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Title: Myanmar Civil Society Is Right to Criticize the UN on Aid Distribution
Description: "DW Asia editor Rodion Ebbighausen has written an opinion piece in which he argues that “Myanmar activists are attacking the wrong target”. “Activists and civil society groups in Myanmar are increasingly attacking humanitarian aid organizations, especially the United Nations, online. They are the wrong target,” says Ebbighausen in the DW article. Let me quickly comment on why Ebbighausen’s defense of the UN agencies is wrong and why the UN agencies are coming under deserved public scrutiny and criticism. What Ebbighausen is overlooking is that no UN agencies have signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the legitimate National Unity Government (NUG), which does not intentionally and systematically kill the civilian population and uproot them from the land. However, all relevant UN agencies (OCHA, UNICEF, ICRC, FAO and IOM) have simultaneously signed MoUs with the illegitimate power-usurper, which is intentionally and systematically executing cleansing operations and terror over the civilian population. They have signed MoUs with a force that is waging a war, not against guerrillas, but against the civilian population. They have signed an “understanding” with the same force and the same people who are actually creating a humanitarian emergency and using brutal violence to expel the population from the land. In addition, the military junta—after 19 months in which the people have mounted a heroic self-defense operation—currently controls only about half of the country’s territory. There is a long history of the junta using a “Four Cuts” policy, which means cutting the civilian population off from food, supplies, medicines, fuel and anything else in order to blackmail the insurgency into conceding defeat through the heavy price imposed on the civilian population. The military did that for decades and is doing it now. So once the UN agencies sign an MoU with the junta, they agree that they will not deliver aid to half of the territory where the situation is the most dramatic and urgency is the greatest. If at the same time there is not a single UN agency that has signed an agreement with the NUG and Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) about delivering much-needed aid to non-junta controlled territory as well, then what we have is UN agencies assisting the brutal counterinsurgency operations of the junta. This is a problem and this is a big problem, and that is why the UN agencies are coming under deserved public scrutiny and criticism. Cheap, pathetic arguments about “a starving child receiving food does not starve to death” should not hide this ugly reality. There is a systematic, murderous and brutal counterinsurgency operation going on in the rural areas of the country. This is being done by the military junta. This must be stopped. This is a humanitarian imperative. If that is too much for the UN to do, then at least the UN agencies must be on both sides of the conflict lines, and not only on the side of the aggressor. Activists and civil society groups, as well as the people of Myanmar, are rightly outraged because the UN agencies have signed an understanding with the junta and have not made any agreement that aid will also be delivered to the NUG- and ERO-liberated territories. Myanmar society has enough determination and strength to defend itself from the attempted military power grab. Myanmar society and its own civil society also have enough determination and capacity to keep under scrutiny what the UN agencies are doing—and what they are not doing. The UN has a long history of failures in Myanmar. The 2019 Rosenthal Report analyzed and highlighted “systemic and structural failures” of the UN agencies during the Rohingya genocide in 2017. The same military under the same command structure that committed the crime of genocide in 2017 in Rakhine State is now applying the same cleansing operations in other parts of Myanmar. The UN agencies have obviously not learned anything from their own previous failures. The people of Myanmar have learned. They have learned enough to know that they have only one way to gain security, peace, development, rights and freedom, and that is by liberating themselves from predatory and repressive military rule. They have also learned enough about the humanitarian neocolonialism of the UN agencies. That is why the UN agencies will get pushback from Myanmar society whenever they start to do harm. The UN agencies have started walking down the very slippery road of doing more harm than benefit. Myanmar civil society is ringing alarm bells. The UN agencies would do well to hear those alarm bells, and not to make themselves blind and deaf, hiding behind an argument that it is fulfilling a “humanitarian commitment that can alleviate the suffering of the people”. In places like Myanmar, where the junta (and only the junta) has weaponized humanitarian aid, it is not enough to say that one is “alleviating the suffering of the people”. One must be more precise and say where the aid is going and where the aid is not going, and why. It also matters a lot when the aid is delivered and when it is not delivered, and why. It also matters through whom the aid comes and through whom it does not come. At this moment UN agencies have committed themselves to deliver aid where the junta wants them to send it, to deliver it when the junta allows them to send it, and to do it through structures that are affiliated with the junta—the same junta that is the sole and only source of all suffering and of the humanitarian emergency. This is rightly criticized. Igor Blazevic is senior adviser with the Prague Civil Society Centre. Between 2011 and 2016 he worked in Myanmar as the head lecturer at the Educational Initiatives Program..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-26
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Title: Oral update on the human rights situation in Myanmar to the Human Rights Council
Sub-title: Opening statement by Nada Al- Nashif UN Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights
Description: "Distinguished President, Excellencies, I welcome the opportunity to provide you with this oral update on the human rights situation in Myanmar, further to Human Rights Council resolution 49/23. Since the last update to this Council in June, the people of Myanmar have been caught in a rapid downward spiral, with growing suffering, fear, and insecurity. Urgent action is needed to reverse this catastrophic situation and to restore peace, democracy, and sustainable development. The Myanmar military’s offensives throughout the country are designed not only to target its opponents but also to punish any communities it deems to be supporting them. Military tactics increasingly involve indiscriminateattacks andweaponry. The growing use of air power and artillery during the monsoon season is significantly impacting civilians and residential areas. In Magway and Sagaing regions as well as Kachin, Shan, Kayah, and Kayin states, residential buildings – as many as 30,000 - schools and other civilian infrastructure have been burnt to the ground during military ground operations. In an emblematic incident documented by OHCHR, on 11 August military forces attacked an armed group presence in Yin Paung Taing village in Sagaing region with jets and helicopters, and then raided the village. Over 100 villagers were arrested, alleged to have been used as human shields and porters by the military. After three days of intense fighting, villagers, including women and children, were found dead, and 20 of those arrested are still missing. In another airstrike in Let Yet Kone village in Sagaing on 16 September the military targeted a school and a nearby monastery killing at least six children and injuring many others, including teachers. Eyewitnesses reported that 11 wounded people, including nine children and two teachers, were taken away and remain missing. Since February 2021, at least 2.316 people (including at least 188 children) have been killed. Widespread fear and insecurity among the civilian population has forced over 1 million individuals (of whom, 45,500 into neighboring countries) to leave their homes and now live in precarious conditions without access to food, medical assistance, and other basic services. The humanitarian crisis now brings fears of starvation, with the military largely denying humanitarian access, including recent orders to halt humanitarian operations in northern and central Rakhine State. Over 15,607 people have been arrested with some 12,464 remaining in detention. The death toll of people in custody is steadily rising. At least 273 persons have died in formal detention settings, such as prisons, detention and interrogation centers, and police stations as well as at least 266 reported deaths following raids and arrests in villages, at least 40 of whom were reportedly killed with headshots. Family members reported seeing signs of physical abuse, ill-treatment, or suspected torture, despite being informed that the death was a result of natural causes. There are 111 reported cases of people being burned, either alive or after being executed, in what appears to be a tactic of summary executions and attempts to destroy evidence of crimes. Myanmar’s military-controlled judicial system has also been weaponized to execute opponents. The military executed four individuals, including a former member of Parliament and a democracy activist, following a secretive military court trial, in violation of fair trial standards and rule of law principles. These executions, which are the first in about thirty years, represent an important indicator of the regression of human rights in Myanmar and the military’s complete disregard for international law. OHCHR has also documented that the military has arrested and charged at least 10 lawyers who were defending people charged with spurious, politically motivated offences. Since February 2021, civic space has been decimated. The military’s announced plans to create a register and impose a new tax on mobile phones will increase the risk of surveillance, further imperilling human rights defenders, journalists and members of the pro-democracy movement. It will also increase the cost of accessing the internet for ordinary people and further restrict freedom of expression and access to information. Just days ago, the military also announced that expressions of solidarity on social media to the National Unity Government and Peoples’ Defense Force, including by posting a “like” or an emoji, risked up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Excellencies, The relative stability experienced in Rakhine State since the start of the coup has proved very short lived. My office has received reports of killings, injuries, arbitrary detention and mass displacement of civilians resulting from clashes between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army in several townships of Rakhine and Chin State and along the border, with reported cases of shelling into Bangladesh. Minority communities especially Rohingya and Kaman Muslims are particularly vulnerable, with the military imposing new restrictions on delivery of humanitarian aid and essential goods in large areas of Rakhine. Last month marked the fifth anniversary of the military’s 2017 campaign of violence against the Rohingya, involving the killing of thousands and pushing over 740,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh. During the former High Commissioner’s visit to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar last month, Rohingya refugees shared their hopes of being able to return home when the conditions permit. However, conditions for safe, dignified and sustainable returns are not yet evident. The international community should support Bangladesh in providing protection, education and livelihood opportunities for the refugees, while continuing to pursue international accountability efforts. Despite widespread international condemnation, Myanmar is yet to address the root causes of Rohingya persecution. Rohingya are deprived of citizenship rights and civil documentation, limiting their freedom of movement, and access to health and education services. They face daily extortion by camp authorities, village administrators, police, and military. Most Rohingya in Rakhine live in desperate poverty, driving them, at high risk, to flee Myanmar, often paying large sums of money to human traffickers. United Nations figures indicate that informal attempts to leave and arrests for travelling without authorization doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year. Rohingya are often deprived of adequate legal representation and coerced into accepting guilt in order to avoid longer sentences. Mr. President, The cycle of violations must end. Unfortunately, diplomatic efforts have so far yielded limited results. I hope the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar’s recent visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh can build momentum. ASEAN must also reinvigorate its efforts to bring humanitarian support and promote a resolution to the crisis, in consultation with the people’s representatives, and with support from regional powers. I reiterate calls to the military to cease violence, including by imposing a moratorium on executions, to free all political prisoners, to ensure access to humanitarian aid and return Myanmar to democracy based on respect for human rights and the rule of law. I also urge this Council to consider strengthening OHCHR’s existing documentation mandate in order to enhance monitoring of the situation and support accountability efforts, including the work of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. Thank you..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Nations Human Rights Council
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-26
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Title: Secretary Mayorkas Extends and Redesignates Temporary Protected Status for Burma
Description: "Redesignation Allows Additional Eligible Burmese Nationals to Apply for TPS and Employment Authorization Documents WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Burma for an additional 18 months, from Nov. 26, 2022, through May 25, 2024, due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Burma that prevent individuals from safely returning. In addition, DHS announced a redesignation of Burma for TPS for the same reason, allowing Burmese nationals (and individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Burma) residing in the United States as of September 25, 2022, to be eligible for TPS. The February 2021 military coup d’état has led to continuing violence, large-scale human rights abuses, including arbitrary detentions and the use of deadly force against unarmed individuals, mass displacement of civilians, worsened humanitarian conditions and limited access to shelter, food, water, and medical care, and spurred an economic crisis. These conditions prevent Burmese nationals and habitual residents from safely returning. “The people of Burma are continuing to suffer a complex and deteriorating humanitarian crisis due the military coup and security forces’ brutal violence against civilians,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Under this extension and redesignation, Burmese nationals and habitual residents will be eligible to temporarily stay in the United States until conditions in the country improve and individuals can safely return.” The extension of TPS for Burma allows approximately 970 current beneficiaries to retain TPS through May 25, 2024, so long as they continue to meet TPS eligibility requirements. It is estimated that approximately 2,290 additional individuals may be eligible for TPS under the redesignation of Burma. This population includes nationals of Burma (and individuals without nationality who last resided in Burma) in the United States in nonimmigrant status or without lawful immigration status.  Current beneficiaries re-registering under the extension of TPS for Burma must re-register in a timely manner during the 60-day re-registration period from September 27, 2022, through November 26, 2022, to ensure they keep their TPS and work authorization without a gap. DHS recognizes that not all re-registrants may receive new Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) before their current EADs expire on Nov. 25, 2022, and is automatically extending through Nov. 25, 2023, the validity of EADs previously issued under the TPS designation of Burma. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will continue to process pending applications filed under Burma’s initial TPS designation. Individuals with a pending Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, or a related Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, do not need to file either application again. If USCIS approves a Form I-821 or Form I-765 filed under the initial designation of TPS for Burma, USCIS will grant the individual TPS through May 25, 2024, and issue an EAD valid through May 25, 2024. Initial, first-time applicants for TPS under the redesignation of Burma must submit Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status, during the initial registration period that runs from September 27, 2022, through May 25, 2024. Burma TPS applicants may file Form I-821 online. When filing a TPS application, applicants can also request an EAD by submitting a completed Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization with their Form I-821, or separately at a later date. Applicants may also submit Form I-765 online. The Federal Register notice (FRN) explains the eligibility criteria, timelines, and procedures necessary for current beneficiaries to re-register and renew EADs, and for new applicants to submit an initial application under the redesignation and apply for an EAD..."
Source/publisher: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-26
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Title: Time for US, EU to recognize Myanmar’s NUG
Sub-title: Shadow government claims with ethnic army allies to control 53% of nation’s territory but West remains reluctant to provide assistance
Description: "Just over a year ago, Myanmar’s shadow government declared a defensive war against the military junta that seized power in a February 1, 2021, democracy-suspending coup. The junta’s unpopular rule has moved from disaster to disaster, driving the economy into ruins and sparking resistance to its rule that has spread civil war across the country to an unprecedented scale. In a speech earlier this month, Duwa Lashi La, acting president of the anti-coup National Unity Government (NUG), stated that it and anti-military “ethnic armed organizations” (EAOs) now control more than half of Myanmar’s geography. “Amid our territorial dominance and as our military capabilities have strengthened, the operations, territorial control and public administration of our partner EROs have significantly improved,” he stated, referring to the newly-popular and alternative acronym for the ethnic militias, “ethnic revolutionary organizations.” A recently-released report by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, a group of former UN experts, argued that the junta has effective control over less than a fifth of the country’s territory while the NUG and its allies control 53%. The rest is contested, according to the report. Estimates on who controls what in Myanmar are complex and contested, though. Yet Western democracies are, slowly and unevenly, beginning to engage more with the NUG. Malaysia is leading the charge for greater recognition of it by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). And there are now rising calls from some in the Western establishment for either outright recognition of the NUG as Myanmar’s legitimate government or at least greater financial support. “It needs support—and especially money—from the West. If America recognized it as the legitimate government, the NUG could claim the US$1 billion in Burmese assets that America froze after the coup,” argued a recent article in The Economist headlined “Myanmar’s shadow government deserves more help.” But there’s still scant interest among Western democracies to open channels with some of Myanmar’s EAOs that analysts say are providing essential support to hundreds of thousands displaced by the conflict or refuge to those targeted by the junta. The US position on the EAOs is non-recognition with no direct engagement, said Zachary Abuza, professor of Southeast Asian studies at the Washington-based National War College. Most likely that is because some of them are involved in illicit narcotic production, although that is “short-sighted,” he said, as only a few EAOs are involved in the drug trade. Of those that are, most have sided with the junta or are not taking sides in the civil war. Almost all of them are in Shan state. “The EAOs control vast swaths of territory. Four of the largest are now allied – or at least aligned – with the NUG,” Abuza said. “They will have a seat at the table in a future government, especially should there be a negotiated settlement that leads to a genuine federal democracy.” The NUG, formed by members of the coup-ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) and anti-military activists, has vowed to introduce a new federal system if it is able eventually to remove the junta from power. Representatives of eight EAOs, either as direct participants or part of local consultative councils, are part of the National Unity Consultative Council, a consultative platform between the NUG, EAOs, civilian activists and non-profit organizations. Certain anti-military People’s Defense Forces, or PDFs, are actively working with the EAOs, which are known to provide training and security. The NUG has control over many PDFs but not all, including several fighting in fierce battles against the Tatmadaw in Sagaing Region. According to one recent estimate, 13 of the NUG’s 26-strong cabinet are from ethnic nationalities, including the acting president, Duwa Lashi La, and Prime Minister Mahn Win Khaing Than. While four major EAOs are cooperating intensively with the NUG, another three or four are only quietly collaborating, according to the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar report. Around a dozen more oppose the junta but are not actively supporting the NUG. The well-armed Arakan Army, active in Rakhine and Chin states, has not formally aligned itself with the NUG but recently clashed with the Tatmadaw after a ceasefire period and now appears to see its future best served in a federal Myanmar. According to some observers and analysts, the coup has also altered ethnic relations in Myanmar. “The coup has prompted a shift in how much of the Burman majority views ethnic armed groups and minorities’ demands for a fairer distribution of political power,” argued a paper by the International Crisis Group, a think tank. “Decades of propaganda had castigated minorities as the cause of Myanmar’s political problems, but Burmans angry at the regime now view ethnic grievances much more empathetically,” it added. Last year, the NUG and its allies published their Federal Democracy Charter, a roadmap of how they intend to rule during a transitional phase — meaning current conditions amid divided control of the country — and then once the junta is ousted. “Some of the major EROs are also deliberating options for re-orienting their existing constitutional frameworks to the new situation, as they gain increasing autonomy and responsibilities for local populations,” stated the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar report “Continued negotiation and implementation of the Federal Democracy Charter, widened to include other EROs and political parties, could lead to these various systems developing into a viable federal and democratic structure that would be able to assume the rights and responsibilities of the state.” Myanmar’s numerous and long-fighting ethnic armies are far from homogenous and are warring for different demands. Indeed, some are in open conflict with one another in their states. Shan state, Myanmar’s largest by territory, is particularly rumbustious. Many are taking a wait-and-see approach and historically have distrusted both the military and the NLD, the party of deposed and now-jailed Aung San Suu Kyi who failed to live up to democratic expectations among many EAOs. The powerful United Wa State Army (UWSA), the country’s largest narcotics-trafficking militia with as many as 30,000 under arms, is still fence-sitting. The Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), meanwhile, at first declared its support for the Civil Disobedience Movement, a series of anti-coup actions in early 2021, but has since held talks with the junta. In April, ten EAOs attended peace talks with the junta. But fewer attended second-round talks last month, according to media reports. Some objected that the NUG, which the junta considers a “terrorist organization”, was not a party to the discussions. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the junta chief and coup-maker, has proposed that ethnic armies sign ceasefires and be absorbed into the national military – a rejected suggestion that has been made by military leaders since the 1980s. In 2015, during the quasi-democratic presidency of Thein Sein, a military appointee, ten ethnic armed groups signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. The larger and more relevant EAOs did not sign the deal, which was widely panned as a farce by analysts and observers. Now, they argue that Western governments need to rethink their approach to certain EAOs because they will play a key role in a post-junta Myanmar if the NUG wins. Scot Marciel, a former US ambassador to Myanmar, argued in an essay last month that the international community needs to “increase public and private engagement with the NUG and other key actors who are active against the junta, including the critically important ethnic armed organizations and leaders of the civil disobedience movement.” Foreign powers, the analysts say, need a more nuanced position that allows them to engage different EAOs. That must be done on a case-by-case basis; Western capitals could even learn a few things from how China has engaged its favored EAOs, including most crucially the UWSA and to a lesser extent the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). “The Chinese arm them, but in return expect them to protect Chinese economic interests. They have a diplomatic and security flexibility that the US simply refuses to give itself,” said Abuza. Foreign assistance has long been provided in EAO-controlled areas through local affiliates of these groups. But because few foreign governments recognize them officially, funding and support has to go through intermediaries, explained Kim Jolliffe, a researcher on Myanmar politics. This is an increasingly problematic dynamic as the escalating civil war decimates news areas of the country previously unperturbed by conflict, including in Sagaing Region and Chin state. Vital assistance to Myanmar’s many impoverished regions has been disrupted by the conflict, with the UN estimating in May that more than one million people have been internally displaced nationwide. It is thus now “crucial” that greater social and humanitarian assistance is channeled to and in coordination with EAOs and the NUG, argues Jolliffe. “This cannot continue through piecemeal grants to community-based organizations only. There need to be foreign commitments to establishing a much more comprehensive aid mechanism with direct participation of the EROs and NUG as the responsible local authorities and social service departments,” Jolliffe added. “Foreign democracies also need to firmly back these groups politically,” he said, meaning through monetary assistance and diplomatic support to their civilian wings. Neither a spokesperson for the US State Department nor the European Commission responded to Asia Times’ requests for comment on the issues of recognizing and funneling assistance through the NUG and EAOs. According to Roshni Kapur, an independent researcher based in Singapore, while direct military and financial support to EAOs are for now off the table, “Western governments can reach out to these groups through unconventional ways including humanitarian assistance, capacity building and distribution of vaccines.” “Working with rebel groups could be a better alternative to deliver the much-needed assistance,” she added, noting that many of the EAOs are key providers of education and healthcare in local communities. Several EAOs are also willing to build better relations with the West, noted Salai Samuel Hmung, a research officer of the SEARBO project, an academic research and advocacy program. “Since the coup, some EAOs, especially those fighting against the military, have been able to extend their influence in domestic politics with public support,” he said. “The West cannot ignore their influence and their role in shaping the course of the revolution and the country’s future.”..."
