duty as doctors is to prioritise care for our patients - but how can we do this under an unlawful, undemocratic, and oppressive military system?
"Fifty years of previous military rule failed to develop our health system and instead enshrined poverty, inequality, and inadequate medical care. We cannot return to this situation."
Grace, a teacher at the Yangon Nursing University, says they all "chose to join the CDM [civil disobedience movement]".
"Every evening at 8pm, we would bang on pots and sing the revolutionaries' songs in front of the school. We were enraged - how could they just arrest our leader after they had lost an election?"
Grace was one of thousands of medical personnel who not only left her job - losing her accommodation as a result - but also joined the protests to help the injured.
"We arranged ambulances in case someone was shot. Our biggest concern was how to move them to safe areas.
"For minor injuries we would take them to the ambulance and treat them there. For gunshot wounds, we had to find safe routes to the clinics we set up in temples and monastery compounds."
From these desperate, improvised beginnings they built a shadow health system, notionally under the authority of the National Unity Government (NUG) which was declared in April by ousted parliamentarians to challenge the junta's authority.
In reality though, the system is run by thousands of volunteers across the country, working in charity clinics or those private hospitals willing to risk having them, and using encrypted communication apps to avoid detection.
They are providing healthcare that is either no longer available in the thinly-staffed state hospitals, or not wanted by patients who oppose the coup.
Dr Zaw Wai Soe, an orthopaedic surgeon and a leading figure in the ousted government's fight against Covid-19, is the NUG's health minister.
After the coup he turned down an offer from the military to be their deputy health minister, and went into hiding. He has been charged by the military authorities with treason.
The NUG raises money from Burmese living overseas to support the volunteers, and has set up a Facebook page for patients to get online medical advice from doctors who are in hiding - so-called telemedicine.
"We don't have enough money," Zaw Wai Soe told me, speaking from an undisclosed location. "But we do have support from local people, and internationally from the diaspora. It isn't enough but we are trying as hard as we can to provide proper healthcare."
A dangerous job
But working underground, in defiance of the military, is dangerous.
The World Health Organisation noted that, by July, half of the 500 attacks on health workers it recorded around the world had occurred in Myanmar.
A similar project at Manchester University reported that in the same period 25 medical workers had been killed in Myanmar, 190 arrested, and 55 hospitals occupied by the military.
Luke was an ICU nurse in a private hospital in Mandalay. He says he left his job immediately after the coup, because the hospital's owner had close ties to the armed forces, and became a protest leader.
"They arrested me on 5 April and took me to Mandalay Palace (where the city's military command is based). They had promised not to harm us, but once we were in the palace they started beating and questioning us.
"Then they sent us to Obo prison. We were kept in one room, 50 of us. We all had to share a single toilet, and could wash only once a day. It was summer, the hottest time of year, and there was not enough drinking water."
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Luke was kept in prison for 87 days, before being released in an amnesty. These days he is working in a mobile operating theatre in Mandalay hidden inside a shipping container.
"The lighting is not very good. But we do what we can. In prison I saw some gunshot wounds that had not been treated properly in government hospitals. Some died from those wounds.
"Those hospitals do have better equipment, but not enough skilled specialists and nurses. They often don't accept patients in need of critical care. I think our medical care is better, because we have more specialists than them. Our main problem is that we cannot work openly."
Some nurses described to me working in hidden charity clinics in Yangon and Mandalay, which are disguised as Covid testing centres to avoid military raids. Most have moved home several times already fearing arrest.
When they leave to go to work, they wear ordinary clothes, not uniforms, and leave their mobile phones behind, in case they are detained. They must always take care to avoid traps set by the military - several medics have been arrested this way.
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"We have to be alert when we get called to a patient's house", says Nway Oo, a nurse who has gone back from Yangon to her home town in Shan State. "We check with our people in that area to confirm whether the patient is really sick. So, we always wait for a day to be sure the patient is genuine."
Another nurse I spoke to said she has not left her home in Yangon for five months, and lives in fear of the security forces doing house inspections in her street.
Coping with Covid
Relying heavily on telemedicine, the underground health system has also struggled to treat patients during a surge in Covid infections in July and August.
Myanmar had begun a promising vaccine programme before the coup, but that came to a halt after the military seized power. One of those they arrested was the doctor in charge of the vaccine rollout.
The junta has promised to speed up vaccination rates, but been held back by a lack of trained staff, a lack of vaccines, and a lack of public trust in the military-run health system. The NUG launched its own vaccine programme in July, but this has been largely limited to border areas under the control of sympathetic ethnic insurgent armies.
"It is heartbreaking," says Mi April, a nursing instructor who is helping her former students to treat patients in their hometowns through telemedicine.
"I used to work until 1 or 2am responding to all the messages I got from people with sick family members, saying my father will die, my mother will die, please respond.
"I was helpless because I could not give them oxygen or medicines. People were queuing at places supplying oxygen, but the military was blocking them from accessing it."
The Delta variant of Covid appears to have run unheeded through Myanmar in July and August. Real casualty numbers are hard to know. All the nurses and doctors we spoke to say seriously ill patients were turned away from government hospitals, and had to go home, either to recover, or die.
By September Covid numbers had fallen sharply, but Myanmar remains vulnerable to future outbreaks, with vaccination rates still far below neighbouring countries.
"During the worst Covid outbreak this year, we tried to obtain medicines, oxygen concentrators, cylinders, and other equipment. It is a very difficult situation, but we do have manpower, because I believe 70 to 80% of healthcare workers are working with us," Zaw Wai Soe told me.
'We lost our future'
I asked him why health workers in Myanmar were playing such a large role in opposition to the coup. He believes it is a moral response by a profession which was terribly neglected during the previous period of military rule, when Myanmar had one of the world's lowest levels of healthcare spending.
That only started to change under the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, with a huge recruitment drive to bring in new staff.
"If you compare with other countries, we don't get big salaries. Most of us could easily go and earn more working in other countries, like Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. But, especially after Covid arrived last year, we gave all of our efforts to the country. We all expected we would have a better future one day, with our elected government.
"Then suddenly this coup happened. That is why we could not accept this. We were working for the people, even with our poor salaries and living standards.
"We had hopes for the future, and suddenly we lost that future."..."
Source/publisher:
BBC News (London)
Date of publication:
2022-01-07
Date of entry/update:
2022-01-07
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"Myanmar’s military regime has charged the national immunization director and others 26 doctors with the Unlawful Association Act and incitement under the Penal Code for allegedly assisting the National Unity Government (NUG).
Dr. Htar Htar Lin, the national immunization director, was arrested on Thursday in Yangon. Her husband, seven-year-old son, friend and her daughter were also detained with her. Their whereabouts are unknown.
Two other doctors, Dr. Maung Maung Nyein Tun and Dr. Swe Zin Oo, are among 26 suspects charged with her who were arrested on Sunday in Mandalay, a source told The Irrawaddy.
On Saturday night, the junta-controlled media announced that Dr. Htar Htar Lin formed the civil disobedience movement’s (CDM) core group and assisted the NUG, which it has designated as a terrorist group.
The state-controlled media said she confessed to communicating with Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the NUG’s shadow health minister, through the applications Signal and Zoom. She helped write speeches and NUG health-care policy documents and helped prepare for Zoom meetings and plan to implement the NUG health-care programs, including estimating required drugs and costs, the state media stated.
It said she will be prosecuted under Article 17 of the Unlawful Association Act and Article 505(a) of the Penal Code for communicating with a “terrorist organization” and working with Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who is in hiding and acting health minister in the NUG. He also has two other ministerial portfolios.
It made the same accusation against 26 other doctors who it said had accepted NUG public health, state health administration and clinician team roles.
The state media broadcast their names and photos and called on the public to give evidence against them. It said anyone who hides the suspects would face prosecution.
Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act penalizes anyone who has joined an unlawful association or is taking part in its activities with up to three years in prison. Incitement under the Penal Code also carries three-year terms.
Several medics and Ministry of Health and Sports staff have been charged for participating in the CDM and for running secret clinics for wounded demonstrators.
At least 51 striking medics, including superintendents, academics, surgeons and other hospital staff, have been arrested with many still in detention and facing prosecution.
The regime also issued warrants for prominent CDM doctors, including Dr. Zaw Wai Soe and Dr. Htar Htar Lin. Thousands of medical staff are in hiding.
The CDM was launched by medics on Feb. 3 in protest against the junta and followed by other government workers nationwide..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-06-13
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement - standards and mechanisms, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"A doctor who provides treatment to protesters injured by the military describes the daily violence and trauma of post-coup Myanmar
Rebecca Ratcliffe
A medic in Myanmar, as told to Rebecca Ratcliffe
Fri 26 Mar 2021 11.40 EDT
A doctor who provides treatment to protesters wounded by the army and police has described a week in the turmoil of the post-coup Myanmar.
When the military coup happened, I joined a group of medics providing treatment to protesters. Every day is a risky day for us. I may be captured, I may be shot dead. We don’t have bullet-proof vests. We have only a waistcoat and a stethoscope. Our ambulance has been shot at twice before; we just had to get out and run.
If we weren’t providing medical cover, there would be nowhere for people to get proper care. Many doctors and nurses are refusing to work in the government hospitals, because they are protesting against the junta. The only other place for the wounded is the military hospital.
I am doing this for my country’s people, and because I want my children to have a bright future.....Saturday: Every morning I say a prayer. I write my blood group, my emergency contact number, my weight and other credentials on my forearm. I tell my wife: if I don’t come back, you must live yourself and take care of the children. My wife is also very active in resisting the military coup. She tells me: do what you have to do, and if you die, I will be proud of you.
Today there was a protest by students. The military tried to capture them, but they ran away and hid in the local people’s houses. Residents refused to hand them over, so the military started shooting at them.
We waited in hiding around the local houses, trying to get the students home safely. We managed to get about 50 students out. It took half a day. Some of them were very afraid to move. They were so young, only 17 or 18.
