Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations

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Source/publisher: Article 19
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-11
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
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Description: Articles on freedom of expression in Burma/Myanmar. Archive from 1996
Source/publisher: The global network for free expression
Date of entry/update: 2012-11-19
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Francais, French, Espanol, Spanish, Arabic, عربي
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Description: "SEAPA is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation campaigning for genuine press freedom in Southeast Asia. Established in Bangkok in November 1998, it aims to unite independent journalists? and press-related organizations in the region into a force for advocacy and mutual protection. SEAPA?s goal is to provide a forum for the defence of press freedom, giving protection to journalists and nurturing an environment where free expression, transparency, pluralism and a responsible media culture can flourish.Membership in the Alliance is open to independent press advocacy organisations with a proven track record of working for press freedom. SEAPA?s founding members—from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand—are among the most well established press advocacy organizations in Southeast Asia. Together they bring an innovative regional perspective to the practice of journalism and a vision of a Southeast Asia that is the home of a free and vibrant media..."
Source/publisher: Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
Date of entry/update: 2014-07-11
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: "Myat Thu Tun is the fifth Myanmar journalist to be killed by the junta since the coup d'état in February 2021. His body was recently found buried, riddled with bullets and marked by signs of torture. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the international community to take action to force the junta to stop this massacre. The buried body of Myanmar journalist Myat Thu Tun was recently found in the town of Mrauk-U, in the western Rakhine region, along several bodies of prisoners buried in an air shelter, and was reportedly marked with gunshot wounds and signs of torture, according to a statement by the rebel troops of Arakan Army on 11 February 2024. "This shocking murder bears the hallmark of the Myanmar military junta, which for three years now has imposed a climate of terror on all media professionals and is once again demonstrating its ruthless violence. We call on the international community to step up pressure on the Myanmar regime to cease its campaign of terror against reporters and release the 62 journalists and press freedom defenders detained in the country. Cédric Alviani RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director The victim, Myat Thu Tun, also known as Phoe Thiha, had been held in prison since his arrest at his home in September 2022, and was awaiting trial on charges of "disseminating false information" and "inciting hatred", under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to three years imprisonment. Before the coup in February 2021, he had worked for various Myanmar media outlets, including the Democratic Voice of Burma, 7 Days Journal and The Voice Journal. At the time of his arrest in September 2022, he was still working for local media Western News in the western state of Rakhine. Myat Thu Tun is the fifth journalist to be killed by the military junta since the coup d'état in February 2021. Freelance photojournalists Aye Kaw and Soe Naing were also murdered in detention, while the founder of the Khonumthung News Agency Pu Tuidim and the editor of the Federal News Journal Sai Win Aung were both shot by the army while reporting on the ground. Myanmar, ranked 173th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2023 World Press Freedom Index, is one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists with 64 detained, second only to China..."
Source/publisher: Reporters Without Borders (Paris)
2024-02-23
Date of entry/update: 2024-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title: The arrests were for writing or sharing anti-junta posts on Facebook and other social networks.
Description: "Myanmar junta authorities have arrested and jailed nearly 1,500 people they say posted anti-junta messages on Facebook, TikTok and Telegram over the last two years, research group Data for Myanmar has found. The arrests included a woman who had been working in Thailand and was sentenced to life in prison in December after she returned to Myanmar to have her passport and work visa renewed, a family friend told Radio Free Asia. Officers checked her phone during the renewal in Yangon and found anti-junta messages that she had sent privately, the family friend said. “After that, she was arrested and taken to the North Dagon jail,” the friend said. “Then she was sent to Insein Prison.” The junta has struggled to gain popular support since taking power from a civilian government in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat. Responding to critical messages with criminal prosecution has had a chilling effect on how people express themselves online. It has also earned Myanmar a ranking as the second worst country in the world for internet freedom, according to Washington-based Freedom House. The Data for Myanmar report said that most of the 1,480 people detained between Feb. 29, 2022, and Jan. 30, 2024, were Facebook users. The independent NGO also found that an average of 62 people were detained every month. Almost half of the detainees – nearly 700 people – were from the Yangon and Mandalay regions. Data for Myanmar compiled data for the Jan. 31 report by monitoring junta-affiliated daily newspapers and news media. Jailed for sharing news Another social media-related arrest was that of Mandalay resident Khin Maung Chin, who was detained in December 2022 for sharing news articles and critiques of the military written by other Facebook users, a friend of his told RFA. Khin Maung Chin was also found to have written messages about Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the deposed National League for Democracy and the country’s former de facto leader. And last November, junta troops raided the home of Yangon resident Min Nyo, who had worked to provide clothing and medicine to war victims. A family member told RFA.that pro-military supporters had informed authorities about his online criticism of the junta. Min Nyo is also serving a sentence at Insein Prison, where many pro-democracy activists are held. Freedom House noted in a report released in October that the junta has reduced broadband speeds, cut internet connections and blocked some text and calling services in areas where anti-regime resistance has been strong. ‘Procedure used by dictators’ Junta authorities have also restricted Burmese citizens from accessing social media platforms while junta-controlled publications frequently warn that people can be charged under the Penal Code and Telecommunications Law, the report said. In December, the junta announced the formation of a committee to further monitor and take action against what people write and share online. RFA’s attempts to reach junta spokesman Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun to ask about the Data for Myanmar report were unsuccessful. However, junta officials have previously stated that the regime will take action if posted messages are aimed at inciting people to destroy the country’s peace and stability or to abolish the junta’s governing mechanism. A former military officer told RFA that arresting people for critical comments is an understandable part of governing. “As a ruler, he would arrest those who spoke ill of him,” he said. “This has become an obligation. It must be done. It is his job to arrest those who raised the rebellion.” Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister for the shadow National Unity Government, criticized the arrests as merely a “procedure used by dictators to prevent people from speaking up” – not as a way to maintain stability..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia" (USA)
2024-02-22
Date of entry/update: 2024-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar: Journalist tortured and killed in military custody The body of Western News journalist Myat Thu Tan has been found after he was shot and killed by military personnel on January 31, along with seven other political prisoners in the custody of Myanmar’s ruling junta. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, Myanmar Journalist Network (MJN), strongly condemn this horrific murder and call on the military junta to immediately prosecute those responsible and cease the rampant impunity for crimes against journalists in Myanmar. The body of journalist Myat Thu Tan was found on February 5, after he was shot and killed by military personnel in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Credit: Western News According to IFJ sources, Myat Thu Tan, also known as Phoe Thiha, was shot by two personnel from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 378 in a detainment ward in Mrauk-U Town, in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state. Myat Thu Tan was a contributor with online media outlet Western News as well as a reporter for Democratic Voice of Burma, one of the country’s largest independent media organisations. The journalist’s body was discovered buried in a bomb shelter in the battalion’s headquarters near the town’s hospital, along with six other political prisoners including rapper Kyaw Zan Wai, after the ethnic armed organisation Arakan Army seized the camp on February 5 following several days of fighting. Local media reported the bodies found at the showed signs of torture. The prisoners had been charged by the junta under its amended Section 505 (A) of the country’s Penal Code, which criminalises ‘causing fear, spreading false news, or agitating directly or indirectly criminal offences against a Government employee.’ The draconian legislation has been consistently used to target journalists in the three years since the military coup on February 1, 2021. The junta has yet to issue a statement on the incident, with Myat Thu Tan’s family not notified of his death. The journalist was arrested on September 22, 2022 at his Mrauk-U home for social media posts critical of the junta, and had not been tried or convicted before his death. Amidst intensifying conflict with rebel groups across the country, the junta announced a new mandatory conscription law effective from February 10 for all men aged 18 to 35, and all women aged 18-27. In the days following, thousands of young people have been documented attempting to flee the new legislation into neighbouring countries. The MJN said: “The killing of Myat Thu Tun along with other civilians constitutes the highest threat and intimidation to journalists working in conflict areas. Despite stepping back from the media field a few years ago, the junta continues to see him as a journalist, which triggered his killing. This case stresses that journalists could be killed at any time in Myanmar by the junta forces.” The IFJ said:“The IFJ condemns the heinous, cold-blooded killing of Myat Thu Tan as an attack on press freedom to the highest degree. Held in pre-trial detention without conviction, the journalist and six other civilians were purposefully tortured and murdered by military personnel, with their bodies subsequently discarded. The junta must put an end to the impunity running rife in Myanmar and ensure those responsible are immediately brought to justice.”..."
Source/publisher: International Federation of Journalists
2024-02-19
Date of entry/update: 2024-02-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "“The troublemaker of Myanmar already has one foot in the grave. Should she die now, perhaps she would be worshiped as NUG Goddess.” This was the caption for a photo-shopped picture of jailed civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi recently published on the pro-junta Telegram channel “Ba Nyunt” and then shared by other likeminded channels on the platform. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was called “Ma Tin Shwe” in the caption, a pronoun used to refer to any woman. “NUG” is the acronym for the parallel National Unity Government. The hateful caption was just one of many defamatory posts created by pro-junta Telegram channels about the Nobel laureate, civilian leader, and champion of democracy at home and abroad, according to the Beautifier of Diversity Network, which monitors pro-regime Telegram channels. “Women are always targeted,” said a monitor from the network, which has been monitoring 13 social media accounts, including pro-junta Telegram channels that spread hate speech. Hate speech has surged on social media platforms since the coup. The platforms are used not only to incite violence, but are also as breeding grounds for launching and amplifying hatred against individuals, and ethnic, religious and sexual minorities, the network said. A wave of hate speech targeting women followed the release of a film labeled “blasphemous’ by the regime, according to data from the network. The movie “Don’t Expect Anything” was written and produced by Swiss director Didier Nusbaumer and uploaded to the YouTube channel “Isi Dhamma” on July 24. The regime alleged that the film harmed Myanmar’s culture and Buddhist traditions, and arrested its director and cast. Research by The Irrawaddy has also found that hate speech degrading women always accompanies attacks on revolutionary figures. Criticism and denunciation accounted for 39 percent of hate speech, insulting posts accounted for 27 percent, threats accounted for 15 percent, and incitement to violence accounted for 13 percent, according to research conducted by the Beautifier of Diversity Network from June to August. Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.” According to research by independent organizations, the rise of hate speech since the coup can be divided into three groups—hate speech on the grounds of race, religion, political beliefs and sexual orientation; posts that provide details about dissidents including their home addresses and calls for arresting, killing or raping of them; and posts that portray those involved in Spring Revolution as terrorists, traitors or criminals. Hate speech against women, including pro-democracy activist Pencilo, a key figure involved in raising funds for the revolution, are posted daily on social media. Non-Buddhist women are subjected to racially, religiously, and sexually discriminatory and derogatory remarks. Recently, several pro-junta Telegram channels, including “Han Nyein Oo” shared a post accusing Muslim Ma Thuzar Myint of committing adultery, and participating in a sex chat with a fake Buddhist monk who participated in the Spring Revolution. The post used a common racial slur for people of Indian origin (“kalar”) to describe Ma Thuzar Myint, who is a supporter of the National League for Democracy. Ma Thuzar Myint and at least one other woman were sexually abused online by Buddhist monk Ashin Kethara, who calls himself the Spring Revolution Sayadaw. Pro-junta Telegram channels have exploited his misogyny to attack all people involved in raising funds for Spring Revolution. Ma Thuzar Myint said: “They tend to chastise women more severely in a way to degrade and cheapen them. I feel like women suffer more from hate speech than men. I myself have [been a] victim. Women are criticized twice as much as men are.” About a dozen pro-junta Telegram channels operate as a network, sharing propaganda and hate speech. Some channels, including “Ka Ka Han” and “Hmine Wai,” have more than 60,000 subscribers each. Hate speech is not only perpetrated on regime-friendly social media. Some individuals and organizations who support revolutionary forces fighting for democracy and human rights also spread hate speech. Pro-democracy activist Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi, who leads the Sisters2Sisters campaign that raises awareness about sexual violence perpetrated by the military junta, said: “Regarding the attacks on people serving in the regime, often they are targeted by hate speech for their gender and their sexual orientation. And often vulgar language is used against women civil servants who do not join the Civil Disobedience Movement.” The junta’s tourism minister, Daw Thet Thet Khine, is often attacked by anti-junta social media users. Most of the hate speech directed towards her focuses on her transgender husband, Dr. Aung Kyaw Win. This is usually hate speech against the LGBT community in general and same-sex marriage in particular. Both pro-junta and resistance members use it. Pro-democracy activists fighting the regime have been urged to avoid attacking people on the basis of their race, religious beliefs or sexual orientation. While social cohesion, understanding and integration are necessary to resist the wave of hate speech created by the regime, it is also important that those who oppose the regime do not use hate speech, rights activists and hate-speech monitors say. Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi said the increase in sexist hate speech is attributable to the nature of Myanmar’s military, which is steeped in sexism. More than half of those who were arrested after being identified by pro-junta Telegram channels as anti-junta have been women. Of the more than 1,100 people arrested from February 2022 to May 2023, 57 percent of women were women, according to an analysis of arrests reported in junta media. Women detainees continue to be subjected to online abuse and sexism after being arrested. After actress May Pan Che and singers Shwe Yi Thein Tan and May La Thazin were arrested for expressing their condolences for the victims of the junta’s deadly air strikes on Pazi Gyi Village in Sagaing Region, they were labelled whores who deserved no mercy. Telegram channel “Han Nyein Oo,” which has over 16,000 subscribers, called them prostitutes, adding: “I want to see photos of them handcuffed and kneeling on the ground like other detained loose cannons. Those bitches must be suppressed. Why show mercy to them?”..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2023-10-09
Date of entry/update: 2023-10-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Byu Har, the son of a prominent musician, also called the junta’s leader an ‘incompetent fool’ in a Facebook video.
Description: "Myanmar’s junta has sentenced a hip-hop singer to 20 years in prison for a video published on social media in which he complained about electricity shortages and criticized the junta’s leadership. Prison authorities informed the family of Byu Har that the Insein Prison Court on Wednesday sentenced him to 20 years in prison under section 124 of the Penal Code for incitement to destroy the state, his wife told Radio Free Asia. Byu Har, the son of prominent musician Naing Myanmar, posted a video on Facebook earlier this year where he called out the “minister of electricity” and called the holder of the office “a fool.” He was arrested on May 23. The ministry’s proper name is the Ministry of Electric Power and the minister of electric power is Thaung Han. The country has experienced power shortages, and residents told RFA’s Burmese Service earlier this year that many areas of Yangon – including where Byu Har lived – received power for only five hours in the morning and another five hours in the afternoon and evening. Some areas of the city, such as the area where retired military officers live, were supplied with full power, though. “You can’t supply enough electricity to us,” Byu Har said in the video. “You can barely supply us every five hours. Even that is not certain.” He also criticized the junta’s leader, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, calling him “a stupid incompetent fool.” “I am cursing at you because I don’t have the electricity,” he said in the video. “Got it? If you want to arrest me, just come.” Before he was arrested, Byu Har lived with his 31-year-old wife, 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son in North Dagon township in eastern Yangon..."
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Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia" (USA)
2023-08-23
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: One film, posted on YouTube last month, emphasized the importance of Buddha’s teachings over images and pagodas.
Description: "Myanmar junta officials arrested a Swiss filmmaker and 13 cast members, accusing them of defaming Buddhism in informational videos posted on YouTube, according to a statement published by junta-controlled state media. The Swiss Embassy in Yangon told Radio Free Asia on Monday that it has asked Myanmar authorities to clarify the current status of filmmaker Didier Nusbaumer. Junta Capt. Than Naing Kyaw and other military security members arrested Nusbaumer and 13 others – including a 12-year-old girl – on Aug. 7, two weeks after a video they produced appeared on YouTube. It was first reported in state media last week. Nusbaumer, 52, is associated with the Phaung Daw Oo Integrated Monastic Education School in Mandalay, authorities said. He wrote the screenplay while the 12-year-old girl played the main character in the story. The other cast members also came from the school. They are accused of insulting Buddhist cultural traditions and the morals of Buddhist monks, according to state media. Authorities haven’t specified under which law they would be prosecuted. Sensitive subject The film, titled “Don’t Expect Anything,” portrays the message that it is meaningless to worship Buddha images or pagodas, and instead it’s important to follow Buddha’s teachings. The 12-year-old main character uses harsh words in the film to describe how the monks enjoy the food donated by lay people every day. The film portrays her as a reincarnation of a hermit who practiced Buddhist teaching in a previous life. The film was posted on YouTube and other social media on July 24. On Aug. 15, after the 14 people were arrested, the school and charity group wrote to junta officials and the Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee – established by the government in 1980 to oversee the Buddhist clergy – asking for their release. The school wrote that Nusbaumer is a former Buddhist monk at the Phaung Daw Oo monastery, a true believer in Buddhism and did not intend to offend the religion. About 90 percent of people in Myanmar follow Buddhism. Junta-controlled newspapers first reported the arrests on Aug. 18. When contacted by telephone by RFA, a monk at the monastery answered that all the monks have been saddened by the arrests and cannot respond at the moment. Because of how sensitive religion can be, it’s best to avoid any kind of filming that might mislead people, said Ashin Thabarwa Nadi, the secretary of the Arakan Monks' Association. “In this country, such a thing could easily cause religious or ethnic riots as a political trick,” he said. The junta as Buddhism protector A Mandalay resident who has watched the film said on the condition of anonymity that arresting multiple people for criticizing Buddhism should not happen. “In the film, he gave the message that we should live according to the teachings of Buddha,” the resident said. “The little girl sending alms to the monastery in the film said some words to the monks, but that is nothing more than just a scene in the movie. “But the authorities just pinpointed that scene and arrested and detained all of them under the pretext that they have defamed Buddhism,” the resident said. “I think that should not have happened.” When RFA contacted Aung San Win, director of the junta’s Ministry of Religion and Culture, he said he was unaware of the case. RFA attempted to contact the junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and the junta’s spokesman for the Mandalay region, Thein Htay, but they could not be reached. It’s possible that the junta made the arrests to make itself appear to be the protector of the people and religion, said Min Thae, a political author. “The military leaders have always tried to appear to be protecting Buddhism, trying to imply that it should be in the political arena in Myanmar,” he said. “The junta wants to create a public opinion that it is protecting the national religion, especially among its pro-military people."..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia" (USA)
2023-08-21
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Dr Yanghee Lee, the former United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, told CNA’s Asia Tonight on Tuesday (Aug 1) the move signals that the military-controlled government, led by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, is “really out of ideas and really at the end of the rope” in managing the country.
Description: "Reducing the jail term of Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is part of the military junta’s attempt to seek international recognition as the country's legitimate government, said Dr Yanghee Lee, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. The move signals that the military-controlled government led by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is “really out of ideas and really at the end of the rope”, she told CNA’s Asia Tonight on Tuesday (Aug 1). Reducing the jail term of Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is part of the military junta’s attempt to seek international recognition as the country's legitimate government, said Dr Yanghee Lee, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. The move signals that the military-controlled government led by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is “really out of ideas and really at the end of the rope”, she told CNA’s Asia Tonight on Tuesday (Aug 1). “Reducing the sentence of a 78-year-old lady who had been locked up on bogus charges should not be seen as an act of contrition or a conciliatory gesture by the brutal generals,” said Dr Lee, who took on the UN role from 2014 to 2020. Her comments came hours after Ms Aung San Suu Kyi was pardoned on five of the 19 offences for which she was convicted and jailed a total of 33 years, reducing her jail term by six years. Former president Win Myint, who was also arrested at the same time as Ms Aung San Suu Kyi after the 2021 coup, was also pardoned on some of the charges for which he was convicted. The military junta has struggled for control in Myanmar, as conflict continues to break out across the country and its economy grapples with rising inflation. On Monday, the military-controlled government had extended the country’s state of emergency by another six months, delaying elections that were promised. SEEKING INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION Dr Lee said the pardon was “just another one of the schizophrenic behaviours of Min Aung Hlaing”, as the military resorted to its decades-old playbook. “They think that reducing sentences for Aung San Suu Kyi and the president U Win Myint will first of all get some of the support of the people, and more importantly, get them international recognition,” she said. “It’s like a coating, a veneer, so that the international community can recognise them as a legitimate government of Myanmar.” She noted that the military junta does not have control over the country, with over 50 per cent of the country under the control of the local ethnic groups. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing had acknowledged that much of the nation is not under full military control, with fighting continuing in Sagaing, Magway, Bago and Tanintharyi regions, as well as Karen, Kayah and Chin states. The military junta will be aiming to be recognised as the country’s legitimate government, especially with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the UN General Assembly session coming up later this year. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY RESPONSE “I think it's time that the international community really wakes up and sees that what he (Min Aung Hlaing) is doing has been a decades-old trick, and will not get him far enough because he will never have the support of the people,” said Dr Lee. Dr Lee added that she has been surprised by the international community’s response to the Myanmar crisis as compared to the war in Ukraine. She said the international community has been generous with aid for Ukraine, as it is seen as a “country-to-country invasion … and it's in the backyard of the European continent”. “But when it comes to Myanmar, it's the same thing. Min Aung Hlaing and the military have invaded its own people. It's not just a coup,” said Dr Lee. “There has been an average of 30 airstrikes per month recently. 85 per cent of the casualties are civilian, and millions of people have been displaced.” She noted that the junta is employing the same tactics it had used against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 when driving them away, which is to burn their villages, schools and places of worship. DOES IT MATTER TO THE MYANMAR PEOPLE? Dr Lee said that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi’s pardon will not affect the Myanmar people’s fight against the junta. “I think the people of Myanmar have moved on. Aung San Suu Kyi is still very much respected. However, the fight now is the people's fight (and) the young generation’s,” she said. “The people have now been united. They are built on solid consolidation and solidarity across ethnic lines and across generation lines. The Bamar people cannot fight this war by themselves without the ethnic communities, and the ethnic communities are now joining hands with the Bamar and the young generation.” The Bamar is Myanmar's largest ethnic group, accounting for 68 per cent of the country's population. Dr Lee said that the young generation are fighting for a dream that has existed since their parents’ time, which is for a “free democratic federal Myanmar”. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s pardon may not and definitely will not affect the young people's minds, because they are fighting for their lives, to defend their family and their country and their hope and their aspirations,” she said..."
Source/publisher: "Channel NewsAsia" (Singapore)
2023-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from July 22 to 31, 2023 Military Junta Troops launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region and Shan State from July 22nd to 31st. A woman who died was hitted by a car and arrested by the Military junta in Shwepyitha Township, Yangon Region.Electricity was also cut off at the 31 villages in Kyaukdaga Township, Bago Region. Military Junta troops arrested over 100 civilians and used them as human shields in Sagaing Region and Tanintharyi Region. Also, about 9 civilians were arrested and killed by the Military’s junta in Magway Region and Sagaing Region. Local administrative authorities under the Military Junta troops threatened local people to attend the Pyusawhtee Military training in Kyunhla Township, Sagaing Region. Military Junta imposes Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code to impose curfews and restrict gatherings and freedom of movement in Muse TownshiShan State on July 29th. 11 civilians also died from the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma
2023-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 268.44 KB 117.98 KB 267.09 KB
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Description: "1 Introduction More than one billion people experience some form of disability globally. The disability prevalence rate is higher in developing countries and among marginalised groups such as women, older people, those in the poorest wealth quantile, and those living in rural areas. Persons with disabilities who belong to these groups are more likely to experience challenges accessing essential social services such as education, health, and employment, further pushing them to the margins of society. In Myanmar, the disability prevalence rate is 12.8 per cent, which is about 5.9 million people. According to the latest intercensal survey conducted in 2019, the country follows the global trend – disability prevalence is higher among women than men, older people, and those living in rural areas. Recognising that persons with disabilities in Myanmar face challenges in different spheres of life, hence the need to promote and protect their rights, the Government of Myanmar ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on December 07, 2011. The ratification of the CRPD paved the way to enact the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2015 and the by-law/regulations in 2017. Nevertheless, marginalisation is still present among the members of the disability sector in Myanmar as they are less likely to receive education, gain decent employment, marry, or have access to various amenities and facilities enjoyed by those without disabilities. In particular, there is an urgent need to address the situation of women and girls with disabilities who experience discrimination at the intersection of their gender and disability. Their situation is further exacerbated by the country's Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the ongoing military coup d’état. Since 1973, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Myanmar has provided continuous support to different target priorities, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). One key programme that promotes these priorities is the Women and Girls First (WGF) Programme. This multi-year and multi-donor initiative supports the integrated service delivery of SRHR and GBV response programming across humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development nexus. The Programme’s second phase (2019-2022) focuses on integrating SRHR, GBV prevention and response interventions, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services to safeguard the rights of women and girls to access comprehensive services that are essential in achieving their rights. To ensure that persons with disabilities are not left behind in the delivery of integrated SRHR, GBV and MHPSS services, the UNFPA WGF Programme commissioned this study to identify the needs of persons with disabilities at the programme level. This study included identifying the barriers to and facilitators of the services delivered by the WGF Programme’s implementing partners and formulating recommendations to improve the disability inclusion component in the delivery of integrated SRHR, GBV and MHPSS services..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Population Fund
2023-06-28
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.91 MB (208 pages) - Original version
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Description: "Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from June 15 to 21, 2023 Military Junta troops arrested over 240 local civilians from Thayetchaung Township, Tanintharyi Region, Okpho Township, Bago Region and Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region and used them as human shields from 15th June to 21st June. Military Junta troops launched an airstrike and dropped bombs in Moebye, Shan State and Tamu Township, Saging Region. 3 civilians were burned and killed by Military Junta’s soldiers in Sagaing Region. The Military Junta strictly forbidden the “Flower Strikes” that were held on 19th June. The Military Junta arrested the peaceful protesters who participated in Flower Strike throughout the whole country. The Military Junta also arrested the people who post wishes for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday on social media. The Military Junta tortured and killed (7) civilians at interrogation..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma
2023-06-22
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf
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Description: "Nearly 100 people, most of them women, were arrested in Myanmar for wearing, holding, selling or buying flowers on Monday, the 78th birthday of detained civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It was another sign of how complete the loss of human rights has been in Myanmar in less than two-and-a-half years since the coup. The regime’s detention of women wearing, holding, buying or selling flowers on Monday followed a call by resistance forces to stage a nationwide flower strike on the birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She was arrested by the regime on the first day of the coup in February 2021 and is being detained in Naypyitaw prison. She has been sentenced by a military council court to a total of 33 years in prison in 19 cases. Many Myanmar people at home and abroad embraced the call for a flower strike by wearing flowers to show their support for a civilian leader who almost always wore flowers before she was jailed. About 40 women were detained by the regime for wearing flowers in the central market of Sagaing Region’s Kale Town. In Yangon’s Kamayut Township, 15 women who wore or held flowers were arrested by the regime troops, according to the Kamayut Information group. Video footage shows armed regime troops checking pedestrians near a shopping mall in in the township and arresting two women who were holding flowers. Regime troops also arrested three flower vendors and two women wearing flowers in a market in the Township, the Kamayut Information Group said. Elderly, middle aged and young women were arrested, it said. “We heard that three flower vendors were released last night, but the fate of the others is still unknown,” a member of Kamayut Information Group told The Irrawaddy. The regime arrested 13 women staff at Thamardi gold shop in Yangon for wearing roses. A man from Yangon’s Mingaladon Township was arrested on Monday. He was accused of participating in the flower strike. About 20 women from Myit Nge Township in Mandalay Region were arrested on Monday for wearing flowers, according to local residents. Wearing flowers is not a crime, said Ma Zu Zu, a joint secretary of the Burmese Women’s Union. It is an individual right and no one can ban this, she said. “Almost all women wear flowers in Myanmar and it is natural. So, they take part in flower strikes, but the military is afraid of women’s involvement in revolution. Therefore, they repress people with fear,” Ma Zu Zu told The Irrawaddy. The junta’s enthusiasts on Telegram urged it to arrest 20 people, 13 women and seven men, for participating in the flower strike..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2023-06-20
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) is pleased to announce the release of its latest commentary report, titled: “Why would they target us?” Exploring patterns of the Burma Army's retaliatory abuses against villagers across Southeast Burma. Since the 2021 military coup, the State Administration Council (SAC) has carried out violent assaults in rural villages throughout Southeast Burma/Myanmar, targeting civilians instead of armed groups. These deliberate attacks, including killings, air strikes, indiscriminate shelling, shootings, arbitrary arrests, and property destruction, have devastating consequences for local communities. Drawing from interviews with local villagers and numerous field reports, this report presents several distinct patterns of retaliatory abuses against civilians by the Burma Army in the region. It sheds light on the SAC’s practice of scapegoating and collectively punishing civilians in ethnic areas, and provides a deeper understanding of the illegal and inhumane actions committed by the SAC in the country. This report places a particular focus on villagers' perspectives and their own understanding of the human rights violations they face. It highlights how local civilian efforts and initiatives are essential in resisting, evading, and protecting villagers from SAC abuses, as well as the concrete protection measures and actions villagers demand from the international community. The report aims to inform national, regional, and international policies, and challenge simplistic understandings of the situation in Karen State as a two-party conflict between the SAC military and ethnic armed organisations, with civilians collaterally impacted. The report highlights the urgent need for decisive action against the SAC's systematic targeting of civilians, ensuring accountability for perpetrators and supporting villagers’ agency. Such measures are essential if meaningful peace and justice in Southeast Burma is to be accomplished. KHRG calls on the international community, NGOs, and regional and foreign governments to: Acknowledge that the military junta is the root cause of the current human rights and humanitarian crisis, and refrain from giving any legitimacy to the junta, including by signing agreements with it and presenting credentials to it. Call on ASEAN to suspend Burma’s ASEAN membership until a democratically-elected civilian government is restored; abandon the current Five-Point Consensus and develop a new plan that addresses the critiques outlined by numerous stakeholders; and cooperate with international and local actors to end the junta’s violence against the people of Burma. Broaden the scope of accountability in future proceedings to include SAC crimes committed against Karen peoples, not yet covered by current investigations, as well as to investigate the war crime of collective punishment and the crime against humanity of persecution. Increase financial support for and collaboration with local human rights organisations and actors operating on the ground to ensure that the widest representation of voices and experiences of oppressed peoples in Burma are considered. Acknowledging the SAC practice of purposely targeting civilians in Southeast Burma, ensure increased and adequate humanitarian assistance and protection, including support for victims of air strikes, displacement, property destruction, torture, arbitrary arrest, and other abuses. Suspend all arms transfers to Burma including all weapons, munitions, surveillance technologies, and other military and security equipment. Suspend exports of aviation fuel, and take action to avoid contributing to these supply chains, whether directly or indirectly..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2023-06-16
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Junta’s Crackdown on Defense Counsel Reflects Broader Attack on Justice System
Description: "Lawyers in Myanmar defending anti-coup protesters and critics have faced threats, arrest, and prosecution by the military junta. Those detained have been tortured and mistreated. The military authorities impose systematic obstacles and restrictions on lawyers, impeding their work. The junta has created closed courts inside prisons that violate fair trial rights to fast-track politically sensitive cases. Myanmar’s junta should urgently restore civilian democratic rule. Concerned governments should impose targeted sanctions against junta members implicated in abuses, seek referral of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, and adopt a global arms embargo. (Bangkok) – The Myanmar military junta has threatened and harassed lawyers trying to defend the rights of protesters and others arbitrarily detained since the February 1, 2021 coup, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 39-page report, “‘Our Numbers are Dwindling’: Myanmar’s Post-Coup Crackdown on Lawyers,” examines the junta authorities’ pattern of harassment, surveillance, arrests, and in some cases torture of lawyers since the coup, particularly those taking on political cases. At least 32 lawyers have been arrested and placed in pretrial detention with little evidence supporting the charges against them, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. “At every turn, Myanmar’s lawyers have faced systematic, junta-imposed obstacles and restrictions impeding their work,” said Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The military authorities should immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and stop harassing lawyers.” Since the coup, the junta has arrested and detained thousands of anti-coup activists and critics and prosecuted many for incitement and terrorism in summary trials that do not meet international fair trial standards. Myanmar’s already tenuous justice system has declined drastically, failing to uphold basic due process rights. The junta has created “special courts,” closed courts inside prisons to fast-track political cases. Military tribunals hold summary trials in townships where martial law has been declared. Despite the systematic impediments imposed by the military authorities, lawyers still try to defend the human rights of those arrested. Human Rights Watch interviewed 19 defense lawyers and 7 legal advisers to international nongovernmental organizations working inside the Myanmar military junta’s special courts system. All 19 lawyers said they had experienced intimidation and surveillance by junta authorities. In some cases, the junta authorities appear to have targeted lawyers in reprisal for representing activists charged with sedition, incitement, or terrorism. Lawyers also reported ill treatment or torture of detained colleagues. Several sources familiar with the situation of Tin Win Aung, a high court lawyer from Mandalay Region, said he suffered a broken arm and leg, and had to have a feeding tube inserted into his stomach after beatings by security force personnel during pretrial detention. One lawyer who spoke to Human Rights Watch shortly after her release from prison said police blindfolded her, placed her in stress positions, and deprived her of food and water during interrogation. Inside special courts, lawyers and their clients face numerous problems, including being forbidden to privately communicate or discuss their cases prior to hearings. Lawyers said that junta officials frequently obstructed or prevented them from carrying out their professional duties, denying suspects their rights to due process and a fair trial. In the 47 townships in which the junta has imposed martial law, military tribunals also adjudicate criminal cases involving civilian defendants. The military tribunals also typically operate in prisons. Suspects may not have access to a lawyer, and trials are summary and invariably result in convictions and heavier sentences. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers set out standards that governments should adopt in their national legislation and to ensure that lawyers can exercise their proper role. These principles address access to lawyers and legal services, special criminal justice safeguards, and lawyers’ freedom of expression and association. Myanmar junta authorities have routinely acted contrary to the Basic Principles. The ability of lawyers to exercise their functions freely and independently is central to the capacity of the justice system to protect fair trial rights. Lawyers need confidential access to their clients to be able to provide prompt, unhindered, and accurate legal advice and ensure the right to a fair trial. Although Myanmar is not a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the right to a fair trial is recognized as customary international law and a responsibility of Myanmar as a UN member state. Foreign governments and regional organizations concerned about the disastrous human rights situation in Myanmar should adopt a range of measures against the military junta, including targeted sanctions against members implicated in abuses and military-linked companies, referring Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, and a global arms embargo. In pressing for the release of political prisoners, all governments should raise the harassment and jailing of lawyers, and seek to improve their ability to defend those imprisoned, often for years, for peacefully protesting the junta’s abuses. “The junta authorities are making up the rules as they go, to subjugate and discredit the very people trying to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial,” Maung said. “Concerned governments should act swiftly to ensure that the courageous remaining lawyers trying to protect those rights are not silenced.” “‘Our Numbers are Dwindling’: Myanmar’s Post-Coup Crackdown on Lawyers” is available at: https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/06/08/our-numbers-are-dwindling/myanmars-post-coup-crackdown-lawyers Selected Accounts Lawyer from Yangon speaking to Human Rights Watch, October 2022: "We are heavily surveilled; we’re told [by the judges] that we can’t ask witnesses certain questions; we receive threats from prison officials, intelligence units, and random people. They take down our names, take photos of us, come to our houses, and watch from outside. The lawyers who are going into the special courts inside the prisons are harassed the most. They have all our details so there is a constant threat hanging over us." Lawyer describing to Human Rights Watch the torture and mistreatment of the senior lawyer, Tin Win Aung, during his detention at Mandalay’s Oh-Bo prison, October 2022: "His legs were stretched and cuffed in a wooden shackle. Then they would roll a heavy stick across his tibia, then they stand on his legs, so his tibia bones were fractured. They kicked his chest and back … There were also injuries like being cut with knives. His leg bones were mostly fractured. From the impact of a kick into his chest and back, his lungs were damaged too." Lawyer outside Yangon speaking to Human Rights Watch after her release, in April 2023: "They blindfolded me and took me away, to what I assume was a police station. When we got there, I was ordered to kneel down and raise my head for a photograph – they kept my hands tied behind my back. They kept me at the station for a while, then they came to take me to the interrogation place in blindfold … I was still blindfolded and forced to kneel down with my arms tied behind my back and questioned like that for hours each time." Lawyer speaking to Human Rights Watch in February 2023 shortly after she went into hiding to escape a junta-issued warrant for her arrest: "In the courtroom, I now have to worry about not getting myself detained rather than speaking the truth. This is especially true when I have to represent political cases. Everyone at the court knows who I am, and the court has all my credentials and personal information. The junta can detain me at any time, and they can and will make up any reasons they want."..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2023-06-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Description: "Hip-hop artist Byuhar, who was arrested last week after criticizing the military regime, was remanded in custody at Yangon’s North Dagon Police Station on Monday, according to a family member. A photograph of Byuhar’s badly beaten face published by pro-junta Telegram channels following his arrest had sparked rumors that he died in interrogation last week. “He has been remanded in custody until June 9 at the police station. This is all we know so far,” the family member told The Irrawaddy. Family members were notified about the remand on Sunday. They were allowed to see Byuhar on Monday and give him clothes. They said the singer was in good health, adding it was still unclear what charge the regime would file against him. According to pro-junta channels, the artist was arrested on orders from Yangon regional command. “He looks good. He told us nothing special. He only told us to take care,” said the family member. In a Facebook Live broadcast on May 23, the hip-hop artist, who is popular among youth in Myanmar, strongly criticized the military regime’s leaders and the junta-appointed Ministry of Electric Power for failing to supply enough electricity. “In the five years under the previous government led by the ‘old lady’ [ousted State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi], we enjoyed discounts on power bills and there were no power blackouts,” Byuhar said. He added that the junta had shown neither goodwill nor kindness to the people of the country. The next day, regime forces raided his apartment in Yangon’s North Dagon Township and took him into custody. Responding to his son’s arrest, Byuhar’s father, composer Naing Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy: “There are many fathers like me in Myanmar. There are also many men like my son. We are living in an age of repression.” Junta troops also raided Naing Myanmar’s house on Saturday. The composer was not at home, but the troops took his wife to the local administration office for questioning before releasing her. Since soon after the 2021 military coup, Myanmar citizens have endured the return of prolonged power outages in the country, even in the commercial capital Yangon and second-largest city, Mandalay. The situation has worsened since last year, with electricity supply reduced to three or four hours per day on a rotating basis, creating added hardship for people’s daily lives and businesses..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2023-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2023-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The junta claims she had a document connecting her to the shadow National Unity Government
Description: "Junta troops have arrested a teacher in Myanmar’s southwestern Ayeyarwady region claiming she has links to the shadow National Unity Government, according to pro-junta Telegram messaging channels. Residents of Bogale township told RFA Tuesday that 30-year-old Theint Theint Soe was arrested on May 23. She has been working as a teacher for eight years and participated in the civil disobedience movement following the February 2021 military coup, the locals said. “Her husband was arrested a week earlier. The teacher was arrested on the same day that her husband was released,” said a resident who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals. “She was arrested for allegedly supporting participants in the civil disobedience movement.” Residents said Theint Theint Soen was being held at Bogale Police Station but it was not clear what laws she had been accused of breaking. Telegram channels that support the junta said she was arrested because a document certified by the shadow National Unity Government board of education was found with her. Nearly 300 civil disobedience movement teachers have been arrested since the 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2023-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2023-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar to take up the case of a video reporter who has just been sentenced to an additional ten years in prison on a terrorism charge for covering a flash mob protest in Yangon. The special rapporteur should press for new sanctions against Myanmar’s generals, RSF says. The ten-year sentence was passed on 26 May on Myanmar Press Photo Agency video reporter Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun in the utmost secrecy inside Insein prison, a notorious jail located in a northern suburb of Yangon, Myanmar largest city. Asking not to be identified, her lawyer told RSF that Hmu Yadanar was convicted under article 50 (j) of Myanmar’s terrorism law, which penalises the “financing of terrorism.” She was already given a three-year sentence under a separate penal code charge last December. All she did was film a flash mob-style protest in Yangon on 5 December 2021 that had been organised on social media. Despite sustaining serious head and leg injuries when soldiers ran her down with a military vehicle as she filmed the protest, she has been held ever since. “By imposing this additional ten-year sentence on Hmu Yadanar, the military junta led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has yet again demonstrated the extraordinary scale of the tyranny to which reporters are subjected to Myanmar. We urge Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to take up this high symbolic case in order to seek effective international sanctions against its military rulers. Daniel Bastard Head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk The three-year sentence that Hmu Yadanar already received last December was imposed on a charge of inciting rebellion under article 505 (a) of the penal code. Her lawyer said she has decided not to appeal against her latest sentence to avoid giving an appeal court any chance to lengthen it. Hmu Yadanar is one of a total of 70 journalists and media workers currently held in Myanmar’s prisons, according to RSF’s press freedom barometer..."
Source/publisher: Reporters Without Borders (Paris)
2023-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2023-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "24 May 2023: PEN International is dismayed at the decision of Myanmar’s military junta to sentence writer, activist, and PEN Myanmar member, Wai Moe Naing to 20 years’ imprisonment for committing high treason. Already serving a 34-year prison sentence following several convictions in retaliation for his peaceful advocacy against the military coup of 1 February 2021, this latest unjust conviction follows rushed legal proceedings that violated fair trial norms. PEN International continues to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those unjustly detained by the military junta for their peaceful expression in Myanmar, including Wai Moe Naing. On 19 May 2023, Wai Moe Naing was convicted of high treason for his role as a protest leader and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment under Article 122 of Myanmar’s Penal Code, narrowly avoiding a potential death sentence. Already serving a sentence of 34 years’ imprisonment, this latest ruling results in a combined total of 54 years in prison. ‘From the military junta's efforts to silence Wai Moe Naing, it is obvious that the regime fears his voice. When he was first assaulted and detained in April 2021, he was engaged in non-violent advocacy, holding peaceful rallies in order to explain how the military's seizure of power violated Myanmar's undemocratic 2008 constitution. It is a cruel injustice that Wai Moe Naing has been convicted of high treason by the same regime that has so brutally betrayed the people of Myanmar. We demand his immediate and unconditional release’, said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee. A further trial on a remaining charge of murder remains. The charge is reported to relate to the killing of two police officers in the Monywa district, in central Myanmar but no evidence has emerged that links Wai Moe Naing to the crime. Wai Moe Naing’s friends and family have rejected the accusation of murder on the strongest possible terms. As reported previously, two of Wai Moe Naing’s legal representatives have been arrested, with many others now unwilling to represent him out of fear of retaliation from the military junta, raising ongoing concerns over Wai Moe Naing’s ability to defend himself according to international fair trial norms. PEN International considers that Wai Moe Naing’s long-term imprisonment represents a complete disregard of his right to a fair trial and is illustrative of the military junta’s willingness to use Myanmar’s legal system as a means to further its repression of dissenting voices. Background Wai Moe Naing is a writer, activist, and member of PEN Myanmar. He began writing as a student, with his first short story being published in Teen Magazine at the age of 13. His writing has since been published in several literary outlets, including Khit Yanantthit Magazine and Pae Tin Tharn Journal. Prior to the military coup in February 2021, Wai Moe Naing had already developed a reputation as a committed non-violent activist due to his long-standing involvement student unions and youth groups, which included his affiliation with the Peacock Generation, a satirical poetry troupe who had several of its members detained in 2019 for allegedly criticising the military during a performance. In the immediate aftermath of the military coup, Wai Moe Naing rose to prominence as a leader of the anti-coup protest movement and was among those who popularised the idea of banging pots and pans as a non-violent act of resistance to the military junta’s rule. Wai Moe Naing was arrested on 15 April 2021 by junta forces after they reportedly used an unmarked vehicle to ram Wai Moe Naing while he was driving on a moped as part of a protest rally in the Monywa district. When he tried to escape on foot, a group of armed men disembarked and attacked him and a female protestor before detaining them both. On 12 August 2022, Wai Moe Naing was found guilty of multiple counts of incitement under section 505(A) of Myanmar’s Penal Code, which has been routinely used by the military junta to target critics of the regime. Following his conviction, Wai Moe Naing was initially sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. According to reports, Wai Moe Naing did not appeal the court’s ruling, stating that the allegations were not committed by him, so there was nothing to appeal. On 20 October 2022, Wai Moe Naing was sentenced to a further four years’ imprisonment on an additional count of incitement and for violating Article 25 of Natural Disaster Management Law, a charge that has been cynically used to clamp down on public rallies following the authorities' classification of COVID-19 as a 'natural disaster'. On 5 April 2023, Wai Moe Naing was convicted of several charges, including rioting, robbery and incitement, and sentenced to a further 20 years’ imprisonment, resulting in a cumulative total of 34 years in prison. For more information about PEN International’s work on Myanmar please see Impunity Reigns – Writers resist, PEN International’s 2022 Case List, which documents 115 cases of persecuted writers worldwide, including Wai Moe Naing..."