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-26
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Title: Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia and Europe urge the UN and the US to take sides in the struggle for democracy in Myanmar
Description: "NEW YORK – A delegation of parliamentarians from Southeast Asia and Europe urged officials at the United Nations, U.S. State Department, and U.S. Congress to support the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar in its struggle against the brutal military junta established by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing after the illegal coup on 1 February 2021. The delegation traveled to New York and Washington, D.C., and presented to a variety of stakeholders the preliminary findings and recommendations of the International Parliamentary Inquiry (IPI) into the global response to the crisis in Myanmar, organized by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR). The delegation included Heidi Hautala, Vice President of the European Parliament and Chairperson of the IPI; Charles Santiago, Malaysian MP and Chairperson of APHR; and APHR Board Members Mercy Chriesty Barends, member of the Indonesian House of Representatives, U Shwe Maung, former Myanmar Member of Parliament, and Tom Villarin, former Congressman from the Philippines. “We have impressed upon the stakeholders we have met the necessity for governments committed to supporting democracy in Myanmar to acknowledge the National Unity Government (NUG) as the legitimate authority in the country, increase and coordinate pressure on the junta, launch initiatives of capacity building for the NUG and other pro-democracy forces, and scale up humanitarian aid channeled it through civil society organizations,” said Charles Santiago. The APHR-IPI delegation held meetings with the Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ilze Brands Kehris, as well as officials from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR). In New York, the delegation also took part in a meeting hosted by the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Dato Sri Saifuddin Abdullah, with several members of the NUG. In Washington, the delegation met with members of Congress, including Representative Ilhan Omar, also a member of the IPI, as well as officials from the State Department. “The United States has an important role to play in exerting pressure on the junta and supporting the pro-democracy forces. We called for the imposition of sanctions on the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), one of the main sources of funding for the Myanmar military, as the European Union has already done. We believe that those governments and international institutions that claim to support democracy in Myanmar should cut the flow of funds to the junta and do so in a coordinated and consistent manner,” said Heidi Hautala. As the Myanmar military continues to engage in acts which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said may amount to “crimes against humanity and war crimes.” It is throwing the country into chaos, and the international community’s response has fallen woefully short, despite repeated expressions of concern. In order to analyze this failure and offer solutions to the impasse, APHR decided to launch the IPI in June. The IPI has held a total of six public hearings, as well as two special and three confidential hearings, with experts, diplomats, politicians, and activists from Myanmar and other countries. IPI committee members also conducted a fact-finding mission to the Thai-Myanmar border, where they met with over dozen civil society organizations and other stakeholders. The IPI will release a report with its full findings and recommendations in early November..."
Source/publisher: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-25
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Title: Japan to Suspend Myanmar Military Training Program
Sub-title: Decision Opens Door for Targeted Sanctions Against Junta
Description: "On Tuesday, September 20, Japan’s Defense Ministry announced that as of 2023 it would no longer accept new military personnel from the Myanmar military for training in Japan. The ministry cited the junta’s execution of four pro-democracy activists in July as a major factor in its decision. “We decided it’s not appropriate to continue the military cooperation and exchange in its current form,” said Takeshi Aoki, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry. However, two officers and nine cadets who are currently receiving training at Japan’s National Defense Academy and Japan Self-Defense Forces facilities will remain until their programs finish. Since 2015, Japan has accepted cadets and officers from Myanmar under article 100-2 of the Self-Defense Forces Act, which permits training and educating foreign nationals in Defense Ministry facilities with the defense minister’s approval. Following Myanmar military’s coup in February 2021, Japan accepted two officers and two cadets in 2021 and another two officers and two cadets in 2022. In May, Human Rights Watch and Justice For Myanmar located Myanmar Air Force Lt. Col. Hlwan Moe, who received training at Japan’s Air Command and Staff College from August 2016 to March 2017, at Magway Air Base in Myanmar’s central Magway Region. Military units deployed at the air base have been implicated in serious abuses, including possible indiscriminate airstrikes in Magway. In August, Human Rights Watch found that Myanmar Army Brig. Gen. Tin Soe, who received training at Japan’s Ground Self Defense Force Staff College from August 2016 to March 2017, was based at Eastern Command headquarters from August 2021 to July 2022. Eastern Command oversees operations in southern Shan and Karenni (Kayah) States and its forces were responsible for a massacre of civilians and other atrocities. The Defense Ministry’s decision to suspend the training program is critical to ensuring that Japan does not risk becoming complicit in Myanmar military abuses. It is a small and long overdue step, but one that should embolden the Japanese government to join with other democracies that are taking stronger action against the junta. Japan should publicly voice its support for the draft Myanmar resolution that Britain circulated at the United Nations Security Council. That resolution reportedly calls for a global arms embargo on Myanmar that would prohibit all military training and imposes sanctions on the junta..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-23
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Title: Interactive dialogue on the report of OHCHR on the progress made and remaining challenges with regard to the recommendations of the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar in its conference room paper on the economic interests of the military
Description: "Mr. President, Excellencies, The report on economic interests of the Myanmar military is being presented to you pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 46/21, which requested the High Commissioner to report on the status of implementation of the recommendations made by the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar (FFM) in its conference room paper (A/HRC/42/CRP.3) on the same subject in September 2019. I will be updating this Council separately on the overall human rights situation in Myanmar on 26 September. In its 2019 report, the FFM concluded that the military’s ability to draw on various sources of revenue enabled its operations, including perpetration of serious international crimes. The FFM called for the Tatmadaw’s financial and economic isolation as a crucial element in pursuing accountability and contributing towards civilian oversight over the military’s actions. Since the FFM report, the human rights situation in Myanmar has become even graver. Further to the military coup of February 2021, the Myanmar military has continued its exploitation of the country’s resources to advance its own interests and fuel a campaign of violence and repression against Myanmar’s people. The Myanmar military has steadily escalated its use of force on cities, towns and villages throughout the country. To date, nearly 2,299 persons, including 188 children, have been killed and nearly 30,000 buildings, including whole villages, schools, churches/places of worship and other protected objects, have been burned to the ground. Such offensives have relied heavily on the use of air power, artillery and other military hardware, being bought and paid for by the profits from the Tatmadaw’s own business interests and exploitation of resources. While there have been some steps taken by various actors following the FFM’s recommendations, particularly since the coup, substantially more can be done to stem the economic resources and supply of arms that enable the military to continue its assault on the Myanmar people. Curtailing the Tatmadaw’s economic interests and, in particular, its access to revenues and foreign exchange are essential elements of preventing the further spiral of human rights violations. In addition, the General Assembly has called on Member States to prevent the flow of arms into the country, and our report urges Member States that have not already done so to impose arms embargos on the Myanmar military. As OHCHR has highlighted in previous reports to this Council, the military has been consistently repressing and terrorizing the country’s population in its attempts to assert full control. These actions have pushed an economy already hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic into a deepening crisis. We have observed a two-fold increase in poverty and the breakdown of the public health system. Also, over half of all school-aged children have not accessed education for two academic years. Despite the dramatic economic, political, financial and social deterioration in the country, the military’s so-called State Administrative Council (SAC) continues to prioritize military operations by increasing defence spending and reducing budget allocations to education, health and social protection. The SAC has failed to govern in meaningful and sustainable ways, including by being unable to raise taxes, and with the local SAC administration collapsing in various parts of the country. This has been compounded by the Myanmar people’s courageous resistance to military rule. For instance, households are refusing to pay electricity bills despite threats of being cut off; and many are boycotting military-linked companies and businesses. Excellencies, The report shows that since the military coup of 1 February 2021, some companies ended their business relationships with military-owned companies, in line with some FFM recommendations. The coup has further heightened the reputational and other business risks of such relationships, whether for international or Myanmar companies. In parallel, several Member States have introduced further targeted sanctions, including on military leaders, military-owned entities and some State-owned entities now under the direct control of the SAC. However, the military’s continued use of foreign currency to buy arms, particularly, aircraft, aerial munitions, and artillery has enabled its attacks against its opponents including in populated areas, as well as the targeting of civilians and locations protected under international humanitarian and human rights law. The current crisis has also enabled the military to extend and strengthen its patronage networks. It is involved through proxies in illicit extractive activities, for instance increased mining of rare earths in Kachin State, vital for production of “green technologies”, but at a cost of enriching key Tatmadaw allies and devastating the local environment. Given the ongoing non-international armed conflict in the area, this activity warrants further investigation as to the possible war crime of pillaging. Excellencies, Concerted action is needed now. The report urges the international community to take all steps within its power to support the people of Myanmar and to act in coordinated fashion to financially isolate the military. In so doing, efforts must be made to avoid adverse socio-economic impacts on the people of Myanmar more generally. To that end, consultation on appropriate steps with civil society and the wider democratic movement, including the ‘National Unity Government’, representatives from ethnic and religious minorities, and trade unions, will be crucial. The Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise generates approximately 50 per cent of Myanmar’s foreign currency earnings. Additionally, the military has open access to foreign exchange held in overseas accounts of State-owned banks. As a result, the report calls on Member States to implement additional targeted measures against key entities that facilitate the Tatmadaw’s continued access to foreign currency. Furthermore, we urge all businesses active in Myanmar or sourcing from the country to take steps to ensure their operations do not economically benefit the military, including by conducting ongoing and transparent heightened human rights due diligence. Companies disinvesting or decoupling from supply chains in Myanmar should, of course, also take responsible measures to best protect the interests of their employees and consumers. These measures are fundamental to uphold business and human rights principles and to ensure that financial partnerships do not fuel human rights violations..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-22
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Title: UNHCR Myanmar Operational Update, April - June 2022
Description: "KEY HIGHLIGHTS 126,500 people received core relief items including kitchen sets, blankets and sleeping mats, ensuring their basic needs were met. 37,000 people received shelter support for safe and dignified living conditions while in displacement. 1,055 people with specific needs benefited from cash assistance to meet their basic needs. POPULATION OF CONCERN 600,000 Estimated stateless Rohingya in Rakhine State, of which some 153,000 are living in displacement camps as well as among the host community since 2012. 1,105,100 Internally displaced people (IDP) living in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayin and Mon States, and Bago (East), Tanintharyi, Sagaing and Magway Regions. An estimated 758,500 people are displaced due to the resumption and intensification of clashes between the Tatmadaw and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and/or People’s Defense Forces (PDF) after 1 February 2021. Some 72,700 remain displaced in 172 sites in Rakhine and Chin States displaced following the Arakan Army-Tatmadaw conflict..."
Source/publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-22
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Title: 2022 International Day of Peace
Description: "Today, on September 21st, the world commemorates the International Day of Peace. This annual event is a day on which armed actors throughout the world are expected to cease hostilities for 24 hours as a celebration of the spirit of peace. Calls to cease hostilities in Burma are however currently deeply problematic. The junta’s recent calls for cease-fire are likely a smokescreen to conceal their real intent of securing allies rather than true peace, and of undermining and weakening opposition groups who are fighting for concrete political reform that will end the longstanding oppression of ethnic minorities. The current context thus serves as a sad reminder that even calls for peace can be used as a weapon of war. As such, local and regional actors have been stressing the need to hold Burma’s military leaders accountable for their crimes as the clearest means to bring about peace and end the violence committed against those striving for democracy. Since February 2021, when the Burma Army (or Tatmadaw) once again violently and unlawfully seized control over the country, villagers in Southeast Burma have been increasingly subjected to a vast array of human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, torture, killing, extortion, looting, burning of entire villages, and forced labour, as well as being used as human shields. The military junta has also returned to a “four cuts” strategy (pyat lay pyat) aimed to destroy links between their opponents and sources of funding, supplies, intelligence, and recruits from local villages by directly targeting civilians. This was first used against the Karen in the 1970s, and was also deployed in Rakhine State in 2017, against the Rohingya. As a result, villagers in Karen State are being denied the most basic human necessities, including food, health care and education, and are struggling to survive. This year’s theme, “End Racism. Build Peace,” serves as a reminder that lasting peace is achieved not only through the absence of violent conflict but through the elimination of structures of violence, including ethnic and racial discrimination. The Burma Army has been oppressing ethnic minorities throughout Burma for decades, not just through its four cuts strategy, but also through a heavy Burmanisation campaign that sought to suppress the culture, language, history, and ethnic expression of minority groups. Due to ongoing and widespread problems of impunity, the Burma Army has been able to extend its tyranny and oppression to include all civilians who oppose its dictatorial rule. The ongoing failure of the international community to adequately respond to the atrocities committed against Burma’s ethnic minorities thus perpetuates the structures that fuel oppression and conflict. On this day that people across the globe are called upon to observe a “minute of silence” or “moment of peace”, KHRG hopes that everyone will reflect on the fact that for many people in Burma, and others currently facing oppression and war, enjoying a “minute of silence” and “moment of peace” is not even possible. Thus, in commemoration of this International Day of Peace, KHRG urges all relevant international actors to take concrete action to address the human rights violations in Burma by holding accountable the military junta leaders for their past and current crimes. In remembering the shared responsibility of all local, regional and international actors in bringing about peace, let this Day of Peace serve as a turning point for ending impunity and dismantling the structures that support ongoing violence and oppression. .."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-21
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Title: Conditions for Untold Numbers of Innocent People in Myanmar Have Gone from Bad to Worse to Horrific, Special Rapporteur Tells Human Rights Council
Description: "Council Concludes General Debate on the Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right to Development Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the Human Rights Council this afternoon that conditions for untold numbers of innocent people in Myanmar had gone from bad to worse to horrific. Around 1.3 million people had been displaced; and the military had destroyed more than 28,000 homes, burning entire villages to the ground. The number of innocent people who had been killed or injured by landmines was rising significantly. There was a looming food crisis and a dramatic increase in childhood malnutrition; women were losing economic and social gains; and 130,000 Rohingya remained confined in de facto internment camps. Mr. Andrews said the people of Myanmar were frustrated and angered by Member States that were working to prop up this illegal and brutal military junta with funding, trade, weapons, and a veneer of legitimacy. They were also disappointed by those nations that voiced support for them, but then failed to back up their words with action. The international response to this deepening crisis had failed. Member States needed to take stronger, more effective action to deprive the junta and its forces of revenue, weapons and legitimacy. A coalition of nations needed to be established that could build a coordinated strategy on the crisis. Conflict was spreading throughout Myanmar, with more and more civilians taking up arms against the junta, said Mr. Andrews. Ethnic armed organizations were increasingly engaging junta forces. Clashes between the Arakan Army and junta forces were escalating. Newly formed People’s Defence Forces were now attacking the military throughout the country. The junta was deeply unpopular in every corner of Myanmar. The junta was using aid as a weapon by obstructing deliveries to displaced populations and communities that they perceived to be aligned with pro-democracy forces. Untold numbers of innocent people had been left without access to food, medicine and the means to survive. In the ensuing discussion, speakers said that for the past five years, the human rights situation in Myanmar had been catastrophic. The illegal coup of 2021 had plunged the country into a situation in which the entire population was held hostage by the military junta. Mass atrocities continued to be committed against the entire population. Full, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access was essential for all persons in need. It was necessary to ensure the safety of humanitarian personnel, and to create the necessary conditions for a voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees and internally displaced persons. The conflict also threatened peace and stability in the region, including India and in Bangladesh, where a durable solution had not been found to the Rohingya refugee crisis. One speaker said not listening to the State concerned ran counter to the Human Rights Council’s commitment to peaceful cooperation, and there should be understanding for the situation of Myanmar, and therefore the international community should seek means for cooperation. The unilateral coercive measures imposed on Myanmar should be lifted immediately. The Human Rights Council should cease to use politicised mandates against countries of the South, as they ran counter to the spirit of the United Nations Charter, and should tackle issues around the world in a cooperative and lasting manner. Speaking in the interactive dialogue were Luxembourg on behalf of a group of countries, European Union, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Sweden on behalf of a group of countries, Sierra Leone, Republic of Korea, France, Australia, India, Austria, and Venezuela. At the beginning of the meeting, the Council concluded its general debate on agenda item three on the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. Some speakers said that the protection and promotion of human rights was vital, and only when the right to development was guaranteed could there be guarantees of the other human rights. Economic, social and cultural rights were vital in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which had pushed millions into poverty and unemployment, showing the weakened public system. The impact of this crisis and the environmental crisis had shown that this was a key moment in human history. Human rights had to be integrated in all recovery processes and plans, and the international human rights framework should be used in the progress towards a more harmonious international system in harmony with the environment, ensuring the survival of humanity. Speaking in the general debate were the following non-governmental organizations: Law Council of Australia on behalf of International Bar Association, Disability Association of Tavana, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Soka Gakkai International on behalf of Instituto de Desenvolvimento e Direitos Humanos and International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Mouvement National des Jeunes Patriotes du Mali, China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS), Instituto de Desenvolvimento e Direitos Humanos, YouChange China Social Entrepreneur Foundation, International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture on behalf of Advocates for Human Rights and Ensemble contre la Peine de Mort, China Foundation for Human Rights Development, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Centre Europe - tiers monde, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA), Friends World Committee for Consultation, Youth Parliament for SDG, Asociacion HazteOir.org, China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetian Culture (CAPDTC), Make Mothers Matter, Edmund Rice International Limited, Shaanxi Patriotic Volunteer Association, Centre for Gender Justice and Women Empowerment, Physicians for Human Rights, Conscience and Peace Tax International (CPTI), and Association pour la défense des droits de l'homme et des revendications démocratiques/culturelles du peuple Azerbaidjanais-Iran - « ARC ». Also speaking were Mother of Hope Cameroon Common Initiative Group, Organization for Poverty Alleviation and Development, Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII on behalf of a group of organisations, Meezaan Center for Human Rights, Interfaith International, Association Ma'onah for Human Rights and Immigration, Peace Track Initiative, Rencontre Africaine pour la defense des droits de l'homme, Association Internationale pour l'égalité des femmes, Tumuku Development and Cultural Union (TACUDU), Beijing Guangming Charity Foundation, Il Cenacolo, Global Welfare Association, United Nations Association of China, Partners For Transparency, Al-Ayn Social Care Foundation, Jubilee Campaign, Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples, Caritas Internationalis (International Confederation of Catholic Charities), Al Baraem Association for Charitable Work, Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Africa Culture Internationale, World Muslim Congress, Istituto Internazionale Maria Ausiliatrice delle Salesiane di Don Bosco, International Muslim Women's Union, Peace Brigades International, International Union of Socialist Youth, International Commission of Jurists, CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Sikh Human Rights Group, Action Canada for Population and Development, International Humanist and Ethical Union, Medical Support Association for Underprivileged Iranian Patients, Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism, Beijing