Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association: standards and mechanisms

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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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Sub-title: ‘The situation is not good at all here,’ a rescue worker from Myitnge said
Description: "The coup regime’s forces shot dead two civilians and injured six others in the town of Myitnge, Mandalay Region, on Tuesday, according to residents. The two men who died were from the town’s Yankin ward and their bodies were cremated at the Myitnge Myoma Cemetery at 9am on Wednesday. The shooting began when regime forces tried to detain a civil servant who had gone on strike and joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a local said. “They came to arrest a civil servant doing CDM,” she said. “The residents came out to protest and they started shooting at them.” “They have been shooting all day today too. So we cannot go outside,” she told Myanmar Now on Wednesday. At around 2pm on Wednesday, soldiers destroyed barricades set up by locals and shot at houses in Thazin ward, she added. A donation box at a local mosque was also destroyed and the money inside was taken by the soldiers, a resident said. “We still don’t know how much money they took. They’re still blocking the area so we cannot go outside,” they added. The military’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment regarding the killing of the two men and the looting. Soldiers also began shooting in the nearby village of Hpa Paung on Wednesday evening, according to locals, though they were unable to give further details at the time of reporting. A relief worker from Myitnge said volunteers to help treat injured people and collect dead bodies have become scarce because of the dangers of doing such work. He added that a man was shot dead on Tuesday in the town of Sintgaing, about 16km from Myitnge. “We cremated his body immediately on the same day. I can’t tell you the details. The situation is not good at all here,” he said. More than 100 people have been protesting daily in Myitnge, residents there said. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that has been monitoring violence and arrests since the February 1 coup, the new regime has now killed at least 715 people, including more than 40 children..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-04-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " The United States on Thursday (Feb 11) slapped sanctions on the leaders of Myanmar's military government, warning that more punishment could come even as the generals in Yangon ordered demonstrators to get back to work or face "effective actions". As Myanmar was preparing for a seventh consecutive day of anti-coup rallies, the US Treasury Department announced it was blocking any US assets and transactions with 10 current or former military officials held responsible for the Feb 1 coup. Demonstrations condemning the ouster of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi have largely been peaceful, although security forces earlier in the week used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets on protesters, with isolated reports of live rounds being fired. In the most significant concrete action, President Joe Biden announced his administration was cutting off the generals' access to US$1 billion in funds in the United States. Targets of US sanctions announced Thursday include Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing, who now holds legislative, judicial and executive powers in Myanmar. Min Aung Hlaing was already under US sanctions over the campaign against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority. Also targeted are military leaders in the new cabinet such as Defence Minister General Mya Tun Oo, as well as three gem exporting companies controlled by Myanmar's military. "We are also prepared to take additional action should Burma's military not change course," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, using Myanmar's former name. "If there is more violence against peaceful protesters, the Burmese military will find that today's sanctions are just the first," she said..."
Source/publisher: "AFP" (France) via "CNA" (Singapore)
2021-02-12
Date of entry/update: 2021-02-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: ''Last week a partial but significant foundation was laid to provide accountability for gross human rights violations in Myanmar, and hopefully to deter repetition. After receiving a 444-page UN report extensively detailing human rights violations in Myanmar and making recommendations to address them, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva passed a resolution that includes the establishment of an evidence-gathering mechanism to enable future trials. The “independent mechanism” is mandated to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011 and to prepare files to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings.” Similar to an existing mechanism for Syria, it will be responsible for preparing case files to standards required for any future criminal prosecution in a national or international court of law...''
Source/publisher: International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
2018-10-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-01-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Articles 21, 22
Source/publisher: Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Article 20
Source/publisher: Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese/ မွနျမာဘာသာ
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Description: Article 20
Source/publisher: Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Article 20
Source/publisher: Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Pwo-Karen
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Description: Article 20
Source/publisher: Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: S'gaw-Karen
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Description: Article 20
Source/publisher: Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Shan
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