National Unity Government (NUG)
Individual Documents
Description:
၁။ Ta'ang Political Consultative Committee - TPCC - ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်...၂။ Union Level Committee of CSOs peace forum (UCCPF) - ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက် - စာအမှတ် ၁/၂၀၂၁...၃။ မွန်မျိုးသားကွန်ရက်၏သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက်...၄။ Zomi Re-unification Organisation ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-18
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-09
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Individual Documents
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66.52 KB 65.83 KB 83.52 KB 137.3 KB
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2021-04-18-TPCC-expressed-their-support-for-the-formation-of-the-NUG-bu.pdf- 2021-04-17-UCCPF-expressed-their-support-for-the-formation-of-the-NUG-bu.pdf
- 2021-04-17-MNN-expressed-their-support-for-the-formation-of-the-NUG-bu.pdf
- 2021-04-17-ZRA-expressed-their-support-for-the-formation-of-the-NUG-bu.pdf
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Description:
"Various ethnic groups express support for the formation of the National Unity Government (NUG) and the work of the Committee of Parliamentary Representatives (CRPH)..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-18
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
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42.49 KB 66 KB 59.14 KB 88.34 KB
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- 2021-04-17_KNU-CG- express-support-for-he-formation-of-the-NUG_CRPH-bu.pdf
- 2021-04-17_KA- express-support-for-he-formation-of-the-NUG_CRPH-bu.pdf
- 2021-04-17_KPICT- express-support-for-he-formation-of-the-NUG_CRPH-bu.pdf
- 2021-04-17_KNU.Brigade-5-express-support-for-he-formation-of-the-NUG_CRPH-bu.pdf
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-01
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Chin State, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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pdf
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409.41 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-28
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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pdf
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64.92 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-02
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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pdf
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246.2 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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pdf
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292.11 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG)
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pdf
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117.56 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-08
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
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Individual Documents
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pdf
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951.88 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-06
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
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Individual Documents
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pdf
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178.79 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-07
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG)
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"1. National Unity Government is leading the executive sector of Union of Republic of Myanmar exercising the mandate and powers conferred by the people of Myanmar in 2020 General Elections.
2. Council of terrorist military junta has seized the State Power from the people’s government and detained the leaders of the government in addition to the war crimes they are committing by violent torture and killings, arbitrary arrest and detention of the people resisting the military dictatorship, using extreme force including air strikes and bombing of ethnic armed revolutionary organizations and people working on federal democracy.
3. Armed forces of the council of terrorist military junta have failed to ensure the perpetuation of the sovereignty, human security of the people and respect and value for humanity; and they have harmed, disrupted and destroyed the lives and properties of the people in addition to blocking the building of federal democracy union as the political goal of the country.
4. In such a situation, National Unity Government has the responsibility to end the civil war of over seventy years, implement effective security sector reform and establish federal
democratic armed forces by controlling and ending the violent actions, military aggression and hostilities of military council.
5. Therefore, National Unity Government has officially established People Defence Forces as the forerunner essence of Federal Democratic Armed Forces on May 5, 2021.
Signed
Prime Minister
National Unity Government
Union of Republic of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"Myanmar's ruling military, which is facing nationwide protests against the coup that removed the elected government three months ago, said on Friday it would not agree to a visit by a Southeast Asian envoy until it could establish stability.
Leaders of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reached consensus on five points at a summit on the Myanmar crisis last month, which was attended by the architect of the Feb. 1 coup, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
These included an end to violence, dialogue between the military and its opponents, allowing humanitarian help, and permitting a visit by a special ASEAN envoy.
"Right now, we are prioritising the security and stability of the country," Major Kaung Htet San, a spokesman for the military council, told a televised briefing.
"Only after we achieve a certain level of security and stability, we will cooperate regarding that envoy."
The junta would consider suggestions made at the summit if they were helpful to its visions for the country, he added.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup, which unleashed anger amongst a public unwilling to tolerate a return to military rule after five decades of economic mismanagement and underdevelopment.
Protests and marches have taken place on most days, the latest a big pro-democracy demonstration on Friday in the commercial capital Yangon, and smaller protests in at least 10 other places around the country.
At least 769 people have been killed and nearly 3,700 detained in the military's crackdown on opponents, according to an advocacy group monitoring the crisis.
The junta says it is battling terrorists. On Friday, spokesman Kaung Htet San said more arrests of instigators of violence had been made than were publicly announced.
The April 24 ASEAN meeting in Jakarta was hailed as a success by those who attended, but analysts and activists remain skeptical that Myanmar's generals will implement the five-point plan, which had no timeframe nor any mention of releasing political prisoners, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Kaung Htet San said ASEAN leaders had provided positive suggestions to Min Aung Hlaing, but whether or not they would be followed depended on the situation in Myanmar, and if their ideas were "helpful to our further visions".....CONFLICTS REIGNITED:The prospect of stability anytime soon in Myanmar appears bleak, with a reigniting of conflict between the military and ethnic minority insurgents in the borderlands and minor bombings and explosions now taking place regularly in its main cities.
The junta says it is fighting rogue elements of ethnic armies and all parties remain committed to a nationwide ceasefire. It has blamed the spate of urban bombings on supporters of Suu Kyi's ousted government.
A recently formed National Unity Government, a coalition of anti-military groups, says the junta orchestrated the bombings as a pretext to crush its opponents.
Two local media outlets on Friday reported that fighters from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) attacked and killed 30 Myanmar troops as they tried to travel on a river, citing local people and a KIA source.
Kaung Htet San said violence and armed conflicts would be dealt with by the military "in a suitable way".
The junta has for months limited access to the internet in an effort to disrupt the anti-coup movement and this week banned satellite television receivers of outside broadcasts. read more
Kaung Htet San said the military respected the public's right to access information, but overseas-based social networks were being used to share material that was "very alarming for national security".
He also said security would be intensified to protect strategic gas pipelines, following an attack on security personnel at one location nearly Mandalay this week.
Myanmar has twin oil and gas pipelines that stretch across the country to China, a country many in Myanmar believe enabled generals to amass vast personal wealth from natural resources, at a time of crippling sanctions and international isolation.
China has said it takes no sides in the conflict and wants a stable Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-05-07
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
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Topic:
Chevron, collapse, Coup, earners, Exports, financial, flows, foreign currency, forestry, Imports, inflows, junta, lifeline, Military, Mining, NLD, NUG, Oil and Gas, regime, revenue, rule, SAC, Sanctions, Shipping, support, textiles, Total, Tourism
Topic:
Chevron, collapse, Coup, earners, Exports, financial, flows, foreign currency, forestry, Imports, inflows, junta, lifeline, Military, Mining, NLD, NUG, Oil and Gas, regime, revenue, rule, SAC, Sanctions, Shipping, support, textiles, Total, Tourism
Description:
"Tougher action is urgently needed to cut off foreign currency flows to the Myanmar military regime, suggested local and foreign financial experts, who argued that severing its financial lifeline would hasten the collapse of military rule.
“The largest inflows of foreign currency to the military are from the oil and gas and mining sectors. We need to totally shut off the flow of foreign currency that is keeping the junta alive,” a local economist who asked not to be named told The Irrawaddy.
“The international community must pressure all the parties that sustain military rule in Myanmar. It is critical to act before it is too late,” he said.
Last week, an anonymous group, Independent Economists for Myanmar (IEM), suggested that effective sanctions limiting the ability of the regime’s State Administrative Council (SAC) to collect revenue from natural gas, mining, forestry, shipping including port fees and airlines could change the military’s calculus.
It estimated that such measures would cut off roughly US$2 billion per year in financing for the military.
Earnings from natural gas, jade, metallic minerals, land rentals, telecommunications fees and businesses involved in trade such as port operators, transport and logistics companies, and Myanmar National Airlines provide the largest inflows of foreign currency to the military, totaling around $2.5 billion per year.....Cash in hand: IEM estimated that that military’s “access to foreign currency is significant but constrained,” saying it controls at least $4 billion, roughly two-thirds of Myanmar’s stock of foreign currency. However, it also controls about half of the inflows that remain following the collapse of several sectors that generated foreign currency, such as textiles and tourism.
Additionally, around $1 billion of foreign assets are held at the US Federal Reserve and were frozen by the US government in early February.
Foreign currency is important for the military since it not only pays for military equipment like tanks and guns, as well as supplies like fuel, but is also needed to service military-owned companies that rely on foreign inputs. Military-owned factories rely on foreign equipment to keep functioning, while military hospitals purchase medication from abroad.
IEM said that prior to the coup, Myanmar had enough foreign reserves to maintain imports for three months. However, since then, exports have shrunk, import demand has crashed, and the military has confiscated much of the country’s foreign reserves.
Myanmar imports roughly $28 billion worth of goods and services in an average year, including $3 billion in fuel, more than $500 million in medication, $1 billion in cooking oil, and $1.2 billion in meat and vegetables. Myanmar’s official exports have shrunk by more than 20 percent and imports by more than 35 percent since October 2020.
Before the coup, the textile and footwear industries generated a quarter of all foreign currency inflows for the country, but almost all of their operations have dried up since the Feb. 1 military takeover. Moreover, none of the military-owned companies are known to hold significant foreign assets.
The scarcity of foreign exchange is evident in the 20 percent depreciation of the kyat versus the US dollar between Feb. 1 and April 19, despite limits on kyat withdrawals and hoarding of cash, the economists said.
Subsidiaries of Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL)—two military owned conglomerates—normally earn roughly $200 million annually from domestic sales. These include Dagon Beverages Company, Myawaddy Bank, Mytel, Aung Thitsa Oo Insurance and Bandoola Transportation Company.
However, both MEHL and MEC are likely to suffer financially, with Myanmar Brewery, Myawaddy Bank and Mytel expected to see declines in revenue of 80 to 90 percent due to domestic consumer boycotts. The combined effect could be to reduce MEHL and MEC’s domestic revenue by between $100-150 million, the economists estimated.
Many of the Myanmar state’s most valuable assets were sold off in the 1990s and 2000s, meaning the SAC regime cannot raise much capital from asset sales. Further, widespread instability and insecurity are depressing asset prices and the National Unity Government—a shadow government formed by elected lawmakers ousted by the coup—considers void any investment agreements signed between domestic or foreign companies and the SAC, IEM said.
“In short, without new foreign currency inflows, the military will soon need to ration foreign currency. The SAC regime will need to choose between purchasing fuel, medication, equipment and food for itself and providing foreign exchange liquidity for the rest of the population,” it said.
Even without forceful targeted sanctions in place, the military is already being forced to choose between its own priorities and providing financing to import the fuel and equipment needed to generate the electricity and food, fertilizers and medications people need to survive, IME said.
The military has already starved public services and the private sector of foreign exchange, so further reductions in its access to foreign currency are likely to predominantly impact the military rather than civilians, the IME said.
“Such actions, and preventing military businesses from accessing foreign inputs, could help pressure the military to compromise on its own needs,” the economists suggested.....Bankrolling crimes: Foreign currency inflows from natural resources—oil, gas, minerals, gems and forestry products—represent more than a third of Myanmar’s export earnings, according to official records. The oil and gas sector, in which many international energy giants have invested, has become a target of rights groups, which are demanding an end to foreign firms’ financing of the military’s crimes. Since the military takeover, at least 769 civilians have been killed and 4,734 people arrested by the regime.
On Tuesday, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations urged the US Congress to play a decisive leadership role in resolving the Myanmar crisis.
Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun, a representative of elected lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD), urged the US to impose “targeted, coordinated and tougher sanctions” on the Myanmar military and its businesses such as Myawaddy and Innwa banks, the state-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
“I wish to stress that Myanmar is not just witnessing another major setback to democracy, but also the crisis is threatening the regional peace and security,” U Kyaw Moe Tun said.
Oil and gas revenues earned Myanmar $1.5 billion in annual income in fiscal 2019-20, with around 80 percent of that income derived from the offshore natural gas sector, according to official figures. Recently, US senators urged the Biden administration to impose sanctions on MOGE.
Natural gas joint ventures involving companies such as France’s Total, the US’s Chevron, South Korea’s POSCO, Thailand’s PTT, Malaysia’s Petronas and China’s CNPC are currently the most significant sources of foreign exchange revenue for Myanmar. MOGE collects income through its joint ventures and revenue sharing agreements with international corporations.
US giant Chevron has a longstanding partnership with MOGE. The two companies are joint investors in the Yadana offshore gas project, located off the southwest coast of Myanmar, which accounts for 42 percent of all oil and gas production from Myanmar’s offshore projects.
Chevron paid around $50 million to Myanmar between 2014 and 2018, according to the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report (MEITI). Total reported that it paid $257 million in taxes and other payments to Myanmar in 2019.
Petronas’s Yetagun gas project paid $208 million to the government in 2018, while the Shwe project, run by South Korea’s POSCO, paid $194 million, according to MEITI. The Zawtika gas project, run by Thailand’s PTT, paid $41 million in 2018.
International and local pro-democracy supporters have repeatedly pressured oil and gas companies to cut ties with the military or pay revenue into a trust or protected account either to be held until such time as Myanmar has a legitimate and democratically elected government or to be used for humanitarian purposes.
Elected lawmakers from the NLD sent a final notice in March calling on foreign-owned oil and gas companies operating in Myanmar to suspend business ties with the military regime, warning that the money from sales of the oil and gas would be used to reinforce human rights violations in the country.
However, both Total and Chevron remain reluctant to follow those demands. A New York Times report revealed that Chevron has intensively lobbied the US State Department and key congressional offices against sanctions, warning that they could disrupt its joint ventures in Myanmar.
An investigation by France’s Le Monde newspaper published on Tuesday revealed that Total’s gas operation in Myanmar has been propping up the military junta by diverting funds from gas sales to offshore accounts instead of the government. According to documents accessed by the French newspaper and released after the military coup, the Yadana gas field, which supplies gas to local markets in Myanmar and Thailand, is diverting revenue to the MOGE, which is managed by army executives and retired officers.
Human rights group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) said on Wednesday that Total’s CEO claimed his company is continuing to do business as usual in Myanmar for humanitarian reasons. However, their business conduct in Myanmar and deep ties to the military suggest otherwise, JFM said.
“We demand Total to immediately suspend all payments to the military junta and place funds in a protected account until democracy is restored in Myanmar,” JFM said.
Another foreign currency earner is the mining sector, which generates about $470 million a year. The gems sector accounts for $300 million. Legally, the state should collect approximately 10 percent in royalties and taxes on jade, but 60 to 80 percent of gemstones produced in Myanmar bypass the formal trading and export system. The forestry industry officially generated between $350 million and $1.65 billion per year in exports over the last decade.
In a bid to deprive the military government of funds, the US Treasury Department in April imposed sanctions on a Myanmar state-owned gems enterprise, as well as Myanmar Timber Enterprise and Myanmar Pearl Enterprise. MEHL and MEC have also been sanctioned by the US and UK.
“In terms of blocking revenue from timber and gems, the US alone is not enough. We need collective action from the international community,” a local economist said.
The state also earns foreign currency through port fees, shipping and Myanmar National Airlines sales. However, each of these is controlled by an off-budget state-owned enterprise that retains 55 percent of profits and does not submit financial information to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Industry. Net foreign earnings from these entities remain unknown.....Stepped-up sanctions: Another local financial expert who asked not to be named told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar’s largest trading partners in the region including Singapore, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand should consider imposing trade sanctions.
“It is a very unlikely scenario. Most of them have historically close ties with the military. But if they can do it, it would be very effective in reducing foreign currency inflows,” he said.
In March, the US imposed trade sanctions against Myanmar’s ministries of Defense and Home Affairs as well as MEC and MEHL.
“I would say that the steps taken against the regime by the international community are still modest. Myanmar needs more effective sanctions targeted at blocking foreign currency flows to the regime,” the local financial expert said.
“They should identify, target and freeze all foreign currency revenues and foreign exchange reserves held in accounts outside of Myanmar,” he said.
The independent economists from IEM said the popular Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), in which civil servants and some private sector workers are refusing to work under the regime, is unlikely on its own to convince military leaders to negotiate or give up power.
“Cutting the SAC regime off from foreign credit could also be key, but would require substantial international agreement,” the economists said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma and the Geopolitics of Oil and Gas, Sanctions - general, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, International Trade, Banking, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Thank you to so much for having me here at this critical moment in Myanmar. It is an honor to address the Parliament of Germany through these vital important Committees. I am here to brief you on the deepening catastrophic developments crisis in Myanmar that followed the illegal coup d'etat of 1 February. But I also come with a direct appeal from the people of Myanmar: Please support us in this, our darkest hour. Your solidarity and supports in these difficult times mean to us life. We are nearing 100 days since that fateful day when Min Aung Hlaing murderer in chief and his henchmen shattered our democratic aspirations in Myanmar. On that day, like many people in Myanmar, I feared for my life but have survived. Many have not been as fortunate. Since that horrible day, the coup leaders' forces have murdered nearly 800 patriots Nation's heroes of Myanmar and detained over 4,700, with 3,700 of my brothers and sisters currently imprisoned including our State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and our President U Win Myint . Please take note: I say the "coup
leaders' forces" and not "Myanmar military forces" because the people of Myanmar have made clear they do not recognize these forces as their own. Indeed, the mission of a nation's military is to protect and defend its people. The forces under the command of murderer in chief, Min Aung Hlaing are doing precisely the opposite - murdering, maiming and arbitrarily detaining the people of Myanmar in ever growing numbers. The people of Myanmar view Min Aung Hlaing and those who report to him as a terrorist organization inflicting devastation on our country and our people. They are detaining people without cause, without explanation, and without hearings. They are
beating and murdering on the streets of Myanmar and torturing in prisons. Reports of gender-based violence while in detention are on the rise, with rapes and sexual torture occurring in prisons and on the streets. This should come as no surprise as for decades the Tatmadaw used rape as a weapon against ethnic nationalities in Kachin,
Karen, Kayah, Shan, Mon, Rakhine and Chin States..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-06
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Germany-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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126.33 KB 66.42 KB
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"ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ
ကြေညာချက်အမှတ် ၁/၂၀၂၁
ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်မတော် ဖွဲ့စည်းကြောင်း ကြေညာခြင်း
၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ် မေလ ၅ ရက်
၁။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ၂၀၂၀ ခုနှစ် အထွေထွေရွေးကောက်ပွဲတွင် မြန်မာပြည်သူများက အပ်နှင်းသော အခွင့်အာဏာကို ကျင့်သုံးလျက် ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်၏ အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကဏ္ဍကို ဦးဆောင် တာဝန်ယူလျက်ရှိသည်။
၂။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီသည် တရားဝင် ပြည်သူ့အစိုးရထံမှ နိုင်ငံတော်အာဏာကို အဓမ္မလုယက်ပြီး အစိုးရခေါင်းဆောင်များကို ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းထားရုံသာမက၊ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို ဆန့်ကျင်သော ပြည်သူများအား အကြမ်းဖက် နှိပ်စက်သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း၊ ထောင်သွင်းအကျဉ်းချခြင်း၊ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီအရေး ကြိုးပမ်းလျက်ရှိသော တိုင်းရင်းသားလက်နက်ကိုင်တော်လှန်ရေးအဖွဲ့များနှင့် ပြည်သူများအပေါ် လေကြောင်းစစ်ဆင်မှု အပါအဝင် အင်အားအလွန်အကျွံအသုံးပြုကာ တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်းကဲ့သို့သော စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကျူးလွန်လျက်ရှိသည်။
၃။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ လက်နက်ကိုင်အဖွဲ့များသည် အချုပ်အခြာအာဏာ တည်တံ့ခိုင်မြဲရေးနှင့် ပြည်သူလူထု၏ လူသားလုံခြုံရေး၊ လူသားဖြစ်တည်မှုအပေါ် တန်ဖိုးထားလေးစားရေးတို့ကို ဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်းမရှိဘဲ၊ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ အသက်အိုးအိမ်စည်းစိမ်ကို ထိပါးနှောင့်ယှက် ဖျက်ဆီးလျက်ရှိသည့်အပြင်၊ တိုင်းပြည်၏ နိုင်ငံရေးဉီးတည်ချက်ဖြစ်သော ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု တည်ဆောက်ရေးကိုလည်း အဟန့်အတား ပြုလုပ်လျက်ရှိသည်။
၄။ ယင်းသို့သော အခြေအနေတွင် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ပြည်သူများအပေါ် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ၊ စစ်ရေးအရ ရန်လိုတိုက်ခိုက်မှုများကို ထိန်းချုပ်အဆုံးသတ်ခြင်းဖြင့် နှစ်ပေါင်း ခုနစ်ဆယ်ကျော် ဖြစ်ပွားနေသော ပြည်တွင်းစစ် ချုပ်ငြိမ်းရေး၊ ထိရောက်သော လုံခြုံရေးကဏ္ဍ ပြုပြင်ပြောင်းလဲမှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ရေးနှင့် ဖက်ဒရယ်ပြည်ထောင်စုတပ်မတော် ဖွဲ့စည်းနိုင်ရေးတို့ကို ဆောင်ရွက်ရန် တာဝန်ရှိလာသည်။
၅။ သို့ဖြစ်ရာ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ဖက်ဒရယ်ပြည်ထောင်စုတပ်မတော်၏ ရှေ့ပြေးအမြုတေအဖြစ် ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်မတော် (People's Defence Force) ကို ကာကွယ်ရေးဆိုင်ရာမူဝါဒနှင့်အညီ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ မေလ ၅ ရက် တွင် တရားဝင် ဖွဲ့စည်းထူထောင်လိုက်သည်။
ပုံ
ပြည်ထောင်စုဝန်ကြီးချုပ်
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ
ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်
Contact – [email protected]..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Myanmar's National Unity Government, set up by opponents of army rule, said on Wednesday it had formed a "people's defence force" to protect its supporters from military attacks and violence instigated by the junta.