Changier Education Foundation, Promotion du Développement Economique et Social - PDES, Centre for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy, Organisation internationale pour les pays les moins avancés (OIPMA), International Action for Peace & Sustainable Development, Global Appreciation and Skills Training Network, and iuventum e.V.. Also taking the floor were African Green Foundation International, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience, Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain Inc, Iraqi Development Organization, Alsalam Foundation, Villages Unis (United Villages), Chunhui Children's Foundation, Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights Association, International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (IHRAAM), United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation, PRAHAR, Anglican Consultative Council, solidarité Suisse-Guinée, Association D'Entraide Médicale Guinée, Zero Pauvre Afrique, Synergie Feminine Pour La Paix Et Le Developpement Durable, Community Human Rights and Advocacy Centre (CHRAC), and Commission africaine des promoteurs de la santé et des droits de l'homme. Speaking in right of reply were the United States, Azerbaijan, China, Iran, and Armenia. The webcast of the Human Rights Council meetings can be found here. All meeting summaries can be found here. Documents and reports related to the Human Rights Council’s fifty-first regular session can be found here. The Council will next meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 22 September, when it will conclude the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. This will be followed by an interactive dialogue on the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Myanmar. General Debate on Agenda Item Three on the Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the Right to Development The general debate on the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, started in the previous meting and a summary can be found here. General Debate In the debate, many speakers said that the protection and promotion of human rights was vital, and only when the right to development was guaranteed could there be guarantees of the other human rights. States should engage civil society and recognise lacunae in their protection of human rights, and take more seriously the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals by monitoring their impact on the ground. States had a major responsibility to create ripe conditions, at the international and national levels, to ensure the right to development, including combatting militarism and attacks on the international system. Unilateral coercive measures should not be used to implement iniquitous systems; there should be an inclusive international system based on the respect of human rights. Some Member States had not participated in the elaboration on a draft convention on the right to development, which was regretted, as it was essential for the implementation and guarantees of the right. The text should be progressive enough for the expectations for a text drafted in the modern period to be fulfilled. The staggering challenges facing the world required international efforts to review the economic integration of countries as a priority to ensure economic balance and development, as well as food security, which was still hanging in the balance. The challenges were fundamental, and were related to the right to development as well as the need to meet environmental challenges whilst ensuring sustainable development. Governments should respect and observe the independence of the judiciary, and ensure that proceedings were undertaken in an accountable and transparent manner. All States had obligations under international law on arms transfers, and should respect these rights, and the risk of arms being used against children should be assessed at sales. There was concern for the situation of elderly persons living in countries under international sanctions, as there was for persons with disabilities, who found access to resources and aid limited by the sanctions. All vulnerable people and groups should be protected to a greater extent, including from economic declines. Human rights education was vital for helping those in situations of danger and vulnerability. There should be a Special Rapporteur for unilateral coercive measures. Economic, social and cultural rights were vital in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which had pushed millions into poverty and unemployment, showing the weakened public system. The impact of this crisis and the environmental crisis had shown that this was a key moment in human history. Human rights had to be integrated in all recovery processes and plans, and the international human rights framework should be used in the progress towards a more harmonious international system in harmony with the environment, ensuring the survival of humanity. Economic, social and cultural rights were basic rights, which covered many rights, including access to safe housing and drinking water, and the right to development was essential for achieving these rights. The pandemic had disproportionately affected youth, and the digital divide had excluded many from a digital education, particularly girls. The pandemic had taken a toll on the mental health of young people, leaving them unable to contribute to society. It had hindered youth volunteering. A Special Rapporteur on youth and an annual youth forum should be created to advance and mainstream youth rights, including the right to decent work. The Human Rights Council must play a driving role in ensuring the rights of young people. The right to freedom of expression was enshrined in many international instruments, however, around the world many organizations, including those of the media, did not hesitate to insult those who asserted this right, seeking to limit the rights and freedoms of those who asserted their rights through various means, including violent ones. The right to objection to military service was of concern, as there were still some States that did not recognise this right, forcing objectors to flee their own countries. The right deteriorated further in situations of armed conflict. Freedoms of thought, conscience and religion were non-derogable, and the work of the Council was vital for the protection of these rights, which were relevant to the right to conscientious objection to military service. Gender and sexual violence were used against human rights defenders, and to repress opponents in various areas of the world, and many journalists faced discrimination and harassment. Tough measures should be applied to those States violating the rights of journalists and media workers. Human rights defenders found their ability to act restricted, with a lack of security and access to justice, with direct repercussions on their ability to function effectively. Human rights defenders were vital for the protection of human rights, and should be protected, as without them, there could be no achievement of rights; State legislation restricting the scope of their activities must be erased. Other issues raised included that natural resources were being exploited, resulting in the economic deprivation of indigenous people, with concomitant effects on their health and extreme poverty. Further, a tragic reality faced migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees seeking safety in Europe, and there should be prompt, impartial and independent investigations into their deaths, as well as into the trafficking of migrants. Sexual minorities remained persecuted in many areas of the world, and they could suffer life imprisonment or even death, and the Council should examine these situations and ensure that the States involved respected the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex plus persons and groups, whilst punishing crimes committed against them. Illegal migration had a serious impact on indigenous rights, due to forced integration and assimilation, and caused great misery. The Human Rights Council should examine this issue in order to better safeguard the human rights of indigenous people. The Council should put pressure on militias to release all those in arbitrary detention. Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Presentation THOMAS ANDREWS, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said that conditions had gone from bad to worse to horrific for untold numbers of innocent people in Myanmar. Around 1.3 million people had been displaced; the military had destroyed more than 28,000 homes, burning entire villages to the ground. The number of innocent people who had been killed or injured by landmines was rising significantly. There was a looming food crisis and a dramatic increase in childhood malnutrition; women were losing economic and social gains; and 130,000 Rohingya remained confined in de facto internment camps. The people of Myanmar were frustrated and angered by Member States that were working to prop up this illegal and brutal military junta with funding, trade, weapons, and a veneer of legitimacy. They were also disappointed by those nations that voiced support for them, but then failed to back up their words with action. The Myanmar military was committing war crimes and crimes against humanity daily, including sexual violence, torture, deliberate targeting of civilians, and murder. The junta was holding at least 84 political prisoners on death row; and more than 12,000, including 295 children, remained arbitrarily detained in deplorable conditions, subject to torture. Conflict was spreading throughout the country, with more and more civilians taking up arms against the junta. Clashes between the Arakan Army and junta forces were escalating. Newly formed People’s Defence Forces were now attacking the military throughout the country. The junta was deeply unpopular in every corner of Myanmar. The junta was using aid as a weapon by obstructing deliveries to displaced populations and communities that they perceived to be aligned with pro-democracy forces. Untold numbers of innocent people had been left without access to food, medicine and the means to survive. The international response to this deepening crisis had failed. Member States needed to take stronger, more effective action to deprive the junta and its forces of revenue, weapons and legitimacy. A coalition of nations needed to be established that could build a coordinated strategy on the crisis. The amount of humanitarian aid that was available to address the crisis was grossly inadequate. More than 80 per cent of the United Nations Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan remained unfunded. Local organizations needed strong support and flexibility from Member States and donors. The crisis was forcing many to flee Myanmar, embarking on perilous journeys across land and sea, and it was imperative that the Governments of host countries and the international community protected their human rights. Mr. Andrews said that he had spoken with more than 100 Myanmar human rights defenders, pro-democracy activists, aid workers, youth leaders, and women’s rights advocates. He had been deeply inspired by their courage and their tireless efforts to resist the illegal military junta. These people needed the world’s support. Many in Myanmar had come to the conclusion that the world had forgotten them, or simply did not care. The people of Myanmar desperately needed all Member States to re-think status quo policies that were clearly not working, and to stand with and for them as they fought for their lives, their children, and their future. Discussion In the ensuing discussion, speakers said, among other things, that for the past five years, the human rights situation in Myanmar had been catastrophic. The illegal coup of 2021 had plunged the country into a situation in which the entire population was held hostage by the military junta. Mass atrocities continued to be committed against the entire population. Full, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access was essential for all persons in need. It was necessary to ensure the safety of humanitarian personnel and to create the necessary conditions for a voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees and internally displaced persons. All acts of violence against civilians must end, including sexual and gender-based violence, and violence against women, children, human rights defenders, religious minorities, journalists and media workers. All those arbitrarily detained must be released immediately and unconditionally. All United Nations Member States should end all supply, sale and transfer of arms to the Myanmar armed and security forces. Some speakers said that the conflict in Myanmar also threatened peace and stability in the region, including India and in Bangladesh, where a durable solution had not been found to the Rohingya refugee crisis. There should be meaningful accountability, justice, and a permanent solution to the crisis, with an immediate end to the violations against all inhabitants of Myanmar, including the Rohingya, who should have their citizenship restored, and should be repatriated to their country immediately and without delay, in full security. The complete human rights catastrophe continued, and there should be an immediate end to all mass killings, torture, including of children, and gender- and sexually-based violence. The military should restore the de facto moratorium on the death penalty, and release all political prisoners, including minors, whilst ensuring justice and reparation for victims. Further acts of violence against unarmed civilians should cease immediately, and the country should be allowed to return to democratic rule. The international community needed to take further steps to halt the deteriorating situation. A number of speakers said the efforts of the Association of South East Asian Nations and the United Nations Mission in Myanmar were applauded, as was the Bangladesh Government’s sustained efforts to provide for the needs of the Rohingya people it hosted. International efforts should continue to find a peaceful solution to the problem. The Special Rapporteur was commended for his work and his commitment to shedding light on the situation. The international community needed to remain committed to restoring peace and security to Myanmar. A peaceful solution involving all stakeholders was the only way forward towards resolving the humanitarian and national crisis. One speaker said that not listening to the State concerned ran counter to the Human Rights Council’s commitment to peaceful cooperation. The report was lopsided and contained allegations that were unverifiable. Politicised mandates did nothing to advance human rights, and should be rooted out of the work of the Human Rights Council. The unilateral coercive measures imposed on Myanmar should be lifted immediately. The Human Rights Council should cease to use politicised mandates against countries of the South, as they ran counter to the spirit of the United Nations Charter, and should tackle issues around the world in a cooperative and lasting manner..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-21
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Title: WFP Myanmar Situation Report (August 2022)
Description: "In Numbers 11 million people are facing acute food insecurity 1.3 million people are displaced 4 million people are targeted for WFP assistance 2.6 million people reached in 2022 to date Highlights • In response to rising inflation and a surge in local and global food prices, WFP increased the value of cash-based transfers in August. The change will cost WFP an additional US$ 450,000 per month. • In August, WFP reached more than 1 million people with food and cash assistance, including 33,300 internally displaced people (IDPs) who received WFP assistance for the first time. • In 2022, WFP has assisted 2.6 million conflict-affected people across Myanmar with emergency food, livelihoods and nutrition support. Situation Update • Humanitarian situation: UNOCHA estimates that 1.3 million people are internally displaced by conflict in Myanmar – 974,000 since February 2021 and 653,000 in 2022 alone. A further 330,000 are protracted IDPs, displaced before February 2021. • Security has deteriorated across the country, particularly in Chin, Kayah and Rakhine states. Increased clashes have led to new population displacements and further restrictions on humanitarian access. • Economy: The value of the national currency, the Myanmar kyat (MMK), dropped rapidly in August, trading at around MMK3,500 to the US Dollar in the informal market, compared with MMK1800 in early 2022. The volatility is creating a surge in basic commodity prices. • Food security: An estimated 11 million people – 20 percent of the total population – are facing acute food insecurity according to a household survey jointly conducted by WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in March 2022. A new round of WFP assessments is underway to evaluate the impact of recent economic shocks, including rising food and fuel prices. • Food prices appeared to have stabilised between June and July but continued to climb in August. Early indications from WFP’s price monitoring in August suggest the cost of a basic food basket was 54 percent higher compared to the same time last year. • Banking regulations imposed on 1 September require WFP beneficiaries to present an official identity card when collecting their cash entitlements through financial service providers..."
Source/publisher: World Food Programme (Rome) via reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-21
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Title: လူ့အခွင့်အရေးမှတ်တမ်းကွန်ရက် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) မှ စစ်အာဏာရှင် ကျူးလွန်နေသာ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ရှုတ်ချလိုက်ပြီး ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးထိန်းသိမ်းမှုကို ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်ရန် တိုက်တွန်းနိုးဆော်လိုက်သည်။
Description: "ယနေ့ကျရောက်သော အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးနေ့တွင် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးမှတ်တမ်းကွန်ရက်- မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ (ND-Burma ) မှ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အာဏာရှင်၏ အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအား အဓိက ပစ်မှတ် ထားသည့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှုများ ချက်ခြင်းရပ်တန့်ရန် တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ ဆယ်စုနှစ် များစွာကြာ စစ်တပ်သည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးနှင့် တရားဥပဒေစိုးမိုးရေးကို ပြောင်ပြောင်တင်းတင်း လျစ် လျူရှုကာ ချိုးဖောက်ခဲ့သည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းပြီး သည့်နောက် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်သည် ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို ပြစ်ဒဏ် ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်ဖြင့် ပို၍ ရဲရဲတင်းတင်း ကျူးလွန်လာကြသည်။ ND-Burma သည် စစ်အာဏာရှင်ကြောင့် ဖြစ်ပေါ်လာသော ဆုတ်ယုတ်မှုများနှင့် ပျက်စီးဆုံးရှုံးမှုများကို ရှုတ်ချပြီး စနစ်တကျ မှတ်တမ်းတင်ထား သော စစ်ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများနှင့် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့် ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများကို ချက်ခြင်း စုံစမ်းစစ် ဆေးရန် တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးသည် စစ်ဗိုလ်ချုပ်ကြီးများ၏ လက်ချက်ဖြင့် ခံစားနေကြရသော ပြည်သူ များ၏ အသံကို စတင်နားထောင်၍ နိုင်ငံသားများ၏ ကောင်းကျိုးချမ်းသာကို ဖော်ဆောင်ရမည့်အစား မိမိတို့၏ အကျိုးစီးပွား တိုးပွားစေခြင်းကိုသာ ပိုမိုအလေးထား ဆောင်ရွက်နေသည်။ “ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဆိုသည်မှာ လွတ်လပ်မှု၊တန်းတူညီမျှမှုနှင့် တရားမျှတမှုတို့ကို ဆိုလိုခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ဤအရာများသည် လူသားတိုင်းအတွက် မရှိမဖြစ်တန်ဖိုးများဖြစ်သည်။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးတည်ဆောက်မှု အကြောင်း ပြောသည့်အခါ ဖယ်ဒရယ်စနစ်သည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကဲ့သို့သော နိုင်ငံအတွက် တစ်ခုတည်းသော လမ်းကြောင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးကို ဖော်ဆောင်နိုင်ရေးအတွက် ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်မှုနှင့် ယုံ ကြည်မှုတည်ဆောက်ရေးတို့ လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ ဤနေရာတွင် တစ်ဦးနှင့်တစ်ဦး နားလည်မှု၊ စာနာမှုများ မျှ ဝေခြင်းသည် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးကို တိုးတက်စေမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အဓိကပြဿနာမှာ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့တွင် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးတည်ဆောက်ရာ၌ မရှိမဖြစ်လိုအပ်သော အဆိုပါတန်ဖိုးများ ကင်းမဲ့နေခြင်းပင်ဖြစ်သည်” ဟု နိုင်အဲမွန်- မွန်ပြည်လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ဖောင်ဒေးရှင်း (HURFOM) မှ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ ပြောဆိုခဲ့သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး ကြိုးပမ်းအားထုတ်မှုသမိုင်းကြောင်းတွင် အမျိုးသမီးတို့၏ အသံကို ဖယ်ထုတ် ထားပြီး ၎င်းတို့၏ ဖြည့်သွင်းတင်ပြချက်များကို လျော့ပါးစေရန် လုပ်ဆောင်ခဲ့သည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများ သည် လူဦးရေ၏ ထက်ဝက်ကို လွှမ်းခြုံထားပြီး စစ်တပ်၏ မအောင်မြင်သော ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး ညှိနှိုင်းမှု များ၏ နောက်ဆက်တွဲ ပဋိပက္ခများတွင် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ခံနေရသည်။ အမျိုးသမီးများ ပါဝင်လာ သည့်အခါ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး စေ့စပ်ညှိနှိုင်းမှု အောင်မြင်ရန် အလားအလာ ပိုများသည်ဟု အထောက်အထား များ အခိုင်အမာ ရှိနေပါသည်။ “အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ အသံမပါတဲ့ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဟာ ဘယ်တော့မှ မတည်မြဲနိုင်ဘူး၊ စစ်မှန်ပြီး ရေရှည်တည် တံ့တဲ့ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဖြစ်ဖို့ဆိုရင် အမျိုးသမီးထုရဲ့ အသံတွေ ပါဝင်မှုတွေကို မဖြစ်မနေ ထည့်သွင်းရပါ မယ်။ ရှုထောင့်စုံကအသံကို လေးစားစွာနားထောင်ပြီ: ထည့်သွင်းခြင်းက ဖယ်ဒရယ်နိုင်ငံ တည်ဆောက် ရေးမှာဘဲဖြစ်ဖြစ် စစ်မှန်ပြီးတည်ငြိမ်တဲ့ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးကို ဖော်ဆောင်တဲ့အခါမှာဘဲဖြစ်ဖြစ် ကောင်းမွန် တဲ့ ရလဒ်ကို ပိုင်ဆိုင်နိုင်မှာဖြစ်တယ်” လွေးပိုးကမေဲးခြိုဝ်း – တအာင်းအမျိုးသမီးအဖွဲ့ အစည်း (TWO) မြန်မာစစ်အာဏာရှင်သည် ၎င်းတို့၏ အကျိုးစီးပွားကို မြှင့်တင်ရန်သာ စိတ်ပါဝင်စားကြောင်း တစိုက် မတ်မတ်သက်သေပြခဲ့သည်။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးအတွက် အဓိပ္ပါယ်ပြည့်ဝသော ဆွေးနွေးပွဲများသည် စစ်အစိုး ရဦးဆောင်သည့် စေ့စပ်ညှိနှိုင်းရေးကြောင့် စဉ်ဆက်မပြတ် ကျရှုံးခဲ့သည်။ တိုင်းရင်းသား တော်လှန်ရေး အဖွဲ့အစည်းများက ၎င်းတို့ ပြည်သူများ၏ အခွင့်အရေးကို ကာကွယ်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းစဉ် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်တပ်၏ရှည်လျားပြီး နက်ရှိုင်းသော အပစ်အခတ်ရပ်စဲရေးပျက်ပြားမှု၊ တာဝန်များနှင့် ကတိကဝတ် များကို လိုက်နာရန် ပျက်ကွက်ခဲ့သည့် သမိုင်းကြောင်းကြောင့် စစ်တပ်၏ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်များကို ထုံးစံ အတိုင်း မေးခွန်းထုတ်စေခဲ့သည်။ တပ်မတော်၏ ‘ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး’ လမ်းကြောင်းသည် လိမ်လည်လှည့် ဖြားမှုနှင့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများဖြင့်သာ ခင်းကျင်းထားသည်။ “မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးခရီးအတွက် အဓိကစိန်ခေါ်မှုတစ်ရပ်မှာ ကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ် ချုပ်ခွင့်ရ မျှော်မှန်းချက်များကို ဖြည့်ဆည်းပေးသည့် စစ်မှန်သော ဖက်ဒရယ်ပြည်ထောင်စုတည် ဆောက်ရေးအစီအစဉ်ဖြစ်သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကဲ့သို့သော ယဉ်ကျေးမှုပေါင်းစုံရှိသည့် လူ့အဖွဲ့အစည်း အတွက် ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး၏ အကြီးကျယ်ဆုံး စမ်းသပ်မှုမှာ အစိုးရသည် တိုင်းရင်းသား လူနည်းစုများအား လူများစုနည်းတူ တန်းတူ ဆက်ဆံခြင်းပင်ဖြစ်သည်။” ကိုအောင်ဇော်ဦး -လူ့အခွင့် အရေး ကာကွယ် မြှင့်တင်သူများအဖွဲ့ (HRDP) ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးထိန်းသိမ်းမှုကို ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်ရာတွင် အခြေခံမှ လုပ်ဆောင်ရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အရပ် ဘက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်သူများ၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရ (NUG) တို့သည် နိုင်ငံတကာ တာဝန်ခံမှု ယန္တရားများမှတဆင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့အား တာဝန်ခံရန် ခြေလှမ်းများလှမ်းခဲ့ကြသည်။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ မြေပြင်မှ ပြည်သူတို့၏ အသံကို ကြားနိုင် ရန်အတွက် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအခြေပြုအဖွဲ့များ ပါ၀င်မှုကို တိုးမြှင့်ရန် ND-Burma မှ တိုက်တွန်းတောင်း ဆိုလိုက်သည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်သည် လမ်းကြောင်းလွဲကာ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးအလားအလာအားလုံးကို ဖျက် စီးပစ်ရုံမှတပါး မည်သည့်အရာကိုမျှ လုပ်ဆောင်ခဲ့ခြင်းမရှိသောကြောင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး ဖော် ဆောင်မှုတွင် နေရာမရှိပါ။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-21
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Title: U.S. Contribution for the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar’s Witness Protection Efforts
Description: "The Department of State yesterday announced an additional contribution of $1 million through its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). During an event cohosted on the margins of the UN General Assembly by the Department of State and the Atlantic Council titled, “Safeguarding Victims and Witnesses in Atrocity Crime Trials: A Call to Courts and Governments,” the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack announced the contribution to support victims and witnesses of abuses by the Burmese military, calling on other governments to similarly provide assistance to safeguard victims of and witnesses to atrocity crimes. There is a clear and pressing need to protect victims of and witnesses to crimes in Burma. Credible information provided by victims and witnesses of atrocities committed in Burma is a threat to the military regime, which is actively targeting dissenting voices through forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. This contribution will further support the IIMM’s efforts to ensure victim and witness protection, while also increasing the mechanism’s access to important credible information of crimes committed within the scope of the IIMM’s mandate to investigate, collect, preserve, and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes in Burma since 2011. The United States remains firmly committed to pursuing justice for victims and accountability for those responsible for atrocities and other human rights violations across Burma..."