Source/publisher: PEN International
2023-05-26
Date of entry/update: 2023-05-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: An excerpt from Advox research on digital authoritarianism in Myanmar
Description: "Authoritarian regimes have long had a complicated relationship with media and communications technologies. The Unfreedom Monitor is a Global Voices Advox research initiative examining the growing phenomenon of networked or digital authoritarianism. This extract is of the executive summary of the report on Myanmar, from the series of reports to come out of the research under the Unfreedom Monitor. Read the full report here. The classic debate about whether technology is neutral or not has continued to be widely discussed in the 21st century. Alongside the rise of authoritarianism in general, digital authoritarianism has become a phenomenon of note throughout the world. This report is going to explore characteristics of digital authoritarianism in Myanmar. First, in order to provide the political context of Myanmar, a brief history of democratisation of the country is discussed. After that, the political aggressions that came along with the military coup in 2021 are explained in detail. Then, the report analyses the situation of digital authoritarianism in Myanmar, discussing the oppressive behaviour of the government in cyberspace at length. There are five categories of digital repression of the Myanmar military: internet shutdowns, online censorship, surveillance, targeted persecution of online users, and social media manipulation and disinformation. Against this backdrop comes the digital resistance to the dictatorship by the people of Myanmar through circumvention, migration to and from platforms, and innovative crowdfunding initiatives by the resistance, among others. The intent of this report is to provide a general understanding of digital authoritarianism in Myanmar amid the political unrest as well as a sense of technology’s role in repression by and resistance to a dictatorship. *** By learning about both the repression and resistance sides of Myanmar’s Spring Revolution, it is evident that digital technology is playing a critical role in this revolution. The military is using every possible technology to repress people, inject fear into society and manipulate it. The revolutionists are also employing digital technology to circumvent the restrictions of the military and to employ innovative ways to build the state. The digital resilience of its society will be one of the determining factors of the revolution of Myanmar. This scenario of digital repression is one of the many manifestations that indicate that cyberspace has become a new sovereign territory different from land, sea and air. Information freedom, internet freedom, digital literacy, and media literacy cannot be taken for granted anymore as they now have an impact on people’s physical and digital survival. Therefore, Myanmar’s ongoing revolution to fight against the military’s dictatorship is not just physical anymore — the fact is that whoever harnesses the power of technology in the right way will become the game changer of the revolution..."
Source/publisher: Global Voices
2023-05-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-05-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 2.78 MB (Original version) - 19 pages
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Description: "Responding to news that Myanmar’s military authorities have pardoned 2,153 prisoners jailed under a law that makes it illegal to encourage dissent against the military, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns Ming Yu Hah said: “This long overdue release should mark the first step towards the immediate release of all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained for exercising their basic rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly or other human rights. Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about the further thousands of individuals who are still unjustly languishing in prisons across the country where they face torture and other ill-treatment. “Anyone imprisoned for peacefully opposing the military coup in Myanmar should never have been jailed in the first place. Upon release they should be provided with the necessary medical, psychological and social support to help them recover from their ordeal. Peaceful dissent is not a crime, it is a human right. “Prisoners released today were charged and sentenced under a law specifically used by the military to smother dissent after the coup. However, the military warned it would detain them again if they are deemed to have committed the same ‘crime’ in the future, which effectively places a chilling effect on many people wanting to exercise their basic rights and freedoms.” Background: Myanmar’s military authorities on Wednesday pardoned 2,153 prisoners serving sentences under the 505(a) section of the criminal code. The law makes it illegal to promote dissent against the military and has been widely enforced since the military coup on 1 February 2021. The military said in a statement it was pardoning the prisoners on “humanitarian” grounds to mark a Buddhist holiday, but that those who reoffended would be jailed again. It did not provide names of those released. Myanmar’s military has arrested more than 21,000 people since the coup and more than 17,000 are still detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The detainees include many senior leaders of the ousted civilian government as well as journalists, human rights defenders and medical workers. Since the coup on 1 February 2021, Amnesty International has documented widespread human rights violations, including war crimes and possible crimes against humanity as part of the military’s crackdown on the opposition across the country. Amnesty International’s 2022 report “15 Days Felt like 15 Years” documented the situation after the coup inside prisons and interrogation facilities. It showed that torture and other ill-treatment was routinely used to punish dissent..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2023-04-03
Date of entry/update: 2023-05-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today marks the second anniversary since ASEAN agreed on the Five Point Consensus in response to the military coup in Myanmar. The Myanmar military has ignored calls from the international community to stop the violence. Moreover, since the coup, the Myanmar military has committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. ASEAN leaders must step up and address the situation in Myanmar without further delay. Amnesty International has assessed ASEAN’s five points consensus using concrete evidence as examples where relevant, and highlights its failures: 1) First, there shall be immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and all parties shall exercise utmost restraint. The Myanmar military authorities executed at least four people, sentenced at least 123 people to death, and arrested 21,334 people – with 17,446 people still detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). The security forces tortured detainees, killed at least 3,239 people, including unlawful attacks killing and injuring civilians through the use of deadly air strikes, extrajudicial executions, artillery shelling, banned landmines, and cluster munitions. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), since the coup, the fighting has displaced 1.4 million people inside the country, burned or destroyed 60,000 civilian properties and pushed 75,400 people to seek refuge in neighboring countries. The military authorities also detained and imprisoned at least 2,000 Rohingyas since the coup for ‘unauthorized travel’ outside of Rakhine State. These numbers illustrate the fact that the Myanmar military does not plan to cease violence or exercise restraint against civilians. 2) Second, constructive dialogue among all parties concerned shall commence to seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people. In July 2022, the Myanmar military executed four people, including an activist and one member of the National League for Democracy (NLD). As of December 2022, the Myanmar military sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to 33 years in prison in grossly unfair trials, in completely untransparent procedures. In October, Magway District Court sentenced ex-NLD parliamentarian Win Myint Hlaing to 148 years in prison on terror-related charges. Around the same time, activists Aung Khant, Kyaw Thet and Hnin Maung were sentenced to prison terms of between 95 and 225 years under the Counter-Terrorism Law. Likewise, the Myanmar military continues to target and imprison politicians from the opposition groups. The Myanmar military authorities are using the justice system as an oppressive tool to silence and collectively punish any voice of dissent. On 7 April 2023, Reverend Samson, Kachin religious and community leader, was sentenced to six years in prison on charges of unlawful association, defamation and terrorism. These charges are used as a tool by the Myanmar military to silence and punish people for exercising their freedom of speech. A constructive dialogue is not possible if people are unfairly imprisoned and arbitrarily detained. The Myanmar military must release all those detained and imprisoned for their peaceful opposition to the coup and to the military’s human rights violations. 3) Third, a special envoy of the ASEAN Chair shall facilitate mediation of the dialogue process, with the assistance of the Secretary General of ASEAN. In March 2022, the ASEAN Special Envoy for Myanmar visited Myanmar for the first time. The Special Envoy met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, but the military reportedly denied him to meet with any civil society groups, or members of the NLD, which had won the most seats in the 2020 election. The Myanmar military also rejected the Special Envoy’s request to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi. This failure to meet with anyone other than the Myanmar military leadership shows that ASEAN has not been able to facilitate mediation. 4) Fourth, ASEAN shall provide humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre. In October 2022, the Myanmar military enacted the Organization Registration Law, severely restricting the right to freedom of association by imposing criminal penalties on national and international humanitarian organizations if they do not register with the authorities. The enactment severely impedes desperately needed humanitarian aid. Amnesty International has documented the military authorities obstructing lifesaving humanitarian aid through cumbersome administrative restrictions and attacking camps for internally displaced people. Massive aerial bombing, indiscriminate shelling, and massacres by the military are causing large numbers of casualties and displacements – further increasing the need for humanitarian assistance. UNOCHA estimates that a total of 17.6 million people, including more than nine million women and girls, would require humanitarian assistance in 2023. In December 2021, two humanitarian workers were among those killed in a massacre by the military in Kayah State. UNOCHA’s end year report also indicates that “Myanmar recorded the second highest number of aid workers killed globally in 2022, and the fourth highest number of aid workers injured”. The AHA Centre has also failed to provide anywhere close to adequate humanitarian assistance to the population in need. 5) Fifth, the special envoy and delegation shall visit Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned. See point 2 and 3 above. In response to ASEAN’s failure to implement the five-point consensus, Amnesty International urges ASEAN and ASEAN member states to make the following recommendations to the Myanmar military: 1) Immediately stop dropping aerial bombs on civilians and carrying out indiscriminate attacks by ground and air in violation of international humanitarian law. 2) Lift internet blackouts, administrative and other arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid, stop attacks on humanitarian workers, and allow unimpeded access to national and international humanitarian organizations, so that they can reach all civilians in need. 3) Release all detainees arbitrarily detained or unjustly imprisoned through grossly unfair trials since the coup. 4) Immediately halt acts of intimidation, arrests, or torture and other ill-treatment of media workers, healthcare workers and others who peacefully joined the Civil Disobedience Movement. 5) Release all Rohingyas arbitrarily detained for exercising their right to freedom of movement and halt the military’s role in any plans to forcibly return Rohingyas from Cox’s Bazar and Bashan Char camps..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2023-04-24
Date of entry/update: 2023-04-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
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Description: "Myanmar’s military regime has sentenced jailed anti-junta protest leader Ko Wai Moe Naing to an additional 20 years in prison, according to sources close to him. The 28-year-old pro-democracy activist has now been sentenced to 34 years in total, having already been given a 14 year sentence for four charges including incitement and under the Natural Disaster Management Law at trials in August and October last year. Ko Wai Moe Naing, a former student union leader, has been held in Monywa Prison, Sagaing Region since his arrest in April 2021 during an anti-regime rally. On April 5, a junta court in Monywa Prison sentenced Ko Wai Moe Naing to 20 years under five more charges including robbery, rioting and carrying a deadly weapon in a crowd. The activist defended himself at the trial as neither of his two lawyers was able to attend. One has been detained, while the other is in hiding after being made the subject of an arrest warrant. He also has been charged with treason under Article 122 of the Penal Code for leading protests in Monywa and for being affiliated with the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a grouping of deposed lawmakers that the junta has declared an unlawful organization. Anyone convicted under Article 122 faces a death sentence or life imprisonment. Ko Wai Moe Naing also faces one charge of murder. As of Friday, 3,225 people had been killed by junta forces while 21,276 including elected government leaders have been arrested or detained since the Myanmar military’s 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors deaths and arrests under the regime..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2023-04-08
Date of entry/update: 2023-04-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar’s journalists are rebuilding independent media with one foot in the country, and one foot out, writes Laure Siegel.
Description: "As Myanmar’s bloody coup ticks over into its third year, local journalists continue to struggle to sustain and build independent media voices in support of democracy both inside the country and in the growing refugee diaspora. It’s an evolving ecosystem depending on an underground network, including citizen journalists, philanthropic support, experimentation in distribution and voices — and raw courage in the face of a violent oppression by the Tatmadaw military junta. The military broke the old system. “I didn’t want to give up this job. But since the coup, journalists can’t report freely and have to worry about their and their relatives’ safety. So I had to flee.” says a young woman print and TV reporter, now in Thailand. Journalists were among the first to be hunted down after the military coup, led by General Min Aung Hlaing on February 1, 2021, along with opposition politicians, social workers and activists. In the two years since, four journalists — all working in local media or as freelancers — have been killed and 145 arrested. About 60 remain in detention. It effectively dismantled the network of democratic media that had spread across the country over the previous decade. Instead, the Myanmar junta became the world’s biggest jailer of journalists relative to population. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists listed Myanmar as the eighth worst country worldwide for impunity for crimes against journalists. An independent media emerges Still, the military’s attempts to control the media landscape did not stop a surge in independent outlets and content creation. This period also observed a decrease in popularity of state-controlled media. Two years after the coup, the top media by audience remain the trusted four: BBC Burmese, Mizzima, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and Voice of America (VOA). All struggle to monetize this audience, especially as digital advertising prices have collapsed in Myanmar. One million online impressions earns media companies $US10, compared to $US570 in Europe and $US130 in Thailand. Social media distribution has been constrained as Meta’s platforms have been banned in Myanmar.Now, only half of the country’s internet users who have access to VPNs can still access Meta. According to a survey by the News Consulting Group, only a third of Myanmar Meta users actively use Facebook as a main source of news. “We have problems with Facebook because they don’t understand that we are covering a war so they regularly categorise our account as “Page at risk”. But only local media are punished for community violations when they publish videos of violent acts, not the big media. So when they block our audience, even though we have one million followers, we only reach 1000 people per post”.- founder of local media covering Myanmar central plains As the usual revenue models of subscriptions, advertisements and events are denied independent media, most have turned to philanthropic grants to remain sustainable. This has created an imbalance between the mainly English-language national media and the more poorly resourced, mostly local, media in Myanmar’s languages who lack staff dedicated to accounting or human resource management. Delays in transferring funds also disadvantages reporters relying on grants for their income: We know how to write stories but we don’t know how to write proposals or grant forms. Our English skills are not good enough to fulfill the diverse requirements of international organizations, so we get less financial support than the big national media. — a local editor. Most independent media have been forced to operate underground or abroad, mainly in Thailand, Bangladesh and India. At least a thousand Burmese journalists are estimated to live in exile since the coup, including a third in Thailand, often without refugee protections or the legal status that would allow them to pursue professional or educational opportunities. Their properties in Myanmar can still be seized and destroyed and their relatives are vulnerable to being taken hostage to impose pressure to keep quiet. It’s a “one foot in, one foot out” model that brings big challenges. Despite those challenges, Myanmar’s journalists keep performing their duty of keeping their communities informed. In-country, local media keeps providing a key link. “Local media have built a very reliable network of sources over the years: they are our friends, relatives, neighbours. Even the media based in exile on the borderlands can still use the Myanmar telecom network to reach sources inside the country,” local editor. They face greater risks, too, and have a responsibility to protect those sources — including from unwanted exposure by national or international media. Hundreds of trainers conduct online and in-person capacity-building training sessions in mobile reporting, investigation, digital safety and feature writing. Organizations such as Myanmar Witness or the Center for Law and Democracy teach both citizen journalists and professional journalists to gather evidence of war crimes that could be used in international court cases. Despite the electricity and Internet cuts, new distribution formats are being tested and developed, such as SMS, newsletters and podcasts. One prominent example is Kaladan media, the first Rohingya News Agency, which has been based in Bangladesh since 2001. They are one of the founders of the Burma News International (BNI), a network of fifteen independent media groups led by exiled Burmese journalists in India, Bangladesh and Thailand that was launched in 2003. “We have been consistently challenging, monitoring and investigating the Burma Army Islamophobic narrative. During anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar, our website was hacked for six months and we were blocked on Facebook numerous times because of some users abusively reporting us. Our people don’t have easy access to the Internet so we launched a 30 minutes daily news bulletin, which is broadcasted in communal meeting places in refugee camps via loudspeakers.” — Tin Soe, editor-in-chief of the Kaladan Press Network explains. Frontier Myanmar continues to run Doh Athan (“Our Voice”) program and local media such as Delta News Agency for the Irrawaddy region and Myaelatt Athan for Sagaing and Magway regions launched podcasts and weekly TV shows. “We have three podcasts, one about news, one about healthcare and one is called ‘Letter from People Defence Forces’. We are reading on-air letters of pro-democracy fighters to their relatives or girlfriends. It’s a nice format that allows us to connect them with the people as they are trying to survive underground and are isolated from everyone”. A representative for Myaelatt Athan. Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd, Adjunct Fellow at the East-West Center emphasises: “A successful revolution is at least 75% communication. In the context of Myanmar, I see the way forward as systematising the defection of soldiers, focusing on people’s support and keeping up the international interest”. In the spirit of building bridges between skills and nationalities, the collective Visual Rebellion Myanmar was co-founded after the coup by Burmese media students and international creatives. A newsroom of journalists and artists based inside Myanmar and around the world produces together in-depth features, research reports, photo stories and documentaries about the impact of the coup from a human perspective. Some of the best content is adapted and translated to other languages, such as a series for French investigative outlet Mediapart. Visual Rebellion is committed to prioritize story angles where people are agents and not only victims of their fates. This includes the unionization of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, the founding of a photo-magazine by Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, women fighting frontline battles and grassroots coping mechanisms for surviving the economic crisis generated by the coup. After a year-long scorched-earth campaign in the central plains by military troops, one member of the collective who is native to the area, explained: “I can’t write about dead bodies and burned villages anymore because it is repetitive in its horror, it publicises terrorist actions by the junta which has a deep impact on the moral of the people and it has a huge impact on my mental health as I know the areas and people targeted very well since childhood. We need to find other ways to tell the story”. As it is estimated that 75 percent of the stories published by Burmese media are coup or conflict related, several audience surveys show a phenomenon of “coup-fatigue”. People would rather read about topics such as commodity prices, health, education and agriculture, as well as weather, refugees, business and international affairs. Local journalists on the front line As most international and national media pulled out their staff out of Myanmar, they rely for on the ground information on citizen reporters who sent information, pictures and videos from their phones and are poorly paid, or not paid at all. It’s forcing a division in the Myanmar media community with different treatment between management-level editors who are often safely re-based abroad and on-the-ground, junior reporters survive on their own in precarious situations. National and international media often use content gathered by local media without compensation. “Relying on non-professional media workers carries big risks: they struggle with emotional distance, take low-resolution pictures, send them to all media houses and then face copyright issues, some share names of sources online and most are not trained enough to check accuracy. Digital, physical, psycho-social and legal safety is a precondition for producing professional journalism and local citizens can’t fill the void without being given the proper tools.” — Toby Mendel, executive director for the Center of Law and Democracy The pauperization of the information sector post-coup has pushed down media rates and professional reporters still present in the country now get offered citizen reporter wages. Media workers lack the negotiating power and industry body to obtain fair wages and safety measures, as denounced in the Anti-Theft Wage Campaign by the International Federation of Journalists, The division drives internal mistrust. The founder of a local media in hiding in a Thai-Myanmar border town, says: “We try to identify military propaganda accounts by the terms they use to refer to the junta. We also know that some “journalists” come to border towns in Thailand to spy on real reporters in exile and report to the military back in Myanmar. Some journalists who were working for pro-military newspapers even get hired by independent media houses nowadays because there is no background check and clearance process anymore. Now anyone can apply for a media job via Messenger by sending some pictures and footage and claiming experience after having attended a two-week training for Citizen Reporters. A group of reporters in exile has started a consultative process with independent media houses with the goal of creating a new MPC and Code of Conduct, freed from business or military chains, be it from the Burmese army or opposition forces. They also lobby the body in charge of drafting a Federal Democracy Charter, to include a clause about press freedom and journalism protection in the future Constitution. Whichever political situation emerges from the ongoing conflict, the journalistic community is already engaged in healthy debates about implementing policies of self-regulation, rethinking ownership structure and pushing for inclusion as well as gender and ethnic diversity. A balance between external support and internal reflection is the way for Myanmar media to survive the war of information that is raging in the country..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: International Press Institute
2023-03-15
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Key Event Details: Location of Incident: Kyauktada township (ကျောက်တံတား), Yangon city (ရန်ကုန်) [16.776670, 96.163171]. Chanayethazan township (ချမ်းအေးသာဇံ), Mandalay (မန္တလေး), [21.989303, 96.071360]. Date/Time of Incident: 7 March 2021 Alleged Perpetrator(s) and/or Involvement: Myanmar Police and military personnel Yangon Division, Operation Command Headquarters No. 4 Summary of Investigation: Myanmar Witness has verified footage of events in both Yangon and Mandalay which show individuals being beaten repeatedly by men wearing police and military uniforms. At the incident in Yangon, insignia worn by the military indicates that they were from the Yangon Division of Operation Command Headquarters No.4. At the incident in Mandalay, Myanmar Witness has verified footage of a person being beaten, kicked, and dragged across the road by several men wearing police and military uniforms, including uniforms belonging to Lon Htein (Riot Police) battalion 4.....Executive Summary: In the months following the February 2021 military coup, Myanmar Witness documented and verified footage of police and military violence against individuals. This mini-series of spot reports documents five separate incidents in Yangon, Mandalay and Sagaing in February and March 2021. The case studies show police and military personnel beating unarmed individuals, including those already in detention; harassment, intimidation and arrest of medical workers; and the infliction of degrading treatment. They also show evidence of coordination between police and violence by men in civilian clothes. Analysis of rank and insignia clearly visible in the footage enables attribution of responsibility for the violence to the Lon Htein (Riot Security Forces), soldiers from Myanmar military’s Yangon Command, and the 101 Light Infantry Battalion. Additionally, ranking police officers were identified in two incidents. In the third report of the series, Myanmar Witness has verified footage from two separate incidents showing individuals being beaten by men wearing police and military uniforms. At the incident in Yangon, insignia worn by the military indicates that they were from the Yangon Division of Operation Command Headquarters No.4. At the incident in Mandalay, Myanmar Witness has verified footage of a person being beaten, kicked, and dragged across the road by several men wearing police and military uniforms, including uniforms belonging to Lon Htein (Riot Police) battalion 4. These examples of police and military brutality are being released to mark two years passing since their occurrence, but they are by no means exhaustive. Myanmar Witness has documented other instances of police and military harassment since the coup, which has been documented in several reports, including: Violence against protestors in North Okkalapa, Bago, and Hlaing Tharyar; and, the deaths of multiple female protestors, including Ma Kyal Sin (Angel) and Daw Tinnwe.....Kyauktada township, Yangon: The investigation walkthrough Myanmar Witness has verified multiple pieces of user-generated content which show individuals being beaten repeatedly by a group of Myanmar police and military personnel. By analysing a number of allegations alongside these two disparate sources, it appears that these events took place on 7 March 2021. In footage posted by Tachileik News, multiple people beat individuals who appear to be crouched down in a defensive stance (as seen in figure 1). Additional footage allegedly from the same day shows the same group of people from a different angle. Multiple protests did occur on this day in Yangon; however, Myanmar Witness cannot confirm that these individuals were protestors or engaged in protest. Below is a comparison of two stills from the two alternative videos showing the same people - identified within both images by coloured boxes.....Geolocating the incident: By analysing identifiable features in the two videos, Myanmar Witness was able to identify where these individuals were beaten to the corner where Anawrahta Road and Seikkantha Street meet, in Yangon.....Attribution: Myanmar Police and Myanmar military: As seen in the video stills above, there were several police and military personnel involved. By analysing the uniform of the personnel involved in this event, Myanmar Witness was able to identify a high-ranking police officer present at the scene, and the command of the military personnel. The police officer is wearing a vest and there are clear signs that he has at least two stars on his shoulder rank slide, indicating that he is either a police lieutenant, or a police captain. The military personnel involved in the incident are wearing a patch on their left arms. Myanmar Witness has been able to identify this as the Yangon Division of Operation Command Headquarters No. 4. Visual confirmation of the match can be seen in Figure 5.....Chanayethazan township, Mandalay The investigation walk through: Footage emerged on social media on 7 March 2021 showing a person dressed in white being beaten, kicked and then dragged across a road by men in Myanmar military uniforms. The events allegedly took place at a ‘multi-school strike’ and led to the arrests and beating of multiple students. Khit Thit media claims that the individual depicted was a second year paramedical student. Myanmar Witness identified multiple videos and images showing several angles of this specific incident. In the first video, the group of Myanmar military personnel and police are seen kicking the body (source redacted due to privacy concerns), and in the second video they are seen dragging the body away.This specific case is concerning given the level of violence inflicted on the person already in police custody. The individual is clearly injured and after being dragged, one police member continued to strike the individual, who was lying motionless, with a stick (as seen in figure 7). Additional images shared by the Voice of Myanmar show the same individual on the floor as the Myanmar police beat him. By comparing the Khit Thit Media video with the images released by the Voice of Myanmar, it is possible to determine that this is the same incident. They show the same individual being beaten, the same security forces, and it is in the same location (as seen by figure 9). Other images shared on the same day show students from Mandalay’s Technology University protesting, wearing similar white outfits and helmets as the individual being beaten in the figures above.....Geolocating and chronolocating the incident: Myanmar Witness geolocated the footage to Pinya Street, using features seen in the background of the video, such as the small black sign indicating “Love House” and Hotel Iceland, in front of which the violence took place. The location of the shadows cast by the men and the utility poles indicates that the footage was filmed around noon.....Attribution: Myanmar military, police and Riot Police: Members of the Myanmar military, police and Lon Htein (Riot police) are visible within the footage analysed. While the specific units of the military personnel cannot be determined, Lon Htein personnel can be identified by the red scarves tied around their necks. The blue circle on the red scarf states the battalion number; in this case the individuals appear to be from battalion 4.....Conclusion and future monitoring: The Myanmar Police and military were accused of widespread brutality against protestors and civilians following the coup. The excessive violence shown towards individuals as shown in this report signals a culture within both the Myanmar military and the police. Similar acts of brutality occurred in multiple locations on the same day. This mini-series of spot reports documents five separate incidents in February and March 2021 where the police and military have harassed or mistreated individuals. While these examples are by no means exhaustive, they capture a number of violent tactics employed by the Myanmar security forces to quell rebellion against the coup..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Witness
2023-03-07
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In early February, four members of an anti-junta group in the Myanmar city of Mandalay said they received a secret, one-page, handwritten note spirited out of a prison that details two days of clashes and beatings of female political prisoners. The note, received by the "Anti-Junta Forces Coordination Committee - Mandalay" and since seen by Reuters, provides the first detailed account of a crackdown on defiant female prisoners inside Mandalay's Obo prison that left scores of women injured, according to six activists and lawyers who work with political prisoners. Two family members of prison inmates contacted the anti-junta group after being told by prison authorities that they couldn't send food and packages to relatives, the four anti-junta group members said. The group started looking into the matter and, within days, received the note, the four members said. Two lawyers, two family members of inmates and the human rights minister from Myanmar's exiled parallel civilian government confirmed the information contained in the note. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the note or the details it contains. A spokesman for Myanmar's military government that has ruled since seizing power in 2021 and two prison department officers did not answer repeated calls over two days from Reuters seeking comment. The junta has previously denied holding political prisoners, saying people in jail broke the law and were sentenced after due legal process. Human rights organizations have frequently criticized the hearings as kangaroo courts. Inside the prison, which rights activists say houses some 2,000 political inmates including 330 women, an altercation between an inmate and a prison official on Feb. 3 led to around 150 male prison guards arriving with slingshots, batons and bamboo sticks, the note, written in Burmese, said. "During that incident, more than 100 female political prisoners were seriously injured including a broken arm, eye injuries and facial bruises," the note said. The following day, some female prisoners and prison guards faced off again, leading to another bout of violent clashes, according to the note and the lawyers, activists and family members who spoke to Reuters. They said they obtained the information from around a dozen people, including prison wardens, medical staff and inmates. Serious injuries All four activists declined to reveal exactly how the note was smuggled out, citing risk to individuals involved in the process and fearful that such routes to leak information from inside the prison may be blocked by authorities. The activists and lawyers said the note, and the details of the clashes on Feb. 3-4 they pieced together from conversations with prison staff and others, afforded a rare insight into what they described as harsh conditions faced by thousands of prisoners across Myanmar under military rule, including women, who are often given limited food and medicines. The activists, lawyers and family members interviewed by Reuters asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions as they are working inside Myanmar. In the second week of February, the parallel civilian government said in a social media post that 150 male guards at Obo prison had "violently beaten up" women inmates, supporting the version of events that the activists, lawyers and family members separately provided to Reuters. Of the 100 female inmates injured in the clashes, all aged between 20 and 35, 21 were seriously injured, including six who were hit in the head, according to activists and lawyers. The smuggled note did not specify injuries or provide such detailed figures. Myanmar's jails were inundated by new prisoners in 2021 after the junta seized power from the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a wave of protests that has morphed into a guerrilla resistance movement. Accused by local and international rights activists of rampant abuses in its response, the junta has said that it has a duty to ensure peace and security, and that it is carrying out a legitimate campaign against “terrorists”. The junta has imprisoned around 16,000 people, more than 3,000 of them women, as of Feb. 28, according to the non-profit Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. 'They used men' to guard women Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister in Myanmar's exiled parallel civilian government, said Obo prison authorities had violated prison rules by using male guards to handle female inmates. "As these people are women prisoners, they have to be handled by women prison guards. But they used men,” he told Reuters, echoing similar allegations made separately by activists and lawyers. Male guards cannot enter dormitories housing female inmates without the presence of women guards and female inmates cannot be physically beaten, according to a copy of a nationwide prison rule book published in 1992 seen by Reuters. Reuters could not independently verify if there were any female guards present during the incidents on Feb. 3-4 or if the rule book remains current. "They used excessive force," Aung Myo Min said, adding that his ministry had investigated the violence at Obo prison. He declined to explain how the investigation was conducted and offered no evidence to support the allegation. The anti-junta group and two Mandalay-based lawyers who work with political prisoners said those involved in the violence were also denied medical care. "They refused to give medicines to the injured prisoners after beating them severely. We had to use under-the-table methods to be able to send medicine," one lawyer said. Reuters could not independently verify that information. After the violence, 72 female political prisoners were isolated from other inmates at Obo and dozens were transferred to other jails without their families being notified, according to three activists, two lawyers and two family members..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK) via "VOA" (Washington, D.C)
2023-03-10
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Chinese Communist Party plays ‘leading role’ in promoting autocracy, think tank says.
Description: "The Chinese Communist Party plays “a leading role in promoting authoritarian norms” around the world as some leaders show a willingness to collaborate in spreading new forms of repression, according to a report from Washington-based think tank Freedom House. However, even as democratic freedom suffers global setbacks, fundamental rights continue to have “an appeal and capacity for renewal” in places like Myanmar, where people have shown they are willing to risk their lives in pursuit of freedom, the report found. Among the 56 countries listed as “Not Free” around the world, North Korea, China and Myanmar were listed as among “the worst of the worst.” Additionally, out of 39 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, nine were listed as “not free” and 13 were deemed only “partly free.” “Political rights and civil liberties declined across the region as authoritarian forces moved to consolidate their power,” the report said. “The trend was most dramatic in Afghanistan and Myanmar, where elected civilian leaders were forced from office.” The report noted the arrests in early 2022 of prominent pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong who took part in primary elections to consolidate the democratic opposition. They continued to be detained through December’s Legislative Council balloting – something that Freedom House said “underscored Beijing’s success in dismantling the territory’s semi-democratic institutions.” Crackdowns in Asia also affected journalists and civil society movements, especially in countries whose institutions were already vulnerable, the report said. China, Myanmar “In China, one of the world’s most restrictive media environments, journalists faced heightened scrutiny and rigorous political indoctrination when attempting to renew their press licenses, and even individuals who engaged in solitary forms of protest were punished with prison sentences,” it said. The biggest contraction in freedom took place in Myanmar, which has seen the widespread arrests of civilian political leaders following the 2021 military coup d’etat, Freedom House said. “Over a thousand people have been killed as security forces crack down on pro-democracy protests, and thousands of others have been thrown in jail and tortured,” the report said. “The military authorities imposed curfews, repeatedly shut down the internet, raided universities, and searched for human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists to arrest.” The country’s recent turmoil is “another sign that international deterrents against antidemocratic behavior are losing force,” the report said. However, Freedom House noted that “a widespread civil disobedience movement against the military coup has persisted in the face of violent reprisals.” Resistance has denied the military regime “legitimacy and crippled its ability to function as a government, reflecting both the people’s commitment to democracy and the power it gives them to shape events.” In Singapore, authorities forced one of the few independent news outlets to close after its license was suspended. And in Thailand, authorities expanded their ability to prosecute people for publishing news that could incite fear in the public. China’s leading role Worldwide, the enemies of liberal democracy “are accelerating their attacks” as regimes “have become more effective at co-opting or circumventing the norms and institutions meant to support basic liberties, and at providing aid to others who wish to do the same,” the report said, noting that there have been 16 consecutive years of decline in global freedom. “The leaders of China, Russia, and other dictatorships have succeeded in shifting global incentives, jeopardizing the consensus that democracy is the only viable path to prosperity and security, while encouraging more authoritarian approaches to governance,” it said. The Chinese Communist Party “offers an alternative to democracies as a source of international support and investment, helping would-be autocrats to entrench themselves in office, adopt aspects of the CCP governance model, and enrich their regimes while ignoring principles like transparency and fair competition,” the report said. “At the same time, the CCP has used its vast economic clout and even military threats to suppress international criticism of its own violations of democratic principles and human rights, for instance by punishing governments and other foreign entities that criticize its demolition of civil liberties in Hong Kong or question its expansive territorial claims.” Freedom House pointed to a Marriott hotel’s refusal to host a November 2021 World Uyghur Congress gathering in the Czech Republic, saying it preferred to observe “political neutrality.” New Zealand’s Parliament also refrained from identifying Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang province as a genocide after the trade minister said such language could hurt economic relations with China. Turkey was once a haven for Uyghurs fleeing China, but the country “has increasingly shifted its stance to meet Beijing’s demands” by making it more difficult for Uyghurs to obtain permanent residence permits, the report found..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2023-03-09
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar’s military has arrested around 200 people in Hpakant township this month.
Description: "Army troops have arrested seven people who were using the internet in a tea shop in Myanmar’s northernmost Kachin state as the military tightens its curfew on a township with a strong ethnic militia presence. Around 20 soldiers entered the shop on Tuesday night and started beating the owner, his wife and daughter, and four people who were drinking tea there. All seven were taken into custody, according to a Hpakant town resident who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals. “The shop was about to close when the troops came in a car and arrested them,” said the local. “Someone told them the daughter was sharing political posts on Facebook.” The local said the family who owned the Shu Daung Thit Tea Shop were Soe Naing; his wife Nan Kyin; and their daughter Shoon Lae Soe. The four customers have not been identified. He told RFA the family had been selling tea in Hpakant for almost 30 years and described them as honest people. He said he didn’t know where the troops had taken them. It’s believed the raid was sparked by fighting between junta troops and Kachin Independence Army joint forces, which broke out the previous morning near a police station in Hpakant. Locals said a 40-year-old woman called Khin Ma and her 10-year-old daughter, Moe Pwint Phyu, were hit by bullets during the battle, although it's not clear which side fired them. “Both mother and daughter’s injuries are not serious,” said a woman who also declined to be named. “It would be better if they were treated in Myitkyina [township’s] hospital but they had to go to the Hpakant hospital as they were afraid of fighting on the way.” The local said the junta had been firing heavy artillery on Hpakant town in recent weeks and arresting many civilians. Hpakant is a center for gold and jade production in Myanmar and home to many businesspeople, traders and miners. It has also attracted a lot of Chinese investors who are believed to pay “taxes” to the ethnic Kachin militia in order to operate mines safely. The junta issued a curfew in Hpakant town shortly after it staged a coup in Feb. 2021 and has started enforcing it strictly this year. RFA data show that troops arrested nearly 200 civilians in the town and nearby villages this month and are still holding 40 of them. RFA called Win Ye Tun, the junta spokesman for Kachin state seeking comments on the arrest but no one answered..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2023-03-09
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "JAKARTA — Parliamentarians in Southeast Asia continue to face risk of reprisal simply for exercising their mandate or expressing their political opinions, according to the latest annual Parliamentarians At Risk report from ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), launched today in Jakarta. “The increasing risks, both physical and otherwise, faced by parliamentarians in the region are totally unacceptable and a matter of the utmost concern. Parliamentarians are the representatives of the people and their safety and freedom reflect the health of the democracies in which they work. We call on ASEAN, as well as ASEAN member states, to implement sufficient protections for them and put pressure on those governments that are arbitrarily and unjustly persecuting their lawmakers,” said Mercy Barends,member of the Indonesian House of Representatives and APHR Chair. The year 2022 saw a worsening trend for parliamentarians at risk in the region, particularly in Myanmar, where MPs face increasing dangers in the aftermath of the 1 February 2021 coup d’état. One lawmaker, Kyaw Myo Min, was tortured to death in detention and a former lawmaker, Phyo Zeya Thaw, was executed together with three political prisoners in Myanmar. The number of parliamentarians detained across Southeast Asia remains high at 85, with 84 in Myanmar and former senator Leila de Lima in the Philippines. “Even Myanmar MPs who have managed to take refuge in neighboring countries such as Thailand remain in a very precarious situation. Dozens of them are living in towns along the Thai-Myanmar border and find themselves constantly harassed by the police as undocumented migrants, in constant fear of being detained or, even worse, be repatriated to their country, where they would face arrest, likely torture or even worse, at the hands of the junta,” said Charles Santiago, former member of the Malaysian Parliament, and APHR Co-Chair. Outside of Myanmar, particularly in Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, cases of physical attacks remain rare, but governments often resort to politically motivated charges against opposition parliamentarians. Reprisals and threats are not only of a judicial nature. Parliamentarians also face online harassment, and being the victims of both disinformation campaigns as well as hate speech. In Cambodia, the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has conducted a series of mass trials and convicted more than 100 members and supporters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), including a number of former lawmakers in absentia. Political persecution and intimidation by the government against members and supporters of the opposition parties, human rights defenders, land rights and environment protection activists, and journalists are expected to continue escalating in the lead up to the next general election, expected to be held in July 2023. “Hun Sen and his party have been slowly building a one-party dictatorship over the years. The process has been so slow that few have noticed, but the signs are unmistakably clear and have resulted in an almost totalitarian state. The international community must hold Hun Sen’s government to account for its widespread human rights violations and ensure the opposition parties and their candidates are able to contest in the 2023 general election in a free and fair environment with a level playing field before it is too late,” said Kasit Piromya, former Thai Foreign Minister and APHR Board Member. Meanwhile, in Malaysia and the Philippines, online disinformation and hate speech against MPs continue to be widespread. Opposition parliamentarians in both the Philippines and Thailand also often face judicial harassment through the use of overly broad legislation, while the continued existence of draconian laws such as the Sedition Act and the Communication and Multimedia Act in Malaysia remain a threat that hangs over the heads of potential government critics. “The use of laws as weapons against politicians is nothing but a perversion of the rule of law, one of the cornerstones of a democracy. In several countries across Southeast Asia, laws and courts are used as instruments of those in power, rather than what they should be: instruments to prevent or stop abuses. It is necessary to hold those governments that abuse their power to account and make them understand that they are not above the law,” said Mu Sochua, former member of parliament from Cambodia and APHR Board Member..."
