2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Individual Documents
Description:
"Veteran democracy activist Min Ko Naing has delivered a message on the importance of financially backing the revolution to topple Myanmar’s junta as a new scheme to generate funds will be launched by the parallel, civilian National Unity Government (NUG).
In a video message on Thursday, the well-known activist, who is also a key figure on the National Unity Consultative Council— the NUG’s political consultative body — said plans to fund essential weapons for revolutionary forces are underway and will be made public.
Previous fundraising efforts by the NUG, including launching lottery tickets to support striking civil servants and raffle and bond sales, have raised millions of dollars. However, the costs of bringing down the regime are significant.
“The victory of the revolution depends on finances,” Min Ko Naing said.
The 1988 uprising leader updated the public on the revolution’s progress, saying the junta is struggling on the ground and thus escalating its attempts to distract the public. He reminded people not to believe the regime’s propaganda and to help the revolution where possible.
“They are burning entire villages to threaten others who fear they might suffer the same attacks,” the activist said, regarding the rising numbers of arson attacks on civilian targets in resistance strongholds.
Min Ko Naing said regardless of threats and violence, Myanmar’s people will not surrender because they know it will end with them living under junta rule and the control of Pyu Saw Htee militias, which are trained and armed by the military.
“People understand the revolution has pushed the military to the stage where they dare not fight without air support,” Min Ko Naing said.
The increasing number of senior military officers defecting and joining revolutionary forces and the successful sale of NUG bonds to fund the revolution are positive developments, he said.
The population rejects military rule and the junta faces opposition in numerous forms, including flash-mob protests, armed resistance, economic pressure and advocacy.
The regime has killed at least 1,642 civilians and over 12,000 people have been arrested, including elected government leaders, since last year’s coup..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Fourteen people, 11 resistance fighters and three civilians, were slaughtered earlier this week in Sagaing Region’s Khin-U Township, as Myanmar junta forces stepped up attacks on local People’s Defense Forces (PDF).
The military regime is reportedly on a ‘Kill All, Torch All’ mission to eliminate resistance in Sagaing before the annual Armed Forces Day on March 27.
Soldiers from Division 77 and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia from Sagaing’s Ye-U Township arrived in Khin-U Township on March 5. They joined troops already deployed in Ywa Thit Gon Village in Khin-U and raided several surrounding villages, according to local residents.
Junta troops raided Thein Taw Village on Tuesday morning. They reportedly fired at least 50 rounds from 40 mm grenade launchers as they entered the village and clashed with PDF fighters.
Members of the village defense forces were forced to withdraw as junta troops continuously fired on them. But 11 fighters were detained and shot dead, said residents.
The slain resistance fighters bore signs of torture and some had been shot point-blank in their heads, a local who was involved in retrieving their bodies told The Irrawaddy.
“It appears that they were not killed in the fighting, but that they were shot dead after being arrested. They had no gunshot wounds to their bodies, but they were shot point-blank in their heads. Heads had been severed from some bodies. We also saw knotted ropes near the bodies which are believed to have been used to tie them. And they were apparently kicked in their chests with boots before being shot dead,” he said.
Eight of the victims were between 18 and 25 and two were 17. The other victim was 40, said locals.
Regime soldiers also shot dead three Kyun Lel villagers who they abducted and took to Thein Taw Village. The victims were 45, 48 and 55, according to locals.
“I think they [junta soldiers] killed the three villagers because they had witnessed their cruelty,” said one resident.
Locals were only able to retrieve the bodies on Wednesday after junta troops had left the village. They said they saw the cremated body of a junta soldier in the field where the resistance fighters were massacred.
Junta troops also torched homes, with 35 houses burned down in Dan Gon Village and 25 houses destroyed in Hman Taw Village, according to locals.
On February 17, 14 PDF fighters died in a junta raid on Myothit Village in Khin-U. Five resistance fighters were killed in a raid on Thayet Kan Village on February 20. That village was also raided on January 25, when 11 resistance fighters died..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
332.75 KB
more
Title: After a year of reporting on Myanmar’s military coup, I knew my luck would eventually run out
Sub-title:
As one of the last western media journalists covering Myanmar I knew danger lurked – and there would be no James Bond to get me out
Description:
"One hot morning last March I walked into Yangon’s St Mary’s Cathedral as the best man at a wedding. The European-Burmese couple had made a swift decision to tie the knot due to uncertainty about foreign marriage rules under Myanmar’s new military regime that had seized power just weeks earlier. They were also mulling plans to get out of the country as the army embarked on a shoot to kill offensive against peaceful protesters.
Being a journalist chasing deadlines into the small hours, I complained about the early morning start to the wedding. “We want to wrap up the ceremony before we start to hear shooting,” the groom explained. A few pairs of slippers near the altar caught my attention – if soldiers raided the church the women could change out of their high heels and run, the bride told me. Her mother grimly added: “I don’t think I will make it [if soldiers break in], but hopefully my daughters can.” The risk was real as some religious buildings had provided cover for protesters.
Opposite the neo-gothic cathedral stood the old and empty offices of the Myanmar Times, formerly the nation’s only private English-language daily. Operations halted a few weeks after the 1 February 2021 coup as staff resigned and readers boycotted the newspaper over its proprietor’s editorial policies, seen as sympathetic to the regime.
Other media outlets also disappeared, some returning into exile in Thailand or operating underground, as Myanmar ended a decade of relative press freedom. By coincidence I had moved to the independent Frontier Myanmar on the day of the coup. “You’ve jinxed us all,” a colleague joked by phone as the junta cut off mobile and internet networks.
Days after the coup I relocated to a hotel beside Yangon’s Kandawgyi Lake and relied on its military-owned wifi network to circumvent restrictions and keep reporting. I covered protests until the bullets rained down, and afterwards stayed in touch with activists, politicians, diplomats and businesspeople. Some of my Burmese colleagues took refuge in border jungle areas. From my room I could see the gilded Shwedagon, the most revered pagoda in Myanmar, under the moonlight as the city was put under a night-time curfew. The hotel bar thankfully stayed open. One foreigner after another held drunken goodbye gatherings around a pool lined with palm trees as the military carried out house-to-house arrests outside.
Yangon turned from one of the safest cities in Asia to its most violent. An employee of the South Korean bank Shinhan was fatally shot in the company van. Bombs exploded across the country, including near my hotel. Over the past year an estimated 1,500-plus people have been killed by the regime. “You should read A Gentleman in Moscow,” an international non-governmental organisation leader told me over drinks, referring to the story of Count Alexander Rostov, who is ordered to live out the rest of his life under house arrest in the Russian capital’s Metropol hotel.
I am no Rostov. In late July I returned to my apartment in the outskirts of Yangon amid Covid-19’s third wave and spent the rest of the year splitting my accommodation among various places. Carrying a jute tote bag from Marks & Spencer, my disguise as an innocent Hong Kong businessman paid off when soldiers stopped and searched my taxis. For months, risks of mobile phone searches and criminalisation of free speech made me leave my iPhone behind when going out.
Activists, employees and even investors were eager to share – usually via encrypted channels – leaked information, and their own emotions and pleas to the world. But on the ground there was a genuine sense of despair and despondency, and of betrayal. As friends and colleagues lost loved ones and as Yangon residents remained defiant by the show of citywide strikes as recently as last month, the world has not offered much support beyond statements and words.
Many businesspeople who spent the last decade courting the reformist administrations of Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi have had no problem shaking hands with the new autocratic regime. Chambers of commerce from China, India, South Korea and Malaysia greeted the regime without a fuss. Comparisons with South Africa’s apartheid era came to mind.
The generals responded to the public’s mass opposition with sheer brutality. Entire villages were burnt or terrorised for supporting the resistance. They tried to control internet access, and considered developing their own digital currency while drafting a cybersecurity law to criminalise online gambling and VPN use.
Reminiscent of North Korea, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing opened an underpass and inspected chicken and duck farms during the various crises. The coup leader expressed ambitions for Myanmar to make electric cars, domestic vaccines and an underground metro in the deserted capital Naypyidaw amid growing power outages and economic collapse.
Beside Yangon’s beautiful Inya Lake I hosted an end-of-year garden party to thank readers and contacts. Diplomats and investors were among those gathering to chat and take stock of a tumultuous year. The sun painted the city sky golden red. Scotch eggs, lobster bisque, welsh rarebit were served. Life in the commercial capital went on – for some.
But there was a constant sense of danger lurking for journalists. If the regime threw me behind bars, “there won’t be a James Bond to get you out”, one ambassador warned. The junta has killed at least three Burmese journalists since December; my US colleague Danny Fenster spent six months in Insein prison. I was one of the last foreign correspondents for western media outlets left in the country. Feeling the strain after nearly a year of covering the coup and sensing I had ridden my luck as long as possible, I decided to quit. Escorted by diplomats inside the airport, I paid my visa overstay fees and rushed to my plane.
Many in Myanmar, however, are refusing to give up: journalists work in hiding, young people and formerly peaceful activists have joined new resistance forces in the jungles and ethnic communities have stepped up their decades-long struggles. The regime is inflicting heavy losses – but also incurring its own.
Thompson Chau is editor-at-large of Burmese media outlet Frontier Myanmar and covers Myanmar for the Economist. He has lived and worked in Yangon since 2016, and was formerly associate editor and chief reporter at the Myanmar Times..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022.
As of March 10, 2022, (1642) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Mobye Town in Pekon Township, Shan State were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 10, 2022, a total of (9571) people are currently under detention. (834) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On March 6, 2022, Lar Sa Ru, aged 10 years old, and Augustine, aged 17 years old, were arrested at home to be used as human shields, when the Junta raided Pwe Kone (1) Ward in Mobye Town in Pekon Township, Shan State. They were murdered near Warisu Palai Village.
On March 4, 2022, activist Hein Min Ko Ko (aka Hein Lwin Htoo) was sentenced to 28 years imprisonment with hard labor by the special court in Dawei Prison. He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, and 26 years imprisonment under The Explosive Substances Act. He was arrested while participating in a protest at Bon Maw Ward, in Dawei Township, on May 11, 2021, and got shot in the arm and leg with rubber bullets. He was seriously injured.
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.59 MB 8.01 MB 1.06 MB
more
Description:
"On Feb. 21, the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) held a fresh round of hearings into the genocide case brought by Gambia against Myanmar in 2019 concerning the military operations against the Rohingya in 2017.
The ICJ allowed the junta to represent Myanmar despite objections from international organizations and Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which said the move risked legitimizing the junta’s unlawful seizure of power in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
Ahead of the planned court hearings, the NUG government released a statement saying it “accepts the jurisdiction of the court and withdraws all preliminary objections in the genocide case” and unsuccessfully urged the international body to cancel the planned hearings.
Junta-appointed representatives led by its international cooperation minister U Ko Ko Hlaing and advocate general Daw Thidar Oo presented four points at the hearings insisting that the case was inadmissible because the court lacks jurisdiction.
Human rights lawyer and Legal Aid Network founder U Aung Htoo recently talked to The Irrawaddy about the latest developments in the case.
Both Myanmar and Gambia have presented arguments at the ICJ. What is your overall assessment of the case? Do you think the junta-appointed defense team has made a better or worse defense than the team of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?
Overall, the regime’s lawyers were not able to present new facts. Most of the facts they presented were old ones [presented by the NLD government’s team]. So I assume Gambia’s rebuttals are more legally plausible. I don’t know how the court will decide. But in my opinion, the court will decide that it has jurisdiction over the case.
The ICJ accepted the regime as the representative of Myanmar at the hearings in February. Many raised objections to that. Is it fair to say that the regime has an advantage due to the court’s acceptance of it as representing Myanmar?
The regime might have calculated so. It is possible that the court’s acceptance [of the regime’s representatives] could have a political impact on the NUG’s bid for legitimacy on the international stage. The NUG might be concerned about that. But there are many legal problems on the side of the ICJ, I think.
Firstly, the ICJ is a part of the United Nations [UN], so it must comply with the principles and norms of the UN. The ICJ needs to acknowledge that the UN retains U Kyaw Moe Tun [who has declared his support for the NUG] as Myanmar’s representative to [the UN]. What the NUG has pointed out is correct. The ICJ is responsible for seeing that fact.
Secondly, international law states that there must be a fair and public trial. The ICJ is well aware that the defense team was led by [civilian leader] Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when Myanmar offered its defense before the coup, that the Myanmar military has since seized power in a coup, and that the new representatives of Myanmar are appointed by the junta. The NUG has proposed sending its own representative to the court hearings. The ICJ however did not make enquiries in response to the NUG’s request, and allowed the junta-appointed representatives to speak at the court hearings on Feb. 21. This is contrary to a fair and public hearing, which is the established norm of international law.
Section 31 of the ICJ’s Rules of Court state that “the President shall ascertain the views of the parties with regard to questions of procedure, and for this purpose he shall summon the agents of the parties to meet him as soon as possible after their appointment.” But in the case of its latest hearings on Myanmar, the president did not apply that procedure. He made the decision on his own [to accept the junta as representing Myanmar].
The ICJ has violated the norm of a fair and public trial. At the same time, the prosecution, Gambia, did not point that out. It unquestioningly accepted the junta as representing Myanmar at the Court. This has prompted us to examine its intention in accepting it. Gambia knows that the military seized power in a coup, and Myanmar’s legal defense team has changed. But, it did not complain, and did not even bother to mention it.
The NUG has asked the ICJ to allow it to represent Myanmar at the court. But it did not explain why the jurisdiction of the court should be accepted. Perhaps Gambia is worried that the way the NUG is approaching the case might not move in its desired direction.
To what extent will the regime’s post-coup atrocities impact the case at the ICJ?
The nature of the court is to seek justice. In so doing, a court has to take into consideration the events that happened before, during and after said crime. The ICJ will however not consider the events that happened after the coup in Myanmar, which is sad for Myanmar. It does not view [post-coup atrocities] as evidence [of the Myanmar military’s previous crimes]. Moreover, it unquestioningly accepted junta representatives without following standard court procedures. This clearly shows that post-coup events will not influence the court in its decision.
To what extent can Rohingya refugees expect justice in this case?
This concerns the entire Myanmar people. Firstly, the whole [population] need to change their mindset and stance. There are two views: One is to uphold the principle of national interests, and another is justice based on humanity. Before the military coup, many viewed the case from the perspective of national interests. It was about defending Myanmar and its national interests—Myanmar must win and Gambia must lose. Frankly speaking, that stance is not correct.
Today, we need to reconsider that stance. We need to change our stance in favor of justice based on humanity for the Rohingya people. If we do so, there will be real hope for Rohingya people to get justice.
Considering the delays and inconsistencies that are typical of international courts, are Myanmar people wrong to hope that international mechanisms can achieve justice in regards to oppression in the country?
It is a good question. In short, it is not a false hope. It can in no way be a false hope. Mostly it depends on how you approach the international judicial mechanism.
Since the end of the pro-democracy uprising in 1988, [opposition forces in Myanmar] have approached every issue from the perspective of national reconciliation, instead of punishing the military, which has committed serious crimes. Political leaders have never tried to take action against Myanmar’s military. The perpetrators were never punished. Even if the perpetrators of serious crimes could not be punished for the sake of national reconciliation, something should have been done. Reforms should have been undertaken of the judicial and security organizations to prevent military leaders from committing similar crimes in the future. I mean institutional reforms should have been carried out within the military, military intelligence, police and so on. But, it has not been possible to do those things for reasons of national reconciliation.
Secondly, restorative justice has not been done for victims of serious crimes. As a result, successive military leaders have become more daring in committing national crimes, believing they can do anything with impunity.
I mean we have failed to effectively stop the military from enjoying impunity, and we support it indirectly by covering up its crimes. So, military leaders have continued to commit crimes flagrantly. This ultimately resulted in the exodus of more than 700,000, or perhaps 1 million, Rohingya people. [Political leaders] continued to defend the Myanmar military even after it committed such serious crimes.
Before the coup on Feb. 1, 2021, Myanmar people, major political parties and political leaders did not rely on or effectively cooperate with international judicial mechanisms.
At the same time, the military elites led by Min Aung Hlaing—who is as evil as can be—do not deserve the loving-kindness of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She wants to see peaceful change in the country. She paved the way for military leaders and defended them. But the traitors are ungrateful. They don’t want to see peaceful change in the country. What they care about is maintaining their grip on power. Even a dog does not bite the hand that feeds it, but they don’t just bite, they actually harm the person [who protects them] as well as the entire country.
The junta’s lawyers claimed during the ICJ court hearings that Gambia is too reliant on the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission (UNFFM) report, and that they failed to assess the correctness of the report. In fact, the UNFFM report contains sufficient evidence to build a case. But the regime’s lawyers argued that the report alone is not enough to charge Myanmar. Such cases are quite unpredictable. [The case] may be dropped if the prosecution side can’t provide sufficient evidence to convince the court that the defendant had genocidal intent in committing those crimes.
So, we have to look for the reverse of what we had expected before. If Myanmar wins the case [at the ICJ], it amounts to putting a lethal weapon in the hands of a fool. So, we need to help Gambia win the case. Who will support that?
The military regime will never follow provisional measures adopted by the ICJ. So, the NUG, which has sought to represent Myanmar at the ICJ, can follow the provisional measures. At the federal level, there is the NUG. In Rakhine State, there is the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA). There is the [parallel] government formed by the ULA/AA in Rakhine. It is very good. So if the federal-level NUG and state-level ULA/AA governments work together and follow provisional measures, the truth will emerge, which is good for the international judicial mechanism and the Rohingya, as well as Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"At least 10 children were killed by Myanmar’s junta forces in less than a week this month, bringing the number of children killed since last year’s coup to around 120.
Among the recent victims were three siblings killed when junta artillery was indiscriminately fired at their village – which is not near the combat zone – near the Kayah State capital Loikaw on Tuesday afternoon.
The children, aged seven, 10 and 12, were playing under a tree at the time, according to the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force. The shell also injured their father and 15-year-old sister.
On Tuesday, Mg Myat Bhone Naing, five, and Mg Swan Htet Naing, eight, were killed along with around nine others, including their mother and grandmother, when junta forces shelled a monastery sheltering displaced civilians in Lat Pan Taw village, Yinmabin Township in Sagaing Region.
According to photos seen by The Irrawaddy, junta troops burned the bodies in an apparent attempt to remove evidence.
“They were killed when the junta fired artillery at the monastery. We saw their bodies as the troops burned them, including two children, behind the monastery but we could not do anything,” a resident said.
A relative told The Irrawaddy there were no words to express the pain after seeing the pictures of the burned remains.
“They did not even leave the dead to be recovered by their relatives. They just burned them all.”
In Papun Township, Karen State, on Saturday night, junta artillery killed Naw Tar Lu, two, Naw Htoo Phaw, five and Naw Tin Nilar Win, 14. Four more residents were killed and others severely injured in the strike. The villagers were asleep when the strike occurred and had no chance to take shelter.
Other victims killed by junta forces include the four-year-old and 11-year-old daughters of Daw Aye Aye Win in Pauk Township, Magwe Region. Regime forces allegedly raped the mother before killing her and her two daughters last Saturday.
Residents said the younger girl was stabbed to death while the older child was one of several villagers detained as potential human shields and found dead three days later.
The civilian National Unity Government’s Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs reported on March 1 that the junta had killed at least 110 children.
Among the fatalities were a one-year-old in Mandalay and Khin Myo Chit, six, who was shot dead while sitting on her father’s lap as troops broke into her home.
Aye Myat Thu, 11, was shot in the head while playing in front of her home in Mon State’s capital Mawlamyine and Salai Van Bawi Thang was shot dead by junta forces in Thantlang, Chin State. Htoo Myat Win, 13, was shot dead while playing near his home in Shwebo, Sagaing Region.
The report said Sagaing Region saw the highest number of children killed, followed by Mandalay and Yangon..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
433.61 KB
more
Sub-title:
ESG-labeled funds have over $13B worth of holdings in companies linked to Myanmar’s brutal military regime, a financial investigation reveals.
Description:
"Companies with ties to Myanmar’s military are benefitting from over $13 billion in ESG-labeled investments, according to financial records and other information compiled and published today by Inclusive Development International and ALTSEAN-Burma. In their report, “The Myanmar ESG Files: How ‘responsible investment’ is enabling a military dictatorship,” the human rights advocacy groups document how hundreds of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) funds hold shares in 33 corporations that are enabling a brutal regime responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity.
The $3.9 trillion ESG investing industry, which promotes itself as a way for investors to align their money with their values, is the fastest growing sector of financial services.
“Activists on the ground have been risking their lives and liberty to stop the flow of money, weapons and other resources that has allowed the military to maintain its illegitimate grip on power,” said Debbie Stothard, founder and coordinator of ALTSEAN-Burma. “It’s shocking and devastating to see so-called ‘responsible investment’ doing the opposite.”
Companies receiving “sustainable investment” include weapons dealers that are arming the regime, tech firms serving the military-controlled national police force, and others that direct profits to the military, allowing it to surveil and violently crush dissent. Data compiled by Inclusive Development International and published today in an open-access online database show that ESG-labeled funds continued to hold shares in these companies even after Myanmar’s military was found responsible for two of the most egregious and well-publicized human rights crimes in recent history: the genocide perpetrated against the Rohingya and last year’s bloody coup and subsequent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
“That dozens of companies with ties to Myanmar’s genocidal regime are included in ESG portfolios shows just how large the gulf is between ‘responsible investment’ marketing claims and reality,” said David Pred, executive director of Inclusive Development International. “The foundation of this fraudulent industry is a deeply flawed ESG ratings system, which is in urgent need of regulation.”
From responsible investing to ESG greenwashing
Tailoring investment strategies to consider ESG issues is increasingly common. Yet while the ESG investing industry is capitalizing on public demand for ethical and sustainable investing options, it is directing capital in ways that are neither – as evidenced by information revealed in the Myanmar ESG Files.
This is in part because the process through which companies’ ESG practices are rated and then used to tailor investment portfolios typically only reflects information considered “financially material.” That means a company’s links to gross human rights abuses are only relevant insofar as they threaten its future profitability and share price.
ESG ratings can also mask serious human rights abuses because they are based on an amalgamation of information about numerous indicators and a diverse range of environmental, social and governance issues. As a result, a company making and selling weapons used to perpetrate genocide and war crimes in Myanmar can effectively compensate for the reputational risks of that behavior and raise its ESG rating by, for example, committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
The role of ESG index providers
Firms that translate ESG ratings into suggested investment portfolios (ESG indexes), including MSCI, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones Indices, have enormous leverage to improve human rights compliance among companies seeking a spot on their indexes. Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, they have a responsibility to exercise that leverage – including by excluding companies that refuse to stop enabling the Myanmar military’s human rights abuses. Information documented in the Myanmar ESG Files demonstrates that all three firms are failing to do so.
The low bar for securing a place in ESG funds does more than direct “responsible investment” to the wrong place. It makes it harder to hold some of worst corporate offenders accountable. The “ESG” stamp of approval undermines the efforts of communities and human rights defenders to secure redress for corporate abuses by making investors less likely to engage and use their leverage to compel action.
“Real socially responsible investing could be a crucial catalyst for advancing human rights in business,” said Pred. “But without a complete overhaul, the ESG investing industry is actually doing the opposite – greenwashing abusive companies and diverting energy from this potentially powerful force for good, with real human costs in Myanmar and around the world.”..."
Source/publisher:
Inclusive Development International
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Economic, social and cultural rights, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022.
As of March 9, 2022, (1640) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (17) fallen heroes today. These (17) fallen heroes from Pauk Township in Magway Region, Mayangone Township in Yangon Region and Yinmarbin Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 9, 2022, a total of (9559) people are currently under detention. (833) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On March 8, 2022, eight civilians, IDPs sheltering at the Lat Pan Taw Village monastery, were shot to death on the spot, when the military raided the Lat Pan Taw Village in Sagaing Region’s Yinmarbin Township and fired heavy artillery shells. Six civilians were from Lat Pan Taw villagers: Tin Nyunt, aged 93 years old, Than Maung, aged more than 70 years old, Moh Moh Win, aged 30 years old, her two sons named Myat Bhone Naing and Swan Htet Naing, aged 7 and 9 years old respectively, and her mother Thein Hla, aged more than 70 years old. The other two victims were from Kan Thar village, named Thein Maung and Ohn Hlaing who were more than 7o years old.
On February 25, 2022 at around 5 pm, Junta military personnel opened fire and raided the homes in Ward (3) in Mayangone Township, Yangon Region, where members of the ABFSU (All Burma Federation of Student Unions) from different township unions in Yangon Region temporarily stayed. During the raid, eight students from ABFSU were arrested. The former chairman of the Basic Education Students’ Union (ABFSU), named Nyi Min Thu, was shot in the chest and died on the spot.
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.63 MB 8.02 MB 1.09 MB
more
Description:
"Just over one year since the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, led a coup against the legitimately re-elected government, a new study finds that more than $190 million in imports of timber were reported from Myanmar in 2021, including to countries with sanctions, potentially exposing entities importing from Myanmar to risk of civil and criminal penalties.
In response to the coup and to evidence that revenue from natural resources is funding the junta, the European Union (EU) and four countries (the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), Canada, and Switzerland), have introduced sanctions that aim to limit the regime’s ability to collect revenue from sectors such as mining, forestry, and most recently, oil and gas.
Since February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s economy has collapsed and the junta has increasingly turned to natural resources to support its regime, financing both military operations and violence against civilians, much like the previous military regime did for decades. The elected government had brought in anti-corruption reforms, but these are being undone.
Sanctions can be effective, if enforced. This is being clearly demonstrated by recent sanctions from the US, UK, EU, and others on Russian banks and freezing assets belonging to Vladimir Putin’s top allies in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
“The role of forests in Myanmar really can’t be overstated,” says Michael Jenkins, CEO and Founding President of Forest Trends, “The return of military control last year was a shocking development as Myanmar was still transitioning from 50 years of harsh military rule to democracy, rule of law, and federalism. In the past, illegal logging, corruption, and illicit trade of wood products ran rampant. Money from illegal logging helped finance Myanmar’s decades long civil war and we need to move past that reality.”
Forest Trends’ new report focuses on the role of forestry sanctions by the US, UK, EU, Canada, and Switzerland on the Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE), the State-owned Enterprise that monopolized the forestry sector.
Key Findings
More than $190 million in trade of Myanmar timber has been reported from February to November 2021: $37 million to jurisdictions with sanctions and $154 million imported into China, India, Thailand, and other countries without sanctions. The provenance of the exported logs is unclear; the MTE does not report on its source, and since the coup, the MTE has only auctioned about 5% of the total that were reported as exported, but none of that wood was auctioned as export grade.
Most markets have decreased their imports of timber from Myanmar since the coup, but others, including countries with sanctions have increased imports relative to 2020. In the US, where almost all imports were in the form of sawn teak for the luxury yacht market, the number of companies importing from Myanmar dropped by two-thirds to only 5 importers, yet total trade still increased slightly. Five EU Member States, Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Poland, also showed substantial increases in imports. China, which has not imposed sanctions on Myanmar, also increased imports by 35% (or $29 million). All findings are likely an underestimate, as not all countries have reported trade for the entirety of 2021.
Given the details of US sanctions, entities importing from Myanmar are already at risk of civil and criminal penalties for violating sanctions. Entities could also potentially be exposed to prosecution for the international war crime of pillage, given 1) the junta is illegitimate and does not have the legal right to sell Myanmar’s timber, 2) any timber sold by the junta is done without consent of the owner (in this case, the legally elected government, overthrown on February 1, 2021, which acts as the State’s representative), and 3) all timber sold is done in the context of armed conflict. There is no statute of limitations to prosecution of war crimes, such as pillage, and due to the gravity of the crime, there is universal jurisdiction, where any country may prosecute offenders.
The US sanctions prohibit even the indirect benefit of the MTE. The Executive Order also has no grace period – the sanctions take immediate effect. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has previously prosected entities that used US dollars in payments to sanctioned entities, even if the entities themselves have no other connection to the US.
In other words, all trade with the MTE would be a violation of US sanctions, because teak is purchased in US dollars, even if no US companies are involved. All banks that facilitate these transactions would also be violating US sanctions. So far, only Canada has sanctioned the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, which facilitates all MTE US dollar transactions (all are held in foreign banks).
“To close this loophole and make sanctions more effective, countries should expand financial sanctions to include the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank,” says Kerstin Canby, Senior Director of Forest Trends’ Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative, “Doing so would help stop spill over to non-sanctioned markets by making it a violation to facilitate this trade with any country. Countries that have not yet imposed sanctions should do so, otherwise they are bankrolling the junta.”
The stakes in war-torn Myanmar could not be higher as the junta continues its violent crackdown against its people. The crimes of illegal harvest, sale, and export of Myanmar’s resources, much of it extracted from conflict areas claimed by the country’s ethnic minorities, are producing revenues that allow the military to perpetrate horrific crimes, not only against the country’s democracy but also its civilians. To date, the regime has killed over 1,600 unarmed civilians and arrested over 12,500 more. Sanctioning the junta – and implementing those sanctions – is one thing the international community can, and should, do to support the people of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Forest Trends (Washington, D.C.)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions, Business and the Military, Timber extraction, Burma's economic relations with the European Union, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"This year's theme for Myanmar’s International Women’s Day is “Break the bias, Reject Dictatorship”. On this day, we would like to celebrate all women and girls fighting for democracy, human rights, justice, and peace not only in Myanmar but across the world. We also would like to honor those women and girls who have sacrificed their lives during our revolution. Since the coup in Feb 2021, more than 107 women have been murdered by the junta. And many women and girls have reportedly been tortured and some even sexually assaulted during their detention and interrogation by the fascist military.
Successive military generals in Myanmar have used bias against women for decades, discriminating against them in all aspects of life. The history of Myanmar under military generals and their brutal dictatorship is filled with evidence of this bias, and rampant violence against women in particular. The world knows these inhuman generals have used not only bullets and fighter jet as weapons but also raped and other forms of gender-based abuse, causing women to suffer for the rest of their lives. There has been not only intimidation, torture, and discrimination against women in general, but they have imprisoned and insulted our elected leaders, like the State Counselor of Myanmar, Daw Aung San Su Kyi. In fact, the first victim of the Military coup was a young woman student, just 19 years old – Mya Thwate Thwate Khine. It is very telling that the first victim of the junta's “shoot to kill” policy was a woman. The testimony of the junta's victims, whether Rohingya, Kachin, Chin, Karen, Kareni, Rakhine, Shan, Mon or Barma were shocking and there seems to be no end to the litany of crimes the junta is responsible for. Mountains of evidence are even now being collected by UN bodies such as the Independent Investigation Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). These Military generals will be held accountable for their terrorism, and in this pursuit, no stone will be left unturned. We will bring these perpetrators to justice through national and international justice mechanisms.
Even as we were preparing this statement for international women’s day, it was reported that a woman was raped and killed together with her 3-year-old daughter by the military terrorists in Pauk, Magway division. There are many similar events committed by the fascist junta, both in the past and at the present. We will never forget their crimes and we will continue to fight to dismantle the military dictatorship and fight for a country where we can end all forms of discrimination and dismantle the military dictatorship. We will fight for a country free of bias, stereotypes, gender violence, and sexual discrimination. To all the women and girls in our country, keep fighting for the revolution, and to all the women and girls whom we have lost during our revolution, we promise you all that your sacrifices are not in vain, and together we can build a country that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Together we can all BREAK THE BIAS and END DICTATORSHIP..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Women's rights, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
31.02 KB
more
Description:
"Myanmar regime forces raped a mother before killing her and her two daughters last Saturday in Magwe Region’s Pauk Township. Junta troops also detained 29 villagers as potential human shields.
Some 70 Myanmar military soldiers, police and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia raided Inn Nge Htauk Village in Pauk Township on Saturday, forcing villagers to flee their homes. Daw Aye Aye Win, 42, was caught trying to escape and was then raped and killed. Her four-year-old daughter was also stabbed to death, according to local residents.
Daw Aye Aye Win was raped in a wayside public rest house near her home. A volunteer doctor from a local resistance group carried out a post-mortem on her body and confirmed that she had been raped, a resident told The Irrawaddy.
“Junta troops raided Inn Nge Htauk on March 5, firing heavy guns. All the villagers fled and so did Daw Aye Aye Win’s family. The husband and wife fled separately and the wife and the daughter were caught. She was raped at a public rest house not far from her home,” said the resident.
Junta troops also detained 29 villagers, including nine children, as potential human shields. Among the young detainees was another of Daw Aye Aye Win’s daughters, an 11-year-old, whose dead body was found three days later by a creek near the village, according to locals.
Some detainees were reportedly killed in junta custody. The Irrawaddy, however, was unable to verify those reports independently.
Fighting took place in Inn Nge Htauk from last Saturday to Tuesday. Five resistance fighters were killed by junta soldiers in the clashes and their bodies were subsequently set on fire, local sources said.
Military regime forces and Pyu Saw Htee militia are deployed in Wun Chone Village, Pauk Township. The village is reported to be a Pyu Saw Htee stronghold and junta soldiers have used it as a base to raid the surrounding villages of Lelyar, Letpan Hla and Inn Nge Htauk.
Lelyar Village, which has 252 households, was raided on March 3. Regime troops torched 210 houses. Letpan Hla Village was raided the following day, and half of the village’s 120 households were burned down, said locals.
One resident said: “With their [junta forces] megalomaniac streak, they view anyone unlike them as their enemy, kill and intimidate them, torch their houses and loot their possessions. The higher-ups turn a blind eye to these acts to demoralize the people so that they never dare to hold up their heads, speak the truth and demand a different system.”
Since early March, people from at least 12 villages in Pauk have been forced to flee junta raids.
Over 6,100 civilian houses have been destroyed in the 13 months since the military’s coup, according to a report by Data for Myanmar, an independent research organization..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Women's rights, Sexual orientation - Discrimination based on, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
The Impact of International Sanctions
Description:
"On February 1st, 2021, the military launched a coup d’état against the newly re-elected government of Myanmar. Over the past year, the military junta has been accused of massive human rights violations, arresting more than 12,000 people, killing more than 1,500, and instigating a growing humanitarian crisis that has seen more than 400,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) (AAPP Burma 2022, UN News 2022). Compounding the impact of COVID-19, the military’s violence has destroyed Myanmar’s economy. Furthermore, the majority of society has engaged in a predominately non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), including a boycott of companies with military links.
Deprived of revenue, the junta has increasingly relied on revenue from natural resources to support their operations and their ongoing campaign to retain power, which has included escalation of armed conflict and attacks on civilians. While much international focus has been given to the revenues generated by the oil, gas, and mining sectors, the forest sector has in the past been an important source of revenue for Myanmar’s governments and entities associated with the military. This report reviews the timber sector’s role in the revenue now being generated for the current military regime..."
Source/publisher:
Forest Trends (Washington, D.C.)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.3 MB (Original version) - 42 pages
more
Description:
"This International Women’s Day, we, Women’s Peace Network, would like to express
our gratitude to all the women across the world who stand up for their rights and fight
for equality, peace, justice, and freedom. For a more just world, these women have
risked their lives to dismantle the system of patriarchy and oppression underpinning
our society. We take this day to remember them and remind ourselves of their legacy.
Today also marks over a year since the Myanmar military toppled an elected
government, intensifying its decades-long campaign of terror against our country’s
people. Despite losing more than 90 women to the junta, at least 1600 to arbitrary arrest
and detention, and hundreds of thousands more to forced displacement, we continue to
risk our lives for full equality and self-determination.
Ethnic minority communities know the Myanmar military’s hatred of us all too well: for
generations, its forces have committed mass atrocity crimes, including the most
egregious forms of sexual and gender-based violence, across our homelands. Amid its
genocide against Rohingya, the military has weaponized sexual violence to strategically
destroy our country’s ethnic minority and indigenous group. The victims and survivors
of such atrocities await justice to this day.
We are thus working tirelessly to defeat this patriarchal regime that only serves to
subjugate us. In Myanmar and beyond, many of us know that our collective future rests
upon a truly inclusive and democratic system that holds perpetrators of all forms of
injustice accountable.
This International Women’s Day, we ask you to remember and celebrate these brave
women not just today but every day. At Women’s Peace Network, we stand in solidarity
with our fellow women and fight to ensure that the Myanmar military is held
accountable for its heinous crimes. When this justice is served, we will embrace our
victory. Until then, we ask you to join our fight. We will never be free until all of us are
free..."
Source/publisher:
Women's Peace Network
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Women's rights, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
400.91 KB 428.87 KB
more
Description:
"The US State Department has recognized the parallel National Unity Government (NUG)’s deputy minister for women, youth and children affairs, Ma Ei Thinzar Maung, for her human rights and pro-democracy activities with the International Women of Courage (IWOC) award.
Established in 2007, the award honors women who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength and leadership to bring about positive change to their communities, often at personal risk and sacrifice.
The 27-year-old is one of 12 women to receive the IWOC this year. Other winners include lawyers, human rights defenders, women’s rights activists and parliamentarians from Nepal, Bangladesh, South Africa, Iraq, Brazil, Liberia, Libya, Moldova, Romania, Vietnam and Colombia.