Source/publisher: United States Department of State
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-20
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Title: Malaysian Foreign Minister and international parliamentarians demand stronger action on Myanmar
Description: "NEW YORK – The Malaysian Foreign Minister, Dato Sri Saifuddin Abdullah, parliamentarians from Europe and Asia, and members of the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar have urged the global community to take stronger action to tackle the crisis triggered in Myanmar by last year’s illegal coup d’état. Minister Abdullah hosted a meeting focused on Myanmar today at the Malaysian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, which is taking place this week. “There should be an inclusive and fair consultation with all stakeholders in Myanmar, including the NUG and NUCC. Then there should be a framework with a clear endgame, which includes a return to democracy in Myanmar,” Abdullah said. Abdullah is the only ASEAN minister who has publicly met with members of the NUG, the legitimate government in Myanmar, which represents the democratic aspirations of the country’s people. The meeting was attended by the NUG Minister for Human Rights, U Aung Myo Min; the NUG Minister of Communications, Information and Technology, as well as its spokesperson, U Htin Linn Aung; the permanent representative of Myanmar to the UN, Kyaw Moe Tun; as well as representatives of other Myanmar pro-democracy organizations. “The Myanmar people deserve to have their true representatives at the table where regional decisions are being made,” said Htin Linn Aung. The meeting was attended by Heidi Hautala, Vice President of the European Parliament and Chair of the International Parliamentary Inquiry (IPI) into the global response to the crisis in Myanmar; Charles Santiago, Malaysian MP and Chairman of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR); Mercy Chriesty Barends, member of the Indonesian House of Representatives and APHR Board Member; U Shwe Maung, former Myanmar Member of Parliament, and APHR Board Member; and Tom Villarin, former congressman from the Philippines, and APHR Board Member. Since the coup d’état on 1 February 2021, Myanmar has been plunged into a deep crisis, as the military junta led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing engages in an all-out war against its population in order to cement its power. A massive civil disobedience movement has demonstrated that the vast majority of the country’s population does not wish to live under military rule and has valiantly resisted the power grab. Meanwhile, international attention has largely shifted to crises elsewhere. “Nineteen months after the coup, the international allies of the junta have shown a commitment to supporting Min Aung Hlaing which surpasses that of those countries claiming to support the pro-democracy movement. Simply put, the latter are not doing enough to help the Myanmar people, as countries like Russia or China actively support the military, engage the junta and give it the recognition it so keenly craves. It is high time for those governments that claim to support democracy in Myanmar to act forcefully,” said Charles Santiago. In order to assess the global response to the crisis in Myanmar and offer recommendations on what international actors should do to support democracy and human rights in the country, APHR launched the International Parliamentary Inquiry on Myanmar in June. Chaired by Heidi Hautala, Vice President of the European Parliament, the IPI Committee is formed by eight parliamentarians from seven countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The IPI has held a total of six public oral hearings, as well as two special and three confidential oral hearings, with experts, diplomats, politicians, and activists from Myanmar and other countries. IPI committee members also conducted a fact-finding mission to the Thai-Myanmar border in August, where they met with over a dozen civil society organizations and other stakeholders. On the occasion of the UN General Assembly, the IPI has sent a delegation to New York and Washington, in order to present its preliminary findings. The IPI final report will be released in November. The IPI members are presenting a position paper to a variety a stakeholders in New York and Washington, in which they assert that the coup has failed in the face of widespread popular opposition. Myanmar has been plunged into a civil war between the military and the pro-democracy movement, which is bound to be long and protracted. “As the conflict in Myanmar remains undecided, and the coup is triggering a humanitarian crisis of an enormous scale, what international actors do, or fail to do, may tip the scale in favor of military dictatorship or democracy. We urge the global community to scale up humanitarian aid, to increase the pressure on the junta through improved coordination on sanctions and diplomatic isolation. We further urge international actors to fully acknowledge the NUG as what it is, the legitimate government of Myanmar, and support it accordingly with funding, capacity building initiatives, and diplomatic recognition,” said Heidi Hautala..."
Source/publisher: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-19
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Title: Myanmar - Conflict in Rakhine State (DG ECHO, DG ECHO partners) (ECHO Daily Flash of 19 September 2022)
Description: "On 15 September, the de facto authorities in Rakhine State have temporarily suspended all humanitarian food and cash distributions, effective immediately. World Food Programme (WFP) and other UN agencies have been on lockdown in Northern Rakhine State until further notice in response to the announcement of 15 September and by the Arakan Army on 14 September that it would conduct permanent and ad hoc checks on waterways and roads in Rakhine State that are used regularly by the Myanmar Military. WFP’s distribution of relief assistance to more than 237,000 people on a monthly basis is hence on hold. Both announcements come as clashes in Northern Rakhine continue to escalate, including airstrikes and armed confrontations..."
Source/publisher: European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-19
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Title: Myanmar Emergency Update (as of 6 September 2022)
Description: "HIGHLIGHTS: The security situation in Myanmar continued to deteriorate during the reporting period, resulting in an uptick in displacement. As of 6 September 2022, there were an estimated 1,312,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) across the country, including 982,000 people who have been newly displaced within the country since 1 February 2021. In the South-East, indiscriminate shelling, armed clashes and landmines continued to affect civilians. Security checks, curfews, roadblocks and arbitrary arrests have also negatively impacted people’s freedom of movement. Displaced families remain particularly vulnerable and exposed to numerous risks due to a shortage of appropriate shelter. A lack of food and essential medicines are concerns in Kayah and Kayin States and Bago (East) Region. Despite ongoing response efforts, access constraints have seriously hampered humanitarian interventions. In Rakhine State (Central) and Chin State (South), rising tensions and armed clashes caused new displacement. Internally displaced families in Paletwa, Chin State, are in urgent need of assistance although efforts are ongoing to ascertain displacement in all areas affected by conflict. Increased arrests and checkpoints on roads and waterways have been reported and are impacting communities’ security and freedom of movement. Tighter restrictions on the transportation of goods and freedom of movement have also been noted in villages in Maungdaw, Rakhine State (North), which face a shortage of food, medicines and other essential items. In the North-West, the situation is increasingly volatile. Active armed clashes and security operations in various townships in Sagaing and Magway Regions continue to trigger displacement with most displaced communities living in informal displacement sites. Increased checkpoints have also been reported. With the price of fuel and other commodities rising, many are at risk of becoming more isolated due to access challenges. In Kachin and Shan (North), tensions were high in many townships due to armed clashes. In urban areas such as Hpakant and Myitkyina, explosive devices featured heavily in armed conflict incidents. Drug trade, robberies, thefts and burglaries are also reportedly on the rise in urban areas..."
Source/publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via ReliefWeb (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-16
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Title: Myanmar: UN experts urge more help for human rights defenders in push for accountability
Description: "GENEVA (16 September 2022) – UN experts said today human rights defenders documenting and responding to atrocities by Myanmar's military junta urgently need comprehensive support, including financial, and called on the international community to end apparent indifference to the violence targeting the country's population. “In the face of inaction by the international community, and with human rights violations continuing to be perpetrated on a daily basis by the military junta, human rights defenders are persisting in their support for those targeted and working to preserve the possibility of justice in the future,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Along with Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Lawlor highlighted the grave risks defenders face and the specific challenges confronting women human rights defenders. “Defenders have been murdered and disappeared by the military since the coup took place. They now risk arrest, detention, torture, including sexual violence and death when going about their work and fear having their documents seized at military checkpoints,” the experts said. “Many have had to go into hiding after being targeted by the military for assisting survivors of gender-based violence. They are on the move constantly, and women human rights defenders often have no choice but to take their children with them when they flee.” Others have had to relocate to neighbouring countries, where they remain vulnerable. Lawlor and Andrews said they had publicly expressed concerns for the safety of defenders in the country just over a year ago. “What's needed is concrete support for Myanmar human rights defenders, including those who have had to flee the country: stronger, coordinated pressure on the junta, timely and responsive direct financial support for defenders on the ground, and visas or resettlement for those fleeing the country,” the experts said. “The international community must not adopt a passive stance when it comes to the crimes that are being perpetrated by the military junta and the risks for human rights defenders in Myanmar.” The experts: Ms Mary Lawlor (Ireland) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. She is currently an Adjunct Professor of Business and Human Rights in Trinity College Dublin. She was the founder of Front Line Defenders - the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders. As Executive Director from 2001-2016, she represented Front Line Defenders and had a key role in its development. Ms. Lawlor was previously Director of the Irish Office of Amnesty International from 1988 to 2000, after becoming a member of the Board of Directors 1975 and being elected its President from 1983 to 1987. Mr Thomas Andrews(United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. A former member of the US Congress from Maine, Andrews is a Robina Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School and an Associate of Harvard University’s Asia Center. He has worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and parliamentarians, NGOs and political parties in Cambodia, Indonesia, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has been a consultant for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network and has run advocacy NGOs including Win Without War and United to End Genocide. Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. They are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-16
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Title: UN report calls for urgent action to halt access to revenue and arms supplies by Myanmar military
Description: "GENEVA (16 September 2022) – States must do more to cut the Myanmar military’s access to revenue and arms supplies to halt its repression of the people, a report released today by the UN Human Rights Office said. The report was requested by the Human Rights Council to follow up on earlier recommendations made by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (‘FFM’) on economic interests of the Myanmar military (the Tatmadaw). Today’s report reiterates the FFM’s recommendations to impose targeted financial sanctions on the Tatmadaw and its economic interests as well as arms embargos, while at the same time highlighting that such measures must respect human rights and that efforts must be made to mitigate foreseeable socio-economic impacts. Several States continue to supply weaponry and engage in military cooperation, it states. Since seizing control of State organs, the so-called State Administration Council has “failed to govern in meaningful and sustainable ways, instead continuing to repress and terrorize the Myanmar people,” the report says. While some progress has been made on the FFM’s recommendations to economically isolate the Tatmadaw, there remain significant gaps, which are ever more important following the coup. Targeted measures should particularly focus on the military’s foreign currency access, said the report. It urges the international community to step up efforts to support the people of Myanmar and to ensure the military’s financial isolation in a coordinated fashion. Appropriate sanctions should be implemented in consultation with civil society and the democratic movement, including trade unions and the National Unity Government, to calibrate their impact. Myanmar’s military authorities are clearly prioritizing its military campaigns over the welfare of the population and economic recovery, the report said. In comparison with the previous annual Government budget, the military authorities’ 2022/23 budget increased defence spending, while reducing allocations to education, health, and social welfare. Poverty in Myanmar has increased at least two-fold and the public health system has effectively broken down since the coup, and more than half of all school-age children have not had access to education for two academic years, the report said. It also reported that some States and companies continue business relationships with military-owned enterprises in a number of sectors. All businesses active in Myanmar or sourcing from the country should take steps to ensure they do not economically benefit the military, including by conducting ongoing and transparent heightened human rights due diligence, the report says..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-16
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Title: UN: World Leaders Should Press China, Russia on Atrocities
Sub-title: General Assembly’s High-Level Week Should Focus on Most Pressing Rights Issues
Description: "World leaders gathering at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City should commit to ensuring accountability for grave human rights violations by the Chinese and Russian governments and other major offenders, Human Rights Watch said. The UN General Assembly’s annual General Debate, attended by dozens of heads of state and government, will be held from September 20 to 26, 2022. The General Debate is an important opportunity for world leaders to address the most urgent human rights issues, including following up on a UN report detailing possible crimes against humanity in the Xinjiang region of China; Russian atrocities in Ukraine; war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Syria; and the blanket oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan. They should discuss plans of action for feeding the world’s hungry and tackling the devastating impacts of climate change. “World leaders should use the UN General Assembly’s global stage to direct the spotlight on the countless crimes by Chinese and Russian authorities,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. “Countries that seek to bring major powers to justice will open the door to addressing the broad range of human rights violations being committed around the globe.” Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the week of speeches in the General Assembly Hall will be the first since 2019 that will be almost entirely in person. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is planning to speak via video, will be an exception. US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron are among those slated to speak. They should condemn grave abuses by allied governments as well as authoritarian adversaries and promote rights-respecting approaches to the economic crisis, such as universal social protection. They and other leaders should commit to ensuring accountability for grave international crimes regardless of where the crimes occurred. African leaders should urge the African Union and the three African UN Security Council members – Ghana, Gabon, and Kenya – to drop their resistance to the Security Council adding the nearly two-year conflict in northern Ethiopia to its formal agenda. Security Council involvement is critical given the failure of AU mediation to end the atrocities and the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. In addressing climate change, world leaders should highlight the urgency to mitigate and pre-empt its impacts, as evident by the recent devastating floods in Pakistan and Bangladesh that have affected millions of people. They should commit to prioritizing the well-being of older people, children, people with disabilities, and other marginalized and at-risk groups in rescue, relief, and rehabilitation processes related to extreme weather events. Leaders of countries historically most responsible for climate change, including top emitters in Europe and North America, should support vulnerable countries’ efforts to adapt to the growing toll of climate change. Much of the activity during the General Assembly’s busiest week of the year takes place at side events and special meetings. The UN secretariat has an unnecessary and counterproductive practice of barring nongovernmental organizations from UN headquarters during the week. While there are exceptions for isolated events, the default exclusion of civil society groups prevents them from fully contributing during a key time in the UN calendar. UN member states should insist on including human rights and other groups in the week’s discussions and side events, Human Rights Watch said. The issue of accountability for war crimes and other serious violations of international law will be discussed at a ministerial Security Council meeting, organized by France, the current council president, on ending impunity for war crimes in Ukraine. Denmark, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and Germany are organizing a meeting on the same topic for the majority of UN member countries. Meetings are also expected about accountability for sexual violence in armed conflict and on Myanmar’s persecution of ethnic Rohingya Muslims. Delegations will also hold sessions on food security and hunger, already a global problem before the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Discussions are expected on the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, and conflict zones such as Yemen and Ethiopia, where there have been concerns that hunger has been used as a weapon of war. Delegations should discuss ways of addressing the underlying flaws in global food systems that lead to volatility and rising food prices. The UN will host the Transforming Education Summit on September 19. World leaders should use the summit to call for an expansion of the right to education in international law, and to commit to recognizing a right of every child to at least one year of free preprimary education and to free secondary education. “World leaders should kick off the next 12 months of the UN General Assembly with a call to action on human rights and accountability, ending hunger and poverty, and mitigating the effects climate change,” Charbonneau said. “These leaders should ensure that the outsize attention given the UN General Debate is deserved.”..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-16
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Title: Statement by Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, Myanmar on the International Day of Democracy 2022
Description: "1. On every September 15 of a year, the global community widely observes the International Day of Democracy with the purposes to uphold and protect the democratic principles in many ways. Today marks the 25th years anniversary of Universal Declaration on Democracy by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). However, misusing of weapons and power including global pandemic have significantly impacted a great risk to democracy norms and practices such as freedom, freedom of expression, assembly, right to access information, justice, rule of law and human rights..... 2. Although Myanmar's people have sacrificed to uphold democratic system in the country, the military regimes in decades prohibited the citizens from embracing democratic norms. In 2015, the very first elected civilian government led by Myanmar Democracy Leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was emerged by inclusive efforts of our people through election. However, developed democracy gains have been destroyed due to military putsch by the brutal military of Min Aung Hlaing, a leader of terrorist group..... 3. We, the elected representatives and the people, are continuing our fighting against the military to return democracy back in the country even facing various tortures such as unlawful detentions, cruel murders without any reasons, and forcing to fl ee from our own places. Until now the military terrorist has killed over (2279) and the number of detained people is now over (12430) while thousands of people in Myanmar are displaced because of burning homes and villages, and launching massive air-strikes on the Citizen' areas. 4. The international community should support practically and effectively the governments, organizations and individuals who are making efforts to flourish democracy and to work for human rights in the world. At the same time, the undemocratic regimes should be punished with strongest actions. It is the time to show your solidarity by the effective actions but not the words and with the people. of Myanmar, the democratic institutions and democracy activists who are badly suffering serious and heinous human rights violations by the military junta..... 5. On other side, the military junta which is not a legal government is creating an old story of lying for global community as promising to hold a fair, free and transparent election. There will be no rights to freely vote and elect, and with no independent media accesses. According to the facts in history, it should notice that the military regimes systematically destroyed democratic system and killed the people who passionate democracy. Therefore, the arrangement of fake election of regime must not be recognized..... 6. The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is the legitimate representative body which was organized by the democratically elected parliamentarians by its people. It is the legislative body of the union exercising people’s mandate and is performing the legislating, overseeing the government’s administration and supporting the people in need..... 7. Here, in order to take preventive measures on Myanmar’s democracy under dangerous condition, we strongly and deeply urge international governments, parliaments, organizations and individuals including the United Nations Security Council to carefully listen the voices of the citizens of Myanmar and then, to officially recognize and engage with us, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and the National Unity Government we formed by the effective supports in time in order to restore democracy, stability and development in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-15
