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Title: Myanmar 2018: Botched transition and repatriation plan
Description: "The year was defined by the Rohingya crisis, which lingers on and remains un-resolved. The agreement signed by the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh in November 2017 had several aborted starts in 2018. Both governments came under the pressure of China to deal with the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees bilaterally, without the involvement of other (international) parties. What was evi-dently a forced repatriation plan was eventually halted in November. The outcry of human rights and refugee organisations continued unabated, as did western outrage against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, widely seen as callous and complicit in the military’s atrocities against the Rohingya. As ties with the United States worsened, ChIn response to the series of terrorist attacks in August 2017 by the Rohingya militant organisation named the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the Myanmar military carried out what it termed ‘clearance operations’, which in the space of a few weeks in September, and involving mass rape, arson and indiscriminate killings, led to one of the greatest refugee crisis in recent decades.1 Approximately 750,000 Rohingya (representing the majority of this stateless, largely Muslim ethnic group) fled Rakhine state seeking refuge on the other side of the border, in the Chittagong district of eastern Bangladesh. The fallout within Bangladesh was that this impoverished South-East Asian country was confronted with a crisis withina’s economic clout in Myanmar was consolidated, as evidenced by the expansion of economic projects and Beijing’s leverage on Nay Pyi Taw during the crisis. At home, however, Suu Kyi remained personally popular. Despite some efforts at rebooting, her government’s performance has oscillated between ineptitude and incompetence. Some personnel reshuffles and new strategic plans notwithstanding, its shortcomings remain well-known, being plagued by personalisation, the central- isation of decision-making and over-reliance on loyalty, to the detriment of expertise and professionalism. The NLD’s cohabitation with the military has continued, but no open rifts have thus far surfaced.....Introduction: In response to the series of terrorist attacks in August 2017 by the Rohingya militant organisation named the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the Myanmar military carried out what it termed ‘clearance operations’, which in the space of a few weeks in September, and involving mass rape, arson and indiscriminate killings, led to one of the greatest refugee crisis in recent decades.1 Approximately 750,000 Rohingya (representing the majority of this stateless, largely Muslim ethnic group) fled Rakhine state seeking refuge on the other side of the border, in the Chittagong district of eastern Bangladesh. The fallout within Bangladesh was that this impoverished South-East Asian country was confronted with a crisis with which it could barely cope. Within the borders of Myanmar, physical destruction across Rakhine state was observed, yet there was also widespread support across most segments of Myanmar society for the way in which the authorities handled the crisis. The agreement signed by the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh in November 2017 went through several aborted starts in 2018. Both governments came under the pressure of China to deal with the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees bilaterally, without the involvement of other (international) parties. The outcry of human rights and refugee organisations continued unabated, as did western outrage against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, widely seen as callous and complicit in the military’s atrocities against the Rohingya. Of course, dealing with the Rohingya crisis and the repatriation issue was not the only issue faced by the Myanmar government in 2018, but the fallout from the violence continued to cast a long and dark shadow on the country’s international image. Domestically, Aung San Suu Kyi remained personally popular, despite an overall poor government performance. Being about halfway into the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) term in office, it is now a good time to assess the performance of the government in terms of its domestic, economic and foreign policy. Its performance has been rather disappointing. Always bound to disappoint in light of the unrealistically high expectations that accompanied it, the government led defacto by Aung San Suu Kyi has combined ineptitude, centralisation and personalisation of decision-making. Substantial time has been spent on drawing up strategic plans, and less on actually building up human capacity, expertise and turning plans into practice. This article is structured as follows. First, it revisits developments in domestic policy. Stalled progress in the peace process and increasingly fraught relations with ethnic Rakhine suggest that despite some efforts at rebooting, transition has stalled.2 The subsequent section reviews the mixed picture insofar as the economy is concerned. Lastly, it examines how the country’s international ties have been affected by the crisis, enabling China to consolidate its already strong influence..."
Source/publisher: University of St Andrews (Scotland)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-29
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Title: A Preliminary and Holistic] Examination and Assessment of the Impacts on Justice and Accountability of the Mechanisms Addressing the Rohingya Issue in Myanmar
Description: "Abstract: The tension and violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, Myanmar has been escalating to the extent that it could be called ethnic cleansing or crime against humanity. The international community has insufficiently done in preventing and protecting the Rohingya that are facing persecution in Myanmar. The national mechanism in Myanmar which consists of the Rakhine Conflict Investigation Commission, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, and the Central Committee for Rakhine State Peace, Stability, and Development Implementation intends to address the truth and solution to the crisis. Moreover, due to the latest incident in Muangtaw where nine policemen were killed, the Myanmar government also establishes another commission to investigate such an incident. The international community also calls for the independent truth commission to address the Rohingya issue. It is high time to examine and assess those mechanisms to what extent they help mete justice and accountability for atrocities in Myanmar. This paper will also compare and contrast the works of human rights and investigation commissions established by Myanmar and the others in order to suggest the best practices to enhance the mechanisms in Myanmar.....INTRODUCTION: Atrocity crimes are pervasive in many areas of the world. They are gross human rights violations which the international community must not tolerate because they are crimes of international concern which pose a threat to peace and international security. 1 However, some atrocity crimes happen in the areas out of sight of the world. Little is known about what has been happening in those areas, such as in Myanmar. Myanmar seems to be a peaceful Buddhist country in Southeast Asia; however, it has been facing internal armed conflicts for decades since the country has become independent from the United Kingdom in 1948. 2 The conflicts and human rights abuses have erupted in several states namely Kachin, Shan, Kayah, Kayin, and Rakhine.3 Particularly, in Rakhine State, Myanmar attempts to hide atrocities against the Muslim minority – the Rohingya – from the attention of the international community to avoid responsibility and accountability. This paper focuses on the problems in Rakhine State, in particular the Rohingya issue. The Rohingya conflict is now not only a domestic concern but being treated as an international problem. Several reports from non-governmental organizations and international affairs literatures regarding the Rohingya issues have been published. Yet, only a few legal publications and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs)’ reports have addressed or touched upon the Rohingya problem regarding the possibility of the crime of genocide and crime against humanity. 4 None of the legal literature has examined the attempts of the government and the international community to bring justice and accountability to the Rohingya. Therefore, this will be the very first preliminary study on the transitional justice mechanisms of the contemporary conflicts. This paper will explore, examine, analyze, and assess the legal implications of the mechanisms to resolve the Rohingya issue established by both Myanmar in the domestic level and the international community at the international level. This paper argues that despite the number of mechanisms, they are fragmented, overlapping, and have not served sufficient justice and accountability for the violence against the Rohingya. Therefore, the government of Myanmar should push more effort to address this issue. The first part of the paper will explore the background of the Rohingya story in terms of both historical and contemporary contexts to address the root causes and figure how conflict evolves through time. The second part will describe both domestic, hybrid, and international mechanisms dealing with the atrocity against the Rohingya in Myanmar. This will explain how those mechanisms emerge and function. The third part will assess and analyze the impacts of each mechanisms based on their progress, procedures, and outcomes. This part will also compare and contrast the work of those mechanisms to evaluate the capabilities to probe the ongoing conflict. The fourth part will juxtapose the existing mechanisms to the other types of mechanisms used elsewhere and will also look at the way forward to bring justice and accountability to Myanmar. This part will also provide a critical review of the paradox of justice and peace in the Myanmar context and the introduction of the anticipated mechanisms. Lastly, this paper will conclude with some preliminary observations of the works and studies of those transitional justice mechanisms and will provide some recommendations to enhance the capacity of the mechanisms..."
Source/publisher: Jutha Saovabha
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-27
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Title: Myanmar’s Troubled History: Coups, Military Rule, and Ethnic Conflict
Description: "Summary: Myanmar, also known as Burma, has suffered decades of repressive military rule, poverty due to years of isolationist economic policies, and civil war with ethnic minority groups. The transfer to civilian leadership in 2011 spurred hopes of democratic reforms. But the military maintained control over parts of the government, and security forces began a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. The military launched a coup in February 2021, announcing a yearlong state of emergency and arresting opposition figures, including de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and civil society activists.....Introduction: Throughout its decades of independence, Myanmar has struggled with military rule, civil war, isolation from global affairs, and widespread poverty. In 2011, the military junta dissolved, giving way to a military-installed transitional government and ushering in what many believed would be a new era for the Southeast Asian nation. The country’s longtime opposition party—the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi—won majorities in both chambers of parliament in 2015, and some foreign governments and companies that had previously shunned Myanmar began developing ties with it. But the military, known as the Tatmadaw, has continued to dominate many aspects of domestic affairs. Military and civilian leaders, including Suu Kyi, have also faced international condemnation for ongoing human rights abuses and brutal violence against Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine, which a UN report said were committed with “genocidal intent.” In February 2021, the military staged a coup and officially retook control, dashing hopes for democratic progress..."
Source/publisher: Council on Foreign Relations (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-24
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Title: Rohingya camps in Bangladesh report single-day high for new COVID cases
Sub-title: Authorities impose full lockdown in 5 refugee camps while 29 others kept under close surveillance, says official
Description: "Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh recorded the highest number of single-day coronavirus cases Sunday with 49 new infections, pushing the total tally to 992. After testing 312 Rohingya, 49 were reported positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the office of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) said in a report released Sunday night. The death toll among Rohingya from the virus in the world’s largest refugee camps also rose to 15, including two fatalities recorded in the last two days, the report added. Bangladesh is home to more than 1.2 million stateless Rohingya, most of whom fled a brutal military crackdown in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017. So far, 665 Rohingya have recovered from the disease, including 11 in the past day. To stem the spread of the virus in the congested makeshift Rohingya settlements in Bangladesh, authorities on May 20 imposed a 12-day full lockdown at the five most infected camps out of a total 34, excluding new settlements of around 20,000 Rohingya on a remote island in the country’s southern Bay of Bengal. “We have put five camps under complete lockdown while the rest have been kept under close monitoring,” RRRC Chief Coordinator Dr. Abu Toha M.R. Bhuiyan told Anadolu Agency. Citing authorities' efforts to contain the virus in the Rohingya camps, he added that in the last 24 hours, 117 new contacts have been quarantined in isolation centers. “Currently, 836 virus infected Rohingya are being quarantined, while the cumulative number of contacts quarantined to date is 3,361,” Bhuiyan said. The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012. According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017. Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, while more than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires and over 114,000 others were beaten, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA)..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-24
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Title: British government almost halves aid to Rohingya refugees - Burma Campaign UK
Description: "The British government has announced shocking cuts to its aid in support of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The £27.6 million announced amounts to a 42% cut in aid to Rohingya refugees compared to what the government contributed in October 2020, and less than a quarter of what the UK contributed in 2019. The statement, which was dated yesterday but distributed today, made no mention of the fact that it amounts to a cut of around 42% in aid to Rohingya refugees. “Even in a climate where aid cuts were expected due to the government’s broken promise of delivering 0.7% of GNI in aid, this is still shocking”, said Karin Valtersson, Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK. “The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are genocide survivors, they are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, many are survivors of sexual violence, of torture, of having witnessed family members including children being killed by the Burmese army.” The Rohingya fled genocide at the hands of the Burma military in 2017 and the refugee camp is the largest in the world. According to official figures, over 880,000 refugees reside in the camp, over half are children. The announcement of the slashing of support for the Rohingya refugees comes at the same time as Burma Campaign UK warns of overall cut to the Burma aid budget. The aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is not part of the Burma aid budget. Poverty levels are rising steeply in Burma as the people are bravely opposing the military coup and at the same time are suffering the consequences of military brutality and an economic crash due to both the coup and the Covid epidemic. “Dominic Raab talks the talk but he doesn’t walk the walk on Burma. He likes to offer statements, whether it is on justice or support to protestors, but doesn’t follow it up with action. This includes aid. In their most dire moment of need, Dominic Raab has decided to abandon the poorest people of Burma”, said Karin Valtersson. The military coup has made it even more unlikely for the Rohingya to be able to return to Burma in the short-term, as the general that led the genocide against them, Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, is now the leader of the country. Instead of cutting aid to the Rohingya camps, the international community, including the British government, should work with Bangladesh to plan for a protracted refugee crisis with decent shelter and living conditions for the Rohingya. “Over half of the refugees in the camp are children, and they are living in squalid conditions with not enough access to sanitation or hygiene, and very little education. The camp is fenced in by barbed wire and the security in the camp is deteriorating. The living conditions of these children are unimaginable as they are and these cuts will make their situation even worse”, said Karin Valtersson. The way in which the UK government releases aid spending figures year on year makes it hard to do precise year on year comparisons. According to Burma Campaign UK research, the aid allocation to the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh since the genocide of 2017 is as follows: 2017-2018: £129m, 2019: £117m, 2020: £47.5m, 2021: £27.6m..."
Source/publisher: "Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-20
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Title: H.E. Dr. Sasa, Union Minister of the Ministry of International Cooperation and Spokesperson of the National Unity Government of Myanmar welcomes the United States announcement of nearly $155 million in new assistance to sustain critical efforts to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, and internally displaced Rohingya and other affected people in Myanmar
Description: "Today I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to the United States Government for announcing a new assistance fund of nearly $155 million to sustain critical efforts to support the brave Rohingya people who have been forced to flee Myanmar and live in refugee and IDP camps and host communities in Bangladesh, and other affected people in Myanmar. I would also like to reiterate my sincere thanks to the People and Government of the United States of America for standing in solidarity and being a strong voice for the people of Myanmar and recognizing the NUG as a voice for the People of Myanmar. The United States has been a good friend and taken large steps to help end the cruel regime in Myanmar by issuing sanctions on the junta, many of its entities, and individuals connected with it. We are thankful that in our darkest hour, when the military junta is doing everything in their power to commit acts of terrorism against our brave people, the United States of America is standing with and generously supporting the brave people of Myanmar in many different ways. As the Union Minister of the Ministry of International Cooperation, and Spokesperson of the NUG, I sincerely welcome the statement below from U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony J. Blinken: “At the launch of the 2021 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, the United States announced nearly $155 million in new assistance to sustain critical efforts to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and internally displaced Rohingya and other affected people in Burma. “Our assistance will help meet the immediate needs of the nearly 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh who fled from horrific violence in Burma’s Rakhine State, including women and children,” said U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony J. Blinken. FULL STATEMENT: https/ /www.state.gov/the-united-states-announces-new.../" We are thankful for this aid and urge the international communities to not cut aid to the brave people of Myanmar, but instead to increase help sent in every way possible. The junta is daily murdering innocent civilians and brave self-defenders, including women and children, and destroying and looting homes and supplies. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for the International Communities to..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-20
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Title: The United States Announces New Assistance to Respond to the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis
Description: "At the launch of the 2021 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, the United States announced nearly $155 million in new assistance to sustain critical efforts to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and internally displaced Rohingya and other affected people in Burma. Our assistance will help meet the immediate needs of the nearly 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh who fled from horrific violence in Burma’s Rakhine State, including women and children. As the leading contributor of assistance in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis, the United States is helping to support the victims of atrocities and other vulnerable people in need. With this new funding, our total humanitarian aid for those affected by the crisis in Burma, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region since the brutal violence by the Burmese military in August 2017 is more than $1.3 billion, including more than $1.1 billion for programs inside Bangladesh. Given the tremendous funding needs for this crisis, we welcome the contributions that some member states have made to this humanitarian response in recent months. We encourage the broader international community to do more and urge other countries and stakeholders to contribute as well. The United States recognizes the cost and responsibility that the response has placed on host countries, especially Bangladesh. We will continue to support all countries in the region that prioritize protection of Rohingya refugees. In the aftermath of the February 1 military coup and the brutal military crackdown in Burma, we remain committed to addressing the Rohingya crisis, recognizing that the coup leaders are many of the same individuals responsible for previous human rights abuses, including atrocities against Rohingya. We continue to work with international partners to support justice and accountability for all those responsible for the coup and human rights abuses. We continue to advocate for the rights of Rohingya and urge their inclusion in discussions about their future. We also continue to underscore the need for unhindered humanitarian access to all people requiring assistance in Burma. We urge Bangladesh to take steps to protect refugees, particularly at this time of increased risk to them, and not create conditions that would force them to return to a country where they could face persecution and violence. The United States is committed to promoting peace, security, and respect for the human rights and human dignity of all people in Burma, including Rohingya..."
Source/publisher: United States Department of State
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-20
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Title: Why is Dominic Raab Refusing to Act on Accountability for Burmese Military Crimes?
Description: "This briefing looks at the gap between the words and the actions of the British government when it comes to action on accountability. At the same time as making repeated statements about holding the Burmese military to account for their crimes, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is refusing to publicly support referring Burma to the International Criminal Court, and refusing to join the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice. One of many examples of a British Government Minister talking about accountability since the military coup on 1st February 2021 came on Saturday 27th March. Following the killing of more than 120 people by the Burmese military, Dominic Raab once again Tweeted about holding the military to account. He stated: “Today’s killing of unarmed civilians, including children, marks a new low. We will work with our international partners to end this senseless violence, hold those responsible to account, and secure a path back to democracy.”.....At the same time Dominic Raab: Refuses to publicly support the UN Security Council referring Burma to the International Criminal Court. • Refuses to join the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice. • Repeatedly blocked amendments to bills in the British Parliament to enable determinations of genocide to be made and more action to be taken in response to genocide.....Impunity has encouraged further human rights abuses: As has been well documented, the Burmese military has been violating international law for decades. It has done so with impunity at a domestic and international level. This impunity encourages further violations of international law and further horrific human rights violations. During the past ten years, as the British government heralded a so-called democratic transition in Burma, human rights violations against ethnic minorities, so serious that they violate international law, actually increased..."
Source/publisher: "Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-20
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Title: The extermination of Myanmar’s Rohingya – an online study
Sub-title: The Rohingyas were equal citizens and enjoyed all the rights and privileges as any other until 1982 when the Citizenship rules of Myanmar were re-written and this time it left out the Rohingya.
Description: "Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya – a reality: Many believe that the Rohingya have been a part of Myanmar well before the British colonists arrived and have been an integral part of the country ever since. They have been mostly concentrated in the Rakhine region of the country and have been subjected to horrific atrocities from time to time. There have been countless instances of genocide-like situations for the community before but nothing as brutal as what started in 2012 and has been going on ever since albeit with varying degrees of intensity. The events have plagued a stratum of people who have in many ways got used to living in conditions that are sub-human and have accepted the same as their destiny. The world is aware of what has been going on in Myanmar for way too long now, but nothing has been done so far to save the countless lives that are being lost on a daily basis. As many as 800,000 people have been displaced from the Rakhine region into Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and India. Their living conditions in those countries are not better than what it would have been had they been at the mercy of Lucifer himself. The ones who were unlucky enough to stay back have faced a greater ordeal. They have been restricted to a concentration camp-like holding areas and have been denied basic human rights like the right to movement, medical treatment, etc. They are not allowed to work or earn and are forced to live off the scraps that the government gives them. There are no medical facilities in these camps and the one doctor who treats patients is not even a doctor. Children are dying of malnutrition and of diseases like dysentery and diarrhea that are easily treatable.....The silence of a Noble Peace Prize winner: It’s almost ironic that the Prime Minister-equivalent of Myanmar is 1991 Noble Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Her father was the one who broke the shackles of colonialism and made the country in the image of a nation that gave equal rights and privileges to all citizens irrespective of their religion, caste, creed, etc. The Rohingya in Myanmar were equal citizens and enjoyed all the rights and privileges as any other until 1982 when the Citizenship rules of the country were re-written and this time it left out the Rohingya. Stripped off their honour and right to exist, they started crumbling under the oppression meted out to them by the security forces and the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists with whom they were sharing the land. When Suu Kyi was questioned about the genocides of 2016 and beyond by a journalist, she replied by saying that she would not go so far as to call it a genocide. Shockingly, even after the truckload of evidence and testimonials at her disposal, she continues to shrug off the genocides by calling the evidences exaggerated and asking the world to ask the question “why the same was happening” instead of telling her that “it was happening”. That was one of the most perplexing statements that I heard from a world leader in a long time.....The impact of Ashin Wirathu and his 969 Movement: Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk who was hailed by the then president of Myanmar as the son of Buddha has been known to be someone who has peddled his hate for the Muslim community under the guise of Nationalist fervour for long. He was even featured on the TIME Magazine cover with a headline that read “THE FACE OF BUDDHIST TERROR”. He was imprisoned on charges of inciting violence and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment but with the situation in Myanmar changing and the need of a leader to mobilize mass emotion felt, he was given a pardon and released after serving 8 years of his sentence. The man immediately got back to his work and using his “969 Movement”, did exactly what the ones who had released him believed he would — spread chaos and violence with his venomous speeches. Within a short span of time, he had incited enough hate to generate multiple riots. But he did something that was far more important for the government and military than any of the violence that he was inciting. He was able to integrate many different ethnic Buddhist groups under the common umbrella of “hatred for the Muslim Bengalis” and this let the government and the forces concentrate their full might on the Rohingya sidelining all the protest and the other disturbances from different ethnic groups that had plagued the country. The Buddhists completely forgot how brutally they were subdued by the very same government and military and were up in arms in support of what they were doing.....The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army – retribution or mistake: The Rohingya, who had faced violence for so long finally found a voice in the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), also known by its former name Harakah al-Yaqin (meaning Movement of Faith). The organization was founded by Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, a Karachi-born Rohingya who served as an imam to a 150,000 Rohingya diaspora in the city of Mecca. He received training under the Taliban in Karachi and arrived in Rakhine, Myanmar in 2012 coinciding with the beginning of the religious riots. On 9 October 2016, Ataullah led hundreds of insurgents to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, where they attacked Burmese Border Police posts. A week later, Ataullah appeared in an online video, claiming responsibility for the attacks. Ataullah led a second large-scale attack on 25th August 2017, which resulted in the deaths of 71 people. This was just the instigation and reason that the Myanmar Army needed to get into action. Using the attacks as pretext, the army intensified its operations and cracked down with renewed vigour and never seen before horror. When asked if ARSA was a religion-based terrorist group in an interview, one of its members made it clear that they were not religious in nature and their struggle was only for the rights of the Rohingya many of whom were Hindus.....My views on the subject: It must be agreed that Myanmar’s Rohingya have been a subjugated lot for centuries. In the absence of the very basic of human rights, it is always possible for people to resort to violence especially when they are funded from outside. With the kind of torture and insults that the Myanmar Rohingya have had to face post-2012, it is no surprise that they rose up in revolt. The Myanmar government and the military used the violence on their part as a weapon against them and targeted not only terrorists but mostly innocent civilians. They threw small kids into burning houses. There was a woman who was attacked by the security forces and after being hit on the head, she fell unconscious. By the time she gained consciousness, she realized that she was raped by at least 20 different people. A 48-year-old man who, up till the attacks was a shopkeeper, never got to meet his son who was in another part of the same area and never made it back. He had a good life but he is now one of the 8 million refugees in Bangladesh lying in the mud and in a dilapidating thatched hut with 5 little children. It is necessary to bring the terrorists to justice, but the law of my country has always taught me that it is ok to let 10 guilty escape rather than punish one innocent. That is the belief that we Indians have grown up with. To us what is happening to the Rohingya is beyond anything that we could ever learn to come to terms with. I am confident that there must have been other ways to deal with this situation. Many parts of my country are plagued by terrorism and radicalism, but we never see our military burning away villages or using helicopter-borne artillery targeting one and all. With piles of evidence and first-person accounts to contain with, it is left to be seen when the world community will do something about this ongoing genocide. It is also left to be seen if the Rohingya community will survive this extermination..."