In a statement, it said the move was a precursor to establishing a Federal Union Army and that it had the responsibility to "make effective reforms in the security sector in order to terminate the 70 year long civil war."..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Topic:
civil disobedience movement, civilian deaths, Coup, crackdown, Democracy, Human Rights, junta, military in politics, military regime, Min Aung Hlaing, Ministry of Human Rights, National League for Democracy, National Unity Government, November 8 general election, Rule of Law, State Administrative Council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tatmadaw, U Aung Myo Min
Topic:
civil disobedience movement, civilian deaths, Coup, crackdown, Democracy, Human Rights, junta, military in politics, military regime, Min Aung Hlaing, Ministry of Human Rights, National League for Democracy, National Unity Government, November 8 general election, Rule of Law, State Administrative Council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tatmadaw, U Aung Myo Min
Description:
"Myanmar’s people have lost their rights and freedoms since the military coup on Feb. 1 and the numbers having their fundamental rights violated by the regime is increasing.
Meanwhile, the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration formed to rival the military junta, has set up its Human Rights Ministry and appointed prominent rights activist U Aung Myo Min as minister.
U Aung Myo Min recently talked to The Irrawaddy about what action he will take to address the regime’s rights violations.
What will be your first step as Myanmar’s first human rights minister?
There was only the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission in the past in Myanmar. A separate ministry is meant to do more about human rights issues. As the first step, I will work with the people to record rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes in ethnic areas so that the truth can be established.
We are already working on this. And we are seeking public cooperation because we want to assure people that they can rely on the ministry and secure justice for themselves.
We will be recording the crimes to file complaints at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other courts. We must have records if are to bring the perpetrators to justice either at the ICC or other courts. Those records might look dismal and depressing now but they give solid evidence to bring the perpetrators to justice in the future.
The military council is violating international law. We will take action to make sure the perpetrators are held accountable and justice is done for the victims.
Though the human rights violations by the military regime have drawn attention from the international community, no punitive action has been taken. How confident are you as the human rights minister about being able to address it?
Given the situation, we are not yet in a position to take punitive action. We have to fix our collapsing judicial system, reconstitute the Human Rights Commission as it is not functioning and replace those who are not working.
The international community pays attention to the human rights situation in Myanmar. There are, however, not many mechanisms to establish truth and find justice for human rights violations and crimes. I will focus on bringing perpetrators into the international judicial mechanisms.
The ministry is unprecedented. How will it impact the country’s politics and its foreign policy?
The Human Rights Ministry will not defend the government. It represents the people and will promote and defend their rights.
The military-controlled media has been harshly criticizing the NUG, saying it is capable of nothing. What do you say?
We are in the revolutionary period and the NUG cannot function properly as a government. But we have transparency and we don’t just represent a party but all groups. This is our strength. Everyone in the NUG wants to fight the dictatorship with unwavering spirit and they have different expertise. Even though the NUG is not based in Naypyitaw, it will respect, defend and fulfill human rights, as a government.
Records of human rights violations by the regime are widely available on social media. What evidence is the NUG collecting?
We have gathered records of what has happened, especially arbitrary killings, crackdowns on peaceful protests and deaths in violent crackdowns. Another aspect is about torture during detention, interrogation and in prison. Another is airstrikes in ethnic minority areas, bombing villages and displacing civilians and their lack of access to humanitarian aid. We have also collected evidence about how rights violations affect women and children..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Human Rights and international relations, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Description:
"The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), with the authority bestowed upon by the people's mandate, resultant of all parties’ democratic general election held in 2020, and in accordance with the Federal Democracy Charter (Statement 19/2021) published on the 31st March 2021, has appointed the following as Union Ministers.
(1) U Aung Myo Min Union Minister
Ministry of Human Rights
(2) Nai Thuwunna Union Minister
Ministry of Labour
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar.....The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), with the authority bestowed upon by the people's mandate, resultant of all parties’ democratic general election held in 2020, and in
accordance with the Federal Democracy Charter (Statement 19/2021) published on the 31st March 2021, has appointed the following as Deputy Ministers.
(1) Ba Ham Htan Deputy Minister
Ministry of Human Rights
(2) U Kyaw Ni Deputy Minister
Ministry of Labour
(3) Dr. Sai Khaing Myo Tun Deputy Minister
Ministry of Education
(4) Mrs Hkaung Naw Deputy Minister
Ministry of International Cooperation
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw via National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-03
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size:
20.64 KB 211.61 KB
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Description:
"The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), with the authority bestowed upon by the
people's mandate, resultant of all parties’ democratic general election held in 2020, and in
accordance with the Federal Democracy Charter (Statement 19/2021) published on the 31st March
2021, has appointed the following as Deputy Ministers.
(1) Ba Ham Htan Deputy Minister
Ministry of Human Rights
(2) U Kyaw Ni Deputy Minister
Ministry of Labour
(3) Dr. Sai Khaing Myo Tun Deputy Minister
Ministry of Education
(4) Mrs Hkaung Naw Deputy Minister
Ministry of International Cooperation
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
The Republic of the Union of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw via National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-05-03
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Format :
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Size:
18.55 KB 269.09 KB
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Description:
"Myanmar's junta-controlled media announced a ban on satellite television receivers on Tuesday, saying outside broadcasts threatened national security and threatening to jail anyone caught violating the measure.
With mobile internet access largely cut off in a bid to quell anti-junta protests since the Feb. 1 coup, Myanmar has increasingly appeared headed back to the state of isolation that preceded a decade of democratic reforms.
"Satellite television is no longer legal. Whoever violates the television and video law, especially people using satellite dishes, shall be punished with one year imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 kyat ($320)," MRTV state television said.
"Illegal media outlets are broadcasting news that undermines national security, the rule of law and public order, and encouraging those who commit treason."
In the face of widespread opposition, the junta has struggled to impose order since overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ending an unsteady transition to democracy.
Violence has spiralled since the coup and security forces have killed more than 760 civilians, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group says. The junta disputes the figure and says 24 police and soldiers have died in the protests.
Myanmar media reported that five people were killed by at least one parcel bomb on Tuesday, including an ousted lawmaker and three police officers who had joined a civil disobedience movement opposing military rule.
Meanwhile, the Chinland Defence Force, a newly formed militia in Chin state bordering India, said on its Facebook page on Tuesday that its forces had killed at least four Myanmar army soldiers and wounded 10 in a clash overnight.
The Myanmar army did not comment on the claim.
Villagers had found the beheaded body of a junta appointed local administrator in the northwestern Sagaing region, independent broadcaster DVB reported, a day after another local official was stabbed to death in the biggest city, Yangon.
Reuters was unable to reach local police for comment.
Pro-democracy supporters held protests on Tuesday in the second-biggest city of Mandalay, including one by education staff calling for a boycott of schools and universities when they reopen in June, Myanmar Now reported.
The junta said it had to seize power because its complaints of fraud in a November election won by Suu Kyi's party were not addressed by an election commission that deemed the vote fair.
Suu Kyi, 75, has been detained since the coup along with many other members of her party..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-05-04
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Anti-coup protesters, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Sub-title:
Regional bloc's controversial summit with military leader could provide a template for UN agencies also to engage the killer junta
Description:
"At first it appeared that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had summoned Myanmar coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to Jakarta to read him the riot act.
Before the extraordinary summit, leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines had condemned the lethal violence unleashed since the February 1 coup, with at least 755 protesters killed by the Myanmar police and military, and called for the release of all political prisoners, now numbering nearly 4,000 including elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But after the military leader attended the April 24 meeting, he left with what many viewed as a mere slap on the wrist. ASEAN agreed on a five-point plan for resolving Myanmar’s crisis, which by almost any measure was bland and toothless even by the regional grouping’s policies of consensus and non-interference.
In essence, the meeting put equal blame on the Myanmar military’s gunning down peaceful demonstrators, including children as young as five, and the protesters’ use of slingshots and other homemade devices to defend themselves against the security forces’ war weapons.
“We tried not to accuse his [Min Aung Hlaing’s] side too much because we don’t care who’s causing it,” Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told reporters after the meeting.
The Myanmar military’s mouthpiece Global New Light of Myanmar reported on April 25 that Min Aung Hlaing had emphasized the importance of close cooperation with ASEAN member countries in accord with the ASEAN Charter, and little more than that.
In an April 26 statement, the coup leader said he would carefully consider ASEAN leaders’ recommended steps for solving the crisis “after the situation stabilizes”, and that would be done only if ASEAN’s plan of action facilitated the implementation of the junta’s own policies.
The initial reaction from the “National Unity Government” (NUG), a coalition of elected parliamentarians, ethnic groups and other anti-military personalities, was to welcome the outcome of the Jakarta summit.
In an April 24 statement, the same day as the meeting was held, NUG spokesperson Dr Sasa stated that he was “encouraged” by the consensus that ASEAN had reached.
Rights groups say the danger with Dr Sasa’s statement and media reports that echo similar sentiments is that the main beneficiary of the summit would be Min Aung Hlaing’s coup-installed government.
The international community may thus now believe that the time is ripe to tone down its criticism of the junta’s murderous acts in order to give the ASEAN plan a chance. The notion that the ASEAN summit was a “success” also opens the way for other international actors to engage the junta with outcomes that are unlikely to lead to the restoraration of democracy in Myanmar.
But, as Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch stated in an April 25 press release: “The lack of a clear timeline for action, and ASEAN’s well-known weakness in implementing the decisions and plans that it issues, are real concerns that no one should overlook.”
There is actually very little in ASEAN’s “five points of consensus” that could even be called a plan. The first point states that “all parties should exercise utmost restraint” and stop using violence.
The second calls for a “constructive dialog among all parties concerned” while the third says that ASEAN shall appoint a special envoy to “facilitate the dialog process.” The fourth says ASEAN shall provide humanitarian assistance through its coordinating center for disaster management — aid that ultimately would have to be channeled through the military regime and thus unlikely to reach those most in need.
The fifth and final point says that ASEAN’s “special envoy and delegation shall visit Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned.”
But with the junta’s insistence on adherence to its own “roadmap”, which includes a vague vow to hold new elections perhaps within a year, those points are likely non-starters even if they were implemented — which of course would have to be done through ASEAN’s two golden principles of non-interference and consensus.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attended the Jakarta meeting, but has stated that what’s happening in Myanmar is an “internal affair.” Other authoritarian member states like communist-ruled Vietnam and Laos will not be keen to create a bloc precedent that could draw into question their own non-democratic systems of government.
Despite Dr Sasa’s positive appraisal of the summit, the reaction on Myanmar’s social media has been overwhelmingly negative and verged on outright hostility towards ASEAN, with many condemning the plan as a stab in the back.
The 88 Generation group of activists, which brings together veterans of Myanmar’s long struggle for democracy, issued a statement even before the meeting took place accusing ASEAN of always siding with the military and acting “in its self-interest and has never been seen to assist nor solve any political discord within its member states.”
The Irrawaddy, a website run by Myanmar journalists, said that “if ASEAN is looking to demonstrate progress, it should go further by condemning the violence and calling for the released of political prisoners and an immediate halt to torture of detainees and other abuses…Myanmar’s implosion has only further exposed ASEAN as the pathetic and irrelevant institution it is.”
Meanwhile, the killings and arrests of protesters have continued unabated, even during and after the summit. Kaung Htet Naing, a 22-year-old student, was shot and killed in Mandalay on April 24.
Another young protester was killed in the central town of Pyinmana and a 63-year-old woman died in custody after being abducted from her house by police in raids following the Jakarta summit.
In the commercial capital Yangon, soldiers and police raided the house of Thura Saw, a former cameraman for the popular TV news channel DVB. Among those arrested since the coup are more than 70 journalists of whom 40 are still under detention while arrest warrants have been issued for another 22 media workers.
A draft statement circulating before the Jakarta summit included a demand for the release of all political prisoners, but that was dropped as one of the “consensus points” after the arrival of Min Aung Hlaing.
With the Jakarta summit in the bag, the Myanmar junta’s likely next step to win international legitimacy will be to woo UN agencies, whose Yangon-based officials potentially stand to lose their jobs unless agreements can be reached with the junta.
That’s worked in the wake of past military massacres. In 1988, when the rest of the world shunned the murderous junta infamously known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC, Oscar Lazo, the head of Yangon-based UN agencies and himself representing the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), invited the SLORC-appointed minister for agriculture and forestry General Chit Swe to attend an FAO conference in Rome.
That was hardly surprising considering Lazo had initiated several lucrative projects in collaboration with Aye Zaw Win, the son-in-law of then-military dictator General Ne Win. Lazo’s overture eventually opened the floodgates for the rest of the UN, which was soon back in business in Myanmar.
Min Aung Hlaing’s junta has already begun to play the drug suppression card to gain international recognition. If the Global New Times of Myanmar of April 14 is to be believed, Myanmar’s Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Lieutenant General Than Hlaing attended the 64th meeting of the Narcotic Drugs Commission in Vienna from April 12-16 “via video conferencing.”
The event, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), overlooked the fact that Than Hlaing is among 25 junta leaders and other military officers who have been blacklisted and sanctioned by the European Union for what it has termed “serious human rights violations and abuses.”
In a March 30 statement, the UNODC claimed that “drug lords entwined with rebel groups in Myanmar’s ungovernable border zone…the notorious Golden Triangle” are taking advantage of the situation by “pumping record amounts of methamphetamines across Southeast Asia.”
The statement did not mention official or military complicity in the drug trade and the well-established fact that most of the drug trade is run by local militias that are allied with the Myanmar military.
The question after the ASEAN meeting concerns which other international organizations might be willing to look away from the recent atrocities committed in Myanmar to maintain and pave their particularistic interests in the country.
In an interview with the Jakarta Post on April 27, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi lauded what she apparently termed as “ASEAN’s Myanmar breakthrough.”
But the question now is a breakthrough for whom, the pro-democracy movement, the democracy-suspending junta, or outside groups that see a cynical opportunity in Myanmar’s crisis?..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2021-04-28
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, National Unity Government (NUG), Human Rights and international relations, History of the Tatmadaw, Political role of the Tatmadaw, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Global civil society alliance CIVICUS is disappointed that the outcomes of the regional ASEAN summit held in Jakarta fell short of what is necessary to address Myanmar’s human rights crisis, including by failing to call for the immediate release of human rights activists, journalists and others arbitrarily detained. This failure undermines any chance of ensuring a genuine dialogue and transition back to democratic civilian rule.
A statement released after the summit said the leaders and foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had reached a consensus on five points. They included asking for an immediate stop to the violence and opening a dialogue between the military and civilian leaders, with that process overseen by a special ASEAN envoy who would also visit with a delegation. The group also offered humanitarian assistance. The statement offered no timeline for these actions to be taken or an implementing mechanism.
No mention was made of the nearly 4,000 people who have been arbitrarily detained by the military, including activists, peaceful protesters, and journalists, some in unknown locations and denied access to lawyers or family members. Many are facing serious and baseless charges, including treason.
“Millions of people in Myanmar were hoping that ASEAN would, for once, uphold the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter including the rule of law and respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and were once again tremendously disappointed. ASEAN has failed the thousands of political prisoners including activists and journalists by not calling for their immediate and unconditional release, which should be an integral part of any successful efforts to restore democracy,” said David Kode, CIVICUS’s Advocacy and Campaigns Lead.
The summit also failed to acknowledge the National Unity Government (NUG) that was formed on 16 April 2021 representing elected members of the Union Parliament. It also ignored the serious violations that have occurred in Myanmar since the coup which left around 750 dead, including children and thousands injured due to the use of lethal force by the security forces to crack down on protests, the ill-treatment by the security forces during night-time raids and the internet shutdowns. No mention was made of UN resolutions on the crisis adopted by consensus at the Human Rights Council since the coup. Nor was there any acknowledgment of or offering of support to the UN mechanisms mandated to monitor and report on human rights violations relating to the coup.
“The failure to acknowledge and engage with the legitimately elected representatives of the people of Myanmar shows that ASEAN leaders’ talk of democracy is only lip service. We call for ASEAN to put their words into action by demanding an end to the state of emergency and for the elected civilian government to be restored,” said David Kode.
Since the meeting, the junta already seem to be backtracking from their already minimal promises. Myanmar military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said he will consider proposals by ASEAN to solve the ongoing crisis in Myanmar only after peace and stability are restored in his country.
CIVICUS reiterates calls for an immediate end to the escalating violence by the military, the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained, and for steps to be taken by the international community, including ASEAN, to hold those responsible for the serious human rights violations to account..."
Source/publisher:
Civicus (Johannesburg)
Date of publication:
2021-04-28
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, National Unity Government (NUG), Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"410 Myanmar civil society organizations and four individuals condemn the UN Office of Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) decision to allow Lieutenant-General Than Hlaing, who is sanctioned by Canada, US, UK and the EU, to represent Myanmar via video, at its 64th session of the Commission on Narcotics Drugs in April this
year. The CSOs call for UNODC to immediately end all ties with the illegitimate military junta and recognize the National Unity Government as the legitimate governing body representing the people of Myanmar.