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Title: ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော် ကိုယ်စားပြု ကော်မတီ (CRPH) မှ ဦးဆောင်ကျင်းပသော အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ဒီမိုကရေစီနေ့အခမ်းအနားသို့ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အတိုင်ပင်ခံကောင်စီ (NUCC) မှ ပေးပို့သော သဝဏ်လွှာ
Source/publisher: National Unity Consultative Council
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-15
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Title: ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်၊ နိုင်ငံတကာဒီမိုကရေစီနေ့တွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၊ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြု ကော်မတီ၏ ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
Description: "၁။ နှစ်စဉ် စက်တင်ဘာလ ၁၅ ရက်နေ့တွင် နိုင်ငံတကာဒီမိုကရေစီနေ့ အခမ်းအနားများ ကို ဒီမိုကရေစီစည်းမျဉ်းစည်းကမ်းများ လိုက်နာကျင့်သုံးနေမှုအား တိုးမြှင့်ထိန်းသိမ်းကြရန် ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ဖြင့် ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်းက ပုံစံအမျိုးမျိုး၊ နည်းလမ်းအမျိုးမျိုးဖြင့် ကျင်းပလျက်ရှိ ပါသည်။ ထို့အပြင် ယနေ့သည် နိုင်ငံတကာပါလီမန်များအဖွဲ့က ဒီမိုကရေစီကြေညာစာတမ်းကို ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သည်မှာလည်း (၂၅) နှစ် ပြည့်မြောက်ခဲ့ပြီဖြစ်သော်လည်း ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်း၌ ကမ္ဘာ့ကပ် ရောဂါအပါအဝင် လက်နက်နှင့် အာဏာ အလွဲသုံးမှုများကြောင့် လွတ်လပ်ခွင့်၊ လွတ်လပ်စွာ ထုတ်ဖော်ပြောကြားခွင့်၊ စုဝေးခွင့်၊ သတင်းရယူပိုင်ခွင့်၊ တရားမျှတမှု၊ တရားဥပဒေစိုးမိုးမှု၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး စသည့် ဒီမိုကရေစီစံနှုန်းများကို သိသိသာသာ ထိခိုက်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ၂။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဒီမိုကရေစီစနစ် ကျင့်သုံးနိုင်ရေးအတွက် မြန်မာပြည်သူများက နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ အသက်ပေး၍ တည်ဆောက်နိုင်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းခဲ့သော်လည်း စစ်အာဏာရှင် အဆက်ဆက်ကြောင့် ဒီမိုကရေစီစံနှုန်းများကို ခံစားပိုင်ခွင့်မရှိခဲ့ပေ။ ၁၉၆၂ ခုနှစ် နောက်ပိုင်း မြန်မာပြည်သူတို့၏ ဝိုင်းဝန်းကြိုးပမ်းမှုများကြောင့် မြန်မာ့ဒီမိုကရေစီခေါင်းဆောင် ဒေါ်အောင် ဆန်းစုကြည် ဦးဆောင်သည့် ပထမဆုံး အရပ်သားအစိုးရကို ၂၀၁၅ ခုနှစ်တွင် ရွေးကောက် တင်မြှောက်နိုင်ခဲ့ကြသော်လည်း အကြမ်းဖက်ခေါင်းဆောင် မင်းအောင်လှိုင် ဦးဆောင်သည့် စစ်တပ်၏ ဥပဒေမဲ့အာဏာသိမ်းခဲ့မှု ကြောင့် ကြိုးပမ်းတည်ဆောက်ထားခဲ့သည့် ဒီမိုကရေစီ အသီးအပွင့်များသည်လည်း ကာလတို အတွင်း ပျက်စီးသွားခဲ့ပြီး ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၃။ မိမိတို့ ရွေးကောက်ခံလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားလှယ်များအပါအဝင် မြန်မာပြည်သူများ သည် ဥပဒေမဲ့ဖမ်းဆီးထောင်ချခံရခြင်း၊ အကြောင်းမဲ့သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရခြင်း၊ နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာ ထွက်ပြေး စေရန် ဖိအားပေးခံရခြင်းတို့အပါအဝင် ဖိနှိပ်မှုအမျိုးမျိုးကို ရင်ဆိုင်ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည့်တိုင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၌ ဒီမိုကရေစီပြန်လည်ရရှိရေးအတွက် အသက်ပေး၍ တွန်းလှန်ဆန့်ကျင်လျက်ရှိ ပါသည်။ ယနေ့အချိန်ထိ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်က မြန်မာပြည်သူ (၂,၂၇၃) ဦးအား သတ်ဖြတ် ထားပြီး (၁၅,၅၀၆) ဦးကိုလည်း ဖမ်းဆီးထားသည့်အပြင် လူနေအိမ်များနှင့် ကျေးရွာများအား မီးရှို့ ဖျက်ဆီးနေခြင်း၊ အရပ်သားပြည်သူများ နေထိုင်ရာ နေရာဒေသမများသို့ လေကြောင်းဖြင့် တိုက်ခိုက်နေခြင်းတို့ကြောင့် ပြည်သူထောင်ပေါင်းများစွာသည်လည်း အိုးမဲ့အိမ်မဲ့ဖြစ်ကာ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရလျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ၄။ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုက်အဝန်းအနေဖြင့် ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်း၌ ဒီမိုကရေစီ ရှင်သန်ထွန်းကား စေရန် ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးများအတွက် ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်နေသည့် အစိုးရများ၊ အဖွဲ့အစည်းများနှင့် လူပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များအား လက်တွေ့ကျစွာ အားပေးကူညီ၍ အာဏာရှင်များကို ထိထိရောက်ရောက် အပြစ်ပေး အရေးယူသွားရမည် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်၏ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုကို ဆိုးရွားစွာ ခံစားနေရသည့် မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၊ မြန်မာပြည်သူ များက ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်ထားသည့် ပြည်သူကိုယ်စားပြု ဒီမိုကရက်တစ် အဖွဲ့အစည်း များ၊ ဒီမိုကရေစီအရေး လှုပ်ရှားဆောင်ရွက်နေသည့် လူပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များနှင့် အတူတကွ ရပ်တည် ကြောင်းပြသရန် စကားလုံးဖြင့် မဟုတ်ဘဲ ထိရောက်သော လုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များဖြင့် အားပေး ထောက်ခံရန် အချိန်ကျရောက်ပြီ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၅။ တစ်ဖက်တွင်လည်း ဒီမိုကရေစီအယောင်ပြ၍ တရားဝင်အစိုးရမဟုတ်သည့် အကြမ်း ဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်း စစ်တပ်သည် တရားမျှတ၍ လွတ်လပ်သော ပွင့်လင်းမြင်သာမှုရှိသည့် ရွေး ကောက်ပွဲ ကျင်းပပေးမည်ဆိုသည်မှာ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုက်အဝန်းအား လှည့်စားရန် ကြိုးပမ်းမှု သက်သက်သာဖြစ်ပါသည်။ လွတ်လပ်စွာမဲပေးပိုင်ခွင့်၊ သတင်းရယူပိုင်ခွင့်နှင့် ရွေးကောက် တင်မြှောက်ပိုင်ခွင့်တို့သည်လည်း လုံးဝရှိမည် မဟုတ်ပါ။ သမိုင်းအထောက်အထားများအရ တရားဥပဒေကို လိုသလိုအသုံးချတတ်သည့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့သည် ဒီမိုကရေစီစနစ်အား ဖျက်ဆီးရန် ကြိုးပမ်းကြသူများဖြစ်ပြီး ဒီမိုကရေစီအရေး ဆောင်ရွက်သူများကို လူမဆန်စွာ သတ်ဖြတ်နေကြသူများဖြစ်သည်ကို အထူးသတိပြု၍ ယင်းရွေးကောက်ပွဲကျင်းပရန် စီစဉ်နေမှု ကို တားဆီးကန့်ကွက်သွားကြရမည် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၆။ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီသည် ပြည်သူလူထုက ဆန္ဒမဲပေး၍ ဒီမိုကရေစီနည်းကျ ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်ထားသည့် လွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားလှယ်များဖြင့် ဖွဲ့စည်းထားသည့် တရားဝင် ပြည်သူကိုယ်စားပြုအဖွဲ့အစည်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ ဆန္ဒသဘောထားအရ ပေးအပ်ထားသည့် အခွင့်အာဏာဖြင့် ဥပဒေပြုရေး အပါအဝင် အစိုးရအား ထိန်းကျောင်းခြင်း၊ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ အခက်အခဲများအား ထောက်ပံ့ကူညီခြင်းများကို ဆောင်ရွက် နေသည့် ပြည်ထောင်စုအဆင့် ဥပဒေပြုအဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ရပ် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၇။ သို့ပါ၍ အန္တရာယ်အတွင်း ကျရောက်နေသည့် မြန်မာ့ဒီမိုကရေစီအား အချိန်မီ ကာကွယ်တားဆီးနိုင်ရန် မြန်မာပြည်သူတို့၏ အသံကို လေးနက်စွာ နားထောင်၍ ပြည်သူ ကိုယ်စားပြု မိမိတို့ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ၊ မိမိတို့က ဖွဲ့စည်းတာဝန် ပေးအပ်ထားသည့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရတို့အား တရားဝင် အသိအမှတ်ပြုကာ ထိရောက် သော ကူညီပံ့ပိုးမှုများ အချိန်မီ ပေးအပ်နိုင်ရန် ကုလသမဂ္ဂလုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီအပါအဝင် နိုင်ငံ တကာအစိုးရများ၊ လွှတ်တော်များ၊ အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ လူပုဂ္ဂိုလ်များကို လေးလေးနက်နက် တိုက်တွန်းအပ်ပါသည်။ ..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-15
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Title: Atrocity Alert No. 317: Myanmar (Burma), Ukraine and Afghanistan
Sub-title: Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.
Description: "DEADLY ARMED CONFLICT RETURNS TO MYANMAR’S RAKHINE STATE Following weeks of escalating conflict in Rakhine State and southern Chin State, a ceasefire that has been in place between Myanmar’s (Burma) military — the Tatmadaw — and the ethnic armed organization the Arakan Army (AA) since November 2020 appears to have entirely broken down. The temporary ceasefire was established following two years of war between the Tatmadaw and AA – an armed group seeking greater autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist population in Rakhine State. Since June, tensions between the Tatmadaw and AA have steadily risen, with reports of intense fighting, shelling and deployment of troops since early August. Most of the fighting has been concentrated in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Mrauk-U townships in Rakhine State, as well as in Paletwa township in southern Chin State. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as of 5 September the violence had displaced nearly 9,600 people, bringing the total number displaced by past and ongoing fighting between the Tatmadaw and AA to almost 84,000. Key roads and waterways have been blocked, restricting freedom of movement and halting humanitarian assistance from reaching people in need. Escalating armed conflict in Rakhine State comes as populations across the country continue to face atrocity risks resulting from the February 2021 coup. On 12 September Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), presented the IIMM’s fourth annual report on Myanmar during the 51st session of the Human Rights Council. Between 16 June 2021 to 30 June 2022 the IIMM found that “the scope of potential international crimes taking place in Myanmar has broadened dramatically,” with evidence indicating that the military continues to commit war crimes, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, deportation and forcible transfer, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution and imprisonment. Renewed fighting between the Tatmadaw and AA not only increases the risk of atrocities facing civilians but also complicates the prospects for the safe, dignified and voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar. Liam Scott, Myanmar Expert at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “the resurgence of violence between the Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw underscores the international community’s ongoing failure to effectively respond to the post-coup crisis in Myanmar. Imposing arms embargoes and sanctions against the oil and gas sectors are the least individual states and the UN Security Council should do to uphold their Responsibility to Protect.”..."
Source/publisher: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-14
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Title: "မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ပညာရေးအပေါ် တိုက်ခိုက်မှုနှင့် စစ်ရေးအရ အသုံးပြုမှုများ” အစီရင်ခံစာပါအချက်များနှင့် ၎င်းနှင့်စပ်လျဉ်း၍ Save the children ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်တို့အပေါ် သဘောထား ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
Description: "A Response to the Announcement by "Save the Children' Regarding the Report, "The Impacts of the Attacks on Education and Military Use in Myanmar"...ပညာရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန၊အမျိုးသမီး၊လူငယ်နှင့်ကလေးသူငယ်ရေးရာဝန်ကြီးဌာန နှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ ဝန်ကြီးဌာနတို့၏ ပူးတွဲထုတ်ပြန်ချက်..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs and Ministry of Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-14
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Title: Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's Written Reply to Parliamentary Questions on ASEAN's Response to Lack of Progress on Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar, 13 September 2022
Description: "Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs (a) to what extent has the ongoing crisis in Myanmar affected the credibility of ASEAN in promoting peace and stability in the region; and (b) whether ASEAN is considering a joint effort to engage the Myanmar leadership at the highest levels. Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs in view of the Myanmar military government’s failure to implement the Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar reached with ASEAN in 2021, whether Singapore plans to work with ASEAN to (i) implement targeted sanctions on Myanmar’s military, including an arms embargo and imposing travel restrictions on members of the military and (ii) establish contact with, and provide assistance, to the National Unity Government. REPLY The coup in Myanmar was launched by the Myanmar military or the Tatmadaw on 1 February 2021. Since then, the tragic consequences arising from the coup, which include large scale civilian deaths and injuries, have continued with no sign of abatement. The situation remains dire. The primary responsibility for the ongoing crisis in Myanmar lies with the Tatmadaw. 2 The Five-Point Consensus was formulated by the ASEAN Leaders and accepted by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at their meeting on 24 April 2021 in Jakarta. However, Singapore and ASEAN are deeply disappointed that there has been little progress in its implementation. This is despite efforts by successive Special Envoys of the ASEAN Chair – Brunei and Cambodia – and direct entreaties by current ASEAN Chair, Cambodia. Instead, aerial bombings of opposition-controlled areas and the execution of opposition activists have occurred. The timings of these actions by the Tatmadaw underscore their disregard for both ASEAN and the Five-Point Consensus. 3 Myanmar’s peace, security and stability is not only in its own interest but also for the whole region. However, without political reconciliation and dialogue in good faith by all stakeholders, the necessary political solution cannot be found. The setbacks to ASEAN’s efforts are not a matter of ASEAN credibility, but rather of the Tatmadaw’s intransigence. The ASEAN Leaders will have to assess the progress in the Five-Point Consensus’ implementation at the ASEAN Summits this November. Depending on how the situation evolves, they will have to make some difficult decisions to guide ASEAN’s next steps. 4 Singapore voted in favour of UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/75/287 “The Situation in Myanmar” in June 2021, which calls on UN Member States to “prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar”. Since April 2022, Singapore has not authorised the transfer of items assessed to have potential military application to Myanmar, where there is a serious risk that the item may be used to inflict violence against unarmed civilians. This is in line with our firm commitment to measures that will facilitate the de-escalation of violence in Myanmar and support efforts by ASEAN and the UN to achieve a negotiated political solution..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-13
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Title: Myanmar: Death of Activists in Custody
Sub-title: Six Cases Highlight Alleged Torture, Junta’s Failure to Investigate
Description: "(Sydney) – Myanmar’s military and police are responsible for scores of deaths in custody since the February 1, 2021 military coup, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch documented the deaths of six detained activists that involved apparent torture or the denial of adequate medical care. The junta authorities have not seriously investigated these deaths or taken action against those responsible. “The six deaths Human Rights Watch documented are just the tip of the iceberg of suffering and torture of those detained by Myanmar’s military and police,” said Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Given the junta’s cruelty in all aspects of its rule, there’s little surprise that no evident action has been taken to investigate deaths in custody and bring those responsible to justice.” The junta should immediately end its abuses against those opposed to military rule, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and unfair trials. Deaths in custody should be immediately reported with proper documentation to the person’s family, the body should be returned, and those responsible for abuses held to account. The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners estimates that at least 73 people have died in police or military custody in police stations, military interrogation centers, and prisons since the coup, which effectively ended the democratic transition under Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). These deaths are only a small percentage of the at least 690 people that have been killed shortly after being apprehended by the security forces, often during military operations in ethnic minority areas. The military junta has only acknowledged a few custodial deaths but attributes them to illness or heart failure. However, human rights activists, witnesses, and sources close to the victims said that the physical evidence available indicates that many died from torture or other mistreatment, including poor detention conditions and a lack of access to adequate medical care. Human Rights Watch documented the six deaths between May and July, remotely interviewing 10 witnesses and others familiar with the cases, reviewing 40 photographs and 5 videos posted to social media platforms, and obtaining independent medical analysis of the visual evidence by an emergency physician with expertise in torture. The six men were all political activists or vocal opponents of the military junta in Yangon, Mandalay, and Sagaing Regions. Khin Maung Latt, 58, Zaw Myat Lynn, 46, and Than Tun Oo, 48, were NLD members apparently arrested for their political affiliation. Khet Thi, 43, Tin Maung Myint, 52, and Kyaw Swe Nyein, 55, joined or led protest movements after the coup. Five died within 24 hours of being arrested and interrogated, while Kyaw Swe Nyein, died two months after his arrest. Myanmar police and soldiers arrested five of the six victims during night raids; they arrested the sixth, Than Tun Oo, in Mandalay during the day. In all but one of the cases, the arrests were carried out during joint military-police operations. A law enacted in March formally brought the police under junta control, requiring police officers to comply with all military orders, including taking part in military operations. Photographs of five of the victims show physical marks on their bodies or heads that indicate torture. There are no photographs of Than Tun Oo’s body since junta authorities said he was cremated soon after he died. Dr. Rohini Haar, an emergency physician whom Human Rights Watch consulted, analyzed images of the bodies: “Having reviewed photographs and videos of the five victims after their deaths, it is clear from the physical marks on the bodies and faces that these men suffered immensely, and that torture occurred.… There are so many signs of abuse and torture that it is hard to pinpoint exactly what killed these individuals.” None of the men’s families received official medical certificates, cause of death, or autopsy reports, despite evidence that autopsies were conducted on four of the six bodies. The junta should issue medical certificates for all death-in-custody cases and provide autopsy reports to families if autopsies were performed. Four of the victims’ families said they felt pressured by officials to have the bodies cremated immediately, presumably to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Two families said they buried their loved ones quickly out of fear the authorities would confiscate the body. The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar said in October 2021 that he had received credible reports of “over 8,000 arbitrarily detained with many tortured, including dozens who were tortured to death.” At the UN Human Rights Council in March, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said she had received credible reports that at least 21 percent of deaths by the security forces had occurred while victims were in custody. Human Rights Watch has found that the junta’s widespread and systematic abuses since the coup amount to crimes against humanity, which include murder, torture, and wrongful imprisonment. The UN Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) sets out that all death-in-custody cases should be subjected to “prompt, impartial, and effective investigations into the circumstances and causes” of the death. In addition, “family members should be informed immediately and thereafter a notification of death posted in an easily accessible way. To the extent possible, family members should also be consulted prior to an autopsy. They should be entitled to have a representative present during the autopsy … [H]uman remains should be returned to family members, allowing them to dispose of the deceased according to their beliefs.” The UN, regional bodies, and governments – including the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – should specifically raise concerns about deaths in custody and press the junta to end them, Human Rights Watch said. They should strengthen targeted sanctions against military-owned businesses, the military and the State Administration Council (SAC) junta leadership under Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. The UN Security Council should urgently take measures against the junta, including by referring the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court and passing a resolution to impose a global arms embargo. “The deaths of people in custody are among the hidden atrocities that junta security forces are committing every day,” Maung said. “Concerned governments should be ensuring global condemnation of these horrific abuses.” For detailed accounts of the deaths in custody, please see below. Deaths in Custody The following case histories are based on remote interviews with family members of the victims and witnesses and other sources of information. In all but one of the cases, witnesses said they were afraid to be named due to fear of reprisals from the Myanmar military or police. Kyaw Swe Nyein, Nyaung-U town, Mandalay Region Plainclothes policemen and a military intelligence unit arrested Kyaw Swe Nyein, 55, at his home in Mandalay Region on January 30, 2022, after he joined protests in Nyaung-U, Mandalay Region. The authorities accused Kyaw Swe Nyein of spreading “fake news” and sharing a Facebook post supporting anti-coup protests. A closed court in March sentenced him to six months in prison for incitement under section 505A of the penal code. This section, amended by the junta shortly after the coup, makes it a criminal offense to make comments that “cause fear” and spread “false news,” and is punishable by up to three years in prison. On March 9, Kyaw Swe Nyein sounded well when he spoke to his family on a mobile phone borrowed from one of the prison guards at Nyaung-U prison. However, he told a family member that he had been badly beaten at the Myingyan interrogation center, where he was held for the first 10 days. He told his family that he had experienced some dizziness as a result. On March 11, prison authorities informed Kyaw Swe Nyein’s wife that he had died that evening after complaining of dizziness. Doctors at Nyaung-U hospital, where his body was taken, told relatives that he had died of heart failure. The family did not receive a death certificate or an autopsy report, even though authorities conducted an autopsy. A family member said a police official told the family to sign a blank document acknowledging they were informed of Kyaw Swe Nyein’s death. A family member said: I was so distressed. I just signed the document, but I don’t know what it was, and I don’t have a copy.