Source/publisher: EastMojo
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-19
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Title: The Politics of Election Cancellations in Myanmar
Description: "Michael Lidauer explores electoral politics in Myanmar: The Tatmadaw sought to legitimise the 1 February 2021 coup d’état – which occurred hours before the newly elected parliament was about to convene – with one key narrative: that the November 2020 elections were marred by widespread fraud.[1] To counter this argument, twelve civil society organisations released a statement four days prior to the coup, declaring that “the elections were credible and reflected the will of the majority voters” (PACE 2021). Indeed, no evidence has become available that any electoral materials were tampered with.....The electoral narrative of the coup: The Tatmadaw has commented on weaknesses in the electoral process at several times before and even more so after the elections, referring inter alia to the question of organising elections under the conditions of Covid-19 and inconsistencies in the voter lists. Before the electoral campaign period, in August 2020, the Commander-in-Chief discussed with a delegation of political parties their concerns (The Irrawaddy, 15 August 2020). Although accepting the election results immediately after election day, the military fielded numerous objections regarding the elections and rejected the results during the weeks leading to the coup, and recapitulate this in their public communications (cf. Tea Circle Oxford, 9 March 2021). It ultimately blamed the government, not only the election administration, for shortcomings.[2] Apart from the President, the State Counsellor and other governmental protagonists, the Union Election Commission (UEC) Chairman and members were arrested, and a new commission was appointed few days after the coup. In fact, the UEC became the single-most targeted institution with arrests and interrogations (AAPP 2021). Since then, the newly appointed UEC – headed by the same Chairman who was in charge of organising the 2010 elections – appears to build a body of evidence to substantiate the military’s claims of electoral fraud with publications about voter list data and ballots used in the 2020 elections in the Global New Light of Myanmar which yet await a closer analysis. Given the unfolding dramatic events of civilian resistance, heavy-handed responses by the security apparatus, and the struggle for international recognition of legitimate actors, this appears of a lesser significance in the current situation. However, the underlying electoral narrative is likely to become reinvigorated if the Tatmadaw keeps to the idea of organising fresh elections, as announced in the Five-Point Road Map of the State Administration Council, coupled with proposals to change the electoral system. This article seeks to look beyond claims of manipulation and provide more nuanced perspectives. While the elections have generated credible results, there were nevertheless a number of challenges related to long-standing weaknesses in the legal framework, political competition, and the dynamics generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, all of which are important to keep in mind for a more comprehensive understanding of the recent electoral process. What is more, the organisation of elections reveals frictions in civil-military relations among Burmese elites from which ethnic minorities suffer as a consequence. As Myanmar people on all fronts oppose a new military regime and as the armed forces exercise their powers against the population, this article aims to recollect some elements of the electoral process preceding the coup, in the hopes of contributing to an understanding of the ongoing situation and of gathering lessons learned for times when elections in Myanmar will again be under scrutiny. One such element is the cancellation of elections in parts of the country, a complex phenomenon that defies a simplistic explanation. Its analysis helps to understand majority-minority as well as civil-military relations even beyond the electoral process. Ahead of election day, on 8 November 2020, the polls were locally cancelled in many more locations than during previous elections, which resulted in disenfranchisement, political controversies, and diminished trust in the election administration (cf. ANFREL 2021: 45-51). However, while disenfranchisement was much debated, it was not a new phenomenon.....Varieties of disenfranchisement: In Myanmar, electoral disenfranchisement pertains to multiple processes of exclusion from the ballot, affecting people in various ways. These systemic deficiencies have been part of the electoral legal framework since long and were no novelty to the 2020 elections. Disenfranchisement extends inter alia to voters who are not at their place of residence at the time of the elections but elsewhere in the country or abroad. This may concern the diaspora, refugees, migrant workers, students or other travellers, although procedures exist for those who are temporarily registered at a new place and could therefore “transfer” their ballot. Persons who are forcibly displaced by conflict (namely internally displaced persons, or IDPs) often cannot take part in the polls, as authorities repeatedly failed to develop and implement a consistent and effective policy for IDP inclusion at the ballot box. Voting for IDPs was discussed ahead of the 2015 general elections, but was largely overlooked by national and international audiences, whose attention focused on the overall success of the election and its result, leading to a peaceful transition of power to a government led by the National League for Democracy. More debated – but not significantly tainting the perceptions of an overall well-run process at that time either – was the legal disenfranchisement of predominantly Muslim voters and candidates, preceding the mass exodus of the Rohingya to Bangladesh in 2017. The highly contentious Rakhine State politics during the last term ultimately altered how Myanmar was seen in the world. The recently published article “Boundary Making in Myanmar’s Electoral Process: Where elections do not take place” discusses both the processes of “legal denial” for Muslim voters and candidates as well as the lack of voting opportunities for IDPs during the 2015 elections. It is part of the forthcoming Modern Asian Studies Special Issue on “Border Governance: Reframing Political Transition in Myanmar and Beyond”, edited by Kirsten McConnachie, Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho and Helene Kyed. The article also discusses election cancellations, which occurred ahead of the general elections in 2010 and 2015, but did not stir much controversy at that time. Despite affecting approximately half a million voters in 2015 – the phenomenon of election cancellations remained little understood. However, without further specifications in the legal framework and without transparent criteria for cancelling or postponing the polls, election cancellations occurred again in 2020, but this time attracted much more attention and controversial debates.....Election cancellations in 2020: Myanmar’s legislation allows for localised election postponements due to risk of violence or natural disasters. While such decisions are usually informed by state institutions in the security sector and by election sub-commissions, the ultimate authority to cancel and postpone elections lies with the Union Election Commission.[3] The UEC is the constitutionally mandated body tasked with organising and overseeing elections. The UEC Chairperson and commissioners are appointed by the President. In addition to a permanent secretariat in Nay Pyi Taw, there are sub-commissions at state/region, district and township level. At the local level, the UEC relies strongly on personnel from other state institutions including from the General Administration Department (GAD) which until 2019 was under the authority of the military-led Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) and only then became part of the Ministry of the Union Government under civilian administration (cf. Lidauer and Saphy 2014; Renshaw and Lidauer forthcoming). The cancellation or postponement of elections has different electoral consequences, depending on the size of the administrative unit concerned. Vacant seats in the legislature occur only where elections are cancelled for entire constituencies; in this case the need for by-elections arises. Conversely, the partial cancellation of elections in a number of wards or village tracts smaller than a constituency does not translate into vacant seats, but leads to the disenfranchisement of voters residing in the cancelled areas, as the election goes ahead regardless of their participation (Lidauer 2021). Vacant seats in the hluttaws at national level proportionally increase the voting powers of military representatives for whom 25 per cent of the seats are reserved.[4] On 16 October, the UEC announced the cancellation of elections in a number of electoral constituencies where “free and fair elections cannot be held” (UEC Announcement 192/2020). While this timing and reasoning followed the pattern of similar announcements in 2015, the scale of these cancellations was unprecedented. Elections were cancelled for nine entire townships in Rakhine State and six entire townships in Shan State, as well as for 581 additional wards and village tracts in these States together with Kachin, Kayin and Mon States and Bago Region.[5] The cancellations resulted in 15 vacant seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw (nine in Rakhine, six in Shan), seven vacant seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw (all Rakhine), as well as 32 vacant seats in states’ legislatures (20 in Rakhine, 12 in Shan). Based on data shared by the UEC, over 1.2 to 1.3 million voters did not have the opportunity to vote as a result of the cancellations, and 189 candidates (who had already started campaigning) lost the possibility to contest these elections.....Reasons and reactions: These decisions caused strong reactions among political parties and civil society organisations, with allegations of gerrymandering in Rakhine State. Several parties questioned the UEC’s impartiality in this process, demanded more transparency and consultations, called for ethnic voting rights to be protected, and for the decisions to be reconsidered. On 27 October, eleven days after the first announcement, the UEC made further cancellations public, notably for Paletwa township in Chin State[6] – raising the overall number of constituencies without elections to 54 – and revoked some of the earlier decisions. These additional announcements did not help to improve perceptions and trust in the UEC, but hardened the belief that its decisions would favour the incumbent. The UEC decisions were criticised both for cancelling elections in some areas and for going ahead in others. In various areas, elections were in fact cancelled for different reasons, although on the same legal basis. The cancellation of four entire townships that form part of the Wa Self-administered Zone, and its ally in Mongla township – resulting in five vacant Pyithu Hluttaw seats and ten vacant State Hluttaw seats respectively – had been expected, as elections did also not take place there in 2010 and 2015. These are areas without any Myanmar governmental administration to prepare for elections, where a voter list had not been established, and no candidates had been enlisted. The cancelled areas in Kachin State, Karen State and Eastern Bago Region (including one village tract of Mon State) followed a similar logic, as all these areas pertained to ceasefire areas under full or mixed control of ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and have changed little since 2015, but did not result in vacant seats in any hluttaw. In Kachin State, elections were cancelled in fewer village tracts than in 2015 in a number of townships. In Kayin State, unlike in 2015, no elections were cancelled in Hlaingbwe township, and the cancelled areas were significantly reduced in Kyainseikgyi township. This was reportedly a result of negotiations between candidates and the election administration. Partial election cancellations also occurred across Shan State. In southern Shan State, elections were cancelled entirely for Mongkaing township, where several EAOs are present. In northern Shan State, partial cancellations coincided with locations where armed conflict or tensions between the Tatmadaw, EAOs, and local militia had occurred. Kyaukme and Tangyan townships stood out with new cancelled areas while others were similar to 2015. In eastern Shan State, the cancelled areas corresponded to territories where the government has historically a weak presence. In Rakhine State, where election cancellations were new, they were all argued for on the basis of security threats resulting from ongoing armed conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA). This included entire townships that ethnic parties and candidates considered safe, such as Pauktaw and Ponnagyun, and partial cancellations in other townships where only voters in small urban areas remained eligible to elect their respective representatives, such as in Taungup, Kyauk Phyu and Ann townships.[7] Widely held assumptions that all these cancellations would result in electoral outcomes favouring the NLD proved incorrect; in fact, ethnic parties secured the majority of elected seats in the Rakhine State Hluttaw despite the cancellations. The partial election cancellations in Paletwa township in Chin State, affecting a total of five electoral constituencies,[8] were also contentious.....High-level public disputes over the election cancellations: The UEC’s decision-making process regarding the election cancellations became a public point of controversy at a high political level, involving the Office of the President and the Tatmadaw, and resulting in mutual accusations of shortcomings between the military and civilian leadership. The UEC stated that several governmental offices, including MoHA and the Ministry of Defence, were consulted to arrive at the decisions where elections should be postponed. The Tatmadaw, while maintaining that the UEC is the only authority to decide whether to hold elections or not, outlined that the UEC’s announcements did not reflect the military’s advice (Eleven, 20 October 2020). In fact, this issue – touching upon civilian administrative authority but also upon questions of security, the Tatmadaw’s domain – was not the first point in time that saw military discontent with the electoral process, but brought tensions between the civilian government and the armed forces in particular to the fore. These discussions exacerbated ethnic parties’ frustrations about the exclusion of their voters from the elections.....Impact on Rakhine State: In the immediate aftermath of the elections, the AA and Tatmadaw became unlikely allies in demanding that the cancelled polls should take place before the formation of the new hluttaws. In mid-December, this demand was supported by the President, and the Rakhine State sub-commission reportedly started preparations for by-elections (Radio Free Asia, 15 December 2020). For the AA, this was an opportunity to broaden their bargaining powers and increase their legitimacy. On the side of the Tatmadaw, the push for elections in Rakhine State was also interpreted as part of larger efforts to discredit the overall electoral process (The Irrawaddy, 20 January 2021). It was nevertheless unlikely that these elections would have taken place in the immediate aftermath, since, following amendments to the electoral laws in 2016 and 2019, by-elections for vacant seats cannot take place one year after and one year before general elections. In that context, by-elections seemed unlikely to happen before April-May 2022. In the interim, the postponement of elections in Rakhine State appeared to generate an unexpected opportunity for a truce between the Tatmadaw and the AA (ICG, 23 December 2020); fighting ceased and tens of thousands were reportedly able to return home. In mid-January, the Rakhine State Hluttaw passed a proposal to urge the government to remove the “terrorist” designation of the AA. This designation, in place since March 2020, had been seen as an impediment to ceasefire negotiations. With an unusual expression of solidarity, Rakhine and Rohingya communities issued a joint declaration of mutual respect that emphasized not only elections for those areas where they were cancelled, but also for the Rohingya (Rohingya Today, 18 January 2021).....Reflecting on the elections in the light of the coup: All interpretations about reasons for the cancellations and effects of vacant seats as well as speculations about early by-elections and any opportunities that may have come from this situation were overtaken by the coup d’état of 1 February. Portraying itself as the guardian of electoral democracy, the military leadership deployed a narrative of electoral fraud to justify its takeover. The public controversies around the election cancellations were one element in a longer process of discrediting the 2020 elections. The issue of election cancellations demonstrates that the 2020 electoral process has seen a number of challenges, inter alia related to decision making process in the state administration. Although the final decision about election cancellations remains with the UEC, sub-national offices charged with informing these decisions were reporting within different hierarchies in the context of electoral security, turning decisions on localised election cancellations into an area of civil-military co-ownership and co-dependency. The process of election cancellations in 2020 illustrates the problematic nature of this co-ownership, which did not occur as such in 2015 when the leadership of the election management body had more direct communication channels with the security apparatus. As a consequence, the situation resulted in opportunities to criticize the UEC, despite the fact that similar cancellations had occurred in previous elections albeit at different scale. The cancellations shed light on loopholes in the system – here, the lack of clear procedures for postponing the polls – that were present both in the 2015 and the 2020 elections, and show how weaknesses in the regulatory framework for elections amplified the opposition between the civilian and military parts of the State ahead of the coup d’état, with detrimental effects on ethnic minorities. Now is not the time to strive for electoral reforms, but debates about elections and suffrage rights in Myanmar are essential and will eventually return. At that time, the transparency and process of any necessary election cancellations should be enhanced with clear communications and consistent criteria for such decisions, alongside other issues pertaining to electoral integrity, accountability and inclusion that will be important to address..."
Source/publisher: "Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-19
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Title: Heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state: legal and illegal iconoclasm
Description: "In recent years, the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, particularly in conflict contexts, has become increasingly visible. Cultural heritage destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, and Syria drew the attention of the world’s media, caused public outcry, and in one instance led to a successful International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution (Burke 2016; González Zarandona, Albarrán, and Isakhan 2018; Kraak 2018; Moffett 2017; UN News 2017a). Although the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in Myanmar (Figure 1) has been less visible internationally, throughout the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis there were numerous documented examples of cultural heritage destruction both by the Myanmar authorities and by ordinary residents of Myanmar (a country often still known as Burma1). The 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis drew world attention to the circumstances of this persecuted Muslim ethnic minority and to the nature of the military crackdown that caused around 700,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for Bangladesh (UN News 2017b; OCHA 2018; UNHCR 2018). During 2017, Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, partially or totally razed almost 300 Rohingya villages and destroyed numerous mosques in northern Rakhine state (Human Rights Watch 2017a, 2017b, 2018). The Myanmar authorities have subsequently remodelled large parts of northern Rakhine state which has included constructing at least one military base on lands previously occupied by the Rohingya (Amnesty International 2018a, 2018b; Associated Press 2018; Child 2018). Largescale destruction of heritage in Rakhine state did not begin in 2017. During 2012, conflict between Buddhists and Muslims caused the destruction of entire neighbourhoods around the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, displacing more than 140,000 people, overwhelmingly Muslims (Human Rights Watch 2012; Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2013). In this article we map heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state from the time of this 2012 violence to the present, and we consider the role of religion and recent political change in violence towards cultural heritage in contemporary Myanmar. We trace patterns of heritage destruction as legal and/or illegal iconoclasm specifying the key elements of heritage destruction in Rakhine state. Our analysis focusses on the use of heritage destruction as a tool of genocide, and we suggest that heritage destruction in Rakhine state ought to be understood as part of the authorities’ policies of genocide against the Rohingya. We conclude the article with a call for UNESCO to act to extend its ‘Unite4Heritage’ campaign to include the destruction of heritage by state actors. Traditionally, iconoclasm was considered the destruction of images – paintings and statues, mainly – for religious and political motives. Particular (Western) iterations of this phenomenon have been identified during the eighth and ninth centuries in Byzantium, and the Reformation in Europe, where religious images were considered idols and thus erased to avoid idolatry. Nonetheless, the concept of iconoclasm has gradually evolved to start considering other types of destruction, not only images, but also ideas, buildings, cultural property and heritage; the targets of iconoclasts because they reflect a part of a group’s identity (see Latour 2002 for an extended discussion). In this paper, we not only consider Rohingya heritage as those culturally significant sites for them, such as mosques and neighbourhoods, but also the traditions practised by the Rohingya for centuries in those sites. The paper does not point to a particular type of ‘heritage’, but rather it takes heritage in its broadest meaning. That is, we consider heritage not only the tangible expressions of Rohingya culture as exemplified by mosques, but also other forms considered intangible and moveable, and providing evidence of long-term Rohingya settlement in Rakhine state such as the presence of Rohingya villages (the destruction of which can serve to erase physical evidence of long-term Rohingya residency). In doing so, the aim of this paper is not to detail all the heritage which has been destroyed in Rakhine state, but to map the destruction of Rohingya heritage to demonstrate the link between heritage destruction and a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher: International Journal of Heritage Studies
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-14
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Title: The Unwanted People: A Story of One of the World’s Most Persecuted Minorities
Description: "Introduction: Not so many people were acquainted with the issue of Rohingya prior to the communal conflict that erupted in 2012. In fact, the conflict has brought the “hidden” issue to the surface, to a new level of visibility particularly among common people. Nevertheless, there is still relatively plenteous unknown patency behind the tragedy that occurred to the Rohingyas, besides a simple fact that it is an ethnoreligious conflict between Buddhist majority of Burman and Arakanese against the Muslim minority of Rohingya. The United Nations, indeed, even has regarded the Rohingyas as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities1 and among the world’s least wanted.2 This paper observes three major issues that are strongly linked and contributed to the creation of predicament for the Rohingyas. Comprehending these three issues are pivotal in order to see and possess thorough understanding about the Rohingyas The first issue covers the problem that related to the legal status of the Rohingyas. Second, the issue that related with the human rights abuse that happened toward the Rohingyas. Third, the issue of Buddhist fundamentalism.....The Birth of The Stateless Rohingya: The statelessness of Rohingya is a product of legal-political process conducted by the Burmese regime ever since the birth of modern Burma. The main driving force behind this policy has been the (political) stance of the Burmese authority that does not consider the Rohingya as a part of its native population (shown by the Panglong Agreement). In fact, the origin of Rohingya is still debatable hitherto. Both sides, the Burmese and the proRohingya, claim to have the most precise argument regarding the origin of Rohingya. Based on the point of view of Burmese historians, Khin Mau Saw, for example, stated that there had never been the term “Rohingya” before 1950’s (when the Mujahids changed their name into “Rohingyas”) supported by the fact that there was no such name as “Rohingya” in the Census of India 1921 (Burma) compiled by G.G Granthan, I.C.S (Superintendant of Census Operation Burma) or in the Burma Gazetter, Akyab District compiled by R.B Smart..."
Source/publisher: Ricky Raymon
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-14
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Title: Myanmar’s protests have unified a disparate country, but including the Rohingya can help defeat the coup
Description: "Saffron robed Buddhist monks, leather clad punks, shirtless muscle-bound hunks, taffeta ballgown wearing “princes protesters”, chefs in toques, black robed lawyers, construction workers in hard hats, nurses and doctors in scrubs, tattooed martial artists, nat spirit worshipers, civil servants, drag queens, trade unionists, farmers, teachers, taxi drivers, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, the old, the young, women, men, girls and boys — this week and last, these were just some of the groups who joined the biggest protests against military rule ever seen in Myanmar. Protesters arrived on foot, in convoys of bicycles, motorcycles, horse pulled drays, cars, trucks, tractors, and boats. They represented every religion, ethnic, and age group, and they gathered in hundreds of villages, towns, and cities. One protest took place on the water using boats among the floating villages of Inle Lake, a popular tourist spot. Yangon’s shops sold out of red balloons, the colour Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party. The flags and traditional dress of Myanmar’s ethnic minority communities were proudly displayed. Yangon’s usually hidden Rohingya community even openly joined in, and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh showed solidarity by holding candle-light vigils and sharing photos displaying the three fingered salute that has been adopted by the protesters. Amid a sometimes carnivalesque atmosphere, protesters sang songs, gave speeches, recited poetry, painted banners, and posted on social media — the protests have an undoubtedly youthful edge. It would hardly have been possible to imagine, let alone bring together, a more diverse mix of Myanmar’s fifty-five million people. But apparent within this extraordinary diversity, was unity behind a common goal: the restoration of Myanmar’s democratically elected civilian government and the removal of the military from political power. By undertaking a coup and arresting Myanmar’s recently re-elected civilian political leaders, military boss Senior General Min Aung Hlaing precipitated nationwide social unrest. Day after day, protesters have ignored military instructions to disperse, and there is widespread and growing resistance to the new military junta with public servants and hospital staff downing their tools. Banks were reported closed because they lacked the staff to open. It seems every day more people join the resistance. Notably, this has included defections of police — usually under military control — to join the protests, labelling themselves “People’s Police” and calling for the restoration of the democratically elected civilian government.....The threat of military violence: The military will not give up easily. Every protester, however enthusiastic, knows the threat of catastrophic violence constantly looms. To hold on to power, the military could unleash unspeakable violence against peaceful protesters at any moment. They have recent form for this. In 2017, the military subjected Myanmar’s Rohingya community to indiscriminate murders, widespread sexual assaults, village burnings, and mass detention — more than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. Similar violence could easily be brought to bear on the protesters. For the protesters, the casual brutality of Myanmar’s military was highlighted during the first days of the coup when peaceful gatherings in the capital Nay Pyi Taw were met with water cannons and rubber bullets interspersed with live rounds, leading to the shooting of a 19-year-old woman in the head. Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, a grocery store worker who travelled from her village with her sisters, remains in a critical condition and is not expected to survive the shooting. She may not be the first protester murdered by Myanmar’s military but in a country where social mores often lean to the traditional, the optics of shooting a young woman as she peacefully asked for the return of the democratically elected government has further undermined the military’s standing. Growing protests demonstrate the coup lacks public support and its military leaders lack legitimacy. While previous military coups have been unpopular, the military was often able to use “divide and rule” tactics to play groups off against each other and undermine coordinated resistance. However, this time the coup leaders have simultaneously unified virtually every key sector of the country against them.....Myanmar’s generational change: Before the coup, Myanmar’s demographics were already flowing strongly against continued military influence in government. While a defining feature of modern Myanmar politics has been the strong influence of the 1988 uprising that catapulted Aung San Suu Kyi and many other civilian government leaders — including ousted President Win Myint — to political prominence, more than seventy per cent of Myanmar’s population was not born when that uprising occurred. Myanmar’s young people have been kept away from power by the political endurance of those who first came to prominence in 1988 and have largely filled key leadership roles in Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration, but as time passes that situation was always bound to change. Myanmar’s young people have grown up as Myanmar liberalised its previously highly restricted communications and media sectors, they have good links with and knowledge of the world beyond Myanmar and are accustomed to freely expressing their political opinions. The aspirations of Myanmar’s youth often contrast wildly with those of their parents and grandparents, who grew up under military-rule when the country was a hermit state closed to outside media and hostile to foreign influences. Young protesters are making clear that they do not want to be ruled by old, male soldiers and indications are they will continue to resist until the military is overthrown. Myanmar’s street protests are also making clear many don’t merely want a return to the pre-coup status quo, which included extensive military influence in government, no civilian oversight of the military, and a military veto on constitutional change — they want the military out of politics permanently. And quickly. Much more quickly than Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian administration, tarnished internationally by its failure to oppose genocide against the Rohingya, have pushed for during its time in power.....The importance of Rohingya solidarity: Young people will hope the tide of demographics helps lead to the washing away of martial rule, but to take on Myanmar’s entrenched military, they will need all the allies they can find. This is a central point I make in my book Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide, where I call for Myanmar’s young people and the Rohingya to embrace each other as natural allies. My hope is that as Myanmar’s younger generation move closer to political power, a more humanitarian approach towards the Rohingya could be a consequence of a generational change in Myanmar politics, and I strongly encourage the Rohingya leadership to actively engage with young people to seek common ground. Of course, it would be understandable if some Rohingya opted to sit out these protests, treating Aung San Suu Kyi’s arrest as fair comeuppance for her endorsement of military actions against them, but the Rohingya’s leadership understands that removing the military from political power in Myanmar must be a priority — the strong solidarity with protesters already shown by Rohingya groups is proof of this. There have been powerful examples of Rohingya solidarity with the protests and a statement condemning the coup from the Rohingya Women’s Network is a particularly significant endorsement, considering the specific targeting of Rohingya women and girls by Myanmar’s military. The Rohingya have been disappointed by Myanmar's civilian politicians, but they support Myanmar's moves towards democracy — and they especially support calls for the rejection of the compromised 2008 Constitution that allows the military to avoid civilian government oversight. The coup and its aftermath present real opportunities for the Rohingya and Myanmar’s young people to forge common cause for the removal of the military from political influence in Myanmar permanently and reforming the constitutional framework so they can never return to power....Myanmar’s Rohingya reckoning: There are strong indications this important political realignment was already under way in Myanmar before the coup, with some youth activists concerned about the growth of racism in politics having taken action to curb it. Young inter-faith activists and groups like Generation Wave have been vocal supporters of human rights for all in Myanmar, including the Rohingya, and were strongly critical of ongoing military influence on politics. Young political activists, especially those from ethnic minority groups, had been growing increasingly frustrated with restrictions on freedom of expression and with public expressions of racism. The #BlackLivesMatter-inspired “Don’t call me Kalar” social media campaign is an excellent example of this. “Kalar” is a pejorative often applied by racists to Rohingya and others with darker skin, but young people embraced with gusto an online campaign to end the practice, demonstrating similar cleverness, wit, and political edginess as we have seen in many anti-coup protests. Public silence during the 2017 Rohingya crisis has increasingly been a subject of concern for anti-coup protesters, many of whom are fast coming to terms with the inconsistency of their silence when the military brutalised the Rohingya while they themselves now call for international help to remove that same military from power. It is better this realisation comes late than not at all. The sight of democracy protesters in downtown Yangon carrying signs reading, “I really regret about Rohingya crisis”, are an indication a rethink about the reaction towards the Rohingya’s most recent crisis in 2017 is underway for some. One of many recent tweets I have received points to this reckoning, and highlights the legacy of decades of state media demonisation of the Rohingya, who were commonly portrayed as sinister foreign interlopers rather than a group indigenous to Myanmar: Many in Myanmar have been unaware the Rohingya were uncontroversially recognised as citizens during the civilian government era that followed independence between 1948 and 1962, but had their rights restricted and their citizenship rights disputed once the military seized power in the 1962 coup that presaged five decades of military rule. The Rohingya know better than most the value of a democracy and the perils of military rule. Considering the international support they can harness, the Rohingya should now be a key ally of democracy protesters in the campaign to oust the military. The most effective way for the Rohingya and others in Myanmar to fight the military is by cooperating. Myanmar’s coup is a step too far for most and defeating it is an opportunity for the country to at last change its constitution in order to kick the military from politics. This presents Myanmar with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the country’s future. The shared experience of military oppression of the Rohingya and Myanmar’s majority, made tangible by the coup and its aftermath, opens up a path forward — one that realises the future imagined when the country emerged from colonial rule in 1948, a time when the Rohingya played a full role in politics and were regarded as a legitimate part of the national fabric. But achieving this future means the military’s coup first needs to be defeated — and in the short term, that’s far from a sure bet. Ronan Lee is Visiting Scholar at the International State Crime Initiative in the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London. He was formerly a Queensland State Member of Parliament (2001–2009) and served on the frontbench as a Parliamentary Secretary (2006–2008) in portfolios including Justice, Main Roads and Local Government, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships. He is the author of Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech..."
Source/publisher: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-08
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Title: The War Report 2017 Myanmar: A Battle For Recognition
Description: "With a vast ethnic and cultural diversity,1 as well as high levels of poverty, Myanmar has witnessed the emergence of a myriad of armed non-state actors (ANSAs), which have splintered and morphed over time, and has subnational tensions arising from tremendous distinctive dynamics. The majority of such actors, known as ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), have primarily pursued a high level of autonomy along with the recognition of identity and rights. These claims have been ongoing since before the colonial period, intensifying after independence in 1948 and still persisting in 2017. The 1980s and 90s saw important progress towards peace, with several ceasefire deals and the creation of the Border Guard Forces (BGFs) following plans for demobilization. Yet, these deals have all failed and have, therefore, generated the proliferation of ANSAs. It was not until 2015 that the government of Aung San Suu Kyi achieved the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA); however, this process has failed to be inclusive, leaving aside key actors after the government imposed restrictions for its signature and as a result, have maintained their armed confrontation. Myanmar is composed of seven states, seven regions, six selfadministered zones (or divisions) and one union territory.2 One of the seven states, Rakhine (situated on the west coast of the country), is the site of ongoing tensions between the Myanmar armed forces and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Violence escalated sharply from October 2016, when ARSA first attacked, and continued to spiral, with the last military crackdown on 25 August 2017. Thus, in order to understand the complex setting in Myanmar, it is crucial to outline the dynamics of these longterm tensions, while focusing on the latest developments in Rakhine state and the challenges these give rise to..."
Source/publisher: Geneva Academy Of International Humanitarian Law And Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-06
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Title: Myanmar’s Crackdown On the Rohingya : Justification as Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing.