Allowing the military to represent Myanmar at the UN conference held in Vienna, betrays the will of the people of Myanmar who continue to oppose the illegitimate and brutal military junta and further damages
the confidence the people have in the UN to carry out its mandate enshrined in the UN Charter to promote and encourage “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms”. The 64th meeting of the Narcotics Drugs Commission was held in Vienna, Austria, from 12 to 16 April, and was organized by the UNODC. The annual conference to review and analyze the global drug situation, which hosted UN Member States from around the world, opened with a speech by the UN SecretaryGeneral, António Guterres. The UN has not only failed to act as the brutal military junta commits crimes against humanity, it is now acting to legitimize and offer a platform to those who are murdering innocent people by the hundreds, including children. It is disheartening to see such lack of respect for human rights
displayed by the very institution that is mandated to protect and encourage respect for human rights. It is all the more shocking to see a UN institution with a mandate to prevent crime, corruption and terrorism feting an international criminal. Worse yet, Vienna, Austria - where the conference was held - is part of the EU which sanctioned
Lieutenant-General Than Hlaing as part of its restrictive measures (asset freeze and travel ban) on 22 March, 2021. He would have been prevented from entering Vienna had he not been allowed to join by
video conference. This is a grave circumvention of the EU sanctions, weakening their very purpose. On 2 February, the day after the coup, Lieutenant-General Than Hlaing was appointed Chief of the
Myanmar Police Force and Deputy Home Affairs Minister by the illegitimate military junta. In his position as the Chief of the Myanmar Police Force, he commanded the commission of extreme brutality and acts of violence against peaceful protesters, members of the Civil Disobedience Movement, and other innocent individuals who have been killed, detained and tortured. 756 have been killed as of 28 April 2021 including at least 51 children. 3,449 people have been detained. 1,237 arrest warrants have been issued. Yet the people of Myanmar have opposed the military junta as it continues its brutal attempt at an already failing coup. As well as the EU, the US, UK and Canada have also imposed sanctions against Than Hlaing, who the
UNODC shamefully decided to allow the illegal military junta a platform to speak to the world as the representative of Myanmar at its conference. This is not the first time that the UNODC has been criticized for legitimizing the Myanmar military’s
narrative. UNODC has a long and troubled history of turning a blind eye to the complicity of the Myanmar military and other state backed groups in Myanmar’s profitable drug trade. In particular, UNODC’s annual opium survey which is published jointly with the Myanmar government, has come under heavy criticism
for distorting the realities on the ground in favor of the Myanmar military and government. UNODC’s Myanmar Opium Survey 2013 indicated that opium production levels in Kachin State were down by 10%, however the survey failed to include Chipwe, which was controlled by the Border Guard Force, under the
command of the Myanmar military. In its Myanmar Opium Survey 2018, UNODC once again provided contentious and incorrect information in its reporting, stating that highest density of poppy cultivation had taken placed under areas controlled by the ethnic armed organizations. Such statements, which were
refuted by both civil society organizations and ethnic armed organizations, lent legitimacy to the Myanmar military and government’s facade that they were enforcers of drug eradication rather than address the rampant corruption and their culpability in one of the most profitable trades in Myanmar. UNODC has long failed to heed the calls from civil society organizations to accurately reflect the situation on the ground. Its invitation of a sanctioned military official who is responsible for the violence inflicted against the people of Myanmar to its annual conference is a part of a pattern indicating a systemic failure by the United Nations to ensure that all bodies of the UN reflect the human rights values enshrined in its Charter. Therefore, we call on: • The UNODC to immediately end all ties with the illegitimate military junta and recognize and work with the National Unity Government, the legitimate governing body representing the people of Myanmar; • The UN Secretary-General, the UN OHCHR and other bodies of the UN to ensure that UNODC act in compliance with the human rights principles enshrined in the UN Charter - the UN must ensure a coordinated approach that embodies the “do no harm” and conflict sensitivity principles; • The UN bodies to stop recognizing and hosting the Myanmar military junta at events and meetings
and instead invite representatives of the legitimate government, the National Unity Government, as the official representative of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
410 Myanmar civil society organizations and four individuals via Progressive Voice (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-04-29
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNODC Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Sanctions - general, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"The pro democracy unity government in Myanmar which includes members of Aung San #Su Kyi's party, says it will not enter talks until the junta releases all political prisoners. Souteast Asias regional bloc has been holding talks with the leaders of the miltiary who seized power on February 1st. Since then massive protests have been held against the coup, hundreds of civilians have been killed and many more arrested.
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon campaigns officer at #Burma Campaign UK, and the daughter of a man currently serving a 65-year jail sentence in Myanmar for his part in the 2007 protests gave us her talke on the current situation. She says negotiations will have to happen but that talking with the #Myanmar military is futile..."
Source/publisher:
"France24" ( Paris)
Date of publication:
2021-04-28
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Various groups, Several Groups, International Criminal Court
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Description:
"Myanmar’s parallel government on Wednesday rejected holding talks with the junta that seized power in early February until the military regime releases more than 3,000 political prisoners, rebuffing a plan by the country’s Southeast Asian neighbors.
Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met last Saturday and signed a “five-point consensus” on resolving the crisis by halting army violence against civilian protesters and holding talks.
Members of the pro-democracy National Unity Government (NUG), formed on Apr. 16, said they will not engage in dialogue until detained leaders from the previous civilian-led government, including deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, are freed. They also want ASEAN members and other nations to recognize the NUG as the legitimate government of Myanmar.
“In order to have a meaningful dialogue, it is very clear that it is only possible if our leaders who are being detained are freed,” Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told RFA, speaking for the NUG.
“We believe that only when they are freed will the talks be fair and meaningful,” he said.
Many leaders, other officials, and lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested by the military during and after the Feb. 1 coup, while those who evaded arrest have formed the NUG.
Political leaders and analysts in Myanmar said ASEAN’s stance on the crisis was unfair to pro-democratic forces and would prolong the current military dictatorship. They also said that the release of the more than 3,400 people who are being detained by junta forces is a key condition for resolving the crisis.
Security forces, including police, have conducted violent crackdowns on anti-coup protesters in cities and towns nationwide, at times using deadly force. More than 750 people have been killed since the coup began, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Thailand-based human rights group.....Proposal deserves support: Nandar Hla Myint, spokesman for the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said ASEAN’s proposal deserves support.
“I believe ASEAN is serious about the situation of individual countries in the region, and at the same time it adheres to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of another country, so it came up with something acceptable to both sides,” he said.
The five-point agreement calls for an ASEAN envoy and delegation to visit Myanmar to meet with concerned parties, but junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has said that the visit would be considered only if there was internal stability.
A political analyst who declined to be named said the regime leader’s comment could mean that the crackdowns will continue and that the visit will be put off.
“None of the five demands in the agreement calls for the release of detained leaders,” he said. “Min Aung Hlaing has no intention of releasing them. Who are they going to negotiate with, then, if the unlawfully arrested leaders are not released? There is no need to hold discussions with anyone.”
Myint Oo, an NLD lawmaker from Bago region who won a seat in the November 2020 elections, said the political crisis could not be solved by ASEAN’s recommendations and that the grouping’s suggestions were an insult to people protesting peacefully for democracy.
“Look at the way ASEAN said that both sides should cease violence, as if it was the peaceful protesters who were using violence. This fact alone is offensive to the gentle and peaceful citizens who are staging this Spring Revolution,” he told RFA.
Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military think tank the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, said he believed the military council would comply with ASEAN’s points if the demands were in line with a law enacted in the national interest.
“We believe we can do everything we can in the national interest within a legal framework.” he said. “We certainly see it will move forward step by step. It might not move as speedily as they would expect, but each of the five demands could be implemented at appropriate times.”.....Junta outlaws AAPP: Continuing its drive to cut off the flow of information about killings and arrests in the crackdown, the junta outlawed the AAPP after accusing the group of producing biased information and incorrect data that hurt the stability and rule of law in Myanmar.
The Ministry for Home Affairs under the State Administration Council, as the junta government is known, announced on Monday that it would take action against the AAPP for releasing what it said was inaccurate data to intimidate and cause anxiety among civil servants and the public, which could be interpreted as inciting violence.
The AAPP publishes daily updates on the numbers of people killed, arrested, and released by the military and police in connection with anti-junta. The statements have been cited frequently by foreign governments, media, and other international organizations.
Pro-army pundit Thein Tun Oo agreed with the junta’s move, saying AAPP reports are “weak in background checks or references, and the numbers get inflated.”
The AAPP, however, said it has compiled lists of detainees since the day of the military coup along with the names of the dead, places where the attacks occurred, dates of deaths, and causes of death.
“Everything is recorded with photos and video recordings and the data published daily,” the organization said in response to an RFA query.
The military regime is attacking the AAPP because it is recognized by the U.N., foreign governments, and rights groups as a credible source of information about political prisoners in Myanmar, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“They are trying to silence a very important organization that is doing a very difficult job. It is an attempt to keep the outside world from hearing what is happening in Burma,” he said.....More protests, arrests: Sporadic demonstration in support of the NUG and anti-junta protests continued to be held in townships in Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, and Tanintharyi regions as well as in Shan and Kachin states.
The AAPP said the death toll as of Wednesday was 756 and that 3,449 people were arrested, while another 1,237 people were in hiding while facing charges.
At least two people were killed and 15 were arrested amid protests and clashes between demonstrators and security forces on Wednesday, witnesses said.
In Sagaing region, a military corporal was killed during a brief clash between the Tamu People’s Defense Force and Myanmar soldiers Tuesday evening near the Indian border, residents said.
Soldiers took away the body of Corporal Aung Aung, a local soldier who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement of striking workers in March, they said.
In the Sagaing town of Monywa, where residents have been holding daily anti-junta protests, soldiers took away nine people from three neighborhoods Tuesday night, locals said.
“Nine got arrested,” said a resident who declined to be named. “They were accused of communicating with underground forces. There had been a series of explosions in the area recently, so their arrests could be connected to that.”
An explosion on a bridge in Kachin state Tuesday night caused the structure’s foundation to crack and some rafters on nearby railroad tracks connecting the towns of Myitkyina and Mandalay to catch fire, said a resident of Hopin where the blast occurred. It is not clear who was behind the bombings..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
Date of publication:
2021-04-28
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, ASEAN-Burma relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Ministry Investigates Sexual Violence in Detention: 1. We strongly condemn the serious allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in unlawful detention committed by the military-led State Administrative Council and its security forces. We have received many disturbing reports of women being tortured, verbally and
sexually assaulted, severely beaten causing serious injuries, including a case of a woman being raped during an interrogation by the security forces. Some detained women have also reportedly been humiliated in public, forced to dance in the streets to entertain the security forces, while others have been groped and manhandled during arrests. One woman miscarried while in detention as a result of mistreatment.....2. These cases are indicative of the wider pattern of sexual and gender-based violence committed by Myanmar’s military that has persisted for years with impunity, particularly against ethnic minority
women and girls in armed conflict areas. In 2019, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (IIFFMM) found that the military committed "widespread and systematic" gender-based violence against ethnic communities, employing tactics such as rape, gang rape, sexual slavery and other forced sexual acts against women, girls, boys, men and transgender people. According to the IIFFMM, such violations could amount to crimes against humanity and
grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The military’s use of rape as a weapon of war to terrorize ethnic communities has been widespread and systematic, particularly in ethnic conflict-affected
areas, and has been widely documented by the local ethnic women organizations and the international community.....3. We are deeply troubled that the State Administrative Council appears to have set aside the Joint Communique that was signed by the Government of Myanmar and the United Nations in 2018. This agreement was adopted under the framework of United Nations Security Council resolution 2106 (2013) and requires Myanmar’s military to implement specific time-bound commitments that include the issuance of clear orders through chains of command prohibiting sexual violence
and accountability for breaching these orders, as well as timely investigation of alleged abuses.....4. We appeal to the international community to immediately investigate the allegations of widespread
sexual and gender-based violence being committed by the military junta so that all perpetrators, regardless of seniority or rank, can be held accountable for their actions. Furthermore, we
believe that immediate action is needed to end the ongoing intensification of nationwide attacks against civilians by the military, that includes widespread allegations sexual and gender-based
violence. We therefore urge the UN Secretary-General to use his good offices to deter further grave violations from taking place. This could include an official visit to Myanmar by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, with the goal of stopping the military terror and violence and securing the safety of the people of Myanmar.....5. We are committed to a zero-tolerance policy for crimes of sexual and gender-based violence, in line with Myanmar’s obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, including
UN Security Council resolution 1325 and related resolutions, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We call on the UN, including the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Myanmar, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ASEAN Commission
on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, and the international community to work with our Ministry to protect the rights of women, youth and children and stop and prevent further violence. We all have a responsibility to hold the perpetrators of such heinous crimes to account and to address the needs of survivors through a survivor-centered approach, including provision of necessary services such as medical care and psychological support. The ministry will continue investigate these allegations and document the incidents in order to bring justice for all victims. Our Ministry stands with the victims and survivors of sexual and genderbased
violence and commits to ending violence against women, youth and children and to ensure justice and accountability....Ministry of Women, Youth and Children's Affairs National Unity Government..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-29
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Women's rights, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
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54.59 KB 139.23 KB 882.61 KB
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"ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ
ပညာရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန
အမိန့်ကြေငြာချက် အမှတ် (၁/၂၀၂၁)
၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဧပြီလ ( ၂၆) ရက်..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar via Ministry of Education & Ministry of Health
Date of publication:
2021-04- 26
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
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pdf
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60.81 KB
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"1. The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) has read with interest the Chairman’s Statement of the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, on 24 April 2021, chaired by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.....2. As Prime Minister of an ASEAN member state, I have followed the various steps of ASEAN’s statements and actions regarding the situation in Myanmar since the unconstitutional coup of 1 February 2021. I note that the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting took the opportunity to discuss - in addition to the situation in Myanmar - other matters of regional relevance and importance, including ASEAN Community-building priorities, and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. These priorities are also important for the plight of the people in Myanmar today. Yet ASEAN’s actions regarding Myanmar has remained in the abstract amidst the fear and terror inflicted by the military on its own
people. Close to 800 have lost their lives since February 2021, and more than 3000 are under detention, including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.....3. In this context, I thank Their Excellencies Mr Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of
Indonesia, Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mahiaddin bin Md. Yasin, Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, who have consistently called for release of political prisoners, reiterating this call at the recent ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting.....4. It is unfortunate that the NUG did not have the opportunity to brief our ASEAN counterparts at the recent meeting, of the daily realities that the people of Myanmar face under military rule. Instead, the State Administration Council (SAC) representative took
that opportunity to seek to justify the military’s actions regarding law and order and stability in the country, when in actual fact, documented visual and reported evidence points to the contrary.....5. While the NUG deeply appreciates the support and commitment of ASEAN Member States to assist Myanmar and her people, we nevertheless remain greatly concerned that any misrepresentation of facts by the military may affect the way in which ASEAN formulates and implements the necessary follow-up actions to the Five-Point Consensus adopted by the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on 24 April 2021.....6. Familiar with the ASEAN Way of reaching consensus, we in the NUG understand that the Five-Point Consensus is the product of intense discussion and negotiation. We also understand that because of how Myanmar was/is represented at ASEAN meetings in
the current situation, those discussions could not include the true situation and interests of the Myanmar people - which the NUG represents. As such, I wish to highlight the following clarifications, which the NUG and the Myanmar people view as important to
understand the situation in Myanmar...a. The first point in the Five-Point Consensus underscores that “there shall be
immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and all parties shall exercise utmost restraint”. I wish to highlight that the violence is one-sided and committed by only one party. Since 1 February 2021, violations by using excessive or lethal force against unarmed civilians have been committed exclusively by the military. Within
hours after announcement of the Five-Point Consensus, the military and police were harassing people who were banging pots and pans in protest. This is a clear contravention of the Consensus to which the purported representative of Myanmar committed...b. The second point of the Five-Point Consensus calls for “constructive dialogue among all parties concerned”. There are several stakeholders whose input is important for this constructive dialogue. I wish to urge the ASEAN delegation to engage the National Unity Government as the true representative of the people of Myanmar. I also wish to stress the importance of including representatives of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs), to ensure that all voices against military rule in Myanmar are heard by our ASEAN interlocutors......7. The NUG, in the spirit of the ASEAN Way enshrined in the ASEAN Charter, stands ready to engage with the ASEAN envoy, the ASEAN Secretary-General, and other representatives of ASEAN collectively and individually, in the constructive and inclusive manner that ASEAN envisages for helping Myanmar and her people emerge from the
current crisis.....8. To this end, I wish to emphasise my government’s position and recommendations on how we will engage with ASEAN on this process...a. We are encouraged by the emphasis placed on the strength of the ASEAN Community in the Chairman’s Statement of the recent ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting. The NUG echoes ASEAN’s commitment to “place people at the centre of the ASEAN Community, to fulfil their desire to live in a region of lasting peace, sustained economic growth and social progress”. We wish to remind our ASEAN
counterparts that the NUG is in the most appropriate position to pursue these aims for the people of Myanmar, as the NUG is the representative government of the peoples and democratic forces in Myanmar... b. We are also heartened by ASEAN’s reaffirmation of its commitment to the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter. As highlighted in paragraph 2 of this statement, the coup mounted by the SAC on 1 February 2021 is unconstitutional.
The NUG is concerned that ASEAN’s engagement with SAC may undermine the principle of constitutional government enshrined in the ASEAN Charter... c. We wish to work with ASEAN to ensure that the ASEAN Envoy achieves a constructive outcome in Myanmar. As one of the key stakeholders in this process, the NUG strongly recommends that ASEAN consult the NUG’s views and input on the ASEAN Envoy’s mission and mandate... d. We appreciate that ASEAN wishes to facilitate constructive dialogue among key stakeholders as part of the process. Before any constructive dialogue can take
place, however, there must be an unconditional release of political prisoners including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi... e. While the NUG welcomes ASEAN’s humanitarian assistance mission, we also wish to highlight that humanitarian assistance alone does not provide a solution
to the root causes regarding the current situation in Myanmar. Therefore, we also wish to recommend that ASEAN consult with the NUG on its plans for humanitarian assistance to the Myanmar people...f. The NUG also wishes to highlight to ASEAN the important need to establish accountability mechanisms for monitoring the SAC’s compliance with the Five- Point Consensus..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
67.09 KB 311.13 KB 1.34 MB
Local URL:
- 2021-04-27-Statement-by-H.E.-Mahn-Win-Khaing-Than_Prime Minister_NUG_on-the-ASEAN-Leaders-tu-en-red.pdf
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"ASEAN MUST UPHOLD ITS RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR
As anti-coup protests continue, during a 19 April interview the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said that, “according to the responsibility to protect [R2P], the international community… has a responsibility to do what it can to protect the lives of innocent people in countries that are unable or unwilling to do so, or are in fact attacking them.” He stressed that it was “definitely appropriate” for the international community to act in accordance with the R2P principle and that Myanmar was “exactly the situation” where we “have a responsibility to protect.”
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 739 people have been killed by the security forces since 1 February and at least 3,331 people are currently detained for resisting the military coup. Two protesters were killed in the city of Mogok on 17 April, when the security forces opened fire on people gathered to show support for the National Unity Government (NUG), which was formed a day earlier by a coalition of democratic opponents to military rule.
Clashes also continue between Myanmar’s military and the ethnic armed group, the Kachin Independence Army. The military is reportedly using civilians as human shields in northern Kachin State, forcing them to walk ahead of soldiers. Such acts violate international law and are a war crime.
Meanwhile, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will discuss the ongoing crisis in Myanmar during a summit to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 24 April. Controversially, Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader, was invited to the summit, while NUG representatives were not. It is unclear whether General Min Aung Hlaing – who an earlier UN Fact-Finding Mission found was responsible for the 2017 genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority – will attend the summit virtually or in person.
In an address to the UN Security Council (UNSC) on 19 April, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed, “the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign States should not be used as a pretext for inaction in the face of serious human rights abuses. ASEAN must make it clear to the Myanmar military that the current situation is so grave that it cannot be regarded only as an internal matter.” He further called on the current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, “to engage directly with the Myanmar military” and urged the UNSC to “seriously consider” the principle of R2P, “using a range of tools at the Council’s disposal.”
The UNSC and ASEAN must implement practical measures to help mediate an end to the crisis in Myanmar. Nadira Kourt, Program Manager at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “the country is currently ungovernable under the military junta. The UNSC and ASEAN should immediately impose a global arms embargo, as well as internationally binding sanctions on senior military officials and affiliated businesses. Accountability is essential. The time for so-called quiet diplomacy has passed. Now is the time for bold diplomatic action.".....ETHNIC VIOLENCE, DISPLACEMENT AND HUNGER THREATEN DR CONGO: Last Friday, 16 April, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned of a resurgence of violence in the Grand Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to UNHCR, clashes between fighters from the Luba and Kuba ethnic groups in the Bakwakenge locality erupted in late March. Local authorities have reported that at least 21,000 people have been displaced, 13 people killed and 190 homes burned down. Tensions between the two communities have been increasing since August 2020 when a deadly cycle of reprisal attacks resulted in 40,000 people being displaced.
The risk of widespread ethnic violence is particularly acute in the Kasaïs, as the region continues to recover from atrocities perpetrated between 2016-2018 that forced more than 1.4 million people to flee. During that time the UN identified at least 80 mass graves, and more than 3,000 people were estimated to have been killed, including two members of the UN Panel of Experts who were investigating the violence. Most fighting took place between Kamuina Nsapu (a mainly Luba militia), Bana Mura (a mainly Chokwe militia), and the armed forces of the DRC. A UN Team of International Experts found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the militias, including extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, and recruitment of children, as well as abuses that “could amount to persecution based on ethnicity.”
UNHCR spokesperson, Babar Baloch, called for “a renewed focus on restoring peace and defusing tensions in Kasaï to prevent another wave of mass displacement in the country.” There are currently an estimated 5.2 million people displaced in the DRC where recurring conflict in the eastern provinces has contributed to a massive humanitarian crisis. On 6 April the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme announced that an estimated 27.3 million people – one in three Congolese – are critically hungry, which is “the highest number of people in urgent need of food security assistance in the world.”
The DRC government needs to urgently deescalate tensions in the Kasaï region, protect vulnerable civilians and ensure that the violence does not derail the ongoing truth, justice and accountability process for past atrocities.