… If he died from natural causes, then I could forgive myself [that he died in prison] but now, it’s the unknown that is unsettling. Of course, it’s very difficult for us to accept his death with so few answers but we can’t do anything about it now. After reviewing images of Kyaw Swe Nyein at his funeral, Dr. Haar said a photograph showed evidence of trauma to the head from bruising around the eyes and ears. Than Tun Oo, Mandalay town, Mandalay Region On September 26, 2021, at about 3:30 p.m., soldiers and police arrested Than Tun Oo, 48, a former political prisoner and activist, at his home in Mandalay and took him to the No. 7 Area Police Station. Neighbors and family members watched as security forces beat him with his hands tied behind his back and then shot him in the legs, supposedly for being slow to respond to orders. A witness said: There were around 50 to 100 soldiers and police with army trucks and private cars. Some soldiers were from the LID [Light Infantry Division] 33 command and there were police from the local station here in Mandalay.… They told [Than Tun Oo] to kneel but he weighed 400 pounds, so they shot him in his leg to make him kneel. The witness said the next day, September 27, police and military officials told Than Tun Oo’s family that he had died in the police station from heart failure. The authorities did not give the family a medical certificate, a witness said, but security forces made family members sign a document acknowledging they had been informed of Than Tun Oo’s death. The family said Than Tun Oo was in good health prior to his arrest. When the family demanded his body, junta authorities said they had cremated the body immediately because Than Tun Oo had tested positive for Covid-19 while in custody. A family member said: Everyone has dreams, so did [Than Tun Oo]. He was interested in art and loved writing. Many people liked him. I could endure the pain of loss if he died while fighting against the [junta]. But he died during interrogation where they have the power to do whatever they wanted. It is painful to accept that he died in this way. Khet Thi, Shwebo city, Sagaing Region Khet Thi, 43, a popular poet known for his sharp political wit, took on a leadership role opposing the military coup. He organized protests and spoke at rallies to encourage dissent against the military. His poetry became part of his resistance to military rule. “They shoot in the head, but they don't know that revolution is in the heart,” he wrote. On May 8, 2021, about 40 soldiers and police arrested Khet Thi at his home in the city of Shwebo, Sagaing Region, and accused him of leading a plan to lay landmines targeting the security forces. Junta authorities also arrested Khet Thi’s wife, Chaw Suu, and her brother-in-law, Aye Pyo, for allegedly helping to plan the attack. A witness said that police handcuffed all three, then took them in a police vehicle to Myo Ma, the main police station in Shwebo, where they were separated into male and female cellblocks for interrogation. After hours of interrogation overnight, Chaw Suu and her brother-in-law were released on the morning of May 9. A police officer informed Chaw Suu that her husband had been taken to Monywa General Hospital, almost 90 kilometers from Myo Ma police station. Sources familiar with the case said that Chaw Suu thought her husband was ill and asked the head of the police station to take her to the hospital so she could care for him. The officer in charge then told her that Khet Thi was dead. On May 9, at about 2 p.m., junta officials at Monywa hospital told Khet Thi’s family that he had died of a heart attack. However, family members deny that he had any heart problems, and say he was in good health apart from poor eyesight. A source said hospital staff pressured the family to have the body cremated at the hospital the same day. Fearing junta officials would force them to immediately cremate Khet Thi, the family took his body to prepare for burial the next day. Junta officials failed to provide the family a medical certificate or autopsy report, and there was no investigation into his death. A family member said: We rushed back to another township with his body because we were afraid that they would take the body back.… When we went to prepare the body, his head moved slightly and that’s when blood came out of his head. They had performed an autopsy on his head and there was a wound but there were also two bruises on the right side of his face and black marks on his nose. He had square shaped burn marks on his thighs. We didn’t check his back because we were afraid the sutures from the autopsy might burst open. Khet Thi was buried on May 10, 2021, less than 48 hours after his arrest. Dr. Haar, the emergency physician, said that images of Khet Thi taken after his death showed likely head trauma. Zaw Myat Lynn, Shwe Pyi Thar township, Yangon Zaw Myat Lynn, 46, was a former NLD member who ran a vocational education school named after Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon’s Shwe Pyi Thar township. He and his family lived with the students. On March 9, 2021, at about 1 p.m., police and soldiers arrived at the school, appearing to target Zaw Myat Lynn for arrest due to pro-democracy posts on his Facebook account. He ran and jumped over a fence but was surrounded by police and soldiers who took him into a military vehicle. A teacher said: I heard from students around 2 a.m. on March 9, 2021. [They told me] about 40 police and soldiers were at the Suu Vocational School. Some students were arrested first when military forces came in from the front door. Zaw Myat Lynn jumped over the fence and cleared it, but the building was surrounded, and he was arrested. Neighbors from next door also told me they heard Zaw Myat Lynn say, “Don’t shoot, I’ll surrender and come with you.” He didn’t get any injury from jumping over that fence. Zaw Myat Lynn’s family was told the next day to come and identify his corpse. Dr. Haar, who reviewed 12 photographs and 2 videos of Zaw Myat Lynn’s body, said visible injuries suggested scalding liquid was poured onto his face. After examining similar photographs, The Guardian newspaper concluded that the nature of Zaw Myat Lynn’s injuries were consistent with torture: “It appears that boiling water or a chemical solution had been poured into his mouth. The tongue was melted, his teeth missing. Facial skin was peeling off. The body had been wrapped up to conceal further traumatic injuries.” A source close to the family said that junta officials told Zaw Myat Lynn’s family that he had died from heart failure. The officials failed to provide the family with a medical certificate or autopsy report. Tin Maung Myint, Yin Mar Bin township, Sagaing Region On April 4, 2021, soldiers arrested Tin Maung Myint, 52, during a raid on his village in Yin Mar Bin township, Sagaing Region. He was a farmer and village leader who had joined the opposition to the junta. Witnesses said that soldiers arrested Tin Maung Myint around 4 a.m. along with seven others who were keeping watch on the military column that was preparing to raid their village. Tin Maung Myint’s body, along with that of another villager who was arrested with him, turned up the next day about 2 p.m. at the Monywa General Hospital, bearing marks of torture. A witness who viewed the body said: I saw bruises and swollen marks all over his and the other victim’s face. They were in pretty bad shape. We only checked their faces, not their whole bodies. It was unsettling to get close to their bodies. I didn’t want to look that closely, so I don’t know about marks on their bodies, but their faces were so black and blue. One photograph posted on social media of Tin Maung Myint’s body shows numerous wounds. Dr. Haar, who reviewed the photograph, said she observed massive trauma consistent with skin tears and avulsions – or forcible tearing – on his shoulders that looked like burns. Bruises are visible on the face, as is a deep gash on the forehead. She said it was unclear which injury was the cause of death. Junta authorities failed to provide a death certificate to the family or explain how Tin Maung Myint had died. Hospital staff who found the bodies told the families the men were already dead when they were discovered dumped at the hospital. Khin Maung Latt, Pabedan township, Yangon On March 6, 2021, soldiers and police arrived at the home of Khin Maung Latt, 58, a ward chairman and NLD member, in Pabedan township, Yangon. Witnesses said that after forcibly entering his home, security forces beat and kicked Khin Maung Latt in front of his family, then took him away at gunpoint. His family was notified the next morning that he had died of heart failure, and they retrieved his body at 8 a.m. A friend of Khin Maung Latt’s who attended his funeral on March 7 said that his legs looked broken, his white funeral shroud was covered in blood, and that his face appeared blue and swollen. The friend said: When I arrived at Ye Way cemetery, Khin Maung Latt’s body was already being prepared in the morgue, in the Muslim tradition. But we’d instructed our contacts who washed the body to take photos as soon as they’d stripped him. The water ran with blood and his body was marked as if he was badly beaten.… There was blood coming out of his ears and bruises all over his body; his legs looked damaged, broken. The person washing the body had put gauze in the ear and up his nose, but it was still dripping.… The white cloth was no longer white, it was stained red and rust-colored. He said that the authorities appeared to have carried out an autopsy: They said he died from a heart attack, but they had performed an autopsy on his body and on his head. The head was cut open, as if they’d taken one side and pulled it back like a flap. But why did they do this? There was no explanation given.… You could see the stitches on his head and on his body and the stitches were still oozing. No matter how we washed the stitches, they kept oozing and his blood was still warm. There were blue and brown marks around his eyes and his body, marks everywhere. A member of the Muslim community who helped to prepare Khin Maung Latt’s body for a Muslim burial said there were deep wounds on his back and hands consistent with torture. Dr. Haar, who reviewed nine photographs and one video of Khin Maung Latt’s body, observed unskilled, haphazard suturing of the autopsy wounds on the head and chest: “The sutures are very unusual and not in line with medical best practice. By even conducting the autopsy under such unusual circumstances, may also suggest medical complicity to the acts of torture that clearly occurred to the individual.” Khin Maung Latt’s body was cremated at the Ye Way cemetery on March 7, less than 24 hours after his arrest. The friend said officials failed to provide the family with a medical certificate or autopsy report..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-13
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Title: Myanmar: Inter-agency Update - 6 September 2022
Description: "The volatile situation in Myanmar following the 01 February 2021 coup has increased armed conflict and subsequent population displacement within and across borders, including in Thailand. As of 22 August 2022, the Royal Thai Government (RTG) reports that there are no refugees remaining on the Thai side of the border. Since February 2021, the RTG estimates that some 22,000 Myanmar refugees have sought temporary safety in Thailand. Refugees are sheltered in temporary safety areas (TSA), which are placed under the general jurisdiction of the Royal Thai Army by the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) established by the RTG in March 2021 SITUATION OVERVIEW ON THE THAI MYANMAR BORDER – AUGUST 2022 In Kayah State, armed clashes continued around Demoso and Loikaw since the Military scaled up its troops' deployment in early August in an attempt to regain control of these areas. In Kayin State, clashes in Kawkareik Township have been reported between the Tatmadaw and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Throughout August, daily battles reportedly took place between the Tatmadaw and the KNLA-led opposition forces – in the Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled areas of Dooplaya District (i.e., Brigade 6 controlled area), which is opposite Mae Sot, Phop Phra, and Umphang districts of Tak. The escalation of conflict around Myawaddy Township in late July and early August triggered displacement across the border into Thailand. On 29 July, the RTG reported new arrivals into Thailand caused by the resurgence of fighting in Myawaddy Town. The authorities recorded 244 individuals who sought safety in Thailand and were sheltered in one Temporary Safety Area (TSA) in Mor Ker Thai Temple, Valley sub-district, Pob Pra district, Tak province. All refugees reportedly returned to Myanmar once fighting subsided, and the TSA was officially closed on 13 August. In the Tanintharyi region, fighting intensified between the People Defense Force (PDF) and the Military in August, especially around Dawei Township. As of 29 August, the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Myanmar displaced since 1 February is 974,400, of whom 283,800 are in the southeast provinces – Kayah, Shan, Kayin, Mon States, and Tanintharyi and Bago regions. Most of the newly displaced were in Kayin State, where 1,100 people sought safety in the jungle in Thandaungyyi Township due to airstrikes. The number of IDPs continued to increase in Tanintharyi Region due to general insecurity. Local media reported that 700 people were displaced to the jungle nearby. In Kayah State, about 210 IDPs in Nyaung Shwe Township were able to return to Loikaw..."
Source/publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-13
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Title: A Response to the Announcement by "Save the Children' Regarding the Report, "The Impacts of the Attacks on Education and Military Use in Myanmar"
Description: "1. On the 9th of September, 2022, Save the Children issued an announcement regarding the report 'The Impacts of Attacks on Education and Military Use in Myanmar' by Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA)'. 2. That report stated that there were 190 attacks on schools in 13 states and regions in 2021, and the terrorist junta and their troops used the schools as military bases, detention centers, and armories, and attacked the schools. Moreover it urged all the armed troops to avoid using the schools and universities for military activities. 3. The National Unity Government has a strong resolution to fulfil the rights for education to the people. The Ministry of Education issued an announcement that strongly condemns any organization which commits unjust and terrorist activities such as using the schools as military bases and targets of the military attacks. 4. In the military code of conducts, in the interim education programs, and in other announcements issued by the National Unity Government, it is clearly described that such terrorist acts shall be avoided at all cost. The GCPEA report acknowledges the section in the military codes of conducts issued by the NUG regarding the attacks on the school facilities is well-aligned with the international human rights and humanitarianism laws. 5. The responsible ministers of the NUG are working on the ground in the rehabilitation effort to restore school facilities destroyed by the SAC, and provide education programs for children whose education was disrupted due to SAC’s violation of rights for education and its military’s attacks and uses of the schools for military activities. 6. The National Unity Government has already issued the processes and mechanisms in which the revolutionary forces’ violations of the rules can be informed and take responsibilities for their actions. 7. The suggestions in the report include the descriptions of the punishment of the perpetrators by the international judicial systems including the International Criminal Court (ICC). The NUG announced its acceptance of the ICC’s international jurisdiction and registered at the Court's registration officer on 20th August, 2021. 8. The report already describes the scales, magnitude, and methods of SAC’s violations on the rights to education and destruction to schools, and such widespread crimes are found to be committed intentionally and systematically. Therefore, it is extremely dangerous to put the two starkly different degrees of violation into the same tone as though both parties committed the crime equally, and that it can result in the international misinterpretation of Myanmar people’s rejection of the junta and demand for federal democracy. 9. Therefore, it is necessary to take seriously when reporting such important matters and avoid drawing conclusions easily. We urge that international organizations need to support and encourage NUG’s effort to provide education and prevalence of justice through accountable international mechanisms..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs and Ministry of Human Rights
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-13
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Title: Russia, Myanmar not invited to Queen Elizabeth's funeral, Whitehall source says
Description: "Britain has not invited representatives from Russia, Belarus and Myanmar to attend Queen Elizabeth's state funeral due to be held next Monday, a Whitehall source said on Tuesday. Britain, along with its Western allies, has sought to isolate Russia and its ally Belarus on the world stage with economic sanctions and other measures in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Myanmar and its military have also been the subject of British sanctions as London steps up support for the Southeast Asian country's Rohingya community. About 500 foreign dignitaries are expected to attend Queen Elizabeth's funeral in London, with invites having been sent to the heads of state of most countries with which Britain has diplomatic relations, the BBC said. A host of world leaders from U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, to the prime ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand have all confirmed attendance for the event, likely to be one of Britain's largest diplomatic gatherings in years..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-13
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Title: THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY MUST ACCEPT THE CREDENTIALS OF MYANMAR’S NUG REPRESENTATIVE
Description: "13 September 2022: The United Nations (UN) General Assembly must respect the founding purposes and principles of the UN by accepting the credentials of Myanmar’s democratic representative, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, and ensuring consistent representation of Myanmar throughout the UN system, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M). The UN General Assembly convenes today for its 77th annual session in New York. A credentials committee will form to consider the credentials of representatives appointed to the UN by each member state and to report back to the General Assembly with recommendations for the candidates’ accreditation. His Excellency Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, the appointee of the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG), whose credentials were submitted to the UN Secretary-General by Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi prior to the Myanmar military’s attempted coup in February 2021, has continued to represent Myanmar at the General Assembly since. “The General Assembly must continue to recognise Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun as the representative of Myanmar to the UN,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “Moreover, the General Assembly must be more explicit in its decision than last year in order to correct the absolute mess we have seen across the UN bodies with respect to Myanmar’s representation. That mess has shamefully deprived the Myanmar people of their voice at UN meetings at a time when they need it the most.” UN Resolution 396(V) provides that when the question of a State’s representation at the UN “becomes the subject of controversy … the attitude adopted by the General Assembly [..] concerning any such question should be taken into account in other organs of the United Nations and in the specialised agencies”. The attitude of the General Assembly with respect Myanmar’s representation since the attempted coup is clear, both from Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun’s continued accreditation to the General Assembly and its recognition of the continuing authority of President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Resolution 75/287 (2021). Appointees of the NUG should therefore have represented Myanmar in all UN bodies over the past twelve months. Instead, however, Myanmar has gone unrepresented in most UN forums, including the Human Rights Council, which is also in session, having convened yesterday. “Myanmar is an acute human rights crisis. It is on the agenda every time the Human Rights Council meets. Yet, for more than a year, the Council has refused to allow a legitimate representative of the Myanmar people to participate, despite the clear legal guidance on the matter,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “Just what is going on in Geneva? There can surely be no justification for the UN’s foremost body for the protection and promotion of human rights to deny the right of a nation in crisis to be represented by its legitimate government in its greatest hour of need.” The NUG is the legitimate government of Myanmar, having been appointed by lawmakers elected in Myanmar’s 2020 general elections. The NUG also has the greatest claim to overall control in Myanmar, as the representative of allied forces opposed to the illegal military junta, a recent briefing paper by SAC-M found. The resistance controls more of the territory of Myanmar than the junta and is administering an increasing range of government functions. The military junta now only has stable control over a remaining 17 percent of the country. “The Myanmar people rightfully feel totally abandoned, or worse, betrayed, by the UN, as they continue to face the military’s brutal terror campaign of killing, torture, rape, arson and devastation, that is destabilising an entire region and causing unimaginable suffering for millions,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “If the UN still truly stands for international peace and security then the General Assembly will accept fully the credentials of Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun with all the rights and privileges of any other member state.”..."