Description: "We live in a rapidly changing world in which people often seek about human rights. But it turns meaningless when we see the number of refugees around the world is increasing rapidly. It will be unbelievable to hear that,the present world is facing the most global refugee crisis and we are witnessing a massive shift of humanity due to racial violent disorder, religious virulence, extreme nationalism, political and social conflict. In recent worlds Rohingya Muslims refugee have been the focus of considerable loved ones public concern . It is believed that Rohingya Muslims are the most persecuted population all over the world.They have faced decades of systematic discrimination, stateless and targeted violence since the early 20th century. But the Rohingya affair has been largely ignored by the world community due to geopolitics , something that pushed some scholars to think that they represent a ghost and forgotten ethnic group, suffering slow burning genocide. The UN called the Myanmar authority to put an end the brutal security operation claiming the atrocities against the Rohingya as ‚a textbook example of ethnic cleansing‛ As Myanmar authorities are subjecting the Rohingya Muslim minority to collective punishment ,millions of Rohingya muslims crossed the international border and took shelter in Bangladesh. Bangladesh provided shelter for them from the humanitarian perspective as it was going on for many years with a significant spikes following violent attacks in 1978 ,1991-1992 ,2016 and finally in late August 2017. Following the co-ordinate attack on 30 police camps and an army base by so called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)1 a group previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin on August 25, 2017,causing deaths of 12 police officers, the Myanmar military began a major crackdown in the villages of Northern Rakhaine State. The atrocities included attacks on Rohingya people and locations, looting and burning down Rohingya villages, mass killing of Rohingya civilians, gang rapes, and other sexual violence. As a result Rohingya Muslims started to flee to save their life to avoid ethnic and religious persecution by Myanmar’s security forces and as a neighbouring country their destination is of course Bangladesh. As of 15 October 2017, the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG)2 reported that 537,0001 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since the attacks.But anoher report says that at least 720,000 Rohingya fled after the bloody crackdown and entered Bangladesh to join some 300,000 already living in the camps who took shelter during past influx. More than 6,700 Rohingya Muslims including at least 730 children under the age of five were killed in the first month of the crackdown according to Medcins Sans Frontieres (MSF) an international humanitarian medical non governmental organization (NGO) of French but Myanmar claims officially the figure is only 400. Whatever the figure is, the question arises towards international community whether it will be regarded as ‚Genocide ‚or ‚Ethnic cleansing.‛.....Ethnic cleansing defined: Ethnic cleansing and genocide seems to be same in nature but completely two distinct concept. The term ethnic cleansing is a literal translation of the Serbo-Croatian phrase :‚etnicko ciscenje‛ , that is focused in the context of the 1990’s conflict in the former Youguslavia . But the roots of the term and who started the term is still unknown. It is believed that the term ethnic cleansing is invented by Slobodan Milosevic.3 The expression ethnic cleansing has been used in resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly and has acknowledged in judgements and indictments of the ICTY. There is no international treaty relating to the crime Ethnic Cleansing. As it has not been considered as an independent crime under international law ,so no exact definition will be given or what exact acts will be constituted for the purposes of the ethnic cleansing is not cleared. However a United Nations Commission of experts mandated to look into violations of international humanitarian law in the territory of the former Youguslavia defined ethnic cleansing in its interim report S/25274 as "… rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area."4..."
Source/publisher: Jagannath University (Dhaka)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-03
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Title: Burma 2019 Human Rights Report
Description: "Burma has a quasi-parliamentary system of government in which the national parliament selects the president and constitutional provisions grant one-quarter of parliamentary seats to active-duty military appointees. The military also has the authority to appoint the ministers of defense, home affairs, and border affairs and one of two vice presidents, as well as to assume power over all branches of the government should the president declare a national state of emergency. In 2015 the country held nationwide parliamentary elections that the public widely accepted as a credible reflection of the will of the people. The National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi was the civilian government’s de facto leader and, due to constitutional provisions preventing her from becoming president, remained in the position of state counsellor. The Myanmar Police Force (MPF), under the Ministry of Home Affairs (led by an active-duty general), is responsible for internal security. The Border Guard Police is administratively part of the MPF but operationally distinct. The armed forces under the Ministry of Defense are responsible for external security but are also engaged extensively in internal security, including combat against ethnic armed groups. Under the constitution civilian authorities have no authority over the security forces; the armed forces commander in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, maintained effective control over the security forces. Extreme repression of and discrimination against the minority Rohingya population, who are predominantly Muslim, continued in Rakhine State. Intense fighting between the military and the ethnic-Rakhine Arakan Army (AA) that escalated in January displaced thousands more civilians, further disrupted humanitarian access to vulnerable populations, and resulted in serious abuses of civilian populations. Fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State, as well as fighting there among ethnic armed groups, temporarily displaced thousands of persons and resulted in abuses, including reports of civilian deaths and forced recruitment by the ethnic armed groups. Significant human rights issues included: reports of extrajudicial and arbitrary killings by security forces; enforced disappearance by security forces; torture and rape and other forms of sexual violence by security forces; arbitrary detention by the government; harsh and sometimes life-threatening prison conditions; political prisoners; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; significant problems with the independence of the judiciary; severe restrictions on free expression including arbitrary arrest and prosecution of journalists, and criminal libel laws; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including arrests of peaceful protesters and restrictions on civil society activity; severe restrictions on religious freedom; significant restrictions on freedom of movement, in particular for Rohingya; significant acts of corruption by some officials; some unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers; trafficking in persons; crimes involving violence or threats targeting members of national, ethnic, and religious minorities; laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, although those laws were rarely enforced; and the use of forced and child labor..."
Source/publisher: [US] Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-02
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Title: Religion, hate speech and social media in Myanmar: Analysing methods of intervention
Description: "This thesis has been written as a response to the worrying rise of hate speech online and focuses primarily on Myanmar. It aims to analyse hate speech as a factor of Myanmar’s internal conflicts and, through my own field research and an examination of existing literature, it attempts to suggest effective, long term methods to counter hate and build peace. Building peace and resolving conflict requires commitment to constructing a foundation of activities and actors, across all levels of society, which aim to achieve sustainable reconciliation.1 As Wallensteen suggests, conflict resolution is far more than the absence of violence: it is the agreement of parties to respect each other and live together in peace.2 Therefore, the core focus of this research is to discuss how Smile Education and Development Foundation can equip young people with the tools to challenge online hate speech and bring communities together. This research is specifically focused on Buddhist hate speech, though this is not to suggest that there is no negative rhetoric or actions from Muslims or other minority groups. However, this study would suggest that by transforming negative attitudes towards Muslims and the religious/ethnic/cultural ‘Other’, the chance of future violence from either party decreases significantly. Myanmar has a history of intrastate conflict which is largely down to the marginalization of minority groups; the Burman (Bamar) ethnic group constitutes two thirds of the country but controls the government and military, often failing to protect the rights of the ethnically diverse remainder of the country. To further understand the complex situation, a conflict assessment of Myanmar will be conducted in chapter one, using Mathew Levinger’s four step assessment framework. The assessment will draw upon the marginalization of ethnic and religious groups as a driver of conflict and Buddhist/Muslim tensions, in addition to economic struggles and the oppressive military junta. It is important to address the key components of the conflict in Myanmar to understand how existing tensions can be exploited to spread hatred and mistrust against Muslims, who, as a consequence, are often blamed for problems within society. One of the most common manifestations of religious intolerance, both in Myanmar and other contexts, is online hate speech. The internet has provided tools to enrich society, connect the world, and create educational information available to those who would not have had access to this before. However, these same tools have paradoxically become a platform to spread lies, prejudice and hatred that will often target religious or ethnic minority groups. Chapter two aims to deconstruct online hate speech and the consequences for Myanmar’s Muslim community, focusing primarily on Facebook – the most used social media platform in the country. While such hate speech can be brushed off by some as bigoted ranting or merely painful words, many, including Foxman and Wolf (2013), and Waldron (2012), whose work is discussed in chapter two, believe it could serve as a warning sign for more severe consequences. Worryingly for targeted minority groups such as the Muslim community in Myanmar, hate speech’s widespread appearance makes it seem increasingly acceptable. Once the youth become actively involved in these hate sites, they will be exposed to value sets and ideologies that soon become the norm. With a large percentage of internet users consisting of younger people, the focus of this report, the impact of this hate and the distorted truths that circulate online can affect many generations to come. It is what Waldron describes as a ‘slow poison’ threatening social peace. Chapter three draws on the conclusions made in the conflict assessment of chapter one, and of chapter two’s analysis of the harm of online hate speech in Myanmar, to evaluate the best possible methods of countering hate speech for this context. Through addressing religious peacebuilding ideas from Gopin, examining existing counter hate speech campaigns in Myanmar and from around the world, and bringing in points discussed in both focus groups, I will draw conclusions about methods of prevention, regulation, and counter narratives that may be useful in bringing together Myanmar’s Buddhist and Muslim communities..."
Source/publisher: University of Winchester (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-02
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Title: Construing the Rohingya Crisis: Tracing in difference and Injustice in a Narrative of Displacement and Refugee
Description: "Amid all cosmopolitan whimpering of a barrier free world, modern-State with its essence of legal coercion and phlegmatic exclusivity continues to flaunt. In such absoluteness, enquiring the issues of people seeking refugee would be synonymous to that of traversing the margins. Particularly at a time of extreme jingoism and other form of conservative assertions, the idea of ‘global village’ unfolds as a ‘formless chaos’, more particularly for the displaced people and subsequent forced refugees. While prolongation of UN and the ever expanding wave of globalization yield a consolatory ground, the reality of many lives opens horizon of indispensable necessity to contemplate global injustice and question the ideal protocols of international morality. For instance, the images of Syrian exodus in recent times reminded many the reality of inter war period. Moreover, the events, inter alia, Brexit, the result of U.S. Presidential election and subsequent anti-immigration policies and many immigration related reforms under taken by sub continental governments insinuate the world might be undergoing a radical phase of extremely inwardly complacent national attitude. Many a countries not signing the 1951 Refugee Convention makes the issue of the refugees all the more important and worth academic contemplation. In fact, the immediate fallout of many refugee related events has given the world a pressing sense of human rights violation in multiple facets as well as degrees. More often than not, the world has proved to be too unkind to let the hapless sustain. If one were to rhapsodise recent cases of refugee that can really interrogate the intrinsic values of human survival, for obvious reason, it would have been the Syrian exodus and the Statelessness of the Rohingyas. While the agonizing plights of these two populations have been captivated by media with subsequent deliberation, a fruitful solution to their problem is still a distant dream. This paper attempts to decipher the Rohingya issue and construe it as an enduring injustice embodied in indifference as well as abandonment. It is with this argument that the paper starts with a brief account of the historiography of the Rohingyas, giving some sense to understand the trajectory of their current predicament. The next section would seek to trace the root, events and pattern of probable genocide inflicted on these people. This section would establish the violence, marginalization and state sponsored atrocities to recover the pattern of a radical and enduring injustice. The last section arrests the state of stolidity on part of international community as well as abandonment of the population by the Burmese government. This would eventually prove their case as one of enduring injustice embodied in indifference..."
Source/publisher: Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT)
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-01
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Title: Rohingya Refugees to Bangladesh: Historical Exclusions and Contemporary Marginalization
Summary: "Rohingya refugees from the Arakan state of Myanmar found their ways a number of times to Bangladesh to escape state-sponsored persecution. While there is no dearth of studies on refugees, Ro-...
Description: "Rohingya refugees from the Arakan state of Myanmar found their ways a number of times to Bangladesh to escape state-sponsored persecution. While there is no dearth of studies on refugees, Ro- hingya has so far received very little research attention. This article tries to understand the dynamics and severity of reported humil- iation by the government on the Rohingya population, and how are they marginalized in their destination points. A qualitatively and quantitatively designed questionnaire was used to interview 134 refugees from two existing camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses reinforce that the level of abuse and persecution perpetrated upon them surpass all human rights standards. This was confirmed by both the in-depth and the case studies. These people were forced out by state-sponsored perse- cution and again they are forced to be repatriated due to the fact that Bangladesh cannot afford to welcome them back. It is difficult for anyone who has never been forcibly displaced to imagine what it is like to be a refugee. — Kofi Annan Contemporary global concerns essentially revolve around the dynam- ics of environment, climate change, health, war, and widespread poverty. However, Myanmar tends to remain a peripheral entity from the centralities of the current global discourse. Arakani minorities in Myanmar struggle to obtain exorcism from persecutions perpetrated on them by the tyrannical government. The world conscience sends an impression that they are blind to the call for democracy of the mass population. No loud protests are heard from the authoritative nations against the captive democracy in Myanmar. Historically, freedom has remained a myth for the Myanmarese1 in general and the minorities in particular. Arakan is the district that has been the witness to the endured persecutions on its inhabitants of varied range. The argument employed here is whether this population from Arakan should be considered “refugees” or “stateless.” Determinations as to who qualifies as a refugee are subjective because political and economic boundaries have become blurred, although the human rights groups and political activists tend to expand the definition to entail those fleeing catastrophes emerging in the natural landscapes in current times—climate change, for instance. Refugees, by definition, are those fleeing from war, conflict, persecution, or a fear of persecution (Abrar, 1999; Aman-ud-dollah, 1999; Barsky, 2000; Robinson & Segrott, 2002) that act in the decision to escape (Middleton, 2005, p. 2; Smith, 1991). Refugee flows, asylum-seekers, internal displaces, and development-induced displacees have increased exponentially in volume and have gained political significance since the end of the Cold War (Castles, 2003). Generally, there are two major patterns of refugee—first, the vast majority of refugees are hosted by neighboring countries with over 80% remaining within their region of origin due to the gravitation law effect; second, the number of urban refugees continues to grow. While I agree with this statement, I defer widely at the same time because refugee flows by and large are directed to the nearest countries with weaker borders that share identical culture and religion. Therefore, Rohingyas headed in huge number to Bangladesh, rather than to India (Figure 1). While the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) has fallen—the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) responsibility was estimated at 25.1 million—available information suggests that a total of 67 million people had been forcibly displaced at the end of 2007, including 16 million refugees, of whom 11.4 million fall under UNHCR’s mandate and some 4.6 million Palestinian refugees under the responsibility of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The number of IDPs is estimated at 51 million worldwide; some 26 million were displaced as a result of armed conflict and another 25 million were displaced by natural disasters. In addition, while often not considered as being displaced per se, it is estimated that there exists some 12 million stateless people worldwide (UNHCR, 2008; Russell & Teitelbaum, 1992)..."
Source/publisher: Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies via Routledge (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
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Title: Burma and Bangladesh - Regional Crisis Response Fact Sheet #4, Fiscal Year (FY) 2021
Description: "SITUATION AT A GLANCE: 1 MILLION People in Need of Humanitarian Assistance in Burma UN – January 2021.....106,000 IDPs in Protracted Displacement in Burma’s Kachin and Northern Shan UN – March 2021.....126,000 IDPs—Originally Displaced in 2012—in Burma’s Rakhine IDP Sites UN – March 2021.....99,000 IDPs Displaced by Burmese Military–AA Fighting in Rakhine and Chin UN – March 2021.....884,041 Refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar UNHCR – February 2021......A major fire in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar District displaces more than 10,000 Rohingya refugee households in late March. In response, USG partners deliver food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, and WASH assistance to affected households. Violence and in security in Burma escalate following the February 1 Burmese military coup d’état against the civilian government. The UN, USG, and humanitarian organizations call for an immediate end to violence against civilians. Clashes between Burmese military forces and ethnic armed organizations in Kachin, Kayin, and Shan generate additional displacement and humanitarian needs.....KEY DEVELOPMENTS: USG Partners Respond to Major Fire in Bangladesh Refugee Camps A fire of unknown origin spread across three Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar District on March 22, resulting in 11 deaths and approximately 600 injuries, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG). The fire displaced more than 10,000 households and damaged approximately 1,600 facilities providing services for refugees and host community members, directly affecting more than 48,000 people. As of April 5, an estimated 12,500 people remained displaced as a result of the fire, while approximately 32,500 individuals had returned to the camps they previously resided in, the ISCG reports. As of April 15, a total of 84 fires had erupted in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in 2021, surpassing the 82 fires recorded during the entirety of 2020. In response to heightened humanitarian needs following the March 22 fire, humanitarian organizations— including U.S. Government (USG) partners—are delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) assistance to affected households in Cox’s Bazar. USAID/BHA partner the UN World Food Program (WFP) had distributed approximately 1.3 million prepared meals, more than 92,000 gallons of safe drinking water, and an estimated 15,200 rations of High Energy Biscuits to fire-affected households as of April 12, while State/PRM partner the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had provided approximately 317,000 gallons of safe drinking water and 11,000 jerry cans to affected households. In addition, USG partner the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) established temporary child-friendly spaces and nutrition screening sites and provided access to emergency latrines for more than 23,000 people, while USG partner the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has distributed more than 8,000 hygiene kits, in addition to providing health services, psychological first aid, and shelter assistance to vulnerable individuals. State/PRM partner the UN World Health Organization (WHO) also reached more than 9,500 individuals with psychological first aid. Moreover, the UN released $14 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund for relief agencies to provide multi-sector assistance for approximately 82,000 people, and the European Union also announced $588,000 in emergency funding to provide emergency shelter support and WASH assistance to households affected by the fire..."　　
Source/publisher: United States Agency for International Development (Washington, D.C.) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: Global Norms Are Under Attack in Post-Coup Myanmar
Sub-title: The world’s action – or inaction – will have an impact far beyond Myanmar’s own borders.
Description: "With Myanmar’s post-coup crisis dragging into its third month, security forces commanded by the coup leader Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing show no sign of abating in their brutal suppression of the anti-coup protests that have erupted across the country since early February. Despite their massive numbers, protestors have been highly disciplined and peaceful. It was only after the security forces began using excessive and lethal force that a small pocket of them resorted to handmade weapons such as Molotov cocktails and outdated hunting guns to defend themselves, with many more realizing that armed resistance was their only remaining option. If the security forces have shown troublingly little respect for international norms in their treatment of civilians and activists, no less troubling has been the response from the international community in the face of what is fast becoming a “bloodbath,” in the words of Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar. In other words, although the people of Myanmar are the ones at the receiving end of all these atrocity crimes, the fact that they are ongoing and the perpetrators remain undeterred points to a collective failure on the part of the international community to uphold the norms to which it has committed itself, and sends a very dangerous message to current and would-be strongmen. As many have now warned, with the ever-more-real possibility of the country being plunged into a full-fledged civil war, the kind worse than what we have seen in the past 70 years, time is fast running out for the international community to act. The international community must wake up to the depth and extent of the reign of terror Min Aung Hlaing has unleashed in his ruthless attempt to crush opposition and assert his illegal and unconstitutional rule. His security forces have been given a free pass to kill unarmed civilians, to arrest and torture people at will, and to loot and destroy private property. According to the monitoring organization the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of April 21, the junta’s security forces had killed at least 739 civilians, some murdered in the most horrific manner. Among those killed are 50 children; the latest victim was a 7-year-old girl, who was shot dead at her home in Mandalay. As reported by the investigative journal Myanmar Now, there have been several documented cases in which an activist arrested overnight has turned up dead the next morning. In yet another but definitely not isolated incident, an armed police officer made a passer-by crawl on his hands and knees in a disturbingly dehumanizing manner. So far, at least 3,331 people, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and other elected MPs, politicians, student leaders and human rights activists, remain under detention, some in undisclosed locations. On March 27 alone, at least 114 civilians in 44 towns across the country were killed by the junta. Junta forces have gone so far as exhuming and dragging away bodies. On March 28, they burned a man alive. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. Before the coup, U.N. investigators had found a genocidal intent in the crimes committed against the Rohingya people by the security forces commanded by the same general Min Aung Hlaing. During their so-called “clearance operations” in August 2017, at least 6,700 were killed, mass rapes and arson were committed, and more than 700,000 people were forced to flee to Bangladesh. Furthermore, the U.N. Fact Finding Mission reported in September 2018 that the military has likely committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kachin, Shan, and Rakhine states, and in April 2020, the U.N. Special Rapporteur reported that “possible war crimes and crimes against humanity were ongoing in Rakhine and Chin States.” Myanmar is today facing charges of genocide for the violence at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Due to ongoing aerial bombing and offensives targeting civilians and their facilities across the country, thousands of Karen people are fleeing to neighboring Thailand, where there has arisen an urgent humanitarian situation. All this is to say that Min Aung Hlaing and his State Administration Council (SAC) are fast turning Myanmar into a “human rights ground zero.” From mass murder to torture to arbitrary arrests to killing children to shooting at medics providing emergency care to the wounded, almost every article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being violated or is under threat. In the borderland areas where ethnic armies have been fighting for their right to self-determination for the past 70 years, aerial bombings by his forces are deliberately targeting civilian populations and facilities, adding to the war crimes and crimes against humanity against minority peoples, and the genocide or ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people that the military has already committed. For those foreign states claiming that they have a policy of working with only “states” as opposed to “governments” – if they mean by any chance that the SAC is the state in question – they must get their facts right. The SAC cannot even fulfil its basic duty as a state, namely, to provide security to its people. Nor can it provide basic services like healthcare with many civil servants having joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to protest the military’s illegal, illegitimate, and increasingly bloody coup. So far as Ming Aung Hlaing’s coup regime is recognized as Myanmar’s de facto or de jure government, it must also be recognized that it is actively committing mass atrocities against its own population. Therefore, for foreign nations to recognize the SAC as the “state” would make a mockery of their commitment to uphold human rights and international law, as the latter is showing absolutely no respect for these. On the other hand, the newly formed National Unity Government, which it is imperative for the international community to recognize as the legitimate government for no other reason than that it receives overwhelming support from the people, cannot yet protect the people. Thus, the onus is now on the international community to protect the civilian population in Myanmar before the forces of SAC commit further atrocities against them, and sink the country deeper into chaos. What is lacking for urgent international intervention, whether in the form of R2P or otherwise, is not evidence on the ground but political will at the U.N. and in the capitals of the most powerful nations on earth. As part of their “statement diplomacy,” foreign missions based in Myanmar have joined a chorus of other diplomatic voices in calling for restoration of democracy among other things in the country. With so much emphasis being put on restoration of what existed before the coup, it should be clear that what the pro-democratic forces inside Myanmar want is not a status quo ante in which the military enjoys a privileged role in politics without being accountable to the people or any elected body. Differently put, what we had pre-coup was a military dictatorship with some democratic characteristics. In the meantime, as another massacre in Bago in which junta’s forces have killed more than 80 protesters shows, Min Aung Hlaing is in no way backing down. Furthermore, letting the generals off the hook for the most atrocious crimes would make a farce of global justice, and more importantly, would utterly fail the people of Myanmar in their search for justice. Meanwhile, the pro-democracy protesters remain as determined as ever to see the end of Min Aung Hlaing’s illegal and brutal reign. Many of those we have spoken to have told us that they are prepared to fight until the end using every means at their disposal. Sanctions, with their ineffectual record from the past, imposed by the U.S., U.K., and EU on the junta’s top generals and its economic complex are failing to deter them. As Min Aung Hlaing’s forces continue to commit mass murders and carry out summary arrests at the sites of urban protest and his bombs rain down on villages in the borderlands, friends of the Myanmar people might have to prepare themselves to contemplate more coercive measures, such as arming the resistance movement, including the ethnic armed organizations that are already in the fight. As the former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel wrote recently on his Twitter account, “the Tatmadaw is beyond reason. I see no value in dialogue with them until and unless they recognize they cannot win and make clear they are looking for a way out.” The people of Myanmar have shown their bravery, but will the rest of the world rise to the occasion? The clock is ticking..."
Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: Rising food and fuel prices a looming threat to the poorest and most vulnerable in Myanmar, warns WFP
Sub-title: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned of rising food and fuel prices as the current political unrest starts to impact supply chains and markets.
Description: "WFP’s food price monitoring shows that food prices are trending upwards in some urban areas with the retail price of palm oil up 20 percent since the start of February in the peri-urban areas of the main city Yangon, and rice prices in the peri-urban areas of Yangon and Mandalay also up 4 percent since the last week of February. Across the country, the cost of rice showed an average increase of 3 percent on monitored markets from mid-January to mid-February. However, in a few townships in Kachin state, such as Bhamo and Putao, the increases are 20-35 percent. “These initial signs are troubling, especially for the most vulnerable people who were already living meal-to-meal,” said WFP Myanmar Country Director Stephen Anderson. “Coming on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, if these price trends continue they will severely undermine the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to put enough food on the family table.” Steep spikes in oil prices have been observed in northern Rakhine where the average retail price of cooking oil increased by 27 percent from January to February, and in Maungdaw township the price of pulses jumped 15 percent. Increases in the price of cooking oil have also been observed in central Rakhine State (11 percent) and in Tanintharyi Region (14 percent). WFP has also noted an increase of 15 percent in the cost of fuel countrywide since 1 February, raising concerns about further food price hikes. In northern Rakhine, the price of petrol has increased by 33 percent and diesel by 29 percent. These rising food and fuel prices are compounded by the near paralysis of the banking sector, slowdowns in remittances, and widespread limits on cash availability. In order to ensure life-saving monthly cash and food distributions continue to over 360,000 people – mainly internally displaced and living in camps – WFP is building a contingency food stock, which would allow a switch from cash to in-kind food assistance in case cash availability continues to be limited, or market supply is constrained. “WFP reiterates the call of the United Nations Secretary-General for the will of the Myanmar people expressed in recent elections to be respected,” said Anderson. “At WFP we know all too well how hunger can quickly follow when peace and dialogue are sidelined.” WFP’s food price data were collected from more than 70 townships, across 100 markets and 250 plus separate traders and shops. While monitoring the new trends closely, WFP’s first priority is to ensure its monthly life-saving food assistance continues to reach those in need..."