The students had just bruises, but residents were shot for protecting them. One of the victims, who I cared for, had been shot in the back, near the kidney area. We couldn’t go into his house because all the lanes were blocked off by the military. The other residents managed to carry him to us. They moved him slowly from one house to another house. Eventually he reached our ambulance. At this point, he was barely breathing. There was a lot of blood. We tried to resuscitate but we were not successful. Four people were killed in the area.....Sunday: My team heard from our network that there had been another shooting in a nearby downtown area. There was no protest at the time, but the military was shooting while patrolling the streets. Four people were injured, including a 13-year-old boy. A woman was shot dead. Her body was lying on the road, but we had to wait nearly two hours to treat her because the military was spraying bullets nearby. The fatal wound was on the back of her head.
There are some patients we see, lying down on the street, who we cannot reach. The military takes them. They may die, they may not be treated. I think the official death toll is an underestimate. I think I have almost got PTSD. I laugh sometimes, I cry sometimes, I feel depressed sometimes. Sometimes I cannot sleep well.
I had not treated gunshot wounds before the coup. I learned from watching YouTube and from reading my medical and surgical books.....Monday: Usually, we connect with our peer-to-peer network on apps, but now the junta has cut everyone’s mobile data. Three people were killed locally today. One of the victims, whose death I certified, was just 20. The military was taking down barricades that residents had put up to protect their neighbourhoods, and the people, who were afraid, were making new barricades further down the road. The military started shooting at them.
We treated the patients in nearby homes. There was a gunshot wound to the shoulder, buttocks, as well as rubber bullet wounds, and one patient had cuts to the thigh.
We stitched them up to control the bleeding, but without local anaesthesia. We don’t have lots of equipment with us, only our backpacks. We made an IV drip for them, and for the pain relief we gave only diclofenac (Voltaren). We need morphine sometimes but it is a controlled drug so we cannot get it easily.
We had to move locations three times as we treated the patients, because the military was coming. It’s like a war. The people living in the houses are very passionate towards us. As medical cover, we are the only help they can find.
If the patient’s condition is bad and there’s not much we can do, then they have to be moved to the surgeon, who performs operations in a safe place.....Tuesday: Today was quiet. Patients who were stitched yesterday were given wound dressings. We also went and gave money to the victims’ families. We give to wounded patients who have had to have limbs amputated as well. They are just poor people. Sometimes they have a wife and kids. In one case, a man who was killed had a wife who was three months pregnant.
At night time we could not sleep very well because the military was going around patrolling, shooting, and setting off stun grenades.
I no longer sleep at my home. I stay in a different place every night. I’ve done this for a month. I am afraid of being arrested in night raids. When the military comes, we turn the lights off in the house, and turn on the street lights, so that we can see what they are doing outside.....Wednesday: Mobile data is still down. We trained other volunteers who are not medics, teaching them how to check patients, how to do the tourniquet, how to stop the bleeding. I am afraid for tomorrow; often one or two days of quiet are followed by violence.....Thursday: The military came again tonight, patrolling the area where I am staying and yelling at us not to go outside. The people on my street were OK, but in another nearby area one man was shot dead. He was a resident who had volunteered to stay out on night patrol, to alert others in case the military approached.
My daughter is afraid of the loud bangs and cursing. She asks me: why don’t the police come [to stop the shootings]? She has seen, in the movies, how the police are the good guys who take the bad guys out. It is a very hard question for me to answer. How can I tell her that those who are shooting the people are police and soldiers?
Whenever I go outside, she asks me when I will come back. She tells me: daddy, don’t go out they will shoot you. It is traumatic for children. Due to Covid, the schools have already been closed for around one and a half years. My daughter asks me when she can go out on a trip, but it is too dangerous for children to go outside. Luckily we have wifi and so she can watch YouTube.
I logged out of my Facebook a few days ago, so that I can concentrate on my work. There is too much rumour, fake news, psychological warfare by the junta, and graphic imagery on social media. There are live videos of people being slaughtered or captured and beaten. It’s hard to cope with that stimulus all the time. Sometimes, if I can’t sleep at night, I take antidepressants.
After the revolution is successful, I want to apply to open a clinic specialising in trauma and stress. We need it a lot. We feel insecure all the time. We feel the danger and violence. We are fearful all the time..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-03-26
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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" A new outbreak of COVID-19 is growing near Myanmar’s northwestern border with India, bringing the sharpest increase in cases since the military coup in February led to a collapse in health services and the testing programme.
Official figures released late on Thursday showed 122 cases across the country for the second time in three days - a low number compared with many Asian neighbours, but the highest in nearly four months.
Many of the cases are from Chin State, bordering India, raising concerns that the more transmissible variant first found there is now spreading in Myanmar.
“Three people died yesterday alone. Many got scared,” Lang Khan Khai from the Zomi Care and Development aid group told Reuters from the town of Tonzang, just over 20 km (13 miles) from the border with India. “People rarely go out.”
Reuters was unable to reach the health ministry for comment.
Medics are concerned that few cases are being detected. The rate of confirmed infections to tests of over 8% on Thursday was the highest since late November, when the last wave of infections peaked.
Coronavirus testing collapsed after the coup as many health workers joined a civil disobedience movement to protest against the coup that ousted elected ruler Aung San Suu Kyi, whose government had brought two waves of infection under control.
Tests averaged just over 1,400 a day in the seven days to Thursday compared with well over 17,000 in the week before the coup..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-06-04
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, Health Workers Strike, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Officially, Myanmar says there are only a few dozen new COVID infections a day. Observers say that can't be true. There's hardly any testing going on. There are reports of a lack of staff in testing centers.
Hospitals have the same problem, with doctors and nurses joining strikes against the military, which seized power four months ago. There've been attacks on health-care workers. As schools reopen, teachers and students are also making a stand, defying the junta's calls for full classrooms, which would only help the virus spread.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Myanmar have been calling for an end to the military takeover.
The country is in turmoil. And the health-care system is one of the worst-affected sectors. Doctors and nurses were the first to go on strike, thousands refusing to work under a military regime. But that also poses a problem for COVID patients..."
Source/publisher:
"DW News" (Germany)
Date of publication:
2021-06-01
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar armed forces (known as the Tatmadaw) seized control of the country, following a general election that the National League for Democracy party won by a landslide.
The military have since declared a state of emergency to last for at least a year, and numerous countries have condemned the takeover and subsequent violent crackdown on protestors. Over the past three months, from February to May 2021, hundreds of people, including children, have been killed and many injured during the protests.
The military-run State Administrative Council has targeted doctors and other health workers for taking a leading role in the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Doctors and nurses have been served with warrants and arrests, health workers have been injured while providing care to protestors, ambulances have been destroyed, and health facilities have been raided.
This document is the result of collaboration between Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR) as part of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC). It highlights reported incidents of violence against health workers, facilities, and transport in Myanmar between 11 February and 11 May 2021. It does not include information on violence against patients.
The incidents referred to are based on the dataset 11 February - 11 May 2021 Violence Against Health Care in Myanmar Data, which is available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)..."
Source/publisher:
Insecurity Insight via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-05-26
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Health Workers Strike, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Public Health, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Leonard Rubenstein is a professor of practice at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and author of the forthcoming book “Perilous Medicine: The Struggle to Protect Health Care from the Violence of War.” Sandra Mon, a Myanmar national, is a senior epidemiology researcher at the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar triggered a wave of popular protest that has yet to abate. Since then, security forces have reportedly killed more than 800 demonstrators.
Yet even amid the slaughter, one particular cruelty of the junta stands out: its deliberate targeting of health-care workers.
On Feb. 27, the military launched its first violent attack against health care, dispersing peacefully protesting nurses and doctors with live rounds and smoke grenades. By early April it had committed more than 100 attacks on health-care transport, facilities, and personnel, killing at least 10. Soon thereafter, the military began charging medical staff with “attempts to deteriorate peace and stability of the State.” According to our research, the authorities have so far issued arrest warrants for more than 500 health-care workers.
The junta’s attacks on health care have a perverse logic. Mere days into the coup, Myanmar’s health professionals, still in the throes of the country’s covid-19 response, launched a nationwide strike to protest the coup, galvanizing the pro-democracy civil disobedience movement. For that, the authorities have designated them enemies of the state. In April, a junta spokesperson absurdly accused protesting medics of committing genocide.
Regime violence has extended beyond doctors and nurses who are pro-democracy activists. Since March, the military has occupied at least 36 hospitals across the country. Security forces have attacked and hijacked ambulances, directed private facilities not to treat wounded demonstrators, obstructed medics from reaching protest areas and looted medical equipment from organizations offering emergency care.
In one harrowing account, a doctor in Mandalay told one of us that on May 1, security forces raided a local clandestine clinic, then severely beat and detained rescue workers nearby.
The brutal assaults on health care in Myanmar have parallels elsewhere. The regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad has assaulted health care as a strategy of war. In Turkey, doctors have been harassed and punished for reporting the torture of prisoners. In many countries, new laws criminalize providing health care to alleged terrorists.
In Myanmar, the recent assaults continue a long-established military strategy of denying health care to communities that challenge the junta and punishing the doctors and nurses who seek to offer it.
Ten years ago, one of us conducted research on access to health care during a lengthy war waged by the regime against ethnic groups seeking autonomy. The military junta at the time deemed these communities to be enemies and forbade international humanitarian organizations from operating among them. Soldiers burned clinics, stole supplies and medicines, and arrested, kidnapped and murdered medical staff. One medic recalled, “Because we are health workers for our people, if [the soldiers] know this, they will kill us.” To offer basic services such as delivering babies and teaching malaria prevention, doctors had to travel furtively through the jungle to avoid encounters with security forces.
The military’s cruelty against people with medical needs and their caregivers, then as now, breached fundamental protections of health care under international law that date back to the 1860s. The rules are straightforward: Wounded and sick people and their caregivers may not be attacked or denied care based on their affiliations, and no health provider may be punished for providing it. Five years ago this month, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the alarming violence against health care in conflict and calling on governments to take concrete actions to stop it and hold perpetrators to account.
The violations in Myanmar are taking place in a country that, according to the World Bank, spends $60 a year per capita on health care, near the bottom of global rankings. The violence in recent months has interrupted essential services for HIV, tuberculosis, emergency obstetric care and chronic illnesses, in addition to protest-related injuries.
Myanmar’s covid-19 vaccination program, the third to be launched in Southeast Asia, has stalled thanks to widespread distrust of the military-commandeered health ministry. Coupled with a quickly diminishing health workforce and the rapid emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 strains in the region, a surge in cases in Myanmar could destabilize health security even beyond its borders.