A human rights activist since 2012, Ma Ei Thinzar Maung was the first female president of the student union of Yadanabon University. She was among several students who were arrested and faced violent crackdowns in 2015 for seeking changes to an education bill that limited academic freedom.
She has been involved in minority rights, including for the Rohingya, and has demanded an end to conflict in Kachin and Rakhine states.
The State Department announced [on Tuesday which is also international women’s day] that Ma Ei Thinzar Maung is an inspiring and influential pro-democracy voice, who emerged as a symbol of peaceful public resistance after the February coup, who worked to support peaceful activism like the civil disobedience movement and engagement with young people after the coup.
Ma Ei Thinzar Maung faces an arrest warrant and is in hiding but she remains committed to democracy and continues to work for a strong, inclusive and democratic Myanmar that respects human rights, the State Department said.
The award will be presented virtually next week. The State Department has recognized more than 170 women from over 80 countries with the IWOC.
Other IWOC recipients from Myanmar include the current NUG foreign affairs minister, Daw Zin Mar Aung, in 2012 and women’s rights activist Daw May Sabe Phyu in 2015..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
573.48 KB
more
Description:
"According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022.
As of March 8, 2022, (1623) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Madaya Township in Mandalay Region and Pauk Township in Magway Region were killed on March 5, 2o22 and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 8, 2022, a total of (9533) people are currently under detention. (833) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On March 1, 2022, the house of the village administrator exploded in Gwegyi Village, in Kyaung Kone Village Tract, Mandalay Region’s Madaya Township. When the junta soldiers arrived at the village, a civilian named Wai Phyo Aung, his three family members, and three other friends were arrested. On the night of March 5, soldiers brought Wai Phyo Aung to the village, searched the area, and shot him to death in a road nearby.
On the night of March 5, 2022, the armed wing of the Junta raided and fired artillery shells at Inn Nge Daunk Village, in Magway Region’s Pauk Township. The military soldiers arrested Aye Aye Win, aged 42 years old, and her daughter Yati Moe, aged 3 years old, while they were preparing to run away. Aye Aye Win was raped then killed at a public resthouse in front of her home, a 3-year-old Yati Moe was also stabbed in the chest.
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.55 MB 7.97 MB 1.08 MB
more
Description:
"Today, on International Women's Day 2022, the Women's League of Burma condemns the coup d’etat
committed by the militaristic Tatmadaw that obstructs our efforts to achieve our equality objectives by
actively reinforcing the patriarchy.
On February 1, 2021, the Tatmadaw staged a coup to revitalize military dictatorship, and coup has not
only violated democratic principle, but it has also taken away the opportunities to promote the
participation and leadership role of women in politics as well as in every other level of decision-making.
Furthermore, the institutionalization of male dominance is not only strengthening the systems that
favor men and traditional practices that treat women as a subordinate class who are weak and
dependent, but it is also leading to an increase in violence against and oppression of women.
With the intention to aggravate fear among the public, the Tatmadaw has been using different forms of
sexual violence including rape as weapons of war in non-Bamar ethnic areas for more than 70 years.
Since the military coup, the strategic use of sexual violence has been rising substantially. Women have
become targets of gender-based human rights violations and war crimes including murder, unlawful
detention, imprisonment, and hostage-taking since the coup. And the military's continued commitment
of these crimes with impunity have led to a total of 107 women killed and 1527 women imprisoned.
So long as the Tatmadaw remains in power and continues to bolster the entrenchment of patriarchy,
they will continue to enjoy impunity for committing war crimes. Therefore, we, the Women's League of
Burma, would like to reiterate that now is a crucial time to eradicate the Tatmadaw and all the other
institutions that are based on patriarchy.
Therefore, to build a peaceful federal union in which we want to reside, Women's League of Burma
hereby urge young people, women and all revolutionary forces including Spring Revolution forces to join
our efforts in collectively abolishing not only the military dictatorship but all forms of dictatorship that
are underpinned by patriarchy alongside the slogan, "For equality, end patriarchy"..."
Source/publisher:
Women's League of Burma
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Women's rights, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
27.27 KB 417.86 KB
more
Description:
"The special envoy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for Myanmar and Cambodia's foreign minister Prak Sokhonn announced that he is to visit Myanmar for four days on 20-23 March 2022. This comes after some of the ASEAN member countries criticized the Myanmar junta for making no progress in resolving the crisis that has unfolded in the country since the military coup last year. In January 2022, ASEAN Chair and Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen visited Myanmar while ASEAN members including Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore demanded Hun Sen for consultation with ASEAN on Myanmar. ASEAN also has denied the participation of the junta leader Aung Min Hlaing at the ASEAN summit in December and the junta-appointed Wunna Maung Lwin at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in February 2022.
The United States also announced that a non-political representative will be invited to the US- ASEAN Summit as ASEAN also has had its decision to invite a non-political representative from Myanmar to the summit in Washington on 28-29 March. On both occasions when ASEAN decided to invite non-political representatives from Myanmar, the junta refused and condemned the decision.
Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded not guilty during her court case on corruption charges because she allegedly accepted $600,000 and seven gold bars from a political ally. She is also facing 10 additional corruption charges against her in junta courts in Naypyitaw, apart from the charges of violating the Official Secrets Act and alleged election fraud in the 2020 Myanmar General Elections.
A research group in Myanmar, Data for Myanmar, has announced that more than 6,100 Myanmar citizens' houses were burned by the military junta since the military coup, with more than 60% reportedly in Sagaing Region. The heavy fighting between the junta forces and civil resistance forces continues across the country, especially in Chin, Kayah, Karen and Kachin states and Sagaing, Magwe, Mandalay and Yangon regions. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, an international research group collecting data across the world in conflict zones also announced over 13,000 political violence and protest cases reported in Myanmar in 2021 that nearly 11,000 incidents were involved with fatalities.
The ultra-nationalist group Ma Ba Tha is to lead a campaign to encourage civilians living in people’s resistance forces strongholds to crack down on resistance groups by joining militias led by ordained Buddhists. Media also have reported that the monks from the Yadanar Kan Myint Htale Monastery were armed. The junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) also announced that it had distributed 2,080 weapons to 77 paramilitary groups. The junta freed the ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu from the Ma Ba Tha group, after dropping sedition charges filed during the rule of the ousted NLD government in 2019.
Amid the junta’s increasing airstrikes against civilians, killing civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes that has created a humanitarian crisis, 55 British Parliamentarians from 9 different political parties and Independent MPs have called for aviation fuel sanctions against the Myanmar junta. The European Union has imposed sanctions against Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and for more entities last week after more than a year of advocacy by the Myanmar civil society and rights groups. MOGE is the junta’s biggest single source of revenue, responsible for financing its repression against Myanmar civilians. Despite the criticisms from the rights groups, Norwegian telecom group Telenor will be selling the business to Myanmar conglomerate Shwe Byain Phyu (SBP) controlled by the junta affiliates and Lebanese investment firm M1 Group, the sources said, adding that the $100 million in retained earnings are held at a Myanmar bank.
As of 4 March 2022, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) recorded that 1,603 people have been killed by the junta. 9,507 people are currently under detention. 84 have been sentenced to death and 1,973 are evading arrest warrants..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Network for Free Elections (Bangkok)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, ASEAN-Burma relations, Business and the Military, Sanctions, Oil and gas
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
481.51 KB
more
Description:
"New UN study says fear, violence, and isolation prevents Myanmar women from accessing income and healthcare
Bangkok -- Rising violence and insecurity are forcing women in Myanmar to stay away from jobs and healthcare services, says a new UN survey of over 2,200 women, which signals a deterioration of development gains in the country.
"Regressing Gender Equality in Myanmar: Women Living Under the Pandemic and Military Rule", which launched today on International Women's Day, finds that women are losing ground on development gains, due to fear of violence. The survey conducted in December 2021 found that one-third of women are afraid of walking in their neighbourhoods, even during the day.
This is a sharp departure from what women in Myanmar said in 2019, when only 3.5 percent of women reported feeling unsafe during the daytime, in their communities. Half of the women surveyed said they do not feel safe outside their neighbourhoods, and a full third reported feeling unsafe in their own homes, at night.
"The survey sends a clear and chilling message that the fear of violence is preventing the women of Myanmar from living a normal life. This must be addressed right away," said Kanni Wignaraja, UNDP's Director for the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. The pandemic and heightened insecurity from the military takeover has gravely impacted women's finances and health. Without investments in their safety, agency, and capacities, women will be unable to take ownership of their lives and take care of their families. This will have a direct adverse effect on future generations and on the overall prosperity of Myanmar."
The survey also paints a bleak view on the economic front. Nearly seven out of 10 women report that household income has fallen since the coup, exacerbated by the pandemic. Women living in rural areas are experiencing a continual decline in their incomes. With shrinking household incomes, women report skipping meals, taking out loans, and selling off anything valuable to make ends meet.
This drastic fall in economic prosperity for women must immediately be halted and the wider health and welfare of women in Myanmar must be prioritized for the country to rebound following COVID-19.
"The women of Myanmar have played a key role in the development of their country," said Sarah Knibbs, Officer-in-Charge for UN Women Asia and the Pacific. "Women drove the response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and the transition to democracy after 2012. They rushed to the front lines to help battle waves of COVID-19, and now they have been leading the peaceful movement demanding a return to democracy. They are the future of this country, as this report shows, and we need to give priority to their needs and concerns."
Women's health is also affected by the rising insecurity in Myanmar. Half the women reported that access to healthcare services is becoming more difficult. One out of ten pregnant or breastfeeding women had a pregnancy or childbirth issue for which public or private health services could not be accessed. This is an extremely troubling statistic for infant mortality and maternal health in Myanmar.
The report adds that the compounding effects of COVID-19 and the political unrest on women's security, finances, and health will not disappear quickly. Women are likely to face setbacks for years to come. It is important to reverse this trend quickly to recoup the gains that were being made towards gender equality..."
Source/publisher:
UN Development Programme and UN Women via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNDP - Burma/Myanmar, UN Women, Women's rights, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
1.51 MB (Original version), 1.36 MB (Reduce version) - 70 pages
more
Description:
"Women in Myanmar have shown their strength over decades of armed conflict. They have also reshaped a landscape of patriarchal values that have long attempted to shape the country. Advocates have been calling for stronger legislation to protect women from physical and emotional violence, but there has been a disappointing lack of desire to pass laws which would protect survivors and ensure access to justice.
The malice exhibited by the Myanmar junta includes many years of sexual violence perpetrated during internal conflict. Under these harrowing circumstances, women and girls bear the burden. They are targeted by soldiers while trying to escape raids, and flee organized violence. Those who survive are left traumatized and often without adequate access to psychosocial counseling. Their lives, along with their families, are forever marred
by the regime’s vehemence.
Pathways to justice are filled with roadblocks, including costly trials and protection granted to soldiers. The junta has been able to evade accountability and increase the likelihood of repeat offenses. Years of impunity has reinforced a deeply flawed legal system that denies the dignity, safety and security of victims.
Since the failed Myanmar coup on 1 February 2021, civilians have come under fire as soldiers have attempted to squander resistance movements through any means necessary. Over 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds more injured, according to local documentation groups. Against this backdrop of unyielding violence, women’s resistance movements have prevailed under the darkest of circumstances. Pro-democracy campaigns have taken place
in spite of the threats and risks to their physical and digital security.
In the presence of the Myanmar military, women have never been safe. Nevertheless, women’s voices for change continue to persevere. Against all
odds, indeed, they continue to resist..."
Source/publisher:
Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Women's rights, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
953.69 KB
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
465.25 KB
more
Description:
"ဆယ်စုနှစ်များနှင့် ချီသည့် ပဋိပက္ခ စစ်ပွဲများအတွင်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အမျိုးသမီးများသည် ၎င်းတို့၏ ကြံ့ခိုင် သန်မာမှုကို ပြသခဲ့ကြသည်။ တိုင်းပြည်တွင် နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ အမြစ်တွယ်နေသည့် ဖိုဝါဒ ကြီးစိုး မှုကိုလည်း ပုံစံပြောင်းပစ်ကြသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများအပေါ် ရုပ်ပိုင်း၊ စိတ်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ မှ ကာကွယ်ရန် ခိုင်မာသည့် ဥပဒေများ ပြဌာန်းပေးရန် တောင်းဆို စည်းရုံးလှုံ့ဆော်ကြသည်။ အသက် ရှင်သန် ကျန်ရစ်သူများအား အကာအကွယ်ပေးရန်နှင့် တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိစေရန် အာမခံမည့် ဥပဒေများ ပြဌာန်းရန် ဆန္ဒမရှိသည်မှာ စိတ်ပျက်ဖွယ်ဖြစ်သည်။
မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ ရန်လိုသော သက်သေအဖြစ် ပြည်တွင်းပဋိပက္ခအတွင်း နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင် ရာ အကြမ်းဖက်မှု ကျူးလွန်ခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ထိုသို့ မချိမဆန့် ခံစားရသည့် အခြေအနေအောက်တွင် အမျိုးသမီးနှင့် လုံမပျိုများမှာ ဝန်ထုတ်ဝန်ပိုးကို ထမ်းထားရသည်။ တိုက်ခိုက်မှုနှင့် ကြံစည်ထားသည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများမှ လွတ်မြောက်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းသည့် အမျိုးသမီးများမှာ စစ်သားများ၏ ပစ်မှတ်ထား ခြင်း ခံရသည်။ အသက်ရှင်ကျန် လွတ်မြောက်လာသူများမှာလည်း စိတ်ဒဏ်ရာများ ရရှိထားပြီး လုံလောက်သည့် စိတ်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာ နှစ်သိမ့်ဆွေးနွေး ပညာပေးမှုများ မရရှိပေ။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ လုပ်ရပ်ကြောင့် ၎င်းတို့၏ ဘဝ တသက်တာလုံး မိသားစုနှင့်အတူ အရှက်တကွဲ အကျိုးနဲမှုကို ခံစားကြရ သည်။
တရားရုံးတွင် ဖြေရှင်းသည့် ကုန်ကျစရိတ် ကြီးမြင့်မှုနှင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင် တပ်သားများအား အကာအ ကွယ် ပေးထားမှု အပါအဝင် တရားမျှတမှု ရှာဖွေရေး လမ်းကြောင်းများကိုလည်း ပိတ်ဆို့ထားသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များသည် တာဝန်ယူ တာဝန်မှုကို ရှောင်ကွင်းပြီး အကြိမ်ကြိမ် ထိုးစစ်ဆင်နေသည်။ နှစ် ပေါင်းရှည်ကြာ ကျင့်သုံးနေသည့် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်ဓလေ့ကြောင့် တရားစီရင်မှု စနစ်ကို အားနည်း သွားစေပြီး နစ်နာသူများ၏ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာကို ချိုးနှိမ်ငြင်းပယ်ရာ ရောက်သည်။
၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေော်ဝါရီ ၁ရက် အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးချိန်မှစ၍ စစ်သားများက ၎င်းတို့အား ဆန့်ကျင် ခုခံသူ များအား နည်းပေါင်းစုံဖြင့် ဖြိုခွဲခဲ့ရာ ပြည်သူလူထုမှာလည်း နှိကွပ်မှုပေါင်းစုံ ခံနေရသည်။ စစ်တပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက် ဖြိုခွဲမှုကြောင့် ပြည်သူ ၁၅၀၀ ကျော် သေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီး ရာနှင့်ချီ၍ ဒဏ်ရာရသည်ဟု မှတ်တမ်း တင်သည့် အဖွဲ့အစည်းများက အစီရင်ခံကြသည်။ ထိုသို့ တင်းမာပြင်းထန်သည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ နောက်ခံတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ ခုခံတွန်းလှန် လှုပ်ရှားမှုမှာ နေရာအနှံ့အပြားတွင် ပေါ်ပေါက်လာသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့အား ဆန့်ကျင် တွန်းလှန်နေသူများ၏ ရုပ်ပိုင်း၊ အသုံးပြုသည့် မိုဘိုင်းဖုန်းနှင့် အင်တာနက် ဆက်သွယ်မှု လုံခြုံရေး ခြိမ်းခြောက်ခံနေရသော်လည်း ဒီမိုကရေစီရေး စည်းရုံးလှုပ်ရှားမှု များ ဆက်လက်လုပ်ဆောင်နေသည်။
မြန်မာစစ်တပ်များ နေရာယူ တပ်စွဲထားသည့်နေရာများတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ ဘဝမှာ လုံခြုံစိတ်ချရမှု မရှိပေ။ မည်သို့ပင်ဆိုစေကာမူ အပြောင်းအလဲအတွက် အမျိုးသမီးများ၏ အသံမှာ မဆုတ်မနစ် ထွက် ပေါ်နေပြီး ဆန့်ကျင်တားဆီးမှုများကို ကြံကြံခံလျှက်ရှိသည်မှာ အမှန်ပင်ဖြစ်သည်။
ယခုပူးတွဲအစီရင်ခံစာကို လူ့အခွင့်အရေးမှတ်တမ်းကွန်ရက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ (ND-Burma), မွန်ပြည်လူ့အ ခွင့်အရေး ဖောင်ဒေးရှင်း (HURFOM) နှင့် ကချင်အမျိုးသမီးအစည်းအရုံး ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံ (KWAT) မှ ပြုစုထားပြီး မြန်မာပြည်ရှိ အထူးသဖြင့် ကချင်ပြည်နယ်၊ ရှမ်းပြည်မြောက်ပိုင်း၊ ကရင်ပြည်နယ်၊ မွန်ပြည်နယ်နှင့် တနင်္သာရီ တိုင်းဒေသကြီး ရှိ အမျိုးသမီး နှင့် လုံမပျိုများမှာ လွန်ခဲ့သည့် နှစ်အတွင်း စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ ခြိမ်း ခြောက် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုကို မည်သို့ ခံနေရကြောင်း ဖော်ပြထားသည်။ အစီရင်ခံစာတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည့် စနစ်တကျ ခြိမ်းခြောက်၊ အကြမ်းဖက်ခံရမှုများကို လည်း မည်သို့ ကျော်လွှားခဲ့ကြသည်ကို ဖော်ပြထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Women's rights, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.18 MB
more
Description:
"According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022.
As of March 7, (1620) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (18) fallen heroes today. These (18) fallen heroes from Thaketa Township in Yangon Region, Kyunhla Township and Tabayin Township in Sagaing Region, Nattalin Township in Bagon Region and Butho Township in Hpapun District, Kayin State were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 7, a total of (9523) people are currently under detention. (833) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On March 5, at around 7:20 pm, seven civilians, including three children, from Kalawday Village in Butho Township in Hpapun District, Kayin State, were shot dead by junta artillery shells based in Kayin State’s Hpapun Township. The seven victims were Naw Tar Lu, aged 2 years old, Naw Htoo Phaw, aged 5 years old, Naw Tin Nilar Win, aged 14 years old, Saw Day Poe, aged 19 years old, Naw Eal Moo, aged 22 years old, Naw Phaw Wah, aged 32 years old, and Saw Kay, aged 40 year old. Four other civilians were also severely injured.
On the morning of March 4, the armed wing of the Junta raided Min Swe Hnit Village, in Sagaing Region’s Tabayin Township, and killed nine locals, who were guarding the village. Five of the victims, Aung Thu, Phoe Mae, Chan Myae Zaw, Bhone Naing and Pyae Phyo Aung were from Min Swe Hnit Village. The other four victims were from Myin Thu Gyi Village, Kyar Khet Village, and other village.pdated 7 March 2022
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.59 MB 8.1 MB 1.09 MB
more
Description:
"The Myanmar junta has revoked the citizenship of 11 well-known opposition figures including ministers of the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which is leading the revolutionary movement against its rule, along with a veteran student leader and social media influencers.
In an announcement made on Friday night, the junta said it had terminated the citizenship of the 11 individuals under the military-drafted 1982 Citizenship Law because they have allegedly fled Myanmar and harmed the interests of the country.
Among those singled out for citizenship revocation—a move that appears to be unprecedented—are some of the most prominent faces of the NUG including its Health and Education Minister Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, Defense Minister U Yee Mon, Foreign Minister Daw Zin Mar Aung, and Home Affairs and Immigration Minister U Lwin Ko Latt.
They are joined by Minister of Human Rights U Aung Myo Min, Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Sa Sa, Minister of Communications, Information and Technology U Htin Lin Aung, and Deputy Minister of Women, Youths and Children Affairs Daw Ei Thinzar Maung.
The NUG was formed by elected lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD) who were prevented from taking their seats when the military staged a coup on Feb. 1 last year, along with their ethnic allies, as the legitimate government. It seeks to challenge the regime’s legitimacy at home and abroad. Detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint were nominated to retain their positions in the NUG.
NUG Foreign Minister Daw Zin Mar Aung told The Irrawaddy the law under which the group’s citizenship was revoked should be repealed and rewritten, as it was drawn up for political purposes by the military and extremist nationalists under the previous regime.
She dismissed the coup maker’s revocation of their citizenship under the repressive law as an on-paper announcement that had no real-world significance.
Veteran student leader U Min Ko Naing and social medial influencers Myo Yan Naung Thein and Ei Pencilo also had their citizenship revoked on Friday.
The junta said in its announcement that it would identify additional perpetrators and take the same action against them.
Daw Zin Mar Aung said the junta’s acts of repression would only make the revolutionary movement stronger.
“This will be the end game for them. And for us, this is a battle that we must win,” she added..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Political History
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Myanmar’s regime has cut internet access across Sagaing Region where armed resistance to the junta is strong. It is also launching airstrikes and torching villages.
Residents said the internet was down across the sprawling region’s 34 townships other than four towns and cities, denying news about the fighting.
A Tabayin resident told The Irrawaddy that the internet was cut three days ago and he heard only Sagaing, Monywa, Kale and Shwebo had access.
Internet access was cut last September in Ayadaw, Yinmabin, Kani, Pale, Ye-U, Taze and Budalin townships in the region.
The regime carried out an estimated 19 air raids on the region between last July and mid-February, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy in Myanmar.
There were clashes in 16 townships during that period and at least 140 civilians were killed by junta forces, the institute reported in February.
The junta has torched at least 6,158 civilian homes in the 13 months since the coup, mostly in areas with heavy anti-regime resistance.
Sagaing Region suffered nearly 60 percent of the damage, according to the independent Data for Myanmar research group.
Residents fear the lack of internet access will limit their ability to avoid junta raids and find shelter after being attacked.
“It is very difficult for the displaced, especially children and old people, to find safety if we don’t get the news,” said a Taze resident.
He said they had previously asked for donations on Facebook but now they are left on their own.
The regime uses airstrikes, artillery and allied Phyu Saw Htee militias to attack villages and burn houses..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
s key members of the resistance, the women hope their sacrifices will break down barriers across society.
Description:
"More than a year after Myanmar’s coup, women are joining the ranks of anti-junta paramilitary groups and assuming key posts within the opposition, a trend they say is crucial to ending military rule and rebuilding a more equitable country.
Since the military seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy on Feb. 1, 2021, life is worse in Myanmar by nearly every measure. The nation’s economy is in shambles, government services have ground to a halt, and rule of law is nearly nonexistent.
Security forces have arrested at least 9,500 people and killed 1,620 – mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Dozens of those killed were women, according to the group, while rights organizations have decried the military’s use of sexual violence as a weapon against its opponents since the coup.
As the situation in Myanmar becomes increasingly desperate, women from all walks of life have assumed roles more typically associated with men in the effort to end military rule — whether by advancing the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement, organizing street protests, or taking up arms as members of prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary groups.
Tin Tin Nyo, chairwoman of Burmese Women’s Union, told RFA’s Myanmar Service that women are more likely to sacrifice their families and even their lives to take part in the resistance movement because the stakes have never been higher. She said that women are needed in these roles if the opposition hopes to remove the junta from power and ensure that all stakeholders have a seat at the table when order is restored.
“[Women] will not give up and will keep fighting to eliminate military rule — we need to acknowledge that as a nation,” she said. “Women are participating in the cause to build a better future for Myanmar. They need to participate in leadership roles. Their labor is crucial to advance our society, which is deteriorating in every area.”
RFA spoke with several female leaders in the resistance movement who said that they were driven to action out of a sense of duty to protect their nation from junta misrule. They said that they hope their contributions will help to break down barriers that limit the role of women in society.
Amaya joined the Myaung Women Guerrilla Group (MWGG) in Sagaing region’s Myaung township and regularly fights against the military alongside her male counterparts.
She said she and other women paramilitaries could no longer stand by and watch while junta soldiers “shot and killed young people in the street,” particularly after those in Myaung township began “moving from one village to another, committing every crime imaginable, on a daily basis.”
“We were protesting peacefully but they were killing us lawlessly, so we decided that armed resistance was the only option,” she said. “Slogans such as ‘Down with the fascist authoritarian regime’ and ‘Our cause is Federalism’ motivated us to participate in the movement.”
MWGG members have told RFA that the group was launched in October to empower women who might otherwise be preyed upon by raiding troops. They said that MWGG fighters now regularly participate in operations using explosives and “exterminating military informers.”
‘Fighting to protect’ the people
Htet Htet Naing, a female commando from a PDF group based in the seat of Sagaing region, said that after witnessing death and destruction in her region, she felt compelled to fight on the frontlines.
“There are many challenges, and it is more challenging for women. It is very exhausting to take part in the training. The food we are eating is substandard,” she said. “We keep in mind that only by fighting, will we succeed. We remind ourselves that the people are behind us, and we are fighting to protect them.”
Cinderella, a fighter from the Dove KK Southern Shan/Kayah PDF medics team of doctors and nurses from Kayah state, said it isn’t difficult to remind herself of why she joined the armed resistance.
“This revolution has emerged to eliminate the reign of a class of people who rule by violence and lawlessness, in a time of injustice where human rights exist only in books,” she said.
“All of Myanmar’s people, both men and women, must take part in this revolution. I am here to contribute physically and intellectually for our collective future. No matter what kind of challenges lie ahead, we will do whatever we can to succeed.”
Mya Hnin Yee Lwin, a former actress who joined the armed resistance, said that she gave up a comfortable life to help motivate her countrymen “not to give up on the revolution.”
“We are living a lifestyle that I could never have imagined, but I no longer think, ‘What’s in it for me?’ I can only think about how I can contribute to the revolution,” she said.
“I believe [justice] always prevails in the end and I believe we will reach our destination one day.”..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
434.61 KB
more
Description:
"Editor’s Note: This post is the fourteenth installment in an ongoing series, Chronicle of a Coup, comprised of reports written from within Myanmar by Christopher J. Walker (a pseudonym), a longtime resident, which together sketch one person’s first-hand account of the weeks and months following the February 1, 2021, military coup. A selection of his reports will be posted weekly, every Friday. A chronological archive is also available here.
Tea Circle is grateful to Christopher for sharing his personal account of life under military rule in Myanmar. Recognizing that his voice is one of many, we encourage other authors to submit their own accounts.
This morning in a neighbouring township, a small bomb went off in the offices of the oakkahta. In a previous report I mentioned that the okkahta is the highest-ranking government official in every ward or quarter, ordinarily an elected position with a five-year term. Following the coup, all such officials who would not support the military regime were thrown out and, in most cases, replaced by retired military officers.
It turns out that the bomb was merely a diversion. When the new oakkahta left his home to check on the situation, he was gunned down by a shot to the head and died immediately in the street. Although no group has claimed responsibility, I have heard on many occasions that those who accepted such appointed positions would be dealt with severely. I already know that something similar is being planned for our quarter’s oakkahta, but I have no idea what it might be and no desire whatsoever to find out.
These newly installed oakkahtas are primarily informers for the junta and do little else. In the past the elected oakkahtas had many local responsibilities, but these days, as a show of resistance, nobody goes to their offices anymore. If anyone does, his or her name is circulated within the quarter.
Many will be very happy that this military-appointed oakkahta was killed today, but I don’t understand why he had to die. There are other deterrents short of murder that could have been employed to send a grim message of admonition to all such oakkahtas. Then again, he could have been killed by the secret police for being a double agent, which would explain the execution-style murder. It’s hard to say, but head shots are the regime’s modus operandi.
There is one upside to this tragedy. A squad of 15 soldiers has now been assigned to protect the oakkahta in our quarter, and I’m sure that the same has been done in many others. If nothing else, the execution will have resulted in the redeployment of hundreds of soldiers who have been responsible for arresting, beating, torturing and shooting innocent civilians, from patrolling the streets to guard duty.
Held hostage by money | May 17, 2021
In my experience the Burmese have long distrusted banks, which is quite understandable. As the country’s experiment with quasi-democracy evolved, I once or twice broached the topic of banking with employees at my office, explaining the benefits of developing a relationship with an accredited lender in case at some future point they wanted to make a major purchase like a car or a home. I always had reservations about suggesting this, not because there might have been a coup in the future, but rather on account of my own distaste for any institution operated by the exceedingly wealthy. But to explain all of that in translation would have been an impossible task. Fortunately, no one took my advice and so none of them have money now stranded in a Burmese bank.
But there are millions of ordinary citizens who do, and consequently the wealthy few have, in a sense, become the unsuspecting adversaries of the many. Wealthy Burmese tend to diversify their savings by keeping money in both private and government accounts. Over the last five years, as the troubled democracy project unfolded, many of them leaned toward government banks because of the greater options they offered and better investment returns. These are the people who have the most money to lose.
Therefore, it is these same people who most want some semblance of government stability, believing that will give them easier access to their money. Currently there is a severe limit on how much anyone can withdraw each month, the equivalent of about US$450. We have heard that government banks will not permit greater withdrawals until at least June. Even then, online applications are required, and, if approved, customers are given an appointment and have to go into the bank to withdraw their money.
The reality is a sad one. Generation Z is not about to back down. But a return to stability will require the wealthy to surrender to the military regime. With the capitulation and compliance of the upper classes, there is a chance that some kind of stability can be restored, although at a very great cost—namely, the loss of personal freedoms and the most basic human rights. However the Generals try to package “stability,” we now know very clearly the depths of depravity to which they are quite willing to sink in order to get their way.
Unfortunately, with their money in mind, many in the upper-middle and wealthy classes will consciously or subconsciously accept whatever rosy picture the junta will attempt to paint. And once the wealthier classes join in, the poorer classes will be forced to follow because they need to eat. Generation Z will be left out on a limb.
As with so many things in this life, it all comes down to the money, which is, ultimately, the reason we are in the midst of this ghastly coup to begin with. We pray before the altar of money. Many have sold their hearts and minds for it.
The picture is bleak, yet there is no limit to what can be accomplished when people are willing, even under the harshest of conditions, to take care of one another.
All for $34 | May 18, 2021
A good friend and neighbour stopped by today for a visit. He was on his way home after trying unsuccessfully to withdraw money from an ATM at the nearby Ayeyarwady (AYA) Bank, the only one that from the earliest days of the coup actively tried to help people.
One of the problems people face with ATMs is that they never know which machines will have money, because the amount that a bank can dispense in a day is limited by the junta. In some instances, we have heard, there is a daily limit on the number of people that an ATM can serve. It’s common these days that when someone notices a machine being filled, calls go out or posts will appear on Facebook, followed by a stampede to that particular branch. And because so few machines are filled with money, there are always very long queues.
AYA is a private bank and takes a more humane approach. On its Facebook page it posts the branches throughout the city where its ATMs will be filled. Knowing this, our friend went early to the nearby branch listed. When he arrived he learned that the ATM had not yet been filled, so he went to wait in a nearby tea shop. When he returned at 9 am a long queue had already formed. He was to be customer #85. The assignment of numbers is handled by the customers themselves; bank staff do not bother. Having assigned numbers is helpful because people can wait in a shady spot until theirs is up.
There is an unspoken rule that, if you get in line with two or more debit cards, they must be for your accounts and not those of another person. Previously a group of people would hire a professional “squatter” who would wait in line with five or ten cards from different account holders. When someone’s number neared the ATM he would call the account holder who would then, essentially, jump the queue, infuriating those who had been waiting, sometimes for hours.
More than 120 people were in line. Our friend waited and waited and finally #84 was at the ATM. But his hopes were dashed when the man announced that he couldn’t get any money. The machine was empty. So, tomorrow, our friend will have to try his luck again.
This is exactly the sort of thing that people go through on a daily basis merely to withdraw their own money from a bank.
He could have gone inside the bank for his money, but doing so would have required him first to complete an online application and then, if his application were approved—meaning the bank was satisfied that he was not in any way supporting the civil disobedience movement—he might have been given an appointment to come to the bank to withdraw his money. The process typically takes some days, usually at least a week. If his application is not approved, he would not be informed.
Before the coup, customers were permitted to take from an ATM an amount equivalent to US$700-800 per day. Now? They’re allowed to withdraw from any one account a maximum of $115 per week, up to four times a month.
When my neighbour had finished relating his story I couldn’t resist asking him how much he was trying to withdraw. His answer: US$34, which was all that remained in that account. He does have other money in a government bank, but no corresponding ATM card. To withdraw his money from that bank he will have to fill out an application, but at the moment the bank is not accepting any until “sometime in June.”
Dāna | May 18, 2021
The junta is obviously, and for myriad reasons, desperate for funds, which has created havoc within the financial system. And there’s been an unforeseen cultural consequence of this.
The military regime is determined to smash all resistance. We see it in the daily upsurge in arrests, beatings, torture and murder. While much of this is an ideological battle, what has become patently clear is that it is also a struggle between those who want to provide humanitarian aid to their brothers and sisters, and those trying to put a stop to it at all costs. As I have previously noted, the simple act of handing someone a cup of rice can result in arrest, and the person receiving the gift might also be detained. Discretion, therefore, has become of utmost importance.
While it is struggling to obtain money for itself, the junta is also conducting an equally dedicated campaign to keep it out of people’s hands by, for instance, rationing withdrawals from banks and ATMs. The regime is well aware that money is changing hands between ordinary citizens and those involved in the civil disobedience movement (CDM). Sums, both large and small—some even less than US$1.00—are being donated to the CDM every day. These small amounts carry great meaning and are a joy to behold. Of course there are those who have no money to spare, but they find other ways to help.
I recently chatted with someone about raising funds to help the Burmese cause, which is, of course, essential and very much appreciated. However, because of the inherent danger, it is not only critical that every link along the chain of support remains absolutely anonymous, but any help provided must now remain unmentioned and unacknowledged—no recognition and rarely a thank-you.
Owing to the generosity of our supporters, we can direct most of our financial assistance to others, often to people whom we don’t know except by aliases and reputations; and we in turn are frequently helped by strangers who selflessly put themselves at great risk. This requisite anonymity in giving has now become the norm, although it is somewhat at odds with how the traditional culture of dāna has manifested in the past.
Giving, or dāna, has for centuries been an integral element of Burmese society. Dāna is a Pali word that connotes, especially, the virtue of giving, of unattached and unconditional generosity or charity, in which right volition plays a key role. When the volition is most pure, one gives expecting nothing in return, not even a thank-you. Dāna can be offered both materially and immaterially, as with a donation of time or participation, and is widely practised not only in support of monastic institutions, but of countless nonprofits and other good causes as well.
The public display of donors’ names is a common phenomenon in Myanmar. Years ago when I first toured the country and made donations to an organization or a monastery, someone would always insist that I have my photo taken handing over the money. To my astonishment and chagrin, when next I visited I would find that photo or my name on a plaque hanging on a wall. This left me feeling exceedingly uncomfortable, and at times I withheld donations because of it. Fortunately, over the years I have learned ways to work around such awkward situations.
In the present circumstances all of this is changing. Instead of public recognition, strict anonymity has now become the established donation practice. Still, sometimes we witness smiles or tears of gratitude. At other times we might see a cellphone video of young people at a demonstration wearing donated protective headgear and running shoes instead of flip-flops, or of doctors applying complimentary bandages to a wounded body. Or maybe thanks comes by way of a glass of sugarcane juice. Occasionally, I get a phone call in the middle of the night merely to say thank you for finding this safe place to sleep. People helping people—that is the noblest dāna of all..."
Source/publisher:
Tea Circle (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Military History, Military History, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။.."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
594.61 KB
more
Description:
"မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
564.49 KB
more
Description:
"According to AAPP documentation, at least (440) houses and buildings have been sealed off by the Junta since the 2021 coup up until February 2022.
As of March 4, (1603) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (6) fallen heroes today. These (6) fallen heroes from Gangaw Township in Magway Region and Ye-U Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 4, a total of (9507) people are currently under detention. (827) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On February 28, three local PDF personnel, named Aung Win, Kalar Lay and Htaw Gyi, and a civilian named Naing Oo, were arrested and then burned alive by the armed wing of the Junta after the military entered Oakpho Village in Ye-U Township, Sagaing Region.
On the evening of February 28, a designer named Soe Su Myat Lwin, living in Inntaw Town in Southern Shan State, was arrested by junta police for posting political content on Facebook.