Source/publisher: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
2023-03-04
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” Albert Camus JAKARTA – In June 1994, the Indonesian government banned three news weeklies --Detik, Editor and Tempo -- triggering a nationwide protest against the government’s repressive regulations against newspapers. Hundreds of young reporters protested against the closures, demanding that the state-sanctioned Indonesian Journalist Association (Persatuan Wartawan Indonesia) should ask President Soeharto to revoke the ban. Being a politically captured group, the PWI instead issued a news release saying that it “understood” Soeharto’s decision. More than 100 angry journalists, including some senior journalists and columnists, decided to challenge the repressive state by setting up a new union, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen). I was one of the group who gathered in August 1994, in a villa in Sirnagalih village, outside Jakarta, where we declared that we wanted to promote press freedom and to fight for the welfare of media workers. We were not naïve. We knew it was an illegal move because at that time the Indonesian government only permitted a single organization for journalists. We knew that the Information Ministry, the police, the military, as well as the Indonesian Journalists Association would act against us. A few months later, many of these signatories, me among them, lost their jobs or were banned from working for any Indonesian media outlet. The authorities even arrested several journalists and sentenced them to prison terms. Others moved away from Indonesia. But it was the opening of a new chapter, at least for me, and compelled me to learn about the situation state of media freedom in Asia. I learned about the needs to have readers’ representatives or ombudspersons in each newsroom. Journalists should be transparent about their motives and methods in covering and writing their stories. If they make mistakes, they should make the correction and apologize. Like what Albert Camus, the French author wrote, “A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” In January 1995, the new union got an invitation to attend a Hong Kong conference to speak about how media had been banned in Indonesia. In Hong Kong, I met many other Asian journalists, including Jimmy Lai, a media mogul of the Apple Daily in Hong Kong. Pana Janviroj, then chief editor of The Nation daily in Bangkok, also spoke at the conference. He later asked me to join his newspaper. It was just part of a conversation inside a car that the Freedom Forum, the American group which that the conference, had arranged for us to travel from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Wanchai to a fancy dinner with the Foreign Correspondents' Club. After making his offer, Pana asked, “Is that okay?” The monthly retainer was almost five times my previous salary, plus I could still work for other newspapers. Of course, I said okay. No application letter. No contract. Just a handshake. He asked me to fly to Bangkok. He introduced me to some of his editors: Kavi Chongkittavorn, Sonny Inbaraj, Steven Gan, Yindee Lertcharoenchok as well as their television broadcaster Thepchai Yong. I began to file my stories in March 1995, working from Jakarta, and later also from Phnom Penh, Yangon and Kuala Lumpur. I covered all sorts of stories, such as Hun Sen ousting Norodom Ranariddh in Cambodia, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest, the Asian economic crisis, as well as the tension in East Timor. Aung Zaw, a Burmese journalist, also joined us from Chiang Mai, writing mostly about the military junta inside Myanmar. In Jakarta, I got to know the CNN correspondent Maria Ressa, who covered the 1996 riots when the Soeharto government orchestrated a political attack against an opposition party boss, Megawati Soekarnopoetri. I began to meet many passionate champions of journalism in South East Asia. Sheila Coronel, who helped set up the Philippines Centre for Investigative Journalism, agreed to train Indonesian journalists in Medan, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Makassar in 1997-1998. I also enjoyed the friendship of many Far Eastern Economic Review journalists in Hong Kong. I then helped establish a number of media rights advocacy groups, including the Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information with Goenawan Mohamad, Isaac Santoso, Yosep Adi Prasetyo and others. In Bangkok, Coronel, Chongkittavorn and other journalists set up the South East Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) in 1997, promoting press freedom in the region. The Asian economic crisis that started in mid-1997 triggered political instability, and later ethnic and religious violence in Indonesia, and led directly to the fall of the authoritarian President Soeharto in May 1998. Thailand, where the crisis kicked off in July 1997, faced massive economic dislocation that heavily impacted politics and the media. In Malaysia, Prime Minister Mohammed Mahathir, surprisingly, survived the crisis, but ended up putting his deputy Anwar Ibrahim in prison on bogus charges. The BBC correspondent Jonathan Head broke the news that the new Indonesia president, B.J. Habibie, had agreed, in an interview with him, to hold a referendum in 1999 on the political status of East Timor. But many journalists in Indonesia have borne witness to large-scale sectarian and communal violence in which a total of about 90,000 people have been killed, ranging from sectarian violence in the Moluccas islands to the turmoil in East Timor after the United Nations-organized referendum. Nascent, independent media faced a lot of challenges because of the Southeast Asian economic crisis, losing advertisement income, cutting their newsroom budgets, and dealing with more complicated political situations, both in their capitals and their many diverse provinces, like Papua in Indonesia, where an independence movement led to a violent crackdown. The media, like many other businesses, were overextended. But my media friends, who were pioneers for media freedom in the region, persisted and ultimately prospered. Twenty years later Over these past two decades, those friends went their separate ways. Steven Gan returned to Kuala Lumpur, setting up Malaysiakini. Santoso set up the KBR radio network, sharing his network’s news content with more than 700 radio stations throughout Indonesia. Maria Ressa wrote a book on the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network in South East Asia while staying in Singapore with a fellowship. She later set up Rappler news website in the Philippines, and of course, won the Nobel Peace Prize for her courage in standing up for press freedom. Aung Zaw moved his Irrawaddy magazine operation from Chiang Mai to Yangon, and then after the Myanmar military’s coup in February 2021, moved it back into exile. In Jakarta, Goenawan Mohamad republished his Tempo magazine. These news organizations produced quality journalism. And my friends became award-winning journalists. Aung San Suu Kyi was released from her house arrest in Myanmar, prompting U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Yangon in November 2012, praising the reform that was taking place in Myanmar. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won the 2015 election. But starting in 2012, the older sectarian and racist instincts arose in Myanmar, with anti-Muslim hate speeches spreading especially in Rakhine State, targeting Rohingya and other Muslim minorities. Hate speech on social media stirred attacks against other Muslims in central and northern Myanmar in 2013. This culminated in August 2017 in massive crimes against humanity and acts of genocide by government forces against the Rohingya. These developments pointed to a new way to share information. In Myanmar, the main platform was and remains Facebook. Changes in the way that people seek and receive information are challenging the Southeast Asia news media too. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media companies now pose a serious challenge to the popularity and the influence of traditional media. These companies have changed how Indonesians, Filipinos, Thais, Cambodians, and others in Southeast Asia and around the world consume information. Many of these consumers are still learning the difference between real news reporting versus propaganda from an interested party, and don’t fully understand the research, fact checking, writing and editorial review processes that distinguishes solid journalism. The reality is that journalists are no longer gatekeepers of the news. They have lost the role of helping to determine what information and accounts of events should reach the public, and what doesn’t. With the internet and social media, everyone is now their own circulation manager and editor. Indonesia’s Press Council calculated that Indonesia has now 47,000 “media organizations”, mostly “citizen journalist” website only operations, a massive rise from the only 1,000 or so more formal media organizations that existed in 1998. In Indonesia, social media has helped fan the flames of division. Religious intolerance plagues Indonesia. Minorities including Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Ahmadiyah, and Shia Muslims, as well as native faith believers and followers of new religions like Millah Abraham, face discrimination, intimidation, and violence. There is also widespread discrimination against women and LGBT people. Technology may change but trust – when earned and nurtured – will endure. In May 2017, a Jakarta court sentenced a former Jakarta governor, Basuki “Ahok” Purnama, a Christian, to two years in prison for blasphemy against Islam. Ahok was accused of defaming Islam during the Jakarta election. More than 150 people have been sent to prison for blasphemy in post-Suharto Indonesia, a huge increase from only 10 cases previously. Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organization based in Paris, France, published the first worldwide press freedom index in October 2002, and over the last two decades, it annually recorded the slow decline of press freedom in South East Asia. In 2022, the situation became worse in most countries in South East Asia. Myanmar remained the worst among these 11 countries. Newly independent East Timor became the freest, having no criminal defamation law, though, as President Jose Ramos-Horta has repeatedly complained, it is still facing resistance to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In general, the other 10 countries get worse – and in this analysis, we can certainly include the single party dictatorship Laos, which the French organization inexplicably didn’t calculate. Thailand, which unlike other countries in the region, has never been colonized, dropped from the 66th on the chart in 2002 to the 115th in 2022. It shows that Thailand does not necessarily have a better legal infrastructure than the former European colonies like Malaysia, the Philippines, or Vietnam with a Soviet-style legal system. Thailand still maintains the lese majeste law “to protect” the monarchy, including the king, the queen, the heir and the regent-- from defamation. The penalty is 3 to 15 years in prison for each violation, and those charged invariably spend long periods in pretrial detention.....Ranking of press freedom in South East Asia in 2002 and 2022....So why does press freedom, and also democracy, not perform better in economically strong South East Asia? The Philippines’ ranking has dropped significantly from the 90th in 2002 to the 147th in 2022. Indonesia was once among the best in the world during the rule of President Abdurrahman Wahid, himself a progressive Muslim cleric, with the ranking of the 57th in 2002. Now it is the 117th, among the worst. Political context and the ‘winner take all’ politics prevalent in the region is obviously a factor. Thailand has had a so-called red shirts versus yellow shirts rivalry since 2006, which includes spates of violence. In 2014, Army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha staged a coup after a decade of this rivalry. In Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s People’s Action Party, which has ruled the city-state continuously since its bitter separation from Malaysia in 1965, has a regulatory arsenal that allows the government to directly appoint members of the boards and the editors of the leading media outlets. In Malaysia, the status and activities of the nine Malay monarchies are sacrosanct, extremely sensitive subjects. Any form of commentary or reporting deemed critical of the monarchies can result in prosecution and heavy penalties, leading to self-censorship. Political leaders also use onerous laws and regulations to restrict the press. The Cambodia democratic transition that started in 1992 with the assistance of the United Nations allowed the emergence of a press that flourished until Prime Minister Hun Sen opened a campaign against independent journalism. Cambodia’s ranking has dropped from the 71 in 2002 to the 142 in 2022. But coups have proven the most disruptive to the development of a free media. Many countries in the region are familiar with coups. The Myanmar military staged a coup in February 2021, resulting in a broad crackdown against anti-coup protesters that amounted to crimes against humanity, along with massive pressure on journalists. “When the coup happened, Myanmar’s media industry fell into the darkness,” said an anonymous journalist in the opening of the 20-minute documentary, “Walking Through the Darkness" on how Myanmar journalists fled the cities after the coup and were forced to work in ethnic-controlled areas and in exile in Thailand to keep their news reports coming out. “Whether the military like us or not, journalism has an important role,” said another Myanmar journalist. “Journalists must be able to do their work.” Quite clearly, some world leaders were far too optimistic about the path forward for Myanmar, and the durability of democratic rule and a free press in that country when faced with a rights abusing military that believed it was destined to always hold power. But other countries have shown some progress. Malaysia elected a reformist government for a brief two year period and eventually sent their former prime minister Najib Razak to prison for corruption. South East Asia, for centuries, has always been a region where global rivalries take place, with bigger power asserting their influence, from Islamic rulers in the Middle East to Chinese kingdoms, from European powers to Indian influence, and now pitting the world’s two largest economies: the United States and China. The South China Sea is a now a hotspot for competition between China and the U.S. But China scares Hong Kong journalists with its repressive actions. It should not be a surprise that the Reporters Without Borders’ ranking of Hong Kong as the 18th best performing country in 2002 is now down to 148th of 180 countries. The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, apparently has not learned that over the long term, press freedom is related to economic development and political stability. The authorities arrested Jimmy Lai last December, symbolizing the drastic decline of media freedom in Hong Kong. in 2020. This is the man who shook my hand at the 1995 conference, sending his regards to my friends back home who were fighting for media freedom in Indonesia Legal frameworks are playing an important part in restricting press freedom in the region. In Indonesia, harassment, discrimination, and violence directed at religious minorities are facilitated by a legal architecture, introduced in 2006, that purports to maintain “religious harmony.” In practice, it undermines religious freedom. As in Myanmar, some Indonesian journalists find it difficult to separate their religions and their profession. In Vietnam, the Communist Party maintains a monopoly on political power and allows no challenge to its leadership. Basic rights, including freedom of speech, opinion, press, association, and religion, are restricted. Rights activists and bloggers face harassment, intimidation, physical assault, and imprisonment. The Vietnam state controls all media outlets. The Communist Party demands that they serve as “the voice of party organisations, state organs and social organisations”. The party’s central propaganda department meets weekly in Hanoi to ensure that nothing objectionable is published in media outlets. Party-controlled courts have convicted and sentenced many independent journalists to prison, including Pham Doan Trang, Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and others. Similarly, in communist-controlled Laos, it is absolutely impossible to operate an independent news outlet, and the authorities crack down harshly on groups, organizations or individuals who dare criticize the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, or the government. Migrant workers who criticized the Lao government while they were working in Thailand were subsequently arrested and sentenced to between 15-20 years when they returned to Laos. In Singapore, two large media groups own all of the major print, radio and broadcast media. MediaCorp is owned by a state investment company. The other, Singapore Press Holdings, is supposed to be privately owned but its directors are appointed by the government. We’re now seeing the New Naratif, an alternative outlet, emerging from Singapore but it is already facing harassment. Meanwhile, The Online Citizen, which played a critical role in independent media in Singapore, has been shut down through harassing lawsuits and regulatory interference, moving their legal entity in Taiwan. In Manila, President Rodrigo Duterte stripped the ABS-CBN network, the second largest television network in the Philippines, of its franchise in 2020. Luckily, it continues to broadcast online. Multiple harassing legal cases against Maria Ressa and her colleagues at Rappler apparently aim to ultimately shut down the news site. There are no signs so far that things will get better under the new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the late dictator. Sociocultural context poses many handicaps. In Malaysia, Malay-language media outlets, which are read by the majority of the population, are sometimes subject to more censorship than their counterparts in English, Chinese or Tamil. In Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, Islam-related issues such as conversion, mandatory hijab, child marriages and apostasy were taboo until recently. However, Indonesian media are increasingly active in covering sexual violence and other crimes in Islamic boarding schools. Sadly, many Indonesian media outlets also provide too much leeway by failing to regularly report on how local jurisdictions abridge rights. Indonesia has more than 700 regulations and local ordinances, made in the name of Sharia, or Islamic law, that include regulations discriminating against non-Muslim minorities to making mandatory hijab rules. What Indonesian journalists should use as their guiding reference is the 1945 Constitution, which explicitly guarantees religious freedom and the rights of assembly, association, and expression of opinion. Indonesia, and other countries in the region, should get rid of criminal defamation laws, learning from East Timor. More countries in South East Asia, should, like Indonesia, ratify core international conventions on human rights. These provide even stronger standards that journalists should follow in pursuing the functional truth in their reporting rather than kowtowing to their countries’ toxic defamation laws. I understand very well, after working in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh and Jakarta, that South East Asia is a complicated region that is very diverse linguistically, racially, culturally and historically. It has Muslim-majority countries like Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It also has Buddhist-majority countries like Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. The Philippines and East Timor are predominantly Christian countries. Then there are communist countries like Laos and Vietnam. Unlike Africa and Latin America, this region traditionally has had no colonial languages that these countries could use to communicate with each other. In December 2021, I was very proud when Maria Ressa got the Novel Peace Prize in Oslo, along with the Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov. These two veteran journalists are not naïve, understanding very well that the prize will not change the situations in their countries. Muratov closed down his Novaya Gazeta newspaper after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ressa is still facing the legal problems from cases that President Duterte and his government manufactured against her. When receiving the prize, Maria Ressa said in her speech in Oslo that, “Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with the existential problems of our times: climate, coronavirus, now, the battle for truth.” Ressa called for greater support for independent journalism, for protection of journalists, and to hold accountable those states that target journalists. In Bahasa Indonesia, we like to say, “Makin bermutu jurnalisme, makin bermutu masyarakat. Makin tidak bermutu jurnalisme, makin tidak bermutu masyarakat.” The more qualified the journalism, the better the quality of the society that it serves. On the other hand, the lower the quality of journalism, the lower the quality of that society. It is a very clear message indeed. Monarchies, clerics, ethnic leaders, government officials, and the people in South East Asia should understand that message. It’s been two decades, and those messages in support of media freedom are becoming clearer and clearer. South East Asia should promote press freedom and get rid of toxic criminal defamation laws. It is the only way forward. Andreas Harsono works for Human Rights Watch in Jakarta. He helped found the Jakarta-based Alliance of Independent Journalists in 1994, and in 2003 he helped create the Pantau Foundation, a journalist training organization also in Jakarta. He presented this paper at the 34th Deutscher Orientalistentag held at Free University Berlin on September 15, 2022. It will published under the title "Pioniere der Pressefreiheit. Wie ich vom Reporter zum Medienaktivisten wurde" in the (bi-annual) edition Le Monde diplomatique No 33: "Süd.Ost.Asien - Putsche, Palmen, People Power (South East Asia - Coups, Palmtrees, People Power), edited by Sven Hansen and Dorothee d'Aprile for the German edition of Le Monde diplomatique, Berlin May 2023..."
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Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
2023-02-22
Date of entry/update: 2023-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Junta Should Drop Charges, Free Rev. Hkalam Samson, Others Wrongly Held
Description: "(Sydney) – Myanmar’s military junta should drop politically motivated charges against the Kachin Baptist leader Reverend Hkalam Samson and immediately release him, Human Rights Watch said today. Rev. Samson’s next hearing, on counterterrorism law charges, which only his lawyer is permitted to attend, is scheduled for February 21, 2023, at a special court inside Myitkyina prison. “The junta’s politically motivated case against Rev. Hkalam Samson, who is internationally renowned for his humanitarian and community work, shows that no one is safe in Myanmar,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The junta should drop the baseless charges against Rev. Samson and immediately and unconditionally release him.” On December 5, 2022, junta immigration officials and police arrested Rev. Samson at Mandalay International Airport, preventing him from leaving the country. Junta authorities have not disclosed his whereabouts but are apparently holding him at Myitkyina prison where the hearings are being held in a closed court. His family have not been allowed to see or communicate with him since his arrest. In December, the junta charged Rev. Samson under section 17 of the Unlawful Associations Act for allegedly meeting with ethnic Kachin armed group leaders in January 2022, and section 505A of the penal code for “incitement” after holding a group prayer with members of the opposition National Unity Government (NUG). The offenses carry prison terms of up to 3 years each. The junta frequently uses vaguely worded and loosely interpreted provisions in its penal code to imprison peaceful activists. The hearings for these two charges concluded on February 14 with no verdict. On February 14, the junta announced an additional charge against Rev. Samson under section 52A of the counterterrorism law for allegedly meeting with a member of the opposition National Unity Government, punishable by up to seven years in prison. Rev. Samson, 65, is the former head of the Kachin Baptist Convention and is chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, which facilitated peace talks with the previous National League for Democracy party civilian government. In 2019, he was among a group of 27 representatives from 17 countries to meet then US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC to highlight the plight of victims of ethnic and religious persecution. Shortly after the trip, the military opened a case against him for his comments at the White House criticizing Myanmar’s persecution of Christian minority groups. The authorities dropped the case after the US State Department expressed concern. Since the military coup in February 2021, junta security forces have carried out deadly crackdowns against the political opposition to military rule, arbitrarily detained more than 19,000 people, and committed numerous crimes against humanity and war crimes across the country, documented by Human Rights Watch and other groups. Myanmar’s junta courts are neither independent nor provide basic fair trial rights. Many trials are held in grossly unjust closed-door military tribunals or in “special courts” inside prison facilities where detainees gain access to their lawyer only on the day of their trial. United Nations member countries, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in particular, Indonesia as chair of ASEAN, and other concerned governments should press the junta to immediately release all those wrongfully detained or imprisoned, including Rev. Samson. “The prosecution of a high-profile Kachin religious figure like Rev. Samson is a heavy-handed attempt to chill all dissent among ethnic minority leaders,” Pearson said. “ASEAN and other concerned governments should press for the release of Rev. Samson and others wrongfully detained since the February 2021 coup..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
2023-02-20
Date of entry/update: 2023-02-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s military regime has doubled down on its repression of journalists as it tightens it grip on the country following its democracy-crushing coup on February 1, 2021. After arresting scores of journalists to block coverage of its abuses and resistance to the takeover, its second year in power saw the handing down of harsh prison sentences in a bid to silence and eliminate the country’s few remaining independent media outlets. The Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual prison census has found that at least 42 journalists were imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting as of December 1, a repressive 40% rise on the number recorded by CPJ on the same date in 2021 and making it the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists behind Iran and China. Nearly half of those detained were sentenced in 2022, most under Article 505(a) of the penal code, an anti-state provision that broadly penalizes “incitement” and “false news”, both ill-defined terms in law and arbitrarily interpreted by military-influenced courts to hand down two- and three-year sentences. Others were given harsher, longer sentences on terrorism and other anti-state charges, often for contacting or reporting on the activities of anti-military armed resistance groups, including newly formed “people’s defense forces”, or PDFs, which the junta deems as terrorist organizations, as well as decades-old ethnic armies fighting for autonomy and rights. Myanmar’s figure could be much higher. Many news organizations remain reluctant to identify their detained staff and freelancers to avoid the harsher sentences often meted out to journalists, particularly those who work undercover for military-banned media or who claimed to stop working for their news organizations after the coup but continued to report secretly. Since the coup, the regime has periodically released journalists held in pre-trial detention or serving sentences as part of broad prisoner amnesties. That included a November 17 release in which at least eight journalists were freed, including Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota, who was serving a 10-year jail sentence on sedition, immigration and other charges. The releases, where certain news organizations’ journalists are shown lenience while others are forced to serve their full sentences in severe prison conditions, appear to be aimed strategically to obscure the number of journalists the junta held at any given time and sow divisions among independent media groups, editors at news organizations with jailed journalists said in interviews with CPJ. “The independent media has been targeted since day one after the coup. It’s as if they prepared a list of editors and reporters to go after,” said Aung Zaw, founder and editor-in-chief of the independent The Irrawaddy. “Some were released [while] some were charged with high treason, terrorism, electronic crimes – all sorts of allegations that don’t make sense at all,” he added, noting three of his organization’s reporters were behind bars as of December 1. Aung Zaw, a former CPJ International Press Freedom Award recipient whose publication was banned just weeks after the coup, said the regime seeks to “divide and rule” the independent media, claiming that certain news organizations are allowed to operate unperturbed in de facto exchange for publishing “pimping propaganda” and “echoing what the regime says.” Indeed, independent news groups that report from the conflict’s frontlines have been singled out for harsh harassment. Mekong News, a Shan State-based online news outfit covering crime, politics, war, and ethnic issues, has borne the brunt of the junta’s repression with three of its journalists, namely Maung Maung Myo, Toe Aung and Htun Than Aung, now behind bars. “Obviously, the junta’s campaign of jailing journalists aims to stop independent news reporting on its abuses and activities,” said Mekong News managing editor Nyan Linn Htet, who is currently in hiding from an arrest warrant issued in March and whose reporters now live and operate in exile or from underground inside the country. “But, in my opinion, it is not succeeding because independent reporting hasn’t stopped and has even become stronger than before the coup.” In an early September show of solidarity, 33 independent local news groups issued a statement condemning a new press council formed since the coup, which they jointly accused of “spreading misinformation” and “propaganda messages” about Myanmar’s independent media while noting 140 journalists had by then been arrested since the military seized power. (CPJ emailed Myanmar’s Ministry of Information for comment but did not receive a response.) The statement, which said that 11 independent media groups have had their publishing licenses revoked since the putsch, also said: “The military council is suppressing independent media groups and journalists in Myanmar in many different ways, impeding the right to information and hinder freedom of the press and freedom of expression throughout the country.” Some have found other ways to continue publishing, from exile and underground bureaus inside the country. Several of the statement’s signatories, CPJ’s 2022 census shows, are among the outlets that have reporters languishing behind bars or were previously held and released. “Imprisonment is routine for military regimes [but] this action represents severe suppression of freedom of the press,” said Kanbawza Tai News editor-in-chief Zay Tai, who told CPJ two of his released reporters, both freed in early October, plan soon to resume their news reporting. “The military can try but will never be able to stop our independent journalists.” CPJ Senior Southeast Asia Representative Shawn W. Crispin is based in Bangkok, Thailand, where he has worked as a journalist and editor for over two decades. He has led CPJ missions throughout the region and is the author of several CPJ special reports..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2022-12-13
Date of entry/update: 2022-12-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The military takeover last year fractured Myanmar’s media into three distinct groups. Needless to say, one group supports the regime while another – the country’s once mainstream but now exiled independent media that is still reporting on the country – principally opposes military rule.....The third group is media with military backgrounds.....Which group does the media outlet that you regularly read belong to? Readers might feel uncomfortable browsing this article, but sometimes it’s necessary to wash our dirty linen.....Exiled again but still independent and professional.....One of the first things military dictators do after seizing power from a democratically elected government is clamp down on independent media. Dictators hate listening to voices criticizing their coup and the consequences of a military takeover. Barely a month after seizing power, Myanmar’s military regime had revoked the licenses of Myanmar Now, 7 Day, Mizzima, DVB and Khit Thit. Local media outlets Myitkyina News Journal (Kachin State), Delta News Agency (Ayeyarwady Region), Tachilek News Agency (Shan State), Zayar Times News Agency (Sagaing Region), Kantarawaddy Nes Agency (Kayah State) and Independent Mon News Agency were also banned. Meanwhile, the offices of media including The Irrawaddy, Mizzima and Myanmar Now were raided by regime troops following their close coverage of the junta’s bloody crackdowns on peaceful anti-coup protests. The Irrawaddy office in downtown Yangon was raided twice, in a campaign of junta intimidation that is described in more detail below. Worse still, the junta has arrested media workers for doing their jobs, turning Myanmar into the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists after China with at least 26 behind bars, according to Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2021 prison census. The bans, raids and arrests sent a clear message to the press that there is no space for independent media under military-ruled Myanmar. Journalists went into hiding. To keep reporting on the regime’s atrocities and the junta’s impact on the day-to-day lives of Myanmar people, The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, DVB, Myanmar Now and others were forced to relocate to other countries. For The Irrawaddy, Mizzima and DVB, this marked a return to exile for the first time since 2012. But as established independent media, they have maintained their professional journalistic standards while wrestling with financial, legal and security issues in their host countries. On the other hand, the Burmese services of Voice of America (VOA), BBC and Radio Free Asia can still operate in military-ruled Myanmar. Some, however, have upset their audience with controversial reports criticized for leaning towards the junta following the coup last year. For example, a VOA Burmese report on November 7 last year claimed that thousands of people attended a junta-promoted hot air balloon festival in Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin, the seat of Myanmar’s military academies. It drew condemnation from readers as there was no evidence of thousands of festivalgoers in the photos featured along with the report. The audience’s anger focused not just on the story’s accuracy but also the fact that a US government-funded broadcasting service was promoting the junta’s desperate claim that Myanmar under military rule was back to normalcy. In another story in May, VOA Burmese reported that “at least 180 Myanmar journalists were sheltering in Thailand.” Though the figure was not disputable, the report amounted to leaking information to a regime that has detained and jailed journalists since the coup, said netizens.....Democracy activists also questioned VOA’s reporting.....“We no longer take questions from VOA as we don’t like their stance,” said a leading member of an established Myanmar rights group. VOA is one of the few media outlets favored by junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun, who never fails to respond to its questions and offer information, while never answering phone calls from media operating outside the country. As a consequence, its audience often find that VOA reports amount to regime propaganda despite its claim of “impartiality.” The head of VOA Burmese is currently under investigation for sexual harassment. BBC Burmese Service is another outlet apparently favored by the regime. In October this year, the regime vowed to file charges against The Irrawaddy and BBC over their coverage of a deadly shooting at Mon State’s Golden Rock Pagoda. But no action was taken against the BBC, and Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun continues to give interviews to the outlet as if nothing had happened while BBC reporters are still working in the country. In contrast, the regime officially banned The Irrawaddy in the same month by revoking its publishing license after the news agency failed to parrot its official account of the Golden Rock shooting. The ban came after lawsuits, raids, arrests and other moves targeting the independent news agency since the coup last year. Regime personnel arrested The Irrawaddy’s publisher, a former photojournalist and a staff member while also raiding the home of one of its editors.....Pro-junta media: Regime-sponsored media have mushroomed since the coup. Their reporters are regulars at press conferences given by the military regime. They can also be found in private groups of the junta information team. Realizing the media’s power and influence, the military approached several outlets even before the coup with offers of incentives and business opportunities in exchange for favorable coverage. There are now more than two-dozen pro-junta media outlets run by former military officials, members of regime-friendly political parties and ultra-nationalists. They are mostly active on social media like Facebook and post their propaganda talk shows on YouTube and Telegram. The junta has state-owned newspapers, radio and TV stations for propaganda purposes but people rarely pick up its papers or tune into its services. So the regime is funding other media to tap Myanmar’s growing audience on digital platforms. The purpose the funding of these so-called media is to drum up support for the junta, to undermine the anti-regime movement by spreading disinformation, and to discredit independent media coverage of the anti-regime movement – an old trick of the previous junta to “use media to attack the media.” The most infamous pro-junta outlet is Thuriya Nay Wun, owned by Moe Hein. Despite being a member of the 88-Generation at the forefront of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Moe Hein took sides with the dictatorship for personal interests. In return, he was handed property in Naypyitaw, a monthly allowance, and regular funding for his media house. At junta press conferences, he calls for the crushing of the shadow government National Unity Government, its People’s Defense Force armed wing, and parliamentary Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the group of lawmakers elected in the 2020 general election. He also spreads propaganda in his regular shows broadcast on junta mouthpiece Myawaddy TV and junta-controlled state broadcaster MRTV. Another pro-junta media is Myanmar Hard Talk, whose chief editor Aung Min is a staunch supporter of the military and even more dogmatic than Moe Hein. Neo Politics News Agency headed by Kyaw Myo Min, former editor-in-chief of Akone Thi media, is regime-friendly too. The junta can also count on People Media and its chief editor Kyaw Soe Oo. All four of these outlets have displayed support for the military regime in video clips posted on their Facebook pages. The pro-junta Myanmar National Post is helmed by chief editor Naung Taw Lay and backed by ultranationalist group Ma Ba Tha. NHP is led by Win Oo, who was jailed under the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government for vandalizing a new Yangon bus stop. When US President Joe Biden called for democracy to be restored in Myanmar, Win Oo’s NHP twisted Biden’s words to claim the US was merely urging the regime to hold an election as soon as possible. Another infamous pro-regime outlet is Bullet Journal, led by U Hla Swe. The former lawmaker from the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party and ex- lieutenant-colonel is notorious for badmouthing the ousted NLD and the anti-regime movement. He has openly admitted to helping secure arms for pro-junta militias that have joined regime troops in upper Myanmar to raid villages and loot civilian property.....Media with a military background.....Myanmar media is no stranger to military affiliations and financing. Some of these outlets still survive today. Military involvement in today’s media dates back to 2000 and the previous junta, when then military spy chief Lt-General Khin Nyunt and his Office of Strategic Studies (OSS) masterminded the launch of the Myanmar Times. Khin Nyunt is responsible for the jailing, torturing and killing of political activists following the 1988 democracy uprising. A pet project of the previous junta, the Myanmar Times served as the military leadership’s mouthpiece, promoting Khin Nyunt’s faction and also Myanmar as a business-friendly country that was not as bad as painted in exiled media outlets. The SASAKAWA foundation provided assistance to the Times and controversial Australian editor Ross Dunkley, who was later charged with drugs and prostitution, was hired to pump the propaganda. Certain western diplomats also backed the Times in the vain belief it could help push political change. An influential OSS officer named Col. Thein Swe, the righthand man of Khin Nyunt, appeared to be actively involved in running the paper. When the Times was launched, Thein Swe told Asiaweek that it would be “different, more flexible” than other papers. Thein Swe’s son, Sonny Swe, who now runs Frontier Myanmar, held a 51-percent stake in the newspaper. While all other media outlets faced draconian censorship, Myanmar Times reports just went through the Directorate of Defense Services Intelligence (DDSI) and were approved overnight. Col Thein Swe was later promoted to brigadier-general and headed the regime’s Military Intelligence international relations department. He was a military attaché to the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok in the 1990s, when he reportedly hired thugs and informants and pushed Thai authorities to crack down on Myanmar democracy activists and journalists sheltering in the kingdom. Bertil Linter, who is based in Thailand and has covered Myanmar since the late 1980s, said he was once on Thein Swe’s hit list for his reporting on the then junta. “I confronted him over it when we met at a diplomatic function in Bangkok, and he fled the scene,” the veteran Swedish journalist recalled. After Khin Nyunt was purged in 2004 during Than Shwe’s crackdown on military intelligence to maintain power, Thein Swe and his son were thrown into prison. The then regime charged Sonny Swe for breaking censorship regulations. The Myanmar Times halted operations following the coup in February last year. Another longstanding media outlet still running inside Myanmar is Popular News, which focuses on junta-related news and ignores the resistance movement. Popular News is owned by Daw Nan Kalyar Win, daughter of former military dictator Than Shwe’s confidant General Win Myint. Thanks to her family background, she landed an interview with Min Aung Hlaing just before the 2020 general election. The military chief hinted he was doubtful of the integrity of the poll while alleging shortcomings in election preparations. Another outlet still tolerated by the junta is Eleven, which makes sure it avoids upsetting the regime in reports. The Standard Time runs on a similar policy.....How long before Myanmar outlets can return?.....The Irrawaddy and other media agencies that went into exile after the 1988 pro-democracy uprising returned to Myanmar under U Thein Sein’s government in 2012. Media played an important role in national reconciliation after democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi entered Parliament in 2012. However, with advertising revenues switching to social media, media agencies were already struggling when they were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the coup last year, independent newsrooms that promote pillars of democracy like human rights and freedom of expression were unable to operate inside the country. After the 1988 military takeover, it took two decades before exiled media could return to Myanmar. No one knows how long media agencies will have to wait this time after being forced out by the 2021 coup. To answer that question, we would need to know when the military dictatorship will end in Myanmar. One thing is sure, however: the media will return home when there is a democratically elected government in power in Myanmar..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-12-09
Date of entry/update: 2022-12-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Bangkok, December 5, 2022 – Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Myo San Soe and stop imprisoning members of the press on bogus terrorism charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On November 30, a court inside Pyapon Prison, in the Ayeyarwady region, sentenced Myo San Soe, a freelance reporter who contributed to the local Delta News Agency and Ayeyarwaddy Times, to 15 years in prison on charges of violating Sections 50(j) and 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, according to news reports. Myo San Soe was convicted for contacting members of People’s Defense Forces, an array of insurgent groups that are fighting Myanmar’s military regime, according to those reports and an employee of the Delta News Agency who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. He will serve his sentence at Pathein Prison, according to reports. “Myanmar journalist Myo San Soe’s harsh sentencing is the military regime’s latest outrageous crime against the free press,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must stop equating journalism with terrorism and allow journalists to report on anti-military resistance groups without fear of legal harassment and imprisonment.” Authorities first arrested Myo San Soe in the Ayeyarwaddy region’s Pyapon township on August 29, 2021, the Delta News Agency employee told CPJ. Myo San Soe was doing charity work related to the COVID-19 pandemic when he was detained, according to a report, which CPJ reviewed, by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners Burma, a local human rights organization. Authorities then allegedly found evidence of his contacts with the People’s Defense Forces on his phone, according to that report. Myo San Soe had covered the People’s Defense Forces before his arrest, the Delta News Agency employee said, adding that authorities had not contacted the outlet at the time of his detention. Authorities banned the Delta News Agency and filed anti-state charges against its top editors soon after the military seized power in a February 1, 2021, coup, forcing the news organization to relocate to a perceived safe area of Kayin state controlled by rebels, the employee told CPJ. Myo San Soe had stopped working as a Delta News Agency staff reporter by mid-2021 but continued to file news about the Ayeyarwaddy region as a freelancer, including a report published approximately one week before his arrest, the Delta News Agency employee told CPJ. The Myanmar Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Myo San Soe’s conviction, sentencing, and status in prison. Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists after China, with at least 26 behind bars on CPJ’s 2021 prison census. CPJ will release its 2022 prison census on December 14..."
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2022-12-05
Date of entry/update: 2022-12-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On November 16 evening, the military junta announced via Myawaddy Television, 5774 prisoners would be released the following day under pardon order, No. 70/2022, of the Code of Criminal Procedure Article 401 (1). Up until now, AAPP has been monitoring and can confirm the release of only 72 political prisoners following this announcement and are cautious to declare this significantly higher as yet. All political prisoners released yesterday were also done so under the condition of retrospective sentencing. The releases were an attempt to show political good will, but tens of thousands of political prisoners including the President and State Counsellor remain behind bars. Detained political prisoners will continue to endure daily physical and mental torture whilst across the country the military junta’s arrests, arsons, torture and murder will persist. AAPP Secretary U Tate Naing said “most these released political prisoners had already been sentenced under baseless accusations and random charges, after detaining them in the first place for no apparent reason. Others had almost already served their prison sentences. The whole charade is but an attempt to alleviate domestic and international pressure off the junta, so that it can continue to commit inhumane crimes daily against the people. AAPP Joint-Secretary U Bo Kyi said that “just as in every prison release since the coup the junta has refused to be transparent about the numbers of political prisoners released and the identities of those released. It is a deliberate tactic meant to deceive foreign governments”. AAPP will continue to make efforts to ensure the unconditional release of all the arbitrarily detained, including the President and State Counsellor. Perpetrators of arbitrary arrests, torture, and murder must be punished. International actors are strongly urged to take more effective measures against the junta regime. Data on releases is still being verified, we will update accordingly when further information is received. If anyone would like to share information about the prison releases contact:..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-11-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "JAKARTA – As the Myanmar military released four unjustly jailed foreigners in a mass amnesty this Thursday, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) wishes to congratulate their families. Yet this is no time to lower the guard with the military led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, as the prisoners should not have been jailed in the first place and thousands of Myanmar political prisoners remain in the country’s jails, APHR said. As part of a mass amnesty in which 6,000 prisoners were freed, the junta released Sean Turnell, an Australian citizen and economic adviser to former State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi; Vicky Bowman, a former British envoy; U.S. citizen Kyaw Htay Oo; and Toru Kubota, a Japanese filmmaker. Another prisoner released is the former Chief Minister of Tanintharyi Region, U Myint Maung. Meanwhile, over 13,000 political prisoners remain in Myanmar’s jails, where conditions are notoriously abysmal and the use of torture is routine, often resulting in gruesome deaths. “This is a game the Myanmar generals have been playing for a very long time. In the midst of continuous atrocities, from time to time they make an apparent gesture of goodwill, minor in comparison with the crimes they commit on a daily basis, in order to alleviate international pressure and gain legitimacy. No one should fall for this trick; the global community should not be fooled into thinking that Min Aung Hlaing and his henchmen have changed their ways,” said Kasit Piromya, former Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs and APHR Board Member. Sean Turnell was arrested on 6 April 2021, five days after the coup, under the accusation of trying to flee the country with secret information. Vicky Bowman and her husband, Htein Lin, were arrested in August this year on immigration charges, and Toru Kobuta was detained in July when he was filming a demonstration against the military. While they have been released, others have not been so lucky. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 73 detainees have died in police or military custody in police stations, military interrogation centers, and prisons since the coup last year. They include four political prisoners executed in July: Phyo Zeya Thaw, former lawmaker for the National League for Democracy (NLD); the prominent activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as ‘Ko Jimmy’; Aung Thura Zaw; and Hla Myo Aung. These were the first known judicial executions in Myanmar since 1988, according to Amnesty International. Since the coup on 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military has committed all kinds of atrocities, which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said may amount to “crimes against humanity and war crimes,” in order to consolidate its power against widespread popular resistance. The self-styled State Administration Council (SAC) led by Min Aung Hlaing has killed at least 2,465 people, launched indiscriminate aerial attacks in ethnic areas, and razed hundreds of villages to the ground, throwing the country into chaos, and leading it to the brink of becoming a failed state. Meanwhile, the international response to the crisis has been sorely insufficient, as argued in a report launched recently by the International Parliamentary Inquiry into the global response to the crisis in Myanmar, an initiative organized by APHR and whose Committee is formed by eight parliamentarians from seven different countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. “The international community has proven largely unable to respond effectively to the crisis. The junta’s international allies—most prominently Russia and China—have emerged as steadfast and uncritical supporters, supplying both weapons and legitimacy to an otherwise isolated regime. Foreign governments that profess support for democracy have not backed up their rhetoric with the same force of action,” said the report, titled ‘Time is not on our side’: The failed international response to the Myanmar coup. The reasons for the mass amnesty, and the release of the three foreigners, remain unclear, but they come after an ASEAN Summit, in which its member states reaffirmed its commitment to the Five Point Consensus, an agreement signed in April 2021 to address the crisis in Myanmar that has been supported by the international community at large. The consensushas not produced any tangible results ever since, as APHR has repeatedly denounced. “There is a legitimate concern that ASEAN member states are going to drink the kool-aid and treat the Myanmar junta with even kinder gloves after the release of these political prisoners. Against all reason, ASEAN is already sticking to an agreement that has proved an utter failure for over one and a half years, instead of doing the right thing to solve the crisis: put real pressure on the military, recognize the National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate authority in the country,” said Charles Santiago, former Malaysian Member of Parliament, APHR Chairperson, and one of the IPI Committee Members..."
Source/publisher: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
2022-11-17
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The number of currently detained political prisoners has reached more than 13,000, according to the latest figures from Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma. Under the previous military dictatorship pre 2010 the average was just over 2,000. “Despite the record number of political prisoners, they barely get mentioned by governments and world leaders,” said Wai Hnin, Senior Advocacy Officer at Burma Campaign UK. “The fact that so many people have been jailed demonstrates the level of fear the Burmese military have of the people of Burma. The Burmese military are afraid for their survival and arrest anyone they see as a threat.” The number of political prisoners is growing every day as the military continues to arrest peaceful protesters, interfaith writers, celebrities, civilians, and anyone opposing the attempted coup, which began on 1st February last year. The military is not only carrying out the targeted arrest of individuals whom they might consider a threat because of their activities, but they are also conducting random mass arrests of civilians as a means of trying to instil fear and crush dissent. The Burmese military has also started using the official death penalty for the first time in decades, executing 4 political prisoners in July 2022. Many more activists have been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution. Political prisoners are usually held in military-controlled detention centres for a lengthy period before being charged and sent to prison. Many of them face brutal torture, harassment, rape, and sexual violence. Activists from the LGBTQ community face severe torture and harassment purely because of their sexual orientation. The current number of political prisoners does not include civilians who have been forcibly disappeared in remote ethnic areas and people who have been unlawfully detained in military camps in ethnic areas, where documentation is difficult. In addition, there is an unknown number of Rohingya political prisoners, who have been arrested and imprisoned for breaking laws and regulations specifically targeting Rohingya as part of the ongoing genocide they face. Since 1 February, at least 80 journalists have been arrested for reporting on the human rights violations committed by the military. Many civil servants, including doctors, teachers, and nurses, have been arrested for participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). The military also issued warrants and revoked licences for many doctors and nurses for taking part in the CDM. After their release, they will have a criminal record, making it almost impossible to return to their jobs or find new jobs. Currently, trials are being held inside prison out of public view, and families cannot attend. Trials in Burma are just formalities, and almost all of them will undoubtedly be sentenced under politically motivated charges. The Burmese military arrest, jail, torture and even kill many activists and civilians daily but people in Burma continue to stand up against them. “These political prisoners bravely stood up against the military coup, but the world seems to have forgotten about them,” said Wai Hnin, Senior Advocacy Officer at Burma Campaign UK. “Many of them are just young students who should be in university but instead, they were brutally tortured and jailed for speaking out. The international community must speak out for these 13,000 political prisoners in Burma, and provide much needed support for families of political prisoners.”..."
Source/publisher: "Burma Campaign UK" (London)
2022-11-16
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today, on International Religious Freedom Day, 27 October 2022, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) published a new report entitled: “Violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief since the coup d’état in Myanmar”, which examines the situation of the right to freedom of religion or belief in Myanmar since Military coup. Since the coup d’état on 1 February 2021, the military has been responsible for human rights violations on a large scale,[1] including unlawful killings, torture and other ill treatment and arbitrary detentions. The rights to freedom of assembly, movement, information and speech have also been severely curtailed. Less well-reported have been the Tatmadaw’s (i.e., Myanmar military) systematic violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, particularly targeting members of Myanmar’s sizeable religious minorities despite the fact that some of these violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief have not only increased drastically, but also that they could amount to war crimes under international law. In the aftermath of the coup, the military initially focused on limiting the rights to freedom of expression and information by suppressing the media and internet access. Since then, massive arrests of journalists, activists, human rights defenders and internet shutdown have systematically curtailed freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and media freedom. The military’s focus has also widened to include suppression of the right to freedom of religion or belief with raids and attacks on places of worship, leading to damage and destruction. The military has also set up military encampments in places of worship. There have also been reports of arrests of religious leaders, who were later prohibited from practising their religion while in detention. This report presents an overview of the violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief that have taken place from 1 February 2021 until 30 May 2022. These include: Incidents of violence against religious leaders and religious minority communities; Raids on places of worship; The use of religious sites as military camps; The destruction of religious buildings and shrines; The restrictions of movement and denied citizenship for Rohingya The emergence of new forms of nationalism after the coup In light of these serious concerns, the report offers a number of recommendations, particularly to the UN, and International Community with a view to addressing the violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief in the country. This report is part of a series of ICJ publications on the right to freedom of religion or belief. [1] “Human rights ‘catastrophe’ in Myanmar: UN calls for urgent action”, accessed at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1100922..."