Source/publisher: World Food Programme (Rome)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-24
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Title: Introduction: Myanmar MediaHistorically and the Challengesof Transition
Description: "At the end of August 2018, as this book was about to go to press,the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) released its report summarizing the main findings and recommendations of its Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. Thereport outlines serious human rights violations and abuses in Kachin,Shan and Rakhine States. It recommends that six senior military figures be investigated for genocide against the Rohingya, including Myanmar’s armed forces commander-in-chief Senior General MinAung Hlaing, and that the case be taken up by the InternationalCriminal Court (ICC), or alternatively that an ad hoc internationalcriminal tribunal be created (Human Rights Council 2018). 1 The report notes that “The role of social media is significant. Facebook has been a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate, in a contextwhere for most users Facebook is the internet. Although improved inrecent months, Facebook’s response has been slow and ineffective” Reproduced from Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change, edited by Lisa Brooten, Jane Madlyn McElhone and Gayathry Venkiteswaran (Singapore: ISEAS Ð Yusof IshakInstitute, 2019). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is notinfringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of ISEAS Publishing.Individual chapters are available at . 2 Brooten, McElhone and Venkiteswaran (p. 74). Facebook quickly responded to the report’s release byremoving the accounts of eighteen high-profile army figures in Myanmar, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and fifty-two Facebook pages, which had a combined total following of close totwelve million users (Facebook 2018).A few days later, two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were sentenced to seven years in prison under the Official Secrets Act over accusations of holding secret government documentsthat they intended to share with international media and the ethnicarmed group Arakan Army (Sithu Aung Myint 2018). The two werearrested in December 2017 after investigating a massacre of Rohingyamen and boys in the coastal town of Inn Din in northern Rakhine State. After responding to a call from police officers, who met them in a restaurant and handed them documents, the journalists were arrestedfor having the documents in their possession. As they were beingtaken away from the court after the sentencing, Wa Lone was quotedas saying, “We know we did nothing wrong. I have no fear. I believein justice, democracy and freedom” (Shoon Naing and Aye Min Thant2018, ¶22). The arrest and subsequent sentencing were met with nationaland international condemnation, as was the rejection of their appealin early 2019. At a public protest to call for their release, organizer Ei Ei Moe, from the pro-democracy youth movement Generation Wave,described their jailing as “blocking the eyes and blinding the ears ofthe public” (Dunant and Su Myat Mon 2018, ¶15). These events underscore the complexities of Myanmar’s muchlauded “transition”. Celebrated early on for the release of imprisoned journalists and the end of pre-publication censorship, hopes forincreased freedom of expression and media freedom were tempered by the crackdown that followed. Much has happened in the mediasector since the controversial elections in 2010 organized by themilitary junta and boycotted by Aung San Suu Kyi and the NationalLeague for Democracy (NLD), including reforms to laws that hadrepressed the media for decades. Some argue that these changes area continuation of the military government’s Seven Step Roadmap toDisciplined Democracy, announced in 2003 (see the interview withThiha Saw, this volume; Lall 2016; Rogers 2012)..."
Source/publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute (Singapore)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Myanmar’s stabilisation challenges
Description: "Myanmar faces a number of significant stabilisation challenges including frequent natural disasters, environmental challenges and organised crime, in addition to the challenges associated with a nascent democratisation process. This report, however, focuses exclusively on violent conflict and displacement. Myanmar has been afflicted by armed conflict since independence. During the 1960s-1980s, a number of armed groups were able to establish ‘effectively independent micro-states’ (EC, 2016, p. 3). These had their own ‘rudimentary’ governments, service provision, and foreign policies (EC, 2016, p. 3). This situation persists in some parts of Myanmar (EC, 2016, p. 3). The communities currently most at risk of, and affected by, conflict and violence are those living in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone and in other parts of northern Shan State. Other affected communities include those living in Kachin, Rakhine, Chin and Kayin States. The community most affected by the threat of forced displacement is the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group, in Rakhine State. The nature of conflict in these areas ranges from occasional to frequent clashes between armed groups and government forces. In addition to armed conflict, Rakhine State suffers from tensions between the Muslim and Buddhist communities. There were more than 700,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Myanmar in 2016 (McConnachie, 2016, p. 4). Moreover, more than 128,000 refugees from Myanmar were living in Thailand in 2014 (UNICEF, 2014, p. 3). According to UNICEF, displacement can constitute a driver of conflict, depending on whether it is forced or not, and on the extent to which host communities are prepared for IDPs. Women and children are reportedly disproportionately affected by migration and displacement, and make up the majority of those who are IDPs and refugees (ibid). The literature identifies a number of sources of resilience in Myanmar, which include:  Institutionalisation of peace-making: Both the previous and current governments declared their commitment to ending conflict in Myanmar. A number of peace initiatives and inter-faith dialogues have taken place in order to mitigate tensions and conflict in the country.  Economy: Myanmar’s economy has considerable potential. A number of economic reforms have been undertaken and economic growth is strong, although it has been slowing recently.  Strengthened civil society: The previous government’s decision to allow issue-driven CSOs to operate in Myanmar has led to a proliferation of such organisations.  Education: The previous government undertook steps to reform the education system in Myanmar in a bid to end discrimination against ethnic minorities.  Release of political prisoners: A significant number of political prisoners have been released since the new National League for Democracy (NLD) led government came to power.  Increased press freedom: Extensive media reform has resulted in a proliferation of ‘alternative’ information and has rendered the government subject to increased scrutiny. The literature identifies a number of policy options for mitigating tensions in Myanmar. International actors could potentially provide support and assistance in a number of areas. These include technical support for the conclusion, implementation and monitoring of ceasefire agreements, and support for an inclusive national political dialogue. They also include various forms of assistance for recovery and development, as well as support for educational reform. There is a sizeable body of literature on Myanmar’s stabilisation challenges. This consists of a mixture of peer-reviewed journal articles, policy briefs, and reports by NGOs and international organisations. While gender is not addressed in all of the papers reviewed for the purposes of this report, a number of papers do look at gender, specifically in the context of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and in the context of peace-making and peacebuilding..."
Source/publisher: Governance and Social Development Resource Centre
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: ‘Transfer of civilians’ as a ‘colonial wrong’ in international criminal law? Myanmar’s migration history as a hazardous argument
Description: "Did migration processes into colonial Burma – from India and elsewhere – amount to a “transfer of civilians” into an occupied territory, a practice prohibited by international law today? Should the international community reconsider such colonial-era population movements as a “colonial wrong”, conceding that a historical injustice has been committed by European colonialism, in order to make contemporary Myanmar political and military actors more ready to accept accountability for the severe human rights violations committed against the Rohingya? These questions, based on problematic assumptions about history and with potentially dangerous political implications, were discussed at a meeting of international lawyers in Yangon, the proceedings of which were recently published online (Morten Bergsmo, Wolfgang Kaleck and Kyaw Yin Hlaing (eds.): Colonial Wrongs and Access to International Law; Brussels: Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher 9 November 2020). International criminal justice faces a crisis of legitimacy. The International Criminal Court (ICC, constituted by the Rome Statute and operative since 2002) especially stands accused of applying what Wolfgang Kaleck has called “double standards”. Its prosecution of severe human rights violators focuses on persons from countries with little power in global politics, many of them in Sub-Saharan Africa so far. At the same time, the Court finds it virtually impossible to prosecute perpetrators protected by major powers in the international system, especially the United States. The argument of “double standards” can be extended by giving it a postcolonial pitch: international criminal law is unable to address “colonial wrongs” – crimes committed by colonial powers – and thus cannot deal with the history behind current governance failures and violent conflicts that contributed to the very human rights violations it tries to prosecute. In order to address such questions, senior international law specialists and academics met for a conference in Yangon in November 2019. Myanmar constituted a very conscious choice of location for the conference and provided the backdrop to discuss questions such as: Did the migration of substantial non-indigenous populations (primarily from India) into colonial Burma constitute a “transfer of civilians” into an occupied territory – a practice that is regarded as a crime against humanity under today’s international criminal law? And if so, how should this be taken into account as a “colonial wrong” when prosecuting perpetrators of severe human rights violations, especially those perpetrated against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2016-7? (The conference volume includes papers on systematic legal aspects and a few other country case studies, especially on the fate of indigenous populations in European settler colonies. However, it does not include studies on other historical examples of colonial-era population movements that could have put the Burma case into a broader historical perspective.) The decision by the Yangon conference organizers to discuss their agenda through the lens of Burmese history (and, of course, to hold it in Myanmar itself) could be seen as courageous; one may regard it as hazardous as well. The hazard is likely obvious to students of Myanmar history and contemporary politics: Does this “transfer of civilians into occupied territory” line of argument really do justice to Burma’s actual colonial history? And does it not risk undermining the citizenship rights of people whose ancestors migrated into Myanmar a century or more ago – and whose very citizenship rights are already severely embattled in Myanmar today? The organizers of the Yangon conference were of course aware they were entering a particularly difficult territory. They did so for good reason. In his concept paper laying the groundwork for the conference (first published in August 2019), Morten Bergsmo observes an “unusually polarised climate” in Myanmar around the issue of human rights violations in Rakhine. The official Myanmar narrative frames the issue primarily as one of “illegal migration” and “suppression of terrorism”. By contrast, a major strand in the international narrative (in reality mostly that of Western countries, U.N. institutions and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) discusses “the Rohingya genocide” and calls for prosecution under international criminal law. Bergsmo suggests that a recognition of “colonial wrongs”, especially the destruction of the sovereignty of the precolonial Burmese kingdom and the following mass migration of people from India into Burma, enabled by the British, may help to create a bridge, enabling a more fruitful dialogue. I certainly agree with Bergsmo’s observation on the “unusually polarized climate” around Myanmar today that currently makes meaningful dialogue about severe human rights violations very difficult, if not impossible. However, I very much doubt that the acceptance of what may be called a “postcolonial guilt theory” of acknowledging “colonial wrongs” in Burma will contribute to any greater degree of acceptance for ICC proceedings in Myanmar. I doubt this not merely because the argument is based on weak legal and misleading historical foundations. Even worse, such a line of reasoning – if it ever enters mainstream political debate – obviously risks strengthening the militant exclusionary nationalism in Myanmar that stands at the root of the Rohingya crisis. And it risks doing so for all the wrong reasons. To be sure, Bergsmo and the other international lawyers involved in this project do not want to trade responsibilities: In their view, this is not about downplaying or relativising responsibility for killings and other human rights violations against the Rohingya or others. It is about creating a dialogue that may lead to greater acceptance of international judicial proceedings on these violations. The book itself includes an explicit warning by the only Myanmar contributor and editor, Kyaw Yin Hlaing of the Centre for Diversity and National Harmony in Yangon. In his chapter, he reviews how contemporaries perceived the migration of Indians, and especially Indian Muslims, into colonial Burma as a result of the colonial situation, stoking fears of indigenous people being overwhelmed, of indigenous men losing their land and their women to foreigners; he also recalls how these sentiments were systematically fuelled further by military rulers as part of anti-colonial narratives since the 1960s. Kyaw Yin Hlaing cautions that, within this context, legal arguments about historical wrongs run a high risk of being misused to undermine peaceful coexistence among different ethnic groups today: “Promoting accountability and the legitimacy of international law are valid considerations, but are less important than the lives and well-being of the populations (of all kinds) living in former colonies” (362). The remainder of the volume, however, does not take much notice of this warning. Instead, rather than reflecting the concrete historical and social context that their legal arguments about “colonial wrongs” may meet in Myanmar today, the contributors proceed, with what they appear to think of as their righteous “postcolonial” approach, into very treacherous legal and historical territory. On the legal side, the limitations of the argument are obvious and even acknowledged accordingly by contributors. The “transfer of civilians” into “occupied territory” constitutes an international crime only since the (Fourth) Geneva Convention of 1949. The Convention explicitly outlawed such a practice informed by the experiences of Nazi Germany’s exterminatory policies in occupied Eastern Europe. (In more recent decades, the concept has usually been applied to legally attack Israeli settlement policies in the West Bank, though not for example, against Moroccan population settlement policies in the former Western Sahara). “Transfer of civilians” was reaffirmed as a “crime against humanity” and “war crime” under the Rome Statute that created the ICC. Legally, therefore, any “transfers” before 1949 – including nearly all population movements under European colonial rule in Africa and Asia – are not covered under these prohibitions. Nonetheless, various contributors to the volume set out to develop lines of argument designed to describe actions by European colonial states as legally relevant “colonial wrongs” or “grievances” that may have led to atrocities later on. Not being a lawyer myself, I am not in a position to judge whether and how any such arguments have a potential to become part of relevant international law; the authors are surely committed to this. Beyond the immanent logic of these legal arguments, however, we also need to ask whether they make sense in the concrete case of the history of colonial Burma. It is one thing to assert historical and political responsibility of former colonial powers for obvious atrocities committed during their rule, such as the 1904-8 genocide of the Herero and Nama people in what was then German South West Africa (Namibia), or the issue of British capital punishment practices in colonial Kenya during the Mau Mau war in the 1950s. It is an entirely different – and very wrong – matter to group British migration policies in colonial Burma into the same (or a similar) class of “colonial wrongs”. The volume under review includes two contributions, by Jacques Leider and Derek Tonkin, which document the history of migration into Arakan / Rakhine in great detail. While there has been a presence of Muslim communities in Arakan for centuries, they show specifically that labour-related cross-border migration from the Chittagong area of Bengal began even before British colonial rule and expanded rapidly under it, especially in the latter years of the 19th and the early 20th century. Labour needs of local ethnic Rakhine landlords were a major factor; settlement and land acquisition by the migrants followed. Over time this led to a concentration of Muslim agriculturalists in Northern Rakhine who later acquired the Rohingya ethnonym (a fact disputed by Rohingya nationalists who claim a much earlier origin of the term). Until 1937, all this happened within the single territory of British India of which Burma was a part, without any internal border controls. Migration into colonial Arakan, with no force by the colonial power involved, was driven by economic needs and interests, and it was pursued by local individual and group agency. To categorize this process as a “colonial wrong” constitutes an ahistorical narrative which in effect denies agency to any colonial subjects. Likewise, Indian migration into the mainland and the urban centres of colonial Burma, especially Rangoon, was driven by the economic interest and agency of those who migrated, mostly from other parts of British India (while some came from China as well). Again, no forced labour was involved here. British policies played a stronger role than in Rakhine, in so far as the colonial state and the colonial economy created a demand for business professionals, traders and urban workers from India to move to Burma. In addition, civil servants and soldiers were temporarily transferred into colonial Burma, and some of them may have decided to settle there later on. For all of these groups, the colonial state made movement and long-term settlement possible, for example by creating an enabling environment of transport systems and urban facilities. All this led to social tension and instances of violence by the 1930s and contributed to the prominent anti-Indian streak within Burmese anti-colonial nationalism. However, the policies and incentives employed by the British in Burma were pretty much standard practices of “development policy”, as conceptualized by colonial powers in the first half of the 20th century; some of them were even continued after independence. To describe resulting migration processes under colonial rule as a “transfer of civilians” into an “occupied territory” (with the connotation that they were designed to overwhelm, drive out or exterminate the local Burmese population) does not only constitute a severe category error. It risks feeding into the “anti-foreigner”, xenophobic narrative within Burmese (and Rakhine) nationalism that has its historical roots in the late colonial period but has become ever more extreme under military rule since 1962. In effect, this narrative culminated in the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law and contributed to the perception of the Rohingya as “illegal aliens”, leading to violence and ultimately resulting in their flight and expulsion, in 2017. Of course, the experts advancing the “colonial wrongs” argument who contributed to the volume under review do not intend to condone any such discrimination or violence. But they appear to underestimate the fact that a core element of the very narrative they are proposing in order to increase global acceptance for international criminal law – that colonialism committed a crime by bringing in “foreigners” – is in fact already a core element of the exclusionary narrative of Burmese nationalism. It has been in use for decades, has been worsening over time, and it has already led to extreme marginalization and violence. Does all this matter? Clearly, a more balanced approach – one that does not just let powerful perpetrators off the hook while prosecuting only those who are already out of power – is very necessary in order to secure the very legitimacy of the international criminal law system. However, the Myanmar example shows that an inappropriate application of a simplistic, if not outright wrong postcolonial narrative is risky. Defenders of the Myanmar official position on the Rohingya issue hardly need international lawyers to remind them that “Indians”, “Bengalis” or other foreigners who migrated into the country in colonial times came in as a result of a “colonial wrong”. They have been making this point all along, but now they can do so with innovative phrasing and the international academic and legal legitimation provided by this volume. Disturbingly, they appear to do so already: Derek Tonkin (281-2, and email communication, 18.11.2020) documents the first two instances of the verbatim use of the “transfer of civilians” argument employed by high-ranking Myanmar officials in U.N. contexts, within weeks after the publication of Morten Bergsmo’s concept paper. It is difficult to think of this as a mere coincidence. The military coup of February 1st, 2021, has led the country into a massive crisis. The outcome is anything but clear at this point in time, and Myanmar may face an extended period of military rule, violent conflict, economic decline and even state failure. But the broad resistance against the military takeover and the political dynamics since the coup also have a potential to do away with long-established, outdated ideas and institutions in Myanmar’s political and legal system, in order to create a true break with the past. Many in Myanmar and internationally no longer see the Myanmar military as a legitimate partner in any substantive discussion about the political future of the country; in their view, the Tatmadaw has to return to the barracks without claiming special political prerogatives, or it has to disappear as an institution. A Rohingya voice has been emerging in the protests against the regime, and there is hope that the community will gain broader acceptance among the Burmese majority population. The declaration of the Federal Democracy Charter and the intent to abolish the 2008 constitution by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) on March 31st, 2021, imply an outright rejection of fundamental political ideas and institutions imposed by the Tatmadaw over decades. This could and should include a rejection of the very concept of belonging represented by the idea of “national races” (taingyinthar), and of the system of graded citizenship rights, based on an individual’s real or putative migratory background. Instead, Myanmar should acquire a new citizenship law that follows globally accepted standards, is inclusive and provides equal rights to everyone living in the country, not subject to political or bureaucratic manipulation. I have shown in this article that arguments about real or imagined “colonial wrongs” in the debate and legal discourse about contemporary human rights violations, when applied to Burma/Myanmar, were highly problematic even before the coup. Now and in any future processes of transitional justice, however, they deserve to be discarded in their entirety, as a misguided attempt of appeasing perpetrators of human rights violations on a grand scale and their political allies. Dr. Axel Harneit-Sievers, a historian by professional background, has been the country director of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s Myanmar office in Yangon from 2018 until May 2021. Opinions expressed here are personal and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung..."
Source/publisher: "Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar
Description: "1.The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 42/3, in which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was requested to follow up on the implementation by the Government of Myanmar of the recommendations made by the independent international fact-finding mission, including those on accountability, and to continue to track progress in relation to human rights in Myanmar, including of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities. 2. The report was prepared on the basis of primary and secondary information collected from various sources – including primary witness testimonies, the Government, the United Nations, civil society organizations, representatives of ethnic and religious minority communities, diplomats, media professionals, academics and other experts. Without access to the country, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) adhered to a consistent methodology of gathering information via remote interviews conducted with over 80 victims and witnesses of human rights violations and abuses. Primary sources were subjected to a rigorous verification and corroboration process using a variety of independent or other sources, including, but not restricted to, satellite imagery and reports and statements by the Government. Factual determinations on cases, incidents and patterns were made where there were reasonable grounds to believe that incidents had occurred as described. OHCHR sought input from the Government on the issues raised in the present report and a draft was shared with the Government for comment. No response has yet been received. 3. The mandate of the fact-finding mission1 expired in September 2019. The factfinding mission issued two mandated reports2 and four thematic papers.3 For the present report, OHCHR analysed 109 recommendations made by the fact-finding mission to the Government and the United Nations in Myanmar, grouped thematically, including on conflict and the protection of civilians; accountability; sexual and gender-based violence; fundamental freedoms; economic, social and cultural rights; institutional and legal reforms; and actions by the United Nations system..."
Source/publisher: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/45/5)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-17
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Title: Pathways to Justice for ‘Atrocity Crimes’ in Myanmar: Is There Political Will?
Summary: "What instruments and mechanisms are available to harness the ‘political will’ to pursue justice for the allegations of ‘atrocity crime’ in Rakhine, Myanmar? Analysing country’s ratification trend,...
Description: "What instruments and mechanisms are available to harness the ‘political will’ to pursue justice for the allegations of ‘atrocity crime’ in Rakhine, Myanmar? Analysing country’s ratification trend, declarations upon ratification on relevant global instruments, and interactions with the un on human rights issues, this paper reveals the ‘mind’ of Myanmar and its obligations. Exploring the mechanism of four International Crime Tribunals (icts), it outlines the pathways to pursue justice. Revealing the inadequacies of current actions by key state actors resulting in invidious outcomes that privilege impunity for atrocity crimes, the paper suggests ways to harness the political will to pursue justice. This paper contends that the establishment of an ict for the trial of atrocity crimes in Rakhine (ictm-R) would be best facilitated by: a consensus mandate to prosecute individuals and not the state; precisely defined jurisdiction; and provisions to integrate the host nation’s apparatus, buttressed by the advocacy of the right groups and media..."
Source/publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Netherlands)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-16
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Title: Good Neighbors: Acceptance of Ethnic Minorities in Transitional Myanmar
Summary: "For four years since March 2011, when an entrenched military junta ceded power to a notionally civilian government headed by President Thein Sein (formerly prime minister in the outgoing junta),...
Description: "For four years since March 2011, when an entrenched military junta ceded power to a notionally civilian government headed by President Thein Sein (formerly prime minister in the outgoing junta), Myanmar has sought to make a transition to democracy. 1 One clear comparative lesson from the literature on transitions is that respect for ethnic and religious minorities is essential for the creation of a stable, consolidated democracy. Several components feed into this: protection of both individual and group rights, policies promoting inclusiveness and non-discrimination, and more generally a sense among minority groups that a level political playing field means that they too could one day have the chance to attain majority status. As part of the wider transition, the Myanmar government is sponsoring both a peace process with ethnic armed groups and, more broadly, an agenda of national reconciliation. Alongside peace talks, this has generated several disparate initiatives designed to bring people together across ethnic and religious fault lines. Nevertheless, at a time when low-grade civil conflict continues to plague both Kachin State and northern Shan State, and when sectarian violence remains potent across much of the society, long-standing divisions continue to have real social 1 In 1989, the military junta decreed a series of name changes for the country and many places within it. Burma became Myanmar, Rangoon became Yangon, Karen State became Kayin State, and so on. This article uses the old geographic terminology when focusing on the period before 1989, and the new terminology when focusing on the period after 1989. This usage is not intended to convey a political message..."
Source/publisher: The University of Hong Kong
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-15
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Title: Myanmar Muslims Minority Issue
Description: "Conflict is inevitable and normal thing. Also the existence of the conflict in not a problem but the problem is how to handle it. When the conflict cause death of thousands and 1 migrate a lot that means the conflict reach a high level and it needs for immediate solution. In addition the very notion of ethnicity is a struggle topic in the social sciences for years.2 The Muslims minority in Myanmar (Rohingya) is suffered from violence in their home country and as result many of them fled to the neighbor country such as Bangladesh. They are one of the most marginalized refugee communities in south and Southeast Asia. In general the problem in Myanmar is a humanitarian and moral issue due to racial differences and governance problem. The Rohingya people are victims of the discriminatory policies of the government. 3 If we look to the political and military conflicts in the world map, we found that the most areas of tension are concentrated in places where there are Muslim minorities. This paper will focus in the Muslims minority in Myanmar. Firstly this paper will explain the historical background of the Muslim minority and the political system in the country. Then the conflict in Myanmar and how it escalates until it become hard to solve it. Moreover this paper will discuss the political interest and it’s related with violence. After that it will discuss the response of the international community. Then it will discuss the solutions alternative for this conflict. The current Burmese government‘s will not provide a solution to the ethnic conflict in Myanmar. In addition Burma‘s ethnic problems could be solved by negotiation between the groups with a powerful mediator. This will happen through the establishment of a real federal political system that guarantees the autonomy for all ethnic groups in Myan- mar or gives the independence for the Muslims minority in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Sultan Qaboos University:College of Economy and Political Science
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-14
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Title: Conflict in Rakhine State in Myanmar: Rohingya Muslims’ Conundrum
Description: "The international community has shown great interest in the Rohingya1Muslims problem, especially in the aftermath of the violence in June and October 2012.While scores of writers in international media have focused on the subjectivity of the conflict, there are academics and policy-makers pondering what could be done to achieve long-term solutions to the inherent problem. Myanmar2 has experienced myriad ethnic conflicts since its indepen- dence from the British in January 1948, but what makes the Rohingya problem unique and why has it caught the attention of the wider international community? Is it because the Rohingya Muslims are less fortunate community than the other groups or is it because they are distinctive? It is puzzling to see some social or cultural groups within a society tend to express themselves more radically than the others. It is equally intriguing to see how governments often respond differently to such phenomenon. A society may be divided along the lines of culture, religion, political affiliations or other forms of divisions. One dominant theor- etical model social scientists employ to study political stability in a segmented society is “consociational democracy”. 3 Arend Lijphart defines consociational democracy as a “government by elite cartel designed to turn a democracy with a fragmented political culture into a stable democracy”. 4 Under such political arrangement, the elites attempt to form a stable government by accommodating or integrating diverse views and interests of people belonging to different cultural groups. A successful consociational democracy requires that the elites have the “ability to accommodate the divergent interests and demands of the subcultures” and also have the “ability to transcend cleavages and to join in a common effort with the elites of rival subcultures”. The possibility of such cooperation between rival elites would depend on their “commitment to the maintenance of the system and to the improvement of its cohesion and stability” provided that the elites understand the “perils of political fragmentation”.5 Consociational democracy emphasizes the role of “elite behavior” in diverse societies.6 Cooperation between elites within the same group and also with elites of other groups or cultures is essential. In successful consociational democracy, the elites find ways to accommodate different sections of the society by sharing power as well as reaching decisions by means of “consensus” or “unanimity”. 7 In an attempt to find a common ground to establish a grand coalition government, the elites try to achieve two objectives. First, the goal of elites is to settle “conflicts of interest” that may exist among the parti- cipating members. Second, by settling conflicts of interest, the elites also want to achieve a settlement or result that is “most favorable” to their own supporters. The extent to which the elites can reach a consensus agreement is dependent upon how much each participating elite can make “concessions”. The elites know that they cannot solve conflicts of interest unilaterally, and therefore, need to make a strategic “bar- gaining”. One elite’s interest may not necessarily be the same as that of the other elites and vice versa. Such differences would give each elite a chance to bargain for the best possible outcome that involves “competition as well as cooperation”.8 Purpose of Study This article attempts to understand the nature of conflict between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine9 Buddhists of Rakhine state in the Western part of Myanmar in 2012. The violent conflict first started in June, and seemingly subsided for three months, but later erupted again in October. While the two groups blamed each other for inciting the violence, they could not find a mutually acceptable peaceful solution among themselves. The Rohingyas accused the Rakhine state government and the central government of deliberately attempting to eliminate their population and termed the violence as state sponsored ethnic cleansing. The central government denied such allegations, but failed to produce a concrete plan for long-term solutions. In this article, I attempt to explain the underlying factors causing such mayhem and argue that consociational democracy should be pursued to achieve long-term solutions to the problem. However, I must be clear here that consociational democracy cannot work effectively or may even be irrelevant without first addressing the Rohingyas’ citizenship and identity problems. In order to understand the nature of violence in 2012, I will briefly discuss the historical context of the problem. I will then analyze the policies of the Myanmar government toward the issue, and discuss the general perception of the Myanmar people toward the conflict. I will also study the reactions of international community vis-à-vis the Rohingya conundrum. After presenting the different perspectives, I will discuss why I believe consociational democracy is the ideal approach to solve the problem..."