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.56 MB 7.94 MB 1.08 MB
more
Description:
"အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအား လေယာဉ်ဆီတင်သွင်းပံ့ပိုးနေသော လုပ်ငန်းများဆိုင်ရာ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက် (၃/၂၀၂၂)..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Commerce , National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
252.87 KB
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
445.93 KB 610.54 KB
more
Description:
"Over a year since the attempted coup on February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military junta,
which is led by the perpetrators of the decades-long genocide against Rohingya, is
continuing to act with the intent of destroying this ethnic minority and indigenous group as
well as commit widespread and systematic attacks of violence against the country’s entire
population. As was reported by the United Nations (UN) Independent International FactFinding Mission in 2018, the Myanmar military and security forces had perpetrated war
crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity for decades, including by using sexual
violence as a “hallmark” of their operations; in 2017, these forces launched strategic attacks
of genocide against Rohingya, forcing hundreds of thousands to be displaced and seek
refuge in neighboring countries. Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional
measures in 2019, today, Rohingya as a group, including the millions of refugees, have no
chance of finding peace and security, returning to their homes across Myanmar, and having
their fundamental rights restored indefinitely.
This briefer provides a brief, on-the-ground situation update of Rohingya and demonstrates
the way in which the Myanmar military and security forces are committing arbitrary
arrest and detention, including by issuing restrictions to the group's movement, to continue
their strategic persecution of Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
Women’s Peace Network
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.52 MB
more
Description:
"The Chin National Army (CNA) is the armed wing of the Chin National Front (CNF), a veteran ethnic Chin political party that has been demanding greater autonomy for Chin State in western Myanmar. Following last year’s coup, it has joined forces with the National Unity Government to collaborate in toppling the military regime.
Salai Htet Ni, the spokesperson for the CNA/CNF, said that they stand in solidarity with People’s Defense Forces (PDF), striking government staff who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement and ethnic Chin people at home and abroad to fight the junta.
“Now we are in high gear to play a part in national politics as well as building a federal union,” said Salai Htet Ni.
There have been fewer clashes lately in Chin State, but there are rumors that the regime is planning a large-scale attack. Salai Htet Ni spoke recently to The Irrawaddy about the military situation and to what extent PDFs have gained control in Chin State.
How is the military situation in Chin State now?
There are skirmishes in the nine townships of Chin State. But there is no large-scale fighting. We heard that it [the regime] is planning to move into rural areas to consolidate its control, particularly in Matupi and some other townships.
How is the contest between the regime and PDFs in Chin State? To what extent have PDFs been able to take control of the state?
It is fair to say that we have taken control of 75 per cent of Chin State. But we assess that the regime will conduct more military operations in March because the weather allows it [it is easier to travel in the mountainous areas of Chin State in the hot season than in the rainy season].
We can say that the regime has control in the urban areas of Chin State’s townships, as well as control of roads connecting the towns, but they barely have control over rural areas.
Militarily, the regime is operational in urban areas. But in terms of government departments, only 30 per cent of them are operating. Government employees are not going to offices regularly and are not working full time. The military regime is not in a position to control and organize them properly. Only the security forces assigned to towns are managing the local workforce.
What are the difficulties facing Chin revolutionary groups fighting in Chin State?
We are not a match for them [Myanmar military] in terms of weaponry. And we have some problems with the chain of command among local resistance and guerilla groups. But everything else is OK. We have to make good use of all available weapons including rudimentary hunting rifles.
What preparations have resistance groups made in response to possible attacks by the regime this month?
I said we have control of 75 per cent of Chin State, I mean that we have been running our own schools, charities and clinics in almost all the rural areas in Chin except Paletwa Township. That work can be continued only when there is security for the people and the region in the long run.
This year is a real challenge for our national cause and national politics. And we have prepared our best to face whatever may come.
Fierce clashes are taking place almost daily in Karenni (Kayah) State and also in Sagaing and Magwe regions. What is your advice to PDFs fighting the military regime?
Taking a look at the usual practice of the regime throughout history, its military strategy is to use superior numbers in a battle. Normally, it only fights the war on one front. They may be weak if they have to fight on many fronts. We have to be aware of this, and we have to take action to make them fight on as many fronts as possible.
We must have a strategy to split their forces so that they can’t send superior numbers to a single front. It is important that not only resistance groups from Chin but also PDFs from other areas, as well as ethnic armed organizations (EAO), attack them collaboratively and harmoniously. Only then will we be able to split their forces. We understand their common strategy. So we must work collaboratively and make the best use of our strength. EAOs, local resistance groups and any other anti-junta forces including striking employees need to know their strategy and must learn to respond accordingly to any junta moves..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Chin (Zo)- economic, social, cultural, political, Chin history, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"As of March 3, (1597) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (7) fallen heroes today. These (7) fallen heroes from Gangaw Township in Magway Region were killed on February 28 and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 3, a total of (9478) people are currently under detention. (810) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On February 28, the armed wing of the Junta and Pyu Saw Htee personnel assaulted villages in Gangaw Township, Magway Region. Seven locals from Shwebo Village were killed. Their names are Thar Nyi, Wai Yan Oo, Zin Min Htut a.k.a Pyar Tar Maung, Nyein Chan Maung, Latt Soe, Win Soe and Tun Zaw. Five of the villagers were arrested, hands tied and burned alive, and two others were shot dead.
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights Defenders, Anti-coup protesters, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.49 MB 7.93 MB 1.05 MB
more
Description:
"Exactly sixty years ago on this day - March 2 - General Ne Win launched a coup d’etat against the
democratically elected government of U Nu, unleashing a repressive dictatorship that isolated
Myanmar from the rest of the world, wrecked the economy, and crippled the wellbeing of the people
of Myanmar. Ne Win established a governing council whose members were drawn almost exclusively
from the armed forces and effectively set the stage for succeeding generations of power-hungry
coup makers: Senior General Saw Maung and his deputy Than Shwe in 1988 and Senior General
Min Aung Hlaing in 2021. What is most tragic about this latest coup is that Myanmar was on track
to make genuine progress: though reform was still crippled by the 2008-military drafted constitution
and stagnant mindsets, Myanmar was becoming reintegrated into the international community, and
people’s standards of living were gradually improving.
The Tatmadaw was once respected given its role in Myanmar’s independence; today it is a menace
to the wellbeing of the Myanmar people. In no world can a military force legitimately step in to fill the
role that should be played by democracy - a role that should reflect the will of the people. The world
cannot let this latest coup set the stage for another fifty years of authoritarian rule in Myanmar and
reverse the hard work of generations of activists and changemakers..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
20.05 KB
more
Sub-title:
ကရင်နီဒေသတိုက်ပွဲတွေမှာ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သားတွေ ၈၀၀နီးပါးသေဆုံးခဲ့ဟု PKPF ထုတ်ပြန်
Description:
"မင်းအောင်လှိုင် ခေါင်းဆောင်တဲ့ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်က အာဏာသိမ်းခဲ့တဲ့နောက်ပိုင်း ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့တဲ့ ကရင်နီဒေသ တိုက်ပွဲတွေမှာ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သား ၈၀၀ နီးပါးသေဆုံးခဲ့တယ်လို့ တိုးတက်သော ကရင်နီပြည်သူ့အင်အားစု(PKPF)က ဒီကနေ့ ထုတ်ပြန်လိုက်ပါတယ်။
၂၀၂၁ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ၁ရက် ကနေ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလကုန်အထိ ကရင်နီပြည်အတွင်းစစ်ရေး နိုင်ငံရေး အခြေနေ အကျဉ်းချုပ်ကို PKPFက ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့တာမှာ ဖော်ပြထားတာပါ။
အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက်ပိုင်းစစ်ကောင်စီတပ်ကို ကရင်နီအမျိုးသားကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်(KNDF)၊ ကရင်နီတပ်မတော်(KA)၊ ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်(PDF) အပါအဝင် ကရင်နီဒေသ တော်လှန်ရေးအင်အားစု တွေက စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်ကို ခုခံတိုက်ခိုက်ခဲ့လို့ လွိုင်ကော်၊ ဒီးမော့ဆို၊ မိုးဗြဲ၊ ဖယ်ခုံ၊ ပင်လောင်း၊ ဘောလခဲ၊ ဖရူဆို၊ ဖားဆောင်း စတဲ့ဒေသတွေမှာ တိုက်ပွဲတွေ ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့ပါတယ်။
၂၀၂၁ မေလကနေ ၂၀၂၂ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလကုန်အထိ တိုက်ပွဲပေါင်း ၁၈၇ ကြိမ်ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့တာမှာ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သား ၇၉၀ ဦးသေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီး ဒဏ်ရာရသူအများအပြားရှိခဲ့ပါတယ်။ ပျက်စီးသွားတဲ့ စစ်ကောင်စီယာဉ် ၂၆ စီးထက်မနည်းရှိခဲ့ပါတယ်။ တိုက်ပွဲတွေပြင်းထန်ခဲ့လို့ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်က လေကြောင်း တိုက်ခိုက်မှုတွေ အကြိမ်ကြိမ်ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့ရာမှာ စုစုပေါင်း ၆၉ ကြိမ်ရှိတယ်လို့ဆိုပါတယ်။
အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်နဲ့ဖြစ်ခဲ့တဲ့ တိုက်ပွဲတွေမှာ KNDF/KA/PDF ပါအဝင် တော်လှန်ရေးရဲဘော် ၈၇ ဦးကျဆုံးခဲ့ရသလို အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်က ပြည်သူလူထုတွေကို အကြမ်းဖက်တိုက်ခိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့လို့ အရပ်သားပြည်သူ ၂၂၁ ဦးသေဆုံးခဲ့ရတယ်လို့ PKPFက ထုတ်ပြန်ပါတယ်။
ဒါ့အပြင် အကြောင်းအမျိုးမျိုးနဲ့ မတရားဖမ်းဆီးခံထားရတဲ့ ပြည်သူလူထု ၂၂၀ ဦးရှိတယ်လို့လည်းဆိုပါတယ်။
ကရင်နီဒေသတိုက်ပွဲတွေမှာ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်က လေကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်တာ လက်နက်ကြီးတွေနဲ့ အလွန်အကျွံပစ်ခတ်တိုက်ခိုက်တာနဲ့နေအိမ်တွေကို တမင်မီးရှို့ဖျက်ဆီးတာ အပါအဝင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်ဖွဲ့ဝင်တွေလက်ချက်ကြောင့် ပြည်သူလူထုတွေရဲ့နေအိမ် ၆၅၀ နီးပါး နဲ့ ဘာသာရေး အဆောက် အအုံ ၁၀ ခုတို့ ပျက်စီးခဲ့တယ်လို့ ဆိုပါတယ်။
အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်ဟာ လက်ရှိအချိန်မှာလည်း အရပ်သားတွေကို ပစ်မှတ်ထားပြီး လေကြောင်းကနေ တိုက်ခိုက်တာ၊ စစ်ရှောင်စခန်းတွေကို လေကြောင်းက ဗုံးကြဲတာ၊ လက်နက်ကြီးတွေနဲ့ တိုက်ခိုက်တာ တွေ လုပ်ဆောင်ခဲ့လို့ ကရင်နီစစ်ရှောင်ပြည်သူတွေ အသက်ဆုံးရှုံးထိခိုက်ဒဏ်ရာရမှုတွေလည်း ဖြစ်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher:
Progressive Karenni People Force
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, Armed conflict in Karenni State, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
131 KB
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
440.13 KB
more
Description:
"Following the decision by Apple to remove RT and Sputnik apps from all countries except Russia, Burma Campaign UK today repeated its call to Apple to remove apps by the Burmese military-owned company Mytel.
Mytel is a mobile phone network which is a joint venture between the Burmese military and Vietnamese military. It is highly profitable for the Burmese military.
The United Nations has repeatedly reported on the role Burmese military owned companies play in funding the Burmese military and the violations of international law committed by the Burmese military. The UN Fact-Finding Mission report on the economic interests of the Burmese military is available here.
The Burmese military is facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice and being investigated for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
Apple hosts seven apps from Mytel and refuses to remove them. The apps are a critical part of Mytel’s marketing strategy to attract customers and increase profits.
Alphabet/Google and Huawei also host Mytel apps.
Since 2019, Apple has been on the Burma Campaign UK ‘Dirty List’ of companies linked to the Burmese military. Apple has not responded to correspondence.
“Apple need to explain why they think propaganda by the Putin regime is unacceptable, but at the same time think it is acceptable for Apple to help the Burmese military fund genocide,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Just like Putin, the Burmese military use Russian jets and Russian bombs in airstrikes against civilian targets. By hosting Mytel apps, Apple are in a business relationship with a military which has committed genocide and rapes children. Apple must stop helping the Burmese military make money and remove all Mytel apps. No form of business relationship with the Burmese military is acceptable...”
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"As of March 2, (1590) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Shwebo Township in Sagaing Region was killed on February 25 and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 2, a total of (9443) people are currently under detention. (782) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On March 1, Htet Aung, vice-chairman of All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and former chairman of Pyay University Students’ Union, was sentenced to four years imprisonment with hard labour under Section 52(d) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. He was arrested on September 6, 2021 for protesting against the military coup. He is a third-year student majoring in geology at the University of Pyay in Bago Region.
A former chairman of the Basic Education Students’ Union named Aung Min Khaing a.k.a Mae Gyi, detained since May 17, 2021, was sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code by the special court in Insein Prison.
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.54 MB 7.99 MB 1.01 MB
more
Description:
"During 1–25 Feb, there were at least 741 armed clashes and attacks on civilians (or 29.64 per day), compared to 23.69/day over the prior twelve months. UNHCR said that 810,000 IDPs in Burma, likely a significant underestimate. As of 28 Feb, the junta had arrested at least 12,417 civilians, including politicians, activists, and journalists, and killed at least 1,869 civilians. COVID-19 cases spiked dramatically. The EU placed sanctions on Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). As new ASEAN Chair, Cambodia prevented the junta from attending the first ASEAN meeting of 2022, but conceded that it could do little to improve the situation..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Democracy Network, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Burma Human Rights Network, Initiatives for International Dialogue, International Federation for Human Rights, Progressive Voice, and US Campaign for Burma
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Anti-coup protesters, National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
757.82 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday pardoned and released six celebrities, including acting couple Eaindra Kyaw Zin and Pyay Ti Oo, actor Lu Min and model-actor Paing Takhon, who were arrested for opposing military rule.
The junta announced that the four, who have been detained for nearly a year, will be pardoned “to participate in state-building affairs with their performing arts”.
Their families confirmed the releases.
Eaindra Kyaw Zin, Pyay Ti Oo and Paing Takhon, 24, were arrested in April last year and Lu Min was seized in late February last year for participating in anti-regime protests and supporting the civil disobedience movement against the regime.
They have been held in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison with thousands of other political prisoners and sentenced to three years in prison in December under incitement charges.
On Wednesday the junta also pardoned beauty blogger Win Min Than, who was jailed on incitement charges. She has been held in Insein since April last year and was given a three-year sentence in December.
The junta’s announcement said Win Min Than still faces a case under the Unlawful Associations Act for joining the anti-regime movement.
Award-winning film director Htun Zaw Win, also known as Wyne, who was arrested last month after returning from hiding to his Yangon home, was also released on Wednesday. The junta said it had dropped the case against him.
Singers Saw Phoe Khwar and Po Po, actor Ye Tike and filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi remain in custody.
More than 9,400 people, including writers, activists, politicians, pro-democracy protesters and student activists, are still being held by the junta..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The junta has threatened the Myanmar political parties of potential disbandment if they do not comply with its order to submit their financial accounts for inspection by 9 March 2022. The junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) has said that if the parties do not comply with the instruction, they would face legal action under Section 24 (c), (d) and (e) of the Registration of Political Parties Law. These provisions of the law carry potential punishments of a three-year suspension, having their operations halted and disbandment. The UEC has instructed the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and two other parties to appear before 14 February to verify their financial accounts and expenses. Both the NLD and SNLD have not appeared yet the junta UEC has issued its warning on 23 February 2022.
The EU announced its fourth round of sanctions against the junta, affecting 22 individuals and 4 entities including government ministers, a member of the State Administrative Council and members of the Union Election Commission, as well as high-ranking members of the junta Forces. Along with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), the Htoo Group, the International Group of Entrepreneurs, and Mining Enterprise 1 are among the list of those sanctioned. As regards the sanctioned entities, these are either state-owned companies providing substantive resources to the Tatmadaw, or private companies closely connected to the Tatmadaw's top leadership. The rights groups and the Myanmar civil society have been advocating for sanctions against MOGE in particular. Justice for Myanmar (JFM) welcomed the EU sanctions in a statement and said MOGE is the junta’s biggest single source of revenue, responsible for financing its terror campaign.
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob met with Cambodian Prime Minister and current Chair of ASEAN Hun Sen on a two-day visit to Cambodia that extended support to the visit of the ASEAN Envoy to Myanmar and stressed the importance of the implementation of the ASEAN five-point consensus that junta leader agreed in April 2021 in Jakarta. Malaysia has been very critical of Hun Sen’s visit to Myanmar in January without proper consultation of ASEAN leaders which led to the postponement of the ASEAN Foreign ministers meeting in Cambodia from January to February 2022.
The Gambia’s case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in The Hague has started with the first preliminary objections being heard. The Gambia has accused Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya in violation of the UN’s Genocide Convention. The junta’s legal team was led by the junta’s minister for international cooperation Ko Ko Hlaing and attorney general Thida Oo. The junta’s legal team delivered its preliminary objections and The Gambia responded.
The junta also got attention in the past week for expressing its support to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. "No. 1 is that Russia has worked to consolidate its sovereignty”, Junta spokesman General Zaw Min Tun said, citing the reasons for the junta to support the action by Russia.
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights situation in Myanmar Tom Andrews said that UN Security Council members China and Russia, as well as Serbia, have continued to supply the junta with weapons used to attack civilians since the coup. He further urged the Security Council to convene an emergency session "to debate and vote on a resolution to, at a minimum, ban those arms transfers that the Myanmar military is known to use to attack and kill Myanmar civilians".
India for Myanmar Movement sent an open letter to the organizers of the 5th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit in Sri Lanka, urging them not to invite coup leader Min Aung Hlaing to the summit. The open letter says that in December 2021 the Myanmar military was invited to take part in military exercises of BIMSTEC countries in India and there are records that Myanmar military representatives attended many of BIMSTEC meetings as country representatives. The summit is scheduled to be held on 30 March 2022.
The latest UNHCR report on Myanmar revealed that the number of IDPs across Myanmar has reached a high of 453,000 since the coup. It also said there were an estimated 46,000 refugee movements to neighbouring countries and 980,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar fled to neighbouring countries as of 31 December 2020.
As of 25 February 2022, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) recorded that 1,582 people have been killed by the junta. 9,378 people are currently under detention. 84 have been sentenced to death and 1,973 are evading arrest warrants..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Network for Free Elections (Bangkok)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Business and the Military, Sanctions
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
476.38 KB
more
Description:
"မှတ်ချက်။ ။ မြေပြင်သတင်းတာဝန်ခံများနှင့်သတင်းဌာနများမှ ဖော်ပြလာသော အချက်အလက်များအပေါ် အခြေခံပြုစုထားသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Defence - National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
416.83 KB
more
Description:
"As of March 1, (1589) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (4) fallen heroes today. These (4) fallen heroes from Yinmarbin Township in Sagaing Region and Dawei Township in Tanintharyi Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of March 1, a total of (9437) people are currently under detention. (778) people have been sentenced in person, of them 45 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1973 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 84 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. The exact identities and total figure remains to be verified, but we will continue to confirm the recently released.
On the midnight of February 25, Thein Htike Oo, living in Maung Mae Shaung Village in Tanintharyi Region’s Dawei Township, was shot dead by Junta soldiers at the checkpoint in Eain Shae Pyin Village, while he was crossing by motorbike. Thein Htike Oo suffers from mental illness. His body was not returned to his family and was cremated by the military.
From February 26 for three days, the armed wing of the Junta has been stationed at, and raiding Chin Pone Village, in Sagaing Region’s Yinmarbin Township. They killed nine villagers, including Aung Maung, from Chin Pone Village, and Tun Tun and Myo Nyunt, from Pan Pa Htone Village.
AAPP will continue to inform on verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update the lists with details of these alleged offenses. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against, CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent, please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] ..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
2.5 MB 7.98 MB 1.01 MB
more
Description:
"Regime forces killed at least nine people during raids in upper Myanmar villages and detained over 80 primary schoolchildren as potential human shields.
The children, who were released on Monday, were detained for around 36 hours at a Buddhist monastery in Chin Pone Village in Sagaing Region’s Yinmabin Township, after the village and adjacent area were targeted by junta soldiers airlifted by helicopter and indiscriminate airstrikes.
During the raid, the children, who were all under the age of 12 with many around five to seven-years-old, were detained while attending a kindergarten at the monastery.
An adult who was detained with the children told The Irrawaddy on Monday that they tried to evacuate the children to the basement of the monastery when the helicopters landed, but were detained by junta forces.
“They pointed guns at us. We had to beg them not to shoot kids,” said the adult.
Villagers and local People’s Defense Force (PDF) fighters said the regime troops took the children hostage so they could be used as human shields in case of attacks by PDFs.
Some villagers were also arrested during the raid. They were interrogated and beaten by the junta soldiers, who asked them about local resistance fighters.
At least nine people were killed in the raid and some villagers reportedly remain under arrest.
One local said that they found six bodies near a primary school, one near the monastery and two more on the outskirts of the village.
“Almost all were killed by one shot to the head,” he said.
Only one of the victims has been confirmed to be a Chin Pone villager, he added.
Junta forces reportedly threatened to burn down Chin Pone Village during the raid if the villagers who had fled didn’t return.
Some parents have yet to be reunited with their children, despite them being released. Regime troops are suspected of taking four villagers when they left the village on Monday afternoon.
“We are still looking for the children who are missing,” a PDF member said.
Nearby Thapyayaye Village was attacked with airstrikes on Monday.
In a statement released on Monday, the parallel civilian National Unity Government’s Ministry of Women, Youths and Children said they condemned in the strongest possible terms taking children hostage, as well as teachers and their parents.
“Children have a primary claim to protection under international law, and their abduction and hostage-taking comprises a grave violation,” the ministry said.
Since last year’s coup, military regime forces have killed at least 1,582 innocent civilians and arrested over 12,000 people..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Military History
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"55 British Parliamentarians from 9 different political parties and Independent MPs have joined the call for aviation fuel sanctions against the Burmese military.
The Parliamentarians are backing Early Day Motion 908, which calls on the British government to introduce sanctions to stop aviation fuel reaching the Burmese military.
Since the military coup last year, the Burmese military are increasingly using airstrikes against civilians, killing and injuring civilians, and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. This has created a humanitarian crisis.
“The Burmese military are committing crimes against humanity through the indiscriminate bombing of civilians in ethnic states. Sanctioning aviation fuel would help ground the jet planes and stop the bombings,” said Rushanara Ali MP, who tabled the motion.
The Early Day Motion ‘One year anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar’, also calls on the British government to support a referral of Burma to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to join the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Almost half a million people have been displaced in Burma since the attempted coup. The majority have been displaced because of airstrikes or the threat of air strikes, with jet planes, helicopters and drones circling over villages and preventing people from returning home because of the fear of being bombed. This is mainly taking place in ethnic states and Sagaing region and is causing a humanitarian crisis.
In the parliamentary motion, the MPs “note in horror the increased attacks by the military in ethnic areas including Chin, Karenni and Karen State over the recent months which includes the burning of people alive, torching of villages and killings of children” and demand “an urgent stop to the attacks”.
“The British government has led on sanctions since the coup, systematically identifying sources of revenue for the Burmese military and introducing targeted sanctions. Sanctions now need to be introduced on Burmese companies that supply aviation fuel to the military and British companies involved in any aspect of the supply of aviation fuel, including shipping, insurance and services,” said Karin Valtersson, Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"1. The Ministry of Human Rights and the Ministry o f Women, Youths and
Children Affairs o f the National Unity Government (NUG) express their
outrage at the hostage-taking o f up to 80 children by military junta troops in
Yinmabin Township o f Sagaing Region.
2. On the morning o f 26 February 2022, junta forces targeted Chin Pone and
adjacent villages in Yinmabin Township with indiscriminate air strikes.
Subsequent raids on the villages followed.
3. At the time o f the attacks, up to 80 children, all under 12 years o f age and many
under five, were attending a kindergarten in Chin Pone village. Teachers
evacuated the children to the basement o f a nearby monastery, where they were
later located and have since been held hostage by junta troops.
4. Junta troops in Chin Pone village have reportedly broadcast threats over
loudspeaker, claiming that they will bum the village down unless locals that
fled the violence return. The children remain hostages in this threat. Given the
junta’s escalating acts o f terror and atrocity crimes against civilians, the NUG
holds well-founded fears that returning villagers would be killed, disappeared,
tortured or arbitrarily detained. It also holds grave fears for safety of the captive
ch ildren.
5. The NUG condemns in the strongest possible terms the junta's hostage-taking
of the children as well as their teachers and parents. It calls on the international
community to join its efforts to secure their immediate and unconditional
release.
6. The NUG also restates Myanmar’s commitment to its international obligations,
including under international humanitarian law and the Convention on the
Rights o f the Ch ild and its optional protocols. Children have a primary claim to
protection under international law, and their abduction and hostage-taking
comprises a grave violation..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs National Unity Government
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
59.35 KB 220.94 KB
more
Sub-title:
“ပြည်သူလူထုပိုင်အိုးအိမ်များအား မတရားချိတ်ပိတ်သိမ်းဆည်းနေမှုများနှင့် ပတ်သက်သည့် ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်”
Description:
"လတ်တလောကာလများအတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအနေဖြင့် ၎င်းတို့၏ မတရားအာဏာလုယူမှုကို ဆန့်ကျင်သော၊ မိမိတို့၏ လွတ်လပ်စွာရေးသားထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခွင့်ကို ကျင့်သုံးလျက်ရှိသော ပြည်သူလူထု၏ ပုဂ္ဂိုလ်ရေးဆိုင်ရာ အချက်အလက်များကို Telegram ကဲ့သို့သော လူမှုကွန်ယက်များတွင် ရေးသားဖော်ထုတ်၍ အကြမ်းဖက်ရန်လှုံ့ဆော်မှုများ ပျံ့နှံ့လာပြီး၊ အဆိုပါ လှုံ့ဆော်မှုများနှင့် ချိတ်ဆက်၍ ပြည်သူလူထုပိုင်ဆိုင်သော အိုးအိမ်စည်းစိမ်များကို မတရားသဖြင့် ချိတ်ပိတ် သိမ်းဆည်းမှုများ နေ့စဉ်ရက်ဆက် ပြုလုပ်လာသည်ကို တွေ့ရပါသည်။ အဆိုပါ ဆောင်ရွက်နေမှုများသည် တရားဥပဒေနှင့် ညီညွတ်မှုမရှိသည့်အပြင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို ဆန့်ကျင်သည့် ပြည်သူလူထုအပေါ် သူရဲဘောကြောင်စွာ ညစ်ထေးသော နည်းလမ်းဖြင့် စနစ်တကျ ဖိနှိပ်လာသော လုပ်ရပ်များ ဖြစ်သောကြောင့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ အနေဖြင့် ပြင်းထန်စွာရှုတ်ချပါသည်။
ထိုကဲ့သို့ ဥပဒေနှင့် ညီညွတ်ခြင်းမရှိသည့် မတရားဆောင်ရွက်မှုများတွင် ပူးပေါင်းပါဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်ကြသူ လူပုဂ္ဂိုလ်တစ်ဦးချင်း တစ်ယောက်ချင်းစီတိုင်းသည် မိမိ၏ပါဝင်ပတ်သက်မှု အတိုင်းအတာပေါ်မူတည်၍ တာဝန်ယူ၊ တာဝန်ခံရစေရေး အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် ဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သောကြောင့် ကျူးလွန်ခံရသော ပြည်သူများအနေဖြင့် ကျူးလွန်မှုတွင်ပူးပေါင်းပါဝင်ပတ်သက်သူများ၏ အချက်အလက်များနှင့် မတရားချိတ်ပိတ် သိမ်းဆည်းခံရသည် အိုးအိမ်ပိုင်ဆိုင်မှုစာရင်းများကို သက်သေများနှင့်တကွ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ပြည်ထဲရေးနှင့်လူဝင်မှုကြီးကြပ်ရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန၏ အင်တာနက်စာမျက်နှာ https://mohai.nugmyanmar.org ရှိ အမှုဖွင့်တိုင်ကြားရန်နေရာတွင် တိုင်ကြားပေးကြပါရန် မေတ္တာရပ်ခံအပ်ပါသည်။ ပြည်သူများ၏ ပေးပို့တိုင်ကြားမှုများနှင့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရလက်အောက်တွင် အမှုထမ်းလျက်ရှိသော ရဲတပ်ဖွဲ့ဝင်များ၏ စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေး ဖော်ထုတ်မှုများကို အခြေခံ၍ အဆိုပါ ကိစ္စရပ်များအား တရားမျှတမှုရရှိရေး ဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။
နိုင်ငံတော်၏အာဏာကို တရားမဝင်လုယူထားသော အကြမ်းဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ခုဖြစ်သည့် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ ဆောင်ရွက်နေမှုများအားလုံးသည် တရားဥပဒေနှင့်ညီညွတ်မှုမရှိသည့်အတွက် မည်သည့်သက်ရောက်မှုမျှမရှိဘဲ ပျက်ပြယ်ပြီး ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ သို့ဖြစ်ပါသောကြောင့် အထက်ပါ နေအိမ်ချိတ်ပိတ်သိမ်းဆည်းခံရမှုများ အားလုံးသည်လည်း ကျူးလွန်ခံရသည့် ပြည်သူတစ်ဦးတစ်ယောက်ချင်းဆီတိုင်းအပေါ် သက်ရောက်မှုမရှိစေရဘဲ မည်သည့်ဆုံးရှုံးမှုမျှ မရှိစေရေးနှင့် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းမှုကာလ တရားမျတမှုဖော်ဆောင်ရေးအစီအစဉ်များအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ချိန်တွင် ဥပဒေမဲ့သိမ်းဆည်းခံရသည့် ပြည်သူများ၏ အိုးအိမ်ပိုင်ဆိုင်မှုများကို ပြည်သူ့လက်ရောက် ပြန်လည်ပေးအပ်နိုင်ရေးကို အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် ဦးစားပေး စီမံဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
375.25 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The Myanmar junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) has threatened two major political parties that won majorities in the 2020 general election with disbandment if they do not comply with its order to submit their financial accounts for inspection by March 9.
In a letter to their chairpersons dated Feb. 8, the UEC instructed the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and two other parties to appear before it on Feb. 14 to verify their financial accounts and expenses.
Neither the NLD nor the SNLD showed up, however, prompting the UEC to issue its warning on Feb. 23.
The NLD and the SNLD won majorities in the Union Parliament and Shan State Parliament, respectively, in the 2020 vote. The SNLD also came third in the nationwide parliamentary vote.
On Feb. 26 last year, the NLD released a statement saying it does not recognize the new election commission appointed by the junta and that its announcements are illegal.
NLD chairperson and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since she was detained by the military hours before last year’s Feb. 1 military coup.
Sai Kyaw Nyunt, joint secretary of the SNLD, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday the party would accept a request from the UEC to visit the party’s main headquarters and audit its financial accounts. However, he said, “We didn’t commit any [wrongdoing], so we don’t need to go there [to the UEC] and be investigated.”
In written replies to questions from pro-junta media, the UEC said if the parties failed to comply with its instruction, they would face legal action under Section 24 (c), (d) and (e) of the Registration of Political Parties Law. Violations of these provisions of the law carry potential punishments of a three-year suspension, having their operations halted, and disbandment, respectively.
An NLD source told The Irrawaddy the party rejected the UEC’s call, as the junta had already arrested almost the entire party leadership.
U Kyaw Htwe, a spokesman for the NLD’s Central Work Committee, said the decision on whether to submit the party’s financial accounts for inspection would ultimately be made the Central Executive Committee members.
“Our party leaders who have been detained must be released immediately. Besides, [the UEC] needs to be a body that is legal to inspect financial accounts. This UEC was appointed by the military council; they have no right to scrutinize political parties.”
Political parties with popular support in Myanmar are at risk of being dissolved before the junta’s planned election in August next year.
U Khin Maung Myint, a lawyer, said that despite the UEC’s claim that it is acting in accordance with the law, the order that parties submit their accounts for financial audit “is not a fair demand at this time,” given that some parties’ leaders are detained or imprisoned, or have fled to avoid arrest by junta forces.
“The intent [of the move] is to suspend or dissolve the parties, as the current [political] situation does not favor financial inspection of parties,” he said.
Myanmar has 92 registered political parties. About half of them are proxy parties for the military, including the Union Solidarity and Development Party.
The junta-appointed UEC has scrutinized the financial accounts of more than 70 parties. As of Feb. 9, it had checked the accounts of 67 political parties. At least six more showed up at the UEC to be inspected last week and this week..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Articles and reports about the NLD, Shan National League for Democracy
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Attacks to press freedom and democracy continue to escalate in Myanmar, with two prominent writers and a student activist sentenced under an amendment to the Myanmar’s Penal code. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemn the junta’s continued censorship and quashing of critical reportage and calls on the international community to do more to protect the livelihoods and safety of journalists in Myanmar.
On February 22, Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo, two anti-junta writers, were sentenced to two and three years in prison respectively under Section 505(a) of the Myanmar Penal Code. Section 5050(A), an amendment introduced by the military junta, criminalises the circulation of any information with the intent to defame government employees.
Maung Tha Cho was sentenced to two years for an article he wrote eight years ago, while Htin Lin Oo was charged after sharing an anti-junta video on his social media page.
The writers were arrested on February 1, 2021, the day of Myanmar’s military coup and were placed in Insein Prison, where they have been detained for more than a year.
This is not the first time a journalist has been charged under Section 505(A). In June 2022, the IFJ reported the sentencing of Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporter Aung Kyaw, and freelance reporter Ko Zaw Zaw, who were the first journalists to be sentenced to two years in prison under Section 505(a).
Student activist Yin Myat Noe Oo was also given a three-year prison sentence for incitement at a court inside Insein Prison last week. The student was arrested in Yangon in April 2021 after putting up posters that criticised the junta.
According to the University Students’ Union Alumni Force (USUAF) who are in contact with detainees inside Insein Prison, inmates facing political charges have been tortured by prison authorities and denied medical treatment for their injuries.
On February 22, the United Nations human rights expert on Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, said that Russia, China and Serbia were providing arms assistance, including fighter jets, to the military junta. These weapons were supplied with “full knowledge that they would be used to attack civilians”, said Andrews.
The three sentencings come during a period of increasing restrictions on press freedom in Myanmar, one year on from the military takeover. According to Reporting ASEAN, at least 121 journalists and media workers have been arrested since the beginning of the military coup, with 47 currently detained as of February 9, 2022. At least 40 of the arrested journalists were charged with violating Section 505(a) of the Penal Code.
In December 2021, Ko Soe Naing, a freelance photojournalist, died in custody after being arrested by military forces for covering silent protests by opponents of the coup. Naing was the first journalist confirmed to have died in custody since the coup.
The IFJ said: “Journalists and media workers have suffered intensely throughout the first year of Myanmar’s military coup, actively persecuted and silenced for doing their jobs. The IFJ calls for the release of all detained media workers, including Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo, and strongly condemns the junta’s continued censorship and suppression of press and civilian freedoms. The IFJ urges the international community to heighten efforts to protect and support media workers and journalists working under the coup.”..."
Source/publisher:
International Federation of Journalists
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Serbia has continued to supply arms to the Myanmar military since the coup, despite the fact that those weapons are being used to attack and kill civilians, including children.
Tom Andrews, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, identified Serbia, along with China and Russia, as UN member states that are continuing to sell arms to the junta in a report issued on Tuesday.
On the same day, the independent rights group Myanmar Witness also issued its own report revealing that air-launched rockets were exported by Serbia to Myanmar after the February 1, 2021 coup.
Serbia and the Myanmar military have a close relationship that goes back decades to when Serbia was part of the former Yugoslavia. A Serbian delegation reportedly visited Myanmar in January 2022 to discuss sales of artillery to the junta.
The Myanmar Witness report said that a Belarussian plane carrying some 1,644 80mm aerial rockets from Serbia landed at Yangon Airport at 6.30pm on February 9 last year, eight days after the junta’s coup. The rights group also revealed that the rockets were exported officially by Serbian arms manufacturer Jugoimport-SDPR, which was granted an export license by Serbia’s Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Communication.
Images from social media appear to show crates of rockets being unloaded from the plane at Yangon Airport on February 10, 2021.
80mm aerial rockets are used by the Myanmar military’s Russian-made Yak-130 fighter jets and Mi-24/35 attack helicopters, which have been involved in numerous airstrikes against civilian targets, especially in Sagaing Region and Kayah, Karen and Chin states, where armed resistance to the junta is strongest.