Source/publisher: International Commission of Jurists
2022-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.19 MB
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Description: "The Myanmar regime’s No. 2 man, along with an adviser, a minister and pro-regime media were behind the junta’s decision to take legal action against The Irrawaddy and the BBC Burmese Service for their reporting on last week’s fatal shooting at the base of Kyaik Htee Yoe Pagoda in Mon State. Three Buddhist pilgrims were killed during a firefight between regime troops stationed there and a resistance force on Wednesday. The regime accused an anti-regime People’s Defense Force (PDF) group allied with the Karen National Liberation Army’s Brigade 1, the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) and its parliamentary wing for the attack. It said three people were killed and 19 injured. Local people said the incident began when the resistance group attacked a regime outpost at the site, and the pilgrims were killed when the junta soldiers opened fire in response. The Irrawaddy reported the incident and the BBC Burmese Service interviewed the local resistance group, Thaton PDF, which claimed responsibility for the attack on the outpost but denied opening fire on civilians. The resistance group blamed the junta for the civilian deaths. Other Myanmar media outlets reported the fatal shooting, too. On Friday, the regime announced it would take legal action against the news outlets under the Communications Law, News Media Law and other laws for reporting that security forces opened fire on pilgrims, contradicting its official account. “Pessimistic Irrawaddy and BBC news agencies turned a blind eye to the correct information [which] mentioned security forces opened fire at pilgrims,” the statement said. The Irrawaddy has learned that the junta’s deputy chief, Soe Win, took charge of issuing the orders for legal action to be taken, as junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was in Pyin Oo Lwin at the time. The action against The Irrawaddy came after one of the regime’s advisers, Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, complained about the news outlet’s reporting on the attack on her Facebook page, saying, “This is Fake News! It contradicts all evidence and eyewitness accounts! It is NUG-PDF who murdered our Buddhist pilgrims.” Then, others joined the bandwagon, including regime Minister of International Cooperation Ko Ko Hlaing. He commented under Yin Yin Nwe’s post: “What [matters] is how to counter their black propaganda effectively. I think it is crucial and urgent to do that.” It has been learned that Yin Yin Nwe reported to Soe Win about The Irrawaddy’s story, while pro-regime media organizations Myanmar Hard Talk and Myanmar National Post complained to Chief of Military Security Affairs Lieutenant General Ye Win Oo asking him to take action against the BBC Burmese Service, which has been allowed by the junta to operate inside Myanmar along with 18 other foreign news agencies. Since the coup in February 2021, The Irrawaddy, one of the country’s independent news media outlets, has been targeted by the regime several times for its critical reporting on the junta. Its website has been banned by the regime. In March last year, the military regime sued the news outlet under Article 505 (a) for “disregarding” the armed forces in reporting on the anti-regime protests that were occurring at the time. The police opened a case against The Irrawaddy as a whole rather than individual employees, making it the first news outlet to be sued by the regime after the coup. On two occasions later that year, The Irrawaddy’s office in downtown Yangon was raided by security forces. No one was arrested during the raids, as The Irrawaddy ceased its operation inside Myanmar following the coup. Myanmar has become the world’s second-biggest jailer of journalists since last year’s military takeover, with more than 140 journalists detained. Over 60 remain behind bars and four journalists have died in custody..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Bangkok, October 13, 2022 — In response to multiple news reports that a Myanmar court on Wednesday sentenced Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota to three more years in prison for allegedly violating the country’s immigration laws, bringing his total incarceration term to 10 years, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for his immediate release: “Myanmar’s latest action in adding three years to Japanese journalist Toru Kubota’s prison sentence for immigration violations is excessive, grotesque, and must be reversed,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s military junta is sending a deliberate and threatening message to all foreign journalists that they too could be imprisoned under arbitrary laws if they report on its crimes and abuses.” Kubota, a freelance filmmaker who has contributed to international media outlets including Vice Japan, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera English, was sentenced last week to seven years for violating the electronic transactions law and three years for incitement, as CPJ documented. Those sentences are to be served concurrently, and Wednesday’s additional three-year sentence brings Kubota’s total prison term to 10 years, reports said. Authorities arrested Kubota on July 30 while he filmed a small protest in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon. Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, according to CPJ’s December 1 prison census. Several journalists have been jailed under Section 505(a) of the penal code for incitement and dissemination of false news, an anti-state charge that Myanmar’s military regime has used broadly to stifle independent news reporting since staging a coup in 2021..."
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2022-10-13
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Crackdown on media freedom in Myanmar and the cases of Htet Htet Khine, Sithu Aung Myint and Nyein Nyein Aye Strongly condemning the military junta’s violent and illegitimate rule in Myanmar, MEPs urge it to drop all politically motivated charges against the members of the press and media workers, and unconditionally release every unfairly-detained journalist. They also call on the juntato immediately end its abuses, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, sexual violence and other ill-treatment, as well as unfair trials against people working in the media. Calling for the unconditional release by the military junta of President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and all others who have been arrested on unfounded accusations, MEPs also want an immediate end to the unlawful state of emergency in the country, the restoration of the civilian government, the re-establishment of a path towards democracy, and a swift opening of parliament with the participation of all elected representatives. The resolution welcomes the sanctions imposed by the Council against members of the junta and their businesses, and calls on the EU to introduce additional targeted sanctions against those responsible for the country’s most serious human rights violations. Finally, MEPs condemn Russia and China for their political, economic and military backing of Myanmar’s junta..."
Source/publisher: European Parliament (Strasbourg)
2022-10-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: A Japanese documentary filmmaker has been sentenced to a total of 10 years in jail by a court in Myanmar.
Description: "A Japanese documentary filmmaker has been sentenced to a total of 10 years in jail by a court in Myanmar. Toru Kubota, 26, was first detained in July near an anti-government rally in the capital Yangon. He was sentenced to three years on sedition charges and seven years for violating an electronic communications law. It's not clear if he will be able to serve these concurrently. He faces another charge of breaking an immigration law next week. According to Japanese news agency Kyodo, the Myanmar junta claims Kubota entered Myanmar from neighbouring Thailand using a tourist visa, and that he had participated in anti-government demonstrations in 2021. They also said that he had previously reported on the Rohingya minority. Kubota, who first arrived in Myanmar in July, was filming a "documentary featuring a Myanmar person", a friend of his was reported to have said earlier this year. According to filmmaker site Film Freeway, Kubota started his career when he met a Rohingya refugee in Japan in 2014, and subsequently made "several films about refugees and ethnic issues in Myanmar". His Instagram profile also features several pictures of Rohingya refugees from as far back as 2017. "Myanmar's detention of Japanese journalist Toru Kubota shows that the military regime will stop at nothing to suppress independent news reporting," Shawn Crispin, the Committee to Protect Journalists' senior Southeast Asia representative said earlier this year. "Myanmar's junta must stop treating journalists as criminals." Earlier last year, a Japanese freelance journalist was also arrested and charged with spreading false news - the first foreign journalist known to be charged since the military took power in February 2021. He was later released, with Myanmar authorities maintaining he had violated the law but saying they were releasing him at the request of the Japanese government. It's estimated more than 15,600 people - including lawmakers, activists and journalists - have been arrested since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government in February 2021 - sparking huge protests across the country and a widespread resistance movement..."
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2022-10-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Responding to reports that a military-controlled court in Myanmar sentenced Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota to serve a total of seven years in prison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns Ming Yu Hah said: “With this latest verdict Myanmar’s military is cementing its reputation as one of the top jailers of journalists in the world. “Filming a protest is not a crime. Myanmar’s military should release Toru Kubota immediately and let him go home. It should also drop charges against and release all journalists arrested and sentenced simply for doing their job. “It is extremely dangerous to be a journalist in Myanmar today, where military authorities regularly trample on the right to freedom of information and media. Since seizing power in the coup last year, they have banned media outlets, arrested, beaten, sexually assaulted and even killed journalists in custody.” Background: Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of incitement and seven years for violating a law on electronic communications. The sentences will be served concurrently for a total of seven years, according to reports. Toru Kubota was apparently detained after covering a protest in Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon in July 2022. His trial was held in a secretive, military-controlled court, and he appears to have been jailed for filming the protest, which should not be a crime. He is one of more than 15,000 people arrested since Myanmar’s military coup on 1 February, 2021. Amnesty International continues to call for the release of anyone arbitrarily detained in Myanmar for peacefully exercising their human rights..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2022-10-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-10-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Military orchestrated an “information coup” စစ်တပ်သည် “သတင်းအချက်အလက် အာဏာသိမ်းမှု” ကို ကြိုးကိုင်ဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိသည် SEP 28, 2022by COORDINATORin NEWS သတင်း As the world marks International Day for Universal Access to Information, the people of Myanmar face propaganda, disinformation, and secrecy under the military’s “information coup”. Since 1 February 2021, the military has devised, orchestrated, and intensified six parts of a vast “information coup” intended to starve people of the information that they need to make good decisions about their lives, for their families, and for their communities. 1. Public information disappeared The military has hidden what they do, including information on budgets, contracts, education, health, agriculture, justice, economics, laws, policies, and directives, among other subjects. Statistical information has disappeared or is unreliable. Widespread secrecy is likely to conceal widespread corruption. Without the transparency of public access to information, the military is unaccountable, impune, and unrestrained from misappropriating public resources. 2. Information became threat to “national security” All information has effectively been classified as a state secret and a matter of so-called “national security” for the military. Requesting information from the military or any part of the military-controlled State has become high risk. Any attempt to request information is seen as deeply suspicious. Fact checking, even on the most innocuous subject, is dangerous. 3. Information replaced by propaganda The military’s old propaganda machine has returned. Military press conferences deny facts and create a fictional reality. Ministries have become information bunkers keeping the public out. State media publishes and republishes only that information which portrays the military positively. Much of the propaganda is disinformation, containing knowingly inaccurate, misleading, or false news, facts, and allegations. Some of the propaganda appears to want to incite hostility, discrimination, or violence. 4. Private information seized The military has not been satisfied with the amount of public information under its control, and has actively tried to seize more information, much of it private. The military has set up large networks of CCTV cameras, ordered banks to track payments, moved forward with e-IDs, and forced mobile telecom companies to collect personal information and monitor their customers. 5. Sources of independent information attacked Independent sources of information, such as television and radio broadcasters, print media, digital media, and printing houses have been banned, blocked, and forced into exile. The Broadcasting Law and Penal Code were amended to increase possible sanctions for sharing information. A sham Press Council was appointed full of military proxies. Many journalists have been subject to violence and detained for doing journalism and trying to uncover information. Almost all journalists have been forced to operate underground or from areas not controlled by the military. 6. Internet platforms and access curbed The military has attacked the technology enabling public access to information. Whitelisting and blacklisting policies have blocked access to large parts of the internet, including social media platforms such as Facebook. The military has announced new military-controlled social media platforms to replace global platforms. The military has set up checkpoints to check people’s devices, detaining those who have certain applications, including VPN software. The military has also increased data prices and SIM card tax in order to make accessing information expensive too. The military’s six attacks on the right to access information have been severe but were also built upon previous failures to adequately protect the right. Before the coup started on 1 February 2021, FEM’s investigations in partnership with journalists nationwide found that public officials were inaccessible, information was regarded as government property, secrecy was rampant, and any request for information was treated at best with suspicion and at worst with arrest. But the then government and various State institutions did at least commit to improving. For example, by committing in their policy plan to a future law guaranteeing the right to information. Since 1 February 2021, even that commitment has disappeared under the military’s “information coup”. အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာသတင်းအချက်အလက်လက်လှမ်းမီရေးနေ့ အထိမ်းအမှတ်အား ကမ္ဘာအနှံ့တွင် ကျင်းပနေချိန်တွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိလူများသည် ဝါဒဖြန့်ချီမှု၊ သတင်းတု နှင့် သတင်းလျှို့ဝှက်ထိန်ချန်ခံရမှုများကို စစ်တပ်၏ “သတင်းအချက်အလက်အာဏာသိမ်းမှု” အောက်တွင် ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်။ မိမိတို့ဘဝ၊ မိမိတို့မိသားစုများနှင့် မိမိတို့လူမှုအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းများအတွက် ကောင်းမွန်သောဆုံဖြတ်ချက်များ ချမှတ်နိုင်ရန် သတင်းအချက်အလက်များကို လိုအပ်နေသည့် ပြည်သူများအား ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိဖြင့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်ဖြတ်တောက်ရန် စစ်တပ်သည် ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ (၁)ရက်နေ့မှစ၍ကြီးမားကျယ်ပြန့်သော အပိုင်း (၆) ပိုင်းပါ “သတင်းအချက်အလက်အာဏာသိမ်းမှု” ကို ကြံစည်ဖော်ဆောင်ခြင်းဖြင့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်အခွင့်အရေးအခြေအနေကို များစွာပိုမိုဆိုးရွားလာစေခဲ့သည်။ ၁။ ပျောက်ကွယ်လာသော အများပြည်သူလက်လှမ်းမီနိုင်သည့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်များ စစ်တပ်သည် ဘဏ္ဍာရေး၊ စာချုပ်စာတမ်းများ၊ ပညာရေး၊ ကျန်းမာရေး၊ စိုက်ပျိုးရေး၊ တရားရေး၊ စီပွားရေး၊ ဥပဒေများ၊ မူဝါဒများ ညွှန်ကြားချက်များနှင့်သက်ဆိုင်သည့်သတင်းအချက်အလက်များအပါအဝင် ၄င်းတို့ပြုလုပ်သမျှနှင့်ဆိုင်သည့် သတင်းများကို ဖုံးကွယ်ထားသည်။ စာရင်းအင်းဆိုင်ရာ သတင်းအချက်အလက်များသည်လည်း ပျောက်ပျက်သွားခြင်း၊ သို့မဟုတ်ပါကလည်း မှန်ကန်ခိုင်လုံမှုမရှိခြင်းများ ဖြစ်နေသည်။ သတင်းလျှို့ဝှက်ထိန်ချန်မှု ထွန်းကားလာခြင်းက တိုးပွားလာသော အကျင့်ပျက်ခြစားမှုကို ဖုံးကွယ်ထားနိုင်ချေပိုရှိသည်။ လူထု၏ သတင်းအချက်အလက် လက်လှမ်းမီနိုင်မှုသည် ပွင့်လင်းမြင်သာမှုမရှိသောကြောင့် စစ်တပ်သည် အများပြည်သူဆိုင်ရာအရင်းအမြစ်များကို အလွဲသုံးစားပြုမူခြင်းမှ တာဝန်ခံရမှုမရှိဘဲ ၊ အပြစ်ဒဏ်မှကင်းလွတ်လျက်ရှိကာ အထိန်းအသိမ်းမဲ့ အနေအထားတွင် ရှိနေသည်။​ ၂။ နိုင်ငံတော်လုံခြုံရေးကို ခြိမ်းခြောက်သည့်အရာဖြစ်လာသော သတင်းအချက်အလက် စစ်တပ်အတွက်မူ သတင်းအချက်အလက်အားလုံးသည် နိုင်ငံတော်လျှို့ဝှက်ချက်ဟူ၍လည်းကောင်း၊ “နိုင်ငံတော်လုံခြုံရေး” ဟူ၍လည်းကောင်း လက်တွေ့တွင် အဆင့်သတ်မှတ်ခွဲခြားခံထားရသည်။ စစ်တပ်ထံမှ သို့မဟုတ် စစ်တပ်ကထိန်းချုပ်ထားသော မည်သည့်နိုင်ငံ့အစိတ်အပိုင်းများထံမှမဆို သတင်းအချက်အလက်တောင်းခံခြင်းသည် မြင့်မားသောအန္တရာယ်ဖြစ်နိုင်ချေကို ဖြစ်ပါ်စေသည်။ သတင်းအချက်အလက်တောင်းခံသည့် ကြိုးပမ်းမှုမှန်သမျှသည် ကြီးစွာသံသယဝင်ခံနေရသည်။ ထိခိုက်လွယ်သောကိစ္စများမဟုတ်သည့် ပေ့ါပေ့ါပါးပါးအကြောင်းအရာများအား အချက်အလက်စစ်ဆေးခြင်းသည်ပင်လျှင် အန္တရာယ်ရှိသည်။ ၃။ ဝါဒဖြန့်ချီမှုနှင့်အစားထိုးခံရသော သတင်းအချက်အလက် စစ်တပ်၏ ဝါဒဖြန့်ချီမှုယန္တရားအဟာင်းသည် တဖန်လည်ပတ်လာခဲ့ပြီဖြစ်သည်။ စစ်တပ်၏ သတင်းစာရှင်းလင်းပွဲများသည် အချက်အလက်များကို ငြင်းပယ်ပြီး စိတ်ကူးယဥ်ဇာတ်လမ်းများကို အမှန်တရားသဖွယ် ဖန်တီးနေသည်။ ဝန်ကြီးဌာနများသည် သတင်းအချက်အလက်များအား ပြည်သူထံမရောက်အောင် သိုလှောင်ပိတ်သိမ်းထားသည့် နေရာများဖြစ်လာကြသည်။ နိုင်ငံပိုင်မီဒီယာသည် စစ်တပ်ကိုအကောင်းမြင်အောင်ပုံဖော်သည့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်များကိုသာ ထုတ်ဝေခြင်းနှင့် ပြန်လည်ထုတ်ဝေခြင်းများ ပြုလုပ်သည်။ ဝါဒဖြန့်ချီမှုအများအပြားသည် မတိကျသော၊ ဦးတည်ချက်လွဲနေသာ သို့မဟုတ် မှားယွင်းနေသာ သတင်းများ၊ အချက်အလက်များနှင့် အထောက်အထားမဲ့ စွပ်စွဲချက်များဖြစ်နေသည်ကို သိသိလျက်နှင့် ထည့်သွင်းထားသော လုပ်ကြံသတင်းအမှားများသာ ဖြစ်သည်။ အချို့သောဝါဒဖြန့်ချီမှုများသည် ရန်ငြိုးဖွဲ့ခြင်း၊ ခွဲခြားဆက်ဆံခြင်း၊ သို့မဟုတ် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို လှုံ့ဆော်ဆောင်ရွက်လိုဟန်ရှိသည်။ ၄။ သိမ်းယူခံထားထားရသော ပုဂ္ဂလိကသတင်းအချက်အလက်များ စစ်တပ်သည် ၄င်းထိန်းချုပ်မှုအောက်က အများပြည်သူဆိုင်ရာသတင်းအချက်အလက်ပမာဏကို စိတ်တိုင်းကျကျေနပ်မှုမရှိ၍ ပိုမိုများပြားသော သတင်းအချက်အလက်များကို သိမ်းယူနိုင်ရန် အားတက်သရောကြိုးပမ်းနေပြီး အများစုမှာ တစ်ဦးပုဂ္ဂလဆိုင်ရာအချက်အလက်များဖြစ်သည်။ စစ်တပ်သည် ကြီးမားသော စောင့်ကြည့်ကင်မရာကွန်ယက်ကို တည်ထောင်ခြင်း၊ ငွေပေးချေမှုများကို ခြေရာခံရန် ဘဏ်များကို အမိန့်ပေးထားခြင်း၊ အီလက်ထရောနစ်မှတ်ပုံတင်များကို ရှေ့ဆက်ဖော်ဆောင်ခြင်းနှင့် မိုလ်ဘိုင်းဆက်သွယ်ရေးကုမ္ပဏီများကို ပုဂ္ဂိုလ်ရေးဆိုင်ရာ အချက်အလက်များစုဆောင်းရန်နှင့် ၎င်းတို့၏သုံးစွဲသူများကို စောင့်ကြည်ရန် ဖိအားပေးခြင်းများ စသည်တို့ကို ဖော်ဆောင်ပြီးထားပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ ၅။ တိုက်ခိုက်ခံရသော လွတ်လပ်သည့်သတင်းအချက်အလက် အရင်းအမြစ်များ တီဗွီနှင့် ရေဒီယိုထုတ်လွှင့်မှုများ၊ ပုံနှိပ်မီဒီယာ၊ ဒီဂျစ်တယ်မီဒီယာ၊ ပုံနှိပ်ထုတ်ဝေရေးလုပ်ငန်းများကဲ့သို့ လွတ်လပ်သော သတင်းအချက်အလက်အရင်းအမြစ်များသည် ပိတ်ပင်ခြင်း၊ တားဆီးခြင်းနှင့် ပြည်ပသို့ထွက်ခွာရန် ဖိအားပေးခံရခြင်းများကို ကြုံတွေ့ခဲ့ရပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ သတင်းအချက်အလက် ဝေမျှခြင်းကို ပိုမိုအရေးယူပိတ်ဆို့နိုင်ရန် ရုပ်သံထုတ်လွှင့်မှုဆိုင်ရာ ဥပဒေနှင့် ရာဇသတ်ကြီးဥပဒေများကို ပြင်ဆင်ခဲ့သည်။ သတင်းမီဒီယာကောင်စီ အတုအယောင်သည်လည်း စစ်တပ်က ခန့်အပ်ထားသော တဆင့်ခံကိုယ်စားလှယ်များဖြင့် ပြည့်နှက်နေသည်။သတင်းထောက်အများအပြားသည်လည်း သတင်းသမားအလုပ်လုပ်ခြင်း နှင့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်များဖော်ထုတ်ရန် ကြိုးစားမှုများအတွက် အကြမ်းဖက်ခံရခြင်း၊ ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းရခြင်းများကို ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည်။ သတင်းထောက်အားလုံးနီးပါးသည် လျှို့ဝှက်လှုပ်ရှားရန် (သို့မဟုတ်) စစ်တပ်မထိန်းချုပ်ထားနိုင်သည့် နေရာများမှ လုပ်ကိုင်ရန် ဖိအားပေးခံနေရသည်။ ၆။ တားဆီးချုပ်ကိုင်ခံထားရသော အင်တာနက်ပလက်ဖောင်းများနှင့် လက်လှမ်းမီမှု စစ်တပ်သည် အများပြည်သူက သတင်းအချက်အလက်များကို လက်လှမ်းမီနိုင်ရန် ဖော်ဆောင်ထားပေးသည့် နည်းပညာကို တိုက်ခိုက်ထားသည်။ ပစ်မှတ်ထားခွင့်ပြုခြင်း (Whitelisting) နှင့် ပစ်မှတ်ထားပိတ်ပင်ခြင်း (Blacklisting) မူဝါဒများသည် ဖေ့စ်ဘွတ်ခ်ကဲ့သို့သော လူမှုကွန်ယက်များအပါအဝင် အင်တာနက်၏ အစိတ်အပိုင်းအများစုအား လက်လှမ်းမီအသုံးပြုနိုင်မှုကို ပိတ်ပင်ထားခဲ့သည်။ စစ်တပ်သည် ကမ္ဘာသုံးလူမှုကွန်ယက်ပလက်ဖောင်းများကိုအစားထိုးရန် ၄င်းထိန်းချုပ်သည့် ပလက်ဖောင်းအသစ်ကို ကြေညာခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ စစ်တပ်သည် လူများ၏ ဒစ်ဂျစ်တယ်ဆက်သွယ်ရေးပစ္စည်းများကို စစ်ဆေးရန် စစ်ဆေးရေးဂိတ်များဖွင့်လှစ်ထားပြီး၊ ဗီပီအန် (VPN) ဆော့ဖ်ဝဲလ်အပါအဝင် အခြားသော သတ်မှတ်အက်ပလီကေးရှင်းများကို သုံးစွဲသူများအား ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းလျက်ရှိသည်။ ထို့အပြင် စစ်တပ်သည် သတင်းအချက်အလက်ရယူရာတွင် စရိတ်စကကြီးစေရန်လည်း အင်တာနက်ဈေးနှုန်းများနှင့် ဆင်း(မ်)ကဒ်အခွန်များအား တိုးမြှင့်ခဲ့သည်။ သတင်းအချက်အလက်ရယူပိုင်ခွင့်အပေါ် စစ်တပ်၏ အဆိုပါဖိနှိပ်တိုက်ခိုက်မှု (၆)ချက်သည် ပြင်းထန်ဆိုးရွားလျက်ရှိပြီး၊ ယင်းသတင်းအချက်အလက်အခွင့်အရေးကို ပြည့်ပြည့်ဝဝကာကွယ်ပေးရန် ပျက်ကွက်ခဲ့သည့် အတိတ်က အခြေအနေပေါ်တွင် ယခုပြသနာများ ဆင့်ကဲဖြစ်ထွန်းလာခြင်းလည်း ဖြစ်သည်။ ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ (၁) ရက်နေ့တွင် စခဲ့သော အာဏာသိမ်းမှုမတိုင်ခင်ကာလတွင် နိုင်ငံတဝှမ်းရှိ သတင်းထောက်များနှင့် မိတ်ဖက်ဆောင်ရွက်ချက်များမှတဆင့် ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သော လွတ်လပ်သောထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခြင်းမြန်မာ၏ စုံစမ်းလေ့လာခဲ့မှုများအရ သတင်းအချက်အလက်စုံစမ်းမေးမြန်းရန် ပြည်သူ့ဝန်ထမ်းမျာအား ဆက်သွယ်၍မရနိုင်ဘဲ၊ သတင်းအချက်အလက်အား အစိုးရပိုင်အဖြစ်သတ်မှတ်ထားခံခဲ့ရပြီး၊ သတင်းလျှို့ဝှက်မှုထိန်ချန်မှုများလည်း အားကောင်းခဲ့သည်ကို တွေ့ရှိရသည်။ သတင်းအချက်အလက်အတွက် မည်သို့သောတောင်းခံမှုမဆို သံသယဖြင့် ဆက်ဆံခံရပြီး အဆိုးဆုံးအခြေအနေအဖြစ် ဖမ်းဆီးခံရမှုများလည်း ရှိခဲ့သည်။ သို့ရာတွင်မူ ထိုအချိန်ကတာဝန်ထမ်းဆောင်ခဲ့သော အစိုးရနှင့် များစွာသော နိုင်ငံတော်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများသည် သတင်းအချက်အလက်အခွင့်အရေးအတွက် တိုးတက်အောင်ဆောင်ရွက်ရန် အနည်းဆုံးတော့ကတိပြုခဲ့ကြသည်။ ဥပမာအားဖြင့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်ရပိုင်ခွင့်ကို အာမခံပေးမည့် အနာဂါတ်ဥပဒေတစ်ခုအတွက် ၄င်းတို့၏ မူဝါဒရေးရာအစီအစဥ်တွင် ကတိပြုခဲ့သည်။ အဆိုပါ ကတိပြုမှုများသည် ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီ ၁ ရက်က စတင်ခဲ့သော စစ်တပ်၏ “သတင်းအချက်အလက်အာဏာသိမ်းမှု” အောက်တွင် ပျောက်ကွယ်သွားခဲ့ရပြီ ဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher: Free Expression Myanmar
2022-09-28
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Bangkok, September 27, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Htet Htet Khine and stop jailing journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On September 27, Htet Htet Khine, a freelance BBC Media Action reporter, was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, according to a statement by BBC Media Action, which did not specify the charge she was convicted under. On September 15, Htet Htet Khine received her first three-year prison sentence with hard labor for allegedly violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news, as CPJ documented. According to a report by the AP, Htet Htet Khine was also facing charges under the Unlawful Association Act for allegedly contacting “illegal organizations,” which carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment. “Myanmar’s junta must reverse this outrageous verdict against journalist Htet Htet Khine and set her free immediately and unconditionally,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The military regime must stop treating journalists like criminals for merely doing their jobs.” The journalist, who has been detained since August 15, 2021, received a reduction in her sentence for time served and therefore faces five years of hard labor, according to the outlet’s statement, which said it remains “concerned for her safety and well-being in detention.” Htet Htet Khine was moved after her September 15 trial to Insein prison in the city of Yangon, news reports said. Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists as of December 1, 2021, according to CPJ’s annual prison census..."
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2022-09-28
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: In a rare first-hand account, Frontier journalist Ye Mon recounts being beaten and sexually abused by regime soldiers in December 2021 after being detained at Yangon International Airport.
Description: "I couldn’t see the soldiers through my blindfold, but their words were terrifying enough. “If they refused to answer our questions, we raped them – women and men – and then killed them.” Despite the casual delivery, it was clear that the soldiers were threatening me. I had read numerous reports about soldiers sexually assaulting people in detention but I never imagined it would happen to me. After covering the aftermath of the February 2021 coup along with my Frontier colleagues, I quietly flew out of Yangon to Thailand in October. The State Administration Council, as the junta calls itself, had been increasingly targeting journalists and I no longer felt safe. I had been living in a safe house for months, and soldiers and police visited my former residence at least twice looking for me. I made some enquiries and found I was not on the blacklist at Yangon International Airport, so I got a Thai visa and bought a ticket. Nevertheless, I didn’t feel relaxed until the plane actually took off. After finishing hotel quarantine, I resumed my work in Chiang Mai. I was close to finishing several pieces for Frontier when I got some bad news from Yangon: a close relative was seriously ill. I felt a powerful need to return and care for them. I knew there were risks in returning but they’d let me leave Myanmar less than two months earlier; getting back in would surely be no harder. I expected to face nothing more than a two-week stay in quarantine when I arrived back in Yangon. But as my plane landed around 8pm on December 12, I felt an overwhelming sense of fear. Many people from Myanmar will understand this fear. We can be arrested at any time, for no apparent reason. It doesn’t matter whether you’re involved in fighting the dictatorship – with the military in charge, you can never be truly safe in Myanmar. The airport was eerily quiet. We filed off the plane towards the counter where we needed to choose whether to spend our quarantine in a hotel or government facility. I chose hotel quarantine and an official directed me to the immigration counter. That was where my nightmare began. Our interaction started casually enough; I handed my passport over the counter, and the immigration officer stamped it and entered my arrival date. But then he said vaguely that I needed to wait a moment while they checked some other things. Ten minutes later, four fully armed police officers arrived and took me off into the corner of the room, a short distance from the immigration counter. They didn’t tell me why I was being stopped, but I knew it couldn’t be good. I sent a few short messages to my colleagues that the police had stopped me. The officers started asking questions, things like, “Did you write anti-SAC articles?” and “Do you have connections to the National Unity Government and People’s Defence Forces?” Then they said, “Do you know that you have been charged under 505A?”. This set my heart racing. By now, most people from Myanmar are familiar with the phrase “505A”: an incitement charge in the Penal Code that carries a potential three-year prison term, and which the junta has used regularly against its opponents. I had no idea what to do but tried to stay calm. I replied that journalists need to speak to all sides, so I had to contact the NUG and PDFs for my articles. Obviously, I would not have returned to Myanmar if I knew that I had been charged, I told them. At first, I thought my responses had worked. They took me away in a police car, but dropped me at the government quarantine centre in Dagon Seikkan Township. Had they just been trying to scare me? My heart sank, however, when the police took my laptop, mobile phone and passport. I realised I hadn’t wiped my devices as thoroughly as I had on the way out of Myanmar. They still had some sensitive information on them. I had another phone hidden in my luggage, and with that I sent a message to Frontier explaining what had happened. An hour later, soldiers and police arrived at my room. I was handcuffed and my eyes were covered with a black cloth, but I had time to see one soldier had the two-star insignia of a lieutenant. One of them told me that I would have to stay at a hotel for 14 days due to COVID-19 prevention measures. The handcuffs and blindfold suggested this was unlikely. Thirty minutes after getting into a vehicle it came to a halt. To this day I still don’t know exactly where I was taken, but I believe it was one of the junta-run interrogation centres in Yangon. Since the coup, these centres have earned a notorious reputation for the torture handed out to detainees, some of whom have died during interrogation. They forced me to sit on the floor and left me alone. After maybe three hours – it’s hard to tell when you’re blindfolded – several men came into the room and said they found emails I had sent to the NUG, and a story I had written about the telcos MPT and Mytel surveilling their customers. They particularly wanted to know the identities of the sources in the story. Knowing what the consequences would be if I gave them the names, I told them I had promised the sources their identities would remain secret. I also pleaded with the soldiers to let me go, trying to convince them that I had quit Frontier in October. They then started kicking me in the abdomen and beating me around the head with their guns. When I asked for a cup of water, they threatened to kick me again. They kept asking questions, about my work and Frontier. I remained blindfolded the whole time. I think this continued for an hour, after which they sent me back to a hotel in Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township. It was about 2am and I was starving; I tried to call the hotel reception but the phone seemed to have been disconnected. In the morning, officials from the Ministry of Health turned up for my COVID-19 test and breakfast arrived at my door. The officials said nothing about the bruising on my face. I hoped my ordeal was over but spent the day waiting in fear. At about 9pm, the soldiers and police returned and I was again blindfolded and taken somewhere. The interrogation went on even longer that night. They kept repeating the same questions and beating me when I didn’t give them the answers they wanted. At some point in the morning, I was sent back to the hotel. I was in so much pain I couldn’t sleep. I thought it couldn’t get worse, but I was wrong. I will never forget the events of the following day, December 14. I had always considered the 14th of any month to be a lucky day: my wife and I got married on February 14, and my son’s birthday is July 14. Again, I was blindfolded and taken to the interrogation centre. A soldier gave me a cup of water, and then they asked me the same questions. As on the previous days, I refused to give them the information they were after. I then heard a girl screaming, possibly from the room next door. A soldier told me, “Min thu ko lote ya meh.” This literally meant I would have to do something for or to her, but from the context I knew they meant I would have to have sex with her. If I didn’t, they said, they would do “something” to me. I was terrified, but I refused. They asked again: who were the sources for the article? I told them I couldn’t remember, but they didn’t believe me. That was when they started to rape me. I begged them to stop, but they just told me to be quiet. It went on for about an hour. I was in shock; I never expected the soldiers would behave like that. It occurred to me that if they were sick enough to rape me, they could kill me at any moment. I couldn’t stay silent any longer; all I could think about was getting out alive. I thought about how to respond while giving away as little information as possible, to minimise the risk to others. One of the things they had been demanding were the phone numbers of three colleagues who were already out of the country, along with the numbers of an activist and a lawyer. I couldn’t remember the numbers, but I offered to retrieve them from my phone. It seemed as though it would be easy enough for them to get the numbers through other channels, anyway. Revealing the identities of sources was a more sensitive matter. I told them the position of one government official, but said I couldn’t remember their name or number, and gave a fake name and number for a police officer. In desperation, I then told the soldiers I also worked as a national consultant for UNICEF. This wasn’t a total lie, but my part-time contract with UNICEF had actually ended months ago – that’s why it hadn’t occurred to me to mention it earlier. Maybe saying I was with a UN agency worked, or maybe they just felt they had enough information, but shortly afterwards they sent me back to the hotel. Despite what I had experienced, I felt relieved to be alive. The next day, a senior military officer came to my hotel together with police from Mingalar Taung Nyunt and Sanchaung townships. They told me I would be charged under not only section 505A of the Penal Code, but also 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act and the Counter-Terrorism Law. But then they offered to withdraw the charges if I agreed not to reveal anything about my detention, including the sexual abuse I suffered. They had prepared a six-point statement for me to sign: Aside from staying silent about my experience, I would not be able to work for Frontier or contact the NUG or PDFs, and I would need to inform the Sanchaung Township police station at least 10 days in advance if I wanted to travel domestically or internationally. The agreement said I would receive my laptop, mobile phone and passport back within a week. If I broke the agreement, I would face the original charges. I told them I needed time to think about it. Although I desperately wanted to get out of detention, the idea of making a deal with the regime still made me feel sick. When they came back the next day, though, I was ready to sign. I was worried about my family, and what they might do to them if I refused. Once I had signed, the senior officer said I would be able to go home after completing quarantine on December 20. This concern with COVID-19 regulations may seem absurd, but not to those familiar with the workings of the Myanmar military. It is willing to do anything – no matter how barbaric – to hold onto power, but at the same time, it feels the need to show it is upholding and following the law. The sense of relief I had expected to feel upon returning home never came. Although my physical injuries soon started to heal and the doctor told me my damaged kidneys would repair themselves, I had trouble sleeping and was terrified of the darkness; just seeing soldiers on social media, let alone on the street, left me a wreck. I felt unable to tell my family, including my wife, the full story of what had happened. After a few months I decided to get tested for sexually transmitted infections, so I went alone, in secret. Frontier had stopped publishing temporarily in October to make it easier for us to quietly leave the country. The plan was to resume in December but after my arrest they decided to wait, and eventually relaunched in January this year. After my release, I stopped communicating with Frontier so that the authorities wouldn’t arrest me. But once articles were going up on the website again, the Sanchaung police started to call me regularly – perhaps around twice a month – to say Frontier was damaging the reputation of the military and that I would have to face the consequences. Unable to work for Frontier, or even contact my colleagues, I had little to keep me occupied; inevitably, I could think about little else than what the soldiers had done to me. The guilt of having potentially put others at risk by returning to Myanmar also weighed on me. I soon started to think about ending my life. I felt like I had no future, nothing to look forward to. Most of all I felt alone. For months I struggled on. Then, in April, I told my wife that I had been raped. This helped immediately – finally, someone else knew what I had been through. It wasn’t always at the front of my mind. Nevertheless, I was still in a bad way. The only thing I wanted was to get out of the country, but I was in a bind. Although I didn’t feel safe in Myanmar with the authorities seemingly watching my every step, trying to leave again seemed like such a risk. Eventually I decided to try to go back to Thailand. As per the terms of the agreement, I informed the Sanchaung Township police station. It was unclear whether I would be allowed to leave, and I was terrified they would arrest me again when I went through the airport. Travelling alone on June 6, I passed through immigration without a problem and soon landed in Bangkok. My family joined me later the same day on a separate flight. Why did they let me go? Why did they let me leave last year, and then arrest me when I returned a few months later? The regime’s decision-making is opaque and seemingly erratic. The police officer from Sanchaung told me they had let some other junta opponents leave, including known members of the Civil Disobedience Movement. Perhaps they just thought it was easier if I was out of the country. Regardless, we were now finally free of the regime, and this time I really did start to feel better. Since arriving in Bangkok, Frontier have been providing me with access to regular counselling and continued treatment for my physical injuries. But the trauma of my experience is always present, and deciding whether to write about it was difficult. I was sure that soldiers routinely used sexual violence against both men and women during interrogation, but also knew that most victims would not want to speak up – either because they had (like me) been forced to sign an agreement, they were worried about the stigma, or both. Part of me also wanted to stay silent about what had happened. The military has a particular sensitivity to allegations of sexual violence and nearly always denies that such incidents took place. If faced with incontrovertible evidence, it blames a rogue soldier or soldiers and has insisted for decades there is no institutional pattern. I decided to write this because I wanted the world to know that the use of sexual violence is indeed routine, even if it meant reliving my experience over and over again. I also chose to write under my name, rather than anonymously, to encourage other survivors to come forward about what they experienced. I believe that the use of rape and other forms of sexual abuse is not just a torture method designed to get information out of detainees. The soldiers see the people as their enemies and inflict sexual violence as a form of punishment, and to show that they have the power to do whatever they want. I think this attitude comes right from the top of the military, from Min Aung Hlaing himself. They know the people despise them, and violence and fear are the only tools they have left to maintain power..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2022-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A Yangon court has sentenced journalist Htet Htet Khine to three years in prison under incitement charges, as disturbing crackdowns on press freedom continue under Myanmar’s military regime. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the court’s decision and calls on the junta to protect the rights of journalists and media workers in Myanmar. Htet Htet Khine, a former BBC television presenter, was sentenced to three years in prison on September 15, after she was convicted of incitement under Section 505(a) of the Myanmar Penal Code for allegedly disseminating ‘false information designed to foster public animosity towards the military government’. From 2016 until 2020, Khine presented the BBC’s Khan Sar Kyi (Feel It) program, which covered the devastating impacts of prolonged conflict in Myanmar. Htet Htet Khine and fellow journalist Sithu Aung Myint were arrested by the military junta in Yangon in August 2021. Khine was initially charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act for working with an outlawed radio station and sheltering Myint from police. Following her sentencing, Khine’s family members said they feared for her safety and reiterated that the charges against her were unlawful. In a statement, BBC Media Action also expressed concern for Khine’s safety and said that the sentence ran “counter to basic principles of human rights and freedom of expression.” Since the military coup in February 2021, at least 120 journalists have been detained, according to Reporting ASEAN. Last month, a freelance photographer was arrested by junta troops and former photojournalist Ko Zaw Zaw was sentenced to three years in prison. On July 30, Aye Kyaw, a photographer and activist known for covering anti-junta protests, died in police custody. The IFJ said: “The unlawful charges against Htet Htet Khine are yet another blatant attempt to silence critical voices and stifle press freedom in Myanmar. The IFJ urges Myanmar’s military to immediately release Khine and respect the right of all journalists to report without fear of persecution.”..."
Source/publisher: International Federation of Journalists
2022-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "At least 15 protesters were arrested in Yangon on Wednesday afternoon when regime personnel in civilian clothes broke up a flash mob in Kyimyindaing Township. The protest in Pan Pin Gyi Street was in support of the civilian National Unity Government and its United Nations representative, U Kyaw Moe Tun. The security forces were prepared and waiting for them, residents said. Protesters who escaped said the security forces were in plain clothes. “They arrived soon after we began the protest and beat us with sticks. Three vehicles suddenly appeared and at least three shots were fired,” said a protester who escaped. “At least 15 were taken away and we are very concerned for them. We saw them being beaten and shot at in public and anything can happen to them in an interrogation camp,” he said. Daw Win Win, a Kyimyindaing resident who witnessed the incident, said: “It happened very quickly. I saw the people in plain clothes with sticks and some with guns watching from a distance. They beat the protesters. I ran away because I was scared.” Ko Min Thurein, an executive member of the East Yangon University Students’ Union, was detained, according to the students union. Others seized were representatives of the Basic Education Students’ Union, Myanmar Labour Alliance, Myanmar Youth Network and Pyinnya Nan Taw private school. Five were members of the Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar (CTUM), the group said, denouncing the crackdown. U Nay Min Tun from the Building and Wood Workers Federation of Myanmar and Daw Zuu Zuu Ra Khaing, Daw Yamin Kay Thwe Khaing and U Than Zaw from the Industrial Workers’ Federation of Myanmar were seized, according to the CTUM. Last December junta forces rammed a vehicle into protesters and bystanders in the same street and arrested at least 12 people, including two journalists..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-09-14
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Telecom giant Ooredoo sold its Myanmar operation on Thursday to the Singapore-based Nine Communications firm for US$576 million, completing the exodus of foreign telecom companies from Myanmar following last year’s coup. The Qatari company announced on Thursday that it has reached an agreement to sell 100 per cent of its equity in Myanmar to Nine Communications for an enterprise value of approximately US$576 million and total equity consideration of US$162 million. The sale is subject to the customary closing conditions, including Myanmar regulatory approvals, added Ooredoo. Nine Communications is owned by the conglomerate Link Family Office and U Nyan Win. U Nyan Win has more than 40 years of experience in the telecom industry, Ooredoo stated. Established in 2014, Ooredoo was Myanmar’s third-biggest telecom operator with nearly 15 million users in 2020. After the Norwegian telecom company Telenor exited Myanmar in March, Ooredoo informed Myanmar’s Posts and Telecommunications Department, the country’s telecom regulator, in July of its intention to sell its Myanmar business. Telenor sold its Myanmar operation to the junta-affiliated firm Shwe Byain Phyu, with a minority stake purchased by Lebanese investment firm M1. The unit is now known as ATOM in Myanmar. The Norwegian firm said that it sold its Myanmar unit to avoid European Union sanctions after “continued pressure” from the military regime to activate intercept surveillance technology. Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, CEO & Managing Director of the Ooredoo Group, said of the company’s decision to leave Myanmar: “It was important for us to make this call at a time when Ooredoo Myanmar is performing at its strongest to ensure the business continues from strength to strength. We will ensure a smooth transition with the least possible disruption adhering to all local requirements.” Other telecom service providers in Myanmar include MPT, a large state-backed operator run as a joint venture with a Japanese company, and Mytel, a venture between the Myanmar military and Viettel, owned by Vietnam’s Defense Ministry..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-09-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "DUBAI, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Telecoms firm Ooredoo (ORDS.QA) has signed an agreement to sell its Myanmar unit to Singapore vehicle Nine Communications Pte. Ltd, the Qatari company said on Thursday. The transaction, with an enterprise value of $576 million and a total equity consideration of $162 million, is subject to the customary closing conditions, including Myanmar regulatory approvals..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2022-09-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Bangkok, August 8, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately disclose the status of photojournalist Aye Kyaw amid reports that he died in detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. At about 2 a.m. on July 30, military authorities arrested Aye Kyaw, a member of the Upper Myanmar Photography Association who had photographed anti-junta protests, at his home in the city of Sagaing, according to reports by the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia and the local outlet Yangon Khit Thit Media. At about noon that day, a local official told Aung Kyaw’s family that he had died in custody and his body was being held at the Sagaing City Hospital, according to RFA. That report quoted a member of the Ohbo Health and Social Assistance Association, a burial service in Sagaing, as saying his group took Aye Kyaw’s body to a religious hall, and that the journalist’s family buried him on July 31. An anonymous source quoted by RFA said they saw dark bruises on Aye Kyaw’s ribs and back. “Myanmar authorities must immediately account for the whereabouts of photojournalist Aung Kyaw, and come clean about whether he died in military custody,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “If he died while in junta detention, then those responsible must be identified and brought to justice.” CPJ emailed Myanmar’s Ministry of Information for comment, but did not immediately receive any response. Yangon Khit Thit Media reported that authorities ordered the journalist’s family not to post about his burial on Facebook. Citing one of his family members, RFA reported that authorities had arrived at the journalist’s home on July 30 to search for weapons. CPJ was not able to find contact information for Aung Kyaw’s family members, and calls to the Upper Myanmar Photography Association went unanswered. Aung Kyaw is at least the fourth journalist to be killed since the military seized power in a coup on February 1, 2021, according to CPJ reporting. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), an independent rights monitoring group, at least 2,167 prodemocracy activists and civilians have been killed by the junta since the coup..."