The international community must act firmly to restore democratic governance in Myanmar. It must also end the military’s lack of accountability for crimes against health and humanity by prosecuting perpetrators. It should support aid to restore Myanmar civilians’ right to health care.
The civilian National Unity Government (NUG), standing in opposition to the junta, is poised to respond to people’s most critical needs in health and beyond. Toward that end, international health mechanisms, such as the World Health Organization’s Covax program, should partner with the NUG to address the country’s most urgent medical needs.
Those responsible for the assaults on health-care workers in Myanmar, as elsewhere, have long enjoyed impunity. This cannot be allowed to continue. The world must take a stand.
Source/publisher:
"The Washington Post" (USA)
Date of publication:
2021-05-20
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"The three of us recently conducted a virtual meet-up in order to discuss what is transpiring in our homeland of Myanmar. We are all Burmese healthcare professionals who reside in three different locations — Japan, Hong Kong, and Myanmar. In particular, we wanted to find ways to help our medical colleagues throughout Myanmar. We were informed that warrants had been issued for the arrest of many of our senior and junior colleagues in the healthcare profession — at least 300 so far, with more expected in the coming days. The health workers who spearheaded the Civil Disobedience Movement in response to the February coup have been systematically targeted by the military; some of our colleagues have been shot at, and others killed, while providing medical assistance to injured protestors and bystanders.
But working conditions for health workers in Myanmar were highly unsatisfactory even before the coup. Our international colleagues are typically shocked to learn Myanmar physicians are paid as little as US$200 per month on average in public hospitals. As the general strike now enters its third month, it’s not hard to imagine the duress many of our colleagues and their families are experiencing.
Myanmar’s public health system now faces a three-fold crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic; the military coup itself; and the ruthless crackdown on health workers by the military. The second wave of the pandemic has already had devastating consequences on the fragile health system in Myanmar, where health spending is one of the lowest in the world. Despite the odds and meagre resources, Myanmar doctors tried valiantly to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak and the country managed to control the pandemic relatively well. In the ASEAN region, Myanmar the third country to begin a national vaccination program (after Singapore and Indonesia). But all the hard-earned success was destroyed immediately after the coup and now healthcare workers are hiding for their safety.
What to make, then, of the role health workers are playing in the Civil Disobedience Movement? Around the world, doctors’ strikes are not uncommon. In Nigeria, for example, doctors are currently striking to protest poor working conditions and pay. Earlier this year, public health specialists from Ireland planned to strike against their lower pay scale compared to that of hospital consultants. In August last year, South Korean medical students went on strike over controversial national health policy reforms. A month before that, doctors in Sierra Leone decided to leave their workplaces due to the government’s failure to pay allowances and provide necessary protection in COVID-19 treatment centres.
Many of these strikes last only days — in extreme cases, months — because governments have to take the demands of doctors seriously. They would initiate a process of negotiation and try to reach some agreement before patients feel the effect of the strike. After all, medical professionals are generally regarded as an indispensable human resource for any country.
Not only are our colleagues in Myanmar facing the threat the military violence, they also confront a profound ethical dilemma. How can they reconcile their obligations to their patients and to those in need of medical assistance, with their opposition to the coup and their commitment to democracy? They are trying their best to continue to provide essential services to the public through the private sector or by means of make-shift community clinics. Many are providing complimentary health services to the poor, and are even risking their lives by tending to emergency cases of protesters wounded by brutal military countermeasures.
In our view, the behaviour of the striking health care workers in Myanmar is not only selfless in their care for those in need, but benevolent in their commitment to nonviolent civil disobedience after the model of Gandhi. How could they continue to lend their tacit support for an undemocratic, ruthless military regime by working under its auspices? We have therefore been surprised to read the posts or comments by the military-backed media in Myanmar, stating that many people have lost their lives because of the participation of medical professionals in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
Consider this: between 23 March and 21 May 2020, six people died from COVID-19; by comparison, 573 people were killed by Myanmar’s military junta between 1 February to 1 April 2021. Many doctors lost their lives on the streets during the emergency care and rescue missions, and many more have been imprisoned for treating protesters — to say nothing of those in hiding on account of warrants for their arrest. These CDM doctors and medical professionals are not being selfish; they are selfless and self-sacrificial for the sake of freedom and justice. We were delighted to receive the news that the Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar was nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize by a group of professors from the University of Oslo.
So, is it ethical for doctors to go on strike? We would argue that the ethical questions should be directed, not to the doctors, but to Myanmar’s military dictator, Min Aung Hlaing, who should respond to the doctors’ courage and their plea for justice by restoring power to the elected civilian government. Is it ethical to destroy these precious human resources in such callous way? The population of Myanmar has been traumatised by the February coup and its violent aftermath. Is it ethical for a politician to cause such severe political and social unrest in the middle of a pandemic? These are the pressing ethical questions. And the nonviolent, courageous, sacrificial behaviour of our colleagues in Myanmar ensures that these questions aren’t forgotten or swept under the carpet. When the dictatorship becomes a fact, then nonviolent revolution is a right.
Phyu Phyu Thin Zaw is a Lecturer at the School of Public Health in the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong.
Su Myat Han is a postgraduate researcher in Tropical Medicine and Global Health at Nagasaki University, Japan, and in the Institute of Tropical Medicine, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
Thein Min Swe, like Phyu Phyu Thin Zaw and Su Myat Han, is a health care professional. All three are members of International Society of Myanmar Scholars and Professionals (ISMSP-MM) —an association around the world working together for justice in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia)
Date of publication:
2021-05-07
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Health, Safety and Security
Topic:
Health, Safety and Security
Description:
"The United Nations in Myanmar warns of the impact on public health, including the COVID-19 response, from attacks on medical personnel and facilities, and reiterates its call for health workers, health facilities and patients to be protected.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) global surveillance system, since the beginning of February there have been 158 reported attacks on health care, resulting in 11 deaths and 51 injuries. This is currently the majority of reported attacks on health care services worldwide since the beginning of 2021. Some 83 attacks impacted facilities, 21 attacks impacted ambulances, 76 attacks impacted health personnel, and 73 attacks impacted patients.
The global tracking system cumulatively lists 51 health facilities across Myanmar as having been under occupation by security forces. At least 31 of these facilities remain currently occupied and have reported a drop in the number of people seeking medical care. Meanwhile, at least 139 doctors believed to be participating in civil disobedience have reportedly been charged under Section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code. These include highly specialized health personnel whose expertise cannot easily be replaced, which will significantly impact both the quality and quantity of health services available.
Attacks on health care pose a grave risk for the delivery of essential health services, as well as for the COVID-19 response, with potential devastating consequences for Myanmar and beyond. At a time when Myanmar needs them the most, health workers fear arrest or detention for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“The United Nations in Myanmar stands ready to continue its support of the national COVID-19 response but this requires a return to the comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic previously underway, that the inviolable nature of health facilities and health workers and patients is respected, and the immediate release of urgently needed medical and technical personnel detained or arrested while exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Andrew Kirkwood, acting interim United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar, said.
The United Nations Country Team in Myanmar consists of FAO, ILO, IOM, ITC, OHCHR, OCHA, UNAIDS, UNCDF,
UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN HABITAT, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNODC, UNOPS, UNV, UN WOMEN, WFP, and WHO..."
Source/publisher:
UN Country Team in Myanmar via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, World Health Organisation (WHO), Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
There have been at least 158 reported attacks on medical personnel and facilities in Myanmar, with more than 139 doctors arrested and charged since the military coup in February, endangering not only vital health services but also the COVID-19 response, the UN Country Team (UNCT) there said on Wednesday.
Description:
"“At a time when Myanmar needs them the most, health workers fear arrest or detention for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”, the Country Team said in a news release, reiterating its call for health workers, health facilities and patients to be protected.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s global surveillance system, the 158 reported attacks resulted in at least 11 deaths and 51 injuries.
It also listed some 51 health facilities across Myanmar as having been under occupation by security forces, and that at least 31 of those facilities remain currently occupied. The occupied facilities also reported a drop in the number of people seeking medical care.
In addition, at least 139 doctors participating in the civil disobedience movement have reportedly been charged under Section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code.
Those detained include highly specialized health personnel whose expertise cannot easily be replaced, which will significantly impact both the quality and quantity of health services available, according to the UNCT.
'Inviolable nature’
Andrew Kirkwood, UN Resident Coordinator a.i. in Myanmar, said the UN system in the country stands ready to continue its support for the national COVID-19 response.
“But this requires a return to the comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic previously underway, that the inviolable nature of health facilities and health workers and patients is respected, and the immediate release of urgently needed medical and technical personnel detained or arrested while exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”, he added.
Crisis into its fourth month
Into its fourth month, the political turmoil – marked by near daily pro-democracy protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces – has reportedly claimed at least 750 lives and wounded countless more.
There are also serious concerns over the continuing impact of the crisis.
Last week, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) warned of skyrocketing poverty and economic collapse, while the UN human rights chief, in April, cautioned that Myanmar risks spiralling into a “full-blown conflict”, urging States with influence to take immediate and impactful action to halt the bloodshed.....Urging protections for healthcare globally: Launched in 2012, WHO’s Attacks on Health Care initiative collects evidence globally to advocate for safeguarding health care from attacks, which it defines as “any verbal or physical act of violence, obstruction or threat that interferes with the availability, access and delivery of such services”.
The data on “attacks on health care” in various settings, including humanitarian emergencies, is collected by the agency’s global surveillance system, available online.
This initiative does not aim at identifying perpetrators of such incidents, WHO said..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, Health Workers Strike, Anti-coup campaigns, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
A frontline medic describes the dangers of trying to save lives at a time when the regime regards many health workers as criminals for serving at protests and participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Description:
"On the evening of April 9, reports began emerging that security forces had killed scores of people in Bago, after they unleashed heavy weapons and grenades to disperse protesters manning barricades.
Before launching the operation in the city about 80 kilometres northeast of Yangon, the armed forces had blocked roads in Bago. This prevented ambulances from collecting the wounded, many of whom were eventually dumped in a monastery compound.