On Wednesday afternoon two civilians were killed when junta jets bombed villages in Kayah State’s Demoso Township.
“Serbia’s transfers of these arms likely breach Serbia’s Geneva Convention obligations and may also violate Serbia’s responsibility under customary international law given the virtual certainty that rockets of the sort Serbia has authorized would be used against civilians and the prominent role that rockets have played in Myanmar’s attacks on civilians,” said Tom Andrews in the UN report.
Last June, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on member states to stop the flow of arms to the junta.
However, the UN report identified China and Russia – both permanent members of the UN Security Council – as having supplied fighter jets and armored vehicles to the regime since the coup. Serbia has supplied artillery shells, as well as aerial rockets.
Andrews urged weapons exporting nations to suspend immediately all arms sales to the junta, and called for the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution banning the transfer of arms that the regime is using to attack and kill civilians.
“It should be incontrovertible that weapons used to kill civilians should no longer be transferred to Myanmar. These transfers truly shock the conscience,” Andrews said. “Stopping the junta’s atrocity crimes begins with blocking their access to weapons. The more the world delays, the more innocent people, including children, will die in Myanmar.”
The London-based rights group Burma Campaign UK condemned the Serbian government for its sales of rockets being used to target civilians.
“By supplying arms to the Burmese military, Serbia is complicit in violations of international law,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The Serbian government knows that the weapons it supplies to the Burmese military are used against civilians, with children and babies being injured and killed.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Arms (Military Expenditure, Arms Transfers, Arms Production Etc), Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar and the investigative organisation Myanmar Witness have both published evidence this week exposing arms sales to the Burmese military since the military coup last year.
This follows a Briefing paper from Burma Campaign UK last month detailing the decades long relationship between the Burmese military and Serbia.
“By supplying arms to the Burmese military, Serbia is complicit in violations of international law,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The Serbian government knows that the weapons it supplies to the Burmese military are used against civilians, with children and babies being injured and killed.”
Tom Andrews, The UN Special Rapporteur, stated in a new report, Enabling Atrocities: UN Member States’ Arms Transfers to the Myanmar Military:
“The Special Rapporteur has learned through credible sources that throughout at least 2020 and even after the coup, the Serbian Government has granted arms export licenses to Serbian arms manufacturers to sell thousands of rockets (57mm and 80mm) and artillery shells (105mm, 122mm, and 155mm) to the Myanmar military. Specifically, since the coup, Serbia authorized export licenses for multiple shipments of rockets and artillery in February 2021, March 2021, April 2021 and June 2021. Credible information indicates that at least one shipment of 80mm rockets was transferred to the Myanmar military on 9 February 2021. The 80mm rockets are used in the Yak-130 trainer/fighter jets and Mi-24/35 attack helicopters that are actively bombing civilians in Myanmar, while large calibre artillery shells of the sort Serbia has authorized have killed numerous civilians.”
The report is available here.
Tom Andrews states that:
“Arms transfers to the Myanmar military after 2018 were done with the full knowledge that they would likely be used in attacks against civilians. As such, Member States had an obligation under international humanitarian law, customary international law, and the Arms Trade Treaty to prevent arms transfers from their respective jurisdictions to Myanmar…”
“Serbia’s transfers of these arms likely breach Serbia’s Geneva Convention obligations and may also violate Serbia’s responsibility under customary international law given the virtual certainty that rockets of the sort Serbia has authorized would be used against civilians and the prominent role that rockets have played in Myanmar’s attacks on civilians.”
Myanmar Witness, with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS), have also published a new investigation confirming the export of missiles to the Burmese military since the attempted military coup in 2021. The report is available here.
They stated that they have:
“…identified information indicating that Serbian-manufactured air-launched rockets were exported from Serbia to Myanmar, using a Belarussian airline, after the military coup of 1 February 2021.”
“Official documentation from the Serbian Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Communication, flight tracking data, and analysis of social media footage shows that two batches of unguided aerial rockets are likely to have been flown by Belarussian air company Rada Airlines from Serbia’s Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade to Myanmar’s Yangon Airport on 9 February 2021.”
Serbia, which is supposed to be aligning itself with European Union foreign policy, including an arms embargo on Burma, is ignoring its obligations and violating international law.
“The government of Serbia appears to be saying one thing and doing another,” said Anna Roberts. “Serbia must now unequivocally state that it is imposing an arms embargo and make public details of equipment it had been supplying to the Burmese military.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arms (Military Expenditure, Arms Transfers, Arms Production Etc), Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Myanmar's military deployed ground troops and launched air and artillery strikes against rebel forces in the country's east, witnesses, local media and an aid group said on Thursday, prompting thousands of people to flee.
Bombardments were carried out for a second day in Nan Mei Khon village in Kayah, a state bordering Thailand where soldiers have met months of resistance from the Karenni National Defence Force (KNDF), one of several militia groups that is challenging the junta's rule.
Myanmar's military council could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday, and state media outlets have not mentioned the fighting.
The Free Burma Rangers, a relief organization operating in the area, shared footage from a day earlier of houses ablaze in the village with the sound of artillery exploding nearby.
"Bombing again today on 24 February 2022. Also mortar attacks and infantry assault in this area. Thousands fleeing again," the group's founder, David Eubank, said in a text message.
Eubank said two people were killed and three were wounded on Wednesday. The Myanmar Now news site reported three were killed in another village attacked by a jet on Wednesday.
A KNDF representative was unable to confirm reports of casualties but said heavy fighting had taken place since Wednesday. Reuters was unable to independently verify the information.
The military ruled Myanmar for five decades until 2011 but is struggling to consolidate power this time as it faces protests in cities, armed conflict on several fronts and sanctions imposed to isolate generals who overthrew a democratically elected government last year.
At least 90,000 people have since been displaced by fighting in Kayah state, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency, which estimates 441,000 people have fled unrest in Myanmar since the coup.
Human rights groups have accused the military of using disproportionate force in civilian areas. The military says it is fighting "terrorists."
A rescue worker, who declined to be identified for safety reasons, told Reuters that heavy bombardment was complicating efforts to move civilians to relief camps.
"Thousands of people are stuck," the rescue worker said.
"We weren't able to get them out of the area yet... They are attacking the people by air, by land and also with heavy weapons."..."
Source/publisher:
"CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Statement on the supply of fuel to the terrorist regime (2/2022)..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Commerce, National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
257.81 KB
more
Sub-title:
Total Energies, Chevron, Other Companies Should Put Shares in Escrow
Description:
"The European Union should swiftly enforce new sanctions targeting Myanmar’s junta and its state-owned oil company, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Human Rights Watch said today. The EU should also ensure that the withdrawals of EU companies complying with sanctions do not benefit the junta. The United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Australia, and other countries should quickly adopt similar measures.
On February 21, 2022, the EU imposed new sanctions on junta officials, junta-linked “cronies,” and junta-controlled businesses including MOGE, which partners with international energy companies in the oil and gas sector.
The new sanctions will require several energy companies to terminate their operations in Myanmar, a significant impact since natural gas earnings are the Myanmar junta’s single largest source of foreign currency revenue. However, ambiguous provisions raise concerns that companies might transfer their stakes to MOGE or to other companies not subject to sanctions.
“If energy companies leaving Myanmar end up transferring their ownership shares or revenues to MOGE’s benefit, this will only further enrich and entrench the abusive and brutal junta,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The sanctions are meant to pressure the junta, not to allow Total Energies, Chevron, and others to bolster military rule.”
Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, the junta’s crackdown on opposition has seen mass killings, torture, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and other widespread and systematic abuses amounting to crimes against humanity. Continuing military attacks in the country’s ethnic areas have resulted in numerous war crimes.
Companies’ responsible exits from Myanmar should include placing companies’ existing shares or property rights into trust or escrow to ensure the revenues from those shares do not benefit the military. This includes shares of existing exploration or development projects or production or pipeline transportation ventures, Human Rights Watch said.
This is consistent with their responsibilities under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, whose commentary states that factors to consider in determining “appropriate action[s]” in cases in which business activities are enabling rights abuses include consideration of “whether terminating the relationship with the entity itself would have adverse human rights consequences.”
Total Energies, Chevron, and Woodside have each stated recently that they plan to withdraw from Myanmar in the coming months. Total Energies, headquartered in France, and Chevron, in the US, are involved in joint operations with MOGE related to offshore gas production and delivery to Thailand. Australia-based Woodside has exploratory and production rights in several other offshore gas fields. The company ENI, based in Italy, is involved in onshore oil production.
Transferring ownership shares to MOGE or a third party outside of EU jurisdiction would have negative consequences by increasing MOGE’s ownership shares and future revenue, strengthening the junta’s resources and capacities. Myanmar’s military uses its foreign currency revenue primarily for the military’s benefit, Human Rights Watch said.
The new EU sanctions appear to prohibit transfers or sales of shares to MOGE, since it is a “sanctioned entity.” However, the measures also temporarily authorize “making available” to MOGE “economic resources” when EU authorities determine that doing so is necessary for “the transfer before 31 July 2022 of shares or interests necessary for the termination of contracts” with MOGE. The ambiguous wording, apparently meant to temporarily license incidental transactions companies make while exiting, could be interpreted to authorize transferring shares to MOGE and should be clarified.
EU governments implementing new sanctions applicable to MOGE – in particular, the French and Italian governments since Total Energies and ENI fall under their jurisdiction – should make clear to companies that their ownership shares cannot be transferred or sold to MOGE.
Companies should urge other energy companies remaining in Myanmar, including current joint venture partners, to place future revenue shares to MOGE into trust or escrow accounts as well. Thailand’s state-owned PTT and South Korea’s POSCO, the two main energy companies remaining in Myanmar, should signal their support for such measures. The largest gas revenue payments to junta-controlled accounts are made via PTT, which purchases approximately 80 percent of Myanmar’s exported natural gas.
If exiting companies determine that they must sell or transfer their shares to another business entity, they should ensure that entities receiving such shares will respect international sanctions and follow international standards on business and human rights.
Human Rights Watch has previously urged other companies exiting Myanmar, including the Japanese beverage company Kirin, to ensure that their shares are not transferred to the military or sold or transferred in a way that benefits the junta.
To help prevent other companies or Myanmar authorities from undermining sanctions, other governments should follow the EU’s lead and impose similar measures specifying that transfers of ownership to the junta are prohibited, Human Rights Watch said. Additional sanctions would also help ensure that the junta isn’t able to evade the new EU sanctions in other jurisdictions.
“The overarching effect of the EU’s new sanctions is to restrict the junta’s access to MOGE revenues,” Sifton said. “Myanmar’s military won’t improve its rights record until the economic impacts of sanctions become too great to bear.”..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, Burma's economic relations with the European Union, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Freedom in the World 2022 finds that autocracy is making gains against democracy and encouraging more leaders to abandon the democratic path to security and prosperity, with countries that suffered democratic declines over the past year outnumbering those that improved by more than two to one.
Authoritarians in every region are working together to consolidate power and accelerate their attacks on democracy and human rights, according to Freedom in the World 2022: The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule. Political rights and civil liberties have declined worldwide for each of the past 16 years, raising the prospect that autocracy could overtake democracy as the governance model guiding international standards of behavior.
Checks on abuse of power and human rights violations have eroded within nations and international organizations alike, dealing a serious blow to democracy’s foundations and reputation. Authoritarian regimes in China, Russia, and elsewhere have gained greater power in the international system, and freer countries have seen their established democratic norms challenged and fractured. The military coup in Myanmar and the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan ended fragile experiments in elected civilian rule and led to the steepest country declines for the year, with a dramatic 19-point drop in Myanmar’s score on the report’s 100-point scale, and a similarly alarming 17-point loss for Afghanistan.
A total of 60 countries suffered declines in political rights and civil liberties over the past year, while only 25 improved. Fewer countries experienced net improvements in 2021 than in any other year since the current period of global democratic decline began. As of today, some 38 percent of the world’s people live in countries rated Not Free, the highest proportion since 1997. Only two in 10 people live in Free countries.
“Democracy is in real danger all over the globe,” said Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House. “Authoritarians are becoming bolder, while democracies are back on their heels. Democratic governments must rally to counter authoritarian abuses and support the brave human rights defenders fighting for freedom around the world. At the same time, democracies should also be looking inward to strengthen their own institutions and prevent homegrown efforts to undermine the separation of powers and the integrity of elections, which are both indispensable to democracy."..."
Source/publisher:
Freedom House (Washington, D.C.)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar military’s resort to bombing civilian populations as a counterinsurgency strategy is certain to backfire
Description:
"Myanmar’s army has unleashed yet another wave of aerial bombings in the country’s spiraling post-coup civil war, a change in traditional counterinsurgency tactics that points more to military weakness than strength.
Russian-made Hind-type attack helicopters fired rockets and machine guns once again this month while jet fighters dropped bombs on what appeared to be mainly civilian targets in eastern Kayah state where resistance to the coup has been particularly robust.
One of the helicopters reportedly carried General Soe Win, number two in the junta and considered even more hardline than his boss, coup-maker Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
As many as 170,000 villagers have fled their homes and are seeking shelter in remote parts of the state that abuts the Thai border in a situation that threatens to tilt towards a new-era refugee crisis.
Recent attacks by local resistance forces are believed to have motivated the Tatmadaw’s bombing campaign, which at the same time has raised hard new questions about the fighting ability of its increasingly stretched ground forces.
Ground attacks with air support are common in counterinsurgency campaigns elsewhere in the world, but until now have not been used much by the Tatmadaw in Myanmar’s decades-long ethnic wars.
In Kayah state, as in other parts of the country including Sagaing Division and Chin state, the military’s infantry was deployed first but was quickly withdrawn when it suffered heavy casualties. Then came random Tatmadaw bombings on villages and other population centers.
To be sure, Myanmar military atrocities committed during campaigns in ethnic minority areas are nothing new. At the same time, the Tatmadaw was actually quite poorly armed despite having a battle-hardened and largely effective light infantry force.
Its troops were constantly on the move during past conflicts against the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in the northeast, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the north, and the Karen National Union (KNU) and other rebel groups along the Thai border.
All that changed after a nationwide uprising for democracy in 1988. The main fear at the time was that disgruntled soldiers might join the pro-democracy activists.
Consequently, in order to prevent a split in the ranks, Myanmar’s top military leaders did everything in their power to keep at least the officer corps satisfied and loyal.
Beginning in 1989, the then-ruling junta, known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC, spent more than a billion dollars procuring new, more sophisticated military hardware.
It came primarily from China but also from Pakistan, Singapore and Israel. Most of it was materiel that would be of little use in counterinsurgency operations in remote and mountainous ethnic areas such as missile systems, huge tanks, armored vehicles, naval patrol boats, frigates and various kinds of radar equipment.
Equally important was a decision to scrap the previous, unpopular system of constant rotations of regional commanders, a move implemented to ensure that no officer would build up his own power base in a certain part of the country.
Myanmar’s military leaders also had to make sure that the urban dissidents did not link up with the ethnic rebels. Thousands of them did, but the KIA and KNU did not have enough weapons to share with the urban newcomers.
But then came a mutiny in the CPB and the old mostly Burman, orthodox communists were driven into exile in China. The mutineers formed new ethnic armies, the strongest being the United Wa State Army, and the possibility of the kind of alliance that the Myanmar military feared became a reality.
Talks between the ex-CPB mutineers and other ethnic groups did happen, but the Myanmar military moved faster and with more determination.
Ceasefire deals were struck with the UWSA and other former CPB forces according to which they could retain their arms, remain in control of their respective areas and engage in all kinds of business as long as they did not attack the Myanmar military or share their weapons with other groups.
By the mid-1990s, about 20 major and smaller ethnic armies that had depended on the CPB for arms supplies also made peace with the military government. The threat from the border areas had been neutralized.
Those ceasefire agreements lasted for more than 20 years, meaning that an entire generation of Myanmar soldiers has no real combat experience. They are, as one in-the-know source said, better at parades showing off their new uniforms and guns than at actual combat.
The officer corps was also given ample opportunities to earn money where they often accepted bribes and entered into dealerships with the country’s newly-rich businessmen who became infamously known as “the cronies.”
That changed again when, in June 2011, the ceasefire with the KIA broke down. For the first time in more than a decade, major battles were fought in ethnic minority areas. Casualties were extremely heavy as the advancing infantry soldiers, who were poorly trained and had zero combat experience, were mowed down by KIA guerrillas.
It became so bad that the Myanmar military had to withdraw its infantry and rely instead on helicopter gunships, attack aircraft and heavy artillery fired from a safe distance. That is what is happening again in Kayah state and other war zones that have mushroomed across the country since the military’s disastrous February 1, 2021, coup.
As old and new conflicts spread and rage, old questions about the actual manpower strength of the Myanmar military are taking on new relevance. Australian Myanmar watcher and specialist on military matters Andrew Selth examined the issue in a piece published by the Sydney-based think tank the Lowy Institute on February 17.
He quotes figures as high as 500,000 and even 600,000 that appeared in post-1988 think tank reports, but argues that they “were mistakenly based on theoretical projections by ambitious Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] planners.”
It is beyond doubt that the Myanmar military embarked on an expansion and modernization campaign after 1988, when the total strength of the Myanmar military was believed to be around 186,000. By 2021, however, more realistic estimates were at around 300,000-350,000 — or perhaps as low as 250,000, or even 200,000.
But according to Selth: “The key element here is not the total number of men and women in uniform, but the number of combat soldiers that the junta can put into the field. Most estimates cite 100,000-120,000.”
In addition to that are 80,000 or so members of the national police, which, Selth writes, “has about 39 paramilitary security battalions, many of them made up of former soldiers.”
By any measure, however, the Myanmar military now finds itself stretched thin on many fronts, including areas in the country’s central region that have not seen any serious combat since the 1970s.
It is clear by now that the Tatmadaw cannot decisively defeat the scores, if not hundreds, of small and not-so-small resistance armies that have sprung up across the country since the coup.
The possibility of a battlefield victory for those fervent but often rag-tag armies is also remote. They may have widespread popular support but are poorly armed and don’t seem to have a common, well-planned strategy beyond inflicting as many casualties on the Myanmar military and its junta officials as possible.
For its part, the Myanmar military appears to be waging a war of attrition against resistance forces that aims ultimately to wear down their inexperienced and outgunned fighters. But given the grit and determination of the resistance, that is unlikely to be a winning strategy.
What is more likely is that the wars will rage on for the foreseeable future, with the Myanmar military increasingly resorting to haphazard air power that will only cause more human suffering and dislocation among an already angry and disenfranchised population.
The aerial bombardments in Kayah state will likely be replicated in other inflamed parts of the country in a counterinsurgency strategy that underscores the Tatmadaw’s underlying weakness and ensures more popular support for fast-rising anti-coup forces..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Military History, Political History
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"၁။ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၂၁)ရက်နေ့၊ ညနေ(၅း၀၀)နာရီဝန်းကျင်ခန့်တွင် မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး၊ ချောက်မြို့၊ ရွှေပုံတောင် စိမ်းလန်းစိုပြေရေး နယ်မြေ၌ အသက်မပြည့်သေးသည့် ကလေးငယ်များ ဖြစ်သော အခြေခံပညာ ကျောင်းသားအချို့က စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး စာသားများ ပါဝင်သော စာရွက်များ ကပ်သည့် လှုပ်ရှားမှုတစ်ရပ်ကို ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ပြုလုပ်စဉ်တွင် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ အဓမ္မ ဖမ်းဆီးခြင်း ခံခဲ့ရပါသည်။ ထို့နောက် ဖမ်းဆီးခံလိုက်ရသည့် ကလေးငယ်များကို အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စုက အကြမ်းဖက် နှိပ်စက်ပြီး အဆိုပါ ကလေးငယ်များ၏ သူငယ်ချင်း ကျောင်းသား/သူလေးများကိုပါ ဆက်လက်၍ အဓမ္မ ဖမ်းဆီးခဲ့ပါသည်။
၂။ အဆိုပါ အဓမ္မ ဖမ်းဆီးခံခဲ့ရသော ကလေးငယ်များတွင် ခန့်မှန်းခြေအားဖြင့် အနည်းဆုံး အမျိုးသမီးငယ်လေး (၅)ဦးခန့် ပါဝင်ကြောင်းသိရှိရပြီး စုစုပေါင်း ကလေးငယ် (၂၀) ဦးခန့် ပါဝင်ကြောင်း သိရှိရပါသည်။ ၎င်းအသက်မပြည့်သေးသည့် ကလေးငယ်များကို အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စုက အမျိုးသား လိင်အင်္ဂါကို ဆေးလိပ်မီးဖြင့် ထိုး၍ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ဆေးခြင်း အပါအဝင် လူမဆန်သော ယုတ်မာရက်စက်သည့် စစ်ကြောနည်းမျိုးစုံဖြင့် စစ်ဆေးနေကြောင်းကိုလည်း ကြားသိရပါသည်။
၃။ ထိုကဲ့သို့ အဓမ္မ ဖမ်းဆီးခံခဲ့ရသော ကလေးငယ်များသည် အဋ္ဌမတန်း၊ နဝမတန်း၊ ဒဿမတန်း၌ တက်ရောက်ပညာသင်ကြားနေကြသည့် အရွယ်မရောက်သေးသူများကြဖြစ်ပြီး ဖမ်းဆီး ခံရချိန်တွင်လည်း မည်သည့်လက်နက် တစ်စုံတစ်ရာ ကိုင်ဆောင်ထားခြင်းမျှမရှိဘဲ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး စာရွက်ကပ်သည့် လှုပ်ရှားမှုကို အကြမ်းမဖက်ဘဲ ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ဆောင်ရွက်နေကြခြင်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ဖမ်းဆီးခံရသည့် ကလေးငယ်များမှာ ကိုယ်စိတ်နှစ်ပါး ကျန်းမာရေး ဒေါင်ဒေါင်မြည် ကောင်းမွန်လှသည့် ကလေးငယ်များ ဖြစ်၍ ဖမ်းဆီးခံရပြီးနောက် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ လူမဆန်စွာ ရုပ်ပိုင်း၊ စိတ်ပိုင်း ညှင်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှုများကြောင့် ၎င်းတို့၏ အသက်အန္တရာယ် ထိခိုက်နစ်နာမှုများ ခံရမည်ကို အလွန် စိုးရိမ်ရသည့် အခြေအနေတွင်ရှိပါသည်။
၄။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ အသက်မပြည့်သေးသည့် ကလေးငယ်များကို အဓမ္မဖမ်းဆီးပြီး လူမဆန်စွာ အကြမ်းဖက် နှိပ်စက်နေမှုများသည် ကလေးသူငယ်အခွင့်အရေး၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးများကို အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စုက ထပ်မံ၍ ပြောင်ပြောင်တင်းတင်း ချိုးဖောက်ခဲ့ခြင်း ဖြစ်၍ အဖမ်းဆီးခံရပြီးနောက်ပိုင်း အဖြစ်အပျက်အားလုံးကို အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအနေဖြင့် တာဝန်ယူ/တာဝန်ခံရမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်းနှင့် အဆိုပါ ကလေးငယ်များ အပါအဝင် ဖမ်းဆီးခံထားရသော ကျောင်းသားပြည်သူများ၏ လွတ်မြောက်နိုင်ရေးအတွက် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အမြစ်ပြတ်သည်အထိ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ မကွေးလူထုတိုက်ပွဲကော်မတီက ဆက်လက်၍ အားထုတ်ကြိုးစားသွားမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ထုတ်ပြန်အပ်ပါသည်။
၅။ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေး၌ နိုင်ငံတစ်ဝန်း၌ ကျဆုံးခဲ့ရသော ပြည်သူများနှင့် ဖမ်းဆီးခံထားရသော ကျောင်းသား ပြည်သူများ၏ ထိခိုက်နစ်နာမှုများအပေါ် တရားမျှတမှုကို ပြန်လည်ရယူနိုင်ရေးအတွက် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အမြစ်ပြတ်သည်အထိ တော်လှန်ရေးကိစ္စများ၌ မိဘပြည်သူများကလည်း ပူးပေါင်း ဝန်းရံ ကူညီ ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးကြပါရန် တိုက်တွန်းနှိုးဆော်အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Magway People's Revolution Committee
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
553.82 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Since the coup on Feb. 1 last year, Myanmar has earned the dubious distinction of being the world’s second worst jailer of journalists after China. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated in a December report that at least 26 journalists had been imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting since the takeover, compared with none behind bars in 2020, adding that “the actual number of jailed journalists in Myanmar may be much higher than CPJ’s tally. Many news organizations are reluctant to identify their detained freelancers, stringers, and other non-staff reporters they rely on for news, photographs, and video, due to concerns they could face harsher penalties if they are found to be associated with their news outlets.” According to a report issued in February this year by Reporters Without Borders, as many as 60 media workers are currently held in Myanmar. Many have been tortured in custody and at least three have been murdered by junta soldiers.
Turning to China
But when those brutal measures did not halt the flow of information to people in and outside the country, the junta turned to a logical and experienced partner for censorship and surveillance assistance: China. At the end of last year, security officials in the region found out that Chinese internet technicians were helping their Myanmar counterparts develop blocking and monitoring capabilities. The aim, they say, is to establish firm and effective control over what can and cannot be accessed online in Myanmar, similar to the infamous “Great Firewall of China”, which China’s security officials have used for years to police online activities of known dissidents and even identify anonymous users.
In essence, it means that the authorities would be able to block access to selected foreign websites and to slow down internet traffic in and out of the country. Among foreign internet tools that have been blocked in China are Google Search, Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia; that has been done by using hardware from Huawei and Semptian, two major Chinese service providers. It is unclear whether the same hardware is being used in Myanmar, but, if that is the case, it would make it possible for China’s security services to tap into the Myanmar military’s computers and collect sensitive and classified information that would have been hard to come by with only human intelligence.
China has every reason to watch not only Myanmar’s dissidents but also the often unpredictable generals, whom they do not fully trust, and that is actually not new. Technicians working for companies close to the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China’s main intelligence agency, are known to have been hacking into the computers and databases of the state-owned Myanmar Post and Telecommunications, a major internet service provider and operator of mobile phones also used by the military, and that has been going on for years.
The close relationship between Chinese hackers and the MSS was revealed when two US-based hackers, Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, were indicted in Spokane, Washington on July 7, 2020. According to court documents, they had on behalf of the Chinese government “gained unauthorized access to computers around the world and stole terabytes of data.” Apart from collecting information from a host of Western countries, among them the US, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Britain, the indictment states that they “provided the MSS with email accounts and passwords belonging to a Hong Kong community organizer, the pastor of a Chinese church in Xi’an, and a dissident and former Tiananmen Square protestor…and the office of the Dalai Lama.” Curiously, the MSS, the court document says, provided Li with malware to help him compromise “the mail server of a Burmese [Myanmar] human rights group.” The identity of that human rights group was not revealed during the hearings in Spokane, but it shows to what length MSS and its hackers are going to monitor a wide variety of governmental as well as civilian actors in countries of interest.
Alarming developments
For the Myanmar public, the most alarming aspect of these developments is that Chinese technicians have been training junta operatives to obtain information on political dissidents and protesters, including how to bypass Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, and monitor SMS traffic on mobile phones. As The Irrawaddy reported on Jan. 24, the junta banned social media after last year’s coup, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, but people continued to access those sites using VPNs. Then the junta presented the draft for a new cybersecurity law that would give it the right to imprison anyone who accesses banned sites with the help of VPNs. According to a Feb. 11 Al Jazeera report, the junta has increased taxation of the telecom sector leading to prices being doubled in the past two months—and thus making it expensive and more difficult for ordinary people to use the internet altogether.
The draft law, The Irrawaddy reported, “would grant the junta unlimited power to access user data, ban content it dislikes, restrict internet providers and intercept data, and imprison those criticizing the regime online and employees of non-compliant companies.” Recent reports of random arrests in Yangon and Mandalay of people who have used VPNs also show that the Chinese-installed firewall is working. While it is difficult to see exactly what a VPN user has accessed, the firewall will reveal who is using it and if that is against the law, the user could be arrested.
If the Chinese experience is anything to go by, there are ways around all those repressive measures, there are ways users have managed to bypass the rules. In 2017, the Chinese government declared all unauthorized VPN services to be illegal and there, as in Myanmar, people have been arrested for using them. But, as writer Daniel Anderson pointed out in technology publication ACM Queue as early as 2012, the basic censorship circumvention strategy is to use proxy nodes and encrypt the data. Bypassing the firewall in China is known as fanqiang, or “climb over the wall”. Freegate, Ultrasurf, Psiphon and Lantern are free software that can be used to bypass Internet censorship firewalls using an HTTP proxy server combined with encryption protocols. Some people are using SIM cards from foreign countries to access VPNs and there are also certain VPNs which still work in China.
According to Reporters Without Borders, China may have exported Internet surveillance technology not only to Myanmar but also Cuba, Iran, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Belarus. Roskomnadzor Agency, the Russian state’s agency for monitoring, controlling and censoring mass media, is also known to have at least in the past collaborated with Chinese firewall officials. But in none of those countries has the firewall been 100 percent effective, which goes to show that the technology is not perfect or without loopholes.
Exactly how Myanmar’s military authorities are going to use its firewall and enforce those new laws remains to be seen. But given the number of VPN users in Myanmar who would have to be identified and monitored, and the limited knowhow of the junta’s own internet technicians, it is hard to imagine that tech-savvy young people will not find their own ways of “climbing over the wall”. Recent arrests may just be attempts at intimidating the public by picking up a few unlucky users. Once a country has opened its doors to the outside world via cyberspace, it cannot close them again. And the Myanmar junta may be playing with fire when it comes to using imported technologies such as the Chinese firewall. As we have seen, China’s security agencies will be spying on them too..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Economic, social and cultural rights
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
New report reveals weapons transfers to military junta by UN Member States
Description:
"The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, issued a report to the UN Human Rights Council today that identifies States, including two permanent members of the Security Council, who have supplied weapons used against civilians since Myanmar’s military coup.
The independent expert appealed to weapons exporting nations to immediately suspend their weapons sales and urged the convening of an emergency Security Council session to debate and vote on a resolution to, at minimum, ban those arms transfers that the Myanmar military are known to use to attack and kill Myanmar civilians.
“It should be incontrovertible that weapons used to kill civilians should no longer be transferred to Myanmar. These transfers truly shock the conscience,” Andrews said. “Stopping the junta’s atrocity crimes begins with blocking their access to weapons. The more the world delays, the more innocent people, including children, will die in Myanmar.”
The Special Rapporteur identified China, Russia and Serbia as Member States who have, since the coup, been supplying the junta with weapons of the sort that are being used to attack civilians.
“The people of Myanmar are imploring the UN to act,” he said. “They deserve an up-or-down vote on a Security Council resolution that will stop the sale of weapons being used to kill them. Too many families are finding themselves in the cross-hairs of weapons of war that Member States are supplying. This must end.”
The report, titled Enabling Atrocities: UN Member States’ Arms Transfers to the Myanmar Military, also names States who have authorized the transfer of weapons since 2018 when Myanmar military atrocity crimes against the Rohingya ethnic minority were widely documented and a UN Fact Finding Mission called for an immediate arms embargo. It includes the types and, where known, the amounts of weapons that have been transferred to the Myanmar military.
“Despite the evidence of the military junta’s atrocity crimes being committed with impunity since launching a coup last year, UN Security Council members Russia and China continue to provide the Myanmar military junta with numerous fighter jets, armored vehicles, and in the case of Russia, the promise of further arms. During this same period, Serbia has authorized rockets and artillery for export to the Myanmar military.
Last June the General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for Member States to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar. “This was welcomed by the people of Myanmar, civil society organizations, and international human rights advocacy groups,” Andrews said. “The failure of the resolution to have any discernable impact on the crisis and the capacity of the junta to launch attacks on civilians, however, has led to anger and despair.
“It is imperative that Member States and the Security Council act urgently to stop weapons sales to the military junta. Human lives, and Security Council credibility, are on the line.
“While not a single member of the Security Council voted against the General Assembly resolution, the Security Council has not considered, let alone voted, on a resolution that could make the resolution binding on Member States.
“I appeal to Member States of the UN Security Council who are appalled by the killing of Myanmar civilians to put forward a resolution to stop it. Transparency matters. The Security Council should consider, at the very least, a resolution to ban weapons that are being used by the Myanmar military to kill innocent people.”
The report also calls for coordinated action by Member States to cut the junta’s access to revenue, just as the people of Myanmar are doing through widespread boycotts on goods linked to the military.
“Without legitimacy and against broad opposition among the people of Myanmar, the military junta operates as if it is a hostile military power. Military force is therefore its only means of attempting to exert control,” Andrews said.
“While perceived by junta leaders as a strength, this large military is also a vulnerability as it requires significant resources to equip and sustain. If the revenues necessary to maintain such a military are reduced, the junta’s capacity to assault and terrorize the people of Myanmar will diminish.”
ENDS
Mr. Thomas Andrews (United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. A former member of the US Congress from Maine, Andrews is a Robina Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School and an Associate of Harvard University’s Asia Center. He has worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and parliamentarians, NGOs and political parties in Cambodia, Indonesia, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has been a consultant for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network and has run advocacy NGOs including Win Without War and United to End Genocide.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Comprising the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, Special Procedures is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity..."
Source/publisher:
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The woman-comrades from ABFSU has been fighting for eradicating the military dictatorship long
before their coup was staged. At the present of this Spring Revolution, the woman-comrades and womanactivists
are still fighting magnificently along with the men to eradicate the military dictatorship.
It has been learned that one detained woman-comrade, the member of ABFSU, captured by the juntatroops,
has been tortured, abused sexually during the custody of interrogation by the Junta troops, and
currently has she been locked up behind the bars in isolation. She has also been denied to receive any medical
treatment. We have heard that other woman-comrades and activists detained nationwide have suffered much
the same.
We have learned that the sexual harassment have been suffered not only by the woman-comrades
but also by the men and even the boys during their custody in Junta-interrogation centers. We have stated a
case of sexual abuse upon the detained male political prisoners: the atrocities such as forcibly injecting bamboo
poles into the victims' anuses. The Junta’s persecutions and oppressions leave us no words to describe.
We, the ABFSU. urge all the internal and international human rights organizations and the
revolutionary civil organizations to speak out; condemn to those sexual harassments and tortures; and demand
the proper medical treatment for those injured and tortured.
We, the ABFSU comrades, have been firmly committing ourselves to all absolute sacrifices since we
started fighting against all forms of oppression as well as the Military Dictatorship. Accordingly, never shall our
unwavering efforts in this revolution get relucted even for a second by all means of cruelties of the Military
Junta..."
Source/publisher:
All Burma Federation of Student Unions
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Women's rights, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
28.77 KB 78.14 KB 85.6 KB
Local URL:
2022-02-19-Statement-On-the-Sexual-Abuses-Committed-by-The-Junta-Troops-Led-by-Min-Aung-Hlaing-tu-en.pdf- 2022-02-19-Statement-On-the-Sexual-Abuses-Committed-by-The-Junta-Troops-Led-by-Min-Aung-Hlaing-pio-en.pdf
- 2022-02-19-Statement-On-the-Sexual-Abuses-Committed-by-The-Junta-Troops-Led-by-Min-Aung-Hlaing-pio-bu.pdf
more
Description:
"Statement in commemoration of the "222222" movement.....နှစ်ခြောက်လုံး လူထုလှုပ်ရှားမှုနေ့တွင် #India4Myanmar က အောက်ပါ ကြေညာချက်အား ထုတ်ပြန်လိုက်သည်။..."
Source/publisher:
India For Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
382.25 KB 543.3 KB
more
Sub-title:
The country’s opposition shadow government faces a difficult choice between condoning attacks on civilians and promoting civilian immunity.
Description:
"On October 29, the Pakokku People’s Defense Force (PDF), an anti-regime militia based in Magwe Region’s Pakokku township, carried out an attack targeting a local village administrator accused of collaborating with the military-led regime. The militia’s “ground operations team” killed the administrator’s wife and father, while the administrator himself managed to escape. In a statement issued on social media following the incident, the Pakokku PDF’s “officer of information and external relations” warned other administrators and supporters of the regime that should they fail to immediately cease their activities and cooperate with “the people,” they would be similarly targeted.
Just one week prior to this incident, the National Unity Government (NUG), the shadow government to which the Pakokku PDF owes its allegiance, issued a statement urging the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to recognize it as the legitimate representative government of Myanmar. One key reason the statement gave for recognizing the NUG over the military was that unlike the military, the NUG insists that “all defensive actions must respect international norms,” indicating its commitment to preventing atrocities against civilians amid its conflict with the junta. Yet, in the days following the October 29 operation carried out by the Pakokku PDF, no condemnation was issued by the NUG, nor were any condemnations issued for the numerous bombings and assassinations of regime-affiliated civilians carried out by other elements within the anti-regime movement.