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2022-08-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Content note: this statement contains references to violence, murder, and potential war crimes. For months, the Myanmar military has systematically imposed internet shutdowns to facilitate an aggressive scorched-earth campaign across the nation. Internet, mobile, and landline connections are cut in an impending sign of a military attack — and as shutdowns reign for days on end, entire villages, schools, places of worship, and personal property are torched, villagers killed, and food and other necessary supplies destroyed. Internet shutdowns have fortified the military’s oppressive “Four Cuts” strategy — a military campaign to indiscriminately destroy anything or anyone deemed to support the raging popular resistance movement on the ground. As places continue to be wiped out amidst communications blackouts, the international community and companies tasked to enforce the junta’s orders have remained largely silent. This must change. Internet shutdowns have been imposed across regions where resistance against the military has been most intense and where arson attacks by the junta have been most widespread as both punishments and cover for atrocities. In one of the worst-hit regions of Sagaing, internet, mobile, and landline connections have been shut down since late 2021, with access only available intermittently for a few hours every few days. Out of 34 townships in Sagaing, eight are facing regular internet blackouts, while the other townships have access only to 2G connections. Reports indicate that more than 22,000 sites, including residential and religious buildings, were burned down between February 1 and May 2022. Homes have been raided by soldiers, property destroyed, and burned bodies reportedly found “shot in the head” and “tied with cables.” Regional shutdowns have been reported and continue across the regions of Magway and Mandalay and the states of Chin, Kayah (Karenni), and Kachin, where intense fighting between military and resistance forces is ongoing. This is all being perpetrated with impunity amidst recurring internet shutdowns, now in place in at least 54 townships across the country. As shutdowns continue indefinitely, people are not only impacted by active conflict but struggle to lead daily lives. Those attempting to leave their homes have no means to find out information to help keep themselves safe, such as where attacks may be launched or where road bombs may be laid. People who wish to find out how their friends, family, or loved ones are coping cannot communicate with them. Transport of essential supplies is blocked to villages, as drivers are unable to discern safe routes for travel. People are unable to transfer or receive funds as they are cut off from mobile payment services. Amidst a pandemic, people have no way to share health information or receive medical attention, in a violation of their right to health, and risks of gender-based violence are exacerbated. Meanwhile, children who were already unable to receive in-school education because of ongoing school boycotts and burnt-down schools are now cut out of online means of learning, leading to an increasing number of school dropout cases and reported cases of child abuse through forced child marriages. Humanitarian actors and journalists who remain in the country struggle to monitor and report on the ongoing human rights violations and provide essential aid. At the same time, UN experts have highlighted challenges to gathering evidence of human rights violations. This situation on the ground will only deteriorate unless international actors continue to keep global attention on Myanmar and push back firmly against aggression by the junta. The military must not be allowed to perpetrate crimes with impunity under the cloak of darkness, and governments and companies must push back..."
Source/publisher: Civicus (Johannesburg)
2022-06-23
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "ON THE THAI-MYANMAR BORDER — With the risk of arrest or injury high for those reporting on the Myanmar junta, many journalists have fled to borderlands or neighboring countries. From there, journalists like Hsa Moo try to keep news flowing to their audiences. Working from the Thai border, Hsa Moo documents evidence collected directly from her sources in Myanmar’s Kayin State. Her coverage includes military clashes and how the military coup is impacting communities and internally displaced people or IDPs. It’s a tough beat. Airstrikes from Myanmar military warplanes and helicopters make travel risky in what is one of the hardest hit regions. Under attack Normally controlled by the Karen National Union army’s 5th Brigade, the region has come under attack from junta forces. “When you go, you face the Burmese army shelling and everything,” said Hsa Moo, as she edited photographs of a bombed village. But she added, “When you see the [displaced people] and when they see you, they also feel very happy because they know that somebody, some people, still care for them,” Hsa Moo contributes to the Karen Peace Support Network, a civil society network for one of Myanmar’s ethnic groups. Made up of 30 organizations in Myanmar and Thailand, the network provides support and information to communities in the region. Like Hsa Moo, many Myanmar journalists have chosen to work in neighboring countries. Some are trying to avoid arrest. Rights groups say the junta is using laws to target critics. “If you are inside Burma [Myanmar] they will just block or censor everything. The government has a propaganda newspaper and the TV shows, but that is all the lies,” Hsa Moo said. The junta is also proposing cybersecurity legislation that could block the use of Virtual Private Network or VPNs. With access blocked in Myanmar to social media and other websites, VPNs have offered a workaround for those wanting access to information. Many had come to rely on social media as a source of news. When Myanmar opened up in the early 2000s, a number of independent media turned to Facebook as a platform to post news from their regions. “Myanmar is not like other countries. Before, it was called the Facebook nation because 99% of the public use Facebook so that is why [military] also tried to ban Facebook,” said a Kachin news editor, who goes by the pseudonym Seng Li. Seng Li oversees a network of journalists, mainly in an area under the control of the Kachin Independence Organization. Both Kachin and Kayin states have territory controlled by ethnic armed groups who want autonomy. Apart from a 17-year cease-fire, the Kachin Independence Organization and its military arm, the Kachin Independence Army, have been at war with the Burmese army since 1961. Rights groups believe the junta targets media to try to silence criticism. “For the junta, the enemy is now anyone reporting a narrative that differs from the propaganda pushed out by the ludicrously named Tatmadaw ‘True News’ team,” said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director for Human Rights Watch (HRW). Tatmadaw is the official name of Myanmar’s armed forces. “Journalists still operating inside Myanmar are now almost all reporting from hiding, where they courageously continue to try to do their work despite huge obstacles and the risk of arrest at any time,” Robertson told VOA. Arrest risks Military spokesperson Gen. Zaw Min Tun has denied that the junta arrests journalists for their work. Media workers are arrested only “if they are involved in violence or anti-military activities or treason,” he told VOA. The regional group Reporting ASEAN however has documented over 120 arrests of journalists since the military seized power in February 2021. Of those, at least 48 are still in custody, data show. Authorities sometimes add additional charges to those already detained, potentially adding years to their prison term. Han Thar Neing, co-founder of news website Kamayut Media, received a two-year sentence on March 21, on charges of spreading false news. Now, the 40-year-old faces an additional charge under an Electronic Transactions Law that could add seven years to his sentence. It’s an unexpected turn of events for his family, who already suffer from chronic stress, unable to see him in person at Yangon’s Insein Prison. Han Thar’s family can deliver limited food supplies to him twice a month, through the prison officials, but cannot see him. His sister Kyi Thar says her heart sinks every time she sees footage of her brother on the news, sometimes in a blue prison uniform, his hands and ankles shackled. “I hope for the future, journalists like my brother — including other Myanmar journalists — will be treated like the other country’s journalists,” she said. “They are journalists doing their job of covering the news and they don’t commit any crimes.” International bodies have criticized Yangon’s treatment of prisoners held in Insein prison, including detained activists and reporters. “Myanmar's prisons are among the poorest and most brutal in the Southeast Asia region, so the imprisoned journalists must be facing the equivalent of hell on earth,” HRW’s Robertson told VOA. “Incarcerated journalists should be allowed regular, unhindered access to relatives, and to legal counsel, and be made immediately eligible for release on bail,” Robertson added. Despite the risks that reporting on life in Myanmar brings, reporters continue to cover the conflict, both from within and outside the country..."
Source/publisher: "VOA" (Washington, D.C)
2022-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar photojournalist Ta Mwe describes how he evades arrest while covering protests against the Myanmar junta.
Description: "Myanmar freelance photojournalist Ta Mwe, a pen name he uses to protect his security, the pseudonym named for his security, has won awards for his news photos of the crackdown on anti-military junta protests following the Feb 2021 coup that ousted the country’s elected civilian government. To mark World Press Freedom Day, Ye Kaung Myint Maung of RFA’s Myanmar Service spoke to Ta Mwe about his work on the conflict. RFA: Can you tell me about the award you won? Ta Mwe: I have won the jury’s choice for honorable mention in Southeast Asia and Oceania category of the World Press Photo awards. (I submitted) a series of 10 black and white photos about the Spring Revolution in Myanmar. My photo series covers the scenes from the early days of protests after the military coup in 2021. The contestants in this category are required to submit their ten best photos from their work that depict the story. So I picked my ten best photos taken in four months, from February to May of last year. RFA: Can you tell me about your career as a photographer? Ta Mwe: I started my career in photo journalism as a citizen journalist. Around 2007, I started taking photos using my phone and uploaded them anonymously to Burmese language blogs on Blogspot.com. Around 2011, I started working as a full-time photographer. I had worked as a full-time photojournalist for a local weekly journal, then became a freelance photographer. RFA: What can you tell me about the situation of press freedom in Myanmar at the moment? Ta Mwe: The situation has become extremely difficult for journalists now. When we cover news activities on the ground, we first need to find a route to flee from the scene and escape arrest, before we start doing anything like taking photos or interviewing people. We have to figure out how to ensure our own security before we hit the ground. As I have covered flash mob protests in Yangon, I have planned carefully which streets to run away on as soon as I finish taking photos. It has become very challenging. When I grab a taxi on my way back from the coverage, I don’t do it in the streets close to the scene. I walk a few blocks to hide the traces of my identity before I take a taxi. Before, there were several news media and several photographers working at the scene. They now have either been arrested or gone into hiding. RFA: We have seen that informants for the military authorities are everywhere. How risky it is for the journalists to do their jobs under those circumstances? Ta Mwe: As when I was covering the flash mob protest in Yangon, I have to be at the scene before the activities happen and check the surroundings if there are authorities in plain clothes near the scene. There could be informants at the scene. If I think it is not safe to cover the activities closely, I have to take photos from a distance. It has become very unpredictable. I think the chances of spotting the informers are 50/50. Sometimes, I can easily distinguish the informants from the crowd because of their appearance. But other times, I cannot distinguish them. I hear that sometimes they suddenly come out of a parked car to arrest people. It has become very risky for me to do the job. RFA: Now you are at a safe location. What do you expect to do to continue your work? Ta Mwe: I am now at a safe location. But I will keep doing the journalism work by recording the happenings in Myanmar and disseminating them to the world, because we are witnessing a historic turning point in Myanmar. For someone of my age, it is very significant. I will keep covering the news happening in Myanmar from a distance. If it is possible, I will go and cover it on the ground. RFA: What kind of message do you want to pass to concerned leaders around the world, working to restore peace and democracy in Myanmar? Ta Mwe: As a journalist, I am risking my life to report news about Myanmar so that the concerned leaders around the world can make the right decisions. It is their job to make an informed decision. I believe it is my job to send out the correct information, regardless of the risks. I hope they will make the right and unbiased decision based on the information received from us. I also would like to implore them to work harder to secure the release of journalists in detention. Without journalists working on the ground, the people in Myanmar will be under an information blackout, and concerned leaders around the world will have many blind spots in their decision making and they will not make the best decision. I would like to appeal them to try hard for the release of journalists in prison and support those who are in hiding or evading arrest..."
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Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2022-05-03
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Today, the 3rd of May 2022, is World Press Freedom day. On this day we would like to honour all professional and citizen journalists, and all the people who work in media, at home and abroad, for their tireless efforts not only in preserving the freedom of the press, and freedom of expression in Myanmar during the Spring Revolution, but indeed for the world they do around the world, ensuring the free flow of information – one of the cornerstones of human rights. For a society which values freedom and justice, freedom of information is a vital pillar. We have seen waves of hatred and oppression radiating from groups who oppose freedom, peace, and justice. Currently it is groups such as these which threaten not only the freedom of the press, but those who work to bring information to the people. Many brave reporters and journalists have been slain, imprisoned, tortured, or forced to flee, their families targeted and their homes and properties seized. It is tragic to see that incidents such as these are on the rise globally. In Myanmar alone, since the coup in 2021, a total of 166 journalists have been arrested by the terrorist military council, according to statistics from the Myanmar Press Freedom In-Depth Group. Charges range from the infamous section 505 (a) of the criminal code (sedition against the military, state, and hate speech), to sections 114, 118, 436, and 332 of the criminal code, section 66 (d) of the communications act (misinformation), violations of various customs and immigration acts, and sections 124 (a) and (c) of the colonial era penal code (sedition against the government). Some of the unjustly detained journalists have since been released, but more than 50 remain in detention. Three journalists, Ko Soe Naing, A Sai K (aka Sai Win Aung), and Pu Tuidim died as a result of interrogation. In addition to the arrests, licenses have been revoked from 11 media outlets, and 3 have been suspended entirely. Not only does the junta try to cut information off at the source, but they have also limited the spread of information by periodically cutting off the internet, reducing internet speed and bandwidth, limited internet access, and raising data fees. This is in addition to new laws and rules imposed by the military regarding the lawful use of the internet. As it stands, any criticism of the military or their puppet government constitutes a criminal act, and may even be considered treasonous. On the 1st of February 2021 when the terrorist cabal staged their coup, they cut off the internet from 3am to 1pm. That same week they cut the internet again on the 6th and 7th. Internet and phone lines continue to be cut off in many townships in Sagaing Region, Kachin State, Rakhine State, Mandalay Region, Magway Region, Chin State and Kayah(Karenni)State as well as areas which have seen fighting between the junta and democratic forces. Paragraph 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and freedom of expression." We strongly urge the international community to support the Myanmar people and to hold the military terrorists accountable for their unjust arrests, persecution, killings, and war crimes. We also would like to encourage a full review and analysis of the strict rules and regulations on freedom of information and the press in ASEAN countries, and to establish a standard policy among the ASEAN community. Heroically, despite the intense pressure and persecution from the military, professional and citizen journalists and media organizations have stood fast to preserve media freedom and the free flow of information, even at risk of their own lives. It is due to such brave work that the SAC is losing the media war. Truth will out, and the courageous men and women of Myanmar's media community are pushing back against the military propaganda and lies. A situation which has clearly frustrated the military as evidenced by their spokesmen's increasingly aggressive attitude towards journalists and media in general. The National Unity Government is committed to providing justice to the media, informants, and professional and citizen journalists for all the injustices done them by the terrorist military. Efforts will be made in accordance with established media ethics and the lessons learned during this horrific chapter of our nation's history to establish strong safeguards to protect the freedom of the press and the people who work within it. So on this day we rise to honour all media, journalists, and citizen journalists at home and abroad who have given their all, and continue to risk their lives for the freedom of the press, freedom of expression in Myanmar's spring revolution, and in struggles for justice around the world. In our future democratic federal union, we will fight for the rights of journalists, as journalists today are fighting for freedom and democracy. We will promote the principles of freedom of information and of the press, to unshackle truth and discourse, and take full advantage of the power of a free and liberated press..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
2022-05-03
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "ယနေ့ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် မေလ ၃ ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျရောက်သော ကမ္ဘာ့သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်နေ့တွင် လူသားတိုင်း၏ အခြေခံလူ့ရပိုင်ခွင့်ဖြစ်သည့် လွတ်လပ်စွာရေးသားထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်ကို ထိန်းသိမ်းနိုင်ရန် ရင်းနှီးပေးဆပ်မှုပေါင်း များစွာဖြင့် အားထုတ်ကြိုးပမ်းနေကြသည့် ကမ္ဘာအရပ်ရပ်ရှိ သတင်းမီဒီယာများ၊ သတင်းသမားများ၊ လူထု သတင်းသမားများနှင့် သတင်းရင်းမြစ်များအားလုံးကို တလေးတစားဖြင့် ဂုဏ်ပြုအပ်ပါသည်။ သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်သည် လွတ်လပ်ငြိမ်းချမ်းပြီး တရားမျှတမှုကိုလိုလားသော လူ့အဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ရပ်အတွက် မရှိမဖြစ်သောအခြေခံအုတ်မြစ် ဖြစ်သည့်အားလျော်စွာ လွတ်လပ်ခြင်း၊ ငြိမ်းချမ်းခြင်းနှင့် တရားမျှတခြင်းတို့ကို အလေးမထားသော အစုအဖွဲ့များ၏ ရန်လိုမုန်းထားမှု၊ ဖိနှိပ်ရန်ပြုမှုတို့ကိုလဲ ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် ခံစားခဲ့ရသည့် သာဓကများစွာရှိခဲ့ပါသည်။ မျက်မှောက်ကာလ တွင်လည်း သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို ဖိနှိပ်ရန်ပြုနေကြသည့် အစုအဖွဲ့များ၏ ခြိမ်းခြောက်မှုကြောင့် သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့် အတွက် ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာတိုက်ပွဲဝင်ရင်း အသက်စွန့်ခဲ့ရသူများ၊ ထောင်သွင်းအကျဉ်းချခံရသူများ၊ အိုးအိမ်စည်းစိမ် ဖျက်ဆီးခံကြရသူများ၊ အိမ်ယာစွန့်ခွာခဲ့ရသူများ၏ အရေအတွက်မှာ တိုးပွားလာလျက်ရှိနေသည်ကို စိတ်မကောင်းဖွယ် တွေ့ရှိရသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်လည်း Myanmar Press Freedom In-Depth အဖွဲ့၏ စာရင်းဇယားများအရ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုက ပြည်သူ့အာဏာကို လုယူခဲ့သည့် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁) ရက်နေ့မှ စတင်၍ ယနေ့ကာလအထိ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီအနေဖြင့် သတင်းသမားစုစုပေါင်း ၁၆၆ ဦးကို ပုဒ်မ ၅၀၅ (က) အပြင် အခြားပုဒ်မများဖြစ်သည့် ပုဒ်မ ၁၁၄/ ၁၁၈/ ၄၃၆/ ၃၃၂၊ လ၀ကဥပဒေပုဒ်မ ၁၃(၁)၊ ၆၆(ဃ)၊ အကြမ်းဖက်ပုဒ်မ၊ ၁၂၄(က)၊ ၁၂၄(ဂ)၊ ပို့ကုန်သွင်းကုန်ဥပဒေများဖြင့် ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်း ဖမ်းဝရမ်းထုတ်ခြင်းများပြုလုပ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ အဆိုပါ သတင်းသမား ၁၆၆ ဦးအနက် အချို့မှာ ပြန်လည်လွတ်မြောက်ခဲ့သော်လည်း ၅၀ ကျော်မှာ လက်ရှိအချိန်အထိ အကျဉ်းထောင်များအတွင်း ဆက်လက်ထိန်းသိမ်း ခံနေရဆဲဖြစ်ကာ သတင်းသမား ၃ ဦးဖြစ်သည့် ကိုစိုးနိုင်၊ အေစိုင်းကေ(ခ) စိုင်းဝင်းအောင် နှင့် Pu Tuidim တို့မှာ စစ်မြေပြင်၌လည်းကောင်း၊ ဖမ်းဆီးခံရစဉ် စစ်ကြောရေး၌လည်းကောင်း ကျဆုံးခဲ့ရပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ ထို့အပြင် လိုင်စင်ပိတ်သိမ်းခံခဲ့ရသည့် မီဒီယာ စုစုပေါင်း ၁၁ ခုရှိကာ ၃ ခုမှာ ခေတ္တရပ်နားခဲ့ရသည်ဟု သိရှိရသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုသည် သတင်းမီဒီယာသမားများအပေါ် ဖမ်းဆီးမှု၊ သတ်ဖြတ်မှု၊ ကိုယ်ထိလက်ရောက် ကျူးလွန်မှုများပြုလုပ်ကာ သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို ထိပါးနှောက်ယှက်လျက်ရှိသလို သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်၏ အစိတ်အပိုင်းတစ်ခုဖြစ်သော အင်တာနက်လွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကိုလဲ အင်တာနက်များဖြတ်တောက်ခြင်း၊ အင်တာနက်အသုံးပြုခ များတိုးမြှင့်ကောက်ခံခြင်း၊ အင်တာနက်ဝန်ဆောင်မှု Bandwidth များလျှော့ချခြင်း၊ အင်တာနက်အသုံးပြုမှုကို ကန့်သတ်သော ဥပဒေများ၊ အမိန့်ညွှန်ကြားချက်များကို ထုတ်ပြန်ခြင်း စသည့် လုပ်ရပ်များဖြင့် တားဆီးပိတ်ပင် ကန့်သတ်မှုများကို နေ့စဉ်ရက်ဆက် လုပ်ဆောင်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုသည် စတင်အာဏာသိမ်းခဲ့သည့် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ နေ့ မနက် ၃ နာရီမှ စတင်ကာ မွန်းလွဲ တစ်နာရီအထိ တစ်နိုင်ငံလုံးအတိုင်းအတာဖြင့် ပထမဆုံးအကြိမ် အင်တာနက်လိုင်းများ ဖြတ်တောက်ခဲ့ပြီး ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၆ ရက်နဲ့ ၇ ရက်နေ့များတွင်လည်း တစ်ပတ်အတွင်း ဒုတိယအကြိမ် အဖြစ် အင်တာနက်လိုင်းများ ထပ်မံဖြတ်တောက်ခဲ့သည်။ ယခုအချိန်အထိ စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်း၊ ကချင်ပြည်နယ်၊ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ် မန္တလေးတိုင်း၊ မကွေးတိုင်း၊ ချင်းပြည်နယ်နှင့် ကယား(ကရင်နီ) ပြည်နယ်တို့ရှိ မြို့နယ်များကို အင်တာနက် ဖြတ်တောက် ထားပြီး စစ်ကောင်စီနှင့် တိုက်ပွဲများ ပြင်းထန်သော အချို့မြို့နယ်များတွင် ဖုန်းလိုင်းများပါ ဖြတ်တောက်ထားသည်။ အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကြေငြာစာတမ်းအပိုဒ် (၁၉) တွင် "လူတိုင်းတွင်လွတ်လပ်စွာထင်မြင်ယူဆခွင့်နှင့် လွတ်လပ်စွာဖွင့်ဟဖော်ပြခွင့်ရှိသည်" ဟု ဖော်ပြထားသည့်အလျောက် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုက်အဝန်းမှလည်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်း သတင်းမီဒီယာများ၊ သတင်းသမားများ နှင့် လူထုသတင်းသမားများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုက မတရားဖမ်းဆီး၊ နှိပ်စက်၊ သတ်ဖြတ်နေမှုများအပေါ် ဖိအားပေးအရေးယူနိုင်ရန် နှင့် စစ်ကောင်စီမှကျူးလွန်နေသော စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မူများအား နိုင်ငံတကာက သိရှိအရေးယူနိုင်ရေးအတွက် ကူညီဆောင်ရွက်ပေးနိုင်ရန် လေးလေးနက်နက် တိုက်တွန်းလိုသည်။ အာဆီယံနိုင်ငံများတွင် သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်နှင့်စပ်လျဉ်း၍ တင်းကျပ်သော စည်းကမ်းများ၊ အရေးယူမူများ ချမှတ်ထားခြင်းအပေါ် ပြန်လည်သုံးသပ်၍ စံတန်ဖိုးပြည့်ဝသော အာဆီယံ အသိုက်အဝန်းတရပ် ပေါ်ပေါက်လာ စေရန်လည်း တိုက်တွန်းလိုသည်။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ ဖိနှိပ်ရန်ပြုမှုများစွာ ရှိနေသည့်ကြားကပင် သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို မြတ်နိုးတန်ဖိုးထားကြသော သတင်းမီဒီယာ များ၊ သတင်းသမားများ၊ လူထုသတင်းသမားများနှင့် သတင်းရင်းမြစ်များသည် အခက်အခဲ၊ အတားအဆီး၊ အန္တရာယ် ပေါင်းများစွာကြားကပင် လွတ်လပ်စွာ ရေးသားထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်နှင့် သတင်းမီဒီယာလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်တို့ကို ထိန်းသိမ်း စောင့်ရှောက်နိုင်ရေး စွမ်းစွမ်းတမံ ကြိုးစားဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိကြသည့်အတွက် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအနေဖြင့် သတင်းမီဒီယာ တိုက်ပွဲတွင် ကြီးစွာသော ရှုံးနိမ့်မှုကို ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည့်အဖြစ်ကို သတင်းမီဒီယာများအား ဒေါသကြီးစွာဖြင့် ရိုင်းပြစွာ တုံ့ပြန်ပြောဆိုခဲ့ခြင်းက သက်သေထူလျက်ရှိပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် သတင်းမီဒီယာများ၊ သတင်းသမားများ၊ လူထုသတင်းသမားများနှင့် သတင်းရင်းမြစ်များအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီက ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့၊ ကျူးလွန်လျက်ရှိသည့် ပြစ်မှုများအတွက် တရားမျှတမှုရရှိစေရေး ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သလို သတင်းမီဒီယာကျင့်ဝတ်နှင့်အညီ သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို ကျင့်သုံးကြသူများ ထိခိုက်နစ်နာမူမရှိစေရေး ကာကွယ်နိုင်ရန် အတွက်လည်း သမိုင်းဖြစ်စဉ်များအပေါ်သင်ခန်းစာယူကာ ပြင်ဆင်ဆောင်ရွက်သွားရမည် ဖြစ်သည်။ သို့ဖြစ်ပါ၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသူနိုင်ငံသားတို့၏ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးနှင့် ကမ္ဘာ့သူ ကမ္ဘာသားတို့၏ တရားမျှတမှု တိုက်ပွဲများတွင် ရဲရင့်ပြတ်သားစွာ သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်၊ လွတ်လပ်စွာရေးသားထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်တို့ကို ထိန်းသိမ်းကာကွယ်နိုင်ရေး ကြိုးပမ်းခဲ့ကြသော၊ ကြိုးပမ်းလျက်ရှိကြသော ပြည်တွင်းပြည်ပရှိ သတင်းမီဒီယာများ၊ သတင်းသမားများ၊ လူထု သတင်းသမားများနှင့် သတင်းရင်းမြစ်များအားလုံး၏ ရဲစွမ်းသတ္တိကို ဂုဏ်ပြုချီးမွမ်းရင်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အနာဂတ် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စုတွင် သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို တန်ဖိုးထားသော အတွေးအခေါ်များ ထွန်းကား ရှင်သန်ရေး၊ သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ကို ဖိနှိပ်ရန်ပြုမှုများ လျှော့ပါးပပျောက်ရေး နှင့် သတင်းလွတ်လပ်ခွင့် အပြည့်အဝ ရရှိရေးအတွက် အာမခံနိုင်သော အခြေခံအဆောက်အအုံများ စနစ်တကျ တည်ဆောက်နိုင်ရေးတို့ကို တော်လှန်ရေး အင်အားစုများနှင့်အတူ ဦးတည်ချက်ထားကြိုးစားဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
2022-05-03
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has monitored and reported on religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan for more than two decades, but 2021 was particularly difficult. Following U.S. withdrawal from the country, the Taliban took control on August 15, 2021. The Taliban’s victory was calamitous for many reasons, including the detrimental effect it had on religious freedom. USCIRF has long raised concern that the Taliban’s brutal application of its extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam violates the freedom of religion or belief of all Afghans who do not adhere to that interpretation, including Muslims and adherents of other faiths or beliefs. With the Taliban’s return to power, religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan, and the overall human rights situation, significantly deteriorated in 2021. Religious minorities faced harassment, detention, and even death due to their faith or beliefs. The one known Jew and most Hindus and Sikhs fled the country. Christian converts, Baha’is, and Ahmadiyya Muslims practiced their faith in hiding due to fear of reprisal and threats from the Taliban. Years of progress toward more equitable access to education and representation of women and girls disappeared. Throughout 2021, USCIRF consistently called attention to the escalating persecution of religious minorities in the country, including in two virtual events, two podcast episodes, and a factsheet. Given the sharp decline in religious freedom conditions witnessed in the country in 2021, USCIRF recommends in this Annual Report that the U.S. Department of State designate Afghanistan under the Taliban’s de facto government as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). The last such recommendation by USCIRF was in 2001, right before the ousting of the previous Taliban regime that controlled most of the country starting in 1996. Even before its return to power, the Taliban presented a grave threat to religious freedom, including in 2020 and the first half of 2021. The group committed violent attacks, excluded religious minorities, and punished residents in areas under their control in accordance with their extreme interpretation of Islam. The government of Afghanistan, under then President Ashraf Ghani, faced difficulties maintaining territorial control and security, impacting the safety of religious minority communities. Given these conditions, USCIRF in its 2021 Annual Report recommended that the Taliban be designated as an “entity of particular concern” (EPC) under IRFA and that Afghanistan be placed on the State Department’s Special Watch List (SWL), a lesser category than CPC. The State Department has designated the Taliban as an EPC every year since its first set of EPC designations in 2018, most recently in November 2021. The State Department caveated that this designation was based on information analyzed as of August 15, 2021, before the Taliban’s takeover as the de facto governing authority. The crisis in Afghanistan should serve as a collective call to action to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable religious communities around the globe. Beyond Afghanistan, this report sounds the alarm regarding the deterioration of religious freedom conditions in a range of other countries and provides policy recommendations to the U.S. government to respond to violations occurring in these places. This year, these countries include the Central African Republic (CAR), which USCIRF removed from last year’s annual report following improvements in religious freedom conditions, after previously reporting on the country since 2015. During 2021, Central African authorities and their partners committed egregious and ongoing violations of religious freedom in CAR—including targeted abductions, torture, and killings of Muslims—which led USCIRF to reinstate its recommendation to place CAR on the SWL. USCIRF is also concerned about the potential for backsliding in countries that did not meet the CPC or SWL standard this year, particularly Sudan, where the October 2021 military takeover threatens recent advancements in religious freedom protections made by the civilian-led transitional government. USCIRF continues to monitor the situation in Sudan closely. In all contexts where the freedom of religion or belief is violated or under threat, we urge the U.S. government to actively promote this fundamental right and protect persecuted religious communities. About This Report Created by IRFA, USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. government advisory body, separate from the U.S. Department of State, that monitors and reports on religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. USCIRF bases these recommendations on the provisions of its authorizing legislation and the standards in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and other international documents. USCIRF’s mandate and annual reports are different from, and complementary to, the mandate and annual reports of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report assesses religious freedom violations and progress in 27 countries during calendar year 2021 and makes independent recommendations for U.S. policy. The key findings, recommendations, and analysis in this report are based on a year’s research by USCIRF, including hearings, meetings, and briefings, and are approved by a majority vote of Commissioners. Under the statute, each Commissioner has the option to include a statement with his or her own individual views. Although USCIRF was not able to travel in 2021 to observe religious freedom conditions abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic, USCIRF was able to meet virtually with various stakeholders to further substantiate reports received throughout the year. The report’s primary focus is on two groups of countries: first, those that USCIRF recommends the State Department should designate as CPCs under IRFA, and second, those that USCIRF recommends the State Department should place on its SWL. The report also includes USCIRF’s recommendations of nonstate actors for designation by the State Department as EPCs under IRFA. In addition, the report analyzes the U.S. government’s implementation of IRFA during the reporting year and provides recommendations to bolster overall U.S. efforts to advance freedom of religion or belief abroad. It also includes a section discussing key trends and developments in religious freedom globally during the reporting period, including in countries that are not recommended for CPC or SWL status. This year, that section covers topics including the COVID19 pandemic and religious freedom, blasphemy and hate speech law enforcement, transnational repression of religious freedom, religious intolerance in Europe, deterioration of religious freedom conditions in South Asia, and political upheaval raising religious freedom concerns. Finally, the report’s last section highlights key USCIRF recommendations that the U.S. government has implemented since USCIRF’s previous annual report. In this report, USCIRF uses the terms “religious freedom,” “freedom of religion,” and “freedom of religion or belief” interchangeably to refer to the broad right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief—including the right to nonbelief—protected under international human rights law. Standards for CPC, SWL, and EPC Recommendations IRFA defines CPCs as countries where the government engages in or tolerates “particularly severe” violations of religious freedom. It defines the State Department’s SWL for countries where the government engages in or tolerates “severe” violations of religious freedom. Under IRFA, particularly severe violations of religious freedom mean “systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations . . . , including violations such as—(A) torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; (B) prolonged detention without charges; (C) causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons; or (D) other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.” Although the statute does not specifically define severe violations of religious freedom, in making SWL recommendations USCIRF interprets it to mean violations that meet two of the elements of IRFA’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious standard (i.e., that the violations are systematic and ongoing, systematic and egregious, or ongoing and egregious). To meet the legal standard for designation as an EPC, a nonstate group must engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom, as defined above, and must also be “a nonsovereign entity that exercises significant political power and territorial control; is outside the control of a sovereign government; and often employs violence in pursuit of its objectives.” The Annual Report highlights the countries and entities that, in USCIRF’s view, merit CPC, SWL, or EPC designation; it is intended to focus U.S. policymakers’ attention on the worst violators of religious freedom globally. The fact that a country or nonstate group is not covered in this report does not mean it did not violate religious freedom during the reporting year. It only means that based on the information available to USCIRF, the conditions during that year did not, in USCIRF’s view, meet the high threshold— the perpetration or toleration of particularly severe or severe violations of religious freedom—required to recommend the country or nonstate group for CPC, SWL, or EPC designation. In the case of a nonstate group, it also could mean that the group did not meet other statutory requirements, such as exercising significant political power and territorial control. USCIRF monitors and has concerns about religious freedom conditions abroad, including violations of freedom of religion or belief perpetrated or tolerated by governments and entities not covered in this report. The full range of USCIRF’s work on a wide variety of countries and topics can be found at www.uscirf.gov. USCIRF’s 2022 CPC, SWL, and EPC Recommendations For 2022, based on religious freedom conditions in 2021, USCIRF recommends that the State Department: • Redesignate as CPCs the following 10 countries: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan; • Designate as additional CPCs the following five countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria, and Vietnam; • Maintain on the SWL the following three countries: Algeria, Cuba, and Nicaragua; • Include on the SWL the following nine countries: Azerbaijan, CAR, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan; • Redesignate as EPCs the following seven nonstate actors: al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) (also referred to as ISIS-West Africa), and Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM). The conditions supporting the CPC or SWL recommendation for each country are described in the relevant country chapters of this report. The conditions supporting the EPC recommendations for Boko Haram and ISWAP are described in the Nigeria chapter and for HTS in the Syria chapter. For al-Shabaab, the Houthis, ISGS, and JNIM, the EPC recommendations are based on the following conditions: Although al-Shabaab’s territorial control continued to shrink, the group actively operated in the southern and southcentral regions of Somalia in 2021. The terrorist group carried out a series of deadly attacks in Somalia and in neighboring Kenya against both Muslims and non-Muslims. Reportedly, the group carried out amputations, floggings, and executions of Muslims who disagreed with its interpretation of Sunni Islam. In Lamu County, Kenya, a priest reported that the group attacked Christians and destroyed a church. In 2021, the Houthi movement, formally known as Ansar Allah, expanded its territorial holdings throughout Yemen. In March 2021, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi accused the United States of “seeking to establish Baha’i, Ahmadiyya and atheist [communities] in Yemen in order to undermine Islam.” The group forced Yemenis living in Houthi-controlled areas to take indoctrination “trainings,” even when these trainings were contrary to their religious beliefs. Prison officials also forced detainees to take Islamic religious trainings as a condition for their release, even when the detainees were not Muslim. The group’s slogan, posted widely throughout Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, includes the phrase “a curse on the Jews,” and the tiny remaining Jewish community faced ongoing and severe repression from Houthi authorities. Houthi authorities continued to detain Jewish prisoner of conscience Libi Marhabi despite a court order for his release. Houthi authorities also continued to prosecute Baha’is released from prison in 2020 and blocked Baha’i bank accounts in March 2021. Christians, especially converts, were also persecuted by Houthi authorities. In 2021, Houthi authorities detained two Christian convert priests and arrested a Christian man on charges of apostasy and promoting Christianity. In 2021, militant Islamist groups ISGS and JNIM continued to control territory in parts of Mali and Niger. While reporting during the calendar year is sparse, these groups likely continued trends of executing individuals with differing religious beliefs, restricting religious practice and preaching, and imposing harsh punishments based on a singular interpretation of Islamic law. Violations of Human Rights on the Basis of Religion USCIRF’s mission is to advance international freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) by independently assessing and unflinchingly confronting threats to this fundamental right. Within this conception, USCIRF is committed to addressing human rights violations perpetrated based on the coercive enforcement of interpretations of religion and has done so since it was created by Congress in 1998. USCIRF fulfills this commitment through its reporting, advocacy, and policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. Some foreign governments enforce laws and policies that permit or condone violations of human rights of minority groups and other vulnerable communities on the basis of religion. Under international human rights law, however, religion is not a legitimate justification for egregiously violating individuals’ fundamental rights. As explained by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee—the body of independent experts charged with interpreting provisions of the ICCPR—the existence of a state or majority religion cannot result in the impairment of the rights of individuals under the ICCPR. International law requires states to respect FoRB and other human rights for everyone, equally. Thus, states must not coercively enforce religious interpretations on individuals or communities who do not adhere to those interpretations. Individuals and religious communities enjoy the right to hold and follow diverse views on religious precepts free from government interference. Governments are accountable to international human rights standards guaranteeing FoRB and other fundamental human rights to all. To that end, USCIRF has provided qualitative and quantitative information in its annual reports, publications, and other work (see Appendix 4) highlighting problematic laws and policies of foreign countries that permit or condone violations of human rights of minority groups and other vulnerable communities on the basis of religion. Some of USCIRF’s key recent activities on this topic are discussed below. Throughout 2021, USCIRF published products and held public events that provide examples of states’ abuses of human rights on the basis of religion. USCIRF’s Country Update: Iran, released in August 2021, detailed how the Iranian government uses religion as a basis for violating the rights of its citizens, including by executing members of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community. USCIRF’s September 2021 Country Update: Saudi Arabia described Saudi authorities’ enforcement of the government’s interpretation of Sunni Islam and the country’s guardianship system, which severely limits women’s rights. These themes were further explored in USCIRF’s December 2021 hearing on “State-Sanctioned Religious Freedom Violations and Coercion by Saudi Arabia and Iran.” Additionally, USCIRF released a factsheet on Religious Minorities in Afghanistan in October 2021, outlining the Taliban’s imposition of its strict interpretation of Sunni Islam that violates the freedom of religion or belief of Afghanistan’s religious minorities and others who do not share the same religious beliefs. USCIRF further highlighted the impact of the coercive application of these beliefs on religious minorities and other vulnerable Afghans during the “USCIRF Conversation: Update on At-Risk Religious Communities in Afghanistan” event held in October 2021. Also in October, USCIRF released a factsheet on Religious Freedom Violations in the Republic of Chechnya describing how the Chechen dictatorship maintains hegemony through the imposition of a purported “traditional” version of Islam, including by conducting violent purges of the LGBTI community and witch hunts that often target elderly women. In November 2021, USCIRF published Country Update: Malaysia addressing how the implementation of religion-based law in Malaysia’s dual court system can violate religious freedom and related rights. In this report, USCIRF details the use of these religious laws to target members of vulnerable groups, such as Malaysia’s Muslim LGBTI community. USCIRF also conducted research on the coercive enforcement of interpretations of religion by nonstate actors, particularly EPCs. In November 2021, USCIRF published a report on EPCs and Religious Freedom, which outlines the human rights responsibilities of EPCs and other armed nonstate actors. USCIRF also released reports on Violent Islamist Groups in the Central Sahel and Violent Islamist Groups in Northern Nigeria, which address the imposition of a strict interpretation of Shari’a by EPCs and other violent Islamist groups in these areas and its impact on human rights. USCIRF continued to highlight the ways in which the enforcement of blasphemy or apostasy laws, which are based on religious interpretations, undermines human rights—including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression—and often targets vulnerable religious and other communities. Commission reports on this topic published in 2021 include Country Update: Egypt, Factsheet on Religious Freedom Violations in Kano State, Nigeria, and Factsheet on Ahmadiyya Muslims. At the end of 2021, USCIRF’s FoRB Victims List showcased 73 victims targeted under blasphemy or apostasy laws. USCIRF’s 2021 work on other problematic laws based on religious interpretations included the March factsheet on The Use of Shari’a as Religious Justification for Capital Punishment against LGBTI Persons discussing how such laws violate the human dignity and rights of LGBTI persons and embolden societal hostility, discrimination, and violence against them. In addition to the work described above, USCIRF also raises awareness on these issues through its public hearings, briefings, and other events, which seek to highlight the Commission’s research and recommendations and showcase diverse panelists offering a variety of perspectives. In May 2021, for example, USCIRF hosted an event with Nasreldin Mufrih, Sudan’s then Minister of Religious Affairs, where he provided an update on how the country’s transitional government was addressing the previous regime’s violations of human rights based on religion. These efforts were further discussed in USCIRF’s Policy Update on Sudan, released in November 2021. In February, a USCIRF event focused on ways the U.S. government can protect and assist refugees and asylum seekers, including those fleeing the coercive enforcement of religion. During 2021, USCIRF’s podcast series, Spotlight, offered in-depth analysis about developments that have implications for religious freedom and other human rights. Examples of episodes that discuss the official imposition of religious norms include Pakistan’s Laws that Enable Islamist Extremism, Hazara Community Threatened in Afghanistan, Enforcing Blasphemy Laws Have Dire Consequences, Religious Restrictions in Iran, and Governments Using Shari’a to Impose Death Sentences on LGBTI Persons. Information on all of USCIRF’s activities can be found at https://www.uscirf.gov/..."