ARMED EXTREMIST GROUPS TARGET HUMANITARIAN WORKERS IN NIGERIA
A series of attacks by armed extremist groups on the town of Damasak, in northeast Nigeria, have forced 65,000 people – 80 percent of the town’s population – to flee. Since the attacks began on 11 April at least eight people have been killed and dozens wounded. The armed groups looted and burned down houses, as well as offices and warehouses of international humanitarian organizations, including a health clinic and UN Refugee Agency facility. Armed fighters also conducted house-to-house searches looking for aid workers.
Humanitarian operations in Damasak have largely been suspended as result of the violence, adversely affecting 8,800 internally displaced people and 76,000 people in host communities in the area. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that these “humanitarian aid operations and facilities are the lifeline of people in northeast Nigeria who depend on our assistance to survive.”
Over the past year, humanitarian organizations have become the focus of recurring attacks by armed extremist groups operating in Nigeria. On 2 March alleged fighters from the so-called Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) attacked a UN base and overran a humanitarian hub in the north-east, trapping 25 aid workers. In response to this attack, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, stressed that, “civilians and aid workers, their facilities and assets should never be a target. They must be protected and respected at all times.”
While no group has claimed responsibility for the assault on Damasak, both Boko Haram and ISWA continue to conduct attacks in the north-east and have killed at least 3,000 people since January 2018.
Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, materials or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance operation is a war crime. Recurring attacks on humanitarian workers demonstrates the need for the Nigerian authorities to radically improve security in the north-east. The Nigerian government also needs to expand programs that directly address grievances that armed extremist groups exploit for recruitment, such as poverty, endemic corruption, youth unemployment and environmental degradation..."
Source/publisher:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-04-21
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Burma/Myanmar, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, ASEAN-Burma relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Description:
"Thank you all so much for showing unwavering support to people of Myanmar and the National Unity Government! As you all know, Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) has perpetrated the worst possible crime in entire history of our country by waging the total war against the whole population of Myanmar. People from all walks of life in Myanmar are facing the atrocities of the military every day. These atrocities comprise killing innocent civilians, including children, using live ammunitions, heavy weaponry; arbitrarily arresting people, kidnapping people at night and sending the dead bodies to families next morning, beating people at the military camps and
raiding private spaces of the people and confiscating the properties. These atrocities are unimaginable for all humanity.
Not only does the military target the NLD party members, but the military also detains religious leaders, journalists, activists, doctors, nurses, teachers, workers, students, actors, and actresses and even underaged teenagers. The military is destroying the backbone of
our society. The internet communications have been cut off and the people of Myanmar are now in the darkness without any information from outside world. Amidst the enormous challenges imposed by the COVID-19, the people of Myanmar are suffering from the atrocities
of the military which promotes its own vested interests, not the interests of the people and the country. In order to safeguard democracy and protect the country from falling under total
authoritarian rule, the National Unity Government (NUG) was formed on April 16, 2021, by the mandate of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) in accordance with
guiding principles of Federal Democracy Charter (FDC) enacted on March 31, 2021. All these arrangements are historic as well as momentous because they represent the united voices
of the people from all sectors of society. The strength of unity we have now must be preserved and further enhanced via meaningful cooperation. The sole duty of the National Unity Government is to end structural violence committed by the military over decades and establish federal democratic union. At the same time, the
NUG aims to conduct security sector reform, as the current security apparatus of Myanmar are the fundamental part of the decade-long structural violence, ensuring that federal security system is established in accordance with federal democratic principles. The
supports of Myanmar communities all over the world are precious for our efforts. Both NUG and CRPH would like to invite Myanmar communities all over the world to advocate the respective host governments and relevant stakeholders to achieve our goals. This is a rare opportunity to end military dictatorship once and for all not only for us but also for our future generations. Of course, our struggle will not be an easy journey. We will have to face challenges on all
fronts. But what we have is legitimacy derived from the democratic will of the people. More importantly, millions of people across Myanmar are chanting “We want democracy" , singing the songs of struggle with hopes and aspirations to establish genuine federal democratic
union which preserves and protects freedom, justice, and equality for all. This is the cause worth fighting for. The supports of each and everyone of you are critical for our struggle. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi once said " use your freedom to promote ours" . In this way, you can
all join our struggle, our fight, and our cause. We are by no means atone in this world; we all are together in this.
In solidarity,
Zin Mar Aung
Minister of Foreign Affairs
National Unity Government
Republic of the Union of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
CRPH_International Relations Office
Date of publication:
2021-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Federalism, ethnic conflict and the politics of national reconciliation - general studies and sources
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Topic:
Health, Protection and Human Rights, Safety and Security
Topic:
Health, Protection and Human Rights, Safety and Security
Description:
"Protests continue despite a death toll of over 700. Resumption of widespread ethnic separatist violence sees thousands held at Thai border. Increased tensions with China and India.
This document provides an analysis of the current situation in Myanmar and the implications for aid agencies working in the area. Watch the Vigil InSight video.
SUMMARY
International focus remains on the continued protests against the military coup, which are becoming increasingly violent.
A significant increase in violence has been seen, linked to the country’s various ethnic separatist insurgencies, particularly along the Thai and Chinese borders.
This has led to rising numbers of displaced persons and pushbacks of them by Thai authorities though India is now letting them through.
Chinese troops have been deployed to the border, likely to secure gas supplies..."
Source/publisher:
Insecurity Insight via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Health Workers Strike, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Group seeks recognition as 'legitimate government'; ASEAN summit rumblings intensify
Description:
"Myanmar's military on Feb. 1 detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.....The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election in November. But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud. For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page.
Read our in-depth coverage:
-- Myanmar junta taps Russian air power to bomb ethnic rebels
-- Failed state: Myanmar collapses into chaos
-- Myanmar junta efforts to restore calm 'unworkable': ex-Japan envoy
-- Myanmar junta reaps millions in gem sales as economy crumbles
-- Myanmar coup presses Japan to retreat from Abe-era business push
-- Taiwan takes tougher line against Myanmar regime
-- How Myanmar's post-coup violence is transforming a generation
-- Who is Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing? 5 things to know
-- Myanmar: Inside the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's government..."
Source/publisher:
"Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of publication:
2021-04-17
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Description:
"Southeast Asian leaders said they had agreed on a plan with Myanmar's junta chief on Saturday to end the crisis in the violence-hit nation, but he did not explicitly respond to demands to halt the killing of civilian protesters.
"It's beyond our expectation," Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told reporters after the leaders' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that was also attended by Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
"We tried not to accuse his side too much because we don't care who's causing it," Muhyiddin added. "We just stressed that the violence must stop. For him, it's the other side that's causing the problems. But he agreed that violence must stop."
ASEAN leaders wanted a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, which an activist monitoring group says have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement erupted to challenge his Feb. 1 coup. They also wanted the release of political prisoners.
"He did not reject what was put forward by me and many other colleagues," Muhyiddin said.
According to a statement from group chair Brunei, a consensus was reached on five points - ending violence, a constructive dialogue among all parties, a special ASEAN envoy to facilitate the dialogue, acceptance of aid and a visit by the envoy to Myanmar. The five-point consensus did not mention political prisoners, although the chairman's statement said the meeting "heard calls" for their release.
"He (Min Aung Hlaing) said he heard us, he would take the point in, which he considered helpful," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters.
"He was not opposed to ASEAN playing a constructive role, or an ASEAN delegation visit, or humanitarian assistance."
But Lee added the process had a long way to go, "because it is one thing to say you will cease violence and release political prisoners, it is another thing to get it done".
It was not clear why Lee referred to the release of political prisoners when this was not in the five consensus points.
There was no immediate comment from Min Aung Hlaing.
A regular nighttime news bulletin on the military-run Myawaddy TV reported his attendance of the meeting and said Myanmar would closely cooperate with ASEAN on various issues, including "the political transition in Myanmar, and the process that will be implemented in the future".
Charles Santiago, head of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, called for the release of Myanmar's political prisoners and a timeline for an end to violence.
"ASEAN must now act swiftly and set a clear timeline for Min Aung Hlaing to deliver on ending the violence, or stand ready to hold him accountable," he said.
'RESTORE DEMOCRACY'
The ASEAN gathering was the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand, since the coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN, which has a policy of consensus decision-making and non-interference in the affairs of its members.
Myanmar's parallel National Unity Government (NUG), comprised of pro-democracy figures, remnants of Suu Kyi's ousted administration and representatives of armed ethnic groups, said it welcomed the consensus reached but said the junta had to be held to its promises.
"We look forward to firm action by ASEAN to follow up its decisions and to restore our democracy," said Dr. Sasa, spokesman for the NUG.
It was unusual for the leader of a military government in Myanmar to attend an ASEAN summit - usually the country has been represented by a lower-ranked officer or a civilian.
The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei were at the meeting, along with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand and the Philippines.
While ASEAN's non-interference policy makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues, the body is seen by the United Nations, China and the United States as best placed to deal with the junta directly.
"We in the [@UN] Security Council eagerly await the outcome of the @ASEAN meeting on Burma, which deserves serious and immediate attention," U.S Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield tweeted..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Five-point consensus includes end to violence and a special envoy after talks attended by junta chief
Description:
"Asean leaders have agreed to a five-point consensus on the crisis in Myanmar, including an immediate end to violence, according to a statement released at the end of talks held on Saturday in the Indonesian capital.
The consensus also included allowing humanitarian help in the country, releasing political prisoners and appointing a special Asean envoy for the Myanmar crisis.
The agreement came even as the military cracked down on anti-coup protesters on Saturday, killing at least one person in the capital Nay Pyi Taw, according to a witness.
Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG), said it welcomed the “encouraging” news of the consensus among leaders of the 10-country bloc.
The NUG “looked forward to firm action by Asean to follow up on its decisions and to restore our democracy and freedom for our people,” Dr Sasa, its spokesman and minister of international cooperation, said in a statement.
Formed last month, the NUG includes pro-democracy figures, remnants of Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted administration and representatives of armed ethnic groups. It says it is the legitimate authority in Myanmar but it was not invited to Saturday’s meeting.
Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief who led the Feb 1 coup, attended the talks, which were closed to the news media.
Leaders who spoke afterward expressed cautious optimism that a way forward might be found, following nearly three months of turmoil in which 740 people have been killed by security forces and at least 3,000 imprisoned.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Min Aung Hlaing was not opposed to a visit by a delegation from Asean.
“He said he heard us, he would take the points in which he considered helpful, that he was not opposed to Asean playing a constructive role, or an Asean delegation visit, or humanitarian assistance, and that they would move forward and engage with Asean in a constructive way,” Lee said in comments reported by Channel NewsAsia on its website.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declared the meeting a success, noting the junta chief’s agreement to end violence.
“We have succeeded. It’s beyond our expectation in getting the outcome from today’s meeting,” the Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.
The text of a speech delivered by Mr Muhyiddin indicated that Min Aung Hlaing heard some pointed criticism during the closed-door session.
“There is an echo of distress among Asean member states to learn, on a daily basis, what is unfolding in Myanmar,” the Malaysian premier was reported to have said. “Many around the world want an explanation and we are finding it increasingly tough to explain.”
“The deplorable situation in Myanmar must stop immediately.”
Indonesian president Joko Widodo reiterated his position that the junta must release all political prisoners if any progress toward peace is to be made.
Diplomats and government officials who asked not to be named said many Asean leaders came into the talks wanting a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces.
“This is what Myanmar must avoid: geographical, political, social and national disintegration into warring ethnic parts,” said Philippines Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin on Twitter. “Myanmar on its own must find peace again.”
Saturday’s talks were attended by most heads of government, but Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha sent Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to represent him. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte also sent his foreign minister.
Small protests outside the Asean Secretariat headquarters in Jakarta were dispersed by security personnel. (story continues below).....‘Murderer-in-chief’:Min Aung Hlaing’s presence in Jakarta angered activists, human rights groups and the National Unity Government.
“Meetings that contribute to a solution to the deepening crisis in Myanmar are welcome,” the latter said in a statement released earlier on Saturday.
“(But) meetings that exclude the people of Myanmar but include murderer-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing … are unlikely to be helpful.”
The lawmakers called on the junta to “stop murdering civilians”, release more than 3,000 political prisoners and return power to the country’s democratically elected government.
“The crisis initiated by a murderous and unrepentant Myanmar military has engulfed the country, and will cause severe aftershocks — humanitarian and more — for the entire region,” the rights group Amnesty International said ahead of the meeting.
“The Indonesian authorities are duty-bound to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar military officials who may join his delegation to Jakarta.”.....‘Be realistic’: But Asean generally takes a hands-off approach to members’ internal affairs.
Few analysts were expecting major breakthroughs from the meeting, saying instead it represented a chance to bring Myanmar’s military to the table and pave the way for a possible resolution.
“We have to be realistic here. I don’t think the summit is going to bear out a full-blown plan on how to get Myanmar out of the conflict,” said Mustafa Izzuddin, senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore.
“But rather I think it will start the conversation and perhaps lay the parameters as to how a resolution could be found.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
Language:
more
Description:
"We welcome the encouraging news that ASEAN leaders have reached
consensus that the military violence in Myanmar must stop and political prisoners be released.This is what the National Unity Government has been calling for. We eagerly await the engagement by the Asian Secretary General as mandated by this meeting.
We appreciate the strong words from President Widodo of Indonesia calling for the release of our heroes. We look forward to firm action by ASEAN to follow up its ecisions and to restore our democracy and freedom for our people and for the region. Dr. Sasa
Union Minister of International Cooperation and Spokesperson
National Unity Government of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. Sasa
Date of publication:
2021-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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pdf
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14.33 KB
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Description:
"Southeast Asian leaders will try to forge a path to end violence and instability in Myanmar at a summit on Saturday expected to include Min Aung Hlaing, the general in charge of the military takeover in February that sparked bloodshed and economic chaos.
The gathering of leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand, and was ruled by the military from 1962-2011.
With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia's foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the "deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and ASEAN's determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation".
"We hope that tomorrow's (summit) will reach an agreement regarding steps that are good for the people of Myanmar," she said.
Marsudi's Singaporen counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, who is also in Jakarta, said ASEAN's leaders "will discuss the pressing need to address the grave and deeply concerning situation in Myanmar".
Diplomats and government officials who asked not to be named said many ASEAN leaders want a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, who monitors say have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement emerged to challenge his Feb. 1 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's government.
Min Aung Hlaing, on his first foreign trip since the coup, will address the summit along with each of the participants before more informal discussions begin, said three sources familiar with procedures.
Only a few officials will be present at the "intimate" meeting, one source said.
PUSH FOR DIALOGUE
ASEAN officials and diplomats have also worked on an initiative to send a humanitarian aid mission to Myanmar and appoint an envoy to encourage dialogue between the junta and the ousted lawmakers and ethnic groups who have formed an opposition National Unity Government (NUG).
The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei, the chair, have confirmed their attendance, along with the foreign ministers of Thailand and the Philippines.
Myanmar's nightly news bulletin on state television on Friday made no mention of the ASEAN meeting.
ASEAN has a policy of consensus decision-making and non-interference in the affairs of its members, which include Myanmar.
While that makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues, the body is seen by the United Nations, China and the United States as best placed to deal with the junta directly.
The summit, called for by Indonesia's president Joko Widodo last month, is a departure from the tightly choreographed leaders' meetings that are typical of ASEAN, said Evan Laksmana, a Jakarta-based security analyst.
"There is no precedent, especially given the expressed intent to discuss the problems of one member state."
A spokesman for the NUG, which is not attending the summit, told Reuters the group had "been in contact with ASEAN leaders".
Dr. Sasa, an international envoy for the NUG, who goes by one name, said ASEAN should insist the military stops killing civilians, halts the bombing of villages in ethnic minority areas, releases political prisoners and hands power to the NUG..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Human Rights and international relations, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Topic:
ASEAN, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Aung San Suu Kyi, Block 2, Humanitarian Crisis, Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar Coup, Myanmar Crisis, National Unity Government
Sub-title:
Bloc's extraordinary Myanmar crisis meeting on April 24 could be the last diplomatic chance to prevent a regional catastrophe
Topic:
ASEAN, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, Aung San Suu Kyi, Block 2, Humanitarian Crisis, Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar Coup, Myanmar Crisis, National Unity Government
Description:
"When Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meet in Jakarta to discuss the worsening political crisis in Myanmar on April 24, it will mark the first time that the regional organization holds a highest-level meeting to address a specific situation of concern involving one of its members.
Non-interference in domestic affairs has traditionally been one of ASEAN’s basic operating principles, along with decision-making by consensus. As such, Saturday’s summit is seen as a test of the grouping’s code of constraint as regional leaders find themselves under mounting pressure to engineer a workable, face-saving resolution before the crisis spirals further out of control.
To be sure, the situation in Myanmar is on a knife’s edge. Its ruling military junta has intensified a brutal campaign of suppression in defiance of world condemnation. The cycle of protests and bloody crackdowns has left at least 738 people dead, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group.
Inflexible repression by the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is known, has pushed segments of the urban-based protest movement into using low-level guerrilla warfare tactics, while escalating hostilities with ethnic armed forces in the north and east threaten a wider war on multiple fronts in the country’s borderlands.
The fear within ASEAN is that the worst is yet to come. As the region copes with a resurgent Covid-19 pandemic that continues to thwart broad-based economic recovery, the bloc faces the prospect of Myanmar’s civil strife escalating into a protracted Syria-like civil war and a humanitarian emergency that sends huge numbers of refugees over its borders.
The threat of a failed state emerging within mainland Southeast Asia has added impetus and imperative to ASEAN’s diplomacy. Should the regional grouping fail to act meaningfully, analysts say outside powers including the United States and China could be compelled to intervene, raising the possibility of Myanmar becoming a proxy theater for great power contestation.
Saturday’s meeting is expected to set the parameters for ASEAN taking on a mediating role in the crisis. “ASEAN will engage with all parties in Myanmar, but under what conditions will be made clearer at the summit this coming weekend,” said Alistair D B Cook, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
Following weeks of planning, the talks are seen as primarily aimed at seeking de-escalation and establishing conditions for dialogue between Myanmar’s military and the ousted civilian government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures remain in detention.
However, it’s not clear that a negotiated settlement would be acceptable to either side at this stage, with neither camp apparently willing to accept a compromise or return to the status quo ante. The Tatmadaw has shown no willingness to talk to members of the elected government it ousted, having ratcheted up its brutality despite appeals from its neighbors to refrain from violence.
At least seven ASEAN leaders are expected to attend the summit in Indonesia’s capital, with Thailand and the Philippines opting to send their foreign ministers. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, chairman of the junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) and architect of the February 1 coup d’etat, is expected to travel to Jakarta to participate in the face-to-face meeting. “The fact that there will be an ASEAN summit meeting on the crisis and that General Min Aung Hlaing will attend it is an important but only tentative step forward,” said Choi Shing Kwok, director of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and head of its ASEAN Studies Centre.
“I expect ASEAN leaders to focus first on convincing Min Aung Hlaing to take a few short-term steps, including curtailing the violence against unarmed civilian protesters and exercising restraint in its dealings with its opponents,” he said. “Without such a break in the escalation in violence, no reconciliation of the political forces within the country is possible.”
Critics of the military takeover have condemned the general’s planned attendance at the summit, with some observers viewing the invitation to sit alongside other ASEAN leaders as tantamount to lending legitimacy to his regime’s democracy-suspending putsch, particularly in light of the recent establishment of a parallel authority by pro-democracy forces.
“The invitation to Min Aung Hlaing must be handled with extreme caution, and ASEAN must make it abundantly clear that he is not there as a representative of the Myanmar people, who totally reject his barbaric junta,” said Charles Santiago, chairperson of advocacy group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
Deposed members of Parliament, leaders of anti-coup protests and ethnic minority organizations announced on April 16 a National Unity Government (NUG), which says it is the country’s legitimate interim authority and has requested international recognition and an invitation to the ASEAN meeting in place of the junta leader.
Figures associated with the NUG, which previously referred to itself as the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), have said they were not consulted over the planned summit. Some regional foreign ministers and officials are known to have held back channel talks with Myanmar’s ousted lawmakers since the coup, however.
“ASEAN cannot adequately discuss the situation in Myanmar without hearing from and speaking to the National Unity Government. If ASEAN’s purpose really is to strengthen democracy, as stated by its Charter, they must give them a seat at the table,” said Santiago in a statement. “After all, they are the embodiment of democracy in Myanmar.”
Analysts expect ASEAN’s diplomats to continue their quiet diplomatic outreach with the NUG in the weeks ahead, but some say that the Tatmadaw’s leader may have refused to attend the regional summit if representatives of the parallel authority, which the junta regards as treasonous and unlawful, were also in attendance.