This contradiction between the anti-regime movement’s portrayal of itself to foreign observers and its actual operations on the ground is a significant obstacle in the NUG’s quest for international recognition. Some analysts, such as veteran Myanmar watcher Andrew Selth, have issued warnings to this effect, arguing that most governments would find it impossible to endorse the anti-regime movement’s actions. Yet, while it may be tempting to call the NUG out on its failure to prevent attacks on civilians, it should be noted that the NUG is simply in no position to enforce its aspirations of civilian immunity upon the movement’s actions. Rather, the onus may fall on the international community to empower the NUG in such a way that it can incentivize and enforce international norms.
Desperate Tactics Amid Global Inaction
The anti-regime movement did not resort to violence immediately following the coup of February 2021. Rather, the movement began as a series of widespread but non-violent protests that bore greater resemblance to similar pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and Thailand than they did to other armed insurgencies in the region. But violent escalations by the military soon forced the movement to adopt progressively harder-line tactics: as non-violent mass protests became unviable, they gave way to more radical forms of opposition. Today, much of the anti-regime movement consists of localized militia cells conducting bombings and assassinations targeting both the military and regime-affiliated civilians.
Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
Amidst this escalation to violence, the anti-regime movement has continuously appealed for foreign countries and institutions – particularly the United Nations and ASEAN – to intervene on its behalf. These appeals have changed in tenor over the course of the conflict: the earliest iterations were hopeful calls for strong intervention, such as the deployment of U.N. peacekeeping forces under the aegis of the U.N.’s Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle. Following months of perceived global inaction despite the regime’s lethal response, this hopefulness has since turned into anger, as highlighted by trending social media hashtags such as “#UselessASEAN.” The expectations of the movement have also been tempered, with the calls for military intervention having been replaced with calls for foreign governments to recognize the NUG and withdraw economic support for the regime.
The uncharacteristic decision by ASEAN in October to exclude Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military chief and de facto head of the current regime, from its annual summit was seen by the anti-regime movement as a step in the right direction, rekindling hope in the possibility of the NUG being recognized in the military’s stead. But even if ASEAN were to overcome its established stance of non-interference in order to recognize the NUG, it would then have to justify its recognition of a government that has enabled attacks on civilians. This is particularly difficult given that ASEAN’s exclusion of Min Aung Hlaing from its summit was predicated upon the regime’s failure to commit to ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, which includes the requirement for all parties to cease violent activities and to “exercise utmost restraint.”
Attacks on Civilians and Insufficient Guidelines
The difficulty ASEAN faces in recognizing the NUG is shared by all members of the international community: the prevalence and frequency of attacks against civilians carried out by the anti-regime movement, which the NUG represents, cannot be ignored. According to data published by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), at least 1,098 attacks against regime-affiliated civilians were carried out between February 1 and December 3 of last year. The targets of such attacks range from pro-regime administrators and civil servants to workers for electricity companies collecting bills on behalf of the regime. Family members of these individuals are often also targeted or treated as collateral damage. Most of the attacks are carried out via bombings of targets’ residences and workplaces, as well as assassinations. Some members of the anti-regime movement have claimed that these attacks are false-flag incidents carried out by the military to frame the movement for terrorism. Yet, the fact that various militia groups have claimed responsibility for most of these attacks renders such an explanation unconvincing.
The NUG itself has indirectly enabled these attacks via the vague military guidelines it issued following its symbolic consolidation of affiliated militia groups last May. While these guidelines demanded that affiliated militia groups “must respect and practice the military ethics and codes of conduct with civilians under any circumstances” and that they had to comply “with the international military laws including Law of Armed Conflicts,” the NUG did not in fact provide any concrete guidelines on the definition and treatment of regime-affiliated civilians such as informants. Nor did it provide any guidance on whether the killings of targets’ family members were justified under its guidelines. In fact, the “Law of Armed Conflicts” that the NUG promised to comply with is a field of study rather than any specific treaty or international agreement to which its militias could be held to account, rendering its promise aspirational but vague to the point of uselessness.
The NUG’s Dilemma
It is unlikely that the NUG is unaware of either the actions of its affiliates, or of the role its vague guidelines play in enabling these actions. Why, then, does it not define and enforce its stance on civilian immunity further, especially when its international recognition as the legitimate government is at stake?
Firstly, the NUG does not possess an operational command structure capable of regularly overseeing actions carried out by the militias. While some joint attacks have been organized between multiple militia groups allegedly under the oversight of the NUG, most attacks are planned and carried out by the individual groups. For example, an announcement issued by the Pakokku PDF on January 7 specifically stated that it only “occasionally” follows the military directives issued by the NUG. This, combined with the vague guidelines issued by the NUG, allows for the groups to determine for themselves the limits of their actions.
Secondly, the anti-regime movement is not an ideological monolith led by the NUG. There is a disconnect between the aspirations declared by the NUG, and the on-ground realities faced by the militia groups. For example, on September 9 of last year, the NUG’s foreign minister stated in an interview that “targeting civilians is not the policy of the NUG or the PDF’s.” Yet, while the Pakokku PDF’s announcement on January 7 stated that it would do its “best not to tarnish the image of the revolution and to bring it into line with international law,” it did include the caveat that civilians such as “administrators, informants, and pro-regimes [sic] will have to be eliminated,” albeit “only when it is inevitable.” Furthermore, while the group seems to agree with the NUG’s aspirations not to target civilians, it opts instead to specify that it would only avoid targeting “innocent people” in its attacks.
Given the role that civilian informants play in disrupting the operations of anti-regime militia groups, especially when such informants directly lead to arrests and killing of militia members, it is unsurprising that these groups are unwilling to sacrifice their operational effectiveness for the sake of presenting a sanitized image to the international community – especially an international community that has yet to substantially intervene in the conflict. It is thus likely that the NUG understands that such a demand would lead to widespread resentment amongst its affiliates, and possibly fracture the anti-regime movement.
Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
Recognition with Conditions: A Potential Solution
One potential solution to the NUG’s dilemma is to provide a concrete incentive for the militia groups. But such an incentive cannot be provided by the NUG alone. Rather, such a solution may have to rely on an ostensibly neutral international institution – namely ASEAN – to promise a roadmap towards recognition of the NUG, on the condition that its affiliate militias adopt concrete guidelines on civilian immunity. Given the urgency with which members of the movement have appealed for international recognition, it is likely that the legitimacy and support afforded by such recognition will outweigh the operational effectiveness militias would have to sacrifice in exchange.
Such a solution does not necessitate that ASEAN plant its flag firmly in favor of the NUG. Rather, it highlights that following the failure of the military-led regime to comply with its Five-Point Consensus, ASEAN can pursue other avenues to promote the exercise of restraint in the ongoing conflict. Such a move can be used as leverage to pressure the regime into taking its commitment to the Five-Point Consensus seriously, lest it loses its seat at the table to the NUG.
Such a solution is of course rife with obstacles. For one, there is no guarantee that even with the promise of international recognition, the NUG will be able to enforce guidelines on civilian immunity upon the larger movement. Furthermore, it would require that ASEAN member states present a unified front on the issue – a unity that has been called into question following Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s unilateral visit to Myanmar. However, it may also be the only way for the NUG to persuade the anti-regime movement into adopting concrete guidelines on civilian immunity. Failure to do so is likely to lead to further escalations in violence against civilians on both sides of the conflict..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Anti-regime forces have called on the Myanmar people to join a mass protest planned for Tuesday that is being referred to as the “Regathering for the Six Twos Revolution”, a reference to the date, 22.2.2022. The protest is also being referred to as “Revolt by the Rural, Defiance by the Urban.”
Last year on Feb. 22 (22.2.2021), three weeks after the military seized power, protesters across Myanmar took to the streets in a general strike known as the “Five Twos Revolution,” in one of the largest nationwide shows of opposition to the military.
People have been urged to take to the streets in the “Six Twos Revolution” wearing bamboo or other hats as well as Thanakha, a traditional face powder, and holding flowers and bouquets. People, if possible, are also urged to scatter papers bearing anti-coup slogans along with flowers, raise a three-finger salute and bang pots and pans at 8 p.m.
Strike committees have urged the people to join the protest by any other means if they are not able to participate in said activities.
“Millions of people took to the streets in last year’s ‘Five Twos’ revolution. And we want to organize a campaign on Feb. 22 this year in which millions of people can participate. We want to show that people still oppose military rule and that the anti-coup movements remain strong,” said Ko Khant Wai Phyo, a member of the Monywa General Strike Committee.
“We always have trust in the people. People have time and again shown that they are totally against the coup and military dictatorship. I believe we will be able to show it again tomorrow. So, we have suggested those methods which we think can allow people to subtly show their opposition with minimum risk to themselves,” he said.
Over 30 general strike committees from different parts of Myanmar led by the General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB) have called for the strike. Myanmar expats in foreign countries, celebrities and activists have also called on the people to join the mass demonstrations on Tuesday.
Activists and Buddhist monks in Mandalay took to the streets on Monday, urging the people to join the “Six Twos Revolution.”
The leader of a women’s alliance in Mandalay, Ma Aye Myint Aung Aung, said: “At this time last year, many people across the country took to the streets. But, mass demonstrations can’t be held this year. So, we have suggested the ways people can participate in the protest. And I would like to urge the people to join the protest.”
Meanwhile, pro-junta Telegram accounts issued threats against activists who show support for the “Six Twos Revolution”, urging the regime to arrest those who back the general strike on social media.
GCSB spokesman Ko Nan Lin told The Irrawaddy: “The military regime and its pillars are really frightened by public campaigns. So, they have used threats to deter the people from participating in those campaigns. They are trying to instill fear in people because they are frightened by public campaigns. In no country are people arrested for holding flowers and wearing Thanakha. I want to urge the people not to worry about threats from the other side.”
He added: “Every public activity is a serious blow to the military regime. Fighting is not the only answer in the Spring Revolution. There will be progress in this revolution only when we make collaborative efforts through military, political and diplomatic means and public campaigns...”
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"On this day last year, Myanmar saw the first civilian death resulting from a police crackdown on protesters following the military’s Feb. 1 coup.
Ma Mya Thwet Thwet Khine died on Feb. 19, 2021 after being shot in the head during an anti-coup protest 10 days earlier in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, becoming the first protester to be killed since the coup.
The 20-year-old student had been brain dead and on life support at a Naypyitaw hospital since being shot by police on Feb. 9. She cast her first vote in the 2020 general election, the results of which were rejected by the military.
The military said it only used rubber bullets against protesters, while junta police claimed her wounds suggested she had been shot by a weapon fired by non-security personnel.
However, a video of a police captain firing shots at protesters went viral and a subsequent post-mortem showed she was killed by a live round that struck her in the head.
The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a body comprising deposed lawmakers who won seats in the 2020 general election, declared Ma Mya Thwet Thwet Khine a martyr and many people attended her funeral.
The military regime has been on a killing spree ever since; over 1,550 more protesters have been killed in junta crackdowns since the February coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁၀) ရက်နေ့၊ နံနက်အစောပိုင်း (၇း၁၅) နာရီ လွိုင်ကော်မြို့နယ်၊ နွားလဝိုး ကျေးရွာအုပ်စု၊ ဖာတီမာကျေးရွာအနီးတွင် စစ်ကြောင်းထိုးလာသော အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်များကို ကရင်နီ တပ်မတော် (KA) နှင့် KNDF တို့မှ ခုခံတိုက်ခိုက်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ တိုက်ပွဲမှာ မနက် (၇း၁၅) နာရီမှ ညနေ (၁၆း၃၀) နာရီအထိ တိုက်ပွဲ သုံးကြိမ်ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့ပါသည်။ ထိုတိုက်ပွဲအတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီ တပ်ဖက်မှ (၇) ဦးသေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီး၊ အများအပြား ထိခိုက်ဒဏ်ရာရသဖြင့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်ဖက်မှ တင့်ကားများ အသုံးပြုတိုက်ခိုက်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်များသည် တိုက်ပွဲဖြစ်ပွားရာ ဖာတီမာနှင့် သုံးမိုင် (ပါကျဲ) ကျေးရွာများတွင် အရပ်သားပြည်သူနှစ်ဦးကို မီးရှို့သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ပြီး၊ နေအိမ်များ ကို မီးရှို့ဖျက်စီးခဲ့ပါသည်။
ထိုနေ့ မွန်းလွဲပိုင်း (၁၃း၃၀) ဖယ်ခုံမြို့နယ်၊ ခေါင်းမိုင်းကျေးရွာအနီး အင်အား (၁၀၀) ခန့်ပါ စစ်ကြောင်း ထိုးလာသော အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်များကို မိုင်းဆွဲတိုက်ခိုက်ခဲ့ရာ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ် ဖက်မှ ထိခိုက်မှုများရှိခဲ့ပါသည်။ ထို့အတူ ဇန်နဝါရီ (၉) ရက်နေ့ ဖယ်ခုံမြို့နယ်၊ ပင်ပုံတွင် တပ်စွဲထားသော အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်နှင့် PNO တပ်ဖွဲ့တို့ကို ကရင်နီတပ်မတော် (KA) နှင့် KNDF တို့မှ တပ်ခိုက်ခဲ့ရာ စစ်ကောင်စီ ဗိုလ်အဆင့်ရှိသူတစ်ဦးသေဆုံးခဲ့ပါသည်။
ဒီးမော့ဆိုမြို့နယ်၊ ငွေတောင်ကျေးရွာ အခြေစိုက် (ခလရ-၁၀၂) နှင့် ဒီးမော့ဆို ညောင်ကိုင်း အခြေစိုက် (ခမရ-၄၂၇) တပ်ရင်းများအပြင် ဒီးမော့ဆိုမြို့နယ်ရဲစခန်းတို့တွင် ကရင်နီတပ်မတော် (KA) ၊ KNDF နှင့် PDF အဖွဲ့များနှင့်အတူ တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများပြုလုပ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများမှာ မနက် (၃း၀၀) နာရီ၊ (၆း၀၀) နာရီနှင့် (၁၀း၀၀) နာရီတို့တွင် ပြင်းထန်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ ထိုတိုက်ခိုက်မှုအတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီ တပ်ဖက်မှ ထိခိုက်ကျဆုံးမှုများ ရှိခဲ့ပါသည်။
ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁၂) ရက်နေ့ မနက်ပိုင်းတွင် လွိုင်ကော်မြို့နယ်၊ မှုံပြာကျေးရွာရှိ ရေကန်အနီးတွင် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်များနှင့် KNDF တို့ တိုက်ပွဲဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့ပါသည်။ ဖော်ဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁၃) ရက် ညနေပိုင်းတွင် လွိုင်ကော်မြို့ပေါ် ရပ်ကွက်အတွင်းတွင် နှစ်ဖက်ထိတွေ့တိုက်ပွဲများဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့ပါသည်။ ထိုတိုက်ပွဲများအတွင်းထိခိုက်ကျဆုံးမှုများကို အတည်ပြုနိုင်ခြင်းမရှိပါ။
ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁၃) ရက်နေ့ ညနေချိန်တွင် တိုက်ပွဲများဖြစ်ပွားခြင်းမရှိဘဲ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်ဖွဲ့မှ ဒီးမော့ဆိုမြို့ ရပ်ကွက်များအတွင်း လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ရမ်းသမ်း ပစ်ခတ်ခဲ့ သဖြင့် ပါဒေါဒူရပ်ကွက် အတွင်းရှိ နေအိမ်များပျက်စီးခဲ့ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Karenni Nationalities Defense Force
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Karenni State, Karenni (Kayah) - cultural, political, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
317.96 KB
more
Sub-title:
အမည်ပျက်စာရင်းကြေညာခြင်း
Description:
"၁။ ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် နိုင်ငံ့ဝန်ထမ်းများအနေဖြင့် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏လက်အောက်တွင် ဆက်လက်တာဝန်မထမ်းဆောင်ပဲ ဓမ္မဘက်မှရပ်တည်၍ ပြည်သူနှင့်တသားတည်းဖြစ် စေရန်နှင့် အမိန့်အာဏာဖီဆန်ရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှု (CDM) တွင်ပါဝင်ကြစေရန် အကြိမ် ကြိမ်ဖိတ်ခေါ် ကမ်းလှမ်းခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ် ပါသည်။
၂။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ဝန်ကြီးချုပ်ရုံးအနေဖြင့်လည်း အောက်တိုဘာလမှစတင်၍ အမိန့်အာဏာ ဖီဆန်ရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှု (CDM) တွင်ပါဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် ဝန်ကြီးဌာနမဖွဲ့ရသေးသောဌာနအသီးသီးမှ နိုင်ငံ့ဝန်ထမ်း သူရဲကောင်းများ၏ လူမှုဖူလုံရေး၊ လုံခြုံဘေးကင်းရေးနှင့် ဖိအားကင်းစင်ရေး တို့အတွက် အလေးထား ဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။
၃။ သို့ဖြစ်ပါ၍ ၂၀၂၀ပြည့်နှစ် အထွေထွေရွေးကောက်ပွဲတွင် ပါဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်ခဲ့ကြ ပြီး အဓိကတာဝန်ရှိသူများ ဖြစ်သော်လည်း ပြည်ထောင်စုရွေးကောက်ပွဲကော်မရှင်ဥပဒေ၊ ရွေးကောက်ပွဲ ဥပဒေများနှင့် ကိုက်ညီမှု မရှိခဲ့သော တရားမဝင်စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ လုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များအား ကန့်ကွက်ခြင်း ၊ ငြင်းပယ်ခြင်း မရှိဘဲ ဆက်လက်တာဝန် ထမ်းဆောင်နေသော ပြည်ထောင်စုရွေးကောက်ပွဲကော်မရှင်မှ အောက်ဖေါ်ပြပါဝန်ထမ်းများအား အမည်ပျက်စာရင်း သွင်းလိုက်ပြီး ဝန်ထမ်းအဖြစ်မှ ထုတ်ပစ် (Dismiss) လိုက်သည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Office of the Prime Minister of the Union - NUG
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.1 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"ကောဇာသက္ကရာဇ် ၁၃၈၃ ခုနှစ် တပို့တွဲလပြည့်ကျော် (၁) ရက်နေ့တွင်ကျရောက်သည့် မွန်အမျိုးသားနေ့ သမယတွင် ကိုယ်စိတ်နှစ်ဖြာ ကျန်းမာချမ်းသာကြပါစေကြောင်း ဆုမွန်ကောင်း တောင်းပါသည်။
ဗုဒ္ဓသက္ကရာဇ် ၁၁၁၆ ခုနှစ် တပို့တွဲလပြည့်ကျော် (၁) ရက်နေ့တွင် မွန်အမျိုးသားညီနောင်နှစ်ပါးဖြစ်သည့် သမလမင်းနှင့် ဝိမလမင်းတို့က မျက်မှောက်ခေတ် ပဲခူးမြို့နေရာဒေသတွင် မွန်အမျိုးနွယ်စုတို့အား ဦးဆောင်ကာ ပထမဟံသာဝတီ မွန်နေပြည်တော်ကိုထူထောင်ခဲ့သည်။ ယင်းနေ့ကို မွန်အမျိုးသားနေ့ အဖြစ်သတ်မှတ်လိုက်ခြင်းဖြင့် လွန်ခဲ့သည့်ပထမထောင်စုနှစ်ကာလကတည်းကပင် မွန်လူမျိုးတို့၏ ကြီးမြတ်သောသမိုင်းနှင့် ယဉ်ကျေးမှု အဆင့်အတန်း မြင့်မားစွာတည်ရှိခဲ့ခြင်းကို အသိအမှတ်ပြု မှတ်တမ်းတင်ဖော်ပြခြင်းပင်ဖြစ်သည်။
ရာမညဒေသဟုအမည်တွင်သည့် လက်ရှိ ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတောင်ပိုင်းဒေသတွင် မွန်လူမျိုး တို့သည် ဗုဒ္ဓသာသနာထွန်းကားရေးအတွက် စေတီပုထိုးကျောင်းကန်များတည်ဆောက်ခြင်း၊ မြို့ပြရပ်ရွာများ ထူထောင်ခြင်း၊ အိမ်နီးချင်းနိုင်ငံများနှင့် ကူးလူးဆက်ဆံရောင်းဝယ်ဖောက်ကားခြင်းများ ရှိခဲ့သည်သာမက အရှေ့တောင်အာရှ ဒေသတွင် ဗုဒ္ဓသာသနာတော်ပြန့်ပွားရေးအတွက် ပါဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်ခဲ့သည့် လူမျိုးတစ်မျိုးဖြစ်ကြောင်း သမိုင်းမှတ်တမ်း များ၌ အထင်အရှားတွေ့ရှိရပေသည်။
ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် ကိုယ်ပိုင်ပြဌာန်းခွင့်အပြည့်အဝကျင့်သုံးခဲ့ကြသည့် မွန်လူမျိုးတို့သည် ဗြိတိသျှကိုလိုနီလက်အောက်သို့ အခြားတိုင်းရင်းသားလူမျိုးများနည်းတူ ရောက်ရှိခဲ့ရသည်။ ထို့အတူ ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အခြားတိုင်းရင်းသားလူမျိုးများနည်းတူ ဗြိတိသျှနှင့် ဂျပန်တို့အား ဆန့်ကျင်တော်လှန်ရာတွင်တက်ကြွစွာပါဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ သို့ရာတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံလွတ်လပ်ရေးရရှိ ပြီးနောက် ဖဆပလခေါင်းဆောင်များထံ မွန်ပြည်နယ်သတ်မှတ်ပေးရန် အရေးဆိုသည့်အခါ ဖဆပလ ခေါင်းဆောင်များက ငြင်းပယ်ခဲ့သဖြင့် လက်နက်ကိုင်တော်လှန်ရေးကို မလွဲမရှောင်သာဆောင်ရွက်ခဲ့ကြသည်။
မွန်အမျိုးသားများသည် ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် စစ်အာဏာရှင်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး၊ အမျိုးသားတန်းတူရေးနှင့် ကိုယ်ပိုင်ပြဌာန်းခွင့်ရရှိရေးအတွက် ခိုင်မာပြတ်သားသောရပ်တည်မှုများဖြင့် ပါဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ ထို့အတူ ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက်တွင် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စုထူထောင်ရေးအတွက် အခြားသော တိုင်းရင်းသားညီအစ်ကို မောင်နှမများနှင့်အတူ လက်တွဲပူးပေါင်းပါဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်ခဲ့သည်။
ယခုအချိန်သည် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အာဏာရှင်က နိုင်ငံတော်အာဏာကို လုယူသိမ်းပိုက်ခဲ့ပြီး နိုင်ငံသူနိုင်ငံသားများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်နှိမ်နှင်းခြင်းများကို နေ့စဉ်ရက်ဆက် ကျူးလွန်နေသောကြောင့် ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးက ရရာနည်းလမ်းများဖြင့် ခုခံတွန်းလှန်နေကြရချိန်ဖြစ်သည်။ ထိုကဲ့သို့သောအချိန်အခါတွင် မွန်အမျိုးသားနိုင်ငံရေးအင်အားစုများသည် အခြားသောတိုင်းရင်းသား ပြည်သူများနှင့်အတူ တစ်စိတ်တစ်ဝမ်း တည်းဖြင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်အောက်မှ ပြည်သူ့ဘဝ လွတ်မြောက်ရေး၊ ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့်လူ့အခွင့်အရေး၊ တန်းတူညီမျှရရှိရေးနှင့် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီ ပြည်ထောင်စု တည်ဆောက်ရေး ဟူသည့် နိုင်ငံရေးဦးတည်ချက်များဖြင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး ပြည်သူ့ဘဝလွတ်မြောက်ရေးအတွက် စုစည်းလက်တွဲပြီး ဆောင်ရွက်လျက် ရှိသည်ကို တွေ့ရပါသည်။
ယနေ့ကျရောက်သည့် မွန်အမျိုးသားနေ့တွင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး၊ စစ်မှန်သော ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စုတည်ဆောက်နိုင်ရေးအတွက် နှစ်ပေါင်း (၇၀) ကျော် အသက်သွေးချွေးပေးအပ်ပြီး တိုက်ပွဲဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် မွန်လူမျိုးတို့အား ဦးညွတ်ဂုဏ်ပြုပါကြောင်းနှင့် နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးတွင် ဖက်ဒရယ် ဒီမိုကရေစီအရေးအတွက် တိုက်ပွဲဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် မွန်ပြည်သူများ၊ မွန်လူငယ်များ၊ မွန်အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ မွန်ကျောင်းသားများအား အထူးပင် ဦးညွတ်ဂုဏ်ပြုပါကြောင်းဖော်ပြရင်း ဤသဝဏ်လွှာကို ပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
432.38 KB
more
Description:
"၁။ မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားများက ဟံသာဝတီနိုင်ငံတော်တည်ထောင်ခြင်း အထိမ်းအမှတ်အဖြစ် နှစ်စဉ်ကျင်းပသော (၇၅)နှစ်မြောက် ယနေ့ မွန်အမျိုးသားနေ့တွင် မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားများနှင့်တကွ ပြည်သူများအားလုံး လိုလားတောင့်တသည့် အနာဂတ် ဖက်ဒရယ် ဒီမိုကရေစီနိုင်ငံတော်သစ် အမြန်ဆုံး တည်ဆောက်နိုင်ပါစေကြောင်း ဆုမွန်ကောင်း တောင်းအပ်ပါသည်။
၂။ မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားများသည် မိမိတို့နိုင်ငံတွင် အစောဆုံးအခြေချနေထိုင်သူများဖြစ်ပြီး ယဉ်ကျေးမှု၊ ကိုးကွယ်မှု၊ သိမ်မွေ့မှု၊ ကြွယ်ဝမှု၊ အတတ်ပညာ၊ အသိပညာပိုင်းတွင် ဂုဏ်ယူရ လောက်သည့် လူမျိုးများ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ဟံသာဝတီနိုင်ငံတော်ကြီးအတွက် ကြံ့ကြံ့ခံ တိုက်ပွဲ ဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် သမိုင်းကြောင်း ထယ်ဝါသော ၊ အစဉ်အလာကောင်းသော လူမျိုးများ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၁၉၄၇ခုနှစ်မှစ၍ သမလနှင့်ဝိမလမင်းညီနောင်နှစ်ပါးတို့ ဟံသာဝတီနိုင်ငံတော်ကြီးကို စတင် တည်ထောင်ခဲ့သည့် တပို့တွဲလပြည့်ကျော်(၁)ရက်ကို မွန်အမျိုးသားနေ့အဖြစ် လက်ခံကျင်းပ လာခဲ့သည်မှာ ယနေ့တွင် စိန်ရတုတိုင်ခဲ့ပြီ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။
၃။ ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်းနှင့်တကွ မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားခေါင်းဆောင်များ အပါအဝင် တိုင်းရင်း သားအားလုံး၏ စည်းလုံးညီညွတ်မှုဖြင့် လွတ်လပ်ရေးကို အရယူနိုင်ခဲ့သော်လည်း နိုင်ငံတွင် နှစ်ပေါင်း(၇၀)အတွင်း စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို အသက်သွင်း၍ နိုင်ငံရေးပြဿနာများကို နိုင်ငံရေး နည်းလမ်းဖြင့် မဖြေရှင်းနိုင်ခဲ့ခြင်းကြောင့် မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားများအပါအဝင် တိုင်းရင်းသား အားလုံးတို့သည် ငြိမ်းချမ်းမှုကို မခံစားကြရဘဲ တိုးတက်ဖွံ့ဖြိုးမှု နှေးကွေး၍ စစ်ဘေးစစ်ဒဏ်များ တွေ့ကြုံနေကြရပါသည်။
၄။ တိုင်းရင်းသားအားလုံး မျှော်လင့်တောင့်တနေသော ငြိမ်းချမ်းသည့် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုက ရေစီနိုင်ငံတော်သစ်တည်ထောင်ရေး လမ်းကြောင်းသို့ ဦးတည်နေစဉ် ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါ ကာလ အား အသုံးချ၍ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တစ်စုသည် မတရားသဖြင့် လက်နက်အားကိုး၍ အာဏာ သိမ်းယူခဲ့ကြရာ တနိုင်ငံလုံးတွင် ဆိုးဝါးသော အခြေအနေများ ခံစားနေကြရပါသည်။ ထိုကဲ့သို့ သော စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုကို ဆန့်ကျင်တွန်းလှန်ရေးတွင် ကျရာတာဝန်များ ထမ်းဆောင်ရင်း တက်ကြွစွာ ပါဝင်အားဖြည့်လျက်ရှိသည့် မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားတစ်ရပ်လုံးနှင့် မွန်လူငယ်များ၏ အခန်းကဏ္ဍကို ဂုဏ်ပြုဖော်ပြအပ်ပါသည်။
၅။ မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားအားလုံး၏အထွဋ်အမြတ်ထားရသည့် မင်္ဂလာရှိသော ဤအချိန်အခါ ကာလတွင် ပြည်ထောင်စုအတွင်း၌ မွန်တိုင်းရင်းသားများနှင့်အတူ ပြည်သူအားလုံး အတူလက် တွဲကာ တွေ့ကြုံနေကြရသော စိန်ခေါ်မှုများကို ဟံသာဝတီစိတ်ဓာတ်ဖြင့် ရဲရဲဝံ့ဝံ့ ဖြတ်ကျော်၍ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် ကျဆုံးရေးမှတဆင့် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီနိုင်ငံတော်သစ်တည်ဆောက်ရေး အတွက် တူညီသောပန်းတိုင်ဆီသို့ ကြိုးစားချီတက်ကြပါစို့ဟု တိုက်တွန်းရင်း (၇၅)နှစ်မြောက် မွန်အမျိုးသားနေ့ သဝဏ်လွှာအား ပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
273.19 KB
more
Description:
"Governments and companies in South East Asia that have provided support for Myanmar’s military are revealed in a new section of Justice For Myanmar’s Cartel Finance Map. The map visualises the business links that provide arms, services, finance and investment to the military. Through these business links, the military has effectively financed the Rohingya genocide and the junta’s current campaign of terror against the Myanmar people.
Following its attempted coup in February 2021, the Myanmar military has murdered over 2,000 civilians and arrested over 12,000 more.
The military receives revenue through the business entities that it controls, including Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Myanmar Economic Corporation Ltd (MEC) and Myanma Economic Holdings Public Co. Ltd (MEHL), among others.
Governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are directly implicated through their business interests in Myanmar – via state-owned enterprises, oil and gas companies, arms manufacturers, stock exchanges, banks, significant individual investors and more.
Based on the findings of extensive research, the following are some examples from the map of the economic interests that link Southeast Asian governments and companies to Myanmar’s military junta.
Supplying weapons
Filipino arms manufacturer United Defense Manufacturing Corporation (UDMC) shipped 450 kilos of guns to Myanmar as the military launched its campaign of genocide against the Rohingya in August 2017. Prior to this transaction, UDMC had spent years pursuing a business relationship with the Myanmar military, offering technology transfer and cooperation on arms manufacturing.
In 2020, Indonesia disclosed that its state-owned enterprise, PT. Pindad, has exported bullets to Myanmar. PT. Pindad has a cooperation agreement with arms broker, True North Co. Ltd, which is owned by the Htoo Htoo Shein Oo, the son of the Myanmar military junta’s planning and finance minister, Win Shein.
Energy sector investments that fund the junta
State-owned oil company, Brunei Energy Services & Trading, has a joint investment in three oil blocks in Myanmar with International Group of Entrepreneurs (IGE). IGE is a crony conglomerate owned by Ne Aung, the son of a former military lieutenant colonel and minister for industry under the previous military dictatorship. While development of the blocks is currently suspended, the company owes USD$20 million to the junta-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE).
The Government of Thailand is a major investor in Myanmar’s energy sector. PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd (PTTEP), majority owned by the Thai government, operates the Zawtika gas field and is an investor in the Yadana project in Myanmar. The company is positioned to take over as operator of the Yadana project as well, following decisions by current operator Total, and Chevron, to divest from the project. In 2017-18, the Myanmar government received over USD$40 million for the Zawtika project and over $250 million for the Yadana project. These funds now flow to the junta.
Profiting from surveillance
The Government of Vietnam also invests in Myanmar’s infrastructure via Viettel, a telecommunications company owned by its Ministry of National Defence. Viettel Global is a joint investor, alongside a Myanmar military conglomerate, in mobile telephone company, Mytel. Mytel is controlled by – and is a major source of revenue and technology for – the Myanmar military. Mytel is also known to conduct surveillance on customers and support the military’s communications infrastructure in cooperation with the Myanmar army’s Directorate of Signals..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Mekong Watch, Friends of the Earth Japan (FoE Japan) and Justice For Myanmar (JFM) cautiously welcome media reports about Mitsubishi Corporation’s stated intention to withdraw from the Yetagun gas project in Myanmar, citing deteriorating profitability as the gas field nears the end of its life.
We call on Mitsubishi to ensure that their exit is responsible and to prevent further complicity in human rights violations associated with the project.
A responsible exit by Mitsubishi Corporation must include the withholding of revenue from the project that is being paid to the Myanmar military junta, which helps to finance the military’s campaign of terror.
In December, leaked documents published by Justice For Myanmar showed that the Yetagun project would earn the military junta US$22.37 million over six months from 21 October, 2021. In the documents, the illegitimate junta leadership expressed a direct interest in Yetagun project payments owed to Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), implicating Mitsubishi and other partners in the project.
Mekong Watch and FoE Japan have been requesting Mitsubishi and other Japanese stakeholders in the Yetagun project to ensure that revenue from the project will not flow to the military, and to disclose the payments they have made or plan to make in connection with the project. However, Mitsubishi and other Japanese stakeholders have failed to act on both these points.
In January, civil society organisations including Mekong Watch, FoE Japan and JFM wrote to investors of Japanese businesses with links to the military junta, including Mitsubishi Corporation, calling for engagement to cut off revenue flows to the junta.
The Yetagun project is operated by a consortium led by Malaysian state-owned oil company Petronas Carigali, Thailand’s PTTEP, Japan’s Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar), with the military-controlled MOGE. Nippon Oil Exploration (Myanmar) is jointly held by JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration (a subsidiary of ENEOS Holdings), the Government of Japan and Mitsubishi Corporation.
So far, the Government of Japan and ENEOS have not expressed any intention to withdraw from the project.
Yuka Kiguchi, Director of Mekong Watch, stated, “The Yetagun field began production in 2000, and along with the other gas fields, was an important source of revenue for the military regime in Myanmar at the time and likely helped to expand the military budget. Mitsubishi Corporation, which entered the Yetagun consortium in 2013, shares responsibility over the atrocities committed in Myanmar today. Simply withdrawing from the Yetagun project citing deteriorating profitability means that the company is not taking full responsibility. In addition to the Yetagun project, Mitsubishi Corporation is participating in problematic projects in Myanmar such as the Landmark project and Thilawa SEZ (Special Economic Zone) without accountability or sufficient consideration for human rights. The company should raise its standards and for Yetagun, withdraw with full environmental and social considerations."
Yadanar Maung, Justice For Myanmar spokesperson, commented, “Mitsubishi Corporation has been complicit in financing the illegal military junta’s grave human rights violations and atrocity crimes through their investment in the Yetagun project. As part of divestment, Mitsubishi should take concrete steps to prevent the Yetagun project’s continuing bankrolling of the Myanmar military. As a leading Japanese corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation should push other project partners to place Yetagun revenues in an escrow account, in consultation with the National Unity Government (NUG).
“Mitsubishi Corporation’s withdrawal from Yetagun should send a strong message to the Malaysian and Thai governments, who are the biggest shareholders in the project, through Petronas and PTTEP respectively. As members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Thailand and Malaysia’s business with the terrorist junta undermines ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus, providing millions to the military that finances continued violence...”
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
133.33 KB 151.81 KB
more
Description:
"Despite its souring relationship with the Myanmar junta, some governments and businesses from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have supplied arms, funds and investments to the Myanmar military.
ASEAN is a 10-member bloc made up of Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar.
According to the latest report by Justice for Myanmar (JFM), a group of activists campaigning for justice and accountability for the people of Myanmar, six countries—Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore and Thailand—are involved in sectors including arms sales, telecoms and oil and gas.
The report comes at a time when the Myanmar regime is being shunned by other ASEAN member states, which have barred the junta’s top officials from its summits for its failure to honor its promises to solve the country’s political crisis, including ceasing violence. Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since February last year after the military staged a coup. The regime has killed more than 1,500 people so far, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
JFM released the statement on Thursday as ASEAN held a summit in Cambodia and mainly discussed the Myanmar crisis. Myanmar’s top diplomat Wunna Maung Lwin was barred from the summit in Phnom Penh over a lack of progress in defusing the violence and implementing the five-point consensus.
JFM said in the report that Indonesia and the Philippines have supplied arms to the junta.
An Indonesian state owned enterprise, PT Pindad, exported bullets to Myanmar in 2020. And Philippine arms manufacturing company United Defense Manufacturing Corporation (UDMC) shipped guns to Myanmar in August 2017.
In the telecommunications sector, Viettel Global, owned by the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, is a joint investor with a Myanmar military conglomerate in Mytel.