Source/publisher: "Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs" via "Routledge" (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-13
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Title: Equality or Animosity: Where will the Democratic Uprising Take the Rohingya?
Description: "In the aftermath of Myanmar’s military coup on 1 February 2021, hundreds of thousands of people from almost every ethnic group, including people from the Rohingya community, have marched in the streets nationwide in opposition to the military’s power grab. Some activists hope that the protests present a turning point for the persecuted Rohingya minority, given that some Burmese seem to be changing their views of their Muslim countrymen, who they considered to be illegal migrants before. But reinstating a democratic system will not automatically turn the situation in favor of the Rohingya. The reason for this? Buddhist Nationalism. For decades, Myanmar ethnic minorities, who speak their own languages and have distinct cultures, have faced persecution at the hands of the military. The state has also continuously waged military campaigns against some groups, most notably the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority group indigenous to Rakhine State. More than 750,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since 2017, when the military’s brutal campaign against the group led to the burning of villages, mass-murder, and rampant sexual violence. A United Nations human rights report concluded that the campaign was conducted with “genocidal intent.” Following the military’s campaign, Aung San Suu Kyi boosted her own image as the protector of the Bamar—the dominant majority ethnic group—before the domestic audience by defending the Tatmadaw against charges of genocide at the ICJ. Ultimately, neither the military nor the NLD defended the Muslim Rohingya minority in this Buddhist-majority country. On February 8, the third day of the general strikes, I entered into a group of protesters with a placard that read “Rohingya stand for Democracy.” I walked together with them around Tamwe and Mingalar Taung Nyunt townships, singing slogans for almost one hour. The reaction I got was neutral. When, the next day, we—myself and a group of Rohingya youth—went on to protest next to Sule Pagoda with vinyl placards bearing demands such as “reject the military coup” and “abolish the 2008 constitution,” we received a similar reaction. We received no particular attention from the crowd, although we used the term “Rohingya,” which has, in the past, been incredibly controversial in Myanmar. We were not met with criticism or threats because of the unity that the military coup had inspired. It now binds together the many different factions that oppose military rule. The day became a significant turning point for the Rohingya community in Yangon. Before, we had been too concerned to openly identify as Rohingya. But, in the aftermath of the coup, there was a need for solidarity and a show of unity amongst all people in Myanmar. This is what led us to overcome our fear of harassment. The initiative of a few protesters openly identifying as Rohingya encouraged others to join too. On the ground, our feelings of tension were palpable—this was a rare moment of equality, but one mixed with nervousness. The forthcoming support those first few protesters received online, however, helped inspire even more members of our community to come forward and step out of the shadow of persecution. Once more, we showed the degree of our commitment to the land of Myanmar, and that we stand together in the struggle for our country’s future..."
Source/publisher: Tea Circle (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-13
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Title: The Military Coup Destroyed Independent Media in Myanmar, but in Rakhine State, It Wasn’t There to Begin With
Description: "Since the February 1 military coup, independent media has faced a crisis in Myanmar. Yet, even before the coup, journalists and rights advocates had decried a diminishing space for independent media, especially media reporting on armed conflict and humanitarian crises in Rakhine State. In early January, we interviewed seven journalists and editors about the risks and challenges they faced when reporting on conflict between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Tatmadaw. Some quotes have been anonymized due to the repressive and unstable situation under the military regime. Those interviewed shared numerous barriers the government created with regard to the media’s coverage of the conflict, which began escalating in late 2018. Some of these barriers were an extension of those already in place since October 2016, when the Tatmadaw began committing “clearance operations” against Rohingya people in the state’s northern townships. At that time, the government refused independent media access to the area. By April 2017, journalists needed permission to visit anywhere in the state. The Ministry of Information organized reporting tours beginning that July but required that participants were accompanied by government “minders” and followed fixed itineraries. One journalist we interviewed in January reflected on a time when they traveled to northern Rakhine without authorization, shortly after the Tatmadaw conducted its second and more sweeping wave of atrocities in August 2017, for which it is now facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice. The journalist was detained by soldiers and forced to sign an agreement not to post or publish anything from their trip. Radio Free Asia also reported that journalists visiting northern Rakhine without authorization during the 2017 crisis faced threats, harassment, and confiscation of their cameras and laptops. In January 2018, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Aung San Suu Kyi the world’s biggest backslider in press freedoms, but the situation only worsened. That September, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo received seven-year sentences for the possession of classified documents during their investigation of the massacre of ten Rohingya. Despite a police officer’s confession that he was ordered to entrap the journalists, they spent more than 500 days in prison before being released by presidential pardon. The AA began escalating its fight for autonomy in late 2018, and the Tatmadaw cracked down with a brutal counterinsurgency campaign. Violence—including indiscriminate airstrikes, gunfire, arson, and enforced disappearances—claimed around 300 lives, while the Rakhine Ethnics Congress, a local civil society group, estimated approximately 230,000 people were displaced. In April 2020, U.N. human rights expert Yanghee Lee documented the Tatmadaw’s targeting of civilians and called for an investigation into allegations of ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Rakhine and neighboring Chin State. As the conflict worsened, journalists faced increasing obstacles to reporting safely, accurately, and freely on human rights abuses that occurred. The journalists we interviewed described numerous ways authorities limited access to information and sources and left them vulnerable to arrest. In June 2019, the government ordered telecoms operators to shut down the internet in nine townships, impacting more than one million people. Although the restrictions were at times partially lifted, the internet remained effectively inaccessible across eight townships until, a day after the coup, the new military regime restored full access as it scrambled to earn the favor of marginalized ethnic groups. “For media workers to access facts and information has been difficult since the internet was blocked,” Myint Kyaw, former Secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, told us during a phone interview in early January, when the internet restrictions were still in place. Before the coup, the Myanmar Press Council had served as a semi-independent media adjudication body whose members were appointed by the National League for Democracy government, media associations, and civil society; now, most of its members have resigned due to military directives since the coup. “Media are just using photos of signboards with village names for news coming from Rakhine; the photo quality really decreased. Also, villagers cannot post things on social media, so they cannot share what is happening,” said Myint Kyaw in early January. Internet restrictions impacted the ability to cross-check information as well. “When someone from an internet-restricted area tells me something, it’s very difficult to verify,” said a reporter with the Rakhine State-based Development Media Group (DMG) in a phone interview in early January. “I try to verify it by calling four or five people, but sometimes updates happen in the meantime. I also have to consider each person’s background and whether what they say is likely to be accurate.” Without internet access, journalists were also unable to use encrypted messaging applications or send or receive emails from internet-restricted areas, leading them to transport files by car and use phone calls and text messages to communicate with each other and with sources. “These challenges lead not only to delayed communication but also a massive risk for journalists, as they can be under surveillance,” said a local media expert in an email on January 9. We have withheld their name due to security concerns since the coup,. On March 23 of 2020, the government ordered telecoms operators to block 230 websites, including 67 websites it categorized as “fake news.” Among the “fake news” sites were DMG and Narinjara, the only two Rakhine State-based media reporting in English. The local media expert said the block had both affected advertising revenue and hindered information access. “Blocking the websites of these media takes away the rights of people to know the situation of conflicts and human rights violations in conflict regions,” she said. Also on March 23, the government designated the AA a terrorist organization. In the ensuing weeks, authorities raided three media outlets and their journalists’ homes and charged their Editors-in-Chief under the Counter-Terrorism Law for publishing interviews with the AA’s spokesperson. Charges against Nay Myo Lin of the Mandalay-based Voice of Myanmar were later withdrawn, while cases against the Editors-in-Chief of Narinjara and Yangon-based Khit Thit Media remained ongoing as of the coup. They are among 67 legal cases filed against the media during the first four years of the National League for Democracy’s term, of which the government filed 31, the military filed 11, and the rest were filed by religious institutions, political parties, armed groups, private claimants and others, according to a May 2020 report by the Yangon-based freedom of expression organization Athan. “If we write true news, we can get arrested anytime,” said Thar Loon Zaung Htet, Khit Thit’s founder and Editor-in-Chief, in a phone interview in early January. “We can’t make balanced news about the conflict because we can’t interview the AA according to the law … It’s also difficult to follow media ethics if we don’t know the ground situation and can only get news from phone calls. It’s like the situation in Rakhine is in the dark. “ Two female journalists we interviewed in early January said they never went alone to conduct interviews in the field. “When I report on politics or human rights issues, I feel unsafe physically and psychologically,” said one local reporter in a phone interview. “I don’t feel safe being a woman journalist,” said another. “I try to encourage myself not to fear because I’m working for the truth.” DMG, which has seventeen journalists focusing on each of the state’s townships and was often among the first to break the news on the conflict between the AA and Tatmadaw, was a particular target of harassment. In April 2019, DMG received an email from an unknown sender that threatened its journalists’ lives if they did not support the Tatmadaw in their reporting. DMG applied to renew its media license in March 2019, but the Ministry of Information never responded to the application. Nonetheless, DMG pushed forward in its reporting: a search for “IDP” [internally displaced person] on its website revealed 152 articles published from May 2019 to February 2021, while a search for “human rights” revealed 109 results. As DMG continued to cover the conflict, however, it also came under increasing scrutiny. In May 2019, police charged Editor-in-Chief Aung Marm Oo with unspecified violations under the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act, for which he faced up to five years in prison; the case was ongoing as of the coup. During the NLD’s administration, the Unlawful Associations Act had been repeatedly used to charge people who allegedly had contact with ethnic armed organizations, including for journalistic purposes. In the days following the charges, police raided Aung Marm Oo’s office and house, questioning his family and two DMG staff. He went into hiding and, as of an interview in early January, had since been unable to see his wife or three-year-old son or receive medical care for a liver condition. He said that, fearing for his safety, he wouldn’t return home until police withdrew the case. On January 22 of this year, the Tatmadaw charged one DMG editor and one reporter with defamation under the Telecommunications Law, which outlaws defamation over a telecommunications network, in relation to an article that alleged Tatmadaw personnel had looted rice and forced locals to mill it. Neither the Tatmadaw nor the government had responded to DMG’s requests for comment. A local media expert emphasized to us the importance of local ethnic media in documenting armed conflict and promoting accountability for human rights violations.. “Local ethnic media can be a bridge that conveys the news from isolated conflict regions to the whole country and the world. It can eventually lead to a demand to end human rights violations in those areas,” she said. DMG’s deputy editor told us three weeks before the coup that Rakhine State-based media were facing increasing difficulties to survive and that some of DMG’s editors and reporters had resigned due to low salary and security concerns. “Local media are gradually becoming weaker in technology, funding, and human resources,” he said. The people we interviewed were disappointed in the NLD government’s stance toward media freedoms. While the party pledged to support independent media in its 2015 election manifesto, this pledge was absent in 2020. “Related to the law, things really got worse during the NLD administration…The NLD weakened independent media,” said Myint Kyaw, former Myanmar Press Council Secretary. When we called him on February 2, the day after the coup, he told us that the space for media freedoms would “narrow drastically” under the new junta. His prediction was accurate. On April 11, the junta submitted a letter to the Myanmar Press Council warning journalists and media organizations not to refer to it as a “coup government,” saying it violated media ethics. The junta has also ordered telecommunications operators to block all mobile data as of March 15 and wifi broadband networks as of April 1. A nightly internet blackout has been imposed since February 15. On March 9, the junta revoked the press licenses of five local media outlets, including Khit Thit, which had been covering breaking news in the coup’s aftermath, including livestream videos of protests. Editor-in-Chief Thar Loon Zaung Htet told Radio Free Asia on the day its license was revoked that all of Khit Thit’s journalists had already resigned, but he would continue alone to produce news via social media channels. The deputy editor of DMG told us that security concerns had dramatically increased for DMG staff since the coup. The entire team has gone into hiding, making it difficult for the media to collect information for its reports. According to an April 1 article in the New York Times, at least 56 journalists had been arrested with half remaining in detention. Fifteen face charges under Penal Code Article 505(a), which criminalizes disseminating information that might cause members of the military to mutiny, disregard, or fail in their duties with up to two years in prison. Junta forces have beaten journalists on multiple occasions, and a least three have been shot and wounded. When we started our reporting in January, the government’s restrictions on journalists covering Rakhine State significantly hindered reporting on the human rights situation there. The military coup caused a further downfall, while similar restrictions — including internet and website blocks, denial of licenses, and threats of arrest — now affect media coverage across the entire country, and physical insecurity has become pervasive as well. These changes are among many ways the junta has expanded oppressive tactics once practiced predominantly in ethnic states to encompass all of Myanmar, to the detriment of all..."
Source/publisher: Tea Circle (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-13
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Title: Traumatized victims and mutilated bodies: Human rights and the ‘politics of immediation’ in the Rohingya crisis of Burma/Myanmar
Summary: "Burma is the second largest country in Southeast Asia, and prior to the current period of opening that began in 2010, had been under tight military control since 1962. Until recently, on the rare...
Description: "Burma is the second largest country in Southeast Asia, and prior to the current period of opening that began in 2010, had been under tight military control since 1962. Until recently, on the rare occasions when the country has invited inter- national attention, it has done so for its lack of democracy and its abusive human rights record. Despite Burma’s diversity, with 135 ethnic groups legally recognized by the 1982 Citizenship Law, the Rohingyas are not listed as such, although many have lived in Burma for generations. Thus the Rohingya remain stateless, with a total population in Burma of approximately 800,000, a component of the four percent of the Burmese population who are Muslim in a country that is 90% Buddhist. The Rohingyas have been much maligned, called ‘ugly as ogres,’dirty, terrorists, and ‘kalar,’ a racial slur. Myanmar’s government refers to the Rohingya as ‘Bengalis’ or ‘illegal Bengalis,’ which speaks of their status as uprooted Bangladeshi immigrants during the British occupation. Anti-Muslim violence occurred in 1978, 1997, and 2001, in different areas of Burma, and violence between the Muslim Rohingyas and the Rakhine Buddhists has been referred to by one UN official as a ‘chronic crisis’ (Fuller, 2012: 19). In the June 2012 violence, almost 5,000 Rohingya houses were burned down by Rakhine Buddhists, police, military, and other ‘security’ forces, more than 30,000 Rohingyas became homeless, and many lost their lives. The violence between June 2012 and March 2014, including a major wave of violence in October 2012, resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people and displaced another 140,000, the vast majority of them Rohingya. While there have been Rakhine victims, the majority have been Rohingya. While some Rohingyas are taking shelter in displacement camps, others have tried to enter neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. Most often they are denied entry, facing dangerous and often deadly conditions at sea. Their plight has triggered international calls by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights groups and other countries to grant them entry into Bangladesh and other countries according to international law. Despite elections in Burma in 2010 that led to a nominally civilian government, the military’s influence remains strong, as it is constitutionally guaranteed 25% of the parliamentary seats. Former military general and now president, Thein Sein, and Burmese opposition leader and now member of parliament, Aung San Suu Kyi, have both vowed to work towards democratic change. The nature of these changes, and the international interest in Burma that has skyrocketed since the first signs of democratic progress in the country, are the focus of much discussion and debate. Our purpose here is to analyze how the three media sources construct the story of the sectarian violence threatening to derail the reform process, and the implications this may have for Myanmar’s media and for media systems in countries in transition. We find that combining attention to Mutua’s SVS framework with attention to the politics of immediation provides insight into how different patterns of media representation imply different policy solutions. The next section contextualizes Mutua’s approach and framework..."
Source/publisher: "International Communication Gazette"
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-13
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Title: Refocussing Rakhine Nationalism - EBO Background Paper No. 2/2019 - April 2019
Sub-title: Refocussing Rakhine Nationalism
Description: "Many observers have characterised the recent events in Rakhine State in which the Arakan Army attacked Myanmar Police Posts as a further extension of ongoing ethnic armed conflicts in Myanmar. However, the underlying objectives of the Arakan Army do not correlate with the objectives of most other armed ethnic organisations that have been fighting for equality over the last sixty years. Rather, the Arakan Army’s creation and its later political position does not just seek equality and federalism but rather an autonomous Rakhine State.1 This is in itself should also be seen in the context of connections between Rakhine nationalism and the possible involvement of the Arakan Army/United League of Arakan (AA/ULA) in furthering that nationalist agenda. As AA/ULA Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing notes, We prefer [a confederation of states] like Wa State, which has a larger share of power in line with the Constitution, adding that, . . . a confederation is “better” than federalism. . . And we think it [a confederation] is more appropriate to the history of Rakhine State and the hopes of the Arakanese people,2 He also continued, In a confederation, we have the authority to make decisions on our own. But there would be a common defence system. And there would be cooperation on market regulation and foreign affairs. To have control over our own destiny—selfdetermination—is the aspiration of every ethnic group. We can try,3 It remains unlikely the AA will ever see it objectives realised, seventy years of ethnic conflict suggests that the Myanmar Army, is unlikely to allow it to achieve any form of confederation. Instead the conflict is likely to continue and put further burden on an already over burdened populace. An issue the AA is acutely aware of the AA’s deputy chief, Brigadier General Dr. Nyo Twan Aung in a video message told ordinary Arakanese that if the current fighting in northern Rakhine State continues to worsen, it could spread to other places in the state. 4 In the same address he gave advice to residents in relation to an authorisation by the Rakhine State government giving permission to state police and military to carry out household checks in seven townships of northern Rakhine State, in an attempt to find..."
Source/publisher: Euro Burma Office
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-11
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Title: Violent Monks in Myanmar: Scapegoating and the Contest for Power
Description: "In 2012, religious violence exploded in the Rakhine state of western Myanmar.1 Thousands of Buddhists participated in attacks against the Ro- hingyas, a Muslim ethnic minority. Rakhine nationalists contested the status of Rohingya and claimed they were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The conflict led to a large outflow of refugees and internally displaced more than 150,000 people.2 But in 2013 and 2014, the violence took an unexpected turn. Riots spread to more than 20 different towns in central and lower Myanmar, much beyond Rakhine state. The targets were Muslims, rather than Rohingyas per se, and had little to do with the ethnonationalist conflict in the Rakhine state.3 Monks played a key role in turning the localized conflict into a broader anti-Muslim movement. They aimed at promoting and protecting Buddhism against what they perceived as a Muslim invasion. Exploiting and fanning fears, they stirred up anti-Muslim sentiments while condoning and even participating in the violence. Why did monks use a somewhat localized, if already dramatic conflict in the Rakhine state to create a larger, anti-Muslim one? We argue that scapegoating is an important, and neglected, aspect of monks’ participation in religious violence. It is one of many strategies to strengthen their appeal and to justify their leadership position. Fomenting fear of minorities, protesting against an oppressive state, or providing wel- fare for victims of tragedy can all contribute to enhancing their social and political status.4 Targeting vulnerable religious minorities is one way to gain visibility, to strengthen their autonomous networks, and to increase their social credentials. Two factors condition why and when scapegoating becomes a use- ful strategy. First, it is effective mostly in decentralized religions. With no central institution that grants authority or creates hierarchy, leadership and influence rest more directly on each religious leader’s capacity to remain relevant and to attract new followers. There are few checks on leaders’ in- terpretation of scriptures or their investment in social and political action. Competition arises among religious leaders seeking to gain power relative to their peers or other social elites. Entrepreneurial leaders might target the state or a regime deemed to be causing harm to their flock, thereby ex- ploiting popular grievances for moral gain. Alternatively, they might target minorities by tapping into popular fears, anxieties, and stereotypes. Second, the political environment shapes the strategy that religious lead- ers adopt, with liberalization being particularly prone to scapegoating. Under authoritarian rule, antiregime coalitions often arise with religious leaders well positioned to lead them. Yet, in a liberalized regime, such broad coalitions dissolve. Religious leaders become only one of several competing elites, and their moral and social authority is challenged by rising, alternative sources of societal values and education. We demonstrate our claim, empirically, by analyzing two episodes of monks’ participation in religious violence. As we will show in the following sections, there are striking parallels between the violence of the 1920–1930s and more recent violence against Muslims. We compare the most recent wave of mobilization, which started in 2007 with the Saffron Revolution, with another wave in the 1920s, when monks were leading actors in the nascent anticolonial and nationalist mobilization in colonial Burma.5 While they originally targeted the colonial government (1920s) and the authoritar- ian regime (2007), some monks then shifted the target to minorities, mostly Indians, Rohingyas, and Muslims..."
Source/publisher: Routledge (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-09
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Title: A Year in Transition: Assessing Democracy in Myanmar
Description: "The issue of when the transition began has always interested Burmese scholars. Was it 2003? Or did it begin when the roadmap to democracy was crafted in 2008? Or did it begin when the new constitution cleared its final hurdles in 2011? Did it begin President Thein Sein became the first civilian head of state, or in 2016, when democracy took its biggest stride in Myanmar and Suu Kyi became the de facto leader of the country? Another important question is when the transition will end. Just as it has a beginning, a transition must also have an end. In this content, a successfully concluded transition would mean complete and genuine democracy and an apolitical army. Will this be achieved by 2020? Or by 2025? Or beyond? In the past ten months, several sharp fluctuations have been witnessed. Prior to October 2016, the dualism of power appeared to be working fine. Major initiatives on ethnic reconciliation were being undertaken; the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State was established; foreign businesses received a huge welcome; and finally, an outreach initiative was undertaken to nurture and cultivate relationships with foreign powers. However, the period after October 2016 paints a different picture. There has been little progress on ethnic issues after the Panglong Conference. Strains have developed in Myanmar-ASEAN relations, especially in the Myanmar-Malaysia bilateral. The escalating Rohingya issue continues to be a casualty and to top it all, the assassination of the lawyer Ko Ni is highly disturbing. What does the present situation look like? To use an analogy, it appears as though Myanmar has two wives, the military and the NLD. All may seem harmonious in public, but not all is well in private..."
Source/publisher: Institute Of Peace & Conflict Studies (IPCS)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-04
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Title: Rohingya: Victims of a Great Game East
Description: "In the vulnerable southeastern Bangladeshi city, Cox’s Bazar, an esti- mated 1 million Rohingyas languish in spartan refugee camps following brutal ethnic cleansing from their homes in Rakhine, a state over the border in western Myanmar (see Figure 1).1 This was not the first—nor likely to be the last—catastrophe to fall upon the Rohingya, but it has been the most devastating since anti-Rohingya violence in the country began escalating in the early 1990s. Since independence from the British in 1948, the Rakhine state has generally been neglected by Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, affecting the state’s Buddhists, Muslims (not all of whom are Rohingya), Christians, animists and others. There is a long-standing belief among the Buddhist majority that Muslims seek to under- mine Myanmar’s Theraveda Buddhist identity, stemming from fears of Rohingya Muslims in particular, but increasingly toward all Muslims in Myanmar generally. Myanmar’s extremist clergy, called Sangha, and their followers are joined by counterparts in Sri Lanka and Thailand who also espouse conspiratorial canards of Muslims weaponizing their fertility and male virility to achieve numerical, social, religious and cultural dominance in these countries, and thus eradicate Theraveda Buddhism in those nations. Buoyed by the support from key international partners, Myanmar has both down- played the extent of the alleged atrocities and justified the actions it admits to taking against the Rohingya by insisting that even ordinary Rohingya are coconspirators with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which launched several high-profile insurgent attacks against security forces based in Rakhine in October 2016, August 2017, and most recently in January 2018..."
Source/publisher: The Washington Quarterly
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-03
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Title: India: Halt All Forced Returns to Myanmar
Sub-title: Returned Refugees Face Risks to Life, Liberty Under Oppressive Junta
Description: "The Indian government should halt any plans to deport ethnic Rohingya and others to Myanmar, where they would be at risk from its oppressive military junta, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 6, 2021, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir detained nearly 170 Rohingya, sent them to a holding center as part of a verification process, and said they plan to deport them. Myanmar authorities have also asked the Indian government to return eight police officers who with their families sought refuge in India after the military coup. Since the February 1 coup, when the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government, the security forces have used excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters throughout the country. They have killed at least 55 people and carried out hundreds of arbitrary arrests and detentions including enforced disappearances. The junta has amended laws to strip away basic rights, brought politically motivated prosecutions, and intermittently blocked internet access. “Any plan to forcibly return Rohingya and others to Myanmar will put them back in the grip of the oppressive military junta that they fled,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. “Myanmar’s long-abusive military is even more lawless now that it is back in power, and the Indian government should uphold its international law obligations and protect those in need of refuge within its borders.” The recent detention of Rohingya in Jammu and Kashmir follows the Indian government’s announcement in 2017 that it would deport all Rohingya, whom they consider to be “illegal immigrants.” Since October 2018, the Indian government has deported 12 Rohingya to Myanmar, claiming that they left voluntarily. Many Rohingya in Jammu and Kashmir say that they hold identity documents issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and that they feared for their safety in Myanmar. Over a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar, primarily to Bangladesh, most of them since the military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing that began in August 2017. The 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar’s Rakhine State face severe repression and violence, with no freedom of movement, no access to citizenship, or other basic rights. Abuses against the Rohingya in Rakhine State amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution, Human Rights Watch said. “We are not ready to go back, until the situation improves in Myanmar,” said Mohammad Saleem, 42, a Rohingya refugee in Jammu and Kashmir. “It is extremely distressing for us to be sent back to Myanmar against our wishes.” Indian authorities nonetheless say that they will deport Rohingya irregular immigrants not holding valid travel documents required under the Foreigners Act. But any forcible returns to Myanmar will violate the international legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a country where they may face persecution, torture, or other serious harm, Human Rights Watch said. Although India is not a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, non-refoulement is recognized as customary international law and is binding on all countries. Human Rights Watch has extensively documented rampant and systemic human rights violations against the Rohingya in Myanmar. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2020 imposed provisional measures on Myanmar to prevent genocide while it adjudicates alleged violations of the Genocide Convention. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2019 began an investigation into Myanmar’s forced deportation of Rohingya and related crimes against humanity..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-10
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Title: Australia halts defence ties with Myanmar, redirects aid
Description: " Australia has suspended its defence cooperation programme with Myanmar, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said, amid an intensified crackdown by the country’s military on massive protests against last month’s coup. Australia will also redirect immediate humanitarian needs to Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities, Payne said in a statement late Sunday. “We will prioritise the most pressing humanitarian and emerging needs and seek to ensure our humanitarian engagement is with and through non-government organisations, not with government or government-related entities,” Payne said. Australia bilateral defence ties with Myanmar’s military are restricted to non-combat areas such as English language training. Canberra will also continue to demand the immediate release of Sean Turnell, an economist and adviser to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, authorities said. Turnell has been detained with limited consular access since the Feb. 1 coup that overthrew Myanmar’s elected government. Hundreds of people gathered in Australia’s largest city of Sydney over the weekend urging the Australian government to take a strong stance against the coup. The Southeast Asian country has been plunged in turmoil after the army took over control of the country and detained elected leaders, with daily protests that United Nations said had killed more than 50 people. “We continue to strongly urge the Myanmar security forces to exercise restraint and refrain from violence against civilians,” Payne said..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-08
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Title: Myanmar's ethnic groups have long suffered from military brutality. The junta gave them a common foe
Description: "For many of Myanmar's ethnic minorities, the bloodshed inflicted across the country's towns and cities this week is a continuation of the oppression they have suffered at the hands of the military for decades. The Southeast Asian country is home to some of the world's longest civil wars, where myriad ethnic insurgencies have fought the military, central government and each other for greater rights and autonomy. Some of those bloody conflicts have ebbed and flowed in the borderlands for 70 years. Throughout years of conflict in Myanmar's jungles and mountains, ethnic people have witnessed and been subjected to horrific atrocities including massacres, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, forced labor and displacement by the armed forces, as well as state-sanctioned discrimination. In 2016 and 2017, the military launched a brutal campaign of killing and arson that forced more than 740,000 Rohingya minority people to flee into neighboring Bangladesh, prompting a genocide case to be heard at the International Court of Justice. In 2019, the United Nations said "grave human rights abuses" by the military were still continuing in the ethnic states of Rakhine, Chin, Shan, Kachin and Karen. This week, that brutality played out on the streets of Myanmar's biggest cities, as the ruling junta launched a systematic and coordinated attack on unarmed peaceful demonstrators calling for an end to the February 1 coup. Witnesses, footage and photographs showed police and the military shooting dead anti-coup protesters, beating detainees and reported extrajudicial killings, while images of crumpled bodies laying in pools of their own blood or being dragged through the streets shocked the world. Determined to fight against those abuses and ensure their distinct voices and demands are heard, ethnic people have loudly joined the nationwide protests, uniting in solidarity against a common enemy. Though many fear further violence and intensified conflict from an unchecked military junta operating with impunity and now firmly in control of the country. "This fight has been since the beginning of the forming of the country itself. We hope that the current fight against the military coup in 21st century might be a new hope for our people," said Chin activist Sang Hnin Lian..."
