Cyclone Nargis - Protection
Websites/Multiple Documents
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of entry/update:
2008-06-05
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Cyclone Nargis - Protection
Language:
English
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Description:
Areas of activity.
Annual reports...
Country visits...
Resolutions...
International standards...
Documents...
Press releases...
Issues in focus:
Natural Disasters...
Questions and answers about IDPs...
Workshops and seminars...
Links.
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of entry/update:
2008-06-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Cyclone Nargis - Protection
Language:
English (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish also available)
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Individual Documents
Sub-title:
An independent, community-based assessment of health and human rights in the Cyclone Nargis response
Description:
"Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma on May 2, 2008, making landfall in the Irrawaddy Delta, 220 km
southwest of Rangoon. This was a massive cyclone which would have been a challenge for any
country to address. In all, some 140,000 lives are thought to have been lost, and at least 3.4 million
persons were directly affected. Nargis hit Burma, a country under long-standing military rule, at a
crucial time: just days before a national referendum on a new military-backed constitution was
planned.
The response to Cyclone Nargis on the part of Burma’s ruling junta, the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), was profoundly affected by the junta’s policies, its practices toward
its citizens generally, and by the political imperatives of the junta’s referendum priorities. The
junta’s response was marred by failures to warn, failures to respond, limits on humanitarian
assistance from independent Burmese NGOs and citizens, and limits on humanitarian assistance
from international entities eager to assist.
Independent assessment of the Nargis response has proven to be challenging. Assessments done
with the collaboration of the junta have reported little on the human rights situation for survivors
and relief workers.
Burma Before the Storm
Military rule in Burma has also been characterized by widespread human rights violations,
including the violent suppression of the ‘Saffron Revolution’ in 2007, and severe curtailment in
social spending. The official government expenditure on health is about $0.70 per capita per annum
or 0.3% of the national GDP, amongst the lowest worldwide. The health and social services
situation is more severe in rural and ethnic minority areas.
The Referendum and the New Constitution
The SPDC announced in February, 2008, that it would hold a referendum on its new military-
drafted constitution on May 10. The constitution had been drafted in secret by military-appointed
representatives, without the participation of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the
Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), winners of the 1990 elections which were never
recognized by the regime.
It was against this complex and contested backdrop that the worst natural disaster ever to hit Burma
made landfall.
The Emergency Assistance Team - Burma
Within days of the cyclone health care workers from the Thai-Burma border region joined together
to create EAT, the Emergency Assistance Team- Burma. The teams, eventually 44, were comprised
of several volunteers each; most were cyclone survivors. They received training in emergency
responses, food and water distribution, and basic first aid provision. The EAT teams, working
“under the radar” and with local community based organizations (CBO) while unaffiliated with any
formal NGO or GO, went deep into the affected areas to provide relief to survivors.
Their efforts are part of a larger ongoing effort of border-based social organizations which quickly
respond to challenges such as Cyclone Nargis, mobilizing through a network of other CBOs. By After the Storm: Voices from the Delta
the end of the first phase of relief (in the first three months) 44 direct assistance teams had provided
assistance to an estimated population of some 180,000 survivors in 87 villages across 17 townships.
An Independent Assessment of the Nargis Response
In response to reports of human rights abrogation in cyclone-affected areas, a collaborative group
was formed which included EAT and the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human
Rights to conduct an independent assessment. With technical assistance provided by local
organizations Global Heath Access Program and Karen Human Rights Group, two rounds of data
collection were undertaken in the Irrawaddy Delta by the EAT teams: from June to September, and
October to November, 2008. A total of 90 interviews were conducted. Interviewees were 33 relief
workers and 57 survivors, interviewed in storm-affected areas (including in Irrawaddy Division)
and in Thailand.
RELIEF EFFORTS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK
The Government of Burma1
/Myanmar is not a party to most international human rights treaties, but
acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991, and the Convention on
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, albeit with
reservations. By accession to the CRC, the junta has legally agreed to recognize the right of the
child to reach the highest standard of health and access to health care. Under CEDAW special
consideration is given to realizing women’s rights to health care and to the needs of rural women.