Source/publisher: Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-13
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Title: Human Rights Council Discusses Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar and in Sri Lanka
Description: "MIDDAY The Human Rights Council this morning held an interactive dialogue with Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar, followed by an interactive dialogue with Nada Al-Nashif, Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka. Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said crimes in Myanmar had intensified. The people of Myanmar continued to suffer because of the lack of accountability for those who believed they answered to no law. There was increasing evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Women and children were at particular risk in conflicts, yet experience showed that crimes against them were typically under-reported and under-prosecuted. The Mechanism was united in its efforts to break the cycle of impunity and to ensure that those responsible for crimes would face justice. In the discussion on Myanmar, some speakers welcomed the report and strongly condemned the human rights abuses and violations in Myanmar. Reports on systematic and sexual-based violence and crimes affecting children were appalling. The human rights situation in Myanmar had deteriorated, in particular for those who were part of religious or ethnic minorities. The military should end the attacks on civilians and allow the population to express its human rights, including the right to freedom of expression. Other speakers pointed out that political mandates did not foster an environment of protection and promotion of human rights. Political dialogue was the only way to resolve the situation in the country. Nada Al-Nashif, Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, presenting a report on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka, said since the previous update in March 2022, the country had been suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis. Months of countrywide protests eventually led to the President’s resignation and a new President was elected by the Sri Lankan Parliament on 20 July 2022. Ms. Al- Nashif encouraged the new Government to embark on a national dialogue to advance human rights and reconciliation and to carry out the deeper institutional, reforms needed to combat impunity and to tackle the economic crisis. Ms. Al-Nashif said 13 years since the end of war in Sri Lanka, tens of thousands of survivors and their families continued to seek justice and to know the whereabouts of their loved ones, with Sri Lanka repeatedly failing to pursue transitional justice. Instead, successive governments had created political obstacles to accountability, and actively promoted some officials credibly implicated in alleged war crimes, into the highest levels of government. The Acting High Commissioner called on States to pursue alternate strategies to advance accountability at the international level, including through the consideration of targeted sanctions against alleged perpetrators, as well as cooperation to initiate prosecutions based on extraterritorial jurisdiction. Ali Sabry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, speaking as a country concerned, said the Government was extremely sensitive to the socio-economic hardships faced by its people, and had initiated immediate measures to address challenges and to ensure their wellbeing. Discussions on debt restructuring were in progress. The Government was in dialogue with United Nations agencies as well as bilateral partners to protect the most vulnerable from the adverse impacts of the crisis. Sri Lanka would endeavour to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The State looked forward to constructive engagement with the Council through the Universal Periodic Review process. Sri Lanka along with several Member States of this Council had opposed resolution 46/1, fundamentally disagreeing with its legitimacy and objectives. In the discussion on Sri Lanka, some speakers welcomed the formation of a more inclusive Sri-Lankan Government and constitutional reform. The peaceful transition of power and the efforts taken to restore peace and stability were applauded. Some speakers were concerned about the current situation in Sri Lanka, which was characterised by an economic crisis and violations of fundamental human rights. There were high levels of concern around freedom of expression, as peaceful protests resulting from the crisis situation were met with violence. Sri Lankan authorities were urged to protect the freedom of expression and assembly for all, and to stop arbitrary arrests of those engaging in peaceful protests. Some speakers reiterated their position to reject country-specific initiatives and resolutions that were confrontational and did not have the consent of the country concerned. For these speakers, it was important to provide technical assistance to Sri Lanka and strengthen its national institutions. Some speakers maintained that the mandate was costly, with no effect on the situation, and did not support solidarity. Also speaking in the morning meeting was Alfonso Nsue Mokuy, Third Deputy Prime Minister in charge of human rights of Equatorial Guinea, who said that the effects of the international economic crisis and the health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic had constituted a challenge for the effective exercise of human rights in general, in particular economic, social and cultural rights. Each country had its own values, legislation and social demands, but it was also vital for all to reach basic agreements to foster respect and non-discrimination, and combat violence in all spheres. The Government of Equatorial Guinea had worked tirelessly to combat the pandemic, making it possible to reduce incidents of mortality in the country, with significant economic resources provided by the Government. The Government had also worked to eliminate corruption, and had carried out positive activities in this context. Speaking in the discussion on Myanmar were Finland, on behalf of Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden; European Union; Pakistan, on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; Switzerland; Egypt; France; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Australia; Ireland; Japan; Venezuela; China; Malaysia; United States; United Kingdom; Indonesia; Bangladesh; Timor-Leste; Romania; Belgium; The Gambia; New Zealand; Italy; Iran; Türkiye; Malawi; Canada; and Armenia. Also speaking were the following civil society representatives: Centre for Civil and Political Rights; Jubilee Campaign; International Commission of Jurists; International Federation for Human Rights Leagues; Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development; Meezaan Centre for Human Rights; iuventum e.V.; Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada; and the International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Speaking in the discussion on Sri Lanka were the Netherlands on behalf of the three countries of the Benelux; Finland on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic countries; European Union; Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council; Liechtenstein; Switzerland; Egypt; India; France; Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; North Macedonia; Australia; Ireland; Japan; Maldives; Ethiopia; Cuba; Kazakhstan; Venezuela; Viet Nam; Russian Federation; China; Nigeria; Syrian Arab Republic; Nicaragua; United States; Nepal; United Kingdom; Bangladesh; Pakistan; South Sudan; Burundi; Zimbabwe; Yemen; Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Montenegro; Azerbaijan; Cameroon; Canada; New Zealand; Thailand; Uganda; Philippines, Kenya; Iran; Türkiye; Bolivia; Lebanon; Sudan; Cambodia; Eritrea; and Niger. The following civil society organizations also spoke: Khiam Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture; Christian Solidarity Worldwide; Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development; Baptist World Alliance; World Evangelical Alliance on behalf of Alliance Defending Freedom; Centre for Civil and Political Rights; Franciscans International; People for Equality and Relief in Lanka Inc-; International Commission of Jurists; and Global Life Savers Inc. The webcast of the Human Rights Council meetings can be found here. All meeting summaries can be found here. Documents and reports related to the Human Rights Council’s fifty-first regular session can be found here. The next meeting of the Human Rights Council will start at 1:45 p.m. to hold an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue on Afghanistan. Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar Report The Council has before it the report of the Independent Investigative Mission for Myanmar (A/HRC/51/4) Presentation of the Report NICHOLAS KOUMJIAN, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said crimes in Myanmar had intensified. The people of Myanmar continued to suffer because of the lack of accountability for those who believed they answered to no law. Five years had passed since the 2017 military clearance operations in Rakhine state led most of the Rohingya population to flee Myanmar. Almost all remained in neighbouring countries awaiting the day when conditions would allow their safe and dignified return home. There was increasing evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, deportation, and forcible transfer and persecution. The Mechanism prioritised gathering evidence of sexual and gender-based violence and crimes against children. Women and children were at particular risk in conflicts, yet experience showed that crimes against them were typically under-reported and under-prosecuted. Children in Myanmar were tortured and arbitrarily detained, sometimes to target their parents. There were strong indications that the executions of four individuals in July were without due process. The Mechanism faced many challenges collecting evidence, being denied access to crime scenes and witnesses in Myanmar. The Mechanism had obtained millions of items from networks of Facebook accounts controlled by the Myanmar military that were taken down by the company because they misrepresented their identity. Posts from these military accounts incited fear and hatred of Rohingya. The Mechanism was united in its efforts to break the cycle of impunity and to ensure that those responsible for crimes would face justice. Discussion Some speakers strongly condemned the human rights abuses and violations in Myanmar, which amounted to systematic crimes against humanity. The reported systematic and sexual-based violence and crimes affecting children were appalling. The human rights situation in Myanmar had deteriorated, in particular for those who were part of religious or ethnic minorities. Perpetrators must be held accountable. All partners of the international community should cooperate fully with the Mechanism so that victims could get justice. Some speakers strongly condemned the military coup. Human rights violations had been committed in a manner that was a widespread and coordinated attack on the civilian population, to an extent which could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The executions of pro-democracy individuals were condemned. The military should end the attacks on civilians and allow the population to express its human rights, including the right to freedom of expression. The Mechanism should continue to collect and preserve information about the situation, some speakers said. Myanmar’s persistent non-cooperation with the Mechanism was deplored: it should fully cooperate with the view to delivering justice, including and in particular to the Rohingyas. All social media platforms should share information with the Mechanism as and when they were approached, and the Mechanism should ensure that principles of “do no harm” were at the centre of their outreach in this context. The security forces and armed groups should ensure the protection of civilians, and reinstate immediately the moratorium on the death penalty. There should be a political resolution to the situation, ensuring that those culpable were brought to justice. There were serious international crimes and violations of international humanitarian law. The continuation of the tragic situation of the Rohingya was deplored, and they should be protected, with a lasting solution found to the crisis. The Office of the High Commissioner should communicate and cooperate with the Special Envoy to Myanmar. Bangladesh’s efforts to deal with the Rohingya crisis were applauded, and the international community was urged to cooperate in all ways with its efforts. Some speakers said politically-mandated mandates did not foster an environment of protection and promotion of human rights. The Universal Periodic Review was the suitable mechanism for addressing the human rights situation of countries around the world, not the unilateral imposition of mechanisms that only undermined the work of the Council. Political dialogue was the only way to resolve the situation in Myanmar, with the support of peace-loving nations, and this was the only way that Myanmar could overcome its existing challenges. It was regretted that Myanmar could not attend the dialogue, and the work done to boost its economy was recognised. There should be a political solution to the situation, in order to restore the dialogue within the country. The international community should speak in one voice that could further help all parties to further bridge differences, instead of creating tension and causing the situation to deteriorate further. The international community should also actively promote dialogue within Myanmar in order to restore peace and truly protect and promote human rights. Concluding Remarks NICHOLAS KOUMJIAN, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said that under international law, the lack of due process could amount to an international crime. The Mechanism was interested in gathering evidence on the fairness of legal proceedings. No response had been received from the authorities in Myanmar. A key challenge was reaching those who had evidence, and achieving this required cooperation from States in the region. The Mechanism had conducted voluntary interactions, and needed the support of States to operate on territories hosting witnesses of human rights abuses. The Mechanism did not have the resources to provide all of the psychosocial and medical support that victims and witnesses needed, and requested the support of States in this regard. The Mechanism was committed to providing judges of a case dealing with genocide with the best evidence. The time that the Mechanism had to share evidence with courts was limited, and so it was redoubling efforts to collect evidence within the required timeframe. Statement by the Third Vice Prime Minister in Charge of Human Rights of Equatorial Guinea ALFONSO NSUE MOKUY, Third Vice Prime Minister in Charge of Human Rights of Equatorial Guinea, said the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner had moved forward and promoted many projects to protect, guarantee and defend human rights. The effects of the international economic crisis and the health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic had constituted a challenge for the effective exercise of human rights in general, in particular economic, social and cultural rights. Each country had its own values, legislation and social demands, but it was also vital for all to reach basic agreements to foster respect and non-discrimination, and combat violence in all spheres. The work fostered by the Office of the High Commissioner aimed at improving the human rights situation was commended, particularly with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Government of Equatorial Guinea had decided to change the track of the National 2020 Horizon Plan, with the support of development partners, mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2030, and the Agenda 2063 in its planning schemes, which enshrined a global vision of Equatorial Guinea and its role at the international level, including its commitment to strong economic growth, making it possible to improve living standards, eradicate poverty, protect the environment, and make it a country where all could live. The new Criminal Code had already been approved by the Head of State. The Government had worked tirelessly to combat the pandemic, making it possible to reduce incidents of mortality in the country, with significant economic resources provided by the Government. After the pandemic, the lack of public security had been the second concern facing the inhabitants of the country, due to the threat of juvenile crime. Thanks to the clean-up operation run by the Government, there had been a positive impact and the usual serenity had returned to the society. The Government had also worked to eliminate corruption, and had carried out positive activities in this context. Interactive Dialogue on the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka Report The Council has before it the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka (A/HRC/51/5) Presentation of Report NADA AL-NASHIF, Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, presenting the Office’s report on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, said that since the previous update in March 2022, the country had been suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis. Inflation was at a shocking 66.7 per cent and Sri Lankans had been facing severe shortages of fuel, electricity, food, medicines, and other essential items, while 6.3 million people were estimated to be food insecure. Months of countrywide protests eventually led to the President’s resignation and a new President was elected by the Sri Lankan Parliament on 20 July 2022. Ms. Al- Nashif encouraged the new Government to embark on a national dialogue to advance human rights and reconciliation and to carry out the deeper institutional reforms needed to combat impunity and to tackle the economic crisis. Concerningly in recent weeks, leaders and members of the protest movement and trade unions had been arrested. Ms. Al-Nashif urged the Government to take positive action to foster an environment for peaceful protest. She welcomed the tone set by the President in his first speech in parliament where he promised constitutional reforms. Thirteen years since the end of war, tens of thousands of survivors and their families continued to seek justice and to know the whereabouts of their loved ones, with the State repeatedly failing to pursue transitional justice. Instead, successive governments had created political obstacles to accountability, and actively promoted some officials credibly implicated in alleged war crimes, into the highest levels of government. The High Commissioner called on States to pursue alternate strategies to advance accountability at the international level, including through the consideration of targeted sanctions against alleged perpetrators, as well as cooperation to initiate prosecutions based on extraterritorial jurisdiction. The team established in the High Commissioner’s Office had made progress, including through conducting proactive analytical work, including in relation to gender and child-related violations, and was consolidating evidence collected by the United Nations into a repository, which would assist future accountability initiatives. The scale of this work required time and financial resources supported by States, and Ms. Al- Nashif urged the Council to ensure this work was supported. Impunity remained a central obstacle to Sri Lanka’s sustainable peace and development, and risked enabling further violations. The mandate granted by the Council to continue monitoring the human rights situation and pursue accountability for crimes under international law was now more important than ever. Response by Country Concerned ALI SABRY, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, speaking as the country concerned, said that the Government was extremely sensitive to the socio-economic hardships faced by its people, and had initiated immediate measures to address challenges and to ensure the wellbeing of its people. Discussions on debt restructuring were in progress. The Government was in dialogue with United Nations agencies as well as bilateral partners to protect the most vulnerable from the adverse impacts of the crisis. Sri Lanka would endeavour to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sri Lanka along with several Member States of this Council had opposed resolution 46/1, fundamentally disagreeing with its legitimacy and objectives. Operative paragraph 06 violated the sovereignty of the people of Sri Lanka and the principles of the United Nations Charter. The High Commissioner’s report’s extensive reference to “economic crimes” exceeded the mandate of the Office. The proposed twenty-second amendment to the Constitution introduced several salient changes which would strengthen democratic governance and independent oversight of key institutions, as well as public scrutiny, participation in governance, and combatting corruption. Amendments included the establishment of the Constitutional Council and the reintroduction of the National Procurement Commission and the Audit Service Commission. Sri Lanka had extended a standing invitation to all thematic Special Procedure mandate holders to visit Sri Lanka, and facilitated a high number of visits in the recent past. The State looked forward to constructive engagement with the Council through the Universal Periodic Review process. It was time to reflect realistically on the trajectory of the resolution, which had continued on the agenda of the Council for over a decade. The State’s immediate concern was economic recovery, but advancing the human rights of Sri Lankan people was of equal priority. The State looked forward to the genuine support and understanding of the Council in this regard. Discussion Some speakers welcomed the formation of a more inclusive Sri-Lankan Government and constitutional reform. The peaceful transition of power and the efforts taken to restore peace and stability were applauded. Some speakers acknowledged the difficult circumstances Sri Lanka was facing, expressing solidarity with the Sri Lankan people. The current crisis presented significant challenges, but could also offer an opportunity to advance reforms, ensuring inclusiveness. Some speakers welcomed the major progress made by Sri Lanka when it came to human rights and appreciated the Government’s commitment to advancing human rights in the country. Sri Lanka’s commitment to a constructive approach provided space for engagement. Some speakers commended the Government of Sri Lanka for its sustainable progress despite many challenges, and for its clear commitment to remain engaged with the United Nations system, including the Human Rights Council. Sri Lanka’s achievements in the pursuit of post-war reconstruction were recognised, including the rehabilitation and social reintegration of more than 12,000 former members of armed groups, some speakers said. The amendments to the Prevention of Terrorism Act this year were seen as an initial step in a long-awaited legal reform, while fundamental reform was needed to bring counter-terrorism legislation fully in line with international standards. Some speakers encouraged efforts by the Sri Lankan Government to reach national reconciliation, aimed at stabilising it and ensuring the adoption of a common vision for the promotion of human rights on their territory. Some speakers were concerned about the current situation in Sri Lanka, which was characterised by an economic crisis and violations of fundamental human rights. They were deeply concerned by increased food insecurity, shortages of fuels and medicines and reductions of household income, and urged Sri-Lankan authorities to take all measures to guarantee Sri Lankans’ social and economic rights. There were high levels of concern around freedom of expression, as peaceful protests resulting from the crisis situation were met with violence. Sri Lankan authorities were urged to protect the freedom of expression and assembly for all, and to stop the arbitrary arrests of those engaging in peaceful protests. There was an urgent need to strengthen mechanisms for investigating violations of international law and transitional justice, some speakers said. More than 13 years after the end of the civil war, the search for truth, justice and reconciliation had brought limited progress, and despite the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms, accountability had never been fulfilled. Therefore, some States supported an ongoing monitoring of the situation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. They called on the Government to adhere to its international human rights obligations and to establish an inclusive process towards reform supported by all parts of the population. The establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission by the Government would also be a welcome start. There was concern about recent reports of the increased vulnerability of women and girls to sexual and gender-based violence in Sri Lanka, with some States asking how this could be addressed. Some speakers stated dismay at the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act against student activists, despite an alleged moratorium, urging Sri Lankan authorities to repeal the Act and stop its use. Concern was expressed at the constitutional commitment to give Buddhism special status, as ethno-religious tensions had been fuelled by Buddhist nationalist groups in Sri Lanka since 2012. Some speakers were also disturbed at the lack of progress in investigating the 2019 Easter bombings, and the delay to the publication of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, calling for the Inquiry’s publication; a follow-up independent investigation; and justice for the victims and their families. Some speakers reiterated their position to reject country-specific initiatives and resolutions that were confrontational and did not have the consent of the country concerned. Imposing mechanisms on a country without consent was counter-productive; the support of the country concerned was critical in the achievement of human rights. Instead, it was important to provide technical assistance to Sri Lanka and strengthen its national institutions, to ensure it had the required support, in accordance with its sovereignty. Some speakers maintained that the mandate was costly, with no effect on the situation, and did not support solidarity. The Council was urged to support the Sri Lankan Government in achieving economic and social recovery. Concluding Remarks NADA AL-NASHIF, Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, reiterated the continued commitment of the Office of the High Commissioner to maintaining a dialogue with Sri Lanka. Restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis had exacerbated the impact of violence on women. Support efforts required a gender-sensitive approach. The Office had encouraged a transitional roadmap that included mechanisms for identifying criminal accountability. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission needed to be independent and have significant financial resources. Existing mechanisms had failed because they had failed to win the confidence of victims and their families. States were encouraged to empower victims and civil society. Young people and women should be given meaningful roles in establishing accountability. There was also a need to establish accountability for economic crimes. Ms. Al-Nashif said Sri Lanka was at a critical juncture. Sustainable recovery, development and peace could only be achieved by eliminating impunity. The Office of the High Commissioner encouraged the international community to support Sri Lanka in its recovery and work to end impunity in the State. The Council should remain engaged in the issue and continue to support recovery efforts in the State..."