“The call by the CRPH for ASEAN not to meet with MAH [Min Aung Hlaing] is an attempt to gain the diplomatic upper hand over the SAC, but acceding to it will be tantamount to an abandonment of any meaningful role by ASEAN,” said Choi, echoing the view that any practical de-escalation of the situation requires direct engagement with the military’s leader.
“The formation of a NUG is still in its early stages and it remains to be seen if the other opposition forces in the country will accept it as the legitimate political authority. Should it be able to establish this in due course, ASEAN will certainly have to take its views and participation into account in any future reconciliation process,” Choi added.
Proposals being considered for the summit reportedly include a humanitarian aid mission that would entail a pause in hostilities and delivery of medical supplies needed to counter Covid-19 as well as food aid. The appointment of a special envoy who would negotiate with the military junta and members of the deposed elected government is also reportedly under consideration.
Naypyidaw has thus far refused to allow the United Nation’s special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, to visit the country. Burgener will reportedly be in Jakarta to engage ASEAN leaders on the sidelines of Saturday’s summit.
While still regarded as the best hope for a diplomatic solution, the 10-member grouping’s record in tackling regional human rights crises has been abysmal. ASEAN states are already clearly divided on Myanmar’s crisis, with some of its members describing the junta’s bloody consolidation of power as an “internal matter.”
Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and, more recently, the Philippines have censured the junta in uncharacteristically strong terms and called for the release of Suu Kyi and other political detainees, a step that the bloc itself has eschewed.
Others have taken a more ambiguous position. Thailand, which shares a porous border with Myanmar and clearly fears a fresh influx of refugees, hasn’t openly criticized the coup but has tellingly said it is “gravely concerned” about escalating bloodshed and has more recently called for dialogue between the Tatmadaw and NLD.
Hunter Marston, a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, said he anticipates that the summit will expose rifts within ASEAN on democratic and autocratic lines. “I do not expect a univocal response strong enough to convince Min Aung Hlaing that his regime has gone too far and will be held to account.”
By ignoring the NUG’s entreaty to attend the summit, ASEAN has put itself in the awkward position of “effectively treating Min Aung Hlaing as the representative of Myanmar’s government even as certain members call for the release of elected leaders and a return to democracy in the country,” he added.
Marston said some ASEAN states at least appeared reluctant to recognize the senior general as the legitimate leader of Myanmar. The Canberra-based academic said outside powers such as the United States, the European Union and others could soon opt to extend diplomatic recognition to the NUG, but aren’t ready to do so yet.
The NUG aims to establish a federal democratic system, but isn’t yet materially able to support a nationwide parallel administration. Outside powers are thus “waiting to see how much of a following [the NUG] have, what resources they’re able to command, and whether they can effectively claim to govern Myanmar given the current state of chaos,” said Marston.
Elina Noor, director for political-security affairs and deputy director at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington DC, said there will be pressures on, but also an inclination by, Western liberal democracies, in particular, to recognize the NUG as Myanmar’s legitimate government, which could allow it to access country funds now punitively frozen in overseas banking systems.
The US, for one, is now holding over US$1 billion worth of Myanmar state funds.
“If this happens, ASEAN will be in an even more difficult position since the UN and ASEAN’s own dialogue partners have all expressed support for the grouping’s key role in this crisis. ASEAN centrality will be further questioned if a split on recognition happens in the international community,” she told Asia Times.
ASEAN centrality refers to the notion that the regional grouping and its associated mechanisms should serve as the core institutional platform through which disputes are managed and wider diplomacy with outside powers is advanced. That centrality, observers argue, risks being undermined by ASEAN’s inability to manage affairs within its region.
“If the violence can be stopped and some interim mechanism of dialogue can be agreed upon involving the NUG, then ASEAN can help play a constructive, bridging role in charting a more sustainable roadmap ahead for Myanmar,” Noor said.
In a recent op-ed published by the Jakarta Post, Noor said that while ASEAN must deal with the military junta as the de facto party in power in order to realistically address the situation, Myanmar’s suspension from ASEAN should be a consideration, particularly if the regime remains intransigent and rebuffs regional efforts to reach a solution.
While suspending Myanmar from the bloc at a time of worsening violence could seem unconstructive and cause ASEAN to lose its leverage with the junta, Noor said Southeast Asian governments could be better off continuing their engagement with the Tatmadaw outside rather than within the ASEAN framework.
“The solution may be to unshackle ASEAN member states from the constraining formalities of organizational bureaucracy while still working closely behind the scenes plurilaterally, as is effectively the case now,” she said.
Noor added that engagement, rather than isolation, would in any case help to affirm ASEAN centrality and stave off external interventions.
“If Myanmar teeters on the brink of civil war or if there is protracted bloodshed, there is a risk external powers will feel compelled to intervene and not completely for altruistic reasons, either,” she said. “This would be a worst-case scenario, in which major powers would carve out spheres and territories of influence in Myanmar as well as in the region.
“That is why it is imperative for ASEAN to set the stage this weekend by demonstrating effectiveness, even if it’s just to stop the ongoing violence so that mediation can begin. It won’t be enough for the people of Myanmar who voted in a different government, but it will be a necessary precondition for some kind of change on the ground.”
Should the crisis in Myanmar escalate and ASEAN’s attempt to broker a solution falter, analysts believe it is possible that the case for external military intervention, potentially in the form of missile strikes against military targets, could be seriously considered by Washington and its allies in a bid to pressure Naypyidaw to the negotiating table.
The possibility of such an escalation is still seen as remote given that Washington has so far been broadly content to leave the crisis to ASEAN. The situation in Myanmar, moreover, isn’t deemed as being of critical strategic importance to the US, and military intervention would almost certainly spark divisions among the Washington-led Quad alliance.
“The appetite for and effectiveness of foreign military intervention by the major powers is very much in question today,” said ISEAS’ director Choi. “With the Tatmadaw being fiercely independent and having the option to play one major power off against another, it is highly questionable what kind of effective intervention any power could mount.”
ASEAN’s approach, “whatever it may be called, therefore remains an attractive option for the international community to rally behind, though its ability to deliver is not guaranteed,” Choi added.
He expects “only modest progress” at the weekend’s summit, with the main aim being to persuade Min Aung Hlaing to accept a process towards a mediated reconciliation, which could also include the involvement of other international stakeholders.
“The situation in Myanmar is at a point where it could get a lot worse before it gets better,” Choi lamented. “ASEAN’s record in the past has been to continue engaging rather than to close doors when there is still hope for improvement. Having said that, the situation is so open-ended that I believe anything is possible and nothing can be ruled out.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2021-04-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"On principle, the meetings that can contribute to a solution to the deepening crisis in Myanmar are welcome, meetings that exclude the people of Myanmar but include murderer in chief Min Aung Hlaing who is murdering the people of Myanmar are unlikely to be helpful.
The legitimate representatives of the people and country of Myanmar, the National Unity Government (NUG) stands ready to engage and attend any ASEAN meeting on Myanmar, including the one scheduled for April the 24th that starts in less than 24 hours. We firmly believe that a meeting on Myanmar should not include illegal, illegitimate military junta unless the following serious conditions are met. The military junta must meets the following conditions and demonstrates that it is adhering to them. This is the only way to restore democracy, stability and prevent the great civil war that will end in genocide.
1. Stop murdering civilians. The junta has killed over 740 Myanmar civilians since the coup and the number of its victims increase daily;
2. Stop systematically attacking neighborhoods and randomly discharging weapons into civilians' homes that have claimed the lives of many civilians, including children;
3. Stop bombing and shelling villages, which has caused significant casualties and has led to tens of thousands of civilians being displaced;
4. Stop preventing those who need medical care from receiving it, including agreeing to immediately stop: (i) occupying medical facilities, (ii) arresting and attacking medical personnel, and (iii) preventing emergency medical personnel from reaching victims;
5. Unconditionally release the over 3,300 political prisoners detained since the coup and stop arbitrarily detaining protesters, CDM members and others who are exercising
their fundamental right to the freedom of expression.
6. End the coup, end all violence and return the power to elected Government of Myanmar- t he National Unity Government -NUG
We once again express our sincere appreciation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) willingness to help Myanmar address the crisis that has gripped our nation, and
indeed our region, following the illegal coup d'etat on 1 February.
Dr.Sasa Union Minister of International Cooperation and Spokesperson National Unity Government of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. Sasa via National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, National Unity Government (NUG), Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Asean, Emergency Meeting On Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar Coup
Topic:
Asean, Emergency Meeting On Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar Coup
Description:
"On April 24, ASEAN is set to hold an emergency meeting in Jakarta on the political crisis in Myanmar. On February 1 the Myanmar military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, took over the country’s government after alleging there were irregularities in last November’s elections.
There is no evidence of mass voter fraud and since taking power the military has imposed draconian measures to silence resistance to the takeover, including curfews, internet blackouts and bans on social gatherings.
Amid waves of mass protest, security forces have also killed over 700 people—a number the military disputes. With a global spotlight on the situation, ASEAN’s meeting is an attempt to work towards a resolution of the political impasse.
In the runup to the meeting, however, there has been considerable handwringing by activists and observers as to the role ASEAN is prepared to play in the conflict.
Activists aligned with Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement are concerned that by inviting Min Aung Hlaing to the summit, ASEAN legitimizes the military’s actions on the international stage, including its use of deadly force against its own population.
They also argue that by ignoring Myanmar’s shadow government, an organization called the National Unity Government (NUG) made up of the country’s duly elected leaders, ASEAN is dismissing the stakeholders that have a legitimate say in the country’s future.
With that said, despite the injustice and authoritarianism of the military government, not inviting them to the meeting would likely make Myanmar’s political situation worse.
Although disinviting Min Aung Hlaing would be a snub to the military government—and a cathartic moment for activists—the reality is that the junta holds power in Myanmar.
Without his attendance at the meeting, ASEAN leaders would be abandoning an opportunity to apply direct diplomatic pressure.
Instead of decrying the attendance of junta leaders at ASEAN’s meeting, pro-democracy advocates should focus on the way the bloc interacts with Myanmar’s military government when the meeting takes place.....ASEAN needs to walk a fine line given democratic norms in the region: The metaphorical elephant in the room regarding ASEAN’s dealings with Myanmar’s junta is that a significant portion of the bloc is made up of countries with authoritarian leaders, who in some cases circumvented or altered the democratic process to gain power.
Cambodia’s Hun Sen, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte and Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-ocha are the most glaring examples. After Thailand’s military took power in 2014, for instance, ASEAN’s response was muted and leaders in the region generally treated the coup as an internal matter.
Noninterference is a guiding principle of the bloc, as stated in ASEAN’s charter. This arguably gives the junta more confidence coming into the summit and they will doubtlessly claim that the crisis is a domestic issue that does not warrant outside interference.
One of the main issues following the coup in Myanmar, however, is the ongoing violence coupled with widespread international attention. This has put added pressure on ASEAN to help find a resolution to the crisis.
Amid the controversy surrounding the meeting, Thailand’s Prayuth announced that he would not be attending personally and instead would send his foreign minister, saying that other countries are also doing the same.
So far, only the Philippines has confirmed it intends to follow Thailand’s lead in sending its foreign minister. The heads of state of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, meanwhile, confirmed they would be attending.....ASEAN must engage the junta but that doesn’t mean they should treat it as a normal government: Although engagement with the junta is necessary, that doesn’t mean leaders can’t take steps to make the summit a meaningful step towards resolving the crisis in Myanmar. Short of inviting NUG leaders, ASEAN leaders could take smaller steps to ensure the military government doesn’t think the meeting is business-as-usual.
As suggested by pro-democracy activists, leaders in the region could express their position on the coup by ignoring the international titles of junta officials, such as foreign minister, in favor of referring to them as delegates of the military’s governing body, known as the State Administration Council (SAC).
Another idea is to allow member states to make their own official statements after the meeting instead of issuing only a single joint statement by ASEAN’s Chair. This would give member states a chance to clearly voice their disagreements with the junta.
Most importantly, despite ASEAN’s potential disagreements over the situation in Myanmar, the bloc must convey to Min Aung Hlaing and his government that the SAC’s actions not only push the region into further political disrepute but also threaten regional stability.
Alongside the language of noninterference in ASEAN’s charter is a commitment to adhere to the “principles of democracy…respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
ASEAN has a duty to push for stable democracy, peace and security for the people of Myanmar. Directly engaging with those in charge on the ground in Myanmar, in a tactful and careful manner, is the best way to increase the likelihood that this happens..."
Source/publisher:
"ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of publication:
2021-04-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG), Spring Revolution, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports
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"Your Excellencies,
In alignment with the upcoming Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar on 24 April 2021, we, the undersigned 744 individuals, 402 civil society organisations in Myanmar and 444 in other Southeast Asian nations and globally, call on the ASEAN, its leaders and Member States to come up with an effective and sustainable strategy jointly with the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and other international community actors in addressing the illegitimate and brutal coup and atrocity crimes committed by the military junta in Myanmar.
We welcome the decision to hold the Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar, based on the proposal made by President Joko Widodo of the Republic of Indonesia to discuss the worsening situation in Myanmar following the violent crackdown against peaceful protesters and the terror campaign against civilians launched by the junta. The decision hopefully constitutes a precedent and reflects the commitment of ASEAN Member States leaders to address Myanmar’s appalling situation using its highest-level policy-making body.
However, in view of ASEAN Member States’ differing positions on the coup in Myanmar, we remain extremely concerned that the ASEAN Summit’s response might be to consider the crisis as solely within Myanmar’s domestic affairs and therefore deciding to refrain from any meaningful action in line with the “ASEAN Way” of non-interference and overzealous respect for ‘state sovereignty’.
The differing positions of ASEAN Member States have made it difficult for ASEAN to reach a consensus and resulted in equivocations and delayed responses from ASEAN, while the military junta continued its deliberate, murderous attacks on Myanmar’s people, including various violence against women and girls, much to our sorrow and anger. As evidenced from the outputs produced by the Informal ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (IAFMM), ASEAN responses fall well short of meeting the will of the people of Myanmar. The chair’s statement of the IAFMM meeting neither specifically publicly called out the junta’s brutality nor called for stronger cooperation with the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council. Further, it also fails to mention ASEAN’s commitment to supporting targeted economic sanctions against military personnel and business entities and global arms embargo and referral of the Myanmar situation to the ICC.
With the different interests and political will of ASEAN Member States at the moment, we are concerned to what extent the Special ASEAN Summit can create an immediate and meaningful intervention to resolve the situation of Myanmar. ASEAN’s collective and meaningful action to uphold democracy is warranted at this time. Any decision by the ASEAN leaders to treat the military junta as the legitimate representative of Myanmar in the Summit will serve to legitimize the military junta’s crimes and will thus damage not only the relationship of ASEAN with the peoples of Myanmar but the people’s movement for democracy and human rights in the region as a whole.
Further, the ASEAN and its Member States must recognise the legitimacy of the National Unity Government (NUG), the legitimate and democratically-elected government of Myanmar, given that it represents 76% of elected Members of the Union Parliament, ethnic leaders, the civil disobedience movement, and general strike committees endorsed by the people of Myanmar. Therefore, Myanmar must be represented by the NUG; not by the illegal junta who is trying to take full control of the country through its unprecedented brutality.
As we send this letter to the ASEAN Leaders, the violence and killings by the Myanmar military against protesters and supporters continue with no sign of abating. The junta have so far arbitrarily killed 739 and arrested 3,331 people, including women, elderly people and children.[1] In Karen and Kachin ethnic areas, the junta has been bombing villages, displacing more than 30,000 villagers.[2] In these bombing attacks, civilians including children lost their lives as well as faced difficulties not only about their safety, but also for health, shelter and food. Among those fleeing were women, children, elderly and pregnant women who are due to give birth. There was also a case of a woman who gave birth to her child while she was fleeing. Given the gravity of the situation, the increasing number of victims, and the impact of the crisis on the region’s security and political stability, we strongly urge ASEAN to take firm and effective actions to address the Myanmar coup through the Special ASEAN Summit.