Source/publisher: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
2022-04-26
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Testimonials from activists reveal a range of non-violent protests across Myanmar Thousands have been killed and arrested since the military took power Military forces disguise themselves as fruit sellers and trishaw drivers as part of the repressive surveillance system ‘Although our lives are in danger, we choose to continue. We will keep asking the world to help us because people are being killed in Myanmar’ - Zin Mar, protest leader Myanmar’s activists continue to protest the regime’s human rights abuses despite facing serious danger, Amnesty International revealed today while marking one year since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted a Five-Point Consensus, which has failed to stop the regime’s violence in the country. Amnesty conducted in-depth interviews over several months with people who have continued to take part in non-violent protests across five of Myanmar’s states and regions. The 17 interviewees were from a diverse array of protest groups, including LGBTQ and women’s rights organisations. Across the country protests include ‘flash mobs’ in which activists run through the streets for a few minutes before dispersing to avoid being shot, arrested or run over by military vehicles. There are ‘silent strikes’ during which shops and businesses shut, roads are empty and people stay at home to demonstrate defiance to military rule. Activists also distribute pamphlets on buses, post messages against the military on walls with stickers or spray paint, and encourage boycotts of goods and services with ties to the military. Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research, said: “These activists urgently need the support of the international community in the form of a global arms embargo to stop the Myanmar military from using weapons of warfare to kill peaceful protesters. “Despite the immense dangers and hardships, there are still many activists and human rights defenders who choose to remain in Myanmar and are unwavering in their commitment to continue peacefully protesting and expressing their dissent. “ASEAN must call on the Myanmar military authorities to immediately stop all violence against peaceful protestors in line with the stalled Five-Point Consensus. It also needs to continue to condemn all human rights violations in Myanmar and call for the release of all people who are being arbitrarily detained. “It needs to do this now to prevent the Myanmar people from further suffering.” Lethal force against protesters In the days immediately following the coup, Amnesty and many other human rights groups urged the military to stop the use of unlawful and lethal force against peaceful protesters. The violence has prompted many to join armed resistance groups, which are active throughout the country. Amnesty has called on the military to exercise restraint, abide by international law, and for law enforcement duties to be fully resumed by police. These calls have gone unheeded. More than 1,700 people have been killed, and more than 13,000 arrested since the military took power, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Activists and human rights defenders interviewed by Amnesty described witnessing or experiencing abuses by military forces while demonstrating, including shootings, beatings, and attempts to ram vehicles into protests. Towards the end of last year, there was a noticeable fall in the number of people who joined protests in the streets. Thiri*, a university student in Mandalay who said she had no interest in politics before the coup but is now one of the leaders of a women’s protest group, said: “We went from tens of thousands to thousands, thousands to hundreds, and hundreds to around 20.” According to some of the activists Amnesty spoke to, this drop in numbers was part of a deliberate strategy to keep everyone safe by protesting in smaller groups. Rina, a university student and member of the General Strike Committee in Yangon, said that it had become “too dangerous” to protest in large groups. She participated in a flash mob with around 20 other people on 5 December 2021, and told Amnesty that on that day, a military truck drove straight into them. “As I was running, I saw some of the other people who joined in the flash mob had been hit [by the military truck]. Some of them were rolling on the pavement.” In the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina, a university student who has been protesting with the University of Myitkyina Students’ Union, said that they usually go out in smaller groups because “if there are too many people in the protest, it is easier to get arrested”. Zin Mar, another university student who is a protest leader in Monywa, said that although her protest group sometimes had to reduce the number of people demonstrating for security reasons, they were determined to continue. She said: “We will always come out whenever we can." Min Thu, a high school student who is a leading member of the Mandalay Youth Strike Committee, has witnessed at least three times unmarked vehicles that he believes belong to the military and police drive into protesters. In October last year, a motorcycle nearly hit him when he was about to join a protest. Min Thu said: “Just before we started the protest, they tried to hit me [with the vehicle] from the front. I escaped by going to the nearest road and then they got down from their vehicle and pointed guns at me. They didn’t shoot me because they had blocked all the angles, and they thought they would arrest me.” He told Amnesty that he dodged onto a side street and barely escaped. In Sagaing region’s Salingyi and Yinmarbin townships, poet and engineer Yar Zar has regularly organised people across villages to protest since March 2021, and was at two protests when soldiers and police opened fire at the crowd. To avoid encountering soldiers, he and his team carefully prepare routes along narrow, unpaved streets. He is one of several people who told Amnesty that they also rely on volunteers to check and make sure the route is clear before they demonstrate. Phyu, a village protest leader in Thayetchaung township, Tanintharyi region said: “When we protest in the village, some protesters who act as lookouts escort us so we can avoid the military. Once they have passed, we start our protest again.” Life on the run Many activists described how they felt they were being constantly watched and followed by civilian informants known as dala or by soldiers and police wearing civilian clothes and driving unmarked vehicles. Myat Min Khant of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions said that the military and police roam streets disguised as fruit sellers or trishaw, motorcycle, or taxi drivers and embed themselves among the people to identify anyone daring to express dissent. There are numerous checkpoints in towns and cities around the country where people are stopped at random, and their belongings are searched by soldiers and police. Most of the activists who spoke to Amnesty said that they have left their homes fearing for their safety, with several not being able to return since February 2021. Nan Lin of the University Students’ Union Alumni Force said: “If I go back home, the military may be waiting to arrest me. Even my family members do not know my whereabouts.” BP, a protest leader who has demonstrated on the streets of Kalay, Sagaing region every day since 7 February 2021, said that a convoy of five vehicles full of soldiers raided his family home three times in one day in September 2021. He is one of four protesters interviewed who said their homes have been raided since going into hiding. Many said it is becoming increasingly difficult to find safe places to hide. BP said he regularly sees strangers who he believes are plainclothes informants loitering near where activists are staying or following them on motorbikes while carrying walkie-talkies. U Yaw, a monk from Ayeyarwady region who has been actively protesting since the early days after the coup, had been in hiding since March 2021 when his monastery was raided. During the raid, as U Yaw hid in a toilet stall, he overheard soldiers saying that if they found him, they should “just shoot him dead and get rid of him”. He fled to Mandalay where he continued his protests, but soldiers and police raided the monastery there where he was hiding in June. He took shelter in another monastery, which was raided by soldiers and police in September 2021. He escaped just in time, but the soldiers and police confiscated his identification documents and cash. U Yaw continued to protest despite the risks. Threatening family members In many cases, soldiers and police arrest activists’ family members and loved ones when they can’t find the activists. According to media reports, this includes a politician’s 94-year-old mother who was arrested and an activist’s four-year-old daughter. In November last year, the military attempted to raid the house of another protest leader who had gone into hiding. The activist said: “When they arrived, they started shooting, but they went to the wrong house. They mistakenly went to our neighbour’s house and one woman was killed in the shooting. In spite of this, she is determined to continue organising peaceful protests. “I cannot sit quietly when I see injustice,” she said. Zin Mar, protest leader in Monywa said: “Although our lives are in danger, we choose to continue. We will keep asking the world to help us because people are being killed in Myanmar.”..."
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2022-04-22
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Exclusive: Junta detained at least 26 intellectuals last year as it sought to suppress opposition
Description: "Myanmar jailed more writers and public intellectuals in crackdowns last year than any other country, according to a freedom of expression advocacy group. PEN America’s annual census of detained writers, the Freedom to Write Index, found Myanmar’s junta detained at least 26 writers in 2021 as it sought to suppress opposition after seizing power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. According to PEN’s study, in total, Myanmar detains the third-highest number of writers and public intellectuals globally (26), behind only Saudi Arabia (29) and China (85). Many of those held in Saudi Arabia and China are serving long-term sentences and had been arrested in previous years. Across the world, at least 277 writers in 36 countries were jailed last year in connection with their writing or for exercising free expression, PEN said. Karin Deutsch Karlekar, the director of PEN America’s “free expression at risk” programmes, described the figures as intolerably high. “In Myanmar and in countries across the globe, writers and public intellectuals are being imprisoned for the ‘crime’ of exercising their freedom of expression and, in many cases, for using the power of the written word to fight back against authoritarianism,” she said. After the coup in Myanmar in February 2021, many poets and authors used their writing to express outrage and grief at military atrocities and inspire dissent. Of the 26 detained in Myanmar in 2021, the majority are held in prisons but have not yet been charged, according to PEN. Many have continued to write while in hiding or temporary exile, sharing work on Facebook or private apps where they feel it is safe to do so, said Karlekar. Others have been forced to self-censor due to the security risks. Reports of mistreatment and torture in Myanmar’s detention facilities are widespread. The writers represent only a fraction of those imprisoned by Myanmar’s junta, which has arrested those suspected of opposing its rule – from student protesters to teachers and doctors who have refused to work in junta-controlled facilities. More than 10,183 people are in detention, according to estimates by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma, an advocacy group that tracks arrests and killings. The Freedom to Write Index is based on PEN’s internal research as well as news reports, data from other rights groups and information provided by the relatives of people who are detained. The index includes any instance where a writer was targeted because of their work, and jailed for more than 48 hours during 2021. PEN’s report raised particular concern about the oppression of writers in Iran, where 21 people were imprisoned, and pointed to a deteriorating situation in Belarus, where many writers were arrested during crackdowns in 2020 and 10 were detained last year. One in five of those detained globally were serving sentences of 10 or more years in prison, it said. Four writers and academics who were recorded in PEN’s 2021 Index died in custody. This includes the Iranian poet and film-maker Baktash Abtin who died of Covid in January 2022..."
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Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2022-04-13
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Win Naing Oo and stop using terrorism charges to imprison independent reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. A special court in Obo Prison, in the central city of Mandalay, on Tuesday, April 5, sentenced Win Naing Oo, chief reporter with the local Channel Mandalay TV news station, to five years in prison under Section 52(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, a provision that outlaws acts of organizing or participating in a terrorist group, knowingly concealing or harboring a terrorist group, or giving permission for a terrorist group to use a building or gather, according to a report by The Irrawaddy and data compiled by local rights group the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners. Win Naing Oo was arrested on August 31, 2021, in Mandalay, according to news reports and CPJ research. He was initially charged under Article 505(a) of the penal code, a broad provision that criminalizes “any attempt to cause fear, spread false news or agitate directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee” or that “causes their hatred, disobedience, or disloyalty toward the military and the government.” “Journalist Win Naing Oo should be released immediately and unconditionally, and allowed to continue his work of reporting the news without fear of reprisal,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The military regime’s bid to equate journalism with terrorism marks a dark and preposterous turn in its brutal campaign to stifle Myanmar’s free press.” The 505(a) charge was changed in mid-October to one of terrorism, according to a Myanmar Now report. A defense lawyer cited in The Irrawaddy report said Win Naing Oo has no plans to appeal his conviction, which found that he was involved with a local anti-military People’s Defense Force in Mandalay’s Sint Kaing Township. Win Naing Oo’s arrest came in the wake of the military’s February 1, 2021, democracy-suspending coup and subsequent protests. The military junta cracked down on Myanmar’s independent media, detaining dozens of journalists. Myanmar is the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China, with at least 26 behind bars at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2021, prison census. CPJ messaged Channel Mandalay TV on Facebook for information on Win Naing Oo’s case, but did not receive any response. The Myanmar Ministry of Information did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment..."
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2022-04-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Nine young activists belonging to an anti-coup protest group in Mandalay were detained on Monday evening, according to their colleagues in Mandalay’s Pyigyitagun Township. U Aggavumsa, the leading organizer of anti-coup protests in Pyigyitagun, said: “After we lost contact with them, we issued an alert so that others involved could flee. We can now confirm that they have been detained. Two safe houses were raided and six men and three women were detained.” Another organizer of anti-coup protests in Mandalay said the young activists were detained in Amarapura Township when safe houses were raided after one protester was arrested on a street. “We had contact with one protester, and we noticed from his words that something was wrong. So, we assumed that he had been detained, and we issued an alert,” he said. The whereabouts of the detained activists are still unknown, and family members still can’t contact them. U Aggavumsa said he is concerned that the detainees might have been tortured during the raid and during interrogation. “As they [the regime] haven’t issued a press release about their detention, it appears that they are searching for other people involved.” More than one year after the coup, more than a dozen groups of anti-coup protesters continue to stage flash mob protests against the military regime in Mandalay despite crackdowns and arrests. The regime has also stepped up its arrest of anti-coup protesters and urban guerilla resistance fighters and is holding them incommunicado, according to anti-coup protesters. Ko Philips, an anti-coup protester, was beaten in public and detained by junta security forces on March 27. His whereabouts is still unknown. On March 2, two university students including the chairman of the Mandalay District Students’ Union and a striking teacher were detained during a junta raid in Amarapura Township. At least 17 young people were detained when around 500 junta security forces combed wards and villages in Patheingyi Township on March 22-23. In Yangon, an urban guerilla resistance fighter died and six others from resistance group Free Tiger Ranger were arrested when junta soldiers raided their apartments in Kyimyindaing Township on March 26. Junta security forces fired shots as they raided the apartments, the resistance group said. Four men and two women aged between 18 and 35 were detained and are being held for interrogation at the Myanmar military’s Division 44 in Shwepyithar Township, according to the Free Tiger Ranger. Junta soldiers did not return the body of the resistance fighter who was shot dead during the raid. Free Tiger Ranger is an urban guerilla resistance group that targets military informants, military-linked businesses and the junta administrative mechanism in Yangon. In their latest attack, the group said it killed a local administrator in Hlaing Tharyar Township on March 24..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-04-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "April 4, 2022 Since the failed coup, the military junta has been terrorizing, repressing, and plundering the lives and livelihoods of the civilian population in escalatory attacks with each passing day. The military junta’s intensification of so-called military operations has resorted to instilling a climate of fear. Inhumane tactics detailed below further demonstrate the military’s intent to return Burma to harsh authoritarian rule. According to documentation collected by Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), since the coup and as of March 31, 2022, more than (547) households and buildings have been seized by the military junta. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-04-04
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Description: "Ten alleged Yangon activists, who were detained in April last year and charged with involvement in bombings, were sentenced to seven years in prison with labor, according to their lawyers. A court in Insein Prison on March 31 handed down the maximum sentences for illegal weapons possession and their detention period will be deducted from the sentence. The 10 still face charges Article 436 of the Penal Code which could extend their terms by 20 years. “The arson trial under Article 436 is ongoing. The maximum penalty under 436 is 20 years,” said a lawyer. They were detained in night raids on April 17 last year following three blasts that killed at least one soldier and wounded several others at the General Administration Office in Yankin Township, where troops were based. The following day, the regime’s Myawaddy TV announced suspects had been arrested in the township with bomb-making equipment after a tipoff. The accused showed signs of severe torture in the junta’s pictures. The face of Ma Khin Nyein Thu, 31, was visibly swollen and she was reportedly sexually harassed during the interrogation. A family member said Ma Khin Nyein Thus is now in good health. Since the coup, many activists have been given lengthy jail terms or death sentences for alleged attacks and for having ties to the civilian National Unity Government or its armed people’s defense forces (PDFs). Recently several individuals were given 10-year sentences for allegedly donating cash to PDFs. Those who are tried by court-martial are given harsher penalties and denied citizenship and human and legal rights, including the right to counsel, said lawyers. U Khin Maung Myint, a lawyer, said: “There are two separate types of court, one for courts-martial in townships where direct military rule is imposed. Lawyers are not allowed to represent the accused in those courts. No one tried at those courts has been released and they are all given maximum sentences.” No detainees tried at prison courts have been released, he added. More than 10,007 people remain under detention since the February 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Around 905 detainees have been given prison sentences, including 59 death sentences. Two children have received death sentences. At least 41 other suspects in hiding have been given death sentences in absentia..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-04-04
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "After last weekend’s massive show of force by Myanmar’s armed forces and their chief’s promise to “annihilate” all forms of opposition, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) looks back at the past three weeks of intensified judicial persecution of journalists and reiterates its call for the unconditional release of all media personnel currently held in Myanmar’s prisons. The additions to the list of arrests and prison sentences seem to never end. According to information verified by RSF, Nay Naw, a journalist also known as Myo Naung Naung Zaw who is an editor with the Karen Information Centre (KIC) and a reporter for Bloomberg Business, was arrested on 28 Marsh in Myawaddy, a southeastern city on the Thai border. Naung Yoe, a freelance journalist arrested on 9 April 2021, was sentenced on the same day to 18 months in prison by a court in the remote northern town of Hpakant, in Kachin State. In both cases, the authorities invoked Section 505 (a) of the penal code, which penalises the publication of false information about representatives of the armed forces. “From north to south, in cities and in rural townships, Myanmar’s repressive military machine harasses and hunts down journalists,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “With more than 60 media workers currently in jail, Myanmar is one of the worst places in the world to try to keep your fellow citizens informed. We urge the international community to apply tougher targeted sanctions on the regime’s officials, who dare to shamelessly parade their relentless persecution of civil society.” “Annihilate” Addressing 8,000 soldiers gathered for a military parade on 27 April, armed forces day, in the capital, Naypyidaw, military junta chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing vowed to “annihilate” all forms of opposition “until the end.” His speech coincided with a disturbing escalation in the junta’s crackdown on press freedom. The past three weeks of judicial persecution of journalists: - 23 March: Two convictions in the space of 12 hours Ye Yint Tun, a reporter for the Myanmar Than Taw Sint (or Myanmar Herald) news website, was sentenced to two years in prison by a special court in the southwestern city of Pathein. He was arrested while covering a protest on 28 February 2021. Aung Zaw Zaw, a video editor with the Mandalay Free Press news agency, was also sentenced to two years in prison on same day by a court in Kantbalu Township, in northern Myanmar. He was arrested on the evening of 16 January 2022 at his father's home in the nearby village of Tauk Ka Shat. Like Ye Yint Tun, he was jailed under Section 505 (a) of the penal code. - 22 March: Jail sentence for detained Mizzima News editor After more than a year in detention, Than Htike Aung, a former editor at Mizzima News, a media outlet that has played a historic role in the fight for a free press in Myanmar, was sentenced to two years in prison. RSF has learned that he does not intend to appeal for fear that his sentence could be increased. He was transferred to Yamethin prison in the big northern city of Mandalay, where he will serve the rest of his sentence. - 21 March: Two years hard labour for Kamayut Media co-founder Kamayut Media news agency co-founder Han Thar Nyein was sentenced to two years of hard labour on a “false news” charge by a military court in Insein prison, in a suburb of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. He was arrested in March 2021 along with his US colleague Nathan Maung, who sought refuge in the United States after his release on 14 June 2021. Maung told RSF he feared that his colleague could also tried for an alleged violation of the Electronic Transactions Law, which carries a possible 15-year prison sentence under Section 33 (b). He said he was saddened at the thought that “he could be brought to trial with chains on his legs and hands as a prisoner facing new charges." - 15 March: Freelancer Aung Win Htay arrested As reporters throughout Myanmar are increasingly forced to work clandestinely, freelance journalist Aung Win Htay was seized by a military unit in Mong Ton, a rural township near the Thai border in northeastern Shan State, and was formally detained by the police a few hours later under Section 505 (a) of the penal code for criticising the junta on Facebook. He has worked in the past for Democratic Voice of Burma, a historic protagonist in the struggle for an independent press in Myanmar and recipient of the RSF Press Freedom Prize in 2007. - 14 March: Convictions of Kanbawza Tai News journalists upheld on appeal Nann Nann Tai, also known as Nann Nway Nway Hlaing, the editor of Kanbawza Tai News, a media outlet based in Taunggyi, the capital of northeastern Shan State, and one of her reporters, Nang Win Yi, were sentenced to two years in prison on appeal. Arrested in Taunggyi on 24 March 2021, the two women journalists were convicted last December under the all-purpose Section 505 (a) of the penal code. - 11 March: 11 years in prison for Bago Weekly reporter Nyein Chan Wai, a Bago Weekly reporter based in Tharrawaddy, a city 120 km north of Yangon, was given the extremely harsh sentence of eight years and three months in prison for inciting “disaffection towards the government” under Section 124 of the penal code. This sentence is added to the three-year jail term he received on 16 December under Section 505 (a) of the penal code. He will now have to spend more than 11 years in prison. - 10 March: Journalist arrested, pardoned, freed… and rearrested After Yangon-based freelance reporter Soe Yarzar Tun was kidnapped by soldiers, his family had to wait six days until the police finally told them that he was being held at Hlegu Myoma police station. This is the second time he has been arrested. Following his arrest a few weeks after the February 2021 coup d’état, he spent four months in Insein prison until released under a pardon on 30 June 2021. For him, as for many of Myanmar’s journalists, the nightmare now resumes. Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index..."
Source/publisher: Reporters Without Borders (Paris)
2022-04-01
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "This Briefing pape provides a summary of the body evidence on the long-term implication for the mental health of people in Burma in view of the unprecedented levels of violence directed by the military junta towards the population, as well as the weaponization of the COVID-19 crisis in the country (1) Drawing from AAPP data, as well as academic literature and several interviews with CSO Activists, this birefing paper reveals the severe consequences of psychological traum, and the persisting effects of destress, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among communities, after suffering from insecurity, widespread attacks, torture, displacement, and terrorist-like action by the armed wing of the military junta..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-04-01
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 10.57 MB 3.43 MB
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Description: "Junta courts in Myanmar have sentenced three journalists, Hanthar Nyein, Than Htike Aung and Ye Yint Tun, to two years in prison each for allegedly “spreading false news”. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the ongoing attacks to journalists in Myanmar and calls on the Myanmar officials to immediately drop all the charges against Hanthar Nyein, Than Htike Aung, and Ye Yint Tun. According to the International Press Institute, Hanthar Nyein was sentenced on March 21 in a military-run court inside Yangon’s Insein Prison. The court charged the journalist for incitement under Section 505(A) of the Myanmar Penal Code. On March 22, Than Htike Aung was handed the same charge, but was sentenced in Dekkhina District Court in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital. Section 505(A) of Myanmar’s Penal Code criminalises the circulation of any information that is deemed “false news” against the military regime. Both journalists pleaded not guilty. Radio Free Asia reported that Ye Yint Tun, a reporter for the Myanmar Herald, was also sentenced for two years on March 23 under Sections 505(A) and 505(B) of the Penal Code. The sentencing of the three journalists comes one year after their original arrests. Hanthar Nyein, co-founder of Kamayut Media, was arrested on March 9, 2021, during a military raid of the news outlet’s office in Yangon. “They said Kamayut Media had incited riots and rallied people to protest. However, Hanthar Nyein appealed to them that he had just reported the news in accordance with journalistic ethics,” Hanthar Nyein’s lawyer said. Than Htike Aung, a news editor affiliated with independent media outlet Mizzima, was arrested on March 19, 2021, in Naypyitaw whilst reporting on a court hearing. Authorities arrested Ye Yint Tun on February 28, 2021, whilst he was covering a protest in Pathein. Section 505(A) of the Penal Code has been heavily criticised in Myanmar, with activists arguing that it is a “legal catch-all for bringing criminal charges against a broad range of individuals deemed to pose a challenge to the military regime”, and thus justifies the arbitrary arrest of journalists. The IFJ said: “The ongoing detainment and harassment of journalists by the military junta continues to curb press freedom in Myanmar and contravene international human rights standards. The IFJ calls for the immediate release of Hanthar Nyein, Than Htike Aung and Ye Yint Tun, and urges the military to immediately cease its intimidation of Myanmar’s media.”..."
Source/publisher: International Federation of Journalists
2022-03-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Telenor has completed the sale of Telenor Myanmar.
Description: "In line with the sales and purchase agreement, Telenor has received USD 50 million (approximately NOK 450 million) at closing. The remaining USD 55 million shall be received in equal installments over the coming 5 years. Closing of the transaction will only have minor impact on the equity of Telenor Group. However, the reclassification of accumulated losses related to translation differences earlier recognized in other comprehensive income will impact the income statement negatively with approximately NOK 0.8 billion. The derecognising of the cash balance in Telenor Myanmar and the proceeds received at closing results in a net negative cash flow impact of around NOK 1.5 billion. The transaction will be booked in Q1. Due to the uncertain situation in Myanmar, the deferred payment will not be recognized in the accounts at closing..."
Source/publisher: Telenor Group
2022-03-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Hanthar Nyein and Than Htike Aung, and stop sentencing members of the press to prison for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Monday, March 21, a military court in Yangon’s Insein Prison convicted Hanthar, co-founder of the local news website Kamayut Media, under Section 505(a) of the penal code, a broad anti-state provision that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of “false news,” and sentenced him to two years in prison, according to news reports and Kamayut Media editor-in-chief Nathan Maung, who communicated with CPJ via email. The following day, a court in the capital city, Naypyidaw, convicted Than Htike Aung, a news editor with the news website Mizzima, on the same charge and also ordered him to be imprisoned for two years, according to reports and Mizzima editor-in-chief Soe Myint, who also communicated with CPJ via email. The courts both said that the time the journalists had already served, following Hanthar’s March 9, 2021, arrest and Than Htike Aung’s March 19, 2021, arrest, would count toward their sentences, according to the journalists’ editors. “The sentencing of journalists Hanthar Nyein and Than Htike Aung on bogus anti-state charges underscores Myanmar’s dubious distinction as one of the world’s worst jailers of the press,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “They should be freed immediately, along with the dozens of other reporters wrongfully held behind bars under the abusive rule of the country’s military junta.” Both reporters pleaded not guilty to the charges, their editors said. Maung told CPJ that Hanthar did not have any immediate plans to appeal his conviction, and that his prison sentence included hard labor. He said Hanthar was currently in good health. Previously, Maung told CPJ that authorities physically abused Hanthar at the Yay Kyi Ai interrogation center in Insein Township before moving him to Insein Prison. Soe Myint also told CPJ that Than Htike Aung would not appeal his conviction. He said the journalist was transferred to Mandalay Division’s Yamethin Prison on Wednesday to serve his sentence. Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not immediately reply to CPJ’s request for comment sent via email. Myanmar is the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China, with at least 26 behind bars at the time of CPJ’s annual prison census, conducted on December 1, 2021..."
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2022-03-24
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: ""လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ သတင်းလွှာအား နှစ်ပတ်တစ်ကြိမ်ထုတ်ပြန်ပါမည်။" - စစ်အုပ်စုထုတ်ပြန်ချက်နဲ့ ကွဲလွဲနေသည့် ကလေးအကျဉ်းထောင်တွင်း အကြမ်းဖက်သတ်ဖြတ်မှု - ရန်ကုန်တိုင်းအတွင်း ဖမ်းဆီး သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရမှုများ - စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းအတွင်း ဖမ်းဆီး သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရမှုများ - မကွေးတိုင်းအတွင်း ဖမ်းဆီး သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရမှုများ - စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းထဲက အင်တာနက် ဖြတ်တောက်ခံထားရမှုများ - NUG၊ CRPHနှင့် NUCCကို ဥရောပ ပါလီမန် ထောက်ခံ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ သတင်းလွှာ အတွဲ(၁)၊ အမှတ် (၉) ကို pdf formatဖြင့် အောက်ဖော်ပြပါ linkတွင် ဝင်ရောက် ဖတ်ရှုနိုင်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights
2022-03-22
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Access Now, outraged by today’s announcement that the Myanmar Investment Commission has approved the sale of Telenor Myanmar, is calling for international actors to implement sanctions and stop the company’s irresponsible disposal of its Myanmar operations to a company whose 80% majority shareholder is military-linked Shwe Byain Phyu Group. “It’s not over until it’s over,” said Wai Phyo Myint, Asia Pacific Policy Analyst at Access Now. “The Telenor sale approval does not come as a surprise, but it is a major kick in the guts for human rights defenders on the ground. The purchaser, Shwe Byain Phyu, may not be sanctioned now — but it needs to be. International actors must recognize and take action against the company’s multiple and flagrant links to the military.” Telenor’s sales agreement is with M1 Group, which will buy Telenor Myanmar through its Singapore-registered entity Investcom Pte Ltd — the majority of which will be owned by military-linked Shwe Byain Phyu Group. Telenor noted that it had “not been party to any dialogue between M1 and its local partner,” even as it claims that it screened the transaction as sanctions compliant. Shwe Byain Phyu Group’s Chairperson, Thein Win Zaw, and Director, Tin Latt Min (Zaw’s wife) have corporate connections with multiple military-linked individuals and companies sanctioned by the United States, European Union and United Kingdom. This includes: Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL); Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC); Myanmar Gems Enterprise (MGE); Forest Products Joint Venture Corporation (FPJVC); and the individuals, Tay Za; and Pyae Phyo Tay Za. These operators have been sanctioned for their involvement in largely-documented human rights abuses — a web in which Shwe Byain Phyu appears to be an active player. “Telenor must be held accountable for the disastrous rights impacts which will flow from relinquishing the data of 18 million subscribers to a ruthless regime,” said Golda Benjamin, Asia Pacific Campaigner at Access Now. “The company has followed an approach of willful ignorance of the human rights consequences to the people of Myanmar because of their decision to leave the country.” If the handover goes ahead, Myanmar’s telecommunications sector will be stained in khaki. Telenor Myanmar’s near 30% share of the market would add to the approximately 55% already held by military-owned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and Telecom International Myanmar Company Limited (MyTel). Qatar’s Ooredoo holds the remaining 15%, and is likely complying with military surveillance orders. Unless the Telenor Myanmar sale is prevented, the new management will presumably also activate dangerous intercept surveillance technology. Access Now has repeatedly emphasized serious risks to the rights to privacy, expression, association, and security from the disposal of Telenor Myanmar, and urged Telenor Group to address warnings raised by the people of Myanmar, civil society and its own investors. The sale must be stopped..."
Source/publisher: Access Now
2022-03-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Telenor Group has been informed that the Myanmar Investment Commission has given final regulatory approval to the sale of Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group. During the regulatory approval process the Myanmar authorities made it a condition that M1 Group should have a local partner in the ownership of Telenor Myanmar after the transaction between Telenor and M1 closes. “Telenor has to leave Myanmar to be able to adhere to our own values on human rights and responsible business, and because local laws in Myanmar conflict with European laws. The security situation is extreme and deteriorating, and we must ensure that our exit does not increase the safety risk for employees. With limited options available, the sale of Telenor Myanmar is deemed to be the most realistic alternative to keep our employees safe. Because of the current situation, we are significantly constrained in our choices and with this approval the transaction can be finalised. Telenor has not been party to any dialogue between M1 and its local partner,” says Sigve Brekke, President and CEO of Telenor Group. Telenor’s sales agreement is with M1 Group alone, and this has remained unchanged during the approval process. However, the regulatory approval requires that M1 ensures a local majority owner after the closing of the transaction between Telenor and M1. Telenor has confirmed to the regulator that the sales agreement between Telenor and M1 does not prevent M1 from entering a local partnership. M1 has informed Telenor that its local partner Shwe Byain Phyu has acquired 49 percent of Investcom, the Singapore-based company set up by M1 for the purchase of Telenor Myanmar. After the transaction closes between M1 and Telenor, M1 will sell additional 31 percent of Investcom shares to Shwe Byain Phyu. Telenor has not been involved in any discussions between M1 and their local partner. Sanctions screening from external consultants has assured Telenor that Shwe Byain Phyu and its owners are not subject to any current international sanctions. “We are deeply saddened for the society and people of Myanmar who are experiencing an extremely difficult situation. Leaving Myanmar was a decision we made with heavy hearts, and I would like to thank our employees and customers for their dedication to Telenor throughout our years in Myanmar,” continues Brekke. Telenor is in dialogue with M1 Group to ensure that customers, partners, and employees experience a smooth transition, and will close the transaction as soon as possible. The business will continue to operate under the brand name Telenor Myanmar for four months and have a transition service agreement with Telenor for six months..."
Source/publisher: Telenor Group
2022-03-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--M1 Group has been informed that the Myanmar Investment Commission has approved Telenor Group’s application for the sale of Telenor Myanmar to Investcom PTE Ltd., an M1 Group affiliate. M1 Group will be working with Telenor Group and all stakeholders to ensure continuity, stability, and reliability for all Telenor Myanmar customers, employees, and business partners; and will close the transaction as soon as possible. In response, Azmi T. Mikati, CEO of M1 Group, said: “We are pleased with the outcome of the official decision. M1 Group is committed to support Investcom PTE in providing essential communications services and investing to develop the telecommunications infrastructure, even in the face of the most challenging circumstances. Investcom will conduct business in Myanmar purposefully to benefit the people of Myanmar, who rely on communication services as a vital function of their lives.” Mr. Mikati further added: “M1 Group has a decades-long track record in delivering essential services to people in emerging economies around the world. M1 Group has always, and will always, remain committed to upholding human rights, respecting the laws of the countries it operates in while advocating for consumer protection regulations, especially in terms of data security, data resilience, privacy, connectivity, roaming, and internet access. M1 Group is not shying away from extending its technical know-how to support the people of Myanmar, even amidst uncertainty. Our commitment is to ensuring everyone has access to high-quality telecommunications they can rely on.” M1 Group first announced the agreement with Telenor Group to acquire its Myanmar operations in July 2021. The decision to invest in Myanmar was based on the fundamental premise that every individual, in every country, has the right to have access to essential telecommunications infrastructure. It also reflects M1 Group’s steadfast commitment to supporting economic growth, even under the most stressful conditions, and to ensuring the development of a world-class telecom operation. For the Myanmar market, M1 Group is partnering with the Shwe Byain Phyu (SBP) Group, through Investcom PTE, which is the new entity that will take over ownership. M1 Group remains committed to play a valuable role in the lives of people in Myanmar and preserving the values of care, trust, solidarity and technology edge, all while striving for advancement and social impact, remaining close to people’s hearts. Mr. Mikati concluded: “I wish to thank the entire management team and employees of Telenor Myanmar for their tiresome efforts to build Telenor Myanmar into the market leader it is today. M1 Group firmly intends to play a valuable role in the lives of the people of Myanmar by delivering essential communications services in a purposeful, sustainable and socially responsible way. We cherish the relationships established with customers and business partners in Myanmar through Telenor’s operations and we are committed to building trust and striving for social impact and technology development to benefit the people of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Business Wire
2022-03-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022. As of March 11, 2022, (1652) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (10) fallen heroes today. These (10) fallen heroes from Shwebo Township, Kale Township and Khin-U Township in Sagaing Region, Hakha Township in Chin State, Loikaw Township in Kayah State were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of March 11, 2022, a total of (9588) people are currently under detention. (837) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released. On March 8 at 12:30 pm, three children aged around 7 years old, 10 years old and 12 years older, living in Lwe Htae Village in Kayah State’s Loikaw Township, were killed on the spot by Junta’s heavy artillery shell which exploded nearby while they were playing. In addition, Hla Tun, father of the deceased, and his other daughter, aged 15 years old, got injured. On March 5, Rung Hu, who suffered from mental illness, was shot to death on the head and chest by junta soldiers, in Chun Kyune Village in Chin State’s Hakha Township. He stayed at home and did not run away when junta soldiers entered the village. AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-03-11
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 2.65 MB 8.14 MB 1.11 MB
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Description: "According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022. As of March 10, 2022, (1642) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Mobye Town in Pekon Township, Shan State were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of March 10, 2022, a total of (9571) people are currently under detention. (834) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released. On March 6, 2022, Lar Sa Ru, aged 10 years old, and Augustine, aged 17 years old, were arrested at home to be used as human shields, when the Junta raided Pwe Kone (1) Ward in Mobye Town in Pekon Township, Shan State. They were murdered near Warisu Palai Village. On March 4, 2022, activist Hein Min Ko Ko (aka Hein Lwin Htoo) was sentenced to 28 years imprisonment with hard labor by the special court in Dawei Prison. He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, and 26 years imprisonment under The Explosive Substances Act. He was arrested while participating in a protest at Bon Maw Ward, in Dawei Township, on May 11, 2021, and got shot in the arm and leg with rubber bullets. He was seriously injured. AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-03-10
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 2.59 MB 8.01 MB 1.06 MB
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Description: "According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022. As of March 9, 2022, (1640) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (17) fallen heroes today. These (17) fallen heroes from Pauk Township in Magway Region, Mayangone Township in Yangon Region and Yinmarbin Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of March 9, 2022, a total of (9559) people are currently under detention. (833) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released. On March 8, 2022, eight civilians, IDPs sheltering at the Lat Pan Taw Village monastery, were shot to death on the spot, when the military raided the Lat Pan Taw Village in Sagaing Region’s Yinmarbin Township and fired heavy artillery shells. Six civilians were from Lat Pan Taw villagers: Tin Nyunt, aged 93 years old, Than Maung, aged more than 70 years old, Moh Moh Win, aged 30 years old, her two sons named Myat Bhone Naing and Swan Htet Naing, aged 7 and 9 years old respectively, and her mother Thein Hla, aged more than 70 years old. The other two victims were from Kan Thar village, named Thein Maung and Ohn Hlaing who were more than 7o years old. On February 25, 2022 at around 5 pm, Junta military personnel opened fire and raided the homes in Ward (3) in Mayangone Township, Yangon Region, where members of the ABFSU (All Burma Federation of Student Unions) from different township unions in Yangon Region temporarily stayed. During the raid, eight students from ABFSU were arrested. The former chairman of the Basic Education Students’ Union (ABFSU), named Nyi Min Thu, was shot in the chest and died on the spot. AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-03-09
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022. As of March 7, (1620) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (18) fallen heroes today. These (18) fallen heroes from Thaketa Township in Yangon Region, Kyunhla Township and Tabayin Township in Sagaing Region, Nattalin Township in Bagon Region and Butho Township in Hpapun District, Kayin State were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of March 7, a total of (9523) people are currently under detention. (833) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released. On March 5, at around 7:20 pm, seven civilians, including three children, from Kalawday Village in Butho Township in Hpapun District, Kayin State, were shot dead by junta artillery shells based in Kayin State’s Hpapun Township. The seven victims were Naw Tar Lu, aged 2 years old, Naw Htoo Phaw, aged 5 years old, Naw Tin Nilar Win, aged 14 years old, Saw Day Poe, aged 19 years old, Naw Eal Moo, aged 22 years old, Naw Phaw Wah, aged 32 years old, and Saw Kay, aged 40 year old. Four other civilians were also severely injured. On the morning of March 4, the armed wing of the Junta raided Min Swe Hnit Village, in Sagaing Region’s Tabayin Township, and killed nine locals, who were guarding the village. Five of the victims, Aung Thu, Phoe Mae, Chan Myae Zaw, Bhone Naing and Pyae Phyo Aung were from Min Swe Hnit Village. The other four victims were from Myin Thu Gyi Village, Kyar Khet Village, and other village.pdated 7 March 2022 AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-03-07
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "We, the undersigned 116 Myanmar civil society organizations (CSOs), urgently call for the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to explore all possible routes to seek accountability for Myanmar through the establishment of a jurisdiction for atrocity crimes mandated by the UN. We express our disappointment at the resolution of the HRC on 24 March 2021 and Special Session resolution on 12 February 2021, and call for the adoption of a robust resolution on Myanmar during the 49th Regular Session of the Council that reflects the gravity of the crisis Myanmar is facing and focuses on efforts to finally establish a jurisdiction to prosecute international crimes. The UN continues to fail the people of Myanmar by allowing justice and accountability to languish, and in some instances failed to call out impunity entirely, thereby further emboldening the Myanmar military. For over 15 years, the UN HRC has passed over 20 resolutions on Myanmar, mandating monitoring, documentation and reporting on human rights violations by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. Most importantly, in March 2017, the UN HRC created the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM) which found credible evidence of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military. Following the findings of the IIFFMM, the UN HRC, in 2019, established the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law in Myanmar and prepare files for criminal prosecution. The wealth of information documented and reported by these different mechanisms point to the entrenched impunity of the Myanmar military for grave international crimes. Despite the overwhelming evidence of grave crimes that continue to be committed by the military with complete impunity, none of these mechanisms are mandated to or have jurisdiction to initiate judicial proceedings to hold the military accountable. Unless a full jurisdiction for Myanmar is established, accountability and justice remain distant for victims of the world’s most heinous crimes. The human rights situation in Myanmar has reached its nadir, in which the military junta routinely commits extrajudicial killings, airstrikes, massacres, sexual and gender-based violence, mass arbitrary arrests, torture in detention and other atrocities against the people of Myanmar with total impunity. In September 2021, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Mr. Tom Andrews, stated that “the junta, in sum, directed its forces to engage in widespread and systematic attacks against the people of Myanmar. There was therefore a compelling case that the military junta was committing crimes against humanity”. Following the massacre of at least 42 people including children and two Save the Children staff members in Karenni State on Christmas Eve, the Security Council issued a statement stating that there is a “need to ensure accountability for this act.” The HRC must immediately act to seek all possible ways for the UN to establish jurisdiction to prosecute grave crimes in Myanmar. The work of the IIMM must be put to use, perpetrators must be held to account, and end the cycle of impunity. The UN must not continue to respond with a business as usual approach to grave violations of human rights in Myanmar, and take up its responsibility to promote and protect human rights. It cannot be reiterated enough, that the same military that perpetrated genocide against the Rohingya in 2017 and grave atrocity crimes against ethnic communities for decades, is now committing crimes against humanity and war crimes carte blanche across the country. To date, the military junta has slain 1,603 people, including at least 100 children – with hundreds more killed in addition to this number as a result of ground attacks and fierce targeted airstrikes. From 1 February 2021 to 25 February 2022, there have been total of 9,441 armed clashes and attacks involving civilians, forcing communities to flee for safety or over the border into India or Thailand. As of end of 31 January, 2022, there are estimated over 811,900 internally displaced people across Myanmar. In their craven effort to suppress the Spring Revolution, the military junta has arbitrarily arrested 12,534 people, while 9,507 remain in detention, and continue to be subjected to torture, death, starvation, deprivation of healthcare, food and water and sexual and gender-based violence. The Myanmar people are determined to end the military tyranny and bring the country back to the path towards democracy. For this, the support of the international community and particularly the UN is crucial. Yet, amidst all that has happened during this crisis, the UN has continued to fail to take meaningful actions to halt the military junta’s brutal campaign of terror. The UN’s engagement in Myanmar remains fraught with systemic failures, continuing a legacy of ineffectuality over the past decades, which came to the fore prominently leading up to and during the Rohingya genocide, all of which were detailed in the Rosenthal Report. Among other conclusions, the report found UN Agencies in Myanmar chose to keep quiet about the genocidal atrocities being committed in Rakhine State, in the hope of maintaining access and continuing their programs. Many issues and recommendations outlined within the Rosenthal Report to this day remain unaddressed by the UN. Thus, it is vital that reporting continues to ensure that concrete actions are taken to address the report’s findings, as the present unfolding crisis in Myanmar is partly borne out by the failures of the UN to swiftly act to hold the Myanmar military to account for its past crimes. Moreover, with the current crisis continuing to unfold, it is extremely important for the people of Myanmar to have their legitimate representative at the UN. The UN General Assembly deferred its credentials decision on Myanmar, unequivocally rejecting the military junta’s attempt to claim the seat, leaving Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun to continue as Myanmar’s UN representative. The ambassador, appointed by the National Unity Government (NUG), must be allowed to take his rightful seat to represent Myanmar at the UN Human Rights Council. Leaving Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun from representing Myanmar in the 49th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council is not acceptable and would deny the people of Myanmar their legitimate representative. The UN must fully support the will of the people of Myanmar for a federal democracy, and bring about justice and accountability, and end the impunity of the Myanmar military. The path forward in achieving this must be through the establishment of a jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute international crimes. Therefore, we call on the Human Rights Council to: Explore all possible routes to seek accountability for Myanmar through the establishment of a jurisdiction for atrocity crimes mandated by the UN. Recommend the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution referring the situation in Myanmar to the ICC. Call on the ICC to accept the declaration lodged by the Myanmar government, the NUG, under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute accepting the Court’s jurisdiction with respect to international crimes committed in Myanmar territory since 1 July 2002. Support Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, appointed by the NUG whose credential has been retained by the UNGA, to represent Myanmar at the HRC..."