At least 80 people were killed in Bago that day, but a final death toll will probably never be known. Something else we’ll likely never know is how many of the wounded died because they did not receive treatment.
I arrived in Bago three days later to help treat the wounded. It was a difficult task –many of them were in hiding, for fear they would be arrested if they sought treatment. Witnesses also said volunteer medical workers had been detained by the security forces, following a pattern reported elsewhere in the country.
As a frontline medical volunteer, I’ve regularly witnessed the brutality of the junta’s dispersal tactics.
The first time was during a protest near Thanlyin Technological University in southeastern Yangon Region on March 9. Troops had occupied the campus, and students were protesting peacefully to demand that they leave. The soldiers suddenly opened fire with live rounds, leaving several people injured.
We began treating some of the injured in a safe house not far from the site of the protest, but we had to quickly evacuate the patients when soldiers arrived nearby. Thankfully, we managed to get them to another safe house and continue treating them.
Compounding the suffering
Not every injured protester manages to escape. Some are seized by the police and army and denied first aid, often dying as a result of loss of blood.
Even when the injured manage to evade security forces, they are far from safe. As the Bago example illustrates, accessing healthcare and medical assistance is itself a dangerous challenge for protesters, and for the medical volunteers who come to their assistance.
The best-case scenario for an injured protester is to be quickly evacuated from the scene by frontline medical volunteers and treated. But there is always a risk that the armed forces will stop the ambulance in which they travel or raid the clinic they are taken to. As a result, they are often forced to wait hours for proper treatment, or denied it altogether.
Because the regime has made state hospitals unsafe places for injured protesters, medical volunteers refer them to private hospitals or clinics run by charities. The military is notified about all admissions to government hospitals and patients can be arrested before they are discharged. Patients wanted by the authorities are also often shackled to their beds.
My team encountered one man who had suffered facial injuries after being hit with shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. The man had been hiding at home for three days without seeking treatment because he feared arrest if spotted by soldiers. We were eventually able to take him to a safe private medical facility for treatment. He is recovering, but has suffered damage to one of his eyes.
The World Health Organization has said that from February 1 to April 30, there were at least 158 attacks on healthcare facilities, vehicles, staff and supplies, as well as patients in Myanmar, resulting in 11 deaths and 51 injuries.
Because of these incidents, volunteer teams are often forced to park ambulances some distance from protest sites to avoid attracting the attention of soldiers and police.
Equally disturbing are raids on medical treatment centres and charity rescue service offices. Raids were conducted on the intensive care unit at Yangon’s privately run Grand Hantha International Hospital on March 14, on a clinic in Mandalay on March 27 that resulted in the arrest of 26 people, including doctors and volunteers, and on a clinic at Kalay on April 7, as well as on a medical facility in Yangon’s Sanchaung Township on April 5, during which nine people were detained, including doctors and volunteers.
Medics need protection
It is a distressing time to be a medical professional in Myanmar.
Last year, we were honoured as national heroes for our role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. But since the February 1 coup, the military has turned on government health workers due to their role in instigating the Civil Disobedience Movement. The regime now regards us as criminals rather than heroes – all doctors who are providing care to anti-coup protesters are at risk of arrest for incitement under section 505A of the Penal Code, for which the maximum penalty is three years’ imprisonment.
Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun has even accused government doctors who’ve left state hospitals to join the CDM of committing murder. In reality, CDM doctors are helping the public in many ways, including by providing free treatment at private hospitals and charity clinics, making home visits, and providing telephone counselling.
Doctors and other healthcare professionals at state hospitals are accustomed to high workloads and low pay, but prior to February 1 they had not gone on strike to demand better working conditions. By refusing government work in solidarity with the people of Myanmar, they have sacrificed their lives, positions and prospects of a bright future.
In a cruel move, the military council said on April 20 that doctors supporting the CDM would be blacklisted and their passports cancelled. Even private and charity-run clinics have been ordered not to accept the services of CDM doctors or admit wounded protesters for treatment. Clinic owners that violate the order risk being jailed.
The cumulative effect of all this has been to deny timely and effective care to those who need it.
These are dark days for medical workers and their patients. The international community must condemn the reprehensible actions of the military regime, including its targeting of medical workers and its efforts to deny life-saving treatment to injured protesters..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"At least 109 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities, and transports have reportedly been perpetrated in Myanmar from February 11 to April 12, 2021, according to an analysis based on open-source reports conducted by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR).
The attacks are uniformly reported to have been committed by the country’s armed forces and police amid ongoing protests against the military coup. In addition to the military’s attacks on civilians and demonstrators, health workers have been targeted for providing medical care to injured civilians and other health workers have been attacked for their participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which is protesting the military takeover.
Within the 109 total incidents that took place across Myanmar between February 11 and April 12, Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR highlight reports of:
97 health workers arrested
32 health workers injured
10 health workers killed
Hospitals raided at least 49 times
Hospitals occupied at least 36 times
The incidents referred to are based on the dataset 11 February – 12 April 2021 Violence Against Health Care in Myanmar Data, which is available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX).
For the purposes of this research brief, one incident can comprise multiple types of violence or threats such as those above. For example, in one reported incident in Kyauk Kone township in Yangon city on February 27, 20 health workers were arrested and four were injured.
In another reported incident on April 5 in Saunchaung township in Yangon, four medical staff were arrested when a charity clinic was raided by soldiers and police. In one reported incident on March 9 in Heho town, Shan state, soldiers occupied the Heho General Hospital. Local residents protested the occupation, resulting in the arrest of 36 people. The detained individuals were sent to Taunggyi Prison.
“The Myanmar military’s persecution of health workers is taking many horrifying forms: ambulances shot at, clinics taken over by armed forces, medics killed,” said Jennifer Leigh, an epidemiologist serving as PHR’s Myanmar researcher. “By attacking the health system, the junta is terrorizing the population and cutting off access to life-saving care in the middle of a pandemic.These are gross violations of human rights, and threats against long-standing international principles of protection of health care, including the obligations of health professionals to care for the sick and wounded without interference.”
“Attacks on health care are a global phenomenon, experienced in many conflict settings but also fueled by the pandemic,” said Christina Wille, managing director of Insecurity Insight. “Tragically, Myanmar has emerged as a major hotspot for violence against health care, as the military brazenly assaults health workers and attempts to control the country’s health infrastructure.”
The research brief highlights reported incidents of violence against health workers, facilities, and transport in Myanmar between February 11 and April 12, 2021. It does not include information on violence against patients.
Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR used an open-source methodology to compile incidents noted in local, national, and international news outlets, online databases, and social media reports. The incidents reported are neither a complete nor a representative list of all incidents. Most incidents have not undergone verification by Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR. Data collection is ongoing and data may change as more information is made available. However, the data offers a snapshot of how Myanmar’s military is persecuting health workers and targeting facilities amid its broader crackdown on dissent.
The research brief makes several recommendations to United Nations (UN) Member States, urging the international community to ensure the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, adopted May 2016, which strongly condemns attacks on medical personnel in conflict situations.
Earlier this month, PHR and 20 other organizations sent an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the Biden administration to take immediate additional actions to address the public health and human rights crisis in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Physicians for Human Rights (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-04-12
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Public Health
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Description:
"Myanmar's front-line medical workers are finding themselves in a precarious position, torn between their patients and working for a military government enforcing a brutal crackdown on the country.
Moe* is 53 years old and has stage three breast cancer.
She used to go for radiotherapy treatment every three weeks at the state-run Mandalay General Hospital in northern Myanmar.
But the day after the military deposed Myanmar's elected government in a coup on 1 February, the hospital closed its doors. Doctors, nurses and other medical workers all walked out in protest and have not returned.
Now Moe cannot afford the roughly $700 (£502) she would need to complete her remaining cycles of treatment at a private hospital.
Without it, she believes she has around a year to live.
Nevertheless, she does not blame the doctors: "It's the fault of the military," she told the BBC.
"Even if I die with cancer, I can accept it. The rest of the people in Myanmar deserve democracy.".....'Near collapse': Myanmar's healthcare system has been one of the worst-affected sectors in the aftermath of a coup on 1 February which saw the military seize control of the country, sparking widespread protests.
Thousands of doctors have joined the country's civil disobedience movement which has seen public employees and other state officials refusing to work under the new military regime.
Myanmar coup: What is happening and why?
The TikTok loving teen and others killed in Myanmar
Myanmar's public healthcare system accounts for around 80% of all hospitals and clinics and provides heavily subsidised care to the country's 54 million people.
This virtually vanished overnight - and in the midst of a global pandemic.
"It's a grim situation," says Dr Mitchell Sangma, who is on the ground for humanitarian organisation Medicins San Frontiers (MSF) in Myanmar's main city Yangon. "The public health system is near collapse."
But doctors feel they have little choice.
"For as long as the military junta stays in power I will not return to work," says Kyi Kyi* a doctor in Mandalay who has been on strike for nearly three months.
"I do not want to recognise their authority in any way."
For the first few weeks after the coup, Kyi Kyi offered free consultations at private sector hospitals.
But she quickly realised this was too dangerous: "We started seeing soldiers stationed around the hospitals, waiting for us to arrive."..."
Source/publisher:
BBC News (London)
Date of publication:
2021-04-26
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Public Health, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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pdf
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371.7 KB
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Topic:
Health, Protection and Human Rights, Safety and Security
Topic:
Health, Protection and Human Rights, Safety and Security
Description:
"Protests continue despite a death toll of over 700. Resumption of widespread ethnic separatist violence sees thousands held at Thai border. Increased tensions with China and India.
This document provides an analysis of the current situation in Myanmar and the implications for aid agencies working in the area. Watch the Vigil InSight video.
SUMMARY
International focus remains on the continued protests against the military coup, which are becoming increasingly violent.
A significant increase in violence has been seen, linked to the country’s various ethnic separatist insurgencies, particularly along the Thai and Chinese borders.
This has led to rising numbers of displaced persons and pushbacks of them by Thai authorities though India is now letting them through.
Chinese troops have been deployed to the border, likely to secure gas supplies..."
Source/publisher:
Insecurity Insight via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Health Workers Strike, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"This evening I got information that the apartment in Mandalay in which I used to live has been raided twice by a group of soldiers, policemen, and plainclothes agents. Some sources said that it was already third time. They've known the exact address of this apartment for a while.