Mytel is a major source of revenue and technology for the Myanmar military.
She Zhi Jiang, a Cambodian citizen, is the main investor in the Yatai City project in Shwe Kokko, Myawaddy Township, a huge real estate, casino and entertainment development.
Yatai City is being developed as a joint venture with the Karen State Border Guard Force, a militia group under the command of the Myanmar military.
In the financial sector, Singapore is a key source of business activities between the Myanmar military and its partners.
JFM reported that the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX)-listed Emerging Towns & Cities Singapore (ETC) made payments worth millions of dollars to the regime for property development by renting property from the Quartermaster General’s Office of the Myanmar army.
In the oil and gas sector, PTT Public Co. Ltd, whose majority shareholder is the government of Thailand, is an operator and investor in multiple gas exploration projects in Myanmar.
PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP), a subsidiary of PTT, will be alone at the Yadana gas production project in Myanmar as Total Energies from France and Chevron Corp of the US plan to exit the country due to the humanitarian situation following last years’ coup.
The Blood Money Campaign, which works to keep the military regime from earning foreign currency income and to prevent international businesses from working with the military, called on ASEAN members and other foreign countries to stop doing business with the military.
Ko Ye, a spokesperson for the campaign, said, “Rather than telling the junta to stop the violence and crimes, they need to get involved in practical efforts to cut out doing business with the junta.”
JFM pointed out that no ASEAN countries have placed sanctions on the junta or its businesses.
Yadanar Maung, a spokesperson for JFM, said, “ASEAN governments and companies must immediately end business with the military junta and its partners, and stop supplying arms and equipment to the terrorist military...”
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"When the Myanmar military seized power on February 1, 2021, factory workers in the industrial zones around Yangon were immediately apprehensive.
“It’ll be like it was before,” said Ma Phyu*, a worker interviewed by the authors two days after the coup, referring to the decades under military rule before 2011 when labour unions were de facto illegal. “Employers will oppress workers and reduce their wages,” she said.
Concern about the possibility of deteriorating working conditions and restrictions on employees organising at their workplaces were major reasons why thousands of mostly young, mostly female factory workers protested against the coup in downtown Yangon on February 6, catalysing a series of general strikes that have taken place since the coup.
Alongside the protests, civil servants, led by doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, had launched a Civil Disobedience Movement that would subsequently attract hundreds of thousands of other public and private sector workers.
At Yangon’s ports, striking truck drivers brought international trade to a standstill and the banking system was paralysed by walk-outs. Workers making military equipment at Ministry of Defence factories and miners employed at Chinese-run copper mines with revenue-sharing agreements with the military also joined the general strike.
By organising themselves and taking direct action, workers throughout Myanmar made history in the weeks and months after the coup. As a student activist involved in the protests acknowledged in June 2021, “Working-class people have been crucial to our movement.”
The experiences of workers in industrial zones around Yangon since the coup make clear the causal link between military rule and the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Myanmar and show how the collective struggles of workers to improve their livelihoods is a critical element of the broader popular uprising.
At the same time, the employment-related demands made by workers in industrial zones around Yangon since February 1 last year – for better wages and working conditions and increased opportunities to organise – reveal a continuity between working-class struggles since the coup and those during the so-called democratic transition.
The enduring collective struggles of workers in industrial zones around Yangon – and those of ordinary people throughout the country – reflect the need for something beyond mere restoration of the pre-coup political arrangement.
What is apparent in these workplace movements is a process of democratisation from below, as workers endeavour to assert collective power in their workplace.
Repressing workers, enabling exploitation
The junta’s response to defiant factory workers has been brutal. On February 26, 2021, the junta declared 16 of the country’s most prominent trade unions and labour organisations illegal and threatened to arrest labour activists who continued to organise anti-coup activities, signalling an acute awareness of the power of labour organising.
On March 14, soldiers and police killed at least 65 protesters in Yangon’s heavily industrialised Hlaing Tharyar Township, where tens of thousands of factory workers live. Later that day, martial law was declared in Hlaing Tharyar and nearby Shwepyithar Township. On March 15, martial law was also declared in the Yangon townships of North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa, all of which suggests the junta was targeting working class neighbourhoods.
On April 15, about 40 soldiers raided the Shwepyithar office of the Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar and arrested its director, Daw Myo Myo Aye, for organising anti-coup activities. Other union leaders and labour activists have since gone underground or fled abroad.
In the weeks after the coup, workers’ strikes, supply chain disruptions and a climate of insecurity compelled factories in Yangon’s industrial zones to suspend operations. Following the mass killings of protesters at Hlaing Tharyar on March 14 and the subsequent imposition of martial law, many workers fled the industrial zones for their hometowns in rural Myanmar. By July, an estimated 250,000 jobs had been lost in garment factories alone, said the International Labour Organization.
Since then, most factories around Yangon have reopened and workers who fled post-coup violence and economic disruption have returned, despite military and police harassment. Although many workers wanted to support the CDM, they have been forced to return to work because of limited livelihood options and lack of social support due to junta restrictions.
As workers returned to factory jobs, many employers took advantage of martial law and economic disruption to cut their wages, degrade working conditions and undermine workplace labour groups.
Ko Aung*, a factory worker interviewed in January, said casualisation was increasingly common. “They use politics as an excuse to undermine the workers’ organisation. During this time of political instability, there aren’t many workers on monthly salaries. They hire daily labourers. If you’re dissatisfied, they fire you,” he said. “There are no written contracts for daily labourers. For the daily wage, they pay K3,600 (about US$2).”
Employers have also leveraged the junta security apparatus against workers who try to collectively organise for wage increases and improved working conditions.
On March 16 last year, police and soldiers called by the owner of the Xing Jia factory in Hlaing Tharyar reportedly shot and killed six workers who had argued over their wages with their employer, whom they accused of theft.
“After the coup, the workers’ situation deteriorated,” said Ko Aung. “Employers took advantage of the political situation to severely oppress the workers.”
Harassment and extortion
In the industrial zones of townships under martial law, workers are also facing constant harassment from patrolling soldiers and police, who act with impunity and often extort money from employees travelling outside their workplaces.
“When I’m travelling along the road, I don’t feel secure,” said Ma Khaing*, another worker interviewed in January.
“They [police] check our phones” for anti-coup content, she said. “When I’m travelling along the road, I can never be sure whether I’ll be stopped and questioned. I worry about that.”
“We’ve been told that we can be imprisoned for three years if we have [anti-coup] news on our phone. When I’m planning to go out, I always delete everything from my phone in advance. Only then do I go out,” Ma Khaing added, “If they find [incriminating content] on our phone, they accuse us of supporting the PDF [People’s Defence Forces] and demand money. They demand as much as they want. A person must give the money as demanded. If they don’t pay, [the police] say they’ll send the worker to be interrogated.”
Wary of having their brands tarnished by association with violent military rule, some international apparel companies have stopped sourcing garments from Myanmar. Others, such as H&M and Zara, initially suspended orders after the coup, but have since resumed placing orders with suppliers. As of October 2021, most of Myanmar’s 600 or so garment factories that produce for export are operating, though with reduced workforces, according to the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers’ Association’s October newsletter.
The reduced demand for labour has left workers even more vulnerable to exploitation. They often have to accept lower wages and poorer working conditions or face the threat of dismissal, while union organisers are particularly at risk of being sacked. Many people desperate for work are paying brokers to arrange jobs for them in neighbouring Thailand, where thousands have been arrested for entering the country illegally.
Workers’ struggles under military rule
For factory workers and their families, the coup has exacerbated what were already extremely precarious conditions in the industrial zones around Yangon.
In February 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions to the supply of raw materials from China led to garment factory closures and the loss of between 10,000 and 15,000 jobs. By September 2020, 233 factories had requested permission from the authorities to close, suspend operations or lay off workers. Employers then used the pretext of COVID-19 disruption to sack unionised workers, while police intervened to break up strikes and arrest organisers.
With no effective social safety net even before the coup, factory workers sacked during the pandemic often had little choice but to take on further debt and reduce food consumption, and in some cases turned to sex work to support their families.
But working class communities in the industrial zones around Yangon were already struggling before the pandemic. Labour law violations and wages below the legal minimum were prevalent at factories in Yangon. Many other workers toiled in informal arrangements outside the remit of labour protection laws.
Nevertheless, even while the decade before the coup was difficult for workers, there was genuine progress being made and hope that positive changes would continue.
Trade unions had been banned for nearly 50 years, but were permitted again under the Labour Organisation Law enacted in 2011 under the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party government. The law resulted in hundreds of thousands of factory workers in Yangon and elsewhere organising themselves into unions; by 2021, almost 3,000 workplace unions had been registered throughout the country.
Over the ensuing decade, many of these unions went on strike for better wages and working conditions. Some of the most assertive factory-based unions were affiliated with the Federation of Garment Workers of Myanmar and the All Burma Federation of Trade Unions. These unions, and the broader working class networks of which they are a part, have formed a dedicated constituency of resistance to military rule since the coup.
As well as street protests, workers have also been organising since the coup to collectively push for better wages and working conditions. Such moves can involve extremely high risk, as shown by the killing of workers at the Xing Jia factory in March 2021.
However, there have been two notable cases since the coup of workers in Yangon’s industrial zones making tangible gains by going on strike.
On October 14 last year, about 350 workers at the Gasan Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar went on strike over pay cuts and reductions in benefits. The strike continued into early November, when soldiers and police raided the factory and the strikers were forced to flee.
Workers say senior management called in junta forces to put down the strike. Management also told the workers that the factory would close in December because of a lack of orders. However, a worker interviewed in January for this article said the threat to shutter the factory – which remains open – was a ploy by the owner to sack unionised workers and avoid paying them severance.
“The workers had the right to receive severance pay and demanded to receive it but management refused,” said the worker, who asked not to be identified. “Soldiers came, but the workers had solidarity and continued to demand severance pay and the employer eventually agreed to pay. You can say that we were victorious.”
Then on December 8, about 800 workers at a factory in Shwepyithar Township, which they asked not be identified, began a strike that lasted 11 days and also ended in a victory for workplace solidarity.
The workers’ demands were for the employer to stop cutting the bonuses of employees who were unable to work every day, serve better quality rice in the factory canteen, and sack a human resources manager accused of constant harassment. The workers achieved their demands, including the removal of the human resources manager. They also held a workplace election to choose a new executive committee for their factory-level union.
These stoppages have demonstrated that factory workers in industrial zones around Yangon have the motivation and capacity to organise and strike for collective demands, despite the restrictions and risk of violence they face under martial law. The strikes are therefore an important precedent for further workplace action under post-coup conditions..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Kirin Should Not Sell Stakes to Military-Owned Entities
Description:
"apanese beverage giant Kirin Holdings Company is pulling out of Myanmar.
The decision, announced on February 14, came after a year of fruitless negotiations with the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) to terminate a joint venture partnership. Kirin says it will “withdraw” from Myanmar by June.
Kirin had reportedly hoped to stay in Myanmar when it began the process of cutting ties with MEHL days after the February 1, 2021 military coup. But those hopes were dashed after facing numerous difficulties – including MEHL’s surprise filing to dissolve the joint partnership without notifying Kirin.
Kirin operates two joint ventures in the country – Myanmar Brewery and Mandalay Brewery – with MEHL. Even before the coup, human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, criticized Kirin’s ties with MEHL because they meant Kirin risked funding the military. The criticisms intensified as military atrocities, including crimes against humanity and acts of genocide against the ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State in 2017, increasingly came to light. After the coup, pressure on Kirin mounted, culminating in a nationwide boycott of Myanmar Brewery products.
As it goes through the process of exiting Myanmar, Kirin should continually conduct rigorous human rights due diligence on its plans, ensuring it does not sell its stake in the two joint ventures to any military-owned entity. Kirin should also explore other options to responsibly disengage with the Myanmar military to prevent MEHL from benefitting financially.
Other foreign companies, including Yokogawa Bridge Corp., Tokyo Tatemono, and Fujita, should follow suit in line with 2019 recommendations from the United Nations-backed Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar to financially isolate the Myanmar military and curb its abuses.
The Japanese government should also honor the commitments laid out in its five-year National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights by ensuring Japanese businesses do not cause or contribute to human rights violations wherever they operate..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"18 February 2022: Hun Sen has given up on trying to resolve the gravest crisis confronting ASEAN – Myanmar’s junta-made crisis – only seven weeks into his term as ASEAN Chair. He must therefore resign from the ASEAN position immediately, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).
Speaking to foreign dignitaries, Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo (Lord Prime Minister and Supreme Military Commander) Hun Sen, said he would no longer make efforts to resolve the situation in Myanmar. He cited a lack of progress by the illegal Myanmar junta towards resolving the crisis it caused when junta leader Min Aung Hlaing attempted a coup in February last year.
For more than a year, Min Aung Hlaing’s forces have waged a brutal campaign of terror on the people of Myanmar that has caused a humanitarian, political and economic catastrophe in the country and threatened the stability of the region.
Having decided he is unable or unwilling to use his position to pressure the junta to end its violence and respect the democratic will of the Myanmar people, Hun Sen said he intends to simply wait out the remaining 10-months in his role as ASEAN Chair before passing on the responsibility to the President of Indonesia, who is next in line.
“Hun Sen has finally realised that junta leader Min Aung Hlaing cannot be trusted and cannot be reasoned with,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “Unfortunately, in the time it took the Cambodian Prime Minister to arrive at this realisation, many more people were murdered, detained, and tortured by Min Aung Hlaing’s forces. The Myanmar people cannot wait another 10 months with Hun Sen doing nothing as ASEAN Chair. Hun Sen must stop his self serving personal adventurism and erratic acts, and seek support from other better placed ASEAN members to do the job. Otherwise, make way and resign now.”
Hun Sen’s admission of failure comes after a series of blunders since he assumed the ASEAN Chairmanship. Min Aung Hlaing exploited a visit made by Hun Sen to Nay Pyi Taw in January to gain legitimacy for his illegal junta, and has refused to release Sean Turnell, Australian national and economic advisor to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, despite Hun Sen announcing that he had. Hun Sen was forced to backtrack and apologise for the statement.
“We commend Hun Sen for his honesty in admitting his failure to make any headway at all with the junta in spite of his efforts,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “We can understand his sense of failure when he has been treated so disrespectfully and insultingly by Min Aung Hlaing, undermining his position as ASEAN Chair. However, the crisis can’t wait till next year to be resolved and so we point out to Hun Sen that he has no alternative, now that he’s acknowledged that he can’t make any progress, but to hand over the chair to Indonesia at once.”
Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister for the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG), Daw Zin Mar Aung, addressed counterparts at an ASEAN Foreign Minister’s Meeting this week, and called for a more coordinated ASEAN approach towards dealing with the crisis.
“The NUG Foreign Minister’s address to ASEAN stands in stark contrast to the belligerent junta,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “ASEAN’s most constructive, necessary and rightful partner in responding to the crisis has always been the NUG. ASEAN must exert real pressure on the junta now and engage meaningfully with the NUG if it is to prove to the world that it puts the will of the Myanmar people above all else. If Hun Sen is not going to do that, he must step aside...”
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
89.75 KB
more
Description:
"Key governments and businesses from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that have supplied arms, funds and investments to the Myanmar military are revealed today in a new section of Justice For Myanmar’s Cartel Finance Map.
Explore the Cartel Finance Map
Complicit governments, companies and individuals
Following its attempted coup, the Myanmar military has murdered over 1,500 civilians and arrested more than 12,000 more.
Myanmar military continues its fierce airstrikes and conflict has intensified, killing hundreds more and displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians, creating a humanitarian catastrophe.
Governments, companies and individuals of ASEAN nations are directly implicated in the Myanmar military's grave human rights violations and atrocity crimes.
For example, an Indonesian state-owned enterprise, PT. Pindad, exported bullets to Myanmar in 2020. Pindad has a cooperation agreement an arms brokerage company owned by Htoo Htoo Shein Oo, the son Win Shein, of the Myanmar military junta’s planning and finance minister.
A subsidiary of Thai company, PTT Public Co. Ltd, whose majority shareholder is the Government of Thailand, is an operator and investor in multiple gas exploration projects in Myanmar.
In 2017-18, the Myanmar government received over USD$40 million for one of these gas projects alone and these funds now flow to the illegal junta.
Viettel Global, a telecommunications company owned by the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence, is a joint investor in mobile telephone company Mytel, alongside a Myanmar military conglomerate.
Mytel provides a major source of revenue for the Myanmar military and – and is a major source of revenue and technology for – the military.
Philippine arms manufacturing company, United Defense Manufacturing Corporation (UDMC), shipped 450 kilos of guns to Myanmar as the military launched its campaign of genocide against the Rohingya in August 2017.
A fugitive from China who hold Cambodian citizenship, She Zhi Jiang, is the main investor who controls the Yatai City project in Shwe Koko, a huge real estate, casino and entertainment development in Myanmar with its own cryptocurrency.
Yatai City is being developed as a joint venture with the Karen State Border Guard Force, a militia group under command of the Myanmar military.
The project is linked to organised crime and land confiscation, and a lucrative source of revenue for the Myanmar military and their associates.
The financial industry of Singapore is a key source of financial support. It is a financial hub for the business activities of the Myanmar military and its partners.
For example, Singapore’s stock exchange has been used by Emerging Towns & Cities Ltd (ETC) to raise funds for a property development that pays USD millions in rent to the quartermaster general’s office of Myanmar army, office tasked with the procurement of weapons.
ETC has suspended trading due to regulatory actions over payments to the quartermaster general’s office, pending independent review.
Singapore Exchange and the Monetary Authority of Singapore may be internationally liable and obliged to pay reparations for harm caused by ETC and other listed companies that are financing the Myanmar military.
Urgent Action needed from ASEAN leaders
Since the illegal coup attempt, no ASEAN country has placed sanctions on the Myanmar military junta and its businesses.
In April 2020, ASEAN leaders, with the presence of Min Aung Hlaing, reached a five-point consensus on the situation in Myanmar.
While no progress has been made towards the agreed goals, ASEAN has allowed the illegitimate Myanmar military junta to continue participate in many of its meetings and hold the rotating chairpersonship of ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions.
Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “ASEAN and its member states are implicated in lining the pockets of the terrorist junta and supporting its grave crimes.
“They are not only financing the military’s crimes, but also reputation laundering for a military that kills children, rapes women and attacks displaced people with indiscriminate air strikes.
“ASEAN governments and companies must immediately end business with the military junta and its partners, and stop supplying arms and equipment to the terrorist military..."
Source/publisher:
Justice For Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, ASEAN-Burma relations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
141.65 KB
more
Description:
"Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.
THOUSANDS DISPLACED AS VIOLENCE ESCALATES ACROSS MYANMAR
Since 31 January Myanmar’s (Burma) military – the Tatmadaw – has burned down more than 1,500 homes in northwest Sagaing Region’s Pale and Mingin townships, resulting in civilian casualties and mass displacement. In a span of 10 days in January, the military killed at least 38 civilians in Sagaing Region, including women and children. Over 10,000 civilians have been forced to flee Mingin Township so far. The recent offensives appear to have been in retaliation over assaults by the local People’s Defence Force (PDF), civilian militias formed as part of an armed resistance against the junta. The series of arson attacks are the latest in the Tatmadaw’s ongoing large-scale offensive and scorched-earth campaign that began in November in northwestern Myanmar.
Widespread and systematic violence is also intensifying elsewhere in Myanmar. A new report by the nongovernmental human rights organization, Fortify Rights, released on 15 February, provides evidence of likely war crimes perpetrated by the military in southeastern Kayah (Karenni) State, including the killing of at least 61 civilians and the use of others as human shields. Fortify Rights also documented attacks on churches, residential homes, displacement sites and other non-military targets between May 2021 and January 2022. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, between the 1 February 2021 military coup and 31 January 2022, more than 3,500 houses, churches, monasteries, schools and markets had been either burnt down or destroyed in Chin and Kayah states and Sagaing and Magway regions.
The escalating conflict in northwestern and southeastern Myanmar has triggered waves of mass displacement. On 11 February the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced that since the military coup, an estimated 440,000 people have been forced to flee as a result of airstrikes, shelling and the burning of villages, bringing the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) to over 800,000. UNHCR Spokesperson, Matthew Saltmarsh, warned that, “security is deteriorating rapidly across the country as fighting and armed conflict intensifies with no sign of abating. UNHCR forecasts an accelerating trend of displacements in the coming weeks and months.”
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must do more to respond to the escalating crisis in Myanmar and prevent a regional refugee crisis. Myanmar’s neighbors have a responsibility to give temporary protection to people fleeing violence and atrocities, and to refrain from returning them to Myanmar. The UN Security Council must immediately impose a global arms embargo on Myanmar’s military, and ASEAN should support it. UN member states, and in particular ASEAN member states, must sanction Myanmar’s oil and gas sector to protect civilians from further atrocities.
UKRAINE TENSIONS REACH TIPPING POINT, INCREASING RISKS FOR CIVILIANS
On 14 February UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “the time is now” to defuse tensions between Russia and Ukraine and its allies amid warnings that war could be imminent. Secretary-General Guterres stressed that, “the price in human suffering, destruction and damage to European and global security is too high to contemplate,” and reminded the international community that “there is no place for incendiary rhetoric. Public statements should aim to reduce tensions, not inflame them.”
Since fall 2021 tensions have been on the rise due to Russia’s troop build-up near Ukraine’s border. Approximately 150,000 Russian troops and equipment have been deployed to Ukraine’s western, southwestern and northern borders. Despite this mobilization, Russia has denied any plans to invade the country. The United States and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have insisted on de-escalation.
This dramatic escalation is the latest evolution in a conflict that has been ongoing since 2014, when anti-government protests evolved into a Russian-backed separatist movement that seized parts of the eastern provinces of Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk – an area collectively called Donbas. In February 2014 Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power by a parliament vote – a move that Russia perceived as a Western-backed overthrow. Russia subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014. The UN General Assembly has deemed this annexation illegal and invalid under international law. The crisis is rooted in Ukraine’s desire to join NATO and to deepen ties with its European neighbors, which Russia views as a “red line” and direct threat to its security.
Since 2014, several rounds of peace negotiations have failed to achieve a long-standing solution and civilians have continued to bear the brunt of conflict. At least 3,393 civilians have been killed, with over 7,000 people injured thus far. Approximately 2 million people live in a 20-kilometer zone on both sides of the stalemated “line of contact,” or line of separation, in Donbas and would be under increased risk of violence and displacement if the conflict escalates. Donbas is also one of the world’s most heavily mine-contaminated areas, including landmines and explosive remnants of war which pose significant threats to civilians’ physical and socioeconomic wellbeing. Currently 2.9 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and at least 1.4 million are internally displaced.
International human rights organizations have documented alleged atrocity crimes committed by all sides since 2014, including the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, as well as armed groups using arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence in areas under their control. These acts may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Savita Pawnday, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, joined those urging calm, emphasizing that, “an escalation of hostilities in Ukraine would have a detrimental impact on civilians across the region. All parties involved, including Ukraine, Russia and NATO-members, must commit to de-escalation for the sake of civilians in Donbas and beyond. Their lives should not be pawns for geopolitical gain.”
UN AGENCY NOTES “DEEP CONCERN” ABOUT WORKING CONDITIONS FACING UYGHURS IN CHINA
On 11 February a Committee of Experts from the United Nation’s International Labour Organization (ILO) released its annual report in which it expressed concern about the working conditions facing Uyghurs and other Muslim-majority ethnic groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and throughout China. Speaking to Reuters, an ILO official said the alleged violations would be raised at the International Labour Conference in June, which could lead to a formal complaint and the creation of a commission of inquiry to investigate abuses. Uyghur forced labor is well-documented and likely constitutes crimes against humanity; however, this report is significant because it is a rare instance of a UN agency criticizing China’s human rights abuses.
Under the false claims of combatting religious extremism, the Chinese government in recent years has detained more than 1 million Uyghurs and members of other majority-Muslim ethnic groups in “re-education” or “de-extremification” camps, where they are then often forcibly transferred to factories in XUAR and across China to work under conditions of forced labor. Reports estimate approximately 100,000 Uyghurs in XUAR are working under conditions that strongly suggest forced labor. The ILO experts expressed concern about the forced relocation of workers, namely Uyghurs, across China, and raised doubts about the validity of China’s claims that its policies in the region are for counterterrorism purposes.
According to the report, “the employment situation of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China provides numerous indications of coercive measures, many of which arise from regulatory and policy documents.” The committee asked the Chinese government to repeal provisions “that impose de-radicalisation duties on enterprises and trade unions” in XUAR and to “review its national and regional policies with a view to eliminating all distinction, exclusion or preference” against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in XUAR.
The release of the ILO report comes amid increasing calls for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to publicly release her office’s report on human rights in XUAR. In September 2021 High Commissioner Bachelet announced her office was finalizing its report on human rights in XUAR.
Liam Scott, Research Associate at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said that, “the Chinese government should heed the recommendations of the ILO experts and immediately halt its widespread and systematic practice of Uyghur forced labor. All UN member states should ban goods produced with forced labor of Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in China. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights should publish its report on XUAR before the upcoming 49th regular session of the Human Rights Council..."
Source/publisher:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Inspired by the ongoing series, ‘Chronicle of a coup’, Damien Riley (pseudonym) writes about his experiences at an NGO.
(Editor’s note: This post is inspired by the ongoing “Chronicle of a Coup” series by Christopher Walker. This letter, however, is a separate and original contribution of Damien Riley (pseudonym). We encourage other authors to submit their own accounts.)
“Tanks appear on city streets as fears of a possible coup continue”, read the news headline on my computer screen. It was Friday, January 29, and I was working at home on a sunny afternoon when I saw the ominous images of an olive-green armored vehicle in Bahan township. I shared the story’s link with my colleagues: I had worked for a local NGO for the last five years. We had a management meeting scheduled on Zoom for later in the day, and I wrote ahead, in what would become a gross understatement, saying, “This seems concerning.”
Tensions between the National League for Democracy (NLD) party and the Myanmar military had been building for weeks. After a disappointing loss by its proxy parties at the polls in November 2020, the military had been harping on largely unfounded claims of election irregularities. With the new NLD government, emboldened by its democratic mandate, set to take office in the following week, these tensions were reaching a crescendo. Just days before tanks were in the street, a Tatmadaw spokesperson had refused to rule out a military coup when questioned about it by reporters.
Swallowing doubts / January 29, 2021
At my job, we watched these developments closely because they would affect our work as a human rights NGO. During the democratic transition, we built grassroots networks, raised awareness about human rights to thousands, and developed relationships with legislators and government officials. For the NLD’s second term, we had an ambitious agenda of lobbying and advocacy planned.
Our director joined the meeting that afternoon and informed us he was getting updates from persons knowledgeable of what was happening in Nay Pyi Taw. Negotiations between the military and the NLD were becoming extremely fraught. The news of tanks in the streets was not to be taken lightly. He then left our meeting to find out more. For me and my colleagues, there was a mixture of gloom and incredulous disbelief. As an organization, we had already overcome so much disruption and uncertainty because of Covid-19. Now were we on the brink of another disaster? Or were the tanks and murmurings of a coup just hype and theatrics? The previous year, Covid-19 had taught us not to underreact, and so we decided to stop our meeting, switch our communications to encrypted channels, and stock up on cash and food.
I called an expat friend to cancel our dinner plans that evening. He reacted skeptically, saying his Myanmar colleagues were also following the news and told him that a coup wasn’t going to happen. As his friend, I advised him to be extra prepared. If there was no coup, we would have dinner another evening.
In retrospect, memories of the weekend before the February 1st coup have become precious. They were the last moments before the world as we knew it was turned upside down. At the time in Yangon, daily life was beginning to return to normal, after months of Covid-19 shutdowns. More shops were opening up and people were increasingly going outdoors for exercise.
Although I continued to receive updates that the discussions in Nay Pyi Taw were unsuccessful, I still doubted that these were a certain prelude to a coup. After all, pundits and experts had weighed in: The military would not violate its own undemocratic constitution, and, moreover, years of the democratic transition had created changes to the Tatmadaw’s avenues of control that were irreversible. As an example of the attitude of the times, just a month earlier Frontier Myanmar published an article that included the lines, “Myanmar today is a country of immense potential. While our nation may still be mired in poverty and conflict, we have a democratically elected government that has the capacity to bring about tremendous change.”
As that final Sunday, January 31, came to a close, I reviewed notes of our management meeting and scheduled time in the coming week to discuss what we had not covered on Friday. I went to sleep that night blissfully unaware of the chaos to come.
Rising fear and dread / February 1, 2021
At 8:00 am I woke up to find several missed calls from early in the morning. The normally green light on my internet router was red. Nothing was coming in through my phone’s cellular data. The phone line was dead too. I turned on my apartment’s television to see scrambled channels beaming back at me. Only MRTV, the state-run TV service, had a program playing on loop. It showed montages of soldiers and wide-angle footage of scenes around Nay Pyi Taw set to music.
I wandered outside in the cool morning, making my way over to a busy street. There was a crowd in front of a KBZ bank, waiting to use the ATM. I overheard the security guard telling people in line that the connection was not working. This confirmed my suspicion that the internet was turned off everywhere.
I returned home and settled into an uncomfortable wait.
Over the next hours, phone service across Myanmar gradually returned, albeit unevenly. One of my colleagues called me. He told me he heard from people in his building that State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were arrested, along with many NLD members. The words hit me with a jolt. Recalling the rumors that flew during the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, my colleague’s voice carried these words with a tone of caution.
I went by foot to my colleague’s downtown apartment and climbed up the stairwell of the low-rise cement building to his room, where the internet hotspot had begun working again. Immediately after connecting, my smartphone overflowed with updates and missed calls over messaging apps. The Irrawaddy bore the horrible truth on its front page: “Myanmar Military Seizes Power”.
I got in touch with our director and a handful of our donors. The situation was urgent: dozens of CSO leaders, activists, and some political figures were flooding our phones with messages saying they were in danger and needed help. With a donor, I agreed to form a committee that would review and approve cases for my NGO to send support to. Hours passed quickly while I attended to these urgent tasks. As I worked, cars and buses drove in the streets below. It was the edge of downtown, and here people moved hastily along the sidewalk. It was approaching rush hour, and there was a nervous and expectant energy in the air. Soon MRTV’s evening news program would come on, and the military-controlled news service would confirm the coup.
In the weeks and months to follow, I would be glued to my phone, and particularly to an encrypted messaging app that became standard among the people in our field. I waited to review more cases of activists in need of help. Most often, these were people needing places to hide and money to sustain them, and sometimes for their family members as well. Some were in jail and their colleagues submitted applications for money to pay their legal expenses. As mass violence against protests swept across Myanmar, the need increased. In some cases, they’d already been beaten or shot. Others were trying to flee the country. My daily work became a world of trying to help people in increasingly dire need, where we often communicated using pseudonyms, code-words, and idiosyncratic ways of verification. It all took place against a backdrop of rising dread and fear.
What can a human rights NGO do? / The aftermath
For a human rights NGO, the coup presented an existential crisis. Questions arose about the future of my organization’s programming and the viability of our work. As the violence worsened, the theory of change for large portions of our programming no longer made sense. Shots and small explosions could be heard almost every night in Yangon. Each neighborhood set up its own local security unit. Images on social media showed daily horrors. There were crackdowns on protesters, leaving dead bodies in their wake, and activists carried away by men with guns in the night. After 2 am, internet and phone services were shut off so that no one could warn you and no one could call for help. At my work, there would be no more trainings for the public, no more meetings with the government, no more advocacy campaigns about human rights.
For the work that we could do, there was also a question of ethics. At what point does it become irresponsibly risky for our staff, partners, and beneficiaries? Within our organization, there was ambivalence about the right and responsible way forward. We were NGO workers, not soldiers. Even if a person was willing to carry out a dangerous assignment, should we commit them to do it? What was the standard for reasonable risk in this situation? Eventually some people resigned from work. No one could really sleep.
Moreover, our operations became increasingly difficult due to financial reasons. Most banks were effectively closed due to the civil disobedience movement. Moreover, it was risky for a registered NGO to withdraw or transfer money using official bank accounts at all. We hatched schemes on how to move and manage our funds via alternate channels and methods, only to have to revise and later scrap them due to the escalating violence. While we waited for donors’ approval of our alternate plans, the situation would change, making the whole planning effort in vain. Adding to the calamity, there was no way to receive fund transfers from our donors outside of Myanmar. Some of our funds that we’d had transferred to us in February were stuck, unclaimed in our banks. If the situation was not resolved, we would eventually run out of money.
I began asking for cash loans from donors with local offices – to no avail. Bank service gradually resumed, by appointment or by getting an all-too-rare queue number. Then the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) issued an order requiring banks to notify and seek CBM’s approval when NGO funds were withdrawn. After media organizations and other non-governmental organizations were raided, it was simply too dangerous to show up at the bank with our official documents. Moreover, conducting our activities while adhering to the financial documentation requirements of our donors became dangerously impractical.
A tragicomic disconnect / The future
Everyone was having to adapt, including our donors. In the NGO world, most donor-funding is restricted to project plans and comes with specific reporting obligations. Changing a plan or seeking an exception often was administratively laborious and required numerous justifications. Donors’ reactions to our rapidly changing needs after the coup ranged from being very flexible and understanding to being uncertain or unwilling to approve our requests. In the former case, fast approval meant we could mobilize the money we had on hand to move our staff to safety and buy the equipment we needed urgently. It also meant we could distribute financial support to partners and affected communities around the country who were resisting the coup. In the latter case, some change requests to donors went unanswered for weeks while their respective headquarters discussed and untangled the obligations they had to their back donors. This is because the donors funding NGOs in Myanmar are often NGOs or international NGOs themselves, functioning as intermediaries between “back donors” – often country donors, international organisations, or private philanthropists – and local organisations in Myanmar.
This created many missed opportunities. For our NGO to carry out actions in the field, we had to wait for a window in which the situation on the ground was safe enough. The delay in donor approval meant that our implementing partners had to wait while evading police and soldiers. It caused immense frustration to all involved when an opportunity to act would arise but our project change request was still pending approval.
In my view, the situation in Myanmar was deteriorating faster than the funders’ ability to respond, leaving NGOs like mine scrambling. While I appreciate that donors had difficult decisions to make, it was local NGOs bearing the brunt. Amid waiting for donor approvals, our operations crumbled and our safety was at risk. Unlike international NGOs, we did not have a headquarters with additional layers of support outside of the country. We were on our own, and we had to take greater risks to maintain our business continuity as an NGO. I will never forget frantically calling around to find space in a safe house for a staff member, while also explaining to an international donor why I could not get their money back on the rent payment for an office that was too unsafe to use.
The problem was a tragicomic disconnect between funders trying to operate business-as-usual and the reality on the ground. The truth is that the consequences of the February 1st coup were not going to be quickly reversed. Too much blood was shed; a delicate social contract forged during Myanmar’s democratic transition in Myanmar had been shredded. Although far from perfect, Myanmar’s democratic pretenses between 2011 and 2020 were a foundation for much of the work of civil society in Myanmar. It was the premise on which so many development plans and investment decisions were made. That premise was now a rug that had been pulled from underneath our feet.
Postscript / 12 months later
Twelve months after the coup, half of the staff have left. Some staff quit out of concern for their safety; some joined the armed resistance; some fled across the border, and some no longer had duties to perform. Of the staff who remain working, there is a mixture of motivation to support the revolution, burnout from overwork and stress, and a resolve to carry on as normally as possible, either for family or due to lack of an alternative.
Despite the challenges, our donors did not abandon us. While there was great urgency to act at the ground level in months after the coup, the contexts overseeing our funding were slower to adapt. Keeping hard copies of project documentation, getting signatures as verification, and only using organizational bank accounts are just some of the standard requirements when handling international development funds. But these are no longer safe and feasible for Myanmar human rights organizations. Our donors needed time to understand and accept the conditions we were working in. Trust from our donors and competence in our handling of projects were essential for continuing our partnership. Credit, however, largely goes to the extremely resourceful staff who work out of safe houses and remote locations, as well as to the partners – both organizations, networks, and individuals – who ensure the funds go where they are necessary and that actions are coordinated.
Having survived 2021, there is a reason for hope. As the Burmese proverb goes, “Even the big wave goes under the boat, and even the high mountain is under the foot.” [လှိုင်းကြီးလှေအောက်၊ တောင်ကြီးဖ၀ါးအောက်]..."