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-06
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Title: The Politics of Buddhist Nationalism in Myanmar: History, Legitimacy and Democratic Transition
Description: "This article aims to explore the historical development of Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar, and the way it has been politicized by the state. According to the study, political legitimacy has been constructed by the revival of Buddhist nationalism in two ways. First, it is through policy implementation and legislation of religious protection laws, which declare Buddhism’s superiority in Myanmar and to segregate as well as discriminate against non-Buddhists in the conduct of their daily lives. The state uses state authorities, including an unelected civilian government and National Legislative Assembly, with retired soldiers and representatives from the tatmadaw (the military) as members, to function in this process. Second, the state supports civilian movements to stage activities and to stimulate nationalist sentiments among the Buddhists. The state uses Buddhist nationalist movements that include monks and laypeople as the main actors for mass mobilization in accordance with policy and legislation. Unlike dictatorial rule, these two elements adjust the relationship between state and religion such that the old elites could retain its power. Furthermore, the state chooses to restore Buddhist nationalism through Islamophobia and historical memory about Rohingya Muslims in order to bring out the significance of the regime. In addition, Buddhist nationalism builds the political legitimacy of this semi-authoritarian government in order that it could retain power despite democratic transition, and contributes to its popularity for upcoming elections in the near future..."
Source/publisher: Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-02
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Title: Myanmar military implausibly plays the Rohingya card
Description: " After grabbing power in a February 1 coup that has been resisted by massive demonstrations and condemned by the US, EU and UN, Myanmar’s military regime would appear to have few cards to play to win acceptance. But one the coup-makers amazingly think they can play is the plight of Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who were driven across the border during brutal military campaigns in 2016-17, and those who have remained behind in Myanmar. Shortly after overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, the new military regime sent a letter to Bangladesh’s government through its ambassador in Myanmar to explain their reasons for the coup, namely unsubstantiated allegations of fraud at the November 2020 election Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) resoundingly won. In the letter, the full contents of which has not been made public, the military regime also mentioned a possible solution for solving the Rohingya crisis. That prompted Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Abdul Momen, quoted by the Dhaka Tribune on February 6, to say “these are good news. It’s a good beginning.” Inside Myanmar’s Rakhine state, several local military commanders have visited Muslim-inhabited areas close to the Bangladesh border and a camp for internally displaced Rohingyas in the state capital Sittwe..."
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update: 2021-02-10
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Title: Myanmar lodges objections in Rohingya genocide case
Sub-title: Filing, made two weeks before military staged a coup and detained the country’s civilian leaders, is likely to delay proceedings by at least a year.
Description: "Myanmar is being accused of attempting to delay court proceedings after it emerged the country last month filed preliminary objections to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over genocide charges for its treatment of the mostly Muslim Rohingya. The case was brought by The Gambia in 2019 after a brutal military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine in 2017 forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh. “On 20 January 2021, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar filed preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application,” the ICJ said in a filing signed by Court President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf and dated January 28. The filing did not elaborate on the nature of the objections, but legal experts say they are likely to include whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case and whether The Gambia has the appropriate standing to bring the suit. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former civilian leader raised similar issues during preliminary hearings in December 2019 when she travelled to The Hague to defend her country’s treatment of a minority group that has been described as among the world’s most persecuted. The Gambia has until May 20 to respond and the court will then consider the points raised. “These objections will fail and are nothing more than delaying tactics,” Mark Farmaner, the director of the Burma Campaign UK wrote on Twitter, urging the British government to intervene..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-02-05
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Title: Is post-election Myanmar moving closer to China?
Description: "Amid the worsening domestic COVID-19 situation, Myanmar’s election in November 2020 brought a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD) under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite voting restrictions in parts of Rakhine and Shan states, the election was overall a step in the right direction, and the NLD increased its majority in the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house) and Amyotha Hluttaw (upper house). The show of support at the ballot box for the NLD indicates the domestic popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her defence of Myanmar’s handling of the Rohingya crisis at the International Court of Justice — and in many other international venues — was dubbed a betrayal of democracy and human rights by Western media, but it boosted her domestic aura as a defender of Myanmar. The priorities for the NLD government are no doubt domestic. The COVID-19 pandemic ransacked Myanmar’s economy and the domestic poverty rate skyrocketed. High on the government’s agenda is creating employment for millions of Myanmar workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. The country still faces one of the worst humanitarian crises with the Rohingya issue which battered its international image and led to economic sanctions. Myanmar’s domestic peace process has also stalled and militarised conflicts in the north of the country have no end in sight. To deal with these issues, China is the most indispensable country for Aung San Suu Kyi and her government. As one of the manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines and with a promise to contribute to the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, Myanmar needs to work with China to vaccinate its population. Vaccine diplomacy was high on the agenda during a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Myanmar in early January 2021, despite Naypyidaw making the first order of 30 million doses from India. As the largest trading partner and second largest FDI source for Myanmar, the continued economic growth and opening up of the Chinese market will also have positive reverberations. Although Myanmar society overall holds anti-Chinese sentiments, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government still sees the benefits of engaging in close economic cooperation with China. Initiatives such as the China–Myanmar Economic Corridor aim to further connect the two economies. With the recent signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Myanmar is also set to benefit from further relaxing of trade restrictions among its major trading partners. The government is optimistic that participating in RCEP will help Myanmar gain access to a large market for its exports, and that there will also be opportunities for responsible, high-quality investment inflows. While Myanmar faces tremendous pressure from the West on the Rohingya issue, Myanmar’s Asian neighbours are hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. Only Malaysia and Indonesia — as the two Muslim-majority countries in ASEAN — have been more vocal. China is Myanmar’s strongest supporter on the Rohingya issue and is actively involved in facilitating negotiations between the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The protection China offers to Myanmar at international institutions is crucial. A quid pro quo is evident between the two countries with Myanmar offering support for China at the United Nations on Xinjiang and Hong Kong. This cooperative relationship will likely continue as both face similar pressure from the West..."
Source/publisher: "East Asia Forum" (Australia)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-23
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Title: In Myanmar’s Rakhine, families of the disappeared seek answers
Sub-title: The families of 18 people taken by the military nearly a year ago are still waiting for news of their loved ones – and justice.
Description: "One evening, as Ma Nway* and her family were having dinner, soldiers from Myanmar’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, came to her house and asked for her husband. According to her account, they blindfolded him, took out their guns and beat him in front of her. “At the time, I could only cry,” said Ma Nway, an ethnic Arakanese from Myanmar’s westernmost Rakhine State, who prefers not to reveal her identity for fear of reprisals. “I feared they would shoot me, so I held my tongue … I felt like they were the most brutal people in the world.” It was March 16 2020 and the last time she saw her husband. He is among 18 people from the neighbouring villages of Tinma Thit and Tinma Gyi in Rakhine State’s northern Kyauktaw township who were arrested in March and have not been seen since. Their families’ relentless search for information has been met with silence, rejection and threats. Ten months later, they are still looking for answers – and justice. Three witnesses, whose testimonies align with those published by other media, told Al Jazeera that on March 13 and 16, uniformed soldiers wearing the badge of the Tatmadaw’s Light Infantry Division No. 55 went door to door arresting dozens of men it suspected of having ties to the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group seeking autonomy. Most of those arrested were released the same day, but 18 were not. The missing include a 16 year old, three people over the age of 65 and one person who is deaf. Al Jazeera has used pseudonyms for the three witnesses to protect them from possible reprisals. On March 18, four bodies were seen floating in the Kaladan River near the villages. One of the bodies was identified by family members as among the missing villagers. The family told local media that soldiers shot at them when they approached the body, which the US-government funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported was riddled with bullet holes. The three other bodies were never identified..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-21
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Title: Myanmar: Serious Rights Abuses Persist
Sub-title: No Justice for Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity, Apartheid
Description: "The Myanmar government has repeatedly violated basic civil and political rights, and failed to hold the country’s security forces accountable for atrocities against ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2021. The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party overwhelmingly won the November 8, 2020, election, which was marred by serious problems. Prior to the vote the government prosecuted its critics, censored opposition party messages, and did not provide equal access to state media. Systemic problems include the continued ethnic Rohingya disenfranchisement, the 25 percent of assembly seats reserved for the military, and the lack of an independent and transparent Union Election Commission. The commission cancelled voting in 57 primarily ethnic minority townships for security reasons, but provided little or no consultation or explanation to affected political parties and candidates. “Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling National League for Democracy have turned their backs on human rights concerns since taking power, betraying promises to Myanmar’s people to revoke repressive laws and break with abusive past practices,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “By winning a significant parliamentary majority, the NLD has an opportunity to introduce rights-respecting reforms that would protect everyone.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-15
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Title: Rohingya Repatriation: Bangladesh-Myanmar-China tripartite talks January 19
Description: "Bangladesh, Myanmar and China will hold a tripartite meeting on Rohingya repatriation in Dhaka on January 19, as Dhaka finds their repatriation to Myanmar as the only solution to the crisis. "We hope it would be a fruitful meeting," Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters on Wednesday about the tripartite talks. He said the meeting would be held at secretary level. The last tripartite meeting like this was held on January 20 last year. The foreign minister said Bangladesh had handed over a list of 840,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar for verification. "Myanmar has verified very few people. They are very slow. They verified only 42,000 people. There is (a) serious lack of seriousness," said the foreign minister. Dr Momen said they were doing their part of the job, but Myanmar is not responding the same way. Responding to a question, he said he is always hopeful of beginning repatriation as Myanmar has taken back their nationals before – in 1978 and 1992. The government earlier hinted that the repatriation talks would begin this month as there was no Rohingya repatriation and discussion in 2020, because of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the general elections in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-15
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Title: Myanmar: Kirin Should Sever Military Firm Ties
Summary: "Japan-based Kirin Holdings Company, Ltd. should publish its investigation report on the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL) and swiftly cut ties with the company, Human Rights Watch...
Sub-title: Japanese Beverage Giant Should Release Investigation Report
Description: "Japan-based Kirin Holdings Company, Ltd. should publish its investigation report on the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL) and swiftly cut ties with the company, Human Rights Watch said today. Kirin announced the conclusion of an investigation by Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory LLC on January 7, 2021, but declined to publish the report for confidentiality reasons. “Kirin should regain some trust of consumers, investors, and rights groups by releasing the details of its investigation into the operations of its Myanmar military business partner,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Kirin’s business association with MEHL raises serious human rights concerns that need urgent action, not further obfuscation behind an investigation whose results are kept secret.” In its January 7 statement, Kirin said the investigation by Deloitte was “inconclusive as a result of Deloitte being unable to access sufficient information required to make a definitive determination.” Kirin said the investigation aimed to determine the “destination of proceeds received by” MEHL from Myanmar Brewery Ltd. (MBL) and Mandalay Brewery Ltd. (MDL), and that it would provide a “further update” on its business activities in Myanmar by the end of April. Kirin owns a majority stake in Myanmar Brewery Ltd. and Mandalay Brewery Ltd. in partnership with the military-owned-and-operated MEHL. In 2015, Kirin bought 55 percent of Myanmar Brewery Ltd., 4 percent of which it later transferred to the military-owned firm. In 2017, Kirin acquired 51 percent of Mandalay Brewery Ltd. in a separate joint venture with the firm. Myanmar’s armed forces, the Tatmadaw, have been responsible over many years for numerous grave violations of human rights and war crimes against the country’s ethnic minority populations. These abuses culminated in the August 2017 campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Rohingya population in Rakhine State, including killings, sexual violence, and forced removal. Human Rights Watch found that Myanmar’s security forces committed crimes against humanity and genocidal acts in those 2017 operations against the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-09
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Title: Rohingya Arrested in Myanmar Just for Traveling
Summary: "Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, government restrictions on movement in Myanmar have been widespread, but certain people have been more affected than others. On January 6, Myanmar police detained 99...
Sub-title: Oppressed Ethnic Group Denied Right to Freedom of Movement
Description: "Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, government restrictions on movement in Myanmar have been widespread, but certain people have been more affected than others. On January 6, Myanmar police detained 99 ethnic Rohingya in Yangon for traveling without documentation in the country where they were born and lived all their lives. The Rohingya – mostly women as well as children reportedly as young as 5 years old – were apparently bound for Malaysia. They sought to escape Myanmar’s longstanding oppression of the group. Rohingya are effectively denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law so the government considers them “illegal” aliens, refusing to issue legal documentation that would allow them to travel within the country. All 99 Rohingya are now being held in government quarantine on the outskirts of Yangon, after which they will likely be transferred to immigration detention to await criminal charges. In Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, an estimated 600,000 Rohingya are confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods. In 2017, a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar’s security forces against the Rohingya involved crimes against humanity and acts of genocide..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-09
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Title: “The Torture in My Mind”
Sub-title: The Right to Mental Health for Rohingya Survivors of Genocide in Myanmar and Bangladesh
Description: "It has been three years since “Saiful,” 27, escaped genocidal attacks in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. His experience continues to affect him. “I cannot think well,” he said. “I’ve become thin and gangly because of the stress. I feel tired. I cannot eat well. I feel angry when I imagine the persecution.” Born and raised in northern Rakhine State, Saiful survived grinding human rights violations since his childhood, and in 2017, he witnessed mass atrocities perpetrated by Myanmar Army soldiers against Rohingya civilians. In August that year, at the height of Myanmar Army-led attacks on Rohingya, Saiful fled massacres, deadly arson attacks, mass rape, and other crimes, leaving behind murdered family and friends to join Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who now number approximately one million. “No one is helping us in proper ways,” he said from a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh. “I cannot sleep when I remember my relatives who were killed. It is very difficult for me to do any work.” Saiful is describing symptoms typically associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a serious mental health condition. In the case of Rohingya who survived recent attacks, the mental harm of PTSD can be destructive, impairing daily functioning and the ability to live a full and constructive life. Saiful is unfortunately not the only Rohingya refugee suffering from serious mental health conditions due to human rights violations and violence perpetrated against Rohingya in Myanmar. The quantitative research included in this report and conducted by a team of ten Rohingya researchers and Fortify Rights provides new evidence of the pervasive and severe mental health toll that human rights violations and violence has had on the Rohingya community. This report documents and analyzes the findings of this Rohingya-led participatory action research. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that 12 months after an emergency, approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults will experience some type of moderate or mild mental health disorder. The Rohingya are suffering at significantly higher rates. The Rohingya-led participatory action research..."
Source/publisher: "Fortify Rights" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-07
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Title: Why Joe Biden Should Help the Rohingya People of Myanmar
Description: "When the Myanmar Army attacked and massacred ethnic Rohingya civilians in 2017, more than 700,000 men, women, and children fled to Bangladesh, some riddled with bullets, burns, and gaping wounds. Hundreds of villages were in ashes, razed by soldiers and their civilian proxies. But long after the physical wounds scarred over, Rohingya continue to suffer mental harm on a massive scale. President-elect Biden can and should do something about it. There are upwards of one million Rohingya refugees now languishing in Bangladesh. They are experiencing trauma, depression, and anxiety at staggering rates. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults will experience some type of moderate or mild mental health disorder one year after an emergency, and in theory, those figures should decrease over time. By contrast, a new report published by Fortify Rights finds that 89 percent of Rohingya refugees in sprawling camps in Bangladesh are experiencing serious depression. Eighty-four percent are experiencing severe emotional distress. And a staggering 62 percent are experiencing symptoms equivalent to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—a debilitating condition that can prevent its victims from leading normal and constructive lives. What drives these extreme levels of distress? Ongoing genocide in Myanmar is partly to blame, but the new quantitative data reveals that long-term systematic human rights violations in Myanmar and ongoing impunity are also key factors that continue to impact Rohingya mental health..."
Source/publisher: "Time"
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-07
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Title: Myanmar soldiers testify atrocities against the Rohingya | DW News
Description: "Videotaped 'confessions' from two Myanmar soldiers appear to confirm alleged atrocities against Rohingya Muslims. Are they credible and can they build a case against the army? Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutsche... For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/ Follow DW on social media: ►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deutschewell... ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwnews ►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dw_stories/ Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https://www.youtube.com/channel/deuts... #Myanmar #Rohingya ..."
Source/publisher: "DW News"
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-06
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Title: Human Rights Watch Statement: Impacts of Covid-19 on Internally Displaced People in Myanmar
Summary: "Study of the Impacts of Covid-19 on Internally Displaced People in Myanmar Thank you to the Chairperson and Honorable Members of Parliament for inviting me to appear before this Committee to...
Sub-title: Statement of Manny Maung, Myanmar Researcher, Human Rights Watch Subcommittee on International Human Rights Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
Description: "Study of the Impacts of Covid-19 on Internally Displaced People in Myanmar Thank you to the Chairperson and Honorable Members of Parliament for inviting me to appear before this Committee to discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on internally displaced people in Myanmar. My name is Manny Maung and I am the Myanmar Researcher for Human Rights Watch. Decades of conflict have resulted in over 360,000 internally displaced peoples across the country. They are mainly members of ethnic minority communities spread across northern Myanmar, in Kachin and Shan States; in western Rakhine State; and in the southeast near the Myanmar-Thai border. Renewed conflict has created fresh displacements in 2020 in both Rakhine and Shan States. Humanitarian agencies reported that the government did not take measures to ensure that they could deliver emergency aid under the government-imposed travel restrictions to protect against the spread of Covid-19. In October, Human Rights Watch released a report, “An Open Prison without End,” on Myanmar’s detention of 130,000 Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State since 2012.[1] Human Rights Watch found that the squalid and oppressive conditions imposed on the interned Rohingya and Kaman Muslims amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty. Starting in August 2017, a military campaign of killings, sexual violence, arson, and forced eviction of Rohingya in northern Rakhine State forced more than 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch determined the Myanmar security forces committed ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-05
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Title: Myanmar conflict zones kept offline despite Suu Kyi digital push
Sub-title: Portions of ethnic states remain in internet blackout as criticism grows
Description: "Myanmar citizens living in some of the country's ethnic conflict zones are facing difficulties accessing the internet due to government restrictions and the low level of communications infrastructure, despite national leader Aung San Suu Kyi's push for a digital economy in the aftermath the coronavirus pandemic. "Although access to [the] internet is a human rights issue in the digital era, there are places with no internet, slow internet and imposed internet shutdown by the government, especially in the conflict zones," Athan, an activist group supporting freedom of expression in Myanmar, said in a report critical of the government that was released on Dec. 23. In 2014, the government allowed foreign mobile operators to enter the country, which significantly reduced the mobile phone charges. The number of mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants increased to 113 in 2018 from just 13 in 2013, according to the International Telecommunication Union, an international organization. A number of mobile money services, enabling people to transfer money to each other using their phones, emerged from 2016. The government stressed the importance of and opportunities for digitalizing the economy, such as utilizing technology in money transfers. A speech on Dec. 20 by Aung San Suu Kyi, who carries the title of state counselor, highlighted this policy. "COVID-19 has thrown light on the significance of the digital system and the need for digital transformation to be launched with increased momentum," she said, stressing that the government is collaborating with the private sector to build digital platforms such as for trading goods and services..."
Source/publisher: "Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
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Title: Myanmar gang-rape victim wins legal battle with military
Sub-title: Three rapists were jailed for 20 years with hard labour in a case that pitted a 36-year-old mother of four against the powerful military.
Description: "Lodging a legal complaint pitted the 36-year-old mother of four against Myanmar’s most powerful institution, whose soldiers have long been accused by rights groups of using rape as a weapon of war in the country’s conflict zones. The crime was committed in June in northern Rakhine state – the site of a nearly two-year battle between the military and the Arakan Army, which is fighting for more autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine population. “Many women like me have already endured the same thing,” Thein Nu – who has been given a pseudonym to protect her identity – told the AFP news agency. “If I didn’t reveal this, it could lead to many more in Rakhine [being abused].” Her victory came after an initial denial from the military, which said she made up the allegations, and she still faces the glare of widespread social stigma, including from her husband who refuses to speak to her. Watershed moment? “I am both happy and sad,” she said, still in disbelief that the military tribunal ruled in her favour. “I don’t entirely believe this verdict will stop the rape and abuse against women in conflict areas because they (the military) are unreliable people with two faces.” In a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing, the military on Saturday announced the verdict and sentence against the three rapists, trumpeting its own “transparent” investigation of the case. But observers warned it is too soon to judge whether Thein Nu’s victory will be a watershed moment for the armed forces – which ruled Myanmar outright until 2011 and still holds sway over many aspects of life in the country..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
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Title: Want repatriation of Rohingyas to begin this year, Bangladesh Foreign Minister writes to Myanmar
Sub-title: While stating that he has written to his counterpart in Myanmar in this regard, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh wants to initiate the repatriation of Rohingyas this year.
Description: "Bangladesh has written to Myanmar over the issue of repatriation of Rohingya Muslims. The announcement by Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen comes days after the UNGA passed a resolution in this regard. While addressing a press briefing on Sunday, AK Abdul Momen said he wrote a letter to his counterpart in Myanmar on the occasion of the New Year. "In the New Year, a letter has been sent to the State Council office in Myanmar," Momen said. "Japan will also cooperate with us in the Rohingya repatriation. Japan has a huge investment in Myanmar. India and China are also working on the Rohingya repatriation. They all want a solution to this crisis," Momen said in response to a question. Bangladesh wants to implement the repatriation process this year, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told journalists. He went on to add, "You know for many years, we have been trying this. After the start of the campaign in Rakhine on August 25, 2016, Rohingyas came to Bangladesh over a period of seven months and took refuge. Four lakh more Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh since." The government of Myanmar, in the face of international pressure, signed an agreement with Bangladesh in this regard in 2016. However, the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims is yet to begin. Referring to Myanmar's role in the repatriation, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Momen said, "You have repeatedly said that they will not go. You are saying that you will do it in a helpful environment so that it goes smoothly. But progress has been done. For this, political goodwill is needed. In the New Year, we hope you keep your word."..."
Source/publisher: "India Today" (India)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
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Title: Rohingya issue: China and Russia for Myanmar, India abstains from voting
Sub-title: In a proposal regarding the Rohingya issue and other human rights situation in Myanmar placed before the 75th General Assembly of the United Nations, China and Russia yet again took stance in favour of Myanmar while India abstained from voting.