They broke down the locked door and destroyed the whole apartment. Before destroying it, they took everything they could in small bags like termite ants. There was nothing of value there. I regret only books being destroyed. It took me time to stock them and some have been beautiful. Luckily, few favorite ones are on other place. Hopefully they will survive, for better days.
I do not understand why they destroyed books and other small things in the apartment. Most of the stuff in the apartment is not my property. Actually, all I own is books. My sister's guitar is among things they stole from the apartment. How is the guitar related to the revolution against the dictatorship I'm doing? Hard to grasp.
Actually, what we called "army" is a thief and a robber gang. How sad it would be for the General Aung San, the founder of the Tatmadaw army, if only he would found out that his child has become robber gang. General Aung San requested from the army to be the “Mother and Father of the People”.
Would he now reverse that motto? This Burmese (Bama) army is the killer of the people. Actually, Tatmadaw has been been a big gang of thieves and robbers for years. Over 70 years similar crimes have been committed on regular basis in other non-Bama ethnic regions where Tatmadaw’s war against civilians never stopped.
We the Bama, majority ethnic people have a clear view of the inner workings of this murderous and robbery army during the current 2021 Spring Revolution. We are experiencing it first-hand and in front of our own eyes. It is now becoming obvious to everybody in the country who is the common enemy. Who is the main obstacle to the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous federal democracy. It is in a plain sight that the only obstacle for the peace and prosperity in our country is a terrorist military regime. Clarity of this fact is the biggest gain in our current revolution.....ဒီနေ့ ညနေနဲ့ ညဦးပိုင်းမှာ မန်းလေးက ကျနော် နေခဲ့ဖူးတဲ့ တိုက်ခန်းလေးကို အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ လက်ပါးစေ စစ်သား၊ ရဲ၊ အရပ်ဝတ်အစုံ အင်အားအလုံးအရင်းနဲ့ နှစ်ကြိမ် လာသွားတယ်လို့ ကြားသိရပါတယ်။ အချို့သတင်းတွေကလည်း သုံးကြိမ်လို့ ဆိုပါတယ်။ ဒီတိုက်ခန်းလေး လိပ်စာအတိအကျကို သူတို့သိထားတာ ကြာပါပြီ။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလလယ်လောက်ကတည်းက မန်းလေးမြို့လူထုက စရဖလို့ ယူဆရသူတစ်ယောက်ကို ကျနော့်အိမ်လိပ်စာပါတဲ့ စာရွက်ကလေးနဲ့အတူ လက်ပူးလက်ကြပ် မိထားဖူးပါတယ်။ ဒါ့ကြောင့် အဲ့ဒီမှာ ဘယ်သူမျှ မနေတော့တာလည်း ကြာလှပါပြီ။ ကျနော့်အတွက် အရေးကြီးပစ္စည်းလည်း အဲ့ဒီမှာ ဘာမျှ မထား၊ မရှိပါဘူး။
သူတို့က သော့ခတ်ထားတဲ့ တိုက်ခန်းတံခါးကို ဖျက်ဖွင့်ပြီး တစ်အိမ်လုံး မွေနှောက်ဖျက်ဆီးသွားကြပြီး တွေ့သမျှ တန်ဖိုးရှိ၊ မရှိ၊ ဘာသောညာသောမရွေး အကုန်လုံးကို အိတ်ကြီးအိတ်ငယ် အသွယ်သွယ်နဲ့ အဓမ္မ ယူဆောင်သွားကြလေသတည်း။
ပစ္စည်းသင်္ခါရ လူသင်္ခါရသဘောပေမို့ ကျန်တာတွေတော့ သိပ်မနှမြောပါဘူး၊ စာအုပ်တွေတော့ နှမြောလှတယ်ဗျာ။ ကို့ယ်အကြိုက် လက်ရွေးစင်လေးတွေချည်း အိမ်မှာ စုသိမ်းထားတာမို့ပါ။)
သူရို့က ကျနော့်ကို ရဲစခန်းပေါင်းများစွာမှာ စွဲဆိုထားတဲ့ ပုဒ်ထီးပုဒ်မတွေရှိတယ်လို့တော့ ကြားသိပါရဲ့။ ဒါပေသိ၊ ဒီစာအုပ်တွေ၊ အခြားပစ္စည်းတွေကို အဓမ္မလုယူသိမ်းဆည်းရတဲ့ အကြောင်းရင်းကို ကျနော့်တော့ ဉာဏ်မမှီ၊ စဉ်းစားလို့ မရပါ။ အဲ့တိုက်ခန်းမှာ ရှိတဲ့ပစ္စည်းတွေကလည်း အကုန်လုံးက ကျနော့်ဥစ္စာပစ္စည်း မဟုတ်။ ကျနော် ပိုင်ဆိုင်တာက စာအုပ်တွေပဲ ရှိတာ။ သူရို့ အိမ်က သိမ်းယူသွားတဲ့ ပစ္စည်းတွေထဲမှာ ကျနော့်နှမတစ်ဦးရဲ့ ဂစ်တာလေးဝောာင် ပါသွားသေးပါသတဲ့။ ကျနော်လုပ်နေတဲ့ အာဏာရှင်တော်လှန်ရေးနဲ့ ဒီဂစ်တာလေးနဲ့က ဘယ်လိုများ ပတ်သတ်တာပါလိမ့်၊ ဆန်းကြယ်လှပါဘိတောင်း။
အိမ်း၊ “တပ်မတော်” လည်း သူခိုး၊ ဓားပြဂိုဏ်းအကြီးစားကြီး လုံးလုံး ဖြစ်နေပါပေါ့လား။ တပ်မတော်ကို စတင်တည်ထောင်ခဲ့သူ ဗိုလ်တေဇ (ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်း) သာ ဒီအကြောင်းတွေ သိမယ်ဆို ဘယ်လောက် စိတ်မကောင်း၊ ဝမ်းနည်းဖြစ်နေမယ်မသိဘူး။ သူ့ပြည်သူတွေအတွက် သူရင်နာလို့ ဆုံးရှာမှာ မဟုတ်ဘူး။ တပ်မတော်အတွက် ဗိုလ်တေဇာမှာခဲ့တဲ့ စကားက “ပြည်သူသာ အမိ၊ ပြည်သူသာ အဖ” တဲ့။ အခုတော့ သူရို့က ဒီဆောင်ပုဒ်ကို ပြောင်းပြန်လုပ်ထားပါပေါ့လား။
တကယ်တော့ ဒီ ဗမာ (မြန်မာ) စစ်တပ်ဟာ သူသတ်၊ သူခိုး၊ ဓားပြအုပ်စုအကြီးစားကြီး ဖြစ်နေတာ နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ ကြာခဲ့ပါပြီ။ အထူးသဖြင့် ဗမာမဟုတ်တဲ့ ကျန်တိုင်းရင်းသား လူမျိုးတွေဒေသတွေ၊ ပြည်တွင်းစစ်ဖြစ်ပွားရာဒေသတွေမှာ ဒီလိုမျိုး ရာဇဝတ်မှုပေါင်းများစွာကို နေ့စဉ်နဲ့အမျှ၊ အချိန်နဲ့အမျှ ကျူးလွန်လာတာ နှစ်ပေါင်း (၇၀) ကျော် ကြာခဲ့ပါပြီ။
“ကျောချမှ ဓားပြမှန်း သိ” ဆိုသလို ကျနော်တို့ ဗမာတိုင်းရင်းသားတွေကတော့ ဒီစစ်တပ်ရဲ့ အတွင်းသရုပ်မှန်ကို အခု ၂၀၂၁ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးကြီးမှာ ကွက်ကွက်ကွင်းကွင်း၊ ရှင်းရှင်းလင်းလင်း၊ မျက်မြင်ကိုယ်တွေ့ သိရှိခံစားလိုက်ကြရတာပါပဲ။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းပြီး သာယာဝပြောတဲ့ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီနိုင်ငံတော်တစ်ရပ်ကို တည်ထောင်ဖို့ အဓိကအနှောက်အယှက်ပေးနေတဲ့ ဘုံရန်သူဟာ ဒီအကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုပဲဆိုတာ လယ်ပြင်မှာ ဆင်သွားသလို့ (ဗမာတွေကိုယ်တိုင်က) ထင်ထင်ရှားရှား သိမြင်သွားကြတာပေါ့ဗျာ။ ဒါသည်ပင်လျှင် တော်လှန်ရေးထဲက အမြတ်ကြီးတစ်ခုလို့ ကျနော်ကတော့ ခံယူမိပါတယ်။
အဖိနှိပ်ခံ ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံး သွေးစည်းကြလော့။
ဘုံရန်သူကို တိုက်ခိုက်ကြလော့။
ဘုံပန်းတိုင်ကို ရှေးရှုကြလော့။..."
Source/publisher:
Tayzar San via Igor Blazevic
Date of publication:
2021-04-19
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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With bullets, beatings and arrests, the junta is trying to scare volunteer rescue workers from treating its victims, and are breaking international humanitarian law to do it, charity groups say.
Description:
"When the three-member team of volunteers from Mandalay’s Payaheta Darri charity rescue service arrived, the found they couldn’t get their ambulance close enough to get the 18-year-old victim onto a stretcher and wheeled to safety.
Friends had brought the teenager, who had been shot in the back, inside a home on 76th Street between 34th and 35th streets in in the city’s central Chan Aye Thar Zan Township. With security forces continuously firing live rounds. The closest the ambulance could get was about three blocks down 34th Street. Ko Htet Myat, 21, a volunteer with Payaheta Darri since the group’s founding in 2015, set out on foot.
He moved cautiously past young protesters huddled behind sandbag barricades and woven bamboo strips, turning onto 76th Street, which he described as a “battlefield”. Inside the home, he pulled the victim onto his back, the teenager’s arms slung over Htet Myat’s shoulders.
Htet Myat slouched forward and began making his way back to the ambulance. On 76th Street three bullets whizzed by – the last terrifying close to his head – before he turned back down 34th. He finally loaded the teen into the ambulance and took him to a nearby hospital. It was about 1pm on March 27.