We urge all ASEAN leaders to listen to, strongly consider, and to heed the aspirations and will of the peoples of Myanmar. The voices of Myanmar people who have risked their lives in defense of democracy and justice must be the anchor, the conscience, behind any modality and outcome of the Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar.....၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဧပြီလ ၂၄ ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်မည့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အာဆီယံအထူး ထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးနှင့်အညီ အာဆီယံခေါင်းဆောင်များနှင့် အဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများကို မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖြစ်နေသည့် တရားမဝင် ရက်စက်သော အာဏာသိမ်းမှုနှင့် စစ်အုပ်စုက ကျူးလွန်သော ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းရာတွင် ကုသသမဂ္ဂ လုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီ၊ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကောင်စီ၊ နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇဝတ်တရားရုံး (ICC) နှင့် အခြားသက်ဆိုင်ရာ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းများနှင့်အတူ ထိရောက်ခိုင်မာသော မဟာဗျူဟာတစ်ခုကို ပူးတွဲလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် အောက်တွင် လက်မှတ်ရေးထိုးထားသော တစ်သီးပုဂ္ဂလ ၇၄၄ ဦး၊ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံမှ အရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်း ၄၀၂ ဖွဲ့နှင့် အခြား အရှေ့တောင်အာရှနိုင်ငံများမှ အရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်း ၄၄၄ ဖွဲ့တို့က တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။
အင်ဒိုနီးရှားနိုင်ငံ သမ္မတ ဂျိုကို ဝီဒိုဒို (Joko Widodo) ၏ အဆိုပြုချက်အပေါ် အခြေခံပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်း ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ဆန္ဒပြသူများအပေါ် စစ်အုပ်စုမှ လုပ်ဆောင်သော အကြမ်းဖက် ဖြိုခွဲမှုများနှင့် အရပ်သားများအပေါ် ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့သည့်နောက်ပိုင်း ပိုမိုဆိုးရွားလာနေသော အခြေအနေများကို ဆွေးနွေးရန်အတွက် အာဆီယံအထူးထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးကို ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်ရန် ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်ကို မိမိတို့မှ ထောက်ခံကြိုဆိုသည်။ ယင်းဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်သည် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံ ခေါင်းဆောင်များမှ ၎င်းတို့၏ အမြင့်ဆုံးအဆင့် မူဝါဒရေးဆွဲချမှတ်သည့်အဖွဲ့ကို အသုံးပြုပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖြစ်ပေါ်နေသော ဆိုးရွားလှသည့် အခြေအနေများကို ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းရန် ကတိကဝတ်ပြုမှုကို ထင်ဟပ်သည့်အပြင် လိုက်နာရမည့်ထုံးတမ်းစဉ်လာဖြစ်လာလိမ့်မည်ဟု မျှော်လင့်ပါသည်။
သို့ရာတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အာဏာသိမ်းမှုအပေါ် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများ၏ မတူကွဲပြားနေသော ရပ်တည်ချက်များကို ကြည့်ခြင်းအားဖြင့် အာဆီယံထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးမှ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အကြပ်အတည်းကို ပြည်တွင်းရေးသာဖြစ်ပြီး “အာဆီယံနည်း” အရ ဝင်ရောက်စွက်ဖက်မှု မပြုခြင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံ၏ အချုပ်အခြာအာဏာအပေါ် အလွန်အကျွံ လေးစားမှုတို့ကြောင့် အဓိပ္ပါယ်ပြည့်၀သော အရေးယူ ဆောင်ရွက်မှု လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းမှ ရှောင်ကြဥ်သွားမည်ကို မိမိတို့မှ စိုးရိမ်မိပါသည်။
စစ်အုပ်စုမှ မြန်မာပြည်သူများအပေါ် တမင်ရည်ရွယ်သော သတ်ဖြတ်တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများ ဆက်လက် လုပ်ဆောင်နေချိန်တွင် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများအကြား မတူကွဲပြားသော ရပ်တည်ချက်များက အာဆီယံအတွက် ဘုံသဘောတူညီချက် ရရှိရန် အခက်အခဲဖြစ်စေပြီး မရေရာမှုများကို ထွက်ပေါ်စေခြင်းနှင့် အာဆီယံ၏ တုံ့ပြန်မှုများ နှောင့်နှေးကြန့်ကြာနေမှုသည် မိမိတို့အား ဝမ်းနည်း အမြတ်ဒေါသ ဖြစ်စေပါသည်။ အာဆီယံနိုင်ငံခြားရေးဝန်ကြီးများ၏ အလွတ်သဘော အစည်းအဝေး (IAFMM) မှ ထွက်ပေါ်လာသော ရလဒ်များက ဖော်ပြနေသည်မှာ အာဆီယံ၏ တုံ့ပြန်မှုသည် မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ ဆန္ဒနှင့် ကိုက်ညီမှု မရှိပေ။ IAFMM အစည်းအဝေး ဥက္ကဌ၏ ကြေညာချက်သည် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ ရက်စက်ယုတ်မာမှုများကို တိကျစွာ လူသိရှင်ကြား ဝေဖန်ရှုတ်ချခြင်း မရှိသကဲ့သို့ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီနှင့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီများနှင့် ပိုမိုအားကောင်းသော ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရေးအတွက် တောင်းဆို ခဲ့ခြင်းလည်း မရှိပေ။ ထို့အပြင် အာဆီယံသည် စစ်အုပ်စု ခေါင်းဆောင်များနှင့် စီးပွားရေးလုပ်ငန်းများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထား စီးပွားရေးအရေးယူပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ၊ ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်း လက်နက်ခဲယမ်း ပိတ်ဆို့မှု နှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အခြေအနေကို နိုင်ငံတကာရာဇဝတ်တရားရုံး (ICC) သို့ လွှဲပြောင်းရေး တောင်းဆိုချက်များအပေါ် ထောက်ခံရေး ၎င်း၏ ကတိကဝတ်ကို ဖော်ပြရန်လည်း ပျက်ကွက်ခဲ့သည်။
လက်ရှိအချိန်တွင် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများ၏ မတူညီသော အကျိုးစီးပွားနှင့် နိုင်ငံရေးစိတ်ဆန္ဒများ ရှိနေခြင်းကြောင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အခြေအနေကို ဖြေရှင်းရန် အာဆီယံအထူးထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးမှ လျင်မြန်ပြီး အဓိပ္ပာယ်ပြည့်ဝသော ကြားဝင်ဖြေရှင်းမှုကို မည်သည့်အတိုင်းအတာအထိ ဖော်ဆောင်နိုင်မည် ဆိုသည့်အပေါ် မိမိတို့မှ စိုးရိမ်ပူပန်သည်။ ယခုအချိန်တွင် ဒီမိုကရေစီ ထိန်းသိမ်းရေးအတွက် အာဆီယံ၏ အဓိပ္ပါယ်ပြည့်ဝသော စုပေါင်းအရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုကို လိုအပ်သည်။ လာမည့် ထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးတွင် အာဆီယံ ခေါင်းဆောင်များမှ စစ်အုပ်စုအား မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ တရားဝင်သော ကိုယ်စားလှယ်အဖြစ် သတ်မှတ်ဆက်ဆံရန် ဆုံးဖြတ်ပါက စစ်အုပ်စု၏ ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို တရားဝင်စေမည်ဖြစ်သဖြင့် အာဆီယံနှင့် မြန်မာပြည်သူတို့၏ ဆက်ဆံရေးကိုသာမက ဒေသတွင်းတစ်ခုလုံး၏ ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှု ကိုလည်း ပျက်စီးစေလိမ့်မည်။
ထို့အပြင် အာဆီယံနှင့် ၎င်း၏ အဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများအနေဖြင့် ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်ခံထားရသည့် ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားလှယ် ၇၆%၊ တိုင်းရင်းသား ခေါင်းဆောင်များ၊ လူထုအာဏာဖီဆန်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားမှုနှင့် အထွေထွေသပိတ်ကော်မတီများဖြင့် ပါဝင်ဖွဲ့စည်းထားသော မြန်မာပြည်သူများ ထောက်ခံ ထားသည့် တရားဝင် ဒီမိုကရေစီနည်းကျ ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်ခံ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အစိုးရဖြစ်သည့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၏ တရားဝင်မှုကို အသိအမှတ်ပြုရမည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရကသာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကို ကိုယ်စားပြုရမည်ဖြစ်ပြီး ဆိုးရွားလှသည့်ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများမှတစ်ဆင့် နိုင်ငံကို အပြည့်အဝ ထိန်းချုပ်နိုင်ရန် ကြိုးစားနေသည့် တရားမဝင် စစ်အုပ်စုက မဖြစ်ရပေ။
ဤစာကို အာဆီယံခေါင်းဆောင်များထံ ပေးပို့သည့်အချိန်တွင်ပင် ဆန္ဒပြသူများအပေါ် လုပ်ဆောင်နေသော စစ်အုပ်စု၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများနှင့် သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများသည် လျော့နည်းလာမည့်လက္ခဏာ မရှိဘဲ ဆက်လက်ဖြစ်ပွားနေသည်။ လက်ရှိအချိန်ထိတွင် စစ်အုပ်စုမှ လူဦးရေ ၃,၂၂၉ ဦး မတရားဖမ်းဆီး ထိန်းသိမ်းထားပြီး လူပေါင်း ၇၃၇ ဦးကို သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ကာ ထိုအထဲတွင် အမျိုးသမီး၊ သက်ကြီးရွယ်အိုများနှင့် ကလေးများ ပါဝင်သည်။[1] ကရင်နှင့် ကချင် တိုင်းရင်းသား နယ်မြေများတွင် စစ်အုပ်စုက ကျေးရွာများအား ဗုံးကြဲတိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်းကြောင့် အရပ်သားပေါင်း ၃၀,၀၀၀ ကျော် ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေကြရသည်။[2] ထိုဗုံးကြဲ တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများတွင် ကလေးငယ်များအပါအဝင် အရပ်သားများ အသက်ဆုံးရှုံးရမှုများအပြင် ၎င်းတို့၏ လုံခြုံမှုအတွက်သာမက ကျန်းမာရေး၊ နေထိုင်ရေးနှင့် အစားအသောက်တို့အတွက်ပါ အခက်အခဲများ ကြုံတွေ့ရသည်။ ထိုထွက်ပြေးရသူများထဲတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ ကလေးငယ်များ၊ သက်ကြီးရွယ်အိုများနှင့် မွေးဖွားခါနီး ကိုယ်ဝန်ဆောင်အမျိုးသမီးတို့ ပါဝင်သည်။ ထိုအထဲတွင် ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရင်း မီးဖွားခဲ့ရသော အမျိုးသမီးတစ်ဦး၏ ဖြစ်ရပ်လည်း ရှိခဲ့သည်။ အခြေအနေ၏ ဆိုးရွားမှု၊ ကျူးလွန်ချိုးဖောက် ခံနေရသူ အရေအတွက် များပြားလာမှုနှင့် ဒေသတွင်း လုံခြုံရေးနှင့် နိုင်ငံရေးတည်ငြိမ်မှုတို့အပေါ် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အကြပ်အတည်း၏ သက်ရောက်မှုကြောင့် အာဆီယံထိပ်သီး အစည်းအဝေးမှတစ်ဆင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုကို ဖြေရှင်းရန်အတွက် အာဆီယံအနေဖြင့် ခိုင်မာထိရောက်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက် မှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် မိမိတို့မှ တိုက်တွန်း တောင်းဆိုသည်။
အာဆီယံ ခေါင်းဆောင်များမှ မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ ရည်မှန်းချက်များနှင့် စိတ်ဆန္ဒကို နားထောင်ပြီး အလေးအနက်ထား ထည့်သွင်းစဥ်းစားလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် မိမိတို့မှ တိုက်တွန်းတောင်းဆိုသည်။ ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် တရားမျှတမှု ကာကွယ်ရာတွင် ၎င်းတို့၏ အသက်များကို စတေးထားသော မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ အသံများသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အာဆီယံအထူးထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေး၏ လုပ်ဆောင်မှုပုံစံနှင့် ရလဒ်များ၏ အခြေခံကျောရိုး ဖြစ်ရမည်။..."
Source/publisher:
744 individuals, 402 civil society organisations in Myanmar, 444 in other Southeast Asian nations and globally via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2021-04-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, International Relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, International Criminal Court, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Topic:
Business, Indonesia, Global trade, Min Aung Hlaing, Asia, Myanmar, Jakarta, Aung San Suu Kyi, Summits, Bangkok, Asia Pacific, World News, Southeast Asia
Topic:
Business, Indonesia, Global trade, Min Aung Hlaing, Asia, Myanmar, Jakarta, Aung San Suu Kyi, Summits, Bangkok, Asia Pacific, World News, Southeast Asia
Description:
"When the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations holds a special summit Saturday to discuss Myanmar, the regional body will be under as much scrutiny as the general who led the February coup ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Opponents of the junta are furious that ASEAN is welcoming its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to its meeting in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, arguing that because he seized power by force, he is not Myanmar’s legitimate leader. Also weighing heavily against him is the lethal violence perpetrated by the security forces he commands, responsible for killing hundreds of largely peaceful protesters and bystanders.
“Min Aung Hlaing, who faces international sanctions for his role in military atrocities and the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, should not be welcomed at an intergovernmental gathering to address a crisis he created,” said Brad Adams, Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
“ASEAN members should instead take this opportunity to impose targeted, economic sanctions on junta leaders and on businesses that fund the junta, and press the junta to release political detainees, end abuses, and restore the country’s democratically elected government.”
The junta’s foes have promoted the idea that the opposition’s parallel National Unity Government, recently established by the elected lawmakers the army barred from being seated, should represent Myanmar, or at least have some role in the Jakarta meeting. It has not been invited.
“It’s unacceptable that they invite this murderer-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who has just killed more than 730 people in Myanmar, and I think it is very unfortunate that they, again and again, talk to the military generals and not to the civilian government of Myanmar, which is the NUG,” says the parallel government’s Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Sasa, who uses one name.
Evan Laksmana, a researcher for Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank with close government ties, told The Associated Press there is a very practical reason for engaging Min Aung Hlaing face to face.
ASEAN recognizes “the reality is that one party is doing the violence, which is the military, and therefore that’s why the military is being called to the meeting. So this is not in any way conferring legitimacy to the military regime,” he said.
By talking to the general, ASEAN hopes to initiate a longer-term process, starting with ending the violence, that will “hopefully help facilitate dialogue among all the stakeholders in Myanmar, not just (with) the military regime.”
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said at a news conference Friday that her country hopes the ASEAN leaders will reach an agreement that is good for the people of Myanmar.
But skeptics feel ASEAN faces basic problems in seeking to resolve Myanmar’s crisis. They point to the divergent interests of the group’s members, its longstanding conventions of seeking consensus and avoiding interference in each other’s affairs, and the historic obstinacy of Myanmar’s generals.
One faction in the group, comprising Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, believes the instability engendered by the coup threatens the entire region as well as ASEAN’s credibility as a group powerful enough to act independently of big power influence.
They also point out that the ASEAN Charter — adopted in 2007, 40 years after the group’s founding — includes democracy, human rights, good governance and rule of law as guiding principles.
“Now is a grave time for ASEAN’s much-touted centrality, the idea that ASEAN is a central regional platform for regional dialogue, for promoting peace and stability in the region,” said Prof. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. He said that conception of ASEAN is now facing “its most severe, grave challenge” in 53 years of existence.
Member countries with more authoritarian regimes — Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — see little benefit in paying more than lip service to such principles, and have treated Myanmar’s crisis as its own internal matter.
The Jakarta meeting is a hybrid one, with onsite attendance encouraged but virtual participation by video an option because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte both announced they will stay home and send their foreign ministers in their stead, but they are dealing with serious COVID-19 outbreaks, obscuring any political message in their decisions.
“It is more difficult to communicate on a personal level between the leaders without the leaders being present fully, particularly with regards to the prime minister of Thailand, whom we believe to have the best relationship with the current senior general from Myanmar,” observed Indonesia’s Laksmana.
He believes ASEAN has a unique opportunity to engage productively with Myanmar’s ruling junta “because right now there is no other option on the table.”
“We haven’t seen any progress from the U.N. Security Council, for example. There is no collective effort by other countries. This is it. This is the first potential breakthrough for the current crisis,” he told The Associated Press.
U.N. specialized agencies and experts have been active in criticizing the coup and the junta’s crackdown. U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener will not take part in ASEAN’s deliberations, but intends to take part in sideline consultations. The junta has rejected her repeated requests to visit Myanmar.
The Security Council could effectively coordinate actions such as arms embargoes to pressure the junta, but Russia and China, major weapons suppliers to the junta, would veto such moves.
Western nations have already enacted targeted sanctions against members of the junta and businesses giving them financial support, but Myanmar’s past military governments have successfully stood up to such pressures, and would be expected to do so again, especially with support from Beijing.
ASEAN prefers quiet diplomacy to intimidation, seeking incremental gains. Even getting the two Myanmar sides to talk to each other could take some time, acknowledges Laksmana.
“I think the gravity of the situation on the ground is as such now that there is no space or even willingness for dialogue until we end the violence,” he said.
“So I think the first steps would be to what extent can ASEAN facilitate the observance of a humanitarian pause first and then the delivery of the humanitarian aid,” he said. Only after that might a forum be possible where all the stakeholders could talk.
A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said another opening move is under consideration. This would involve having ASEAN’s current chairman, Brunei Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, travel to Myanmar for meetings with the military leadership and Suu Kyi’s camp to encourage dialogue. He would go there with ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi — also from Brunei — if the junta gives them the nod.
ASEAN-style diplomacy with Myanmar has borne fruit in the past. The military regime in charge in 2008 was incapable of mounting sufficient rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis, but refused to open up the country to an international aid effort. ASEAN took the initiative in offering to open a channel for foreign assistance, and the much-needed aid started flowing..."
Source/publisher:
"Associated Press" (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-04-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Burma's economic relations with ASEAN, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Sub-title:
With bullets, beatings and arrests, the junta is trying to scare volunteer rescue workers from treating its victims, and are breaking international humanitarian law to do it, charity groups say.
Description:
"When the three-member team of volunteers from Mandalay’s Payaheta Darri charity rescue service arrived, the found they couldn’t get their ambulance close enough to get the 18-year-old victim onto a stretcher and wheeled to safety.
Friends had brought the teenager, who had been shot in the back, inside a home on 76th Street between 34th and 35th streets in in the city’s central Chan Aye Thar Zan Township. With security forces continuously firing live rounds. The closest the ambulance could get was about three blocks down 34th Street. Ko Htet Myat, 21, a volunteer with Payaheta Darri since the group’s founding in 2015, set out on foot.
He moved cautiously past young protesters huddled behind sandbag barricades and woven bamboo strips, turning onto 76th Street, which he described as a “battlefield”. Inside the home, he pulled the victim onto his back, the teenager’s arms slung over Htet Myat’s shoulders.
Htet Myat slouched forward and began making his way back to the ambulance. On 76th Street three bullets whizzed by – the last terrifying close to his head – before he turned back down 34th. He finally loaded the teen into the ambulance and took him to a nearby hospital. It was about 1pm on March 27.
At about the same time, in Nay Pyi Taw, strutting columns of garlanded troops paraded before junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to mark the 76th anniversary of Armed Forces Day. Meanwhile, throughout Myanmar that day, forces under Min Aung Hlaing’s command killed more than 100 civilians in crackdowns on protests.
Htet Myat is among thousands of volunteer ambulance and rescue workers in Myanmar, who are increasingly being targeted by the junta with both bullets and the law. Earlier that morning, outside of a branch of state-owned Myanma Economic Bank, junta soldiers fired several shots at his ambulance as it took another gunshot victim to a hospital.
Since the crackdowns began, there have been at least 28 attacks on hospitals and health workers, according to the United Nations, which has condemned the junta’s deliberate targeting of rescue workers and their vehicles.
“Attacks against health volunteers and against ambulances are preventing life-saving help from reaching civilians wounded by security forces,” UN spokesperson Mr Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York on April 6.
The junta has raided the offices of several charity organisations doing rescue work, and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says that at least 18 medical volunteers have been arrested, charged or sentenced for attempting to save lives.
Most of the organisations are small, local entities working independently, but even volunteers for the large, government-affiliated Myanmar Red Cross Society have been injured and arrested, with some of them still in custody.
MRCS general secretary Dr Htin Zaw Soe said that Geneva Conventions signed by Myanmar in 1949 recognise volunteers and vehicles bearing the Red Cross flag and logo as symbols of protection, making it a violation of international humanitarian law to target them.
“They [security forces] may not be aware of this [law],” he said. “We plan to raise awareness among the public so this is more widely known.”
For Htet Myat in Mandalay, the moral calculus is clear without bringing in international humanitarian law.
“It is just inhumane of them [the security forces] to prevent us from helping the injured,” he told Frontier. “If protesters have been shot and badly injured, the junta’s security forces should allow us to retrieve them [and] save people’s lives.”
‘There is no guarantee for our safety’
The targeting of rescue workers did not begin with the Armed Forces Day slaughter. One of Payaheta Darri’s four ambulances was shot 15 times while parked outside the team’s office in Mandalay’s Chan Aye Thar Zan Township on the night of February 17.
U Ye Myint Win, aka Nickey Diamond, a Myanmar human rights specialist with the international watchdog group Fortify Rights, believes the junta considers the charity groups to be anti-coup partisans.
“The military junta assumes these charity groups support the protesters, and that is why they are also cracking down on them,” he said. “One of their objectives is to prevent injured protesters from being rescued and treated.”
On February 28, junta forces beat two Red Cross volunteers as they were administering first-aid to injured protesters in Mandalay’s Chan Mya Tharzi Township, and damaged two of their ambulances.
The day before, three other volunteers from the Pakkoku branch of the Red Cross in Magway Region were arrested while providing aid. Htin Zaw Soe said the organisation does not know why the arrests were made or if the volunteers have been charged with a crime, but that they are still in custody. It is lobbying local police for their release.
In Mandalay, at least 26 members of the Payaheta Darri and Payaheta Min Khaung charity rescue groups, including two medical doctors and one nurse, were arrested and taken to Obo Prison for treating injured protesters on March 27, then charged with incitement under section 505-A of the Penal Code, according to an official with Payaheta Min Khaung.
Also among the arrested was the Payaheta Darri team leader, a spokesperson told Frontier, adding that the group has since suspended its service “due to insecurity”.
In Yangon, the highly-respected Free Funeral Service Society has suspended all operations since March 4, after security forces launched a midnight raid on its North Okkalapa Township office.
During the raid, security forces brutally assaulted staff and volunteers, leaving at least three injured, and seized computers and other equipment, though they made no arrests.
Two days prior to the raid, FFSS chair U Kyaw Thu had gone into hiding. Hours after the office was raided, the junta charged him in absentia with incitement under section 505-A of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum three-year year sentence.
Daw Myint Myint Khin Pe, FFSS finance officer and Kyaw Thu’s wife, was charged with incitement on February 25, after the society voiced support for the Civil Disobedience Movement and pledged not to assist police or military personnel with medical or funeral service, according to a March 4 broadcast on state news.
Military-run media has also accused the couple of “misusing” donations, including raising more than K316 million in donations for CDM participants between February 10 and March 3, and of distributing to about 2,000 CDM participants between K100,000 and K200,000 each.
“All of our staff are now in hiding,” an FFSS employee who asked not to be named told Frontier on April 2. “The military is hunting us.”
On March 3, CCTV footage that was shared on Facebook captured security forces savagely beating three male volunteers with the Mon Myat Sate Htar rescue charity who had been detained that day by security forces in Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township, where the group is based. The AAPP says a fourth was also detained, but was separated and harassed before the camera began rolling.
The three volunteers in the video, clad in construction hard hats, are forced to kneel before being kicked in the head and beaten with batons and rifle butts by police, who had also shot out the windows of their ambulance. All four suffered injuries and were reportedly treated at Insein Prison, where they were detained for several weeks. The AAPP says they were also slapped with 505-A charges, but Mon Myat Sate Htar could not confirm this, and they were all released on March 24.
After their release, all four returned as volunteers to the frontlines of demonstrations. But Mon Myat Sate Htar president U Hla Kyaing said he fears the incident will deter others from volunteering as the need increases.
U Zin Moe, vice president of the Mawlamyine Rescue Organisation, said volunteers were being forced to gamble with their own lives. “We want to help people, but there is no guarantee for our safety,” he said.
On April 2, in the Mon State capital, soldiers and police dragged three volunteers from an MRO ambulance that had been called to assist people injured in a motorcycle accident at around 7pm. Police interrogated and humiliated the three on the street, though they made no arrests that night, Zin Moe said, adding that the nationwide 8pm-to-4am curfew in place since February has made it impossible to operate rescue services at night. The curfew has no medical exceptions, he said.