The Responsibility to Protect
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) report of the International Commission on Intervention and
State Sovereignty (ICISS), issued in 2001, advanced a framework for international human rights
protection, declaring that it was each sovereign nation’s responsibility to protect their citizens from
crimes against humanity, genocide, and other mass atrocities. This was later reaffirmed by the 2005
resolution of the UN General Assembly and the 2006 UN Security Council resolution. The 2005
resolution concluded that it is the responsibility of the international community
to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with
Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity .” and taking “collective action” only “on a case-by-case basis
and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be
inadequate and national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations.
R2P was invoked in the early, stalled response to the Cyclone but was never implemented. The
people of Burma, including EAT, did respond to the responsibility to protect—despite junta
harassment, arrest, and in some cases, imprisonment, for providing humanitarian assistance..."
Source/publisher:
The Emergency Assistance Team and The Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Date of publication:
2009-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Cyclone Nargis - Health, Cyclone Nargis - Food, Cyclone Nargis - Protection, UN (CEDAW) documents on discrimination against women, Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Burma/Myanmar
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Description:
"Floods, earthquakes and storms have routinely displaced tens of thousands around
the world. Over the past few years, the international community?s response to
these catastrophes has become ever swifter and more sophisticated. Until very
recently, however, and in the rush to deliver life-saving aid, little attention was paid to
the rights of these displaced people.
The publication of these guidelines reflects an understanding of the need for the
humanitarian system to provide to the people on the front lines of disaster response
the guidance they need to ensure the protection of the rights of the people left homeless
by natural disasters.
This document is the result of a collaborative approach that took place over more than
a year. The Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of
Internally Displaced Persons, Mr. Walter Kälin, prepared draft Operational Guidelines
on Human Rights and Natural Disasters. These were shared with the members of the
Inter-Agency Standing Committee Working Group. Each member of the IASC WG contributed
its own expertise, operational experience and insights to the collaborative
process. This ensured that the final product is one that meets the needs of those affected
by disasters. This version of the Operational Guidelines was formally adopted by the
IASC WG at a meeting in Geneva on 9 June 2006.We want to thank all the members
involved for their work and participation.
The Guidelines are short and easily accessible. They are complemented by a Manual
that gives the human rights background which underpins them. The Manual also sets
out practical operational steps to provide humanitarian workers with examples of how
these Guidelines can best be implemented.
Human rights are as much a part of the lives of the people we are called upon to assist
and to protect as are their needs for food and shelter. For the first time, these
Guidelines will provide responders with the information they need to make a rightsbased
approach a part of the emergency response."
Walter Kaelin
Source/publisher:
Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)
Date of publication:
2006-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Cyclone Nargis - Protection
Language:
English
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Description:
Summary:
"In its resolution 1992/58, the Commission on Human Rights established the mandate on
the situation of human rights in Myanmar, which was then extended by the Human Rights
Council in its decision 1/102 and resolution 5/1.
In March 2008, by its resolution 7/32, the Council extended the mandate for one year. On
26 March 2008, Tomás Ojea Quintana (Argentina) was appointed as the new Special Rapporteur,
and he officially assumed the function on 1 May 2008.
The present report is a follow-up report on the status of implementation of Council
resolutions S-5/1 and 6/33, as requested by the Council in its resolution 7/31. In the report, the
Special Rapporteur focuses on the human rights issues pertinent to the current constitutional
process in the country, the developments with regard to the crackdown on the demonstrations in
September 2007, and the human rights impact of tropical cyclone Nargis. The report builds upon
the preliminary findings and further developments included in the previous report submitted to
the Council (A/HRC/7/24). Since the present report is his first to be submitted to the Council, the
Special Rapporteur also presents an overview of his methodology and programme of work in
discharging his mandate.
The Special Rapporteur would like to pay tribute to the victims of cyclone Nargis, present
his condolences to the families at this tragic time and convey to the people of Myanmar a
message of encouragement in the recovery phase of that natural disaster."
Source/publisher:
United Nations (A/HRC/8/12)
Date of publication:
2008-06-03
Date of entry/update:
2008-06-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Statements and reports by the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to regular sessions of the Human Rights Council, Cyclone Nargis - Protection
Language:
English
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70.12 KB
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Description:
A Working Visit to Asia
by the Representative of the United Nations
Secretary-General on the Human Rights
of Internally Displaced Persons Walter Kälin
Walter Kälin
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of publication:
2005-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2008-06-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Cyclone Nargis - Protection
Language:
English
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