At about the same time, in Nay Pyi Taw, strutting columns of garlanded troops paraded before junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to mark the 76th anniversary of Armed Forces Day. Meanwhile, throughout Myanmar that day, forces under Min Aung Hlaing’s command killed more than 100 civilians in crackdowns on protests.
Htet Myat is among thousands of volunteer ambulance and rescue workers in Myanmar, who are increasingly being targeted by the junta with both bullets and the law. Earlier that morning, outside of a branch of state-owned Myanma Economic Bank, junta soldiers fired several shots at his ambulance as it took another gunshot victim to a hospital.
Since the crackdowns began, there have been at least 28 attacks on hospitals and health workers, according to the United Nations, which has condemned the junta’s deliberate targeting of rescue workers and their vehicles.
“Attacks against health volunteers and against ambulances are preventing life-saving help from reaching civilians wounded by security forces,” UN spokesperson Mr Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York on April 6.
The junta has raided the offices of several charity organisations doing rescue work, and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says that at least 18 medical volunteers have been arrested, charged or sentenced for attempting to save lives.
Most of the organisations are small, local entities working independently, but even volunteers for the large, government-affiliated Myanmar Red Cross Society have been injured and arrested, with some of them still in custody.
MRCS general secretary Dr Htin Zaw Soe said that Geneva Conventions signed by Myanmar in 1949 recognise volunteers and vehicles bearing the Red Cross flag and logo as symbols of protection, making it a violation of international humanitarian law to target them.
“They [security forces] may not be aware of this [law],” he said. “We plan to raise awareness among the public so this is more widely known.”
For Htet Myat in Mandalay, the moral calculus is clear without bringing in international humanitarian law.
“It is just inhumane of them [the security forces] to prevent us from helping the injured,” he told Frontier. “If protesters have been shot and badly injured, the junta’s security forces should allow us to retrieve them [and] save people’s lives.”
‘There is no guarantee for our safety’
The targeting of rescue workers did not begin with the Armed Forces Day slaughter. One of Payaheta Darri’s four ambulances was shot 15 times while parked outside the team’s office in Mandalay’s Chan Aye Thar Zan Township on the night of February 17.
U Ye Myint Win, aka Nickey Diamond, a Myanmar human rights specialist with the international watchdog group Fortify Rights, believes the junta considers the charity groups to be anti-coup partisans.
“The military junta assumes these charity groups support the protesters, and that is why they are also cracking down on them,” he said. “One of their objectives is to prevent injured protesters from being rescued and treated.”
On February 28, junta forces beat two Red Cross volunteers as they were administering first-aid to injured protesters in Mandalay’s Chan Mya Tharzi Township, and damaged two of their ambulances.
The day before, three other volunteers from the Pakkoku branch of the Red Cross in Magway Region were arrested while providing aid. Htin Zaw Soe said the organisation does not know why the arrests were made or if the volunteers have been charged with a crime, but that they are still in custody. It is lobbying local police for their release.
In Mandalay, at least 26 members of the Payaheta Darri and Payaheta Min Khaung charity rescue groups, including two medical doctors and one nurse, were arrested and taken to Obo Prison for treating injured protesters on March 27, then charged with incitement under section 505-A of the Penal Code, according to an official with Payaheta Min Khaung.
Also among the arrested was the Payaheta Darri team leader, a spokesperson told Frontier, adding that the group has since suspended its service “due to insecurity”.
In Yangon, the highly-respected Free Funeral Service Society has suspended all operations since March 4, after security forces launched a midnight raid on its North Okkalapa Township office.
During the raid, security forces brutally assaulted staff and volunteers, leaving at least three injured, and seized computers and other equipment, though they made no arrests.
Two days prior to the raid, FFSS chair U Kyaw Thu had gone into hiding. Hours after the office was raided, the junta charged him in absentia with incitement under section 505-A of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum three-year year sentence.
Daw Myint Myint Khin Pe, FFSS finance officer and Kyaw Thu’s wife, was charged with incitement on February 25, after the society voiced support for the Civil Disobedience Movement and pledged not to assist police or military personnel with medical or funeral service, according to a March 4 broadcast on state news.
Military-run media has also accused the couple of “misusing” donations, including raising more than K316 million in donations for CDM participants between February 10 and March 3, and of distributing to about 2,000 CDM participants between K100,000 and K200,000 each.
“All of our staff are now in hiding,” an FFSS employee who asked not to be named told Frontier on April 2. “The military is hunting us.”
On March 3, CCTV footage that was shared on Facebook captured security forces savagely beating three male volunteers with the Mon Myat Sate Htar rescue charity who had been detained that day by security forces in Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township, where the group is based. The AAPP says a fourth was also detained, but was separated and harassed before the camera began rolling.
The three volunteers in the video, clad in construction hard hats, are forced to kneel before being kicked in the head and beaten with batons and rifle butts by police, who had also shot out the windows of their ambulance. All four suffered injuries and were reportedly treated at Insein Prison, where they were detained for several weeks. The AAPP says they were also slapped with 505-A charges, but Mon Myat Sate Htar could not confirm this, and they were all released on March 24.
After their release, all four returned as volunteers to the frontlines of demonstrations. But Mon Myat Sate Htar president U Hla Kyaing said he fears the incident will deter others from volunteering as the need increases.
U Zin Moe, vice president of the Mawlamyine Rescue Organisation, said volunteers were being forced to gamble with their own lives. “We want to help people, but there is no guarantee for our safety,” he said.
On April 2, in the Mon State capital, soldiers and police dragged three volunteers from an MRO ambulance that had been called to assist people injured in a motorcycle accident at around 7pm. Police interrogated and humiliated the three on the street, though they made no arrests that night, Zin Moe said, adding that the nationwide 8pm-to-4am curfew in place since February has made it impossible to operate rescue services at night. The curfew has no medical exceptions, he said.
‘The injured just piled up’
The deadly consequences of the security forces’ targeting of medical workers was on full display during the April 9 mass slaughter in the city of Bago, where many victims died from excess blood loss after the military prevented rescue workers from getting to them. That day, police and soldiers reportedly killed more than 80 people.
An official from a Bago rescue group who requested anonymity told Frontier that nearly every rescue group in the city was unable to tend to the wounded because of an unending torrent of junta gunfire.
“The injured just piled up,” he said. “Even nearby residents couldn’t get to them. We wanted to save them, but our teams couldn’t run straight into a barrage of gunfire.
The UN issued a statement the following day condemning the crackdown.
“The UN in Myanmar is following continued escalation of violence in Bago with reports of heavy artillery being used against civilians and medical treatment being denied to the injured,” it said. “We call on the security forces to allow medical teams to treat the wounded.”
Among the dead was at least one medical worker. U Thiha, a volunteer from the Pyae Wa charity group, was killed in Bago’s Ponna Su ward while helping to arrange a funeral when security forces arrived and opened fire.
Witnesses told Thiha’s mother, Daw Yamin Oo, 52, that the 32-year-old was shot in the thigh as he tried to flee by scaling a wall. After he fell, soldiers approached and savagely beat him. Ponna Su residents told Frontier they later saw Thiha being dragged behind a police motorbike through the rock-strewn streets, screaming at first until his body became limp.
“When I saw my son’s dead body, his head was dented and his chest was also bruised, and there was no skin at all below his knees,” Yamin Oo told Frontier. “How inhuman!” she said, going momentarily silent before breaking into a wail and calling out her son’s name.
Ye Myint Win from Fortify Rights believes the savagery of such attacks is meant to send a message to protesters.
“They want to instill fear in the people, so protesters know they will be helpless if they are shot or injured,” he said.
Yamin Oo offered a similar, if more pointed, assessment of an institution whose power depends on fear.
“My son was brutally murdered,” she said. “Soldiers and police are not security forces who protect the public – they are terrorists!”..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
more
Topic:
anti-regime, arrests, bystanders, CDM, Coup, Doctors, killed, medical, medics, Military, protesters, Protests, regime, treatment, UN, wounded
Topic:
anti-regime, arrests, bystanders, CDM, Coup, Doctors, killed, medical, medics, Military, protesters, Protests, regime, treatment, UN, wounded
Description:
"After witnessing the military regime’s continuous targeted raids on doctors and healthcare facilities treating the wounded, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights has asked the United Nation (UN) and international organizations to take meaningful measures against the junta.
In an open letter to Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights demanded that the UN stop the junta’s forces from intentionally targeting medical professionals providing care to the wounded and help the injured seek treatment without fear for their own safety. The group includes volunteer doctors and 15 medical students’ unions.
Since the Feb. 1 coup, the military regime has been conducting the deadly crackdowns on anti-regime demonstrations across Myanmar. Numerous atrocities have been committed against protesters and civilians by the junta’s forces during raids, arrests, and interrogations.
During the crackdowns, many wounded protesters have been arrested without being provided medical treatment. Meanwhile, in several instances the bodies of the dead have been taken away and not returned to the families.
Also, charity organizations and ambulances trying to pick up the bodies of those killed or provide medical assistance to the wounded have been fired upon or arrested by the regime’s forces.
In a shooting in Mandalay in late February, Ko Yarzar Aung, a 26-year-old protester, who was shot in the leg, died at a military hospital without being provided the proper treatment, a witness told The Irrawaddy.
A doctor from a charity group in the city, who tried to treat Ko Yarzar Aung, said that except for some minor treatment, the regime’s forces would not allow her to attend to wounded detainees before they were taken away.
The doctor said that Ko Yarzar Aung would not have died from his leg injuries if he had been treated properly.
In late March, the junta’s forces raided an office of a charity group comprised of several organizations in Mandalay giving treatment to the wounded, according to a social worker. The troops seized three ambulances and destroyed two others. They also seized clinic materials and arrested 26 social workers, including several medics.
During an attack on anti-regime strongholds in Bago on April 9, when about 82 died in a massacre, the regime’s forces closed every entrance to four wards for days.
No ambulances and social organizations giving medical assistance and free funeral services were able to go into the wards to pick up the dead or give medical treatment to the wounded.
Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights said in its open letter to the UN that the military regime’s polices and soldiers are intentionally targeting medical treatment sites, charity clinics and hospitals providing critical care to the injured.
On April 5, the regime’s troop stormed the house of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kyaw Min Soe in Mayangone Township of Yangon and arrested the physician. They tied the doctor’s hands behind his back, and a black bag was put over his head.