‘The injured just piled up’
The deadly consequences of the security forces’ targeting of medical workers was on full display during the April 9 mass slaughter in the city of Bago, where many victims died from excess blood loss after the military prevented rescue workers from getting to them. That day, police and soldiers reportedly killed more than 80 people.
An official from a Bago rescue group who requested anonymity told Frontier that nearly every rescue group in the city was unable to tend to the wounded because of an unending torrent of junta gunfire.
“The injured just piled up,” he said. “Even nearby residents couldn’t get to them. We wanted to save them, but our teams couldn’t run straight into a barrage of gunfire.
The UN issued a statement the following day condemning the crackdown.
“The UN in Myanmar is following continued escalation of violence in Bago with reports of heavy artillery being used against civilians and medical treatment being denied to the injured,” it said. “We call on the security forces to allow medical teams to treat the wounded.”
Among the dead was at least one medical worker. U Thiha, a volunteer from the Pyae Wa charity group, was killed in Bago’s Ponna Su ward while helping to arrange a funeral when security forces arrived and opened fire.
Witnesses told Thiha’s mother, Daw Yamin Oo, 52, that the 32-year-old was shot in the thigh as he tried to flee by scaling a wall. After he fell, soldiers approached and savagely beat him. Ponna Su residents told Frontier they later saw Thiha being dragged behind a police motorbike through the rock-strewn streets, screaming at first until his body became limp.
“When I saw my son’s dead body, his head was dented and his chest was also bruised, and there was no skin at all below his knees,” Yamin Oo told Frontier. “How inhuman!” she said, going momentarily silent before breaking into a wail and calling out her son’s name.
Ye Myint Win from Fortify Rights believes the savagery of such attacks is meant to send a message to protesters.
“They want to instill fear in the people, so protesters know they will be helpless if they are shot or injured,” he said.
Yamin Oo offered a similar, if more pointed, assessment of an institution whose power depends on fear.
“My son was brutally murdered,” she said. “Soldiers and police are not security forces who protect the public – they are terrorists!”..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Description:
"The National Unity Government, Republic of the Union of Myanmar mandated the Union Minister, Ministry of Health has formulated a strategic healthcare plan (abridged) for the interim period of six months, from April to September 2021, to provide the public with a
quintessential healthcare system. The guiding principles of this strategic healthcare plan is based upon the Federal Democratic Charter’s vision and mission of providing Universal Health
Coverage under a Federal Healthcare System.
The pillars of this Strategic Healthcare Plan are as follows:
1. Community Health System
Charity workers are to be the frontline healthcare providers in the community health system. With the help of the regional development associations, other development partners and charitable groups in the area, we intend to provide basic health care. For this to happen healthcare committees and healthcare support groups are to be established.....
2. Leadership and Governance
Decentralization shall be part of the process to be able provide Universal Health Coverage under the Federal Healthcare System. The Health Ministry shall be at the helm to help realise this objective. The Ministry shall help coordinate funding and assistance from
international organisations. In addition, evidence of the military dictatorship’s violations of healthcare workers’ human rights shall be formally documented and presented in a court of law.....3. Service Delivery Regular healthcare programmes that are fundamental in a healthcare system (Maternal and Perinatal healthcare, Vaccination programmes, Nutritional health and development, HIV
programmes, anti*Tuberculosis programmes, Malaria campaigns, Communicable and Noncommunicable diseases programmes, Mental Health, Trauma Care) will be accomplished initially. Patient Referral Systems will also be established. These programmes
will be organised in partnership with the government hospitals, private hospitals, Ethnic Health Organisations and Civic societies. Modern communications systems such as Telehealth and e-Health will also be incorporated into the healthcare system. In providing
healthcare, Federal Democracy Charter’s edict, equity and conflict sensitivity will be adhered to with utmost importance.....4. Health Workforce All healthcare workers, doctors, healthcare workers in the private sector, non-government organisations, traditional medicine organisations, civic societies, societies in villages, wards
and tracts are all taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement united as one empowering the interest of the populace. It is also to be noted that the medical diaspora abroad, with their expertise and support, is an important valuable asset to the workforce.....5. Health Information System Using the modern Information Technology, we shall set up systems and networks whereby information, knowledge and administrative data can be efficiently shared.....6. Medical Products and Technologies As long as COVID-19 is still prevalent in Myanmar, with the need to restart the vaccination
programme, we will need to acquire the vaccines with the assistance of the World Health Organisation and other friendly organisations. In addition, we will need to keep important diseases like HIV, TB, and Malaria at bay by effective planning.....7. Health Financing
The tax revenue not contributed to the military regime, can be diverted towards the Strategic Healthcare Plan. Donations from friendly countries will need to be used wisely and proportioned equitably where needed. Villages, wards, and tracts would all need to keep
emergency funds set aside for emergency healthcare purposes.
For the Strategic Healthcare Plan to be endorsed, innovative thinking and methods together with a plan for a future healthcare system that will be resilient to pandemics and conflicts had to be formulated. This future healthcare system shall be the mainstay as a bridge for peace,
for all, regardless of race, religion, sex, age, social status, education, etc., with no impediment to equity and social inclusion. For this to materialise we shall work together, hand in hand, with United Nations Agencies, development partners, doctors, private healthcare personnel, non-government organisations, ethnic healthcare organisations, civic societies and organisations in the villages and wards. Ministry of Health National Unity Government..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-02-21
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Public Health
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46.55 KB 348.35 KB
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"Open Letter from Dr. Sasa to ASEAN National Unity Government of Myanmar Union Minister for International Cooperation and NUG Spokesperson 22nd April 2021......I bring greetings to you as the Union Minister of International Cooperation and Spokesperson of Myanmar’s new National Unity Government (NUG). Formed by democratically elected leaders of Myanmar, this new government is accountable to, and reflects the diversity of, our great people.
We greatly appreciate the Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s (ASEAN) willingness to help Myanmar address the crisis that has gripped our nation, and indeed our region, following the illegal coup d’etat on 1 February. We are aware that ASEAN will be holding an
emergency Summit on Myanmar on 24 April. We believe that the people of Myanmar should be included in meetings about Myanmar and its future. We are therefore fully prepared, as the legitimate representatives of the people of Myanmar, to participate in this Summit. We stand ready to engage with our ASEAN neighbors
toward ending this crisis, restore democracy and stability in Myanmar.
If ASEAN believes that engagement with the military coup leaders- junta is necessary, we believe that it should only occur if the military generals- junta meets the following conditions and demonstrates that it is adhering to them: 1. Stop murdering civilians and end all kind of violence against the people of Myanmar. The military junta led SAC has killed over 740 Myanmar civilians since the coup and the number of its victims increase every day......2. Stop systematically attacking neighborhoods and randomly discharging weapons into civilians’ homes that have claimed the lives of many civilians, including most vulnerable groups, people with disability, children and women.....3. Stop bombing and shelling Kachin, Karen villages and other part of the country, which has caused significant casualties and has led to tens of thousands of civilians being displaced.....4. Stop preventing those who need medical care from receiving it, including agreeing to
immediately: (i ) Stop occupying medical facilities, Schools, colleges building across the Nation (ii) Stop arresting and attacking medical personnel (iii) Stop preventing emergency medical personnel from reaching victims (iv) Stop arresting, attacking, torturing and harassing CDM members and their families who are exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression. (v) Stop arresting and attacking, torturing and harassing democratically elected leaders, their family’s members and love ones..... 5. Unconditionally release the over 3,300 political prisoners detained since the coup and stop arbitrarily detaining protesters and others who are exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression.....6. Stop all military actions against the innocent people of Myanmar and return the power to National Unity Government formed by democratically elected leaders by the people and for the people of Myanmar. The military junta continues to inflict horrific damage on our communities and people. We need ASEAN’s help in meeting the urgent humanitarian crisis that this has caused. Please provide support to the people who have been forced to flea their homes throughout our country because of the SAC-military junta’s attacks. World Food Programs (WFP) analysis shows millions more people face hunger in Myanmar the coming months as the crisis in Myanmar get deeper and deeper day by day. Please also provide support to those who seek refuge in other countries and send humanitarian assistance to help them. The National Unity
Government can help facilitate the flow of humanitarian support to the people of Myanmar. We stand ready to help you help our people in need. We also need ASEAN’s help in bringing the pressure to bear that will end the military junta’s assaults and end its attempted illegal coup. Help us cut off the resources that they need to continue their attacks on our people. This includes stopping business operations that funnel money into their illegal coffers, cutting the flow of weapons to their arsenal, and helping us as we seek to hold them accountable for their crimes through international mechanisms. We humbly yet urgently request that ASEAN does everything in its power to help the people of Myanmar in this, our greatest hour of need. We look forward to returning to ASEAN a legitimate government in good standing so that, together, we can make ASEAN the peaceful and prosperous region that all of our people deserve. Sincerely, Dr. Sasa..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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pdf
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38.53 KB
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Description:
"1. Front the time the Committee Representing Pyithu Hluttaw came into being in February
2021, personnel from the soon to be Ministry of Health had been involved in forming the
National Unity Government with the ultimate aim of building a Federal Democratic Union.
At the same time short term plans were laid down to establish the universal healthcare
system that is available to all the denizens and long term health policies were also being
examined.....
2. The Ministry congratulates each and every one of the healthcare workers who have been
taking in the Civil Disobedience Movement. The Ministry duly pledges that the positions,
appointments you hold will be kept open for you. You, the public, also rejected and
rebuffed the healthcare provided for by the military regime. The Ministry offers its
condolences to all the staff and heroes of the whole nation who had fallen due to the brutal
suppression by the junta. In addition, those healthcare workers, who without due
consideration for their own safety, looked after the wounded and the injured and those who
had been arbitrarily arrested, we hope that they are to be released soon and give
encouragement in your fight against the military dictatorship.....
3. Those personnel who have been forcefully removed and have become internally displaced
persons; we shall provide healthcare as soon as is feasible. In addition, we will unite, direct
and care for those whose care facilities have been forcibly closed and healthcare
programmes that are essential to the public, for all to be safely reinstated in the short term
during the interim period of the National Unity Government.....
4. We, therefore, will institute disease prevention programmes and primary care programmes,
trauma care and COVID-19 prevention programmes in the first instance. Tele-consultations
and telemedicine, webinars etc., will play a major part in implementing modern
telecommunications methods in healthcare. To invest in those essential and indispensable
modern means and methods discussion will have to take place with friendly organisations
and donors.....
5. In the long run with the help of all concerned we, hand in hand, will work towards Universal
Health Care (UHC) which will form the basis of the healthcare system in the Federal
Democratic Union. All Ethnic Health Organisations will equally become part of the national
healthcare workforce. We shall all join forces with other health related organisations such
as UN agencies, multinational health organisations, civil societies such Community Based
Organisations/Civil Society Organisations, intellectuals, experts etc and regional leaders and
work together in solidarity.....
6. During the interim period of the National Unity Government, the ministry shall openly
inform the general public of the healthcare choices available to them.....
7. As the Federal Health System is to be the mainstay of our future Nation, we all shall work
together openly with transparency to establish the system. The Ministry vows to strenuously
take part in the building of the future Federal Democratic Union and its Universal
Healthcare System.
Ministry of Health
National Unity Government..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-20
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Public Health
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
668.38 KB 33.19 KB 31.9 KB
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Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-20
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Education in Burma/Myanmar - general, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
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193.09 KB
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Description:
"1.Myanmar was elected as a member of the UN Executive Board of UNDP/ UNFPA/ UNOPS (United Nations Development Programme/ United Nations Population Fund/ United Nations Office for Project Services) for 3 - year term of 2022 - 2024 during the United Nations Economic and Social Council - ECOSOC meeting held in New York on 20 April 2021. Myanmar will serve as a member of the Executive Board for three years starting from 1 January 2022.....
2. In order to actively participate in international relations and diplomatic affairs with the countries around the world, the elected civilian government led by President U Win Myint and State
Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has put sustainable and continued efforts.....
3. Not only to promote national interests in international relations, by actively participating in the United Nations Agencies, Myanmar is trying its best to contribute to socio-economic development of all nations.....
4. With these efforts, Myanmar was elected as a member of the UNESCO Executive Board in 2019.In 2017, Myanmar presented its candidature for a seat on the Executive Board of UNDP/
UNFPA/ UNOPS for the period 2022-2024. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations reached out to the
member states of the Asia-Pacific region group to support Myanmar’s candidacy. With the consensus of the Asia-Pacific countries, on 28 January 2021, Myanmar was endorsed by the group to be elected as a member of the Executive Board of UNDP/ UNFPA/ UNOPS. As a result, Myanmar was elected by the members of ECOSOC as a member of the Executive Board for three
years.....
5. The National Unity Government of Myanmar wishes to reaffirm that as a member of the Executive Board of UNDP/ UNFPA/ UNOPS, Myanmar under the elected civilian government led by President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, will actively
participate in and perform its duties and responsibilities in the Executive Board for the benefits of the people in the region and the world..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-21
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general, UNDP - Burma/Myanmar
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
69.05 KB 465.4 KB
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Description:
"On 8 November 2020, Myanmar had its third general election since 2010. The electorate overwhelmingly voted for the National League for Democracy (NLD). On 1 February 2021, the Tatmadaw staged a coup, alleging that the NLD had taken power by fraudulent means. President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, along with most senior NLD leaders, were immediately arrested. The remaining senior NLD leaders urged people to protest, before being arrested themselves. The people have risen to the occasion, and have sacrificed much to challenge the coup. The fate of the revolution lies in the hands of political entities and ethnic armed organizations, who must support the people before it is too late......People’s Response to the Military Coup: Under the banner of the “Spring Revolution”, Myanmar’s anti-military coup movement has generated an unprecedented level of national unity – overcoming ethnic, religious, and class boundaries. Since early February, protesters have drummed pots and pans every day at 8pm in response to the coup. They have come out to streets, turning major roads into seas of people, remaining peaceful despite the violence they endure at the hands of the military. Civil servants and private sector workers have established a national civil disobedience movement (CDM) in an unmatched attempt to cripple the military’s administrative mechanism. In response to brutal crackdowns from security forces, demonstrations are now smaller to aid escape. The protesters have also used road blockages to hinder the advancement of security forces. However, security forces have now forcefully cleared blockades at most protest sites. In some places, security forces have reportedly forced local residents (especially men) to clear them.
Protesters have also started social punishment campaigns against military families and their associates, and have called for a boycott of products produced by military’s companies. These tactics have already had significant effects. For instance, many restaurants and bars no longer sell Myanmar Beer. There are also reports of people boycotting MyTel, a mobile operator jointly owned by the Tatmadaw and the Vietnamese military.
One could argue that the public has done their part to the best of their capacities and it would be unrealistic to expect more from them. The best they could possibly do would be to continue the social punishment campaign against military leaders, their families and associates, as well as to sustain their boycott of products and services provided by the military’s companies.
Therefore, at this point, the outcome of the Myanmar Spring Revolution largely depends on the capacity of institutional leaders to consolidate various opposition forces. The elected members of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament), mostly from the NLD, are attempting to provide the institutional leadership by forming the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). Thus, the outcome of the Myanmar Spring Revolution depends on the political decisions and leadership of the CRPH.....The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH): The elected NLD members believe that their victory in the 2020 general election provides a mandate to form the CRPH, which was established so that they could perform the necessary activities and duties of an elected government. These include appointing and forming a government and making laws.....Political Visions of the CRPH: On 5 March 2021, the CRPH announced its political vision, declaring their commitment to the following: to end military dictatorship; to ensure the unconditional release of all unlawful detainees including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; to achieve full-fledged democracy; and to rescind the 2008 Constitution and write a new Constitution based on the federal system.
The CRPH also states that it will steadfastly work hand-in-hand with all ethnic nationalities and strive for the full realization of this vision. To pave the way for broader participation in the Spring Revolution, the CRPH removed all the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) from the ‘unlawful organization list’ while designating the Tatmadaw as a ‘terrorist organization.’
It seems that most of the ethnic minorities welcome the political visions of the CRPH. However, many ethnic minorities also feel that the CRPH’s vision statement is only the first step. The CRPH must further show a concrete roadmap for including diverse voices within their vision. For example, the former joint secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Padoh Mahn Mahn, states that the political visions of the CRPH are only the beginning and that the CRPH must provide a workable plan for establishing a genuine federal union and a federal army. Likewise, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy also points out that CRPH must declare the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution if ethnic minorities are to come onboard.
At that point, the status of the 2008 Constitution was unclear because its abolishment was only positioned as a ‘political vision.’ However, on 31 March 2021, the CRPH has declared abolishment of the 2008 Constitution and announced Federal Democracy Charter. The Charter provides further details on how the CRPH might seek to translate its visions into reality, for instance by declaring the duties of an interim National Unity Government (NUG). The list of individuals appointed to the NUG was released on 16 April 2021.....Progress of the political talks between the CRPH and the EAOs: The stated political visions of CRPH appear to have won the hearts and minds of some ethnic minority political parties and armed organizations. Since its formation, the CRPH has reportedly been negotiating with EAOs on the terms of creating a federal union. Among those involved in the talks are the Karen National Union, the Restoration Council for Shan State, and the Kachin Independence Army, as well as other groups that have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. By March 2021, the political talks are about 80% complete, according to Zin Mar Aung, the Acting Foreign Minister of the CRPH. These political talks contributed to the aforementioned Federal Democracy Charter and the appointment of the NUG.
According to the Charter, the interim NUG is formed with these roles: President, State Counsellor, Vice President 1, Vice President 2, ministers and deputy ministers. The NUG appointed by the CRPH shows that President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remain in their posts despite being in detention. The NUG is perhaps the most diverse government in terms of ethnicities the country has ever had.
As an aside, it is interesting to ask why the CRPH decided to keep Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as State Counsellor instead of appointing her as the President. Some might beg an answer for the rationale of keeping the post of “State Counsellor”. The post was created to circumvent the 2008 Constitution, which bars people married to foreigners from becoming the president. One wonders why the CRPH has decided to retain the “State Counsellor” post even after declaring the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution.....Doubts over the CRPH: Ethnic minorities have two major concerns over the capacity of the CRPH to uphold the agreements and understandings that the CRPH has reached with them. The first concern relates to ethnic minorities’ perception that Bama political leaders and the majority of Bama ethnic people do not have a strong political will for federalism. This is because a delegation of power to State governments (i.e., ethnic minorities) would mean less power to the Union (Central) Government (i.e., Bama). In other words, federalism is not the top priority of the NLD and (most) Bama ethnic people.
Federalism has never been the top priority of the NLD[1] and the Tatmadaw. In the last Union Peace Conference in August 2020, they (Bama leaders) did not even agree over the terminology of “State Law” (insisted on by Bama leaders) and “State Constitution” (insisted on by NCA-signatories). Subsequently no agreement has been reached on how write a constitution or a mother law governing the ethnic states.
This time, the CRPH announced its political visions and the Federal Democracy Charter while some members of the NLD’s 21-member Central Executive Committee were still in detention. Thus, the concern is whether the CRPH will be able to convince freed NLD leaders to support and honor the agreement (i.e., political roadmap) reached with the ethnic minorities.
Another concern is whether the CRPH can convince the Bama public that federalism is the best way to address the long-standing civil war. From the start of public protests, the priorities of Bama ethnic group and non-Bama ethnic groups have been quite different. For example, the key demands of Bama protesters, who rally behind the NLD flag, have been: (1) the release of mother Suu (State Counsellor), President Win Myint and all other detainees; (2) respect the 2020 election result; (3) restoration of democracy and eradication of military dictatorship.
On the other hand, the key demands of ethnic minorities and (some groups of) Generation Z have been: (1) the eradication of the military dictatorship; (2) abolishment of the 2008 Constitution; (3) establishment of genuine federal democratic union; and (4) release of all detainees including the President and State Counsellor.
It took the CRPH a whole month to announce its ‘political visions’ statement above. It is understandable that the CRPH has hesitated to make the political decisions in the absence of all members of the NLD’s 21-member Central Executive Committee. The decision-makers of the CRPH must have worried about whether freed NLD leaders would support any political understanding or agreement reached between the CRPH and the EAOs. This author has learned that the ethnic minorities who chose to cooperate with the CRPH have the same concern.
Padoh Mahn Mahn of KNU states that if the NLD or CRPH were to betray the ethnic minorities when they regain power, that would be the end of the ethnic minorities’ aspirations to remain in the union. This would force the minorities to choose a different political path. In his interview with Voice of Myanmar, KPICT spokesperson Nsang Gum San also echoes that for the Kachin, this could be seen as the final attempt to establish a federal union, which ethnic minorities have demanded for many decades.