Description: "On Thursday, December 31, the last working day of 2020, the voting on the proposal was held during the 48th meeting of the 75th UNGA Session, according to a UN release. The 25-point proposal regarding allegations of alarming extent of human rights violations by the Myanmar military and security forces in Kachin, Rakhine, Chin and Shan states of the country was discussed in the Thursday meeting. A total of 130 countries voted against Myanmar, including nine which previously voted in favour of Myanmar, while 26 countries, including India, Bhutan, Japan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, abstained from voting. China, Russia, Belarus, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam and Zimbabwe voted in Myanmar's favour. Defending Myanmar's position, the country's representative at the meeting said human rights is being made a political issue against Myanmar, adding that the issues being discussed are Myanmar's internal matter. Myanmar's newly elected government is against human rights violence and steps are being taken in the country to this end, the representative also said. Rejecting the UN proposal, the Myanmar representative said the country's government is interested to discuss the issues with the Rohingya and other minority communities in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-03
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Title: Myanmar Military Arrests Three Rakhine Women for Alleged Ties to Arakan Army
Description: "Police in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township have opened cases against three local women under the Counterterrorism Law for allegedly funding the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic rebel group actively fighting the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw. “As the Myanmar military has filed lawsuits against them, we have opened cases. The plaintiff is the Myanmar military,” Police Captain Kyaw Zaw of the Kyaukphyu Township Police Station told The Irrawaddy. According to a statement on Tuesday from the Myanmar military’s Tatmadaw True News Information Team, Myanmar military troops arrested alleged AA supporter U Nyi Nyi Tun, a resident of Yenan Tun Village, on July 18. After the military troops interrogated him, they then arrested three women from the same village on July 22. In its statement on Tuesday, the military claimed that troops seized a camouflaged uniform without a badge and two police uniforms with insignias and badges from the house of one of the women, Daw Khin Myo Swe. The military has accused her of soliciting support for the AA in the township. The military accused two other women, Daw Hla Than Khin and Daw Pyar Ma, of collecting “protection money” and food for the AA from local residents. “We have said time and again that we will take actions under the Counterterrorism Law,” military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy. In March, the Myanmar government and the military designated the AA as a terrorist organization under the Counterterrorism Law and an “unlawful association” under section 15 (2) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act. The three women face charges under Section 50 (j) of the Counterterrorism Law, which prohibits “financing terrorism”, as well as Section 52 (a), which prohibits activities that “knowingly involve a terrorist group.” They face up to seven years in prison if convicted..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-31
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Title: Woman shot in back while fleeing fighting in Rakhine
Sub-title: The 44-year-old appears to be in stable condition at the Mrauk U hospital
Description: "A mother of four was shot in the back while fleeing fighting near her home in northern Rakhine state on Monday. Ma Tin Kyi, 44, is currently being treated at Mrauk U hospital. She was shot as she fled fighting in Pha Pyo, an ethnically Chin village in Rakhine's Minbya township that was hit by fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) on July 20. “She heard gunshots and fled her house but was shot in the back when she went outside,” Shwe Kyaw Tin, the victim’s brother-in-law, told Myanmar Now. “Bullets hit every house in the village but no one was hurt except my sister-in-law,” he added. “Everyone else hid.” Ma Tin Kyi is the mother of three teenagers and one 20-year-old. She was first taken to Minbya hospital then later transferred to Mrauk U, where she is currently being treated. Relatives told Myanmar Now she is conscious and responsive but that the bullet is still lodged inside of her. A military convoy traveling through Minbya to Kan Ni village via the Yangon-Sittwe highway was ambushed by AA troops about six miles from Pha Pyo that night, according to a statement released by the military on Tuesday. Battalions arrived to support the convoy, the military said, and several Tatmadaw soldiers were injured in the ensuing clash. Minbya township MP Hla Thein Aung told Myanmar Now shots had been fired from the nearby Kyein Taung hill, and that fighting near Pha Pyo is still ongoing. “They are still firing artillery shells,” he said Tuesday. Most of the more than 400 families in Pha Pyo, including Ma Tin Kyi's, are ethnically Chin. They have largely chosen to remain in the village for now, but they told Myanmar Now they are worried for their safety. The AA has been fighting the Myanmar military for greater autonomy in Rakhine state since at least 2018. The military and central government have labelled the AA as terrorists. On April 20, a WHO driver carrying Covid-19 swab samples to testing sites was killed in Minbya when his vehicle caught in fighting. On July 16 the Tatmadaw announced a new “anti-terrorism” operation against AA insurgents in nearby Rathedaung township. Two days later - after about a month of relative quiet - fighting in Minbya resumed. An alliance of ethnic armed groups including the AA said in a July 21 statement that labeling the AA an “unlawful, terrorist” organisation only hinders the stalled peace process between the military and the several ethnic groups fighting for autonomy..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-25
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Title: Myanmar: Displaced Rohingyas left to fend on silt land
Description: "Last week, the Bangladesh government made it quite apparent that they won’t allow the displaced Rohingyas from neighbouring Myanmar, quarantined at Bhasan Char, to shift to the camp areas in the Cox’s Bazar region. They want the refugees to stay in the char region. The displaced people fear that they will be made to live there until they are repatriated to Myanmar. More than 300 displaced Rohingyas were rescued by the Bangladesh navy in early May after being stranded at sea for more than two months, not being able to enter either Malaysia or Thailand due to Covid-19 scare. Following international pressure, Bangladesh became obliged to provide shelter. However, the new arrivals were sent to Bhasan Char, a landmass made up of silts. This particular landmass is located at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal and the mouth of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system. It will be in the first area of impact if a tsunami or cyclone hits the region. Bangladesh, as is known, takes big hits by cyclones, year after year. Bhasan Char was chosen under the initial strategy of Bangladesh — Ashrayan 3. It was planned to move the Rohingyas there. Nevertheless, since a UN team is yet to declare the place fit for habitation after technically assessing it, the plan to move the Rohingyas in December 2019 was halted. In February 2020, there were rumours that the land will not be provided to the Rohingyas anymore and will be made available to Bangladeshi citizens in need. However, with the current state of events, it seems that Covid-19 has become a good pretext for test-running the government’s pilot scheme since the spread of the disease remains too high within the camp areas..."
Source/publisher: "Observer Research Foundation (ORF)" (India)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-23
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Title: Myanmar Muslims struggle to avoid another Muslim-free parliament
Sub-title: As Myanmar set to go to polls in November, Muslim community fears if no candidate from them will be elected as in 2015 elections
Description: "Political parties in Myanmar have geared up for upcoming general elections with Nov. 8 set as the date for crucial polls which will be the first held under the civilian government in more than six decades. The Union Election Commission announced the election date on July 1, inviting candidate registration from the 96 registered political parties from July 20 to Aug. 7. A few days after the commission’s announcement, a 16-membered team was formed to assist Muslim candidates in campaigning in their constituencies countrywide. The team includes mainly Muslim legal experts. Spokesman of the team Maung Muang Myint told Anadolu Agency that the group will help Muslim candidates financially, legally and technically. “It was a shame that our parliament has no Muslim lawmaker although Muslims make up more than 5% of the country’s population,” he said over the phone. “Of more than 6,000 candidates in the 2015 elections, only 28 were Muslims. And they won no seat,” he said, adding that the commission had rejected more than a hundred would-be candidates, mostly Muslims, on the grounds of citizenship. Election law states that candidates’ parents must be already recognized as citizens at the time of the candidates’ birth. “So this year, we teamed up to help them in the whole process starting from candidate registration,” said Myint. Two largest political parties in the county, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party and military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), did not file any Muslim candidates for the last general elections. Parties have yet to submit the lists of candidates to election commission for registration. Myint, however, said Muslims have only a slim chance of being chosen as candidates of the political parties in the Buddhist-majority country..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-21
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Title: Arakan Army Collects Taxes, Polices Streets in Parts of Myanmar’s War-Torn Rakhine State
Description: "The rebel Arakan Army has set up civil administrations in parts of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, collecting taxes and arresting illegal drug users — making good on a pledge to provide governance to underpin the ethnic Rakhine autonomy the armed group has been fighting for. The predominantly Buddhist ethnic army has been at war with Myanmar forces in northern Rakhine state and in Paletwa township of neighboring Chin state for 19 months. It is the newest of many conflicts the national army has been waging with ethnic armies since the former Burma became independent from Britain in 1948. The AA set up shop in 2009 in Laiza, northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, and five years later declared its long-term intention of returning to its Rakhine homeland and establishing its own government in the state. In December 2019, AA leaders announced the formation of a Rakhine People’s Authority to levy taxes on businesses to fund its operations and that of its political wing, the United League of Arakan, as well as administer areas under its control in Rakhine state. The AA is estimated to have 9,000 fighters. At the time, AA spokesman Khine Thukha told RFA that the formation of the authority was legitimate because it would initiate a new form of government in a bid to reestablish the historic Arakan nation that existed centuries earlier. “This body has an obvious revenue-generation function, but its creation is probably more important as a demonstration of the group’s de facto authority and territorial control and assertion of its legitimacy,” said a report on armed conflict and politics in Rakhine state issued in June by the International Crisis Group. “Armed groups in other major conflicts in Myanmar over the decades have taken similar steps,” the report said. Branded an illegal organization and terrorist group by the Myanmar government in March, the AA demanded on May 29 that all government administrative offices and the military immediately leave northern Rakhine state..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-20
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Title: Move Rohingya from flood-prone island: HRW urges Bangladesh
Summary: "Human Rights Watch has called on Bangladesh to move more than 300 Rohingya refugees, including children, to the camps in Cox's Bazaar district, more than two months after they were quarantined on a...
Description: "Human Rights Watch has called on Bangladesh to move more than 300 Rohingya refugees, including children, to the camps in Cox's Bazaar district, more than two months after they were quarantined on a small flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal. The Rohingya were rescued by the Bangladesh navy in early May after being stranded at sea for weeks, and sent to Bhashan Char island - a silty strip of land off the southern coast that is vulnerable to monsoon storms. Bangladesh has said the 308 refugees were sent to the island rather than the camps in Cox's Bazar because authorities were afraid they might have the highly infectious disease COVID-19. "Bangladesh authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to detain refugees on a spit of land in the middle of a churning monsoon sea while their families anxiously pray for their return," Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW, said in a statement on Thursday. "The government is inexplicably delaying aid workers' access to support the refugees with immediate care, and refusing to reunite them with their families in the Cox's Bazar camps." According to the US-based rights group, the quarantined refugees do not have adequate access to food, clean drinking water or medical care. Some have also alleged being beaten up and mistreated by the authorities, it said..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-11
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Title: Myanmar: Indiscriminate airstrikes kill civilians as Rakhine conflict worsens
Description: "Amnesty International has collected new evidence showing that indiscriminate airstrikes by the Myanmar military have killed civilians, including children, amid worsening armed conflict in the country’s Rakhine and Chin States. These attacks and other serious human rights violations by the Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw, are taking place in townships where internet has been cut off for more than a year. Residents have been in the dark over the threat from COVID-19 and deprived of information about humanitarian assistance. Rakhine State has been largely spared a major COVID-19 outbreak, although cases were on the rise in June. “While Myanmar authorities were urging people to stay at home to help stop COVID-19, in Rakhine and Chin states its military was burning down homes and killing civilians in indiscriminate attacks that amount to war crimes,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director. “Despite mounting international pressure on the military’s operations in the area, including at the International Court of Justice, the shocking testimonies we have collected show just how deep impunity continues to run within Myanmar military ranks.” In May and June 2020, Amnesty International remotely interviewed more than two dozen ethnic Rakhine and Chin people affected by military operations, including airstrikes and shelling; analyzed fresh satellite imagery of burned down villages; and verified video footage showing violations carried out by the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-10
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Title: Myanmar: Tatmadaw Opens Terrorism Case Against Eight Kyaukphyu Twsp Men
Description: "Eight villagers who are currently being detained at the Dhanyawadi Naval Base in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, are facing charges under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law, according to the Kyaukphyu Myoma police station. The Tatmadaw arrested nine people from Kat Thabyay village on June 26 and a 100-household head from Sai Chone Dwein village two days later. The detainees were remanded into police custody at Kyaukphyu Myoma police station on July 5. Two out of the 10 detainees — identified as Khin Win Maung and Maung Than Hlaing from Kat Thabyay village — have been released and the remaining eight men were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law, said Police Captain Kyaw Zaw, head of the Kyaukphyu Myoma police station. “Two youths were handed over to their parents as they were linked to the case. The remaining eight men have been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law,” the police captain confirmed..."
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-09
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Title: Myanmar air raids 'that killed children amount to war crimes'
Sub-title: Amnesty says Myanmar military carried out 'indiscriminate' air strikes in Rakhine, calls for war crimes investigation.
Description: "Myanmar's military has killed civilians, including children, in indiscriminate air attacks amid worsening conflict in the country's western Rakhine and Chin states, a prominent rights group has said, urging the United Nations Security Council to launch a war crimes investigation. In a new report on Wednesday, Amnesty International said it collected new evidence showing Myanmar's military - also known as the Tatmadaw - bombed several villages in Chin state in March and April, killing more than a dozen people. One witness who was interviewed remotely told the group that an air raid in Paletwa Township on March 14 and 15 killed his uncle, his brother and his brother's 16-year-old friend. Two people from another family in the same village cluster said nine people, including a seven-year-old boy, were also killed in the bombardment. "Our family is destroyed," the boy's father told Amnesty. In another round of aerial raids in Paletwa on April 7, seven people were killed and eight wounded, the report said, citing testimony from a farmer. The indiscriminate attacks, which Amnesty said amounted to war crimes due to civilian deaths, came amid a surge in fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group seeking greater autonomy for the Buddhist Rakhine people who make up most of the state's population. Rakhine is also home to the mostly Muslim Rohingya, and borders Chin state, whose people are mostly Christian. The conflict escalated in January last year following an AA attack on police posts and worsened in March after Myanmar's government officially labelled the group a terrorist organisation. The AA posed "a danger to law and order, peace and stability of the country and public peace," it said..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-08
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Title: Election 2020: Arakan National Party says it will keep dominant position in Rakhine despite conflict, pandemic
Sub-title: The party won the third largest share of the national vote in 2015 and is confident Rakhine nationalist sentiment will secure similar results this year
Description: "The Arakan National Party (ANP) has said it is confident it will maintain its dominant position in Rakhine in this year’s general election despite the campaign challenges posed by conflict in the state and Covid-19 related restrictions. Aye Nu Sein, an ANP spokesperson, told Myanmar Now the party would be bolstered by widespread ethno-nationalism. “When the 2020 election takes place, our party is very hopeful that we’ll win in Rakhine as long as the Rakhine nationalism of the people doesn’t waver,” she said. The party enjoys widespread support in northern and mid-Rakhine, where the Rakhine language and culture is more prominent and many harbour grievances against the Bamar dominated central government and military. The National League for Democracy (NLD) holds most seats in southern Rakhine, which has closer cultural ties to central Myanmar. The election commission has announced that voting will take place on November 8. Rakhine’s political parties say they are concerned that the conflict and restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 will hamper their campaigns. “People are fleeing their villages left and right in masses,” Aye Nu Sein said. “Their safety is compromised. Even in cities, people feel unsafe. This poses a lot of challenges for the campaigns,” Hla Myint, a spokesperson for the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), said the clashes in at least six townships in Rakhine meant it would be challenging to hold elections there. In the last election in 2015, the ANP won 22 out of 35 seats in Rakhine’s regional legislature. They also secured 22 seats in the national parliament: 10 in the lower house and 12 in the upper house..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-07
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Title: Rakhine villagers still fleeing as second week of ‘clearance operation’ approaches
Sub-title: Evacuees are straining shelters in the state’s north, where more than 150,000 had already been displaced
Description: "Nearly two weeks after the military announced new “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine state, villagers continue to flee their homes. The operation has focused on Kyauktan village, in Rathedaung township, but has also spilled into villages in nearby Ann township. Border affairs and security minister colonel Min Than, who announced the operation, told Myanmar Now on Monday that the military had clashed with Arakan Army (AA) troops outside of Kyauktan over the weekend and into the week. The AA, an armed ethnic Rakhine group, is fighting for greater state autonomy. The government earlier this year declared them a terrorist organisation. “We can’t just let the AA occupy this area and not attack them,” he said. Htay Aung, who fled Kyauktan just after the operation was announced, on June 23, told Myanmar Now earlier this week that he can still hear the artillery fire from the town of Rathedaung, where he is now sheltering. He said the military was targeting Kyauktan and nearby Aung Thar Si village. Rathedaung MP Khin Maung Latt told Myanmar Now military troops entered the area on June 28 and 29 and that the clashes are still ongoing. “We haven’t heard gunfire today but the markets and shops are still closed,” he said on Monday. At about 7pm on June 26, artillery shelling killed two villagers in Nat Maw village, thirty miles northwest of the city of Ann..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-07
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Title: Soldiers' court-martial Myanmar's latest sham, say Rohingya groups
Sub-title: Activists, organizations denounce lack of transparency, say foolish to expect justice from Myanmar’s military
Description: "Rohingya rights groups have denounced the recent court-martial of three Myanmar army officers as “a miscarriage of justice” and another of the country’s “sham attempts” to mislead the international community. The three officers were convicted on June 29 for the 2017 massacre of Rohingya people in the Gu Dar Pyin village of Rakhine state’s Buthidaung township, where five mass graves were previously uncovered. The UK-based Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) rejected the ruling, saying the secrecy of the trial negates the essential requirement of transparency and impartiality. “No details were provided on the perpetrators, their crimes or sentences, keeping the people in the dark. This secret trial without transparency is a complete miscarriage of justice,” read a statement issued on Friday. The group reiterated its demand for “a transparent and impartial probe into the crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar by a competent international independent commission.” Referring to a similar trial in March 2018, the rights body said: “All these were sham attempts […] aimed at reducing international pressure and to divert the world’s attention away from the Rohingya genocide. We cannot expect justice from the perpetrators.” In the 2018 trial by court-martial, four Myanmar army officers and three soldiers were sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing 10 Rohingya men in the Inn Din village of Rakhine in 2017. “But the perpetrators were released in less than one year [November 2018], whereas the two Reuters journalists who exposed the massacre were detained for more than 16 months before they were pardoned, following global outcry,” the statement added..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-07
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Title: European Union pledges €32m in aid for Rohingya refugees in pandemic
Sub-title: The European Union has announced €32 million or Tk 3.04 billion in aid for the Rohingya refugees and their Bangladeshi host communities in Cox’s Bazar.
Description: "Of this donation, €12 million or Tk 1.14 billion will be used in COVID-19 responses, the union said in a statement on Thursday. The rest of the fund, €20 million or Tk 1.9 billion will address the need of both host communities and refugees through an integrated approach on improved access to basic services in education, food security and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene or WASH to enhance their resilience and protection. The €20 million action also includes a complementary small cross-border operation worth €1 million to enhance conflict sensitivity and mutual understanding among civil society organisations assisting the refugees, internally displaced people and host communities on the other side of the border. All EU-funded activities will address important cross-cutting issues such as protection of girls and women, sexual and gender-based violence and psychosocial support. The €32 million funding is an important contribution to Bangladesh’s continuous generosity and humanity in hosting Rohingya that fled neighbouring Myanmar,” said Rensje Teerink, the ambassador of the EU. “It is part of the Team Europe global response to fight COVID-19 with a specific component supporting the needs of both Bangladeshi Host Communities of Cox’s Bazar and Rohingya in the camps to limit the crisis worsened by the pandemic,” she added..."
Source/publisher: "bdnews24.com" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
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Title: Myanmar ordered to protect Rohingya Muslims
Description: "The United Nations' court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect Rohingyas from persecution and atrocities. Rohingya Muslims remain "at serious risk of genocide" in Myanmar, the International Court of Justice has ruled..."
Source/publisher: "Sky News"
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
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Title: Myanmar: Court Martial Latest Accountability Sham
Sub-title: Convictions Obscure Widespread Military Impunity
Description: "Myanmar’s court-martial conviction of three military personnel for crimes against ethnic Rohingya reflects ongoing government efforts to evade meaningful accountability, Human Rights Watch said today. Myanmar authorities have repeatedly failed to adequately investigate and prosecute grave abuses against Rohingya in Rakhine State, including crimes against humanity. On June 30, 2020, the Myanmar military announced that two officers and a soldier had been convicted for “weakness in following the instructions” during the “Gu Dar Pyin incident.” Rakhine State’s Gu Dar Pyin village was the site of a massacre by the military on August 27-28, 2017, part of its campaign of mass atrocities that forced more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The military did not provide any other information, such as the names and ranks of those convicted, their role in the massacre, or their sentences. “Myanmar’s farcical court martial is the latest attempt to feign progress on accountability in an apparent attempt to influence the United Nations and international tribunals,” said Shayna Bauchner, assistant Asia researcher. “Foreign governments should demand Myanmar open its doors to truly independent and impartial international investigators.” The Gu Dar Pyin court martial began in November 2019 following a military investigation led by Maj. Gen. Myat Kyaw that found “grounds to believe the soldiers did not fully comply with the rules of engagement.” Closed hearings were held in Buthidaung township through April 30..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
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Title: OP-ED: The solution they seek is voluntary repatriation
Sub-title: The following speech was delivered at the Liberation War Museum at the inaugural event for the Thread Exhibition on June 29
Description: "Honourable Foreign Secretary; Mr Sarwar Ali, Trustee of the Liberation War Museum; Mr Mofidul Hoque, Trustee of the Museum and Director of the Centre for the Study of Genocide and Justice; distinguished participants; ladies and Gentlemen. Let me begin by thanking the Liberation War Museum for allowing me to join this morning’s event on the occasion of World Refugee Day and to launch the “Thread Exhibit.” When the Liberation War Museum reached out to me, I did not hesitate. UNHCR has had a very long and historic partnership with the museum. It’s also an honour to be part of such a distinguished panel and to be together, once again, with the Foreign Secretary, Ambassador Masud Bin Momen, who leads the Rohingya response in Bangladesh and stands at the very centre of our cooperation with the government to meet this challenge. After working for UNHCR for more than three decades, I retain the same energy, commitment, and optimism that I had on my first day in 1987. Refugees are the source of my motivation, but the engagement of young people around the world -- the next generation of humanitarians -- are an inspiration. The Thread Exhibition shows the different ways that people can connect and communicate about the refugee experience and show solidarity. I want to thank the students -- from Harvard University, Dhaka University, South Asian University, and others -- who have worked across continents and also across generations, with the honoured veterans of the Liberation War -- to make this exhibition happen. The Thread Exhibition helps us understand that the Rohingya refugee crisis is about more than endless lines or undifferentiated masses of traumatized people who flooded into Bangladesh in late 2017 and spread across the hills of Ukhiya and Teknaf. The Rohingya story is about individuals. Each refugee has a story to tell and has hopes and aspirations for the future. The Thread Exhibition makes us confront that human dimension by sharing with us work from the hands of the Rohingya refugees..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
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Title: Rakhine Villagers Take Refuge in State Capital Amid New Offensive
Description: "Myanmar’s military is conducting offensives against the Arakan Army in Rakhine state’s Rathedaung township, according to villagers who have taken refuge in the state capital Sittwe as talk of a gathering army campaign drove 20,000 from their homes over the past week. Among some 300 displaced Rakhine villagers from the Mu-sae Kan area of southern Rathedaung who made it to Sittwe, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the conflict zone, were men and women who said they heard gunfire as they fled their communities and feared possible arrest and torture by government troops. They were part of a mass flight of an estimated 40,000 internal refugees that began during the last week of June when the military told the state government that it would conduct “clearance operations” to ferret out AA soldiers said to be near the Kyauktan village tract of northern Rathedaung township. Rathedaung and other townships in Rakhine have been at the center of the fighting in a 19-month-old conflict between government forces and the AA that has killed about 260 civilians and now displaced nearly 200,000 others in the state. Refugees from several villages in southern Rathedaung township said government troops were firing around settlements as they fled. “As we were on our way here, we heard gunfire coming from nearby Kanpyin village, [and] we had to hide beside the road,” a woman from the Mu-sae Kan area told RFA on Wednesday. She said her family made their way village by village to Sittwe, encountering abandoned communities on the way..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
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Title: Myanmar Armed forces chief allege "strong forces" behind terrorism in country
Sub-title: The remarks from the Myanmar Armed forces head was made while he was in Russia to attend the 75th anniversary of the country’s Victory Day. Myanmar armed forces maintain close links with Russian armed forces and purchases equipment from Russia.
Description: "Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has called for international cooperation in fighting and claimed that terrorist groups exist because of the “strong forces that support them”. While he did not name forces but observers indicated that he referred to Chinese support for some insurgent groups in Myanmar. The remarks from the Myanmar Armed forces head was made while he was in Russia to attend the 75th anniversary of the country’s Victory Day. Myanmar armed forces maintain close links with Russian armed forces and purchases equipment from Russia. During the visit Gen Min Aung Hlaing held talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on how to promote ties between their countries’ armed forces, border security and counter-insurgency operations along the border. When asked by Russian state-run ZVEZDA News Agency about terrorism in Myanmar, the military chief said, “A country may be able to suppress terrorist organizations on its soil. But in cases when there are strong forces behind that terrorist organization, the country alone may not be able to handle it.” The senior general stressed the need for cooperation between partners and countries that oppose terrorism, saying that it is otherwise difficult to combat terrorist organizations. The comments made on the Russian territory were significant..."
Source/publisher: "The Economic Times" (India)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
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Title: Myanmar calls out China for arming terror groups, asks world to help
Sub-title: Myanmar suspects that China was trying to use terror groups as a bargaining chip for smooth implementation of Belt and Road Initiative projects.
Description: "Myanmar, China’s closest ally in southeast Asia, has pointed fingers at Beijing for arming insurgent groups with sophisticated weapons and sought international cooperation to suppress rebel groups. In a recent interview to Russian state-run TV channel Zvezda, Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said terrorist organisations active in Myanmar are backed by ‘strong forces’ and sought international cooperation to suppress rebel groups. The reference to ‘strong forces’ was widely seen to be a reference to Myanmar’s neighbour in the north, China. Myanmar military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun later elaborated on the comment made by the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces. The spokesperson said the army chief was referring to Arakan Army (AA) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), terrorist organisations active in the Rakhine State in western Myanmar that borders China. A ‘foreign country’ is behind the Arakan Army (AA), he said, citing China-made weapons that terror group used in mine attacks on the military in 2019. It is unusual for the Myanmar leadership to point fingers at China. But this isn’t the first time that Naypyitaw had alluded to the Chinese connection. When the Myanmar military busted a huge cache of weapons including surface-to-air missiles - each costing between USD 70,000 and 90,000 - from the banned Ta’ang National Liberation Army in November 2019, the military had underlined the Chinese connection to the weapons. Most of the weapons seized by the force are “Chinese weapons,” military spokesperson Major General Tun Tun Nyi had declared..."
Source/publisher: "Hindustan Times " (India)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
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Title: Myanmar sets November 8 date for general election
Sub-title: The nationwide vote is seen as a test for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party National League for Democracy.
Description: "Myanmar will hold its next general election on November 8, the election commission has announced, in a vote seen as a test for the country's fledgeling democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. In a statement on Wednesday, Hla Thein, chairman of the union election commission, said a "multi-party general election for the parliament" would be held on that day. The Myanmar Times said a total of 1,171 national, state and regional seats would be up for grabs in the election, with polling set to take place in all townships, including areas considered conflict zones and self-administered regions. Analysts see the polls as an important test of Myanmar's transition away from direct military rule. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, won power in a landslide in 2015 that ended decades of military rule. But her administration has come under pressure internationally over a military crackdown that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Bangladesh in 2017. She personally appeared at an international tribunal in The Hague to defend the army against the allegations of rape, arson and mass killing in the campaign, which rights groups have said was tantamount to genocide..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
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Title: Myanmar Flash Update: Humanitarian Situation in Rathedaung (30 June 2020)
Description: "On 25 June, the security situation deteriorated in the Kyauk Tan area of Rathedaung Township, following an announcement of a “clearance operation” by the Myanmar Armed Forces. While instruction for the operation was revoked by the Rakhine State Government on 26 June, local sources report that incidents continued in the area at the time of reporting. According to local reports, as a result of an intensification of fighting, an increased presence of security forces both army and navy followed, with reports of shooting as well as shelling across several villages of the Kyauk Tan village tract. The scope and impact of clashes in the area are not fully known at this time, at least in part due to the limited access to the area by humanitarian workers. On 28 June, the United Nations issued a statement expressing concern over the humanitarian impact of the conflict, and called on all parties to respect International Humanitarian Law, protect civilians and infrastructure and allow for humanitarian access. Similar concerns were echoed by the diplomatic missions and the INGOs..."