Source/publisher: 116 Myanmar Civil Society Organizations
2022-03-07
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s regime has cut internet access across Sagaing Region where armed resistance to the junta is strong. It is also launching airstrikes and torching villages. Residents said the internet was down across the sprawling region’s 34 townships other than four towns and cities, denying news about the fighting. A Tabayin resident told The Irrawaddy that the internet was cut three days ago and he heard only Sagaing, Monywa, Kale and Shwebo had access. Internet access was cut last September in Ayadaw, Yinmabin, Kani, Pale, Ye-U, Taze and Budalin townships in the region. The regime carried out an estimated 19 air raids on the region between last July and mid-February, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy in Myanmar. There were clashes in 16 townships during that period and at least 140 civilians were killed by junta forces, the institute reported in February. The junta has torched at least 6,158 civilian homes in the 13 months since the coup, mostly in areas with heavy anti-regime resistance. Sagaing Region suffered nearly 60 percent of the damage, according to the independent Data for Myanmar research group. Residents fear the lack of internet access will limit their ability to avoid junta raids and find shelter after being attacked. “It is very difficult for the displaced, especially children and old people, to find safety if we don’t get the news,” said a Taze resident. He said they had previously asked for donations on Facebook but now they are left on their own. The regime uses airstrikes, artillery and allied Phyu Saw Htee militias to attack villages and burn houses..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-03-07
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "သို့ ကုလသမဂ္ဂလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီ၏ အဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများ နှင့် လေ့လာသည့်နိုင်ငံများ အိတ်ဖွင့်ပေးစာ ကုလသမဂ္ဂလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီအနေဖြင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်းရှိ ဆိုးရွားလှသော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို တရားစွဲဆိုနိုင်ရန်အတွက် တရားစီရင်ရေးစနစ် တည်ထောင်ရေး နည်းလမ်းများ ရှာဖွေရန် ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် မတ်လ ၇ ရက် လေးစားရပါသော ဂုဏ်သရေရှိလူကြီးမင်းများရှင်/ခင်ဗျား မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖြစ်ပေါ်နေသော ဆိုးရွားလှသည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများအတွက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂမှ လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်အာဏာ အပ်နှင်းထားသော တရားစီရင်ရေးတစ်ရပ် တည်ဆောက်ပြီး တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု ရှိလာစေရေး ဖြစ်နိုင်သော လမ်းကြောင်းများအားလုံးကို ရှာဖွေရေး ကုလသမဂ္ဂလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီ (United Nation Human Rights Council – UNHRC) မှ ရှာဖွေဖော်ထုတ်သွားရန် အောက်တွင်လက်မှတ်ရေးထိုးထားသော မြန်မာအရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်း (CSO) ၁၁၆ ဖွဲ့မှ အရေးတကြီး တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ မိမိတို့အနေဖြင့် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁၂ ရက်နေ့တွင် ပြုလုပ်သည့် အထူးအစည်းအဝေး၏ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက် နှင့် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် မတ်လ ၁၄ ရက်နေ့တွင် ချမှတ်သည့် UNHRC ၏ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက် တို့အပေါ် စိတ်ပျက်ရကြောင်း ဖော်ပြလိုပြီး ယခုပြုလုပ်နေသည့် ၄၉ ကြိမ်မြောက် UNHRC ၏ ပုံမှန်အစည်းအဝေးတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ လက်ရှိရင်ဆိုင်နေရသော အကျပ်အတည်း၏ နက်ရှိုင်းမှုကို ထင်ဟပ်သည့် ခိုင်မာသော ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်တစ်ခုကို ချမှတ်ရန်နှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို တရားစွဲဆိုနိုင်မည့် တရားစီရင်ရေးတစ်ရပ် တည်ဆောက်နိုင်ရေး ကြိုးပမ်းအားထုတ်မှုများအပေါ် အ‌လေးပေးလုပ်‌ဆောင်ရန် တောင်းဆိုသည်။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂသည် တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု မရှိစေခြင်းအားဖြင့် မြန်မာပြည်သူများအပေါ် ဆက်လက်ပျက်ကွက်နေပြီး တချို့ဖြစ်စဥ်များတွင် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့် ရနေမှုအပေါ် ထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုရန်ပင် လုံးဝပျက်ကွက်နေခဲ့ခြင်းများကြောင့် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်ကို ပိုမိုအတင့်ရဲလာစေသည်။ လွန်ခဲ့သည့် ၁၅ နှစ်ကျော်ကာလအတွင်း UNHRC သည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက် ၂၀ ကျော် ချမှတ်ခဲ့ပြီး ကုလသမဂ္ဂလူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာမဟာမင်းကြီးရုံး (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – OHCHR) နှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအခြေအနေဆိုင်ရာ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ် (Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar) တို့အား လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို လေ့လာစောင့်ကြည့်ရန်၊ မှတ်တမ်းတင်ရန် နှင့် အစီရင်ခံရန် တို့အတွက် လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်အာဏာ ပေးအပ်ခဲ့သည်။ ထို့အပြင် အရေးကြီးဆုံး အချက်တစ်ခုမှာ ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ် မတ်လတွင် UNHRC က မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ လွတ်လပ်သော နိုင်ငံတကာ အချက်အလက်ရှာဖွေရေးမစ်ရှင် (Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar – IIFFMM) ကို ဖွဲ့စည်းပေးခဲ့ပြီး ယင်း IIFFMM က မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှု၊ စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုများနှင့် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကျူးလွန်ထားသည်ဟု ယုံကြည်ရနိုင်ဖွယ် အထောက်အထားများကို ရှာဖွေတွေ့ရှိခဲ့သည်။ IIFFMM ၏ တွေ့ရှိချက်များနောက်ပိုင်း ၂၀၁၉ ခုနှစ်တွင် UNHRC သည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် အဆိုးရွားဆုံးသော နိုင်ငံတကာရာဇဝတ်မှုများနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေ ချိုးဖောက်မှုများဆိုင်ရာ အထောက်အထားများကို သိမ်းဆည်းရန်၊ စုစည်းရန်၊ ထိန်းသိမ်းရန်နှင့် ခွဲခြမ်းစိတ်ဖြာသုံးသပ်မှု လုပ်ဆောင်ရန်၊ နှင့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုဆိုင်ရာ တရားစွဲဆိုမှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်နိုင်ရန်အတွက် အချက်အလက်‌များကို ပြင်ဆင်ထားရန် တို့အတွက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ လွတ်လပ်သောနိုင်ငံတကာစုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေယန္တရား (Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar – IIMM) ကို ဖွဲ့စည်းပေးခဲ့သည်။ ဤမတူကွဲပြားသော ယန္တရားများမှ မှတ်တမ်းတင် အစီရင်ခံထားသည့် ပြည့်စုံလုံလောက်သော အချက်အလက်များက မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ ကျူးလွန်နေသည့် ဆိုးရွားသော နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇဝတ်မှုများသည် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ပေး အရေးယူခြင်း မခံရဘဲ ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်ရနေမှု အမြစ်တွယ်နေခြင်းကြောင့် ဖြစ်သည်ကို ထောက်ပြနေသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်သည် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ပေးအရေးယူခံရမှု ကင်းလွတ်စွာဖြင့် ထိုဆိုးရွားသော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ဆက်လက်ကျူးလွန်နေကြောင်း ခိုင်မာသည့်အထောက်အထားများ ရှိနေသော်လည်း ယင်းယန္တရားများကို စစ်တပ်မှ တာဝန်ယူ တာဝန်ခံလာစေရေး အရေးယူနိုင်သော တရားဥပဒေကြောင်းဆိုင်ရာ လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်များ ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်သည့် လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်အာဏာ သို့မဟုတ် တရားစီရင်ပိုင်ခွင့် ပေးထားခြင်း မရှိပေ။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွက် ပြည့်ဝသော တရားစီရင်ရေးစနစ်ကို မတည်ဆောက်နိုင်ပါက ကမ္ဘာပေါ်တွင် အဆိုးရွားဆုံးသော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ရင်ဆိုင်ခံစားနေရသည့် ကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများအတွက် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှုနှင့် တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိနိုင်ရေးမှာ ဆက်လက်အလှမ်းဝေးနေမည် ဖြစ်သည်။ မြန်မာစစ်အုပ်စုသည် မြန်မာပြည်သူများအပေါ် ဥပဒေမဲ့သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း၊ လေကြောင်းဖြင့် တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း၊ အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း၊ လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာနှင့် ကျား-မအခြေပြု အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ ကျူးလွန်ခြင်း၊ အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် မတရားဖမ်းဆီးချုပ်နှောင်ခြင်း၊ အကျဥ်းထောင်များတွင် ညှဥ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်ခြင်းနှင့် အခြားသော ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများကို ပြစ်ဒဏ်ပေးအရေးယူခံရမှု ကင်းလွတ်စွာဖြင့် ပုံမှန်ကျူးလွန်နေသည်ဖြစ်ရာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအခြေအနေသည် အောက်ဆုံးအဆင့်သို့ ရောက်ရှိနေပြီ ဖြစ်သည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် စက်တင်ဘာလတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံလူ့အခွင့်အရေးအခြေအနေဆိုင်ရာ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ် မစ္စတာတွမ် အင်ဒရူးစ်က “ခြုံငုံပြီး ပြောရမယ်ဆိုရင် စစ်အုပ်စုဟာ သူ့ရဲ့ တပ်ဖွဲ့တွေကို မြန်မာပြည်သူတွေအပေါ် ကျယ်ကျယ်ပြန့်ပြန့်နဲ့ စနစ်တကျတိုက်ခိုက်ဖို့ ညွှန်ကြားထားတာ ဖြစ်တယ်။ အဲဒါကြောင့် ဒီဖြစ်ရပ်ဟာ စစ်အုပ်စုအနေနဲ့ လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်တဲ့ ရာဇဝတ်မှုတွေကို ကျူးလွန်နေတယ်ဆိုတာ ထင်ရှားတဲ့ ဖြစ်ရပ်တစ်ခု ဖြစ်တယ်” ဟု ဖော်ပြခဲ့သည်။ ခရစ္စမတ် အကြိုနေ့တွင် ကရင်နီပြည်၌ ကလေးများနှင့် Save The Children အဖွဲ့မှ ဝန်ထမ်းနှစ်ဦး အပါအဝင် အနည်းဆုံး လူ ၄၂ ဦးကို အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်မှု ဖြစ်ပွားပြီးနောက်တွင် ကုလသမဂ္ဂလုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီက “၎င်းအပြုအမူအတွက် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု ရှိလာစေရေး သေချာစွာလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် လိုအပ်သည်” ဟု ဖော်ပြထားသည့် ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက် တစ်စောင်ကို ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သည်။ UNHRC အနေဖြင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်းရှိ ဆိုးရွားသော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများအတွက် တရားစွဲဆိုနိုင်ရန် ကုလသမဂ္ဂမှ တရားစီရင်ရေးတစ်ခု တည်ထောင်နိုင်ရေး ဖြစ်နိုင်သမျှ နည်းလမ်းများ ရှာဖွေပြီး ချက်ချင်းလုပ်ဆောင်ရမည်။ IIMM ၏ လုပ်ဆောင်ထားချက်များကို အသုံးပြုရမည်ဖြစ်ပြီး ကျူးလွန်သူများကို အရေးယူမှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းအားဖြင့် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ပေး အရေးယူခံရမှု ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်ကို အဆုံးသတ်ရမည် ဖြစ်သည်။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂအနေဖြင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်းရှိ ဆိုးရွားသော လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို ယခင်လုပ်နည်းအတိုင်း ချဥ်းကပ်တုံ့ပြန်ခြင်းမျိုး ဆက်မလုပ်ဘဲ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကို ကာကွယ်မြှင့်တင်ပေးရမည့် ၎င်း၏တာဝန်ဝတ္တရားများကို ဝင်ရောက်လုပ်ဆောင်ရပါမည်။ ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ်တွင် ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအပေါ် လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှုနှင့် တခြားတိုင်းရင်းသား ပြည်သူလူထု အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းများအပေါ် ဆယ်စုနှစ်များစွာ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများကို ဤတစ်ခုတည်းသော စစ်တပ်က ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့ခြင်းဖြစ်ပြီး ၎င်းတို့သည် ယခုအခါ လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ်ဆန့်ကျင်သော ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများနှင့် စစ်ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများကို နိုင်ငံတစ်ဝှမ်းတွင် ကျူးလွန်နေကြောင်း ထပ်ခါတလဲလဲ ပြောနေရုံဖြင့် လုံလောက်နိုင်မည် မဟုတ်ပေ။ လက်ရှိအချိန်အထိ စစ်အုပ်စုသည် အနည်းဆုံး ကလေး ၁၀၀ ဦးအပါအဝင် လူဦးရေ ၁,၆၀၃ ဦးကို သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ပြီးသည့်အပြင် မြေပြင်တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများနှင့် လေကြောင်းမှတစ်ဆင့် ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် ပစ်မှတ်ထား တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများကြောင့် နောက်ထပ်သော ရာပေါင်းများစွာမှာလည်း ထပ်မံသေဆုံးကြရသည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလမှ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် ဇန္နဝါရီလအထိ လက်နက်ကိုင်တိုက်ခိုက်မှုနှင့် အရပ်သားများအပေါ် တိုက်ခိုက်မှု‌ စုစုပေါင်း ၉,၄၄၁ ကြိမ် ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့ပြီး အရပ်သားပြည်သူများမှာ ၎င်းတို့၏ လုံခြုံရေးအတွက် ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေကြရကာ အိန္ဒိယနိုင်ငံ သို့မဟုတ် ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံ အတွင်းများသို့ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရမှုများကို ဖြစ်ပေါ်စေသည်။ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် ဇန္နဝါရီလ ၃၁ ရက်နေ့အထိ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတစ်ဝှမ်းတွင် ပြည်တွင်းနေရပ်စွန့်ခွာထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရသူ ဦးရေ ၈၁၁,၉၀၀ ကျော်ရှိပြီဟု ခန့်မှန်းသိရှိ ရသည်။ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးအား နှိမ်နှင်းရန် ပြင်းထန်သော ကြိုးပမ်းအားထုတ်မှုများတွင် စစ်အုပ်စုသည် လူပေါင်း ၁၂,၅၃၄ ဦးကိုဖမ်းဆီးခဲ့ပြီး ၉,၅၀၇ ဦးတို့မှာ ဆက်လက်ထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်း ခံရကာ ညှဉ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှု၊ သေဆုံးမှု၊ ငတ်မွတ်မှု၊ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုဆိုင်ရာ ငြင်းပယ်မှု၊ အစာရေစာဖြတ်တောက်မှုနှင့် လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာနှင့် ကျား-မအခြေပြု အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ဆက်လက်ခံစားနေကြရသည်။ ထိုရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သည့် ကျူးလွန်မှုများအားလုံးကို လုပ်ဆောင်နေသော်လည်း အားကောင်းပြီး စည်းလုံးညီညွတ်သည့် ခုခံတော်လှန်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားမှုကြောင့် စစ်အုပ်စုသည် နိုင်ငံအပေါ်တွင် နိုင်ငံရေး၊ စီးပွားရေး သို့မဟုတ် နယ်မြေထိန်းချုပ်မှုကို မရနိုင်ဘဲ ဖြစ်နေသည်။ မြန်မာပြည်သူများသည် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် ချုပ်ငြိမ်းရေးနှင့် နိုင်ငံကို ဒီမိုကရေစီလမ်းကြောင်းပေါ် ပြန်လည်ရောက်ရှိရေးအတွက် လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် စိတ်ပိုင်းဖြတ်ထားကြသည်။ ထိုသို့လုပ်ဆောင်ရာတွင် နိုင်ငံတကာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းနှင့် အထူးသဖြင့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ ပံ့ပိုးကူညီမှုသည် အလွန်ပင်အရေးကြီးသည်။ သို့ရာတွင် ယခုအကျပ်အတည်းအတွင်း ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့သည့် အရာအားလုံး ရှိနေသည့်တိုင် ကုလသမဂ္ဂအနေဖြင့် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော အကြမ်းဖက်လှုပ်ရှားမှုကို ရပ်တန့်ရန် အဓိပ္ပါယ်ရှိသော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် ဆက်လက်ပျက်ကွက်နေခဲ့သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့်ပတ်သက်လျှင် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ ထိတွေ့ဆက်ဆံမှုများသည် စနစ်ကျသောပျက်ကွက်မှုများ နှင့် ပြည့်နှက်နေပြီး ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအပေါ် လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှု ဖြစ်ပေါ်ရန် ဦးတည်နေချိန်နှင့် ဖြစ်နေသည့်ကာလတွင် ထင်ရှားစွာ မြင်တွေ့ရသော ဆယ်စုနှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ ထိရောက်မှုမရှိသည့် အစဉ်အလာ ဆက်လက်ရှိနေမှုကို Rosenthal အစီရင်ခံစာတွင် အသေးစိတ်ဖော်ပြထားသည်။ အခြားသော ကောက်ချက်ချမှုများထဲတွင် တွေ့ရှိရသည့်အချက်တစ်ခုမှာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ ကုလသမဂ္ဂအေဂျင်စီများသည် ၎င်းတို့၏ လုပ်ငန်းအစီအစဉ်များ ရှေ့ဆက်လုပ်ဆောင်နိုင်ရေး မျှော်လင့်ချက်ဖြင့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်တွင် ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှုမြောက်သော ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှု များအပေါ် နှုတ်ဆိတ်နေရန် ရွေးချယ်ခဲ့ခြင်းပင် ဖြစ်သည်။ Rosenthal အစီရင်ခံစာထဲတွင် ဖော်ပြထားသော ကိစ္စရပ်များနှင့် အကြံပြုတိုက်တွန်းချက်များကို ကုလသမဂ္ဂအနေဖြင့် ယနေ့တိုင်အောင် ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းသည့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှု မရှိသေးပေ။ သို့ဖြစ်၍ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏အတိတ်တွင် ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သော ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများအပေါ် လျင်မြန်စွာ အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှု လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ ပျက်ကွက်ခဲ့မှုများက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် လက်ရှိဖြစ်ပွားနေသည့် အကျပ်အတည်း၏ အကြောင်းရင်း တစ်စိတ်တစ်ပိုင်း ဖြစ်သောကြောင့် အစီရင်ခံစာ၏ တွေ့ရှိချက်များကို ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းရန် လိုအပ်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် လိုအပ်ကြောင်းကို ဆက်လက်အစီရင်ခံတင်ပြသွားရန် အလွန်ပင် အရေးကြီးသည်။ ထိုမျှသာမက လက်ရှိအကျပ်အတည်း ဆက်လက်ဖြစ်ပွားနေခြင်းကြောင့် မြန်မာပြည်သူများအတွက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂတွင် ၎င်းတို့၏ တရားဝင်ကိုယ်စားလှယ် ထားရှိနိုင်ရန်မှာ အလွန်ပင်အရေးကြီးသည်။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ အထွေထွေညီလာခံသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကိုယ်စားလှယ် စိစစ်လက်ခံရေး ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်ကို ရွှေ့ဆိုင်းလိုက်ပြီး မြန်မာစစ်အုပ်စု၏ နေရာရယူရေး ကြိုးပမ်းမှုကို ပြတ်ပြတ်သားသား ပယ်ချကာ သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းကို မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ ကိုယ်စားလှယ်အဖြစ် ဆက်လက်ထားရှိခဲ့သည်။ သံအမတ်ကြီးကို အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ (National Unity Government – NUG) က ခန့်အပ်ထားခြင်းဖြစ်ပြီး ၎င်း၏ တရားဝင်ရပိုင်ခွင့်ဖြစ်သော UNHRC တွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကို ကိုယ်စားပြုခွင့် ပေးရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ UNHRC ၏ လက်ရှိ ၄၉ ကြိမ်မြောက် အစည်းအဝေးတွင် ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းမှ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအား ကိုယ်စားပြုရေးကို ဖယ်ချန်ထားခြင်းမှာ လက်ခံနိုင်စရာမရှိဘဲ ယင်းမှာ မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ တရားဝင်ကိုယ်စားလှယ်ကို ငြင်းပယ်လိုက်ရာရောက်သည်။ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီအတွက် မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ သဘောထားဆန္ဒ၊ တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု ရှိလာစေရေးလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် နှင့် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ ပြစ်ဒဏ်ပေးအရေးယူခံရမှု ကင်းလွတ်နေခြင်းကို အဆုံးသတ်ရန် တို့အတွက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂမှ အပြည့်အဝ ပံ့ပိုးကူညီ‌ရမည်။ သို့ဖြစ်ရာ မိမိတို့သည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီအား အောက်ပါအချက်များကို တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများအတွက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂမှ လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်အာဏာ အပ်နှင်းထားသော တရားစီရင်ရေးကို တည်ထောင်ခြင်းမှတစ်ဆင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွက် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု ဖော်ဆောင်နိုင်ရန် ဖြစ်နိုင်ခြေရှိသော လမ်းကြောင်းများအားလုံးကို ရှာဖွေရန်၊ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အခြေအနေကို ICC သို့ လွှဲပြောင်းနိုင်ရန်အတွက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂလုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီမှ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်တစ်ခု ချမှတ်ရေး အကြံပြုတိုက်တွန်းရန်၊ ၂၀၀၂ ခုနှစ် ဇူလိုင်လ ၁ ရက်နေ့မှစတင်၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံပိုင်နက်အတွင်း ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သော နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများနှင့်စပ်လျဉ်း၍ ICC တရားရုံး၏ တရားစီရင်ပိုင်ခွင့်အာဏာကို လက်ခံခြင်းအားဖြင့် ရောမသဘောတူစာချုပ် အပိုဒ် ၁၂(၃) အရ မြန်မာအစိုးရဖြစ်သော NUG မှ တင်သွင်းသည့် ကြေညာစာတမ်းကို လက်ခံရေး ICC အား တောင်းဆိုရန်၊ ကုလသမဂ္ဂအထွေထွေညီလာခံမှ ဆက်လက်အတည်ပြုထားသော NUG မှ ခန့်အပ်ထားသည့် သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းကို လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကို ကိုယ်စားပြုနိုင်ရန်အတွက် ပံ့ပိုးပေးရန်။..."
Source/publisher: 116 Myanmar Civil Society Organizations
2022-03-07
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022. As of March 4, (1603) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (6) fallen heroes today. These (6) fallen heroes from Gangaw Township in Magway Region and Ye-U Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of March 4, a total of (9507) people are currently under detention. (827) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released. On February 28, three local PDF personnel, named Aung Win, Kalar Lay and Htaw Gyi, and a civilian named Naing Oo, were arrested and then burned alive by the armed wing of the Junta after the military entered Oakpho Village in Ye-U Township, Sagaing Region. On the evening of February 28, a designer named Soe Su Myat Lwin, living in Inntaw Town in Southern Shan State, was arrested by junta police for posting political content on Facebook. AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-03-04
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "As of March 2, (1590) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Shwebo Township in Sagaing Region was killed on February 25 and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of March 2, a total of (9443) people are currently under detention. (782) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released. On March 1, Htet Aung, vice-chairman of All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and former chairman of Pyay University Students’ Union, was sentenced to four years imprisonment with hard labour under Section 52(d) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. He was arrested on September 6, 2021 for protesting against the military coup. He is a third-year student majoring in geology at the University of Pyay in Bago Region. A former chairman of the Basic Education Students’ Union named Aung Min Khaing a.k.a Mae Gyi, detained since May 17, 2021, was sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code by the special court in Insein Prison. AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-03-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 2.54 MB 7.99 MB 1.01 MB
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Description: "Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday pardoned and released six celebrities, including acting couple Eaindra Kyaw Zin and Pyay Ti Oo, actor Lu Min and model-actor Paing Takhon, who were arrested for opposing military rule. The junta announced that the four, who have been detained for nearly a year, will be pardoned “to participate in state-building affairs with their performing arts”. Their families confirmed the releases. Eaindra Kyaw Zin, Pyay Ti Oo and Paing Takhon, 24, were arrested in April last year and Lu Min was seized in late February last year for participating in anti-regime protests and supporting the civil disobedience movement against the regime. They have been held in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison with thousands of other political prisoners and sentenced to three years in prison in December under incitement charges. On Wednesday the junta also pardoned beauty blogger Win Min Than, who was jailed on incitement charges. She has been held in Insein since April last year and was given a three-year sentence in December. The junta’s announcement said Win Min Than still faces a case under the Unlawful Associations Act for joining the anti-regime movement. Award-winning film director Htun Zaw Win, also known as Wyne, who was arrested last month after returning from hiding to his Yangon home, was also released on Wednesday. The junta said it had dropped the case against him. Singers Saw Phoe Khwar and Po Po, actor Ye Tike and filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi remain in custody. More than 9,400 people, including writers, activists, politicians, pro-democracy protesters and student activists, are still being held by the junta..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-03-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "As of March 1, (1589) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (4) fallen heroes today. These (4) fallen heroes from Yinmarbin Township in Sagaing Region and Dawei Township in Tanintharyi Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of March 1, a total of (9437) people are currently under detention. (778) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released. On the midnight of February 25, Thein Htike Oo, living in Maung Mae Shaung Village in Tanintharyi Region’s Dawei Township, was shot dead by Junta soldiers at the checkpoint in Eain Shae Pyin Village, while he was crossing by motorbike. Thein Htike Oo suffers from mental illness. His body was not returned to his family and was cremated by the military. From February 26 for three days, the armed wing of the Junta has been stationed at, and raiding Chin Pone Village, in Sagaing Region’s Yinmarbin Township. They killed nine villagers, including Aung Maung, from Chin Pone Village, and Tun Tun and Myo Nyunt, from Pan Pa Htone Village. AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] ..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
2022-03-01
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Attacks to press freedom and democracy continue to escalate in Myanmar, with two prominent writers and a student activist sentenced under an amendment to the Myanmar’s Penal code. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemn the junta’s continued censorship and quashing of critical reportage and calls on the international community to do more to protect the livelihoods and safety of journalists in Myanmar. On February 22, Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo, two anti-junta writers, were sentenced to two and three years in prison respectively under Section 505(a) of the Myanmar Penal Code. Section 5050(A), an amendment introduced by the military junta, criminalises the circulation of any information with the intent to defame government employees. Maung Tha Cho was sentenced to two years for an article he wrote eight years ago, while Htin Lin Oo was charged after sharing an anti-junta video on his social media page. The writers were arrested on February 1, 2021, the day of Myanmar’s military coup and were placed in Insein Prison, where they have been detained for more than a year. This is not the first time a journalist has been charged under Section 505(A). In June 2022, the IFJ reported the sentencing of Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporter Aung Kyaw, and freelance reporter Ko Zaw Zaw, who were the first journalists to be sentenced to two years in prison under Section 505(a). Student activist Yin Myat Noe Oo was also given a three-year prison sentence for incitement at a court inside Insein Prison last week. The student was arrested in Yangon in April 2021 after putting up posters that criticised the junta. According to the University Students’ Union Alumni Force (USUAF) who are in contact with detainees inside Insein Prison, inmates facing political charges have been tortured by prison authorities and denied medical treatment for their injuries. On February 22, the United Nations human rights expert on Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, said that Russia, China and Serbia were providing arms assistance, including fighter jets, to the military junta. These weapons were supplied with “full knowledge that they would be used to attack civilians”, said Andrews. The three sentencings come during a period of increasing restrictions on press freedom in Myanmar, one year on from the military takeover. According to Reporting ASEAN, at least 121 journalists and media workers have been arrested since the beginning of the military coup, with 47 currently detained as of February 9, 2022. At least 40 of the arrested journalists were charged with violating Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. In December 2021, Ko Soe Naing, a freelance photojournalist, died in custody after being arrested by military forces for covering silent protests by opponents of the coup. Naing was the first journalist confirmed to have died in custody since the coup. The IFJ said: “Journalists and media workers have suffered intensely throughout the first year of Myanmar’s military coup, actively persecuted and silenced for doing their jobs. The IFJ calls for the release of all detained media workers, including Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo, and strongly condemns the junta’s continued censorship and suppression of press and civilian freedoms. The IFJ urges the international community to heighten efforts to protect and support media workers and journalists working under the coup.”..."
Source/publisher: International Federation of Journalists
2022-02-24
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Since the coup on Feb. 1 last year, Myanmar has earned the dubious distinction of being the world’s second worst jailer of journalists after China. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated in a December report that at least 26 journalists had been imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting since the takeover, compared with none behind bars in 2020, adding that “the actual number of jailed journalists in Myanmar may be much higher than CPJ’s tally. Many news organizations are reluctant to identify their detained freelancers, stringers, and other non-staff reporters they rely on for news, photographs, and video, due to concerns they could face harsher penalties if they are found to be associated with their news outlets.” According to a report issued in February this year by Reporters Without Borders, as many as 60 media workers are currently held in Myanmar. Many have been tortured in custody and at least three have been murdered by junta soldiers. Turning to China But when those brutal measures did not halt the flow of information to people in and outside the country, the junta turned to a logical and experienced partner for censorship and surveillance assistance: China. At the end of last year, security officials in the region found out that Chinese internet technicians were helping their Myanmar counterparts develop blocking and monitoring capabilities. The aim, they say, is to establish firm and effective control over what can and cannot be accessed online in Myanmar, similar to the infamous “Great Firewall of China”, which China’s security officials have used for years to police online activities of known dissidents and even identify anonymous users. In essence, it means that the authorities would be able to block access to selected foreign websites and to slow down internet traffic in and out of the country. Among foreign internet tools that have been blocked in China are Google Search, Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia; that has been done by using hardware from Huawei and Semptian, two major Chinese service providers. It is unclear whether the same hardware is being used in Myanmar, but, if that is the case, it would make it possible for China’s security services to tap into the Myanmar military’s computers and collect sensitive and classified information that would have been hard to come by with only human intelligence. China has every reason to watch not only Myanmar’s dissidents but also the often unpredictable generals, whom they do not fully trust, and that is actually not new. Technicians working for companies close to the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China’s main intelligence agency, are known to have been hacking into the computers and databases of the state-owned Myanmar Post and Telecommunications, a major internet service provider and operator of mobile phones also used by the military, and that has been going on for years. The close relationship between Chinese hackers and the MSS was revealed when two US-based hackers, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, were indicted in Spokane, Washington on July 7, 2020. According to court documents, they had on behalf of the Chinese government “gained unauthorized access to computers around the world and stole terabytes of data.” Apart from collecting information from a host of Western countries, among them the US, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Britain, the indictment states that they “provided the MSS with email accounts and passwords belonging to a Hong Kong community organizer, the pastor of a Chinese church in Xi’an, and a dissident and former Tiananmen Square protestor…and the office of the Dalai Lama.” Curiously, the MSS, the court document says, provided Li with malware to help him compromise “the mail server of a Burmese [Myanmar] human rights group.” The identity of that human rights group was not revealed during the hearings in Spokane, but it shows to what length MSS and its hackers are going to monitor a wide variety of governmental as well as civilian actors in countries of interest. Alarming developments For the Myanmar public, the most alarming aspect of these developments is that Chinese technicians have been training junta operatives to obtain information on political dissidents and protesters, including how to bypass Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, and monitor SMS traffic on mobile phones. As The Irrawaddy reported on Jan. 24, the junta banned social media after last year’s coup, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, but people continued to access those sites using VPNs. Then the junta presented the draft for a new cybersecurity law that would give it the right to imprison anyone who accesses banned sites with the help of VPNs. According to a Feb. 11 Al Jazeera report, the junta has increased taxation of the telecom sector leading to prices being doubled in the past two months—and thus making it expensive and more difficult for ordinary people to use the internet altogether. The draft law, The Irrawaddy reported, “would grant the junta unlimited power to access user data, ban content it dislikes, restrict internet providers and intercept data, and imprison those criticizing the regime online and employees of non-compliant companies.” Recent reports of random arrests in Yangon and Mandalay of people who have used VPNs also show that the Chinese-installed firewall is working. While it is difficult to see exactly what a VPN user has accessed, the firewall will reveal who is using it and if that is against the law, the user could be arrested. If the Chinese experience is anything to go by, there are ways around all those repressive measures, there are ways users have managed to bypass the rules. In 2017, the Chinese government declared all unauthorized VPN services to be illegal and there, as in Myanmar, people have been arrested for using them. But, as writer Daniel Anderson pointed out in technology publication ACM Queue as early as 2012, the basic censorship circumvention strategy is to use proxy nodes and encrypt the data. Bypassing the firewall in China is known as fanqiang, or “climb over the wall”. Freegate, Ultrasurf, Psiphon and Lantern are free software that can be used to bypass Internet censorship firewalls using an HTTP proxy server combined with encryption protocols. Some people are using SIM cards from foreign countries to access VPNs and there are also certain VPNs which still work in China. According to Reporters Without Borders, China may have exported Internet surveillance technology not only to Myanmar but also Cuba, Iran, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Belarus. Roskomnadzor Agency, the Russian state’s agency for monitoring, controlling and censoring mass media, is also known to have at least in the past collaborated with Chinese firewall officials. But in none of those countries has the firewall been 100 percent effective, which goes to show that the technology is not perfect or without loopholes. Exactly how Myanmar’s military authorities are going to use its firewall and enforce those new laws remains to be seen. But given the number of VPN users in Myanmar who would have to be identified and monitored, and the limited knowhow of the junta’s own internet technicians, it is hard to imagine that tech-savvy young people will not find their own ways of “climbing over the wall”. Recent arrests may just be attempts at intimidating the public by picking up a few unlucky users. Once a country has opened its doors to the outside world via cyberspace, it cannot close them again. And the Myanmar junta may be playing with fire when it comes to using imported technologies such as the Chinese firewall. As we have seen, China’s security agencies will be spying on them too..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-02-22
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Proposed Law Threatens Rights to Privacy, Expression, Access to Information
Description: "(Bangkok) – Myanmar’s military junta has revived a draconian cybersecurity bill that would provide sweeping powers to the authorities, Human Rights Watch said today. The current draft would allow the junta, in power since the military coup on February 1, 2021, to access user data, block websites, order internet shutdowns, and prosecute critics and representatives of noncomplying companies. The Cybersecurity Law was initially proposed a week after the coup. The current draft, an unofficial translation of which can be found here, includes new provisions that would ban use of virtual private networks (VPNs), abolish the need for certain evidentiary proof at trial, and require online service providers to block or remove online criticism of junta leaders. Ten international chambers of commerce in Myanmar issued a joint statement on January 28, 2022, that said the proposed law “disrupts the free flow of information and directly impacts businesses’ abilities to operate legally and effectively in Myanmar.” “Myanmar’s military junta has taken a terrible draft cybersecurity law and made it even worse,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. “The junta should scrap this bill, which would further devastate free expression and access to information across the country.” The draft law would apply to all those providing “Digital Platform Services,” defined to include “any over the top (OTT) service that can provide the service to express data, information, images, voices, texts and video online by using cyber resources and similar systems or materials.” The law thus applies not only to social media and other content-sharing platforms, but to digital marketplaces, search engines, financial services, data processing services, and communications services providing messaging or video calls and games. While companies licensed under the Telecommunications Act are excluded from the definition of Digital Platform Service providers, the restrictions on use of VPNs and the requirement that companies cooperate with investigations are made specifically applicable to such companies. Under a new provision, the use of VPNs to browse the internet would be a criminal offense without specific permission from an as-yet-unspecified ministry authorized to deal with cybersecurity. Use of an unauthorized VPN would be punishable by up to three years in prison. Virtual Private Networks, which allow a user access to blocked content, have played a critical role in enabling internet users in Myanmar to access sites blocked by the military since the coup and to access the internet without disclosing their true location. VPNs are also routinely used by businesses and individuals to ensure privacy and security. Another newly added provision would allow the authorities to order Digital Platform Service providers to block or remove content about which there is a “legitimate complaint” that the content “damages a person’s social standing and livelihood.” It would not require the information to be false or require a court order. In effect, the new provision would allow the authorities to order the removal of any content critical of individual military leaders or others linked to the junta, Human Rights Watch said. The draft law also retains provisions from the earlier draft requiring online service providers to block or remove a wide range of information at the instruction of the authorities. Prohibited content includes “misinformation and disinformation,” information “causing hate, disrupting the unity, stabilization and peace,” and statements “against any existing law.” Anyone who posts “misinformation or disinformation” faces a minimum of one year and up to three years in prison if they are found to have done so “with the intent of causing public panic, loss of trust or social division.” Since any criticism of the coup or the military could be deemed as intending to cause “loss of trust” in the junta or social division, the junta could use these provisions as sweeping censorship tools. Both Digital Platform Service providers and telecommunications companies would be required to cooperate with the authorities investigating a broad range of offenses, including those under the cybersecurity law. Failure to do so would be punished by a range of penalties up to and including revocation of their license to operate in Myanmar. The scope of the “interventions” with which businesses must cooperate is unclear, leaving open the possibility that this law could be used to force telecommunications companies to facilitate the live interception of communications. Last May, Reuters reported that the military, through the civilian government then in power, had forced telecommunications and internet service providers to install live intercept capabilities in the months leading up to the coup. The bill, as with the Telecommunications Act, would effectively dispense with the legal requirement for a prosecutor to bring digital evidence to court, providing that: the evidence relating to prosecuting an offense filed under this law is not easy to bring to court, it can be presented with a report or other relevant documentation on how the evidence is kept without going to court. Such submission shall be deemed to have been presented as evidence before the court and may be administered by the relevant court in accordance with the law. Any dispute over digital evidence would have to be submitted to the National Digital Laboratory created under the law, and the decisions of that body would be final. This provision violates defendants’ rights to a fair trial and due process, which require that any evidence be presented against them, Human Rights Watch said. Myanmar does not have any privacy or data protection laws that regulate the collection, use, and storage of personal data to safeguard against abuse when data is collected and retained even for legitimate purposes. The current version of the cybersecurity bill retains problematic provisions further undermining data privacy. Digital Platform Service Providers would be required to keep a broad range of user data, including the person’s name, internet protocol (IP) address, phone number, ID card number, physical address, “user record,” and “other information as directed” for up to three years. Providers with at least 100,000 users in Myanmar would have to ensure that devices storing that data are “maintained in accordance with data classification rules” – rules that the bill does not define. Those who fail to comply would face up to three years in prison. Given the broad applicability of the law, this provision also poses serious risks for those using online payment systems. Companies would have to provide this data to the authorities when requested “under any existing law.” The bill gives the authorities wide scope to block services and order internet shutdowns. The ministry assigned to implement cybersecurity matters, with approval from the junta, would be able to temporarily prohibit any digital platform provision, temporarily control devices related to provision of digital platform services, and issue a final ban on any digital service platform provider in Myanmar. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in its General Comment No. 34 on the right to freedom of expression, states that governments may impose restrictions on free expression only if they are provided by law and are necessary for the protection of national security or other pressing public need. To be provided by law, a restriction must be formulated with sufficient precision to enable an individual to regulate their conduct accordingly. “Necessary” restrictions must also be proportionate, that is, balanced against the specific need for the restriction being put in place. Nor can these restrictions be overbroad. Myanmar’s cybersecurity bill falls far short of these standards. It fails to require that “disinformation” or “misinformation” would have to cause real harm to a legitimate interest, or to clearly define the content that is prohibited. The resulting lack of clarity would severely chill the discussion of controversial subjects out of fear of prosecution, Human Rights Watch said. Further, mandatory third-party data retention fails to meet international human rights standards on the right to privacy. Such measures are neither necessary nor proportionate, are particularly prone to abuse, and circumvent key procedural safeguards. They limit people’s ability to communicate anonymously and may increase the threat of hacking or other data breaches. “The proposed cybersecurity law would consolidate the junta’s ability to conduct pervasive censorship and surveillance and hamper the operation of businesses in Myanmar,” Lakhdhir said. “Governments that do business with the junta should recognize the information risks if the bill as drafted becomes law.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2022-02-15
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The People of Myanmar arc always grateful for the support from Norway for democracy, human rights and peace in Myanmar for over three decades. Norway was among the first countries to strongly condemn the 1 February 2021 military coup attempt. Norway also announced freezing o f its bilateral aid to Myanmar soon after the coup. We also admire that "good governance, respect for human rights, alleviate suffering and protect human dignity in humanitarian crises" are at the forefront o f Norwegian Development Policy. Myanmar has been in turmoil since Senior General Min Aung Hlaing' s February 1st military coup attempt against Myanmar' s elected legitimate government. The political crisis and the junta ' s brutal terror campaign, including indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians, have led to a year of turmoil and constant fear for the people o f Myanmar. The illegitimate coup attempt created not only widespread human rights abuses but also over 400,000 civilians became the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Following the 1 February 2021 illegitimate and unconstitutional attempted coup d 'etat, members o f the Union Parliament elected in the 2020 general elections swore their oaths of office. On 5 February, an emergency session o f parliament with 63% attendance formed the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). On 16 April 2021, the CRPH announced the formation o f the National Unity Government (NUG). This announcement maintained the continuity of U Win Myint as President and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as State Counselor. We hold the values o f life, freedom, individual rights, and the rule o f law at the core o f our fight for democracy. Like your countrymen during times o f hardship and trial - when these values were threatened - who rose to the challenge to protect freedom - we are lighting for ours. The NUG values Norway' s ethical business investments in Myanmar, specifically, with Telenor. It has operated in Myanmar since 2014 with 18.3 million loyal customers. Telenor has announced in July 2021 selling its Myanmar unit to Lebanese investment firm M1 Group, prompting an outcry from the public who have been relying on its services for communications and trusting the commitment o f protecting data security, personal information and human rights. The NUG values Norway' s ethical business investments in Myanmar, specifically, with Telenor. It has operated in Myanmar since 2014 with 18.3 million loyal customers. Telenor has announced in July 2021 selling its Myanmar unit to Lebanese investment firm M1 Group, prompting an outcry from the public who have been relying on its services for communications and trusting the commitment o f protecting data security, personal information and human rights. The M1 Group, a Lebanon-based holding company' s business record is marred by corruption and a long history o f cozying up to dictators, with a disregard for the right to privacy and freedom o f expression, in stark contrast to Norwegian values and Telenor' s claim to protect human rights. According to recent media reports, Tclenor is planning to sell Tclenor Myanmar to Investcom, a military linked business " Shwe Bayin Phyu " is the majority shareholder of Investcom, and remaining shares are owned by M1 Team. Managing Director o f Shwe Bayin Phyu Group is a major shareholder in the EU-sanctioned Forest Joint Venture Corporation. The people of Myanmar and 18.3 million customers of Tclenor Myanmar trusted Tclenor as an ethically responsible business entity that values its customers’ data security and their safety. In our cabinct meeting, the National Unity Government o f Myanmar decided that the sale o f Tclenor Group is not acceptable and should not be approved. Telecom data contains sensitive data and a sale would constitute a risk to the security and lives o f 18.3 million Telenor’s faithful customers in Myanmar. We. the National Unity Government o f Myanmar, therefore, kindly ask the Royal Norwegian government to use your majority position in Telenor and place a request to ignore any decisions made by the illegitimate military regime, and reverse or defer the decision o f selling its Myanmar unit in order to stop pushing over 18 million customers into the hands o f the military regime. We would like to request the Norwegian Government to help respect the decision o f the legitimate government of Myanmar, the NUG and the will o f the Myanmar people..."
Source/publisher: Acting President Duwa Lashi La
2022-02-10
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Vassily A. Nebenzia (Russian Federation): The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern at the continuing state of emergency imposed in Myanmar by the military on 1 February 2021 and its grave impact. They reiterated their calls for the release of all those who remain arbitrarily detained, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. The members of the Security Council repeated their support for Myanmar’s democratic transition, including the need to uphold democratic institutions and processes, with full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as the rule of law. They also repeated their call for the pursuance of dialogue with all parties concerned and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar. The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern at further recent violence in the country and expressed alarm at the large numbers of internally displaced persons. They condemned attacks on infrastructure, including health and education facilities. They called for an immediate cessation of all forms of violence throughout the country and to ensure the safety of civilians. They expressed deep concern at the dramatic increase in humanitarian need, particularly among women, children and vulnerable groups, against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. They underlined the need to urgently step up humanitarian assistance and to facilitate the equitable, safe and unhindered delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. They reiterated the need for full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all people in need, and for the full protection, safety and security of humanitarian and medical personnel. The members of the Security Council reiterated their full support for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) role in facilitating a peaceful solution in the interest of the people of Myanmar and their livelihoods. They reiterated their calls for the swift and full implementation of ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus. They welcomed the appointment of Prak Sokhonn as the ASEAN Special Envoy, expressed their support for his role and his diplomatic efforts to commence constructive dialogue among all parties concerned. They looked forward to his visit to Myanmar at the earliest opportunity to meet with all parties concerned and carry out mediation that facilitates the dialogue process, as well as the provision of humanitarian assistance. The members of the Security Council underlined the important role of the United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar and encouraged her to maintain communication and engage intensively with all relevant parties in Myanmar. They also encouraged complementarity of her work to the work of ASEAN. The members of the Security Council reiterated the need to address the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine state and again expressed concern that recent developments pose additional and particularly serious challenges for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons. They encouraged diplomatic efforts between the parties concerned to help address the issues facing Rohingyas. They recalled the vital need for the rights of minorities to be fully protected. The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their support for the people of Myanmar and the country’s democratic transition and their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Security Council
2022-02-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On 1 February 2022, people in Myanmar will mark the first anniversary of renewed military dictatorship with protest and resistance. The coup prevented an elected government from taking office. The military extralegally detained its members, and embarked on a program of state violence reminiscent of the atrocities in 2017 that led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. The military has met nationwide resistance. A civil disobedience movement that began in the days after the coup has persisted in its efforts to oppose military rule by strikes, boycotts and other kinds of non-cooperation. A people’s defensive war has brought fighting to parts of the country that had for decades been without armed conflict. The costs have been great. Many have lost their jobs and housing. Thousands have been detained and at least 1,499 civilians have lost their lives, according to the AAPP. An estimated 406,000 people have been internally displaced since the coup and at least 32,000 have fled to neighbouring countries, according to UNHCR. The military coup has exacerbated efforts to combat the Covid-19 crisis, unnecessarily contributing to a high death toll. Military rule greatly complicates future efforts to control the virus, putting the health and safety of millions in peril. The consequences of the coup on higher education are disastrous. After decades of debilitating dictatorship, universities and institutes in Myanmar were just beginning to find their feet when the military again seized control. The universities remain closed to students. With their shutdown go the hopes of another generation for quality education in Myanmar. Opposition groups, activists and engaged scholars are setting up alternative study programs, but these can fill only a small part of the demand. As academics, students and professional staff working on Myanmar, we mark this anniversary by condemning the coup and the violent suppression of political opposition to military rule. We deplore the targeted killing and maiming of unarmed civilians, including via massacres during recent military offensives launched in many parts of the country. To our friends and associates in Myanmar, and to alumni of Australian universities who are struggling against dictatorship, we extend our solidarity. We join with you and others around the world in demanding that the military retreat from politics, stop the killings and torture; release all political prisoners, including our colleague Professor Sean Turnell, and return government to those whom Myanmar’s electorate chose to lead it. Joint statement issued on 31 January 2022 by:..."