The doctor, a professor at University of Medicine, Yangon, has been involved in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) and was also providing medical treatment to those injured in anti-regime protests.
On April 12, the regime’s forces arrested Dr. Maw Maw Oo, head of the Emergency Department of Yangon General Hospital, who had been providing medical care to the wounded even though he has joined the CDM.
Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights said that in some places, doctors have been forced to keep the lights off in order to prevent the junta’s forces from finding and arresting them. Working with just torchlight, they have performed life saving operations.
Since last week, the military regime has been issuing arrest warrants for doctors in the CDM each night. As of Wednesday, 179 medics in the CDM have been charged.
“It is truly agonizing for us to see our fellow countrymen taking their last breaths in front of our very eyes,” said Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights.
It also said in its letter that by many lives which could otherwise have been saved have been unnecessarily lost because doctors have been forcibly prevented from providing essential medical care to the wounded.
After receiving the open letter, Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director of Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, tweeted on its Twitter account on Wednesday that the time for statements of concern has long passed.
“I was very moved by the letter I received from Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights,” he said.
He added now is the time for the UN to place human rights at the forefront and use every practical diplomatic tool available.
As of Wednesday, nearly 740 people have been killed by the junta’s forces during their crackdowns, raids, arrests and interrogations, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
Those killed include anti-regime protesters, bystanders, pedestrians and residents.
In spite of killing and arrests, tens of thousands of people across Myanmar continue to take to the streets to show their defiance of the military rule..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The UN and Burma - news and commentary, Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Sub-title:
Journalists in Myanmar have put their lives at risk to tell the stories of protestors, doctors, nurses and citizens impacted by the military coup, writes Phil Thornton.
Description:
"As a freelance photojournalist, Ng Maung has worked the frontlines of the protests since Myanmar’s military coup began on 1st February. Keeping low, behind flimsy barricades of wood, corrugated tin, tyres and bamboo, he photographed the hurts police and army inflicted on pro-democracy activists.
Ng Maung told IFJ of the danger protestors and journalists are facing from heavily armed police and soldiers. “We were warned snipers were on roofs near where we were. I could hear and sense the bullets as they passed. These kids had no protection against bullets.”
Ng Maung explained his view was restricted when focusing through a camera lens at soldiers down the street. “You see what is directly in front, not to your immediate side. Bullets were getting closer. I saw a young guy on the ground with a head shot…a lot of blood. People took him on a motorbike to an ambulance, but it was too late, he was already dead.”
Ng Maung said soldiers and police are armed to kill and dressed for battle, unlike the unarmed protestors. “They’re targets are young men and women, mostly peaceful protestors, opposing the torture and jailing of elected politicians, workers, doctors, students and journalists. The only protection they have are hiding behind these barricades and running.”
In an earlier interview with IFJ in February, Ng Maung, voiced his fears about unseen army snipers when he said they made the streets dangerous to work. “If I can see them I’m not scared, but knowing they could be concealed on rooftops, water towers, behind windows…anywhere…is terrifying.”
Ng Maung’s fears became a reality on 23 March when a bullet tore through his hand as he focused his lens. “I could hear shooting. Near me three kids were using phones to take photos. I warned them to move away…take cover, as soldiers were firing.”
Ng Maung felt the force of the bullet as it tore into his left hand, pulping bones, tissue and tendon. “I was confused, my hand was burning, at first it was relief the boys were not hit. Then I was worried my hand was destroyed. It looked bad. It took about three hours to get to a clinic.”
Ng Maung is full of praise for volunteer doctors and nurses working the protests. “I’ve seen them put themselves at risk of being shot or wounded to care for the injured. I owe them a lot…they work for free…I am forever in their debt.”
Ng Maung’s smashed hand has to be rebuilt. He has had a number of operations to try to reconstruct his hand – wire implants, bone repair and skin grafts. Despite the pain and the graphic nature of the wound, Ng Maung managed to photograph the surgical procedures.
Ng Maung kept in regular contact with IFJ during the protests and after his wounding spoke of his determination to keep working as a photojournalist despite the dangers. “Everyone is in danger - the military shows no mercy - protestors, doctors, students, workers, children, citizens or journalists – we are all targets just to be shot...silenced. I feel they are no longer human and they don’t see us as human. I'm scared, really scared. As a journalist, I have no protection. I have to be very careful and secretive in getting information. It is so bad I dare not go home to sleep at night. It's very dangerous now. To report we risk our lives. I’m a photojournalist because I want people to know the truth from the pictures I take. I want to expose the brutality of the military and the brave resistance of our people to the world…I hope for international action to end the oppression.”
The revolution will not be televised…
To silence journalists, like Ng Maung, the military coup leaders ordered telecommunication companies and internet services to block social media platforms and shut down their networks to stop access to information and news.
Journalists have been arrested and charged under 505a of the penal code, which carries a sentence of three years in prison.
The licenses of Myanmar Now, Mizzima Media, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), 7 Day News and Khit Thit Media were revoked on 8 March. The Ministry of Information shut-down the five independent media outlets and banned them “from publishing or broadcasting” or using any kind of media or technology platforms reporting “news that affects the rule of law and security of the people and supports those who commit high treason…in accordance with Article 419 and 420 of the Constitution.”
To make sure the five banned media organisations and their respective journalists got the message, soldiers and police broke into their offices, ransacked, thrashed and stole equipment. Ng Maung told IFJ “journalists are now being hunted – we’ve been put on wanted lists and they have arrested at least 42 journalists.”
The police and army have been given unfettered authority by the coup appointed State Administration Council to raid homes to search and arrest without warrants. So called ‘suspects’ can be detained for 24-hours without court permission. Other sections of the Penal Code list a range of fines and jail sentences - twenty years, ten years, seven years and three years for alleged breaches.
Faced with the danger of lethal force, nighttime raids on their homes or arrest, many journalists and media workers have been either forced into deep hiding or have left cities for remote ethnic areas in the jungle along the China, India, Bangladesh or Thailand borders.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) confirmed as of Sunday 16 April, 737 people have been killed and 3,229 arrested; 42 of those are journalists.
Ko Bo Kyi is a founder and secretary of AAPP-Burma and was first jailed in 1989 for his political beliefs by the then military regime. He explained to IFJ how the military has deliberately created and are using divisions between soldiers and civilians to maintain its reign of terror. “This military is isolated from society. Soldiers are given a different history to what is really happening in the country or outside world. The internet cuts and mobile phone data blockages are not just to prevent protestors from organising, but to stop soldiers getting real information – their news intake is restricted to media controlled by the military - radio, websites, newspapers and television channels.”
Ko Bo Kyi said despite fear of arrest, torture and jail, journalists and citizen journalists are still managing to report. “Everyday, underground reporters and civilian journalists are going out and bravely documenting human rights abuses. They’re finding ways to get verifiable and credible reports out to people inside and outside the country.”
They’ve destroyed our industry…
Zaw Myint, a senior editor, told IFJ he has been forced by soldiers and police making night raids near his home to leave his family and go into hiding, constantly changing his location. “I’m not the only journalist, many of us are now in deep hiding. It’s dangerous on the ground now. We can’t use our name on our stories. It’s getting difficult to survive as we aren’t being paid. Most of us are struggling and our families are suffering...the pressure is massive.”
Zaw Myint said finding a means to communicate is getting more difficult. “Mobile data has been cut, it’s difficult to get ADSL connected, getting caught with a pocket Wi-Fi will get you arrested. I try to hook into established Wi-Fi at hotels owned by the military’s cronies.”
With the forced closure of the independent media outlets most journalists fear their severance pay will soon be gone, Zaw Myint explains most journalist earn between US$300 and US$700 a month. “Most of us are struggling. The army has killed our industry. They’ve taken down our platforms to publish, they’ve robbed us of our salaries. They done this to silence us. It’s sad to see our industry ripped apart. There’s now no justice, only their law of the gun.”
Zaw Myint made the decision to stay in the city despite the constant fear of arrest. “There are still some of us prepared to take risks to tell what’s going on. I hope our colleagues who get to safety in other places will keep working. We’ll print on pamphlets, photocopy them and get them to the people. We’ll send our stories and footage to exiled colleagues for publishing, we’re hurting now, but we will find a way to keep reporting and broadcasting.”..."
Source/publisher:
"International Federation of Journalists" (Brussels)
Date of publication:
2021-04-20
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Burma's ruling junta has charged at least 19 medical doctors for participating in civil disobedience protests against the military's Feb. 1 coup, a state-run newspaper reported Wednesday.
Doctors, nurses and medical students have marched and joined strikes to show their opposition to the military takeover that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government and put a halt to the progress Burma had made toward greater democratization after five decades of military rule.
The doctors charged are accused of supporting and participating in the civil disobedience movement "with the aim of deteriorating the state administrative machinery," the Global New Light of Burma newspaper wrote.
THOUSANDS FLEE BURMA AIRSTRIKES, COMPLICATING CRISIS
The military government has already issued arrest warrants for 100 people active in the fields of literature, film, theater arts, music and journalism on charges of spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law.
This isn't the first time doctors have been targeted. Earlier this month in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, security forces used stun grenades and fired guns to break up a march by medical workers protesting the army’s takeover. The online news site The Irrawaddy reported that four doctors were arrested.
Protests continued Wednesday across Burma even as people boycotted the official celebration of Thingyan, the country's traditional New Year, usually a time for family reunions and merry-making.
In leaflets and social media posts last week, people were asked not to hold any Thingyan celebrations, saying it would be disrespectful to "fallen martyrs" to enjoy the festival.
The government's violent response to anti-coup demonstrations has seen 714 people killed by security officials, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners..."
Source/publisher:
"Associated Press" (New York) via "Fox News" (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-04-15
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup campaigns, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
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Topic:
civil disobedience movement, Coup, Democracy, Human Rights, military in politics, Min Aung Hlaing, National League for Democracy, November 8 general election, Rule of Law, State Administrative Council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tatmadaw, Yangon
Topic:
civil disobedience movement, Coup, Democracy, Human Rights, military in politics, Min Aung Hlaing, National League for Democracy, November 8 general election, Rule of Law, State Administrative Council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tatmadaw, Yangon
Description:
"What is the new normal for Myanmar today? As people have been trying different forms of civil disobedience to fight the military coup it has become a new normal in Myanmar.