Source/publisher: OCHA UNHCR via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-01
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Title: After ASEAN & India, Now Myanmar Accuses China Of Creating Trouble On The Border
Sub-title: Myanmar has accused a “foreign country” of arming the nation’s rebel groups, including the Arkan Army (AA). Hinting at China’s active role, Myanmar has alleged that Beijing is supplying sophisticated military weapons to create insurgency in the nation.
Description: "It is reported that Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has stated that a “foreign country” is behind the Arkan Army, which is a declared terrorist organisation. He reasons his claim by citing an incident from 2019 where modern technologies were utilised by Arkan Army, in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state. It was also revealed by U Min Zaw Oo, the executive director of Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security that a majority of the weapons used by Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating near the Chinese border are made in China..."
Source/publisher: "The Eur Asian Times"
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
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Title: Myanmar alleges 'one foreign country' arming insurgent groups on its territory
Sub-title: According to a news report published in Myanmar recently, Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has said that a foreign country is behind the Arakan Army (AA), citing modern technologies that AA has allegedly used in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state in 2019. The AA is a declared terrorist organization in Myanmar.
Description: "India’s immediate neighbour in SE Asia Myanmar has alleged that ‘one foreign country’ is arming the Arkan Army, a rebel group, with sophisticated military technology indicating China's active role in arming insurgent groups. According to a news report published in Myanmar recently, Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has said that a foreign country is behind the Arakan Army (AA), citing modern technologies that AA has allegedly used in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state in 2019. The AA is a declared terrorist organization in Myanmar. China's aggressive posturing in SE Asia is facing a pushback with ASEAN states recently emphasising on UNCLOS to address disputes in the South China Sea region where China has created artificial islands and military bases. U Min Zaw Oo, executive director of Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, has said that while China has a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of other countries, most of the weapons used by the Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating near Chinese border are made in China.
Source/publisher: "The Economic Times" (India)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
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Title: Myanmar finds troops guilty in Rohingya atrocities court-martial
Sub-title: In rare action, three military officers found guilty as Myanmar faces genocide charges at UN court over 2017 crackdown.
Description: "Three Myanmar military officers have been found guilty by a court-martial investigating atrocities against the Rohingya in conflict-ridden Rakhine state, the army announced. The rare action against members of the military on Tuesday comes as Myanmar faces charges of genocide at the UN's top court over a brutal 2017 crackdown against the Rohingya. Some 750,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh during the crackdown, carrying with them accounts of widespread murder, rape and arson. Rights groups accused security forces of committing atrocities in various villages, including Gu Dar Pyin, where they alleged at least five shallow mass graves had been found. After initially denying the allegations, the military started court-martial proceedings in September last year, admitting there had been "weakness in following instructions" in the village. The commander-in-chief's office announced on Tuesday that the court-martial had "confirmed the guilty verdict", and sentenced three officers. No details were provided on the perpetrators, their crimes, or sentences. Estimates from survivors in Bangladesh put the death toll from the village in the hundreds..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
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Title: Thousands flee in expectation of Myanmar military operation
Sub-title: The exodus from more than 40 villages is continuing almost a week later, even though the order was revoked last Friday Rakhine state’s security and border affairs minister.
Description: "Thousands of people in an area of western Myanmar where there have been clashes between the government and ethnic rebels have been fleeing from their villages over the past week after an evacuation order from officials. The Rakhine state government in an order last Tuesday instructed village administrators in Rathedaung township to tell residents to stay away from their homes due to military plans to conduct a “clearance operation” against the rebels. “Clearance operation” is Myanmar military parlance for counter insurgency action. The exodus from more than 40 villages is continuing almost a week later, even though the order was revoked last Friday Rakhine state’s security and border affairs minister. “Since the day the order was issued, more than 10,000 people from the operation area fled their villages,” Khin Maung Latt, an upper house member of parliament for Rathedaung township, said Monday. The government has been embroiled for more than a year in an intermittent conflict with the Arakan Army, a well-trained and well-armed guerrilla force representing members of the area’s Rakhine ethnic group. The guerrilla force is posing the strongest military challenge to the central government of the many ethnic minority groups who for decades have sought greater autonomy..."
Source/publisher: "Hindustan Times " (India)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
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Title: Death and despair: Rescued Rohingyas describe high-seas terror
Sub-title: About 1,400 Rohingyas have been stranded at sea this year -- and at least 130 of those have died, according to IOM
Description: "A group of Rohingyas says they were beaten by traffickers and drank their own urine to stay alive on a perilous four-month journey at sea until their dramatic rescue near the Indonesian coast. The bedraggled survivors -- about 100 in all, mostly women and children --described a high-seas horror story that saw them reduced to throwing the dead overboard as their rickety craft drifted thousands of kilometres towards Malaysia. Two survivors claimed that people smugglers paid to transport them had beaten the Rohingyas who were later moved to a new boat and abandoned at sea. They were rescued by fishermen in Indonesia on Wednesday and pulled to shore by locals the next day, thousands of kilometres south of Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-29
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Title: Thousands flee military offensive in Rakhine’s Rathedaung
Sub-title: Thousands of villagers have fled their homes as the Tatmadaw (military) launched an offensive against the Arakan Army (AA) in five villages in Rathedaung township in Rakhine State, a local legislator said on June 28.
Description: "The Tatmadaw launched the offensive last week based on information that the five villages harboured AA fighters, said U Khin Maung Latt, MP for Rakhine in the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House). "There is no one left in the villages now," he added. He identified the villages as Kyauk Tan, Aung Thar Si, Maung Phyu, Yeah Poat, and Kyaw Yan Thar Si. Colonel Min Than, Rakhine’s minister for Security and Border Affairs, had warned local officials that the Tatmadaw planned a “clearance operation” in Kyauk Tan and nearby areas on June 25. The government had ordered the Tatmadaw not to use the term "clearance operation," as the villagers could misunderstand it to be an all-out attack, so Colonel Min Than revoked his order on June 26. The offensive was launched days after three border police and their civilian drivers were killed in an ambush by the AA in Koetenkauk village on June 23. Another four police officers and a civilian were injured.
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-29
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Title: EXCLUSIVE: 'Rohingya issue, not Muslims v/s Buddhist paradigm'
Sub-title: In an exclusive interaction, Maung Zarni said Myanmar was taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India
Description: "Maung Zarni, 56, scholar and activist, known for his opposition to the violence in Myanmar and his support to the Rohingya population said the Burmese military was taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India and blamed genocide of Rohingya to an institutional hate campaign. Born in a Burmese Buddhist family, Zarni said a campaign of ignorance was manufactured in his country through schools, mass media, and Buddhist organizations against Rohingya, which eventually culminated in the genocide. “The Burmese public has been made ignorant of the facts about Islam and Muslims,” said Zarni in an exclusive interaction with Anadolu Agency. Co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition and the Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia, the UK-based scholar said there was no reason for the Burmese government to target Rohingya as they do not demand secession, independence, or even a regional autonomy. “Rohingya are not fighting with any community or with the government. They want to live in Burma as peacefully as anybody,” he said. He said it is Rakhine Buddhists who are fighting the central government of ethnic Burmese to reclaim their sovereignty, they have lost 200 years ago. Zarin said the Rohingya have become sandwiched between the two waring Buddhist parties. “That is the only conflict there, “he said, adding that the world does not know these facts about Myanmar and tends to focus on Muslims versus the Buddhist paradigm. The activist further said that the Burmese military was also taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India in the region. “The multi-billion-dollar projects along the Arakan the coastline, or like giving the mineral rights concessions or gas exploration rights, you will see a pattern of the Burmese military, making sure both India and China received something. In other words, while they are playing India and China against each other, to maintain the benefits of being allies with both powers,” he said..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-28
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Title: Gambia's justice minister who led Rohingya case resigns
Sub-title: Abubakarr Tambadou, known for human rights efforts at home, abroad steps down from government post
Description: "The Gambian justice minister who led efforts to protect human rights in his own country, as well as an international case in defense of the persecuted Rohingya minority in Myanmar, has stepped down from his government post. Abubakarr Tambadou, who will leave office on June 30, will be replaced by lawyer Dawda Jallow, President Adama Barrow announced Thursday. At a press conference in Gambia's capital Banjul on Friday, Tambadou said: "I led efforts to rebuild a hitherto weakened judiciary and I'm glad that we now have a respectable, robust and independent organ of state." Tambadou is hailed inside and outside Gambia for advocating rule of law and human rights, as well as for establishing the transitional justice process to deal with human rights violations of former president Yahya Jammeh who ruled the West African country for 22 years. Tambadou also established an inquiry to recover Jammeh's allegedly ill-gotten assets and a draft constitution more protective of human rights. During his tenure, Tambadou pushed for Jammeh to be held accountable for past crimes. He helped the US arrest one of Jammeh's alleged henchmen, Michael Sang Correa, and made clear that if Jammeh tried to return to Gambia, he would be arrested on charges of committing atrocities. Tambadou told journalists that his resignation was for personal reasons, but would not comment on reports that he would be appointed as UN registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. The international court was established by the UN Security Council in 2010 to perform the remaining functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. "What happened in this country on 1 December 2016 was a revolution by any standards, a political revolution to match any other in world history. We removed a dictator by democratic means, through the ballot box, and peacefully," said Tambadou, referring to the country's landmark elections that voted Jammeh out of office. "Since then, a lot has happened over the past three and a half years. On my part, I have initiated and delivered on the key pillars of our transitional justice process which has now achieved global recognition by experts as being among the best models in the world, particularly for its inclusiveness and originality." At ICJ for Rohingya In January this year, Tambadou led a historic court case of genocide against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice on the country's Muslim Rohingya. The case was filed by Gambia with the backing of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-28
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Title: Thousands in Myanmar's Rakhine state flee as army plans operations, monitors say
Description: "Thousands of villagers have fled their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after a local administrator warned dozens of village leaders that the army planned “clearance operations” against insurgents, a lawmaker and a humanitarian group said. But a government spokesman said late on Saturday (Jun 27) an evacuation order issued by border-affairs officials had been revoked. Border affairs acknowledged issuing the order through the local administrator but said it affected fewer villages. The warning to the village leaders came in a letter written on Wednesday, which was seen by Reuters and verified by a state government minister, Colonel Min Than. The letter, signed by the administrator of Rathedaung township, Aung Myint Thein, told village leaders he had been informed the operations were planned in the township's Kyauktan village and nearby areas suspected of harbouring insurgents. The letter does not specify where the order came from, but Min Than, Rakhine state’s border affairs and security minister, told Reuters it was an instruction from his border affairs ministry, one of three Myanmar government ministries controlled by the army..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-28
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Title: Dhaka to London: Exert pressure on Myanmar for Rohingya repatriation
Sub-title: Transparency, accountability in the process of disbursement of aid is very critical, says, foreign minister
Description: "Foreign Minister Dr AK Abul Momen on Tuesday called on the UK to exert more pressure on Myanmar for solving the Rohingya crisis urgently by sustainable repatriation. He made this call during the videoconference with UK DFID Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan. Dr Momen expressed his sympathy for the severity of Covid-19 in the UK, and briefed Trevelyan on the steps taken by Bangladesh to contain the deadly virus, reports UNB. He briefed Secretary of State for DFID about the economic and social impact of coronavirus in Bangladesh, including the challenge of job loss by a significant number of Bangladeshi migrant workers abroad, particularly in the Middle East. Dr Momen requested the support of the UK in overcoming this difficulty. Foreign Minister Momen flagged that Myanmar has not done anything to date for the repatriation of Rohingyas. He insisted that until the international community exerts more pressure on Myanmar, including by putting trade and investment moratorium, the Rohingya crisis will not be resolved. While thanking DFID as a longstanding development partner of Bangladesh, Dr Momen pointed out that transparency, accountability, and aid effectiveness regarding disbursement of aid are critical. He requested the UK to keep the government of Bangladesh informed of the different development programs, modes of distribution, and modalities of development activities carried out by DFID in Bangladesh. DFID Secretary Trevelyan assured Foreign Minister Momen of following transparent mechanism in this regard. Trade, climate issues They also discussed the issue of climate change and committed to working together for addressing the global challenge. Dr Momen informed Trevelyan about the Climate Vulnerable Forum, where Bangladesh is the chair now, and suggested that the UK could help Bangladesh to strengthen the Forum. 2020/06/samsung-june-offer-dt-1170x90-1592483732604.gif Foreign Minister Momen also raised the issue of RMG export to the UK is severely affected during the ongoing coronavirus crisis. He flagged that even now, close to $300 million worth of confirmed orders have been cancelled by different British brands and retailers. Dr Momen requested for the support of the government of the UK to solve this problem of defaulting on confirmed orders by UK companies. He suggested that a Covid-19 recovery fund could be created to address this particular issue Dr Momen also briefed Trevelyan about the trade and investment opportunities in Bangladesh. He flagged the advantages of investing in Bangladesh and suggested that the UK, a major investor in Bangladesh, could further diversify its investment here..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-25
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Title: Nearly 100 Rohingya rescued off Indonesia: official
Description: "LHOKSEUMAWE — Nearly 100 Rohingya from Myanmar, including 30 children, have been rescued from a rickety wooden boat off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, a maritime official said Wednesday. Images shot from Indonesian rescue boats showed dozens of children and adults, many weeping, after they had been plucked from their vessel by local fishermen. "The boat with Rohingya onboard was broken and floating in the middle of the sea when the fishermen found them," said Mr Muhammad Nasir, head of the maritime authority in Sumatra's northernmost Aceh province. They had gone without food for several days, officials said. Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member. Malaysia and Indonesia are favoured destinations for Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar, with thousands trying a perilous escape via smugglers across the sea every year. Around a million live in squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh, where human trafickers also run lucrative operations promising to find them sanctuary abroad. Their plight has been compounded in recent months by the coronavirus, with boats of asylum seekers turned away for fear they may be harbouring the deadly virus. Amnesty International Indonesia's executive director Mr Usman Hamid urged authroties to treat the latest arrivals humanely..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-25
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Title: UNHRC adopts resolution asking Myanmar to ensure Rohingya return
Sub-title: In its 43rd session, the 47-member UNHRC adopted the resolution on Monday in Geneva by a vote of 37 in favour, 2 against and 8 abstentions
Description: "The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a resolution calling upon Myanmar to create conditions and to establish a plan conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingyas and all refugees and forcibly displaced persons. The resolution on the situation of human rights in Myanmar also stressed the need to effectively address the root causes of human rights violations and abuses against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingyas, in the Rakhine State. In its 43rd session, the 47-member UNHRC adopted the resolution on Monday in Geneva by a vote of 37 in favour, 2 against and 8 abstentions. Afghanistan, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Fiji, Germany, Italy, Libya, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Togo, Ukraine and Uruguay voted in favour. The Philippines and Venezuela voted against while Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and Senegal abstained. The UNHRC urged the government of Myanmar to grant full and unhindered access to the diplomatic corps, independent observers and representatives of the national and international independent media, without fear of reprisal, intimidation or attack, and to lift the Internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin States that has been in place in four townships since June 21, 2019, and five more townships since February 3, 2020..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-25
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Title: The country where hundreds of thousands of people haven't heard of Covid-19
Description: "Hundreds of thousands of people trapped near fierce fighting in Myanmar's far west may know nothing of Covid-19 thanks to a yearlong internet shutdown, according to rights groups. Last June, the Myanmar government, led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, cut internet access to nine townships in the area due to concerns that it was being used to inflame clashes between the Myanmar military and insurgents. One township its service restored in May, but eight others, with a total population of about 800,000 people, remain in an information blackout. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the extended shutdown is putting lives at risk, not only because it's preventing people from reporting possible human rights abuses -- but because it has cut off them off from public health campaigns about the coronavirus pandemic. "With armed conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Rakhine State amid a pandemic, it's critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe," Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch said in a statement..."
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-24
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Title: Internet blackout in Myanmar's Rakhine enters its second year
Sub-title: Locals and campaigners appeal for an end to the blackout as coronavirus fears grip the region.
Description: "The internet shutdown in Myanmar's conflict-ridden northwest, described by rights groups as the world's longest, has entered a second year. Locals and campaigners are appealing for an end to the blackout as coronavirus fears grip the region. More: UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea The Myanmar military has been embroiled in a bloody civil war since January 2019 against the Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. The government shut down mobile data in several townships across Rakhine state and neighbouring Chin state on June 21 last year, causing panic among residents desperate for information about the unrest. On Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for an immediate end to "the world's longest government-enforced internet shutdown". "It's critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe" during a global pandemic, said HRW's Linda Lakhdhir. The country has so far recorded 287 coronavirus cases, including six deaths, but experts fear the low numbers are due to a lack of testing..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-23
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Title: More children getting 'killed, maimed' in Myanmar conflict
Sub-title: Violence against children increased sixfold in first three months of 2020 compared with the last three months of 2019.
Description: "The escalation in fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic Rakhine rebels in recent months has triggered a surge in violence against children and left some villagers facing starvation. The humanitarian group, Save the Children, said in a report on Tuesday that the conflict in the far west of Myanmar has left children increasingly exposed. "The widespread use of mines and improvised explosive devices poses a specific threat to children," Duncan Harvey, Save the Children's top official in Myanmar, said in a statement. "The numbers paint a stark picture," Harvey said, pointing to the report, which verified dozens of incidents of children being killed or maimed. Between January and March this year in the central part of Rakhine State alone, 18 children were killed and 71 children were physically injured or maimed, according to the report. In comparison, there were three recorded cases of children being killed and 12 others injured between October-December 2019..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-23
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Title: Myanmar: Security Personnel Complicit In Illegal Border Crossings
Description: "Security personnel are suspected of helping to transport people who recently entered northern Arakan State illegally from Bangladesh, according to presidential spokesperson U Zaw Htay. “Frankly speaking, human traffickers smuggle returnees and drugs into the Maungdaw region in cooperation with security personnel,” U Zaw Htay said during a press conference held at the Presidential Palace in Nay Pyi Taw on June 19. He added that action under Myanmar immigration law would be taken against the illegal returnees and those responsible for facilitating their return. Although a fence is built along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, complete control of border crossings is not possible, he contended, saying it is believed that the trafficking routes include difficult-to-patrol stretches such as small creeks used by locals for fishing. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar government has suspended the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees living across the border in Bangladesh camps. But since the suspension, the number of illegal returnees has reached 81, according to a source from the Maungdaw deputy commissioner’s office. Among the unlawful entrants, four from Maungdaw Township and three from Buthidaung Township have tested positive for coronavirus..."
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
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Title: Seriously injured man among three civilians detained in Mrauk-U without explanation and denied family visits
Sub-title: The three are among hundreds detained by soldiers and police in Rakhine state since late 2018
Description: "The father of a seriously injured man who was taken from his home in Rakhine’s Mrauk-U township by Tatmadaw soldiers without explanation has said he is innocent and called for his release. Than Myint Htay, 31, was bedbound at home in Leik Sin Pyin village recovering from a stomach wound after a tractor accident last week when soldiers showed up to detain him. His father, San Tun Phyu, has been unable to see him since and the military has refused to say why they took him. “My son did nothing wrong,” he told Myanmar Now. “I just want them to release him as soon as possible.” Family members travelled to Tein Nyo village, where he was held temporarily on his way to another detention center, to plead for his release. They told soldiers his stomach wound was serious, San Tun Phyu said, but an officer said Than Myint Htay could not be released because he needed to be interrogated. Than Myint Htay is one of at least 800 people the Tatmadaw and police have detained in Rakhine since clashes started in late 2018, according to figures compiled by the Thazin Legal Aid Network. The group said this number only includes people who have appeared in court to face charges..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
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Title: UN: Nearly 80 million people forcibly displaced worldwide
Sub-title: Conflict, violence, persecution forces 11 million to flee in 2019, as coronavirus pandemic worsens plight of refugees.
Description: "Nearly 80 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of last year as a result of conflict, violence, persecution and human rights violations, according to the United Nations. Ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, released its annual report on displacement on Thursday, which showed an estimated 11 million more people fled their homes in 2019, almost doubling the total figure over the past More: The Syrian refugee on the UK's coronavirus front lines Nine of 10 most neglected displacement crises in Africa How Afghan refugees are helping Turkey fight coronavirus Among the overall 79.5 million displaced people globally, 26 million were refugees, 4.2 million asylum seekers and 45.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs) - those who fled to other parts of their own country, the report said. "Forced displacement is vastly more widespread and common today. The world's biggest conflicts are driving this and they must be brought to an end," Selin Unal, UNHCR Turkey spokesperson, told Al Jazeera. The UNHCR said the annual increase was a result of a "worrying new displacement" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Sahel region, war-torn Yemen and Syria - which alone accounted for a sixth of the world's displaced..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
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Title: Pages with references to "Rakhine" from "The Global New Light of Myanmar" 20 June 2020
Description: "UNION Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Win Myat Aye held an online meeting with Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu and state cabinet members regarding the closure Kyauktalone IDP camp in Kyaukpyu Township yesterday. The Union Minister first said the National Strategy on Resettlement Programmes and Closure of IDP Camps has been approved and closure of IDP camps in Rakhine State are under way. He said they prioritize creating jobs for self-reliance, access to education and healthcare, social coexistence and sustainable development. The Union Minister said it is important for the closure of Kyauktalone IDP camp to be done systematically in line with the strategic plan and to adhere to existing laws, bylaws and regulations. He said as it is a region prone to natural disasters, there should be preventive measures in place when planning resettlement. He said the IDPs and the world always need to know the truth of the current development plans in progress. Next, Chief Minister U Nyi Pu said the local residents, IDPs and the rest of the world need to know the true situations and processes in the field so that fake and superficial news are not spread. He said this necessitates regular contact and discussions. The meeting then commenced with discussions on the use of technology in preparing for natural disasters, details of cooperation between the government and the private sector in the development programmes, and other matters..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Ministry of Information via "The Global New Light of Myanmar"
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-20
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Title: ICJ urged to make Rohingya genocide report public
Sub-title: Rights groups say keeping reports confidential 'will undermine their effectiveness, allow Myanmar to skirt obligation'
Description: "Over two dozen rights groups from various countries are urging the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to make Myanmar’s report on the Rohingya genocide available to the public. Myanmar submitted the report to the ICJ late last month, stating what the government had done to prevent further acts of genocide against the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. In the joint letter sent to the ICJ on June 17 and made available to Anadolu Agency, 30 Rohingya rights groups expressed fears of misinformation if the report remains confidential. “We fear that keeping the reports confidential will undermine their effectiveness and allow Myanmar to skirt its obligation to comply with the Court’s Order, and its continuing obligations under the [UN’s] 1948 Genocide Convention,” it states. “We would like to respectfully urge the Court to make the 23 May 2020 report and all future reports (including any responses from The Gambia) available to the public on the Court’s website.” According to a January 23 ruling by the ICJ, Myanmar is obliged to take all measures to protect the Rohingya community from mental and physical harm, as well as from the deliberate infliction of life conditions that cause their “physical destruction” and measures “intended to prevent births within the group.” Stressing the need to ensure public confidence in the trial process, the rights groups said “the non-public nature of the reports will prevent Rohingya communities and other observers who may have relevant information and expertise from being able to scrutinize Myanmar’s reports.” “The reporting requirement may not fulfil its intended purpose, especially given that United Nations investigators are not able to operate within Myanmar,” the letter said. It warned that “misinterpretation may arise even among the Rohingya people” if the report was not made public..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-20
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Title: Every action counts: How ngos are supporting Myanmar’s displaced—Part 2
Description: "In March, I sat down with Katie Striffolino, InterAction's Senior Manager for Humanitarian Practice, to discuss her work with the NGOs on the front lines of this crisis. "We undertake a number of field visits every year, looking at different operational and policy issues as they affect humanitarian NGOs and conditions at the field level," she told me. "We do documentation and analyses, produce recommendations, and engage stakeholders on improvements to the humanitarian response, as well as actions that can improve humanitarian conditions to support overall response operations in any given context." From February 10-20, Katie traveled to Myanmar with Rachel Unkovic, InterAction's NGO Coordination Advisor, to consult with, support, and learn from the Myanmar INGO Forum, its 140 NGO members, many of them InterAction members and local and national NGO networks and actors. Their trip had two objectives. "First, we were looking at the Myanmar INGO Forum's governance, structures, and practices," she said. "We asked ourselves what lessons and experiences could we share with them from other response locations around the world and what we could learn from them to bring to NGO Consortia working in other humanitarian settings? "Second, we conducted research into bureaucratic and administrative impediments as they affect the humanitarian response for both U.N. and NGO actors which will form a case study and inform InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) normative guidance to Humanitarian Coordinators and Country Teams around the world on how to best, collectively support the humanitarian community in addressing undue bureaucratic and administrative impediments. We need to be collectively addressing these issues so that humanitarian programs can continue to run in an efficient, unfettered and principled manner." The more time they spent with the Myanmar INGO Forum, the more they realized how similar it is to InterAction. While the diversity of their membership is a strength, it can often make it challenging to drive consensus and provide equal support to each member..."
Source/publisher: " InterAction" via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-19
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Title: Myanmar: End World’s Longest Internet Shutdown
Sub-title: Lift Restrictions in Embattled Rakhine, Chin States
Description: "The Myanmar government should immediately lift all internet restrictions in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin States, Human Rights Watch said today. The mobile internet shutdown, which began on June 21, 2019, is affecting more than a million people living in a conflict zone. The internet shutdown, along with restrictions on access by aid agencies, has meant that people in some villages are unaware of the Covid-19 outbreak, humanitarian workers told Human Rights Watch. Local groups report that the shutdown has made it difficult to coordinate the distribution of aid to conflict-affected communities, and to communicate with their field teams to ensure staff safety. A local editor said the shutdown greatly impedes media coverage of the fighting between the Myanmar military and the ethnic Arakan Army, making it hard for villagers to get up-to-date information. “Myanmar should immediately end what is now the world’s longest government-enforced internet shutdown,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. “With armed conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Rakhine State amid a pandemic, it’s critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe.” The government first imposed restrictions on mobile internet communications in the townships of Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Maungdaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Ponnagyun, and Rathedaung in Rakhine State and Paletwa township in Chin State. The government temporarily lifted restrictions in five townships from September 2019 until February 2020, when they were reinstated. On May 2, the authorities lifted the restrictions in Maungdaw..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-19
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