However, Arakan National Party (ANP) and Mon Unity Party (MUP)—two opposition political parties seeking to represent the respective ethnic groups—have decided to join the military regime’s State Administrative Council (SAC). This is clearly not helpful for the anti-coup movement as the military could argue that not all ethnic minorities are against the military’s takeover......Defeating the Coup Requires Faster Decision Making: The CRPH’s announcement on 31 March 2021 – which declared the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution and announced the Federal Democracy Charter – was certainly a huge milestone for achieving federalism in Myanmar. Ethnic minorities had been urging the CRPH to show a clear and concrete roadmap. In his interview with Irrawaddy, CRPH spokesperson said that the Charter was consulted and agreed on by at least four political organizations, although he could not name them for security reasons. It remains to be seen if the Charter is able to rally all major ethnic armed organizations.
However, since the Charter is only a general roadmap, there might be issues that require mutually understanding clarification or definition. Both sides – that is, the CRPH and EAO leaders – have to work out such issues and cooperate quickly to resolve them. Time is of the essence.
Without full cooperation from at least the major EAOs, the Spring Revolution will seem unwinnable to the public and international community. Needless to say, it is of the utmost importance that people do not lose faith in the revolution. Currently, the international community is on the side of the CRPH as they condemn the coup d’état and violent crackdowns on the unarmed and peaceful protesters. No government — not even China and ASEAN members — has publicly recognized the military junta. However, this could change if the international community begins to think that Myanmar Spring Revolution is unlikely to succeed. Therefore, having a concrete agreement between the CRPH and EAOs is key..."
Source/publisher:
"Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-21
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Ethnic groups in Burma: agreements and statements, Ethnic groups in Burma: general studies and articles, Several Groups, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
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pdf
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322.62 KB
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Description:
"Announcement of Min Ko Naing, on behalf of the National Unity Consultative Council on formation of the National Unity Government. (With English Subtitles.)..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
Date of publication:
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Federalism, ethnic conflict and the politics of national reconciliation - general studies and sources, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Title: Formation of the National Unity Government of Myanmar - အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရဖွဲ့စည်းခြင်း
Description:
"The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw(CRPH), with the authority bestowed by the
people’s mandate resultant of all parties’ democratic election held in 2020 has formed the National
Unity Government with following cabinet members, in accordance with the Federal Democracy
Charter (Statement: 19/2021), published on the 31st of March 2021..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
Date of publication:
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
Format :
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Size:
62.7 KB 249 KB
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Sub-title:
The ITUC has welcomed the formation of a national unity government in Myanmar and called for it to be formally recognized by the United Nations, governments and inter-governmental bodies as the legitimate government of Myanmar.
Description:
"The government is composed of parliamentarians elected in November 2020, representatives of the ethnic nationalities, academics and others with specialist expertise.
Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said: “This is the legitimate government of Myanmar reflecting the will of the people as expressed in the November elections. The international trade union movement recognises its legitimacy and so should the entire international community.
“The military junta, which is continuing its murderous campaign against the people of Myanmar, should be completely isolated. Governments should have nothing to do with it and all businesses must sever any economic ties they have with the military.
“Failure to do so means direct complicity in mass murder of people who yearn for democracy and freedom from violent oppression.”
The government includes U Win Myint as President, Aung San Suu Kyi as State Counsellor and Mahn Win Khaing Than as Prime Minister..."
Source/publisher:
International Trade Union Confederation (Brussels)
Date of publication:
2021-04-19
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar
Language:
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Description:
"The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Union Prime Minister Mann Win Khaing Than Myanmar New Year's Speech..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-19
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, The Military's political role
Language:
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Description:
"The first meeting of the Ministry of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs under the National Unity Government was held on 18 April 2021.
The meeting discussed the current needs and various issues concerning women, youth and children and decided to endorse policies to proceed enforcing them immediately.
Discussion Summary
• The predicament of women, youth and children of the minorities including the Rohingyas whom the military committed ethnic cleansing missions against,
• The commitment to take action against the military for its human rights violation upon the women, youth and children during the coup resistance and transformation of power,
• The commitment to stop the abovementioned violation of human rights,
• To provide the best possible assistance to women, youth and children affected by the civil war,
• The needs for the youth who are protesting,
• To initiate rehabilitation programs in education, health including mental support for women, youth and children who have suffered from the SAC’s brutal actions.
The meeting decided to strategize on the issues and cases that were discussed from one month to six month.
The Ministry of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs will take consideration of the voice of the people and make amendments according to the people’s concerns and needs....အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအဖွဲ့၏ ဝန်ကြီးဌာနတစ်ခုဖြစ်သော အမျိုးသမီး၊လူငယ်နှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်ရေးရာဝန်ကြီးဌာန၏ ပထမအကြိမ်အစည်းအဝေးကို ဧပြီလ ၁၈ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည်။
အဆိုပါအစည်းအဝေးတွင် အမျိုးသမီး၊ လူငယ်နှင့်ကလေးသူငယ်များ၏ လတ်တလောလိုအပ်ချက်များ၊ ၄င်းတို့ရင်ဆိုင်ကြုံတွေ့နေရသော ပြဿနာများအား တင်ပြဆွေးနွေးခဲ့ကြပြီး အခြေခံမူဝါဒများချမှတ်ကာ အမြန်ဆုံး အကောင်အထည်ဖော်ဆောင်ရွက် နိုင်ရန် လုပ်ငန်းစဥ်များချမှတ်ခဲ့ကြပါသည်။
ဆွေးနွေးတင်ပြချက်များအရ စစ်အာဏာရှင်ဖိနှိပ်မှုအောက်တွင် လူမျိုးတုန်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှုများကို ခံစားခဲ့ရသော ရိုဟင်ဂျာလူနည်းစုအပါအဝင် လူမျိုးစုအသီးသီးရှိ အမျိုးသမီး၊လူငယ်နှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်များ၏ အခန်းကဏ္ဍ၊ အရေးတော်ပုံကာလနှင့် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းရေးကာလအတွင်း အမျိုးသမီး၊လူငယ်နှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်များအပေါ် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများအား အရေးယူနိုင်ရန်နှင့် ယင်းသို့ချိုးဖောက်မှုများဆက်လက်မဖြစ်ပေါ်စေရန်၊ ပြည်တွင်းစစ်ကြောင့် ရွှေ့ပြောင်းနေထိုင်ရသော အမျိုးသမီး၊ လူငယ်နှင့်ကလေးသူငယ်များအား ကူညီပံ့ပိုးရန်၊ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးတွင် ရွပ်ရွပ်ချွံချွံတိုက်ပွဲဝင်နေကြသောလူငယ်ထု၏ လိုအပ်ချက်များ၊
စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အာဏာသိမ်းမှုနှင့်ပြည်တွင်းစစ်အကျိုးဆက်ကြောင့် ထိခိုက်နစ်နာခဲ့ရသော အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ လူငယ်များနှင့်ကလေးသူငယ်များအား ပညာရေး၊ကျန်းမာရေးမှစ၍ စိတ်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာပံ့ပိုးမှုအပါအဝင် ပြန်လည်ထူထောင်ရေးလုပ်ငန်းများလုပ်ဆောင်ပေးနိုင်ရန်တို့ကို အဓိကဆွေးနွေးခဲ့ကြပါသည်။
အဆိုပါ ဆွေးနွေးချက်များကို အမြန်ဆုံးစတင်အကောင်အထည်ဖော်နိုင်ရန် တစ်လမှ ခြောက်လအတွင်း လုပ်ငန်းစဥ်ချမှတ်၍ ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။
အမျိုးသမီး၊လူငယ်နှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်ရေးရာဌာနအနေဖြင့် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီနိုင်ငံသို့ တက်လှမ်းရာတွင် အရေးပါသော ပြည်သူလူထုအသီးသီး၏ အသံကို အစဥ်တစိုက်နားစွင့်နေပြီး လိုအပ်ချက်များကို ဖြည့်ဆည်းပေးနိုင်ရန် အစွမ်းကုန်ကြိုးစားသွားမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း အသိပေးအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-18
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children, Women's rights, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Discrimination against the Rohingya, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Description:
"Myanmar New Year's Opening Speech by Vice President Duwa Lashi Lawith..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-04-17
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Federalism, ethnic conflict and the politics of national reconciliation - general studies and sources, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
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Topic:
announce, cabinet, CRPH, Ethnic groups, Ethnicities, Federal Democracy Charter, federal union, National Unity Government, unveil, Who’s Who
Topic:
announce, cabinet, CRPH, Ethnic groups, Ethnicities, Federal Democracy Charter, federal union, National Unity Government, unveil, Who’s Who
Description:
"Myanmar’s ousted lawmakers formed a parallel government on Friday in an attempt to defy and discredit the country’s ruling military regime, restore civilian rule and establish a federal union.
The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), established by ousted lawmakers in the wake of the military coup in February, said in a statement that it had formed a National Unity Government (NUG) based on the mandate bestowed on it by the people in the 2020 general election, which the National League for Democracy won by a landslide. Despite being outlawed by the regime, the CRPH enjoys popular support at home and abroad.
The new government is a coalition of democratic forces in Myanmar, including stakeholders from the country’s ethnic groups, formed under the terms of the Federal Democracy Charter, which the CRPH made public in March. The charter guarantees the formation of a federal union, something the country’s ethnicities have long sought.
In the new government, Mahn Win Khaing Than, an ethnic Karen and former House Speaker under the NLD government, is the country’s prime minister, while President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who were ousted by the coup and have been detained since February, retain their positions.
The vice president is lawyer Duwa Lashi La, president of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, politically the most authoritative body in Kachin State.
For the time being the 15-member cabinet will be led by the vice president and prime minister. The CRPH has created three new ministries: the ministries of the Prime Minister; Federal Union Affairs; and Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs. Six of the federal ministers are ethnic Kachin, Karen or Chin, while no representatives of other ethnic nationalities have yet been appointed. However, with important ministries like Agriculture, Transport, and Energy yet to be filled, they will likely be added soon.
In the NUG’s cabinet, four elected NLD lawmakers—Daw Zin Mar Aung, U Lwin Ko Latt, U Yee Mon and U Tin Tun Naing—have been appointed as the ministers for foreign affairs; home affairs and immigration; defense; and planning, finance and investment, respectively. U Yee Mon is somewhat of a surprise appointment as defense minister and brings some unusual qualifications to the portfolio, being a poet.
Dr. Sa Sa, an ethnic Chin and the international envoy for the CRPH, has been appointed international cooperation minister. He will also serve as the NUG’s spokesperson. Dr. Win Myat Aye, who served as social welfare, relief and resettlement minister under the NLD government until the coup, will serve as minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management in the new government.
Another ethnic Chin minister in the new government is Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong. With a mandate from the Chin Consultative Assembly, a politically authoritative umbrella organization among Chin ethnic people, the vice chair of the Chin National Front (CNF), a Chin armed group that has been lobbying for autonomy and federalism in Chin State, is now federal union affairs minister.
Dr. Tu Hkawng, an ethnic Kachin with a postgraduate degree in social science and community development, is natural resources and environmental conservation minister in the NUG, while elected NLD lawmaker Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, an ethnic Karen, is the minister for women, youth and children’s affairs.
Another new face in the cabinet is Dr. Zaw Wai Soe. The orthopedic surgeon, who earned renown for his COVID-19 containment strategies in Yangon before the coup, as well as for his involvement in the Civil Disobedience Movement against the junta, has been named minister for both education and, unsurprisingly, health.
In his statement on the formation of the NUG, spokesperson Dr. Sa Sa said the government members will serve the people of Myanmar regardless of their race, religion, community of origin or walk of life.
“All will have a vitally important role to play in the great cause of liberating our nation from the scourge of this murderous military junta, and all will have equal rights as citizens of Myanmar,” he said.
The spokesperson added that the NUG will bring all ethnic nationalities on board “so that it represents the great diversity and strength of this great nation of Myanmar.”
The NUG also appointed 12 deputy ministers, six of whom are ethnic Kachin, Karen, Mon, Kayan, Karenni and Ta’ang. Many of them are young, politically active and well-educated.
The announcement of the NUG’s formation was heartily welcomed by Myanmar’s people on Friday.
On the CRPH’s Facebook page, the announcement earned 149,000 shares within two hours.
One supporter simply said: “Our legitimate government and we support NUG!”
Unsurprisingly, most of the other comments expressed similar sentiments.
On Friday, the NUG’s Foreign Minister Daw Zin Mar Aung wrote in The New York Times that the people of Myanmar are ready to take great risks and pay a great price for their rights and freedom.
“We ask the international community to support them, with coordinated political, financial and security measures,” she said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Federalism, ethnic conflict and the politics of national reconciliation - general studies and sources, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
The cabinet includes 11 ministries and 26 members
Description:
"Myanmar’s acting vice-president was appointed interim prime minister on Friday by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body formed of elected lawmakers from Myanmar’s ousted civilian government.
Mahn Win Khaing Than served as the speaker of the Upper House until the Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government was forced out in the February 1 military coup.
The CRPH announced the lineup of its interim cabinet members at an online press event on Friday. It includes a president, state counsellor, vice president, prime minister and 11 ministers for 12 ministries. There are also 12 deputy ministers appointed by the CRPH.
Of the 26 total cabinet members, 13 belong to ethnic nationalities, and eight are women.
Ousted president Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi retained their previous positions, but were still detained in military custody at the time of reporting.
Duwa Lashi La was appointed Vice President.
CRPH spokesperson Yee Mon, also known as Maung Tin Thit, has been named the defence minister with his deputies revealed as Khin Ma Ma Myo, the founder of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security Studies, and Nai Kao Rot, an ethnic Mon politician.
Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who has been the acting minister for three cabinet positions (labour, immigration, and population; education; and health and sports) has become the interim head of two ministries: education and health.
Zin Mar Aung, an elected lawmaker and member of the CRPH was appointed foreign affairs minister.
Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, the elected Karen ethnic affairs minister for Yangon Region, was appointed Minister of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs. Her deputy is Ei Thinzar Maung, who competed in the 2020 elections as a Lower House candidate for Yangon’s Pabedan Township.
At 26 years old, Ei Thinzar Maung is the youngest interim cabinet member. She is a well known protest leader in the anti-coup resistance movement and a former member of the Democratic Party for a New Society.
Dr. Sasa, a member of the CRPH and Myanmar’s Special Envoy to the United Nations, has been appointed the Minister for International Cooperation.
The CRPH consists mainly of parliamentarians from the National League for Democracy (NLD) who were elected in Myanmar’s 2020 general election but were unable to take their seats in the legislature due to the February 1 military coup.
A CRPH member, who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that the cabinet was formed with the agreement of multiple ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and would be in accordance with the political roadmap outlined in the Federal Democracy Charter.
The Federal Democracy Charter was published by the CRPH on March 31, the same day it announced that it had abolished the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.
The two-part charter lays out a plan to form an “interim national unity government,” the duties of which include working to “weaken the governance mechanisms” of the military regime, support the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), and make arrangements for “national defence.”
According to the political roadmap described in the first part of the charter, legislative and judicial bodies will be created after the formation of a national unity government. The charter also includes plans to establish a national convention to draft a new constitution, which would be approved only after a national referendum is held.
The charter states that the national unity government will govern under a parliamentary system and will include a prime minister, president, state counsellor and a vice-president.
Under the charter, there are also plans to establish a National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) to coordinate cooperation among federal democracy forces. The NUCC will include representatives of the CRPH, political parties, EAOs, civil society organisations and CDM groups.
Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong, the appointed minister of federal union affairs, said at an online press conference on Friday afternoon that members of the NUCC would be announced within one week, although the council was originally supposed to have been formed at the same time as the interim cabinet.
He said that the members were trying to ensure that the council would be as inclusive as possible.
The interim cabinet was formed following a series of meetings between current CRPH members and the leaders of several EAOs and ethnic political parties, held after the previous NLD-led administration’s term officially expired on March 31.
The 20-page Federal Democracy Charter is based on an interim constitution drafted between 1990 and 2008 by NLD lawmakers elected in 1990 and ethnic armed forces in Myanmar’s border areas. This is the first time it has been unveiled to the public..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), National Unity Government (NUG), Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar
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Sub-title:
A video filmed at the scene depicts a member of the armed forces saying, ‘I want them dead. Do you hear me? Five of them’
Description:
"Two protesters were shot and killed by regime troops during a demonstration on Saturday to welcome the anti-junta National Unity Government (NUG) in the Mandalay Region town of Mogok, according to local sources.
Around 100 soldiers and police arrived at the scene in Aung Chanthar ward and opened fire on the civilians present, eyewitnesses said.
“One [of the protesters] was shot in the head. Another was shot in the abdomen,” a local who was also at the demonstration told Myanmar Now.
The two casualties were believed to be in their 20s, locals said.
Police officers transported the bodies in a cart to an area near Chanthargyi pagoda, where the troops had set up a base. They then put the bodies in an ambulance which eyewitnesses said was headed toward the Mogok Public Hospital.
“They shot at people who attempted to pick up the bodies,” the protester at the scene said of the armed forces. “We weren’t able to get them,” he added.
Two other protesters were injured after being shot in the leg and thigh, and were also apprehended and put in the ambulance by the troops, another local said.
Around 1,000 Mogok residents showed up to the rally at 11am to welcome the NUG government– the cabinet of which was announced by the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on Friday.
The violent crackdown began 45 minutes later.
In a video seen by Myanmar Now filmed by a local resident, a member of the armed forces is heard saying, ‘I want them dead. Do you hear me? Five of them.’ Another voice responded, ‘yes.’
The military’s information center had not released any information regarding the shootings in Mogok at the time of reporting, and had not responded to media inquiries.
At least 10 protesters have been killed in Mogok by the regime’s armed forces for participating in anti-dictatorship protests since the February 1 coup, yet demonstrations have continued daily.
Fighting between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has also recently broken out in Mogok, with the KIA launching an offensive against the junta’s troops. After news of the KIA attack, local youth expressed support for the Kachin army on social media..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-04-17
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia on April 24, Thailand said on Saturday, for his first known foreign trip since he seized power on Feb. 1.
Myanmar has been in upheaval since Min Aung Hlaing ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi. Security forces have killed 728 people, according to an activist group, in an attempt to crush protests.
In the latest violence, security forces shot and killed two protesters in the ruby-mining town of Mogok, a resident told Reuters, while several small bombs went off in the main city of Yangon, wounding several people, media outlets reported.
Myanmar's neighbours have been trying to encourage talks between the junta and the ousted government, but the military has shown little willingness to engage.
Several of the 10 ASEAN leaders, among them Min Aung Hlaing, confirmed they would attend the meeting in Jakarta, Thai foreign ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
Pro-democracy politicians including ousted members of parliament on Friday announced the formation of a National Unity Government (NUG) including Suu Kyi and leaders of the anti-coup protests and ethnic minorities.
The NUG has called for international recognition as the legitimate authority, and requested an invitation to the ASEAN meeting in Min Aung Hlaing's place. It could not immediately be reached for comment...NEW YEAR AMNESTY...
The junta released 23,184 prisoners from jails across the country on Saturday under a New Year amnesty, the Prisons Department said, though few if any democracy activists arrested since the coup were thought to be among them.
Saturday is the first day of Myanmar's New Year and the last day of a five-day holiday that is usually marked with visits to Buddhist temples and raucous water throwing and partying in the streets. Suu Kyi is among 3,141 people arrested in connection with the coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
"These (freed) detainees are mostly from before Feb. 1 but there are also some who were imprisoned afterwards," Prisons Department spokesman Kyaw Tun Oo said by telephone. He said he had no details of the offences for which they had been jailed.
Among those released were 137 foreigners, who would be deported, state television said. It gave no details. The AAPP said the military continued to seek 832 people in connection with the protests.
Among them are more than 200 people, including several actors, singers and internet celebrities, who have spoken out against the coup and are wanted on a charge of encouraging dissent in the armed forces, which can carry a three-year jail term.
State media announced the names of another 40 wanted people, 20 of them doctors, on Saturday..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-04-17
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG), ASEAN-Burma relations
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pdf
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114.45 KB
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Description:
"National Unity Government (Burmese: အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရ; abbreviated NUG) is the interim national government of Myanmar (Burma) formed and announced by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) on 16 April 2021. The cabinet includes the ousted lawmakers, members of the ethnic groups and key figures in the anti-coup protest..."
Source/publisher:
Wikipedia
Date of publication:
2021-04-18
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
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