Source/publisher:
Tea Circle (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights and international relations, Human Rights Defenders, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"၂၀၂၁ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးမှာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအဝှမ်း အလွှာပေါင်းစုံက အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်နဲ့ ရဲရင့်ပြောင်မြောက်စွာ ဦးဆောင်မှုတွေဟာ အာဏာလု စစ်အုပ်စုကို သွေးပျက်မတတ် ထိတ်လန့် တုန်လှုပ်စေခဲ့တာပါ။
မြန်မာ့သမိုင်းမှာ ပထမဦးဆုံးအဖြစ် ထမီအလံလွှင့်ထူပြီး ငါတို့ထမီ၊ ငါတို့အလံ၊ ငါတို့အောင်ပွဲ ဆိုတဲ့ ဣတ္ထိယ နွေဦးတေးဟာ နိုင်ငံနယ်နမိတ် အပြင်ဘက်ထိ တုန်ဟီးစေခဲ့တယ်။ ပြည်တွင်းသာမက ကမ္ဘာ့တဝှမ်းက ပြည်သူအပေါင်း မြန်မာ့အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်ကို လေးစားတန်ဖိုးထား အသိအမှတ်ပြုခဲ့ကြရပါတယ်။
အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စုဟာ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ရဲ့ ထုံးစံအတိုင်း ဆန့်ကျင်သူတိုင်းကို လက်နက်အားကိုးပြီး ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်စွာ ဖြိုခွဲခဲ့တယ်။ အကြောက်တရားနဲ့ အုပ်ချုပ်နိုင်အောင်ကြိုးစားခဲ့တယ်။ သို့သော်လည်း ပြည်သူလူထုတရပ်လုံးက နောက်မဆုတ်စတမ်း တိုက်ပွဲဝင်လာတာဟာ ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့ဆိုရင် တစ်နှစ်တင်းတင်းပြည့်ခဲ့ပေမယ့် တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်ဟာ ပြင်းသထက် ပြင်းထန်ပြီး ခိုင်မာသထက် ခိုင်မာလာတာကို တွေ့မြင်နေတာပါ။
ဒီအထဲမှာ အမျိုးသမီးတွေဟာလည်း ရှေ့တန်းက အားကောင်းစွာ ပါဝင်တော်လှန်နေဆဲပါပဲ။ တနှစ်ပြည့်တဲ့အချိန်မှာ အကြမ်း ဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုဟာ ထောင်ချီတဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးများကို ထောင်သွင်း အကျဉ်းချထားခဲ့တယ်။ ရာချီတဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးများဟာ အကြမ်း ဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုရဲ့ ညှဉ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက် ပစ်ခတ်သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း ခံခဲ့ရတယ်။ ယန္တရားမျိုးစုံကို အသုံးပြုပြီး ညှဉ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှုတွေ ပြုလုပ်နေဆဲဖြစ်တယ်။
သို့သော်လည်း အမျိုးသမီးထုဟာ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အကြွင်းမဲ့ ကျဆုံးရေး၊ ပြည်သူ့လွတ်မြောက်ရေးနဲ့ ဒီမိုကရေစီအခွင့်အရေးအပြည့်အဝ ရရှိရေးအတွက် ဘဝတွေ၊ အသက်တွေကို ပေးဆပ်ရင်း ရှေ့တန်းက ရဲ့ရင့်စွာ တိုက်ပွဲဝင်နေတုန်းပါ။
ဒီအစီရင်ခံစာဟာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအဝှမ်း တိုင်းရင်းသားလူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံ ပါဝင်တဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ စွန့်လွှတ်အနစ်နာခံမှု၊ ပေးဆပ်မှုနဲ့ တော်လှန်စိတ်ဓာတ်ကို ဂုဏ်ပြု မှတ်တမ်းတင်ရင်း နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးအတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုလက်ချက်နဲ့ ကျဆုံးခဲ့ရတဲ့ အမျိုးသမီးသူရဲကောင်းများအား အလေးပြု မော်ကွန်းတင်လိုက်တဲ့ အစီရင်စာတစ်စောင်ပဲ ဖြစ်ပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Women's rights, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
10.65 MB (Original version), 4.73 MB (Reduce version) - 74 pages
more
Description:
"In this Spring Revolution, the revolutionary vigor and decisive leadership of the women of Burma, belonging to all classes and ethnicities, has shaken the military junta to their very core.
For the first time in the history of Burma, women were able to unfurl their Hta-Mein [female skirt/Sarong] as flags; proclaiming “Our Hta-Mein! Our Flag! Our Victory!”. This heroine chant of the Spring Revolution resonated across the country and beyond. The valiant spirit of the women of Burma was acknowledged not only domestically but all around the world.
The terrorist-like military tried to mercilessly crush any kind of opposition with excessive force using heavy weaponry. They carry out tactics of terror to scare the population into submission. Yet, the spirit of the people has not faltered, and their unwavering resolve is just getting stronger after a year, with February 1, 2022 marking one year after the military unsuccessful coup in the Burma.
From the very start, women have continuously put up a vigorous fight in the frontlines. To punish and suppress them, in the span of this past year, the military junta has imprisoned thousands of women and tortured many of them horrendously in numerous ways. These heinous acts are still being perpetrated by the military all throughout the country.
Regardless, women in Burma are resolute in their goal to end the military dictatorship, liberate the masses, and obtain full democracy within the country. And it is with that determination that they keep fighting in the frontline, risking their lives and futures for this cause.
This report tries to acknowledge and commemorate the revolutionary spirit and sacrifice of women of all ethnic groups of Burma, and those fallen heroes who perished at the hands of the terrorist military junta..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Women's rights, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
9.85 MB (Original version), 3.97 MB (Reduce version) - 67 pages
more
Sub-title:
New “flash report” details war crimes, ongoing attacks on civilians in Myanmar’s Karenni State
Description:
"The Myanmar military massacred civilians, used human shields, and committed other atrocities in Karenni State in acts that may amount to war crimes, said Fortify Rights in a new flash report published today. Fortify Rights recommends that member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) support the establishment of a U.N. Security Council-mandated global arms embargo to prohibit the sale of weapons and dual-use technology to the Myanmar military junta.
ASEAN foreign ministers are due to meet for their annual retreat this Wednesday.
“The Myanmar junta is murdering people with weapons procured on the global market, and that must stop,” said Ismail Wolff, Regional Director at Fortify Rights. “Clear and definitive action is needed to compel the Myanmar junta to rethink its attacks on civilians. The U.N. Security Council must urgently impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmar military, and it would be strategic and sensible for ASEAN to support it.”
The 36-page flash report, entitled, “Ongoing War Crimes in Karenni (Kayah) State, Myanmar: May 2021 to January 2022,” documents information related to the murder of at least 61 civilians in Karenni State by the Myanmar military.
The report includes additional details surrounding the “Christmas Eve massacre” near the village of Moso in Hpruso Township, Karenni State, where the Myanmar military killed at least 40 civilians, including a child and two humanitarians working with Save the Children, on December 24, 2021.
A medical doctor in Myanmar—name withheld for security—who conducted autopsies on bodies retrieved from the massacre site told Fortify Rights that autopsies were not possible on many of the bodies because they were so thoroughly burned. However, he and another doctor identified at least 31 bodies, including five bodies of women and one girl under the age of 15.
“Some had their mouths stuffed with cloth, so we were pretty sure these people were gagged,” the doctor told Fortify Rights. “Almost every skull was fractured and badly cracked . . . [In some bodies], we could gather enough evidence to say they were burned to death alive.”
The flash report draws on firsthand testimony from 31 eyewitnesses, survivors, internally displaced persons (IDPs), religious leaders, humanitarian and civil-society workers, members of armed resistance groups, and others between May 2021 and January 2022. Fortify Rights obtained and reviewed photographic and video evidence of atrocities and internal files and documentation from humanitarian agencies and ethnic armed organizations operating in Karenni State.
In December 2021 and January 2022, the military junta intensified its attack on civilians in Karenni State, murdering men, women, and children, bombing civilian-populated areas, and using heavy artillery, arson, and airstrikes against civilian targets. These violations were committed in the context of armed conflict between the Myanmar military and several ethnic armies and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)—community-led militias established for self-defense and to resist military rule in the aftermath of the coup d’état on February 1, 2021.
The report also documents the Myanmar military’s use of civilians as human shields and forced porters. For example, the Myanmar military detained an 18-year-old student from Moe Bye on the Karenni-Shan state border, his uncle, and two other men in early June 2021. Soldiers then used them as human shields during armed clashes with PDF fighters in Karenni State.
“The soldiers put their guns on our shoulders and shot PDFs, staying behind us,” the man told Fortify Rights, his name withheld for security. “We were kept tied up and blindfolded. We were tortured a lot, in so many ways. They kicked our bodies, hit our heads with gun handles, and more.”
The military junta’s attacks since the coup forced the displacement of an estimated 170,000 civilians in Karenni State, or more than half of the state’s estimated population of 300,000, according to the Karenni Civil Society Network. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), national internal-displacement figures “reached a new high of 441,500” people displaced since the coup, with approximately 91,900 displaced in Karenni State and 56,200 displaced in neighboring southern Shan State as of January 31, 2022. UNHCR previously noted that “[a] substantial proportion of Kayah [Karenni] State’s 300,000 population is now displaced.”
The Myanmar military’s forced displacement of civilians threatens to become protracted given the continued attacks on towns and villages and destruction and damage to civilian homes and properties, said Fortify Rights.
In November 2021, Fortify Rights published an investigation into the blocking of humanitarian aid in Karenni State. The 31-page flash report, entitled Access Denied: The Myanmar Military Junta’s Deprivation of Lifesaving Aid in Karenni (Kayah) State, documented how the Myanmar military arbitrarily arrested aid workers, destroyed food stocks, confiscated aid, and committed other ongoing acts that may constitute war crimes. Fortify Rights “flash reports” provide preliminary documentation regarding ongoing human rights violations, short of a full investigation.
The Geneva Conventions primarily define the laws of war, providing fundamental rules to regulate the conduct of armed conflict. The Myanmar military’s murder, forced displacement, and other attacks on civilians in Karenni State constitute severe violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and may amount to war crimes, said Fortify Rights.
In a joint statement released on the anniversary of the February 1 coup, the European Union and foreign ministers of nine U.N. member states, including Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, urged the international community to hold the perpetrators of human rights violations in Myanmar accountable for their crimes and for countries to end the sale of “arms, materiel, dual-use equipment, and technical assistance” to the military junta.
Since February 2021, the U.N. Security Council has issued four press statements and one presidential statementexpressing various levels of condemnation of violence in Myanmar, with no discernable effect. The military junta in Myanmar has repeatedly flouted the Security Council’s directives, providing a context for heightened action from the council, such as an arms embargo, said Fortify Rights.
The junta has also failed to honor ASEAN’s “Five Point Consensus” on the situation in Myanmar, adopted by consensus in April 2021, which includes provisions for the “immediate cessation of violence” and a commitment for all parties to exercise “utmost restraint.”
ASEAN reportedly declined to invite the junta’s foreign minister to this week’s meeting and instead invited Myanmar to send a “non-political representative.” The bloc previously postponed a meeting in January, reportedly due to disagreement over whether to invite a junta representative.
“The junta is not a government; it’s a criminal enterprise and doesn’t belong at the ASEAN table,” said Ismail Wolff. “It would be dangerous for ASEAN to give Min Aung Hlaing and his junta any political legitimacy.”
Today’s flash report makes 18 recommendations to the U.N. Security Council, ASEAN and all U.N. member states, the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar, armed resistance groups, and the Myanmar military junta.
The report recommends that the U.N. Security Council pass a resolution mandating a global arms embargo to prohibit the sale of weapons and dual-use technology to the Myanmar military junta. Further, it calls on the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and to deny the Myanmar military access to funds, especially revenue generated from the sale of natural gas—the junta’s single largest source of income.
The report calls specifically on member states of ASEAN to play a more significant role in these efforts, including engaging the NUG on solutions, providing it with material support, and supporting the establishment of a global arms embargo against the military junta.
ASEAN states are not significant suppliers of arms to the Myanmar military but routinely deal with the political, economic, and humanitarian fallout from the military’s attacks on civilians, said Fortify Rights.
“The Myanmar military has posed a threat to international peace and security for decades, including by committing genocide with impunity against Rohingya Muslims as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes against other ethnic nationalities,” said Ismail Wolff. “An arms embargo is crucial to help end these atrocities, and it would be strategic for ASEAN on several levels. Urgent action is needed now.”..."
Source/publisher:
Fortify Rights
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
7.84 MB 339.73 KB
more
Sub-title:
Proposed Law Threatens Rights to Privacy, Expression, Access to Information
Description:
"(Bangkok) – Myanmar’s military junta has revived a draconian cybersecurity bill that would provide sweeping powers to the authorities, Human Rights Watch said today. The current draft would allow the junta, in power since the military coup on February 1, 2021, to access user data, block websites, order internet shutdowns, and prosecute critics and representatives of noncomplying companies.
The Cybersecurity Law was initially proposed a week after the coup. The current draft, an unofficial translation of which can be found here, includes new provisions that would ban use of virtual private networks (VPNs), abolish the need for certain evidentiary proof at trial, and require online service providers to block or remove online criticism of junta leaders. Ten international chambers of commerce in Myanmar issued a joint statement on January 28, 2022, that said the proposed law “disrupts the free flow of information and directly impacts businesses’ abilities to operate legally and effectively in Myanmar.”
“Myanmar’s military junta has taken a terrible draft cybersecurity law and made it even worse,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. “The junta should scrap this bill, which would further devastate free expression and access to information across the country.”
The draft law would apply to all those providing “Digital Platform Services,” defined to include “any over the top (OTT) service that can provide the service to express data, information, images, voices, texts and video online by using cyber resources and similar systems or materials.” The law thus applies not only to social media and other content-sharing platforms, but to digital marketplaces, search engines, financial services, data processing services, and communications services providing messaging or video calls and games. While companies licensed under the Telecommunications Act are excluded from the definition of Digital Platform Service providers, the restrictions on use of VPNs and the requirement that companies cooperate with investigations are made specifically applicable to such companies.
Under a new provision, the use of VPNs to browse the internet would be a criminal offense without specific permission from an as-yet-unspecified ministry authorized to deal with cybersecurity. Use of an unauthorized VPN would be punishable by up to three years in prison. Virtual Private Networks, which allow a user access to blocked content, have played a critical role in enabling internet users in Myanmar to access sites blocked by the military since the coup and to access the internet without disclosing their true location. VPNs are also routinely used by businesses and individuals to ensure privacy and security.
Another newly added provision would allow the authorities to order Digital Platform Service providers to block or remove content about which there is a “legitimate complaint” that the content “damages a person’s social standing and livelihood.” It would not require the information to be false or require a court order. In effect, the new provision would allow the authorities to order the removal of any content critical of individual military leaders or others linked to the junta, Human Rights Watch said.
The draft law also retains provisions from the earlier draft requiring online service providers to block or remove a wide range of information at the instruction of the authorities. Prohibited content includes “misinformation and disinformation,” information “causing hate, disrupting the unity, stabilization and peace,” and statements “against any existing law.” Anyone who posts “misinformation or disinformation” faces a minimum of one year and up to three years in prison if they are found to have done so “with the intent of causing public panic, loss of trust or social division.”
Since any criticism of the coup or the military could be deemed as intending to cause “loss of trust” in the junta or social division, the junta could use these provisions as sweeping censorship tools.
Both Digital Platform Service providers and telecommunications companies would be required to cooperate with the authorities investigating a broad range of offenses, including those under the cybersecurity law. Failure to do so would be punished by a range of penalties up to and including revocation of their license to operate in Myanmar. The scope of the “interventions” with which businesses must cooperate is unclear, leaving open the possibility that this law could be used to force telecommunications companies to facilitate the live interception of communications. Last May, Reuters reported that the military, through the civilian government then in power, had forced telecommunications and internet service providers to install live intercept capabilities in the months leading up to the coup.
The bill, as with the Telecommunications Act, would effectively dispense with the legal requirement for a prosecutor to bring digital evidence to court, providing that:
the evidence relating to prosecuting an offense filed under this law is not easy to bring to court, it can be presented with a report or other relevant documentation on how the evidence is kept without going to court. Such submission shall be deemed to have been presented as evidence before the court and may be administered by the relevant court in accordance with the law.
Any dispute over digital evidence would have to be submitted to the National Digital Laboratory created under the law, and the decisions of that body would be final. This provision violates defendants’ rights to a fair trial and due process, which require that any evidence be presented against them, Human Rights Watch said.
Myanmar does not have any privacy or data protection laws that regulate the collection, use, and storage of personal data to safeguard against abuse when data is collected and retained even for legitimate purposes. The current version of the cybersecurity bill retains problematic provisions further undermining data privacy.
Digital Platform Service Providers would be required to keep a broad range of user data, including the person’s name, internet protocol (IP) address, phone number, ID card number, physical address, “user record,” and “other information as directed” for up to three years. Providers with at least 100,000 users in Myanmar would have to ensure that devices storing that data are “maintained in accordance with data classification rules” – rules that the bill does not define. Those who fail to comply would face up to three years in prison. Given the broad applicability of the law, this provision also poses serious risks for those using online payment systems. Companies would have to provide this data to the authorities when requested “under any existing law.”
The bill gives the authorities wide scope to block services and order internet shutdowns. The ministry assigned to implement cybersecurity matters, with approval from the junta, would be able to temporarily prohibit any digital platform provision, temporarily control devices related to provision of digital platform services, and issue a final ban on any digital service platform provider in Myanmar.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in its General Comment No. 34 on the right to freedom of expression, states that governments may impose restrictions on free expression only if they are provided by law and are necessary for the protection of national security or other pressing public need. To be provided by law, a restriction must be formulated with sufficient precision to enable an individual to regulate their conduct accordingly. “Necessary” restrictions must also be proportionate, that is, balanced against the specific need for the restriction being put in place. Nor can these restrictions be overbroad.
Myanmar’s cybersecurity bill falls far short of these standards. It fails to require that “disinformation” or “misinformation” would have to cause real harm to a legitimate interest, or to clearly define the content that is prohibited. The resulting lack of clarity would severely chill the discussion of controversial subjects out of fear of prosecution, Human Rights Watch said.
Further, mandatory third-party data retention fails to meet international human rights standards on the right to privacy. Such measures are neither necessary nor proportionate, are particularly prone to abuse, and circumvent key procedural safeguards. They limit people’s ability to communicate anonymously and may increase the threat of hacking or other data breaches.
“The proposed cybersecurity law would consolidate the junta’s ability to conduct pervasive censorship and surveillance and hamper the operation of businesses in Myanmar,” Lakhdhir said. “Governments that do business with the junta should recognize the information risks if the bill as drafted becomes law.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Economic, social and cultural rights, Human Rights Watch Reports on Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Source/publisher:
Karenni State Consultative Council
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karenni (Kayah) - cultural, political, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
119.2 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"၁။ လွတ်လပ်သည့်ပြည်ထောင်များက လွတ်လပ်၍ စစ်မှန်သောတန်းတူညီမျှမှုရှိသည့် ပြည်ထောင်စုနိုင်ငံဟူသည့် ခေါင်းစဉ်အောက်တွင် ငြိမ်းချမ်းမျှတစွာ အတူယှဉ်တွဲနေထိုင်ကြရန် “ပင်လုံစာချုပ်” ချုပ်ဆိုလျက် တောင်တန်းမြေပြန့် တိုင်းရင်းသားများ၏ ပေါင်းစည်းမှုစိတ်ဓာတ်ကို ပြသနိုင်ခဲ့သည်မှာ ယနေ့ဆိုလျှင် (၇၅) နှစ်ပြည့် စိန်ရတုတိုင်ခဲ့ပြီဖြစ်ပါသည်။ တိုင်းရင်းသားပြည်သူ များ၏ သွေးစည်းညီညွတ်ခြင်းပြယုဂ်ဖြစ်သည့် ပင်လုံစာချုပ် ချုပ်ဆိုခဲ့ခြင်း (၇၅) နှစ် ပြည့်မြောက် သည့် သမိုင်းဝင်နေ့ထူးနေ့မြတ်မှစကာ ပင်လုံပဋိညာဉ်လမ်းစဉ်အပေါ် အခြေခံသည့် စစ်မှန်သော ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီ ပြည်ထောင်စုကို အမြန်ဆုံးတည်ဆောက်နိုင်ကြပါစေကြောင်း ဆုတောင်းအပ် ပါသည်။
၂။ ဗြိတိသျှတို့၏ သွေးခွဲအုပ်ချုပ်မှုကြောင့် တိုင်းရင်းသားပြည်သူများအကြား နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ သံသယများဖြင့် သွေးကွဲမှုများ ရှိခဲ့ကြသော်လည်း ဖက်ဆစ်ဂျပန်များအား တော်လှန်ကြရာတွင်မူ တိုင်းရင်းသားအားလုံးညီညွတ်စွာဖြင့် ဖက်ဆစ်ဂျပန်များကို တိုက်ထုတ်နိုင်ခဲ့ကြပါသည်။ ဖက်ဆစ် ဂျပန်များ၏ လက်အောက်မှလွတ်မြောက်ပြီးနောက် နိုင်ငံလွတ်လပ်ရေးကို ကြိုးပမ်းကြချိန်တွင် ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်းနှင့် ခေါင်းဆောင်များ၏ ကြိုးပမ်းမှု၊ ပြည်သူများ၏ စည်းလုံးမှုဖြင့် ၁၉၄၇ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇန်နဝါရီလ ၂၇ ရက်တွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကို တစ်နှစ်အတွင်း လွတ်လပ်ရေးပေးရန် သဘောတူညီချက်များ ပါဝင်သည့် အောင်ဆန်း-အက်တလီ စာချုပ်ကို ချုပ်ဆိုနိုင်ခဲ့သော်လည်း ဗြိတိသျှတို့က အတ္တလန္တိတ် စာချုပ်ဖြင့် လွတ်လပ်ရေးကို သီးခြားခွဲ၍ ပေးရန်၊ တောင်တန်းဒေသများကို လွတ်လပ်ရေးမပေးသေး ရန် သွေးခွဲခဲ့ကြသည်။
၃။ ၁၉၄၆ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇန်နဝါရီလတွင် ရွှေတိဂုံဘုရားကုန်းတော် အလယ်ပစ္စယံ၌ ကျင်းပခဲ့သည့် ဖဆပလညီလာခံတွင် တိုင်းရင်းသားအားလုံးလက်တွဲကာ လွတ်လပ်သည့် ပြည်ထောင်စုကို တည်ဆောက်ကြရန် ဆုံးဖြတ်ခဲ့ကြပြီး တိုင်းရင်းသားခေါင်းဆောင်ကြီးများက ၁၉၄၆ ခုနှစ် မတ်လ ၁ ရက် မှ ၁၂ ရက် အထိ ပင်လုံမြို့တွင် ပထမအကြိမ် ညီလာခံအဖြစ် စုပေါင်းစည်းဝေး ကျင်းပခဲ့ ကြပါသည်။
၄။ ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်းနှင့်အဖွဲ့ဝင်များသည် ၁၉၄၇ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၈ ရက်နေ့တွင် ပင်လုံမြို့၌ ကျင်းပသည့် ဒုတိယအကြိမ် ပင်လုံညီလာခံသို့ တက်ရောက်ခဲ့ပြီး ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁၀ ရက်နေ့ တွင် တိုင်းရင်းသားအားလုံး၏ စုစည်းညီညွတ်မှုဖြင့် လွတ်လပ်ရေးကို တောင်တန်းပြည်မ အတူတကွ ရယူကြရန်၊ ဒီမိုကရေစီရေး၊ အမျိုးသားတန်းတူရေးနှင့် ကိုယ်ပိုင်ပြဋ္ဌာန်းခွင့် အပြည့်အဝရှိသည့် စစ်မှန်သော ပြည်ထောင်စုကြီးတစ်ခု အတူတကွထူထောင်ကြရန် မျှော်မှန်းလျက် “ပင်လုံစာချုပ်” ကို ချုပ်ဆိုကာ ပြည်ထောင်စုတစ်ရပ်လုံး၏ စည်းလုံးမှုအင်အားကို ပြသလျက် ဖက်ဒရယ်အုတ်မြစ် ကို ချမှတ်ခဲ့ကြပါသည်။
၅။ သို့သော်လည်း ဗိုလ်နေဝင်းက ပင်လုံစိတ်ဓာတ်အခြေခံမူလမ်းစဉ်ကို ဆန့်ကျင်ဖောက်ဖျက် လျက် ၁၉၄၇ ခုနှစ် ဖွဲ့စည်းအုပ်ချုပ်ပုံဆိုင်ရာအခြေခံဥပဒေကို စိတ်ကြိုက်ရေးဆွဲပြဋ္ဌာန်းခဲ့သည့် အတွက် တိုင်းရင်းသားများ၏ မူလအခွင့်အရေးများအားလုံးဆုံးရှုံးကာ ပြည်တွင်းစစ် စတင်ခဲ့ရပါသည်။ ထိုမှစကာ ၁၉၇၄ ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေ၊ ၂၀၀၈ ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေစသဖြင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ စိတ်ကြိုက်ရေးဆွဲထားသည့် ဥပဒေများကို ပြဋ္ဌာန်းကာ တိုင်းရင်းသား ပြည်သူများအား သွေးခွဲလျက် လူမျိုးကြီးဝါဒကိုကိုင်စွဲကာ ဖိနှိပ်အုပ်ချုပ်ခဲ့ကြပါသည်။
၆။ ထိုကဲ့သို့ နိုင်ငံရေး၊ စစ်ရေးအရ ဖိနှိပ်အုပ်ချုပ်လျက်ရှိသည့် ကြားမှပင် ပြည်သူတို့က တခဲနက် ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်သည့် ပြည်သူ့အစိုးရတစ်ရပ် ပေါ်ထွက်လာကာ ဖက်ဒရယ် ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စုကြီး တည်ဆောက်ရန်အတွက် ပြည်ထောင်စုငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးညီလာခံ - ၂၁ ရာစု ပင်လုံအစည်းအဝေးများ ခေါ်ယူလျက် ဒီမိုကရေစီဖက်ဒရယ်ဆိုင်ရာ သဘောတူညီချက်များ ချမှတ်၍ ပြည်ထောင်စုသဘောတူစာချုပ် အစိတ်အပိုင်း ၃ ခုအထိ ချုပ်ဆိုနိုင်ခဲ့ပါသည်။
၇။ သို့သော်လည်း အတုအယောင်ဖက်ဒရယ်ကိုသာ ပေးလိုသော ကိုယ်ကျိုးစီးပွားကိုသာ ကြည့်သည့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တစ်စုက ၂၀၂၀ ခုနှစ်၊ နိုဝင်ဘာလ ၈ ရက်တွင် ကျင်းပခဲ့သည့် အထွေထွေ ရွေးကောက်ပွဲတွင် တိုင်းရင်းသား ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးက တခဲနက် ထောက်ခံရွေးချယ်ခဲ့သည့် ပြည်သူ့ အစိုးရအား မတရားဖမ်းဆီးလျက် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့တွင် နိုင်ငံတော် အာဏာကို လက်နက်အားကိုး၍ ဥပဒေမဲ့လုယူသွားကာ နိုင်ငံတဝှမ်းရှိ တိုင်းရင်းသားပြည်သူများအပေါ် လူ့ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာကို ညှိုးနွမ်းစေသည့် နည်းလမ်းများဖြင့် ဖမ်းဆီးသတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း၊ မြို့၊ ရွာများအား မီးရှို့ခြင်း၊ လေကြောင်းမှ ဗုံးကြဲခြင်း၊ ပြည်သူပိုင်ပစ္စည်းများအား မတရားလုယူခြင်း၊ ဖျက်ဆီးခြင်း အစရှိသည့် ပြစ်မှုများအား ပြောင်ပြောင်တင်းတင်း ကျူးလွန်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။
၈။ အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို မြန်မာ့မြေပေါ်မှ အပြီးတိုင် ပပျောက်စေရန် ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် စစ်အာဏာရှင် ဆန့်ကျင်ရေးမှ သန္ဓေတည်ခဲ့သည့် တော်လှန်ရေးစိတ်ဓာတ်များဖြင့် စုစည်း ညီညွတ် စွာ တိုက်ထုတ်ကြရမည်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ လက်နက်အင်အား အဆမတန်သာလွန်သည့် မင်းအောင်လှိုင် ခေါင်းဆောင်သည့် စစ်တပ်ကို တစ်နှစ်ကြာသည်အထိ အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်မပေးဘဲ ဆုံးရှုံးမှုများ များစွာ ရှိနေသည့်တိုင် ပြည်တွင်းပြည်ပမှ တိုင်းရင်းသား ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးက ကျရာကဏ္ဍအသီးသီးမှ အားသွန်ခွန်စိုက် တော်လှန်နေကြဆဲ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၂၀၂၁ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးတွင် ဖက်ဒရယ် ဒီမိုကရေစီနိုင်ငံတော်ကြီးအတွက် အသက်ပေးလှူသွားခဲ့ကြသော သူရဲကောင်းများအား ဝမ်းနည်းစွာ အလေးပြုပါကြောင်း ဤသဝဏ်လွှာမှတဆင့် အလေးအနက် မှတ်တမ်းတင်အပ်ပါသည်။
၉။ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီအနေဖြင့်လည်း ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေ (၂၀၀၈ ခုနှစ်) ကိုအပြီးတိုင်ဖျက်သိမ်းကာ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပဋိညာဉ်ကို ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေငြာခဲ့ပြီး ဖြစ်၍ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အတိုင်ပင်ခံကောင်စီက ပထမအကြိမ် ပြည်သူ့ညီလာခံ ခေါ်ယူကာ အဆိုပါဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပဋိညာဉ်ကို အတည်ပြုခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အပြီးတိုင် ပပျောက်ကာ တန်းတူရေးနှင့် ကိုယ်ပိုင်ပြဋ္ဌာန်းခွင့်တို့ကို အာမခံသော ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီ ပြည်ထောင်စုတစ်ရပ် ပေါ်ပေါက်လာသည်အထိ ပြည်သူလူထုက လွှဲအပ်ထားသည့် အခွင့်အာဏာကို အလေးအနက်ပြုလျက် ထမ်းဆောင်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ပါကြောင်း ပင်လုံစိတ်ဓာတ်ဖြင့် ကတိသစ္စာပြုလျက် ပင်လုံစာချုပ်ချုပ်ဆိုခြင်း (၇၅) နှစ်မြောက်နေ့ သဝဏ်လွှာအား ပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Political History
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
522.96 KB
more
Sub-title:
Kyi says she begged soldiers to release her son, but they refused. Footage of her mourning beside his body has been viewed widely, just one of many similar stories
Description:
"Kyi kneels on the ground, pleading for her son to wake up. Crouched beside a riverbank, she rocks back and forth, shaken with grief. Her son’s body, which has washed ashore, is motionless in the shallow water. One of his wrists is tied with rope. “My boy, I know it would be nice if you respond to me,” she cries.
It’s a video that has been seen widely within Myanmar – one Facebook video has been viewed more than a million times – but is also a scene that is tragically common. Videos and evidence of military killings are continually shared online – adding to the vast files of evidence being collected by rights groups, but also to the daily trauma that people are faced with.
Kyi’s son, Sin Pauk, was 28, a farmer and a caring son. “He was the only child and a very clever son to me,” Kyi tells the Guardian. He didn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs, she says, and was very religious.
His death occurred after the army entered Kinsanpya village in Kanni, in the Sagaing region of western Myanmar on 30 January, forcing the villagers to flee. He had gone to feed his ducks and was one of seven people unable to get away in time, all of whom were arrested.
Locals told Kyi that detainees were being kept on a boat by soldiers stationed inside the village that night. Kyi knew her son was among those being held. Despite the risk to her safety, she went back to the village to plead for his release.
It is not possible for the Guardian to independently verify the accounts given.
Kyi says she begged the soldiers, but they refused to let Sin Pauk go. She was not allowed to enter the boat to see him.
The body of Sin Pauk was eventually found, about 5km (three miles) away, in the river near Ta On village. Two other villagers, including 60-year-old San Aung, were found separately at a riverbank near Kinsanpya village on 3 February. The rest remain missing.
When her son’s body was found, he was wearing different clothes, Kyi said. His throat had been cut. “I wish they had the same karma as my son.”
“I waited for him since he always comes home to me, whatever it takes,” says Kyi. “I know he won’t leave me.”
Sin Pauk is one of more than 1,500 killed by the military since the coup last year.
Last week, as the country marked the one-year anniversary of the military’s seizure of power, the violence continued unabated. In the Sagaing region alone, the military launched an airstrike on a graduation ceremony for recruits to an anti-junta armed group, killing civilians, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. Hundreds of homes have also reportedly been burned.
The pace of atrocities perpetrated by the military, the dire security situation and unreliable communications pose major challenges for rights groups and journalists who try to document such events. Often, little is known about those who have been killed..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"1. The National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar welcomes and thanks those international aid agencies, including the agencies of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, who are providing support to the people of Myanmar, particularly in the areas of public health and humanitarian assistance for prevention and treatment of COVID – 19 and major diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
2. The combination of the illegal coup conducted by the military on 1 February 2021 and the impact of COVID-19 has caused a serious humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. The crisis is particularly acute amongst the poor and vulnerable population, including women, children, and internally displaced persons. Threat of COVID-19 fourth wave with highly transmissible Omicron variant is looming over the horizon. The people of Myanmar are in desperate need of a full range of public health and humanitarian services.
3. Since the coup d'état the junta has waged a campaign of terror against the people of Myanmar, committing crimes against humanity through more than 1,500 extra-judicial executions, 12,000 unlawful detentions, wide-spread use of torture and clearance operations of whole communities involving mass murder, sexual violence, robbery and arson attacks.
4. The military, as part of its strategy, has targeted healthcare workers through extra-judicial execution, deaths in custody, enforced disappearances and unlawful detention. Many of these health workers had done no more than to provide basic first aid to protestors injured by the security forces or medical assistance to people with COVID who were supporters of the protest movement. The military has also continuously devised various obstacles to deter the delivery of essential health care and humanitarian assistance including medicines and medical supplies intended for Myanmar people, particularly those suffering in the conflict affected areas.
5. Therefore, we would like to sincerely urge the international community, including the United Nations and non-governmental organizations, to work together with us, the National Unity Government, to develop and implement more effective strategies, including supporting cross-border aid, to provide urgent and much-needed health and humanitarian aid for the people of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
42.09 KB 105.19 KB
more
Description:
"The People of Myanmar arc always grateful for the support from Norway for democracy,
human rights and peace in Myanmar for over three decades. Norway was among the first
countries to strongly condemn the 1 February 2021 military coup attempt. Norway also
announced freezing o f its bilateral aid to Myanmar soon after the coup. We also admire that
"good governance, respect for human rights, alleviate suffering and protect human dignity in
humanitarian crises" are at the forefront o f Norwegian Development Policy.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since Senior General Min Aung Hlaing' s February 1st military
coup attempt against Myanmar' s elected legitimate government. The political crisis and the
junta ' s brutal terror campaign, including indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians, have led
to a year of turmoil and constant fear for the people o f Myanmar. The illegitimate coup
attempt created not only widespread human rights abuses but also over 400,000 civilians
became the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Following the 1 February 2021 illegitimate and unconstitutional attempted coup d 'etat,
members o f the Union Parliament elected in the 2020 general elections swore their oaths of
office. On 5 February, an emergency session o f parliament with 63% attendance formed the
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). On 16 April 2021, the CRPH
announced the formation o f the National Unity Government (NUG). This announcement
maintained the continuity of U Win Myint as President and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as State
Counselor.
We hold the values o f life, freedom, individual rights, and the rule o f law at the core o f our
fight for democracy. Like your countrymen during times o f hardship and trial - when these
values were threatened - who rose to the challenge to protect freedom - we are lighting for
ours.
The NUG values Norway' s ethical business investments in Myanmar, specifically, with
Telenor. It has operated in Myanmar since 2014 with 18.3 million loyal customers. Telenor
has announced in July 2021 selling its Myanmar unit to Lebanese investment firm M1 Group,
prompting an outcry from the public who have been relying on its services for
communications and trusting the commitment o f protecting data security, personal
information and human rights.
The NUG values Norway' s ethical business investments in Myanmar, specifically, with
Telenor. It has operated in Myanmar since 2014 with 18.3 million loyal customers. Telenor
has announced in July 2021 selling its Myanmar unit to Lebanese investment firm M1 Group,
prompting an outcry from the public who have been relying on its services for
communications and trusting the commitment o f protecting data security, personal
information and human rights.
The M1 Group, a Lebanon-based holding company' s business record is marred by corruption
and a long history o f cozying up to dictators, with a disregard for the right to privacy and
freedom o f expression, in stark contrast to Norwegian values and Telenor' s claim to protect
human rights.
According to recent media reports, Tclenor is planning to sell Tclenor Myanmar to
Investcom, a military linked business " Shwe Bayin Phyu " is the majority shareholder of
Investcom, and remaining shares are owned by M1 Team. Managing Director o f Shwe Bayin
Phyu Group is a major shareholder in the EU-sanctioned Forest Joint Venture Corporation.
The people of Myanmar and 18.3 million customers of Tclenor Myanmar trusted Tclenor as
an ethically responsible business entity that values its customers’ data security and their
safety.
In our cabinct meeting, the National Unity Government o f Myanmar decided that the sale o f
Tclenor Group is not acceptable and should not be approved. Telecom data contains
sensitive data and a sale would constitute a risk to the security and lives o f 18.3 million
Telenor’s faithful customers in Myanmar.