The words “civil disobedience” comes from State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal before she was detained. She urged people to “oppose the military coup together in any way possible”. For her, as she often said, “the people are the most important force”.
A veteran journalist asked another National League for Democracy (NLD) leader, U Win Htein, about the message and what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wants people to do. U Win Htein said she wanted a civil disobedience movement rather than mass street protests because of COVID-19 and the potential for bloodshed.
As her message was not clear enough, people were puzzled about what to do.
NLD members have waited for instructions from the party’s central executive committee who are being held in Naypyidaw.
The strict hierarchy of the NLD left people feeling bereft on the first day of the coup. My 78-year-old mother kept asking me, “Is there any luck?” She cried the whole day because her beloved leader, “Mother Suu”, was detained. It is heartbreaking for her because she did not expect to return to military rule.
One day after the coup, people started banging pots and pans and honking car horns to oppose military rule. Banging pans is a traditional way of driving out ghosts. That initiative reached the international media and was dubbed the “drum revolution”.
Thais have followed suit in an attempt to drive out Thailand’s military regime.
But pots and pans are not enough for young citizens who have been hit the hardest by the forced internet shutdown ordered by the authorities. My son and his student friends have lost their online jobs, they cannot play virtual games and their online shopping businesses have folded.
Food Panda delivers lost their jobs as online ordering has broken down and most bank cards have stopped working because of connection failures. Shops only want cash as the banking system is unstable and the Grab taxi app just says, “no connection found”. The internet shut down is causing a long list of problems.
Facebook was blocked after the authorities forced telecoms operators to ban the most popular social media network. People immediately searched for virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass Myanmar’s networks. Anti-coup posts and protest photos returned to Facebook..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Rail Workers strike, Spring Revolution, General Strike, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Political role of the Tatmadaw, Articles on the NLD, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports
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Sub-title:
National League for Democracy urges military to acknowledge 2020 election result
Description:
"The party of Aung San Suu Kyi has called for her immediate release and for Myanmar’s 2020 election results to be acknowledged by the military, which took power in a coup on Monday.
The country’s elected leader, who was among dozens of political figures picked up by the army, reportedly remains under house arrest.
The coup has provoked widespread outrage around the world, but China and Russia blocked British-led efforts at the UN security council to deliver a consensus statement condemning the military takeover.
The streets of Myanmar’s main city, Yangon, were calm on Tuesday, but online many people turned their social media pictures red to signal their support for Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a landslide victory in November’s elections. In the evening, residents banged metal pots, a symbolic protest against the military, which previously ran Myanmar for some five decades. Some lit candles on their balconies.
A growing civil disobedience campaign has also emerged among doctors, with health workers from dozens of hospitals across Myanmar stating they will not work under the military, starting from Wednesday.
A statement on the Facebook page of May Win Myint, an official with her National League for Democracy, said the party’s executive committee urged the military to acknowledge the results of November’s election and called for the parliamentary session due to start this week to go ahead. It also called for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate release.
Later on Tuesday, an official from the National League for Democracy said in a message on Facebook that Aung San Suu Kyi was in good health and that there was no plan to move her. It is not possible to verify such posts.
The UN special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, briefed the UN security council in closed session on Tuesday.
“She didn’t hold back at all,” a diplomat who was in the chamber said. “She really called for a clear signal of council support for democracy in Myanmar.”
China and Russia however blocked a British-drafted statement condemning the coup and calling for its reversal, while India and Vietnam also voiced reservations.
“China, weren’t actively supportive of the military vocally, but they talked about stability and internal affairs and tried not to say anything at all,” a diplomat said. “Russia supported China, and then India and Vietnam were just a bit more nuanced […] and said it was important to consider regional efforts.”
Louis Charbonneau, UN director for Human Rights Watch, condemned the security council’s silence.
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“The abject failure of the security council, thanks to the likes of China and Russia, to hold Myanmar’s military leaders accountable for their crimes helps them feel they can engage in horrific abuses and pay little or no cost,” Charbonneau said.
A spokesperson for the Chinese UN mission said: “It’s also our hope that any move of the council would be conducive to the stability of Myanmar rather than making the situation more complicated.”
Beijing has invested billions of dollars in projects in Myanmar. The state-backed Xinhua news agency described the military take over with the euphemism: “major cabinet reshuffle”.
The US president, Joe Biden, threatened sanctions and called for governments to press for the military to release detainees. The UN security council will meet on Tuesday to discuss the matter..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-02-02
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, Sanctions - general, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights
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194.98 KB
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Sub-title:
Medics tell of attacks on staff and ambulances to stop treatment of patients and punish those who took part in national strike
Description:
"Htet Htet Win and her husband were late returning home on Sunday night. It was past the junta-imposed 8pm curfew when their motorbike passed through the streets of eastern Mandalay. The security forces reportedly shouted for them to stop, and then opened fire when they did not do so. Her husband was hit but managed to get away. She was knocked to the ground.
A grainy photograph, taken by an onlooker, shows her lying face down on the concrete, her arms reaching above her head, her purple top and bottoms marked with dark patches.
Doctors believed she was still alive, but were warned by residents that soldiers were waiting nearby. They feared it was a trap. “I felt like they were ambushing us,” said one of the rescuers. “I think she would have survived if we were able to pick her up as soon as it happened,” he said. They waited for more than an hour before the soldiers eventually retreated. It was too late. For medics in Myanmar, it is a grimly familiar story. Doctors told the Observer they were routinely targeted with violence by the military, and prevented from treating the victims of its bloody attacks. They recounted incidents in which security forces – trying to suppress defiant opposition to the February coup – had raided their facilities, searched and fired at their ambulances, detained, beaten and even killed their colleagues.
Raha Wala, of the advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights, said the military was “systematically persecuting medics”, both for treating anti-coup protesters and, in the case of many government doctors, for participating in a national strike.
Every few days, news spreads of more detentions of medical staff, taken at clinics, protests or from their homes during night raids. Some are released after questioning, others are less fortunate. “If you are detained today, your body will be returned tomorrow with torture marks or something like that,” said a Yangon-based doctor in hiding.
Last Saturday, the orthopaedic surgeon and university professor Dr Kyaw Min Soe was taken from his home in Yangon. A photograph apparently taken at the scene shows him being led into a van, a bag placed over his head and his hands tied behind his back. Since then, two paediatricians have been taken in Mandalay; a clinic has been raided in Yangon, with soldiers detaining four volunteers according to local reports; a facility has been raided in Monywa, where two staff were taken to a police station for questioning’ according to a local source, and another facility in Kale was reportedly raided, though no staff were present at the time.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has tracked hundreds of deaths, at least five medics have been killed in the violence. Among them was nursing student Thinzar Hein, 20, who was shot dead while caring for injured protesters in Monywa on 28 March. She had protested against the coup and shared her medical expertise with others. “It’s like we are facing barbarians,” said a doctor in Mandalay, who described being fired at while trying to attend to a patient, despite being dressed as a medic. “We were wearing scrubs, a medic sign and wearing a stethoscope,” he said. On a separate occasion, on 27 March, his ambulance was shot at as he attempted to pick up an injured patient. His colleagues, he said, were detained and beaten when they attempted to collect a dead body on 1 April. “They [the military] want to take away all the evidence,” he said.
In some areas, medics no longer wear uniforms, fearing this puts them at even greater risk. Government doctors who are refusing to work in state hospitals – but are finding ways to treat patients elsewhere – are especially vulnerable. They were among the first groups to announce a strike after the coup, prompting huge numbers of workers, in services ranging from customs to transport, to down tools, bringing the country to a virtual standstill.
While many governments have condemned the violence against peaceful protesters, and the UN security council has expressed concern at restrictions on medical staff, the brutality has continued. On Friday, military spokesman Zaw Min Tun accused government doctors of murder, claiming their strike had contributed to Covid deaths. “They are killing people in cold blood,” he said.
At least 618 people have been killed by the military since it seized power, while thousands have been detained, mostly in unknown locations.
“Seeing dying patients is not a strange thing for a doctor, but these days it is heartbreaking because the patients are just teenagers,” said a second doctor in Mandalay. If medical teams were able to treat the injured safely, the death toll would not be so high, she added, describing how she has previously had to flee her clinic, along with patients, when the military approached.
At least 43 children have been killed by security forces, the youngest just six years old.
“We even cry when we do the CPR. But we encourage each other, we need to move on because we can’t be like that,” the doctor said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-04-10
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Sub-title:
Medical staff accuse military chiefs of prioritising their own interests above those of the public during the pandemic
Description:
"Staff at dozens of hospitals across Myanmar stopped working on Wednesday as part of a growing civil disobedience campaign, one of the first organised acts of defiance against the military after it ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Health workers in 70 hospitals and medical departments in Naypyidaw, Yangon and other towns and cities said they would not work under the military regime, accusing the generals of placing their own priorities above those of ordinary people during the pandemic.
“We refuse to obey any order from the illegitimate military regime who demonstrated they do not have any regards for our poor patients,” the organisers said. A Facebook page coordinating the campaign accumulated nearly 150,000 followers in just 24 hours. “They will not stop this movement until the elected government is restored,” said Kyaw, a surgeon at West Yangon general hospital who has gone on strike.
“I am upset about being apart from the patients, but I have no regrets, knowing that I did my best to help fight the pandemic,” he said, adding that he had resigned from the government hospital were he worked.
Doctors are instead treating patients in their homes and at private clincis. The All Burma Federation of Students Union has also urged other government workers to strike.
There have been no reports of street demonstrations against the army, but anger is simmering among the public, who lived under repressive military regimesfor five decades.
On Wednesday night, the clanging of pots and pans echoed through the main city of Yangon, as people took to their balconies in a symbolic protest against the military. On social media, many adopted red profile pictures to signal their loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent nearly 15 years in detention as she campaigned against military rule before being released in 2010. Within Myanmar, she is widely revered as a heroine of democracy, despite international condemnation over her treatment of the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-02-03
Date of entry/update:
2021-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, National and State constitutions, draft constitutions and amendments (commentary), The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Public Health, Health Workers Strike
Language:
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