Source/publisher: Asian Studies Association of Australia, Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars, Australia-Myanmar Constitutional Democracy Project, Australia Myanmar Institute, Griffith Asia Institute and Myanmar Research Centre
2022-02-01
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "We will never forget. It has been a year since the violent and illegitimate occupation of the democratically elected government by Myanmar's military junta on 1 February 2021. This was at a period when the people were at their most vulnerable, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It was and still is a grave and utter betrayal of the public will and trust and a sheer disregard of democratic institutions and values. In the past 365 days, we have been witnessing accounts of serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, criminalisation, arbitrary detentions, illegal arrests, torture, violent reprisals, and sexual and gender-based violence committed against pro-democracy activists and human rights defenders. This junta has fueled a humanitarian crisis that continues to impose fear, escalating violence, and destroy innocent lives throughout the country. Bombings of villages identified as centres of the opposition had resulted in killings of civilians and humanitarian workers and triggered gross internal displacement of communities. The crisis continues to escalate and has spilt across its borders as thousands have fled and sought refuge in neighbouring countries. We are appalled by the junta's disregard of socio-economic and health emergencies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as curtailing supplies of oxygen and medicines, arresting doctors and medical personnel, and leaving thousands to die without medical help. We will always remember. The sheer tenacity, bravery and courage of LGBTIQ+ persons who were and are at the frontlines fighting for democracy, dignity, and freedom will forever be commemorated and ingrained in our collective memory. Despite repressive conditions, our LGBTIQ+ siblings have tirelessly campaigned both online and offline in pursuit of reclaiming democracy and urging for a global action to condemn military-led atrocities. We are deeply moved by various forms of creative resistance such as flash mobs, the waving of rainbow flags, the march of drag artists that had become symbols of peoples' solidarity and strength. This military junta and their supporters have blood on their hands. We deeply regret that many have been separated from their loved ones and have lost their lives amid the struggle. Data reported by Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG) in June 2021 revealed that at least 12 LGBTIQ+ people were shot to death, while hundreds more were detained, arrested, and severely tortured based on their SOGIESC. Many are currently in hiding to escape retaliation. We stand firmly in solidarity. As long as Myanmar is unfree, democracy in Southeast Asia will never move forward. We commit our continuous support for efforts to reclaim and fortify human rights, freedoms, peace and democracy in Myanmar. Human rights and freedoms, particularly of LGBTIQ+ peoples, can flourish only if the people are recognised and respected as the rightful sovereign of the country. As such, we strongly deplore the military junta as an illegitimate force that is unworthy of any recognition. We urge the UN to step up and impose necessary sanctions and actions against the junta. Min Aung Hlaing, the rest of the military leadership, their political allies, and their families should be made accountable for the atrocities they committed. We urge all governments, the UN, and the entire international community to recognise Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG) immediately and assure urgent unified response to provide unified assistance for putting Myanmar back on the path to democracy, the restoration of fundamental freedoms such as on information and expression, and guarantee the prevalence of peace and prosperity. While Myanmar is in crisis, we urge the international community to open up its borders, facilitate safe passage, and create domestic conditions to guarantee safety and dignity for all Myanmar persons seeking refuge. We urge ASEAN, especially the government of Cambodia in its capacity as the Chair of the regional bloc, to fully implement its Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar: an immediate cessation of violence, constructive dialogue with all stakeholders especially marginalised and ethnic groups who are excluded from political processes, provision of humanitarian assistance, and the appointment and unhindered visits of an ASEAN Special Envoy to facilitate constructive dialogues with all stakeholders. To our Myanmar LGBTIQ+ queerblings both in the country and abroad, you are not alone in this struggle. We are with you until and after democracy is fully regained in your beloved country..."
Source/publisher: 61 LGBTIQ and Civil Society Organizations via Civicus
2022-02-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁) ရက်နေ့သည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ ပြည်သူများ၏ အသစ်တဖန် ပေါ်ပေါက်လာသော စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်အား ဆန္ဒပြခြင်းနှင့် တော်လှန်တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း တစ်နှစ်ပြည့်မြောက်သည့် နေ့ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အာဏာသိမ်းမှုသည် ရွေးကောက်ခံအစိုးရတစ်ရပ်၏ အစိုးရဖွဲ့အုပ်ချုပ်နိုင်ရေးကို တားဆီးခဲ့သည်။ စစ်တပ်သည် အစိုးရအဖွဲ့ဝင်များကို တရားမဝင် ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းပြီး ရိုဟင်ဂျာမွတ်ဆလင်သိန်းနှင့်ချီ၍ ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံသို့ ထွက်ပြေးစေခဲ့သည့် ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ်က ဖြစ်ရပ်ကို အောက်မေ့သတိရစေသော အစိုးရကျောထောက်နောက်ခံပြု အကြမ်းဖက်အစီအစဉ်ကို စတင်ခဲ့သည်။ စစ်တပ်သည် နိုင်ငံတဝန်း ခုခံတော်လှန်မှုကို ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်။ အာဏာသိမ်းပြီး ရက်ပိုင်းအတွင်း စတင်ခဲ့သော စစ်အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကို ဆန့်ကျင်ရန်သည့် အကြမ်းမဖက်လူထုအာဏာဖီဆန်သည့်လှုပ်ရှားမှု (CDM) သည် ဆန္ဒပြခြင်း၊ သပိတ်မှောက်ခြင်းနှင့် ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်းငြင်းဆန်သော နည်းလမ်းများစွာဖြင့် ကြံကြံခံ ဆက်လက်တည်ရှိနေသည်။ ပြည်သူများ၏ ခုခံစစ်ကြောင့် လက်နက်ကိုင်ပဋိပက္ခများ ဆယ်စုနှစ်များစွာ မရှိခဲ့သော နိုင်ငံ၏အစိတ်အပိုင်းများတွင် တိုက်ပွဲများ ပေါ်ပေါက်လာသည်။ ပေးဆပ်ရမှုသည် အလွန်ပင်ကြီးမားပါသည်။ လူအများအပြား အလုပ်အကိုင်နှင့် အိုးအိမ်များ ဆုံးရှုံးခဲ့ရသည်။ ထောင်နှင့်ချီ၍ ဖမ်းဆီးခံထားရပြီး အရပ်သား ၁၄၉၉ ဦးထက်မနည်း အသက်ဆုံးရှုံးခဲ့ကြောင်း AAPP ၏ အချက်အလက်များအရ သိရသည်။ UNHCR အချက်အလက်များအရ အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးကတည်းက ခန့်မှန်းခြေ လူ ၄၀၆,၀၀၀ ခန့် နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာထွက်ပြေးခဲ့ရပြီး အနည်းဆုံး ၃၂,၀၀၀ ခန့် အိမ်နီးချင်းနိုင်ငံများသို့ ထွက်ပြေးခဲ့ကြရသည်။ စစ်တပ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုသည် COVID-19 ကပ်ရောဂါအကျပ်အတည်းကို တိုက်ဖျက်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းမှုများကို ပိုမိုဆိုးရွားစေခဲ့ပြီး သေဆုံးသူအရေအတွက် မြင့်မားလာစေခဲ့သည်။ စစ်အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးသည် ဗိုင်းရပ်စ်ကို ထိန်းချုပ်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းမှုများကိုများစွာ ရှုပ်ထွေးခက်ခဲစေပြီး သန်းနှင့်ချီသောပြည်သူများ၏ ကျန်းမာရေးနှင့် ဘေးကင်းရေးကို အန္တရာယ်ဖြစ်စေသည်။ အဆင့်မြင့်ပညာရေးအပေါ် အာဏာသိမ်းမှု၏ အကျိုးဆက်များက အလွန်ဆိုးရွားလှသည်။ ဆယ်စုနှစ်များစွာ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို အားနည်းစေပီးနောက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ တက္ကသိုလ်များနှင့် အင်စတီကျူးများသည် မိမိခြေပေါ် မိမိရပ်တည်နိုင်ရန် စတင်ကြိုးပမ်းနေစဥ် စစ်တပ်က ထပ်မံသိမ်းပိုက်လိုက်ခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ တက္ကသိုလ်များသည် ပိတ်ထားဆဲဖြစ်သည်။ ရပ်ဆိုင်းလိုက်ခြင်းဖြင့် အရည်အသွေးပြည့်ဝသော ပညာရေးကို မျှော်လင့်နေကြသော မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ မျိုးဆက်နောက်တခု၏ မျှော်လင့်ချက်များကို ကွယ်ပျောက်စေခဲ့သည်။ အတိုက်အခံအဖွဲ့များ၊ တက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူများနှင့် ပညာရှင်များသည် အစားထိုးပညာရေးအစီအစဥ်များကို ကြိုးစားအကောင်အထည်ဖော်နေကြသော်လည်းဘဲ တောင်းဆိုချက်များ၏ အနည်းငယ်မျှကိုသာ ဖြည့်ဆည်းပေးနိုင်သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့်ဆက်ဆိုင်သော အကြောင်းအရာများကို လုပ်ဆောင်နေကြသော ပညာရှင်များ၊ ကျောင်းသားများနှင့် ကျွမ်းကျင်ဝန်ထမ်းများအနေဖြင့် အာဏာသိမ်းမှု တနှစ်ပြည့်မြောက်သောနေ့တွင် အာဏာသိမ်းမှုနှင့် နိုင်ငံရေးအတိုက်အခံများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက် ဖြိုခွင်းခြင်းများကို ရှုတ်ချလိုက်ပါသည်။ နိုင်ငံအများအပြားတွင် မကြာသေးမီက ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည့် ထိုးစစ်များအတွင်း အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းများအပါအဝင် လက်နက်မဲ့ အရပ်သားများကို ပစ်မှတ်ထားသတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းနှင့် ထိခိုက်ဒဏ်ရာရစေခြင်းများကို ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ ရှုတ်ချသည်။ အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို တွန်းလှန်နေကြသော မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ မိတ်ဆွေများ၊ အပေါင်းအသင်းများနှင့် သြစတြေးလျ တက္ကသိုလ်အသီးသီးမှ မြန်မာကျောင်းသားဟောင်းများနှင့်အတူ မိမိတို့ တစိတ်တဝမ်းတည်း ရှိနေပါသည်။ စစ်တပ်က နိုင်ငံရေးကနေ ဆုတ်ခွာရန်၊ သတ်ဖြတ်မှုနှင့် ညှဉ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှုများကို ရပ်တန့်ရန်၊ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ လုပ်ဖော်ကိုက်ဖက် ပါမောက္ခ Sean Turnell အပါအဝင် နိုင်ငံရေး အကျဉ်းသားများအားလုံး လွတ်မြောက်စေရန်နှင့် ပြည်သူများရွေးကောက်ထားသော အစိုးရထံ အာဏာပြန်လည်အပ်နှံရန် တောင်းဆိုနေသူများအားလုံးနှင့်အတူ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့အတူ ရပ်တည်နေပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Asian Studies Association of Australia, Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars, Australia-Myanmar Constitutional Democracy Project, Australia Myanmar Institute, Griffith Asia Institute and Myanmar Research Centre
2022-02-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-02-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "၁၉၃၁ ခုနှစ် ဇန်နဝါရီလ ၃၁ ရက်နေ့တွင် စတင်ဖွဲ့စည်းခဲ့သော ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ (ရတကသ) ပေါ်ပေါက်လာခဲ့သည်မှာ ယနေ့တွင် ၉၁ နှစ် တိုင်ခဲ့ပြီဖြစ်ပါသည်။ နယ်ချဲ့ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး၊ လွတ်လပ်ရေး၊ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်တိုက်ဖျက်ရေး၊ ဒီမိုကရေစီရေး၊ ဒီမိုကရေစီပညာရေး အစရှိသည့်တိုက်ပွဲများတွင် အဖိနှိပ်ခံပြည်သူလူထု၊ ကျောင်းသားထုနှင့် တသားတည်းရပ်တည်ကာ တိုက်ပွဲဝင်ခဲ့ကြသော ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက်က ရတကသရဲဘော်များအား ကျွန်ုပ်တို့မှ အလေးအမြတ်ပြုပါသည်။ ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ (ရတကသ) သည် စတင်ဖွဲ့စည်းချိန်မှစ၍ ယနေ့တိုင်အောင် အဖိနှိပ်ခံလူထုနှင့်ရပ်တည်ကာ ဖိနှိပ်သူအပေါင်းကို တွန်းလှန်ခဲ့သည်မှာ အထင်အရှားပင်ဖြစ်သည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ ဗကသများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်သည်လည်း အဖိနှိပ်ခံပြည်သူလူထုအကျိုး၊ ကျောင်းသားထုအကျိုးအတွက် ဆောင်ရွက်မည့် လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်အရပ်ရပ်တွင် ရဲဘော်တို့ ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ (ရတကသ) နှင့် ဆက်လက်ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်လိမ့်မည် ယုံကြည်ပါသည်။ ရန်ကုန်တက္ကသိုလ်ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ (ရတကသ) အနေဖြင့် အဖိနှိပ်ခံကျောင်းသားထုအကျိုး၊ ပြည်သူလူထုအကျိုးအား ဆက်လက်သယ်ပိုးထမ်းဆောင်နိုင်ပါစေကြောင်း ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ ဗကသများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်မှ ဆန္ဒပြုရင်း သဝဏ်လွှာပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: All Burma Federation of Student Unions
2022-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The military’s new draft Cyber Security Law repeats the repressive provisions of previous drafts and adds more, seriously threatening the safety and security of Myanmar’s digital space. The military has circulated a newly revised draft Cyber Security Law to a few stakeholders requesting any feedback by 28 January 2022. A 2021 draft of the same law disappeared after being criticised by business and civil society, including FEM. Some of the 2021 draft’s repressive provisions were later added to the Electronic Transactions Law in an amendment condemned by FEM and others. This analysis outlines new threats posed by the 2022 draft. FEM’s analysis is based upon international standards relating to the right to freedom of expression. All of the threats posed by the 2021 draft still remain in the 2022 draft, and are listed below too. FEM has published an unofficial translation of the 2022 draft, showing any changes from 2021. This analysis should not be understood as legitimising the military’s authority or its so-called laws. Prosecution bias, evidence ignored, and courts sidelined The 2022 draft seriously undermines due process in Myanmar’s judicial system. Due process, which can be defined as fair treatment in courts according to a clear set of rules, is vital for the protection of all human rights, including freedom of expression. Any undermining of due process is therefore an attack on the right to freedom of expression. Prosecutors would no longer be required to present electronic evidence of a crime in court, but could simply say that the evidence exists (Art. 66). The prosecutor’s evidence would come from the newly established and military-controlled “National Digital Forensic Lab” (Art. 65). If the defendant’s lawyers gave contradictory evidence in defence, which is normal in any criminal case, the court would be forced to favour the prosecution’s evidence, regardless of its merit (Art. 67). Several provisions in the 2022 draft would sideline the courts entirely. The military would have the legal authority to check and take over the systems of digital businesses, order content deleted, block digital platforms, revoke business licences, and seize individuals’ computers or phones, all without going to court (Arts. 60, 61b, 35, 61c, 71-78, 55, 57). More options for permanently blocking social media and websites The 2022 draft has added a whole new chapter on administrative sanctions for digital businesses (Ch. 15), compared to just one article in the 2021 draft (Art.72). The new chapter includes four articles that each allow the military to block access to digital businesses, such as Facebook, YouTube, or domestic companies (Arts. 71-74) for breaching any one of five long and vaguely written provisions (Arts. 34, 35, 36, 54, 58). For example, the military could permanently block the whole of Facebook on the grounds that it included just one post criticising a military leader (Arts. 71 and 35e). Any such block would likely be a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression and access to information. The 2022 draft does not include any safeguards to arbitrary blocking. The military would not need to have or show a reason for blocking, would not need to go to court, or get a court order, and could therefore decide to block access unilaterally. Any appeal by a blocked digital business would be decided by the military rather than a court (Art. 77). If blocking was inadequate, the military could shut down the entire digital business on the grounds that it had not been “properly formed”, a status undefined anywhere in the draft (Art. 74). VPN use and encouragement criminalised The 2022 draft would criminalise the use of Virtual Private Networks, or VPN, with a punishment of up to three years imprisonment and a fine (Art. 90). VPNs hide data flows so that people can access blocked content or communicate privately. VPNs are vital for protecting freedom of expression and access to information in authoritarian countries like Myanmar. Most people in Myanmar use VPNs to access Facebook, which has been blocked by the military since 4 February 2021 shortly after the coup began. Businesses also use VPNs to exchange data securely, but could potentially apply for a waiver to the ban (Art. 62). Given that VPNs are needed to access Facebook, any individual or business that posted on Facebook could in effect be creating evidence of a crime. Any individual that encouraged the use of VPNs could also face a punishment of up to three years imprisonment and a fine (Art. 89c). This could include phone shops that install VPNs, media outlets and civil society organisations who promote VPN use, or digital rights defenders who give security training. Platforms like Facebook criminalised for hosting criticism The previous 2021 draft would have made digital businesses, such as Facebook and YouTube, criminally liable for hosting any expression that the military decided fell under five vague categories (Arts. 29 and 61). The five categories included expressions that were vital for democratic debate and were lawful offline. For example, expression that disturbed the so-called “stability” of the military’s coup (Art. 29a). The military would also have had the legal authority to order such expression deleted (Art. 29). Any international businesses operating outside of Myanmar could have ignored the order. However, they would still have faced the risk of their employees being charged in absentia, or their services being blocked (Art 86, 100, 101). The 2022 draft repeats the 2021 version and its violation of the right to freedom of expression. It has also added a sixth vague category of expression that the military could order deleted: “expressions that damage an individual’s social standing and livelihood” (Art. 35f). On first impression, this could mean defamation, which is best defined as a false assertion of fact that results in serious harm to a person’s reputation. However, the sixth category does not say or imply that the expression needs to be false, or needs to be an assertion of fact, or that it should create serious harm. Furthermore, the sixth category does not use any of the common Burmese language descriptions of defamation. Instead, it would best be described as simple criticism, which inevitably – and often rightly – damages a person’s standing. For example, criticism of a coup leader. The 2022 draft’s “intermediary liability”, or holding digital businesses liable for content, would not only apply to international social media, but could also apply to Myanmar-based servers, websites, or apps. This increase in business risk may directly or inadvertently encourage businesses, including international companies, to carry out military orders in part or in whole, increase general content moderation to delete anything that could fall under the military’s six categories, or block Myanmar users altogether. Child “pornography” crime removed The right to freedom of expression and information may be limited under particular circumstances, including when necessary and proportionate to protect the rights of others. As such, there is no right to seek, receive, or impart content showing sexual abuse of children, often inappropriately called child “pornography”. The 2021 draft would have rightly criminalised the specific crime of seeking, receiving, or imparting content showing sexual abuse of children (Art. 69). However, the military has completely removed this crime from the 2022 draft. It is unclear why the military would choose to effectively decriminalise child abuse content. The 2022 draft does however keep the 2021 draft’s crime of sharing general sexually explicit content (Art. 96). The provision is vague and could be used to violate the right to freedom of expression and access to information. For example, people, including teachers and civil society workers, could be criminalised for providing sex education, discussing women’s bodies, or raising awareness of LGBTIQ issues. Financial flows to dissenting groups blocked The right to freedom of expression is closely linked to the right to freedom of association. Often, individuals join together with others who wish to express similar concerns. They may establish organisations that sometimes require income in order to facilitate their rights to association and expression. Any block that prevents an organisation from raising funds can be a violation of the right to freedom of association. If the organisation is blocked because of its political message, this is a violation of the right to freedom of expression too. The 2022 draft includes a range of provisions that could seriously undermine the financial systems that are commonly used by members of the public to finance groups that offer dissent against the military such as the National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) (Art.94 and 95). Recommendations At the beginning of the coup, the only institution in Myanmar with the constitutional mandate to adopt laws was the Union Parliament. As the Union Parliament is no longer functioning, laws and amendments, including the 2022 draft Cyber Security Law, cannot be lawfully adopted. The military has no legal right to adopt laws as civil society has already established. Nevertheless, FEM calls on all national and international stakeholders – including those from within the business community – to review FEM’s analysis, reflect on how these violations of the right to freedom of expression would affect them and the Myanmar people, and act immediately to ensure that the military once again withdraws their repressive proposal. Previously published concerns The following concerns were published in February 2021 in response to the military’s circulation of the 2021 draft Cyber Security Law. All of the threats posed by the 2021 draft still remain in the 2022 draft. 1. Military will have absolute control over Myanmar’s internet The draft law establishes a hierarchy of bodies overseen by and formed of representatives chosen by the military under the military’s governing State Administration Council (Arts. 5.a, 7, and 9). These oversight bodies are given absolute control over making internet and communications-related rules (Art. 6.a), implementing those rules (Art. 6.b), and investigating rule-breakers (Art. 12). Furthermore, the draft law also enables the Ministry of Defence to issue rules (Art. 88). 2. Regulates people, communications, and companies internationally The draft law is unusual because it has a wide, extra-territorial reach, giving the military government an international jurisdiction as well as a normal domestic one. It creates international offences (Art. 2.a), applies to Myanmar citizens outside of Myanmar (Art. 1.a) and international organisations (Art. 6.h), and covers any form of international communications (Art. 1.c). This significantly extends the oppressive effect of Myanmar’s already restrictive domestic legal framework. 3. Increase in criminalisation and long prison terms The draft law includes a variety of vague and overlapping crimes with three-year prison terms and fines, many of which do not have legitimate democratic aims. Three-year prison terms for misinformation or “fake” websites that cause “public panic, loss of trust or social division” are likely to be used to punish criticism (Arts. 64 and 65). Sharing “sexually explicit speech” – such as that currently being used by many Generation Z protesters – is also punished with a three-year prison term (Art. 68). Using false names or pseudonyms on Facebook will result in a three-year prison sentence (Art. 65). Several provisions include three-year prison terms for actions commonly done by whistleblowers (Arts. 57, 59, and 60). In addition to these disproportionate three-year prison terms, those convicted may also be charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law (Arts. 70 and 71). 4. Internet intermediaries criminally liable for content The draft law places both administrative and criminal liability on internet intermediaries such as Facebook, Google, and Telenor, while easing the military’s potential to ban them altogether. It includes a vague list of content that all “online service providers”, defined as “any person or business providing online services used in Myanmar”, must remove when ordered (Art. 29). The vague list includes for example, “verbal statements against any existing law” and is clearly intended to punish criticism. All “online service providers” must prepare in advance to receive orders (Art. 48), which may come from any person or organisation authorised by the military government (Art. 47). If an intermediary does not comply with an order, the military government can issue a warning, fine, or temporary or permanent ban (Art. 72). Representatives of the intermediary will also face a criminal punishment of up to three-years imprisonment plus a fine (Art. 61). 5. Eases network control and internet shutdown The draft law enables the military government to take direct control over network infrastructure and eases their ability to shut down the internet. It includes provisions for both temporary and permanent bans on any online service such as Facebook (Arts. 51.a and 51.c), and provisions for allowing the military government temporary control of any network devices (Art. 51.b). Bans must be in accordance with a vague “public interest”, presumably as defined by the military (Art. 51). The only so-called “safeguard” is that the military’s governing State Administration Council must approve the military-controlled ministry’s decision (Art. 51). 6. Private data put under military control The draft law gives the military unfettered access to private data. It requires all “online service providers” such as Facebook, Google, and Telenor, to store vast quantities of personal private data including Citizenship Card numbers for at least three years (Art. 30). This data must be stored on servers designated by the military-controlled government (Art. 28.a), and be accessible for “national security” checks (Art. 59). There are no privacy safeguards (Art. 15) and data must be provided when requested (Art. 31). Any computer owned by anybody can be inspected on vague grounds (Art. 45)..."
Source/publisher: Free Expression Myanmar
2022-01-27
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-27
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Sub-title: Htet Htet Eaindra Aung fled Yangon and now files reports on the run from remote and embattled Kayin state.
Description: "Htet Htet Eaindra Aung was a news anchor at 7-Day TV in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon when the military junta ousted the democratically elected government and shut down news organizations like hers. Now she’s among a group of young journalists trying to help to restore democracy by working remotely, often on the run, for online outlets dedicated to challenging the regime’s propaganda. An outspoken critic of the military, Htet Htet Eaindra Aung said she felt that she had to flee Yangon after its crackdown on media. She spoke with RFA’s Myanmar Service from the jungle in Kayin state along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, with only a backpack full of her personal belongings. “I can’t stand the weather here. It's very cold,” she said. “There are days when you wake up in the morning without having a good night's sleep. Sometimes I spend the whole night in front of the fire and go back to bed in the afternoon.” Htet Htet Eaindra Aung spent several weeks on the run with refugees fleeing an offensive by the military in the Lay Kay Kaw region — an area in adjacent Kayin state under the control of the armed wing of the ethnic Karen National Union. Some 20,000 civilians are estimated to have fled fighting in the area to makeshift camps along the banks of the Thaung Yin (Moei) River and into neighboring Thailand. Each day, Htet Htet Eaindra Aung records a news segment in front of a greenscreen for the online-only news outlets of PVTV and Delta News Agency. At night, she sleeps in a crowded tent in the jungle. She said that she misses being able to work at her own pace and her former carefree lifestyle when “there was nothing to worry about.” “I would work quietly all day in an air-conditioned room. After work, I’d take a walk outside. That was my previous life,” she said. Journalists targeted Htet Htet Eaindra Aung is one of many journalists who left the city for Myanmar’s jungles amid the deteriorating security situation. Some have left the country to seek political refugee status. Several others have been detained while working inside the country. About 120 journalists have been detained since the coup, according to U.N. ad RFA tallies. While some have since been released, at least 53 others are still being held in various prisons. One photojournalist died while being interrogated and another was fatally shot in an artillery attack carried out by Myanmar’s armed forces while covering the plight of refugees in Kayin state. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report it released in December that Myanmar ranks second only to China as the world’s worst jailor of journalists. After the coup, Htet Htet Eaindra Aung said that she constantly felt anxious and insecure because she had spoken out against the military, making it impossible for her to work or even risk staying in her own home. Eventually, she decided to leave Yangon to work as a correspondent in the jungle. “I only have a brother and my father. They never stop me from doing what I want to do,” she said. “I told my father that I wanted to leave like this and that I might not be able to return home. He said it was fine and that I could decide for myself and not to worry about him.” Inconveniences and danger Htet Htet Eaindra Aung, who has a passion for singing and aspires to become an artist, said she was initially excited to experience life in the mountains and believed that working as a reporter in the country’s remote border regions would not be so difficult. However, she told RFA that she misses the convenience of city life in Yangon. “I try to be happy here, with nothing in my mind. I carry out my work as required. But in my subconscious mind, I miss Yangon,” she said. “I often have dreams and in them, I’d be walking alone in Yangon without anyone by my side. It should be a fun time in which I’m walking around the city happily. But I often feel very bad when I wake up from such dreams.” Life in rural Myanmar isn’t only more difficult because of small inconveniences. When fighting between the military and the KNU intensified in Lay Kay Kaw, Htet Htet Eaindra Aung fled the town along with its residents, including infants and the elderly. “I was very sad to see a newborn baby while on the run. The baby was only eight days old. Both the baby and the mother were running away from the fighting,” she said. “I saw elderly people as old as my grandmother trying to flee to safety. Even young people like me cannot stand the cold weather here. How can these elderly people manage?” Htet Htet Eaindra Aung said she regularly prays for the release of the country’s detained journalists and the resumption of her career as a reporter following an end to military rule. She also expressed her appreciation for her family, who she said “have full confidence in me.” “I’m so very grateful to my father and brother, but I have never said it out loud. If I had a chance, I’d like to thank them for this opportunity,” she said..."
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Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2022-01-15
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Local news website editor Pu Tuidim became the third journalist to be killed in Myanmar in just over three weeks when he was abducted and murdered by government soldiers in the northwest of the country last weekend. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this barbaric murder of a reporter who tried to inform his fellow citizens about the fighting between armed rebels and the military junta. Pu Tuidim’s body was found in Matupi township, in Chin State, a mountainous region bordering on India, on the morning of 9 January, two days after he and nine other civilians were abducted by members of the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s armed forces, as he was covering the clashes between the Tatmadaw and local armed rebels. The soldiers shot him after using him as a human shield. He was the founder and editor of the Khonumthung Media Group, a local news outlet named after Chin State’s highest mountain. Tragically, the website had just published an article about the Tatmadaw’s use of civilians as human shields. On the evening of 9 January, Pu Tuidim's colleagues posted a statement condemning this practice and deploring their editor’s death “caused by the military council’s atrocities.” The message was circulated throughout the region under the hashtag of #အထူးဝမ်းနည်းကြေကွဲခြင်း, a Burmese expression meaning “Special Mourning.” Escalating terror “Cruelty, cynicism, barbarity – these words seem inadequate to describe Pu Tuidim’s shocking murder,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “He is the third journalist to be killed in Myanmar in less than a month, in a sign of the absolutely unacceptable practices increasingly employed by the junta. We appeal to the international community to toughen the sanctions imposed on the junta’s members in order to end this headlong escalation in terror.” The most recent previous media fatality was Federal News Journal editor Sai Win Aung, who was killed by gunfire near the Thai border in the southeastern state of Kayin during a Tatmadaw artillery attack on 25 December. He was also covering fighting between the Tatmadaw and the People’s Defence Force (PDF), the armed resistance to the junta. Freelance photographer Soe Naing was the first journalist to die at the junta’s hands. He died under torture on 14 December, four days after soldiers arrested him while he was covering a silent street protest in Yangon. The number of journalists imprisoned in Myanmar has meanwhile risen to at least 59, according to RSF’s press freedom violations barometer, which is constantly updated. They include two journalists who worked for the Zayar Times, a newspaper that was closed when the military staged their coup last February. The two journalists, deputy editor Pyae Phyo Aung and reporter Myint Myat Aung (also known as D. Myat Nyein), were each sentenced to two years in prison for “inciting crime” in a trial last week inside the prison where they are being held in the central city of Shwebo. The did not have access to a lawyer. Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index..."
Source/publisher: Reporters Without Borders (Paris)
2022-01-12
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာဝန်ကြီးဌာနနှင့် ဆက်သွယ်ရေး၊ သတင်းအချက်အလက်နှင့် နည်းပညာဝန်ကြီးဌာန မိုဘိုင်းအင်တာနက်စျေးနှုန်းများ တိုးမြှင့်ကောက်ခံမှုနှင့် ပတ်သက်သည့် ပူးတွဲထုတ်ပြန်ချက် (၉) ရက်၊ ဇန်နဝါရီ ၂၀၂၂..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Communications, Information and Technology - Myanmar
2022-01-09
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The defendants were facing a range of charges, from incitement to violations of weapons and anti-terror laws
Description: "Thirty-one opponents of Myanmar’s military junta received lengthy prison sentences in Dawei in the final week of last year, a prison source in the Tanintharyi Region capital has disclosed. A list provided by the source shows that a special court inside Dawei Prison handed down the sentences, ranging from two years to 19 years, between December 28 and 30. According to the list, 14 of the convicted defendants were student activists who had been charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code. This group included Soe Pyae Aung, 22, a spokesperson for the Dawei University Student Union, who was arrested in late September, and two female students, Soe Mi Mi Kyaw, 22, and Shar Pyae Khin, 24, who were taken into custody at the same time. Four of the 14 students—all of whom were given two-year sentences for their political activities—were women, the list showed. The remaining defendants were given sentences of at least seven years in prison, based on offenses that included incitement and violations of Section 19f of the Weapons and Explosives Law, Section 51 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, and Section 52 of the Logistics Law. The longest sentence was given to 38-year-old Tun Tun Oo, who was given an 18-year prison term after being found guilty on all four charges. Nyan Win, 24, was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison on all but the terrorism charge, while the others each received seven or eight years. All 17 are also facing additional charges of homicide under Section 307 of the Penal Code, the source said, adding that this charge has been laid against a total of 77 Dawei Prison inmates. According to the source, none of the defendants were represented by lawyers. A lawyer living in Dawei and two local activists confirmed that prisoners detained for anti-regime activities were having difficulty getting legal representation. “No lawyer in Dawei dares to take these cases. Some offered their services free of charge at first, but then they started to be targeted with arrest warrants,” said one activist. A Yangon-based lawyer who frequently travels to Dawei said that colleagues in the city were coming under heavy pressure from the regime. “A very close lawyer friend of mine said that they had been warned not to take political cases, and also not to speak of the threats against them,” he said. Local media outlets reported recently that warrants were issued against several lawyers in Dawei and Launglon townships in November. Four of these lawyers have since been arrested, according to the reports. Myanmar Now was unable to reach the families of the defendants or local authorities for confirmation of the sentences..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2022-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has denounced the killing of reporter Sai Win Aung, also known as A Sai K, in Lay Kay Kaw Myothit, Myanmar, near the border with Thailand on 25 December 2021, and called upon the authorities to conduct a full investigation. "I condemn the killing of Sai Win Aung. Media workers like Sai Win Aung risk their lives to keep the public informed. Their work deserves to be recognized and their safety protected in line with international humanitarian law, which forbids attacks on civilians." - Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General Sai Win Aung was covering the plight of refugees in the southeastern state of Kayin for the Federal News Journal when he was fatally shot in an artillery attack by the Myanmar armed forces, according to reports. Aung was the second journalist killed in Myanmar in December 2021. UNESCO promotes the safety of journalists through global awareness-raising, capacity building and a range of actions, notably in the framework of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. See also: UNESCO observatory of killed journalists Media contact: Guilherme Canela de Souza Godoi, [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
2022-01-05
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " As 2021 comes to an end, it has been more than five months since Telenor announced the cut-and-run of its Myanmar operations. Their decision to sell to M1 Group — an investor with a disastrous human rights record — remains in a quandary. What is clear, however, is that Telenor’s users still have no answers to how their rights will be protected. This is unacceptable. “For months, Access Now and civil society have continued to pressure Telenor to address the rights risks the disposal will generate, to no avail,” said Dhevy Sivaprakasam, Asia Pacific Policy Counsel at Access Now. “While our questions linger unanswered, human rights in Myanmar languish on the chopping block.” In July, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) submitted a complaint on behalf of 474 civil society organizations to — and now accepted by — the OECD’s Norwegian National Contact Point, breaking down how the sale failed to meet OECD’s responsible disengagement standards. In August, Access Now and 44 organizations addressed a letter to Telenor’s Board, highlighting how Telenor had “dumped the Myanmar outfit at a discounted rate, failed to provide any kind of risk assessment [or] indication of how it would deal with the repercussions of such a risky and irresponsible sale.” In September, Telenor’s leadership engaged with civil society and committed to human rights principles in response to both the NCP complaint and the letter — but omitted mentioning any concrete steps it would take to achieve these principles. Telenor emphasized that military orders to activate intercept technology in their network had made a sale inevitable — raising further red flags about potential military surveillance and abuse of user data. In October, Access Now again contacted Telenor’s Board seeking clarification about protections against these risks. None came. In November, Reuters reported that M1 Group was looking to partner with a Myanmar company to buy out Telenor’s operations. Telenor declined further comment. So — again — last week, civil society found itself repeating the dangers of potential military abuse of users’ data from Telenor’s “reckless” actions. “How many times will civil society need to raise these same issues before there are genuine answers? As 2022 draws near, one thing is clear — business is definitely not as usual,” said Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Pacific Policy Director at Access Now. “No matter whom they sell to, Telenor must be held accountable for its irresponsible and damaging exit from the country.” The obligation to uphold and protect the human rights of people in Myanmar lies not only with Telenor, but across the telecommunications sector and its actors. Their data handling practices bring with them equal obligations to ensure data protection and users’ privacy and security..."
Source/publisher: Access NOW
2021-12-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Two journalists were injured at an anti-regime protest in Yangon when a military vehicle drove through the crowd on December 5. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns the brutal attack and demands that the junta immediately cease its increasingly extreme violence against journalists. Journalists with the independent Myanmar Pressphoto agency, Ma Hmu Yandanar Khet Moh Moh Tun and Ko Kaung Sett Lin, were on assignment when junta forces drove through a peaceful anti-regime protest in Yangon and opened fire on those attempting to flee. The attack killed five people and left dozens wounded, drawing international condemnation. Hmu Yandanar sustained serious injuries when the military vehicle rammed into the back of the protest. She remains in a critical condition at a military hospital in Yangon following surgery. Kaung Sett Lin was also injured and received medical treatment at the same hospital before being taken into custody. Coverage of the event by state-endorsed media made no mention of the military vehicle or the deaths, stating that its forces disbanded an “unlawful riot”. While the regime claimed that 11 demonstrators were arrested, witnesses suggest that over 15 people were taken into custody. Myanmar’s junta has antagonised journalists since it assumed control in the military coup on February 1, with over 100 journalists arrested during its administration and more than 20 remaining in custody. After its exclusion at a regional summit in October, the junta released dozens of journalists in an amnesty on humanitarian grounds, an action largely met with distrust. The IFJ said: “The IFJ condemns the junta’s ongoing violence towards journalists and demands that the journalists enduring detainment are released. This incident shows that, despite recent attempts to remedy its image, Myanmar’s junta continues to contravene international human rights standards and subjugate freedom of expression.”..."
Source/publisher: International Federation of Journalists
2021-12-08
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalists Kaung Sett Lin and Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun, who were arrested after sustaining injuries covering anti-military protests, and ensure that those responsible for injuring the journalists are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Authorities arrested photojournalist Kaung Sett Lin and videographer Hmu Yadanar, both with the independent Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, on December 5 while they were covering a flash mob protest on Pan Pin Gyi Road in the commercial capital Yangon, according to local news reports and MPA chief editor JPaing, who goes by one name. Both were in a military hospital due to injuries sustained at the event, he said. “Myanmar must immediately release journalists Kaung Sett Lin and Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun and bring the perpetrators of the violence that injured them to account,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must cease and desist from treating journalists like enemies of the state.” Hmu Yadanar suffered injuries to her head after being hit by a truck allegedly driven by military forces into the back of the protest, The Irrawaddy reported. Security forces then opened fire on the protesters, killing at least five people in the melee, the same report said. JPaing told CPJ by email that Hmu Yadanar has since undergone surgery for her head injuries at Military Hospital No. 2 in Yangon. Kaung Sett Lin was being held at the same hospital and recuperating from injuries, he said. CPJ was not able to immediately determine the nature of those injuries or how they were sustained. It was not immediately clear under what charges they were being held, JPaing said. CPJ emailed Myanmar’s Ministry of Information for comment on Kaung Sett Lin and Hmu Yadanar’s arrests and The Irrawaddy’s account of violence by security forces, but did not receive an immediate response. A CPJ special report in July documented the situation of journalists jailed in the wake of the military’s democracy-suspending February 1 coup, and found that at least 32 journalists were imprisoned due to their work as of July 1. Several journalists have been released and arrested since the mid-year census was conducted, according to CPJ reporting. Many have been held on charges under Article 505(a) of the penal code, a broad and vaguely worded provision that penalizes incitement and the spreading of “false news” with maximum three-year prison penalties, CPJ research shows. In April, CPJ called on coup maker Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to release all of the journalists jailed by his military regime..."
Source/publisher: Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
2021-12-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Some of those captured have since been released, but troops told locals they would kill the others if they heard gunfire near their villages
Description: "Junta soldiers used 13 civilians including a teenaged boy as human shields during raids on villages in the Magway Region Township of Yesagyo on Wednesday, according to residents. The troops, who were from Light Infantry Division (LID) 101, raided at least 11 villages in the township, which sits at the confluence of Chindwin and Irrawaddy rivers in central Myanmar. Several locals told Myanmar Now the soldiers were hunting for members of the People’s Defence Force (PDF). The civilians they detained also included two women and 10 men. About 60 LID 101 soldiers based in Pakokku, 47km from Yesagyo, occupied the villages of Min Ywar and Ngatayaw on Monday and another 60 joined them the next day before Wednesday’s raids began, the Yesagyo PDF said. Citing eyewitnesses, a leader from the Yesagyo PDF, said that 10 of the 13 people used as human shields were taken from the village of Hlaykhoke. “We were informed that soldiers tied the hands of those ten locals behind their backs and asked them to walk in front of them,” he said. About 3,000 residents from Yesagyo reportedly fled the raids, according to a Hlaykhoke villager who is among those displaced. Five of the 13 detained, two women and three middle-aged men, were released around 8pm on Wednesday, said the Hlaykhoke local and a resident of Ngatayaw village. The other eight, including a 15-year-old boy, remain in detention, they added. “One of the two women released said soldiers let them go but told them that they would kill all the remaining captives immediately if they hear the sound of gunfire near the village,” said the Hlaykhoke villager. “They just wanted to inform us that they had been released and told us to flee to avoid being arrested,” he said. On Thursday morning, soldiers entered the village of Ngatayaw and ransacked houses belonging to members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said the Ngatayaw local. The raids came four days after a coalition of local defence forces attacked a police outpost in Pakan Nge, 20km south of Yesagyo, and seized two motorcycles and two rifles before setting the outpost on fire. Locals said that junta forces told them they would not stop their attacks until they found the weapons that the PDF members seized from the outpost. The Yesagyo PDF on Monday released a video of locals clapping for PDF fighters returning from the attack in Pakan Nge. Lin Yone, the leader of a group involved in the attack called the Phoenix Guerrilla Force, said that the raid on the villages on Wednesday was likely fuelled by the video footage. “I think the military was checking around the villages in Yesagyo due to this video file in which the people are welcoming us without any fear,” said Lin Yone. Pakan Nge is on the western side of the Chindwin River and the villages raided by the junta forces on Wednesday are located on the eastern side of the waterway. In August, the military carried out clearance operations in several of Magway’s townships, including Yesagyo, Myaing, Gangaw and Pauk, to quell armed resistance to its rule. Resistance fighters in the region have launched numerou attacks on junta troops in recent months..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-11-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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