We. the National Unity Government o f Myanmar, therefore, kindly ask the Royal Norwegian
government to use your majority position in Telenor and place a request to ignore any
decisions made by the illegitimate military regime, and reverse or defer the decision o f
selling its Myanmar unit in order to stop pushing over 18 million customers into the hands o f
the military regime.
We would like to request the Norwegian Government to help respect the decision o f the
legitimate government of Myanmar, the NUG and the will o f the Myanmar people..."
Source/publisher:
Acting President Duwa Lashi La
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
102.1 KB 300.26 KB
more
Description:
"It has been over a year since Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup from the democratically-elected government, rejecting the result of the 2020 general election in which the National League for Democracy Party won an overwhelming majority.
The coup prompted widespread protests across the country, and civil servants from various sectors including health and education came out on strike to join the wider Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), almost bringing the administrative mechanism of the military regime to a halt.
In response, the junta has detained and dismissed striking government employees, as well as issuing arrest warrants for some of them, forcing many to go into hiding.
Some have returned to work due to pressure from the regime, but many civil servants are still on strike in defiance of military rule. Just over one year since the February 1 coup, some of the CDM strikers talked to The Irrawaddy about why they continue to defy the military regime.
Professor Dr. Khin Maung Lwin
Rector, Mandalay University of Medicine
It has been one year since the military regime unlawfully took control of Myanmar. We joined the CDM because we don’t want to be enslaved by the military dictatorship, and because we don’t like that it has unlawfully taken control of the country with weapons. We are intellectuals and we don’t want to be lowly academics who have to kneel down before military dictators. So we joined the CDM.
I promise that I will bravely continue to take part in the CDM until the military dictatorship is rooted out and a genuine federal democratic country is established.
Daw Yati Ohn
Lecturer, Government Technical Institute (Kale Township)
I am proud of myself for joining the CDM. No matter what difficulties lie ahead of me, I will never regret my choice. I am currently working for a mobile medical team which provides healthcare for resistance fighters and members of ethnic armed organizations at the frontline. The team also provides healthcare for civilians displaced by the fighting.
As I am a teacher, I have conducted two short term vocational training courses as part of the interim education program with the support of the Vocational Education Committee. And I am planning to conduct more courses in the future.
Ko Bo Bo
Striking police second lieutenant who now serves in the parallel Karenni (Kayah) State Police
I don’t regret joining the CDM. There are many policemen that have joined the CDM in Karenni (Kayah State). I was a little depressed in the early days after I joined the CDM. But I haven’t felt down since I joined the revolution. I am doing my fair share with the hope that the revolution will succeed.
I am not very satisfied with the progress of the revolution in the country as a whole. But I am very satisfied with the resistance in Karenni. People have joined the resistance and I am grateful to them. I respect the resistance groups that are fighting the regime. They are making more sacrifices than us. I would like to urge the people to help the resistance movement where they can until it succeeds.
Lin Htet Aung
Striking captain from the Myanmar military
People have been repulsed by the military since it seized power. I stand by the people and I am doing what I can to fight back the regime. We have fought back with the strength of the people, and we have achieved certain progress in a short time.
It was the hardest time for me to desert the military. There were many difficulties when I deserted the military for the people. But I don’t regret it. I even take pride in myself that I have deserted the military regime. No matter how tough it will be, we won’t give up.
As more and more people have joined the resistance day by day, the military regime is in chaos. We will fight until the dictatorship is eliminated. I totally believe that the revolution will be successful with the strength of the people. Only when the dictatorship is wiped out will we be able to live our future freely. So we will fight until the end.
Striking employee
Locomotive workshop, Myanma Railways
We have joined the CDM with the determination to root out the military dictatorship. Many striking civil servants are struggling now. Some private companies do hire people, but they don’t want to recruit striking civil servants because of threats from the military regime. So we can’t find jobs no matter what we apply for.
But we decided to continue fighting. We don’t want to return to work and to be labelled as non-CDM. I would like to urge my fellow striking government employees to keep going. The revolution must succeed. But I don’t want to blame those who have returned to work because of financial hardship. I am grateful to them that they have also done what they can. But I want to ask them not to betray us.
Striking doctor from Yangon
Speaking of the impact of the CDM, the military regime can’t find substitutes for striking technicians at schools and hospitals. Some hospitals have re-opened, but they are not operational. Because those who have returned to work [after initially joining the CDM] are lazy and lackadaisical workers. They don’t have any enthusiasm.
The CDM has had a noticeable impact on the military regime over the past year. It would have had more but for the junta’s financial resources. The fact that not only striking government employees but also the people are defying their orders has also had a significant impact on the regime. The fact that the regime is in chaos and losing face on the international stage shows that the CDM has had an impact.
We don’t know how long the revolution will take. But the remaining CDM strikers have decided not to return to work. If we return to work after enduring for more than one year, we will be scorned not only by our peers who returned to work earlier than us, but also by the strikers who are sticking with the CDM. So it is very unlikely that we will return to work..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, General Strike, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"In the year since the Burma military attempted to launch a coup, it has critically harmed millions of lives, the national economy, rule of law, natural resources, and governance.
Armed clashes and attacks on civilians rose by 762%. Just in January 2022, there were more of these incidents than during the entire year preceding the attempted coup.
ALTSEAN-Burma has tracked the most important updates during this time in its online thematic Coup Trackers, and summarized these updates by publishing a Coup Watch briefer each month. This special edition of the Coup Watch draws on these tools to provide a one-year overview..."
Source/publisher:
ALTSEAN-BURMA, Burma Human Rights Network, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Initiatives for International Dialogue, International Federation for Human Rights, Progressive Voice, US Campaign for Burma and Women Peace Network
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Anti-coup protesters, Political History
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
1.26 MB (Original version), 606.6 KB (Reduce version) - 10 pages
more
Description:
"၁။ ဖက်ဒရယ်ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင်များကောင်စီ (Federal Health Professional Council – FHPC) ကို တော်လှန်ရေးကာလဖြစ်သည့် ကြားကာလနှင့် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းရေးကာလတွင် ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင် လုပ်သားအင်အားစုများအားလုံး၏ အကျိုးစီးပွားကို တာဝန်ယူမှု၊ တာဝန်ခံမှုအပြည့်ဖြင့် ဖော်ဆောင်ပေးရန် တိုင်းရင်းသားကျန်းမာရေးအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ ဆေး ပညာရှင်များ၊ ပညာရပ်ဆိုင်ရာ အဖွဲ့အစည်းအသီးသီးမှ ကိုယ်စားပြုသူများဖြင့် (၁-၁၂-၂၀၂၁) ရက်နေ့တွင် ဖွဲ့စည်းခဲ့ပါသည်။
၂။ ဖက်ဒရယ်ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင်များကောင်စီအနေဖြင့် နိုင်ငံတကာနှင့် ပြည်သူလူထုတစ်ရပ် လုံးက အသိအမှတ်ပြုခြင်း မရှိသော အာဏာသိမ်း နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ (State Administration Council – SAC) က တရားမဝင် ဖွင့်လှစ်သင်ကြားလျက်ရှိသည့် ဆေးနှင့် ဆေးနှီးနွှယ်တက္ကသိုလ်များ၊ သူနာပြုနှင့်သားဖွားသင်တန်းကျောင်းများကို အသိအမှတ်ပြုမည် မဟုတ်ဘဲ ၄င်းတို့ကပြုလုပ်သော အရည်အချင်းဆန်းစစ်မှုစာမေးပွဲများ၊ အတန်းတင်စာမေးပွဲများနှင့် ဘွဲ့လက်မှတ်များကိုလည်း လက်ခံအသိအမှတ်ပြုမည် မဟုတ်ပါ။
၃။ ဖက်ဒရယ်ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင်များကောင်စီသည် အာဏာသိမ်း နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေး ကောင်စီ (SAC) အလိုကျ ဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိသော ကျန်းမာရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာနလက်အောက်ရှိ Non CDM ဝန်ထမ်းများနှင့် ဆရာ၊ ဆရာမများကို ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပရှိ တက္ကသိုလ်များတွင် ဝင်ခွင့်လျှောက်ထားခြင်း၊ အလုပ်အကိုင်များ လျှောက်ထားခြင်းများ မပြုလုပ်နိုင်ရန် နိုင်ငံတကာ သံရုံးများနှင့် သက်ဆိုင်ရာ ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပတက္ကသိုလ်များသို့ အမည်ပျက်စာရင်းများ ဆက်လက်ပေးပို့လုပ်ဆောင်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည်။
၄။ ဖက်ဒရယ်ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင်များကောင်စီသည် ကြားကာလနှင့် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းရေး ကာလများတွင် ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားအင်အားစုများ၏ နစ်နာမှုများကို ကြားနာစစ်ဆေးပြီး ခုခံကာကွယ်ပေးရန်၊ ကျင့်ဝတ်သိက္ခာများ လိုက်နာထိန်းသိမ်းရန် ပျက်ကွက်မှုများနှင့် စပ်လျဉ်း၍ ပြုပြင်တည့်မတ်ပေးရန်နှင့် သင့်တင့်လျောက်ပတ်သည့် အရေးယူမှုများ ဆောင်ရွက်ရန် တာဝန်ရှိသည့်အလျောက် ပြည်သူ့ဘက်တွင် မရပ်တည်ဘဲ၊ တိုင်းရင်းသား ပြည်သူများအပေါ်တွင် အကြမ်းဖက်လုပ်ရပ်များ ဆက်တိုက်ကျူးလွန်နေသည့် အာဏာသိမ်း နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ (SAC) ၏ အလိုကျဆောင်ရွက်နေသော ကျန်းမာရေး ဝန်ကြီးဌာနလက်အောက်ရှိ Non CDM ဝန်ထမ်းများနှင့် ဆရာ၊ ဆရာမများကို ပြင်းထန်စွာ အရေးယူမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Federal Health Professional Council
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
321.58 KB
more
Description:
"၁။ ဖက်ဒရယ်ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင်များကောင်စီ (Federal Health Professional Council – FHPC) ကို တော်လှန်ရေးကာလဖြစ်သည့် ကြားကာလနှင့် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းရေးကာလတွင် ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင် လုပ်သားအင်အားစုများအားလုံး၏ အကျိုးစီးပွားကို တာဝန်ယူမှု၊ တာဝန်ခံမှုအပြည့်ဖြင့် ဖော်ဆောင်ပေးရန် တိုင်းရင်းသားကျန်းမာရေးအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ ဆေးပညာရှင်များ၊ ပညာရပ်ဆိုင်ရာ အဖွဲ့အစည်းအသီးသီးမှ ကိုယ်စားပြုသူများဖြင့် (၁-၁၂-၂၀၂၁) ရက်နေ့တွင် ဖွဲ့စည်းခဲ့ပါသည်။
၂။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆေးကောင်စီ (Myanmar Medical Council - MMC) သည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆေးကောင်စီ ဥပဒေ (၂၀၁၅ ခုနှစ်)၊ အခန်း (၂)၊ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်များတွင် ပြဋ္ဌာန်းထားသည့် “အရည်အသွေး ပြည့်ဝ၍ ထိရောက်မှုနှင့် လုံခြုံမှုရှိသော ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုကို နိုင်ငံအတွင်း မှီတင်းနေထိုင်ကြသူအားလုံး ခံစားခွင့်ရရှိစေရန်၊ ဆရာဝန်များ၏ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာကို ထိန်းသိမ်းမြှင့်တင်နိုင်စေရန်၊ ကောင်းမွန်သော ဆေးကုသမှုပတ်ဝန်းကျင် ဖြစ်ထွန်းစေရန်’’ အစရှိသည့် ရည်ရွယ်ချက်များကို ဖော်ဆောင်နိုင်ခြင်း မရှိသည့်အပြင် ဆရာဝန်များအပါအဝင် ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများနှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုလုပ်ငန်းများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်ဖိနှိပ်နေသည့် အာဏာသိမ်း နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ (State Administration Council – SAC) ၏ လက်ကိုင်တုတ်အဖြစ် ပြောင်ပြောင်တင်းတင်း ရပ်တည်ဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိသည်ကို တွေ့ရှိရသည်။
၃။ သို့ဖြစ်ပါ၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆေးကောင်စီ (MMC) သည် ကောင်စီ၏ တာဝန်နှင့် လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်များကို အလွဲသုံးစားပြုပြီး ဆရာဝန်များနှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးဝန်ထမ်းများအပေါ် အာဏာသိမ်း နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ (SAC) အလိုကျ ဖိနှိပ်ဆောင်ရွက်နေမှုများကို ဖက်ဒရယ်ကျန်းမာရေးပညာရှင်များကောင်စီအနေဖြင့် ပြင်းထန်စွာကန့်ကွက်ရှုတ်ချပြီး အဆိုပါဖိနှိပ်မှုများကို ဆက်လက်ကျူးလွန်ဆောင်ရွက်နေမည်ဆိုပါက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆေးကောင်စီ (MMC) ၏ ဥက္ကဋ္ဌနှင့် အလုပ်အမှုဆောင်အဖွဲ့ဝင်များကို ပြင်းထန်စွာ အရေးယူသွားမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း အသိပေးထုတ်ပြန်လိုက်သည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Federal Health Professional Council
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Political History, Public Health, Health, right to: standards and mechanisms
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
287.94 KB
more
Sub-title:
With the military increasing its use of informants, rappers and artists must keep their identities secret, even from one another
Description:
"Early one morning last February, a group of young people gathered on a street corner in Myanmar armed with brushes and buckets of paint. In the faint light of dawn, they quickly completed their task and dispersed.
“I felt excited and nervous. I was scared too, because I didn’t want to get caught,” says Tu Tu, a pseudonym for the group’s organiser.
Hours later, the streets were teeming with people demanding that the military, which had seized power on 1 February, stand down. Media reports from that day show people marching and drone photographs of huge resistance slogans painted on the road. Tu Tu’s group had succeeded in its mission.
"I believe that everyone should be involved in this revolution, but holding guns is not enough. We can only win this by participating in every way Black Art
It was one of many ways that the arts have invigorated the pro-democracy movement. During the first weeks after the coup, as protest chants and revolutionary songs reverberated across the country, artists energised the crowds with dance and music, and covered walls and streets with murals and graffiti.
Within weeks, however, the sound of gunfire and the screams of protesters filled the air while blood stained the streets. One year on, the military has killed about 1,500 people and arrested more than 11,000 – 8,700 of whom remain behind bars.
These violent crackdowns have made it too dangerous to make art in public. But some artists continue to work underground.
“Art is as powerful as a weapon,” says Tu Tu. “When we fire a gun, one bullet can only hit one enemy, but if we can illustrate something clearly through art … we can spread our message much faster.”
Q&A
What is the Reporting Myanmar series?
Hide
In February 2021, Myanmar's progress towards democracy was brutally stalled when the military seized power and took control of the country.
In the year since, the country has been plunged into violence, poverty and mass displacement as the military attempts to crush widespread resistance to its rule.
Internet blackouts, arbitrary arrests, a ruthless curtailing of freedom of speech and escalating military attacks on civilian areas have silenced the voices of people from Myanmar.
For this special series, the Guardian’s Rights and freedom project has partnered with a diverse group of journalists from Myanmar, many working in secret, to bring their reporting on life under military rule to a global audience.
Journalists in Myanmar are working in dangerous and difficult circumstances, as the military government attacks the free press and shuts down local media outlets. Many reporters still inside the country fear arrest, with others forced to leave their homes and go into hiding in areas increasingly under attack from military forces.
All the reporting in this series will be carried out by journalists from Myanmar, with support from the editors on the Rights and freedom project.
These are the stories that journalists from Myanmar want to tell about what is happening to their country at this critical moment.
After protesting became a life-threatening endeavour, few of Tu Tu’s friends were willing to keep painting words on the ground. They went out a few more times, but finally had to stop. “My friends were worried, so they didn’t participate any more. I understood, but I wanted to do so many things,” says Tu Tu, who requested the Guardian use pseudonyms for them and anonymise their gender and location.
Determined to keep resisting, Tu Tu began making illustrations instead, and took on the artist’s name Black Art. “I don’t need much to make illustrations; I can even do it with just a pen or pencil. I can express anything based on my ideas,” they say.
They have since made dozens of illustrations highlighting the crisis in Myanmar. Broken Heart shows a girl holding a pink balloon and facing a row of police; in a second image, a police officer guns her down and her balloon floats into the air. Coup Makes Orphan shows a child crying in front of a soldier shooting a protester in the head.
Black Art also makes illustrations based on photographs taken across the country. The Last Kiss shows a boy at his father’s funeral, while Screaming from Myanmar has a crying girl clutching her dead father’s photograph. Spring Revolution and The Last Bow depict parents grieving over their children.
Two illustrations, Heroes Never Die and They are Free Now, are tributes to five youths who jumped from the roof of a building in August to avoid being arrested by military forces; two of them died.
“I even cried when I drew some illustrations,” says Black Art. “My illustrations are based on real stories and they are sad stories.”
Since May, armed resistance has grown across the country and the military has responded with indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Black Art’s more recent illustrations highlight the military’s use of airstrikes and arson attacks on towns and villages.
The artist told the Guardian that they see art as a way to document what is happening in Myanmar. “I want art to be left as a form of history which can be seen by the next generation, to prevent something like this from happening again,” they say.
Although many of their friends have decided to take up arms against the military, Black Art remains committed to fighting through art. “I believe that everyone should be involved in this revolution, but holding guns is not enough,” they say. “We can only win this by participating in every way, and I am participating in mine with the belief that we will win.”
Aye Win, a hip-hop artist in Yangon, uses music to rebel. During the protests in February, he and a group of friends held two freestyle rap events under the name Rap Against Junta before they had to go underground. “When [the military] started the crackdowns, we couldn’t meet any more,” says Aye Win. “We all moved to the internet and used different applications to connect.”
In the following months, some of Aye Win’s friends joined the armed resistance against the coup, and others left the country, but Aye Win took on the role of Rap Against Junta’s director and persevered as an artist.
On 30 June, the group released Dictator Must Die, a track featuring artists from Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and Myanmar. After that, they released a full album on 21 October. Called Dick Council – a play on Sitt Council, the Burmese name for the junta – it included 12 tracks by local artists. It was followed by Blood on 7 January, which features singers from eight different ethnic backgrounds rapping in their own languages.
Throughout this entire process, Rap Against Junta has not held a single in-person meeting. With the military increasing its use of informants to break down the resistance movement, many of the contributing artists have kept their identities secret even from one another.
“Most of the other rappers don’t know who I am and I also don’t know who they are,” says Aye Win, who connected with contributing artists through an open submission process on social media.
The need to maintain anonymity, however, has made it difficult to identify people to support the project. “When we approach people for help using a fake identity, they don’t really trust us and they always put aside the proposals to collaborate,” he says.
Rap Against Junta also had to adapt creatively when promoting their music. In their music videos, their faces are masked or shown in silhouette, while Aye Win has only allowed himself to be photographed behind a full mask or interviewed using voice-distorting technology.
As the country’s economic crisis worsens, Aye Win also says it is becoming harder to find people who can give time to Rap Against Junta because they need to earn an income. “People are trying to make money and put food on the table, so they cannot commit like before,” he says.
Aye Win is also facing pressure from his family. “My parents are discussing my future plans. I have just been stuck [at home] and doing nothing for one year. I am doing something, but it is not an established way of making a living for them,” he says. “[They said] I should go somewhere else and survive while I am still young; the future is nowhere to be found here for me.”
But Aye Win sees making protest art as a serious mission. “It is a kind of revolutionary work, and we need to finish by deadlines – we have to pay attention to every detail,” he says..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Questions about Yokogawa Bridge Corp.’s Ties Since Coup Go Unanswered
Description:
"(Tokyo) – Japan-based Yokogawa Bridge Corp. should end its partnership with a Myanmar military-owned conglomerate, Human Rights Watch said today. In a February 2, 2022, response to a Human Rights Watch letter, Yokogawa Bridge Corp. declined to disclose the status of its partnership with the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), saying it did not comment on specific business deals.
On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military overthrew the government and detained the democratically elected civilian leaders. Since then, Myanmar’s security forces have killed more than 1,500 people, including about 100 children, and detained over 10,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Foreign companies should end ties with Myanmar’s military enterprises.
“If Yokogawa Bridge Corp. hasn’t done so already, it should immediately end its partnership with MEC without benefitting Myanmar’s military,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch. “Otherwise, it will be helping to fund military atrocities and risking its own reputation.”
In March 2014, Yokogawa Bridge Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese Yokogawa Bridge Holdings Corp., signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MEC, according to a 2015 earnings document. MEC is owned by Myanmar’s Defense Ministry, controlled by the Quartermaster General’s Office, and is a “direct source of revenue” for Myanmar’s abusive military. According to the document, Yokogawa Bridge aims to “build a relationship through technical cooperation,” while “cultivating” MEC into an “amicable steel fabricator.”
“Technological transfer through on-the-job training” for MEC by Yokogawa Bridge Corp. began in September 2014, including “measures to increase productivity and quality” and “technical guidance of construction engineering,” according to the document. Yokogawa Bridge Corp. also created an office in Yangon in July 2015, which the company says acts as a base for “information gathering and technological transfer.”
In a Yokogawa Bridge Holdings Corp. document titled “Fifth mid-term business plan 2020 – March 2022,” the parent company said it will “strengthen” its relationship with MEC and seek “further development and expansion.”
Yokogawa Bridge Corp.’s ties to MEC came under scrutiny after a local media outlet, Myanmar Now, reported in March 2021 that a MEC-owned steel mill in Hmawbi, Yangon, was supplying steel for two-thirds of the Japanese government-backed Bago River Bridge Construction project. In April 2021, Yokogawa Bridge Holdings Corp. stated that construction of the bridge has been halted due to the “situation on the ground,” and that it would “conduct business that respects human rights.”
The 2015 earnings document detailing the nature of the MoU between Yokogawa Bridge Corp. and MEC was available for public viewing as of January 25, 2021. However, by May 12, 2021, documents dated before 2019, including the 2015 earnings document, had been removed. As of February 3, 2022, the documents remain unavailable on the company website.
MEC is owned by the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, generating vast revenue through businesses in sectors including manufacturing, mining, and telecommunications, according to a 2019 report by a United Nations-backed Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The fact-finding mission concluded that “any foreign business activity” involving Myanmar’s military and its conglomerates including MEC pose “a high risk of contributing to or being linked to, violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law.” It added that “at a minimum, these foreign companies are contributing to supporting the Tatmadaw’s financial capacity.”
The fact-finding mission advocated the “financial isolation” of the military to deter violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and Canada have sanctioned MEC and the other military conglomerate, Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), for their role in generating significant revenues that help fund the military’s abuses and enshrine its impunity.
On May 12, 2021, the United Nations Working Group on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises stated that “Businesses must uphold their human rights responsibilities and put pressure on the military junta to halt grave human rights violations.” Specifically, the Working Group urged companies to “act in line with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to avoid contributing to human rights violations, or becoming complicit in crimes if they continue to operate in Myanmar.”
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights states that companies should “avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and address such impacts when they occur,” and “seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts.” Meaningful engagement, including communicating to stakeholders the steps a company has taken to mitigate risks and remedy harm already caused, are distinct responsibilities under these principles.
“Yokogawa Bridge Corp. and its parent company should be transparent about any existing business relationships with MEC and the steps they are initiating to end collaboration,” Kasai said. “Transparency and regular stakeholder engagement are important aspects of a company’s human rights due diligence responsibilities.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Japan-Burma relations, Human Rights Watch Reports on Burma/Myanmar
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Formerly an anti-war poet, Maung Saungkha has endured a harsh training regime to prepare for armed struggle against Myanmar’s military junta
Description:
"Days after the military coup in February 2021, demonstrations erupted across Myanmar. The military responded by shooting unarmed protesters with live rounds. People were beaten, arbitrarily detained and imprisoned.
On the frontlines of protests in Yangon in February and early March, I witnessed soldiers and police firing live rounds into crowds, and on 8 March, I was one of hundreds of protesters who were barricaded overnight on Kyun Taw Road in Yangon’s Sanchaung township, where soldiers and police went from house to house searching for people to arrest.
Witnessing the military’s atrocities and campaign of terror from the frontline, I realised that the only way to fight back was through armed revolution.
I am one of thousands of activists and young people from cities and towns across Myanmar to take up arms. Some joined existing armed groups – known as ethnic armed organisations – in the country’s border areas, where minorities have been fighting for self-determination for decades; others, like me, formed new revolutionary groups.
In the first week of March, I travelled to an area of Myanmar’s borderlands and joined a group of 17 people in establishing the Bamar People’s Liberation Army on 17 April.
As a poet and human rights activist, my revolutionary journey has been very tough. We must overcome our ego, homesickness and intellectual pride. Our trainers always told us that we must fight a revolution within ourselves before we can fight a revolution against others.
Q&A
What is the Reporting Myanmar series?
During the three months of training, we ran drills and studied the battlefield and governance systems without rest from 4am to 10pm. To train our minds and bodies to become stronger, we were only allowed two meals a day, limited to five minutes, and we sometimes went days without eating. Outside food was also prohibited, and we were never able to fill our stomachs.
“I spent more than six months in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison. Recalling that time is like a nightmare
I have endured days under the scorching sun without a sip of water; I have also stood to attention under heavy rain to the sound of harsh commands that felt like hot liquid iron being poured into my ears, and have experienced the feeling that blows with a cane could fall on my hips at any time.
By the end of the training, my potbelly had disappeared and I had turned to skin and bones. I used to get tired just climbing three floors of stairs in my city apartment building; now, I am running up and down hilly jungle terrain. My mindset had also hardened. I had lived my entire life as an anti-war poet. But the former peacemaker who once could not stand even the sound of gunfire is now hungry for war. I believe we have no other choice.
This month, in an alliance with an ethnic armed organisation, we began active combat with the military, which is continuing.
My story as an activist goes back to around 2012. It was the early years of the country’s political transition, and I was elected as a representative under Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) for a youth working group in Yangon.
In 2015, while campaigning for the NLD for November’s general elections, I was jailed under charges of defamation for writing a satirical poem about having a tattoo of the president, Thein Sein, on my penis. I spent more than six months in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison. Recalling that time is like a nightmare. I was repeatedly interrogated, without breaks for eating, and subjected to mental torture.
I was released in May 2016. It was just three months after the NLD government was sworn in to parliament, where they shared power with the military under the rules of a constitution drafted by the military in 2008.
Since my release, I have continuously dedicated myself to promoting freedom of expression and equal rights. In 2016, I began advocating to amend the Telecommunications Law. Introduced in 2013, the law criminalised defamation over telecommunications networks and saw more than 250 people, including 37 journalists, charged during the NLD’s term.
In January 2018, I founded Athan (Voice), a research-based activist organisation focused on promoting freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information rights in Myanmar.
When I joined the NLD, it was with the hope and expectation that they could bring human rights and justice for everyone in Myanmar when they came to power. But in October 2018, I resigned from the party due to my different views from Aung San Suu Kyi on the state of press freedom in the country, and particularly her decision not to speak out for the rights of the Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were jailed in relation to their coverage of the military’s massacre of 10 Rohingya people in Rakhine state.
During the NLD’s five-year term, I openly criticised party leaders over oppression of minorities including the Rohingya, restrictions on press freedom and freedom of expression, a prolonged internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin states, and their failure to speak out against human rights abuses openly committed by the military.
I also played a leading role in numerous activist campaigns for the rights of journalists, activists and oppressed minority groups including the Kachin, Karenni, Arakanese and Rohingya.
On 8 November 2020, the NLD again won a landslide victory in general elections, and the newly elected government was set to convene parliament on 1 February. The military, whose party suffered a humiliating loss, had refused to accept the election results, and its commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing had already warned that the military might “take action” if its claims of election irregularities were not addressed. Still, I didn’t really believe Min Aung Hlaing would dare to stage a coup.
It became clear to me that the coup had happened at 4am on 1 February, when I received a call that two friends and fellow activists had been arrested by the military. Soldiers came to arrest me too, but fortunately I was not at home.
“We also seek to ensure that, if Aung San Suu Kyi is released, that no political compromises are made in the name of stability
On 11 February, I joined people from different ethnic groups, including the majority Bamar group to which I belong, in forming the General Strike Committee of Nationalities. We called for the repeal of the 2008 constitution and the establishment of a federal democratic union – demands that were eventually supported at the national level.
On 1 April, a body of elected parliamentarians operating in exile announced the abolition of the 2008 constitution and establishment of an interim National Unity government based on a federal democracy charter. It marked the early stages of a shift in people’s mindsets.
The public abandoned the idea that we must endure whatever the military does to us and make compromises according to the military’s demands. Instead, this Spring Revolution has shown a commitment to root out nationalism and religious extremism, and has also pushed to end gender discrimination, patriarchy and military dictatorship once and for all.
Among the objectives of the Bamar People’s Liberation Army are to end the dominance of Bamar Buddhists over other ethnic groups and to strengthen the unity of Myanmar’s diverse ethnic groups under a federal democratic union.
We also seek to ensure that, if Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest, no political compromises are made under the name of state stability.
If this Spring Revolution, in which people from all social strata have participated with unity and solidarity, cannot lead to the establishment of a new federal democratic union that can guarantee peace and democracy, then justice and equality will still be far off in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Political History, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The humanitarian situation in Myanmar has been deteriorating since the coup in February last year. According to the United Nations, many Myanmar citizens are forced to face difficulties in their lives with no way out due to the economic stagnation after the coup and the spread of COVID-19. The United Nations announced on January 30 the Humanitarian Response Plan for Myanmar, calling on the international community to provide assistance of US $826 million over the next year.
The Government of Japan has provided more than US $20 million in humanitarian assistance since the coup to improve the humanitarian situation in Myanmar. Japan has also provided ambulances and oxygen concentrators in response to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The Government of Japan has decided to provide additional humanitarian assistance to Myanmar totaling approximately US $18.5 million, in response to the voice of ASEAN member states which emphasize the importance of humanitarian assistance aiming at resolving situation, and above all, the increasing poverty of the people of Myanmar caused by the economic stagnation triggered by the coup. Japan will deliver food, daily necessities such as shelters and mattresses, and medical supplies to the people of Myanmar through international organizations and the ASEAN Secretariat.
The Government of Japan will continue to proactively provide humanitarian assistance that reaches the people of Myanmar in need, in cooperation with international organizations and the ASEAN Secretariat, taking into account the local situation and humanitarian needs and urgency. Japan will pay close attention to the needs of the people of Myanmar who are facing difficult circumstances. Japan hopes that other countries will also implement humanitarian assistance in response to the United Nations’ appeal..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
41.26 KB
more
Description:
"One year ago, as the Myanmar military sent tanks down the streets and rounded up government officials and activists, it shut down the internet, mobile phone networks, radio, and television channels. As it plunged the country into a communications blackhole, the junta launched concerted assaults at already threadbare protections online to throttle expression and information-sharing. Today, the military is ramping up efforts to cement authoritarian control of online space, alongside violent crackdowns, and serious human rights violations. This is a digital coup, and the world must resist.
Internet shutdowns continue to be wielded to shroud serious human rights violations. Soon after the coup and lasting almost three months, the military imposed near-complete nationwide internet shutdowns — including nightly communications blackouts and online media and messaging platform bans. The people in Myanmar were not able to communicate with loved ones, share information, report on human rights violations, or seek help amidst an emergency. Contrary to the principles of net neutrality and the norm of a free internet, the junta lifted some disruptions to favor its own “white-list” of organisations and corporations that could access the internet, while the rest of the country suffered the consequences of these discriminatory and unequal shutdowns. The military continue to order regional shutdowns — particularly where active armed conflicts are ongoing, in attempts to conceal thousands of reports of assault, killings, arrests, detention, enforced disappearance, ill-treatment, torture, torching and gender-based violence committed by the junta.
Control of telecommunications providers and abuse of surveillance technology expands monitoring and targeting of individuals. Reuters recently reported that the Myanmar military had privately approved the sale of Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group and military-linked Shwe Byain Phyu Group — with the latter as a majority shareholder. Should the sale go ahead, three of the four telecommunications providers operating in Myanmar would be directly controlled by the junta — including Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and Telecom International Myanmar Company Limited (MyTel). It can also be assumed that thereafter, all operators in Myanmar — including the fourth, Ooredoo — will activate surveillance technology within their networks, noting Telenor’s statement that its departure was due to “continued pressure” on operators to “activate intercept equipment and technology for the use of Myanmar authorities”. These targeted efforts will enable the military to bring all network services under its stranglehold and escalate abuses of privacy and security rights, through surveillance and related efforts. Yet, disturbingly, not a single telecommunications sector actor has implemented urgent data protection and privacy safeguards needed to protect their customers. Telenor Group, in particular, had earned people’s trust on the basis of their earlier commitments to human rights and public reporting on network shutdowns and military orders. These customers — including activists, journalists and other at-risk individuals — are now in danger of having their data transferred to a military-linked outfit through an irresponsible disposal of its business operations in Myanmar.
Legal tools are abused to stifle individuals’ rights to expression, information, and privacy. By amending the Broadcasting Law and resurrecting a previously defeated Cybersecurity Law, the military will fortify censorship controls online. The amended Broadcasting Law effectively criminalises any speech deemed impermissible by the military on a wide range of media — including radio, television, audio and video social media posts, and websites — with up to three years’ imprisonment. Meanwhile, the draft Cybersecurity Law provides overbroad censorship and regulatory powers to the authorities — including the Ministry of Defence with its notorious record of committing abuses amounting to serious international crimes — to censor online content, order the furnishing of individuals’ personal data from internet service providers and control online platforms and services through onerous registration and licensing requirements. Not satisfied with the increasing trend of arrests for alleged illegal VPN usage, the draft Cybersecurity Law proposes to penalise VPN usage with up to three years’ imprisonment, further extinguishing one of the last tools of protection and security available to the people of Myanmar.
Price hikes and onerous data provision requirements make it increasingly difficult for people to access the internet. In December 2021, in an attempt to price people out of telecommunication access, the military forced telecommunications operators to significantly hike up prices for data usage and phone calls, doubling the price of mobile data, and increasing the cost of phone calls by nearly a quarter — significantly impacting a population already struggling from a banking crisis. In January 2022, the increasing cost of connectivity was worsened by the junta’s 10% tax hike on mobile data service providers — which then increased customers’ prices further — and a 20,000 kyat (US$11) commercial tax on new SIM card activation, which exacerbated the already onerous requirements for SIM card registration. These manipulations now pose extortionate barriers to internet access for the average person in Myanmar, amidst a coup and a pandemic — when they need connectivity the most.
Harassment and dissemination of incitement to violence online propagates fear and insecurity. Reports continue to emerge of military and military-linked personnel appropriating social media platforms to post hate speech and incite violence against individuals supporting opposition to the coup. From even before the coup, content moderation failures on platforms like Facebook and YouTube had accelerated hate speech and incitement to violence online. Pressure from civil society forced Facebook to take down hundreds of military-linked accounts and strengthen its mitigation measures. After being blocked from Facebook, increasing numbers of military and military-linked actors are now abusing less responsive services and platforms to amplify a regime of fear and abuse online, including through death threats on TikTok, and doxxing on Telegram. In contrast, the junta are conducting stop-searches of individuals’ devices which often result in arrests, detention, and assault, with impunity. While tech platforms meander in their mitigation measures, privacy and security violations proliferate.
With a year of concerted effort to control and manipulate the online and offline lives of millions of people in Myanmar as groundwork, today, the junta’s digital coup is more violent and aggressive than ever — aimed at crushing remnants of the already razed rights to privacy, expression, information, association, and security. As the world watches on, the Myanmar military is very close to its goal of consolidating absolute control of digital spaces.
The international community, technology companies, platforms, and network providers must stand with the people of Myanmar and resist the digital coup. We have an obligation to hold the Myanmar military accountable for the serious human rights violations it continues to commit. The international community must:
Publicly condemn the Myanmar junta’s continued attacks on civic space and push back against assaults on rights — including to freedom of expression, information, association, privacy and security;
Support calls for targeted sanctions against the military and against military-linked individuals and businesses, including sanctions aimed at restricting the sale and supply of dual-use surveillance technology
Pressure companies to uphold international standards on responsible business;
Continue and expand support for civil society, humanitarian and other actors working to defend human rights within Myanmar.
Telecommunications and technology companies in Myanmar must:
Immediately implement data protection and privacy safeguards to resist increasing attempts to extend surveillance, censorship, and abuse of rights;
Conduct due diligence and pursue genuine public engagement when creating or changing their policies on data protection, content moderation, and others, pursuant to international human rights standards; and
Implement policies informed by genuine public engagement and based on international human rights standards.
Every day, the people of Myanmar continue to suffer escalating attacks in an environment of repression and violence. The coup is offline and online. The international and business community must resist. Continued inaction costs lives..."
Source/publisher:
Access NOW
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights Defenders
Language:
Local URL:
more