Source/publisher: UN Human Rights Council (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-12
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Title: Press Release: MAP Urges UN General Assembly to Approve Credentials of Myanmar’s Democratic Ambassador
Description: "London 12 September 2022: The Myanmar Accountability Project, MAP, has called on the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to accept the credentials of the incumbent Ambassador of the National Unity Government (NUG), Kyaw Moe Tun. In a report published today, MAP also calls on the UN to resolve the chaotic situation of Myanmar’s representation across the UN system. Speaking on the eve of the 77th session of the UNGA this week in New York, Chris Gunness, Director of MAP said, “the Assembly must explicitly accept Kyaw Moe Tun’s credentials as the NUG’s Ambassador, rather than defer its decision, as it did last year.” Gunness said “the deferral has led to massive inconsistencies across the UN system. In the International Court of Justice, the junta’s agents are representing Myanmar, in the Human Rights Council (HRC) and other UN bodies Myanmar’s seat has been left empty, whereas at the UNGA in New York the NUG represents Myanmar. Clearly,” said Gunness, “the NUG, elected by a landslide, should be able to represent Myanmar across the UN system because of democratic legitimacy and its human rights record.” “For the seat to be left empty in the HRC when the country is going through one if its most severe human rights crises since independence is a disgrace,” he added. Over two thousand people have been killed since the failed coup in February last year, according to conservative estimates, 15,000 have been detained or have disappeared, 1.2 million people have been displaced and over 14 million are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. MAP’s Director of Protection, Damian Lilly, said “the weak signal sent by the UNGA has also led to anomalies on the ground in Myanmar. Although the UNGA has clearly rejected the junta’s credentials, at least four UN agencies (FAO, IMO, Unicef, UNOCHA) have very publicly presented papers to the junta – in breach of the UN’s principles of engagement which require its agencies to distance themselves from the junta. It has rightly led to outrage among the UN’s civil society partners who feel the world body has abandoned them in their time of need.” “The United Kingdom, as the penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, is failing some 55 million people in Myanmar whose democratic choice must be respected across the UN system. By not tabling a resolution for the Security Council to take firm action against the murderous junta it is only allowing it to act further with impunity and commit crimes against its own people.”..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Accountability Project
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-12
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Title: Statement to the Human Rights Council by Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, on the 51st Regular Session of the Human Rights Council
Description: "Mister President, Excellencies, I am honoured to appear before you to present the fourth Annual Report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. We were created by this Council to collect and preserve evidence of the most serious international crimes in Myanmar. Tragically, I must report that since I last addressed you, such crimes have intensified. The people of Myanmar continue to suffer because of the lack of accountability for those who believe they answer to no law. Five years have now passed since the 2017 military clearance operations in Rakhine State led most of the Rohingya population to flee Myanmar. Almost all remain in neighbouring countries awaiting the day when conditions will allow their safe and dignified return home. The end of impunity for those who inflicted the violence would do much to create such conditions. Since the military coup in February last year, there is increasing evidence of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, deportation and forcible transfer, persecution, imprisonment, and targeting of the civilian population. The Mechanism prioritizes gathering evidence of sexual and gender-based violence and crimes against children. Women and children are at particular risk in conflicts, yet experience shows that crimes against them are typically under-reported and under-prosecuted. We have gathered reports of children in Myanmar having been tortured and arbitrarily detained, sometimes to target their parents. There is also increasing evidence of sexual and gender-based crimes against both women and men. While capital punishment is not itself an international crime, imposing a death sentence on the basis of proceedings that do not satisfy the basic requirements of a fair trial can amount to a crime against humanity. There are strong indications that the executions of four individuals in July were without due process, as proceedings lacked transparency and virtually no information is available as to the charges and evidence. Mister President, The Mechanism faces many challenges collecting evidence, given that we are denied access to crime scenes and witnesses in Myanmar. To date, we have made a dozen requests for permission to enter the country and for information relevant to allegations of international crimes. No response has yet been received. Despite these challenges, there is notable progress. Many brave individuals, NGOs and other entities have shared valuable evidence with us. We have conducted numerous screenings and interviews from persons who have provided vital first-hand information about crimes perpetrated inside the country. Ensuring protection and support for those who provide us with information is an issue of increasing concern. The Mechanism has prepared 67 evidential and analytical packages to share with judicial authorities, including for proceedings at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. Our staff now includes expertise in open source and financial investigations, boosting our analytical capacity. Our Annual Report noted that we had collected and processed almost three million information items from more than 200 sources, including interview statements, documentation, videos, photographs, geospatial imagery, and social media material – more than double what we reported last year. Since the Report was drafted, this number of items has more than doubled again. We now face the challenging task of analysing the material collected. For example, Facebook has shared with the Mechanism millions of items from networks of accounts that were taken down by the company because they misrepresented their identity – the accounts were actually controlled by the Myanmar military. Our team has identified posts inciting fear and hatred of Rohingya that appeared on these military-controlled networks. For example, one post appeared on ten different pages within one such network on 10 August 2017 just before the clearance operations began. It contained false reports of Rohingya arming en masse and threatening Myanmar’s Buddhists, and a photo of a cow with its stomach slit and disembowelled – an image offensive to Myanmar Buddhists. Mister President, I am sincerely grateful for the support of this Council and call on all states committed to ending the worst violence in Myanmar to support our work. Perpetrators of the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar must know that we are united in our efforts to break the cycle of impunity and to ensure that those responsible for such crimes will face justice. Thank you..."
Source/publisher: Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-12
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Title: Why Democracy in Southeast Asia Will Worsen in 2023
Description: "2022 has not exactly been a banner year for democracy in Southeast Asia, which has regressed in the past two decades from an example of a democratizing developing region into one of extreme democratic regression (the only exception: tiny Timor-Leste). The Myanmar junta remains in power in that benighted country, overseeing a failed state. The junta has resorted to rising brutality and abandoned all pretense of interest in global opinion by jailing a former UK ambassador, executing four activists, and handing Aung San Suu Kyi a long prison and hard labor sentence. Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte continued to oversee a crackdown on the media and civil society, as well as a brutal drug war, until the end of his term in June 2022. Thailand’s pro-military parliamentary coalition remains in power becau se of a flawed 2019 election, the banning of opposition parties, and the fact that Thai judges are beholden to the military and its allies. The Thai king, who is supposed to stay above politics, increasingly involves himself in both politics and business, and has expressed some interest in returning the country to an absolute monarchy. Cambodia has cracked down on a broad range of opposition activists. Malaysia, while jailing former prime minister Najib tun Razak for his crimes—an important step towards curbing impunity—retains a ruling coalition dominated by Najib's party, which ruled Malaysia autocratically for decades. In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo (popularly known as Jokowi) has done little as the military accrues power and rights are curtailed for LGBTQ+ citizens and others. But 2023 is likely to be worse for democracy in Southeast Asia. Jokowi will increasingly become a lame duck, and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who has signaled his disdain for democracy and desire to rule as a strongman, has accepted his party's nomination to run for president in 2024. With Jokowi term-limited, Prabowo will be a strong candidate; he is already amassing allies and endorsements from other key political players in the country. Prabowo also has a terrible rights record from his tenure as head of Indonesian special forces in the Suharto era. He was banned from obtaining a U.S. visa for years for his alleged role in the killings of rights activists and other crimes during the bloodshed in East Timor, then a province of Indonesia (in the waning days of the Trump administration, the U.S. granted Prabowo a visa to visit Washington after he became defense minister). With Prabowo as president, Indonesia could easily lose its status, along with Timor-Leste, as one of the few still-solid democracies in the region. Indeed, Prabowo has already suggested he sees little value in democracy. If he were to win the presidency, he could cancel the many local and regional elections that have become the lifeblood of Indonesia's highly successful program of democratic decentralization to consolidate power in himself and a small circle of advisors. Meanwhile, in the Philippines, there is little evidence that the new president Ferdinand Marcos Jr will be any more democratic than Duterte. He has continued Duterte's crackdown on the media and civil society—prominent activist Walden Bello was arrested shortly after Marcos Jr's inauguration—and is protecting Duterte from any investigations into the former president's massive rights abuses. Prominent opposition leader Senator Leila de Lima remains in jail. In Thailand, another major Southeast Asian state, elections must be held in 2023. The population has likely tired of the government, led by a military-aligned party that has been in power since 2019 through unfair elections (following a military coup in 2014, those same leaders also ran the country for five years under intense repression). In all likelihood, Thais will vote in large numbers for opposition, pro-democracy parties, but these parties will be prevented from taking office, as the pro-military parties and their allies maneuver to keep the opposition out of power. Malaysia also must hold general elections in 2023, and there will be plenty of maneuvering, horse-trading, and other shenanigans in advance of the elections. Although new parties will be contesting, it seems highly possible that UMNO, the party that has dominated the country, often by employing semi-autocratic means and staggering gerrymandering, will win. The economy has been relatively strong, the opposition is fractured, and UMNO and its allies seem in strong shape to win. In smaller regional countries, the situation does not look much better. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen, who has ruled for three decades, will likely heighten his campaign against the remaining semi-free press and civil society even further, as he maneuvers to eventually install his son, Hun Manet, as his successor. Vietnam also continues in a more authoritarian direction. While debt crises and economic problems have caused some ferment in Laos, this highly unusual protest is unlikely to have much impact on the ruling regime, which remains in full control of the country and represses even the slightest demonstrations. Myanmar will likely continue to descend into ever-more-brutal conflict, including in major urban areas. The ruling junta may be losing ground to anti-government guerillas and ethnic armed organizations, but dislodging the military regime, even if it happens, will take time—and leave an unsure future for the country. In sum, 2023 promises to be another horrible year for democracy in Southeast Asia. There are potential bright spots—perhaps the pro-democracy opposition will win in Thailand and their victory will be respected, or perhaps there will be real progress in Myanmar—but overall, the outlook is grim..."
Source/publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-12
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Title: The impacts of attacks on education and military use in Myanmar
Description: "Summary: In 2020 and 2021, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) identified over 450 reported attacks on education and incidents of military use of schools, universities, and educational facilities in Myanmar by state armed forces and non-state armed groups, the majority of which occurred after the military takeover on February 1, 2021. Reported attacks on schools increased from approximately 10 in 2020 to around 190 in 2021, an increase of approximately 1,800 percent. Furthermore, GCPEA found that attacks on schools spread from at least three to 13 states and regions in Myanmar following the military takeover, with a peak in May 2021, and often involved the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects. Military use of schools and universities was also pervasive in Myanmar and further threatened the safety and security of education. Military use alone can have grave consequences for education, since armed forces and armed groups often damage schools or universities while using them as a base or for other military purposes, and their presence places students and educators still attending the institutions at risk. Worth noting, however, is that military use can also provoke rival forces or armed groups to target the educational facility, yet further risking lives and damage. Military use may turn schools and universities into military objectives, rendering them lawful targets of attack during armed conflict. In the data collected, GCPEA found that over a quarter of schools and universities used for military purposes in 2021 were subsequently targeted by rival forces or armed groups. The widespread targeted attacks on, and military use of, schools, universities, and education infrastructure in Myanmar has created a hostile educational context for students, parents, and educators, who have found it increasingly challenging to make safe choices with regards to their learning, their children, and their jobs. GCPEA remains concerned about both the short and long-term consequences of this severe learning interruption and its broader implications for teaching and learning, from pre-primary through higher education. Key recommendations Armed actors should protect the civilian character of schools and universities and cease attacks and threats of attacks against students, teachers, academics, and educational facilities. Armed actors should refrain from using schools and universities for military purposes, including by implementing the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. Non-state armed groups should sign and implement Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment for the Protection of Children from the Effects of Armed Conflict, including as it relates to educational spaces. Armed actors should allow access for humanitarian actors delivering education to the most vulnerable children. Armed actors should refrain from politicizing education, and safeguard access to all levels of education. States and international justice mechanisms should support efforts to hold perpetrators of attacks on education accountable in impartial and independent courts. Education providers, humanitarian and development agencies, and donors should commit to supporting communities and local organizations to facilitate flexible ways to continue education..."
Source/publisher: Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-09
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Title: Stateless Rohingya continue to struggle for survival in Myanmar
Description: "Five years after 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, and a decade after intercommunal violence rocked Rakhine State, those who remain live in a state of limbo. Over the course of her life, Zaw Bedah, a 27-year-old Rohingya woman living in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, has had to adapt to increasing restrictions on her rights and freedoms. In 2012, intercommunal clashes rocked Rakhine State. Zaw Bedah was 17 at the time and had just started her own family. Together with tens of thousands of others, they were forced to flee. A decade later, over 153,000 Rohingya like her remain displaced, the majority of them confined to camps. An additional 447,000 live in villages where they have little freedom of movement, affecting their ability to obtain healthcare, attend school or make a living. Another 700,000 Rohingya fled a further round of violence in 2017 and now live as refugees in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the region. Restrictions on the amount of land the camps can occupy have meant that many are unable to expand to accommodate growing populations. Living in a crowded camp with limited sanitation facilitates and a growing family has brought hardships for Zaw Bedah. “I have difficulties sleeping because there is not enough space for the eight of us in our shelter. I often go to my neighbour’s house to sleep,” she says. Access to healthcare is an additional challenge. Now enduring a difficult pregnancy with her third child, Zaw Bedah is unwilling to seek medical care due to a cumbersome and costly administrative process involving the need for approval from local administrators, male escorts, and navigating security checkpoints where extortion is common. “I get upset when complications occur during childbirth,” says Hassinah Begom, a midwife who attends to the needs of Zaw Bedah and other pregnant women in the camp. Despite not having had any formal training, she has successfully delivered over 500 children during her two-decade career and is often the first person mothers call on when they need assistance. “In serious cases, I have to quickly accompany them to the hospital. We cannot leave if it is past 6pm because of the curfew. When we do go, only one person is allowed to accompany the patient, and we are not allowed to bring our phones. We also pay higher prices for medication,” says Begom. “Thankfully, no mother has died under my care.” To improve living conditions and heal historical wounds, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its partners have supported the Rohingya, Rakhine and other displaced communities in Rakhine State through distributions of household items, shelter reconstruction, livelihoods support and services. Such assistance is aimed at reducing vulnerabilities such as gender-based violence while promoting dialogue between different communities. But policies such as denying equal access to citizenship and essential services, as well as movement restrictions, have kept the Rohingya marginalized and highly dependent on humanitarian aid. “No amount of aid is enough to solve the crisis,” says Federico Sersale, UNHCR’s head of office in Sittwe, the Rakhine state capital. “While it is imperative to assist, access to rights and freedoms, social cohesion between communities, the closure of camps, and allowing the Rohingya to return to their homes or places of choice are crucial to lasting solutions.” Even after giving birth with little or no medical care, women living in the camps continue to worry for their children. Birth certificates are rarely issued to Rohingya children, a key document that provides them with a legal identity. “It saddens me that none of the children born here have birth certificates.” Zaw Bedah’s second child, who was born in the camp, never received a birth certificate. Her eldest child had one, but it was lost during the chaos of their displacement in 2012. “I’ve tried many ways to obtain a new one for him, but it has been impossible,” she says. “It saddens me that none of the children born here have birth certificates. No one can grow up to be successful without one,” says Begom. Determined to help as best she can, she has diligently recorded the date of birth for every child she has delivered. “My wish is for these records to help children obtain identity documents one day,” she says. Restricting the Rohingya’s access to civil documents like birth certificates has long term consequences. As children grow up, they are unable to acquire other important identity documents such as national registration cards, leaving them legally and administratively invisible. This in turn jeopardizes their future prospects, limits their freedom of movement and traps them in a cycle of poverty and marginalization. “The longer this situation persists, the more vulnerable and marginalized the Rohingya communities become. This will further diminish the prospects for those in Bangladesh who wish to return safely,” says UNHCR’s Federico Sersale. Ajam Bibi, a 16-year-old living in the camp who Begom helped deliver as a baby, had to drop out of school at the age of 14 because her mother could not afford the fees. “I love to learn. If I have a chance to complete my studies, I will apply for a job with a humanitarian agency … Right now, I do chores and help my younger siblings with their studies,” she says. While primary education is often provided by humanitarian agencies for free inside camps, state-run high schools are often located far from camps and segregated from other communities. School fees and transportation costs add to the financial strain faced by cash-strapped families, a situation exacerbated by the lack of employment opportunities. Reflecting on the difficulties faced in her own life and those of her children, Zaw Bedah worries about the future. “I feel sad and unhappy with the situation … I cannot imagine what life will be like when the children grow up,” she says..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-09
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Title: Ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights for youth and adolescents in Myanmar through innovation amid COVID-19 pandemic and political crisis
Description: "YANGON, Myanmar— “There is social stigma existing in our community to speak about sexual and reproductive health especially concerning adolescents and youth. People are too shy to talk about it. Since we have grown up under this shadow, we don’t even know that young people have the right to access sexual and reproductive health information,” said Thura, 15, a local youth from Yangon. Young people in Myanmar face different social and cultural barriers to get right information about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Without having access to sexual and reproductive health information including family planning, young people tend to experience consequences such as unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion, leading to other life-threatening complications. According to 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census, the fertility rate of females aged 15-19 was 33 births per 1,000 women. Comparing to urban areas, the teenage fertility is higher in rural areas of states and regions. The data highlights the needs to enhance protection and promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and young people in remote places and in areas undergoing humanitarian crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic and political crisis has exacerbated the situation. “Movement restrictions and security concerns hinder young peoples’ access to information and services. How can our rights be fulfilled under these situations? We young people feel like we are lost,” said Thura. UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, works closely with partner organizations in Myanmar to enhance protection and promote sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and young people. In delivering its mandate of sexual and reproductive health and rights, overarching framework of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action and its follow-up convention of ICPD+25, addressing adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues, including unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, through the promotion of responsible and healthy reproductive and sexual behavior and reducing adolescent pregnancies are also core areas of UNFPA’s work. UNFPA, in collaboration with partner organizations and civil society organizations CSOs, facilitates access to sexual and reproductive health for adolescents and young people through innovative approaches. Aung Pike Tun, Programme Coordinator of Marie Stope Myanmar said, “Previously, we provided sexual and reproductive health awareness (in-person) sessions for young people at our youth corner. Due to COVID-19 pandemic and security concern, we adapted the situation and transformed these in-person awareness sessions into comprehensive online learning space. With the support of local youth networks and initiatives, we are able to connect virtually with many young people from different states and regions and provide SRHR awareness and information that they need. It is a huge step-up. For some young people, they feel comfortable and safe via this virtual platform and raise their issues openly for our support. We are so happy to see their interest and active participation going forward.” With the support from Global Affairs Canada, UNFPA Myanmar has launched Baykin 2 mobile application, partnering with 360ed team. Integrating with Augmented Reality (AR), Baykin 2 app is designed to introduce adolescent and young people in Myanmar to key topics on sexual and reproductive health & right, gender equality, gender-based violence and other youth related contents. This application integrates learning and gaming to increase the engagement of young users and provide better visuals for learning about their bodies and rights. It additionally seeks to equip adolescents and young people with knowledge and tools to be aware of and thus less vulnerable to gender-based violence. Dr. Peter Kivunike Mukasa, SRHR Programme Specialist of UNFPA Myanmar said, “UNFPA as a Sexual and Reproductive Health Lead Agency, is working with its implementing partner organizations not only to deliver life-saving SRHR and gender-based violence services for women and girls in Myanmar, but also to promote essential SRHR information and GBV awareness for adolescents and young people. To ensure their rights even during this challenging context, we have adapted to the situation quickly and acted innovatively to support them.” Mya Kalyar Kyaw, 23, a local youth from Kayin said, “Sexual and reproductive health information does save the lives and future of young people. This is not a luxury that we want. This is our fundamental right to access SRHR information without any exception”..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Population Fund
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-07
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Title: The International Criminal Court Must Engage with Myanmar’s Democratic Government and Investigate Atrocities Committed by the Military Junta
Description: "London, 19 August, 2022: According to a legal opinion published today, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has a clear legal obligation to accept the declaration of Myanmar’s democratic, National Unity Government (NUG) providing the consent of that state for the Court to exercise its jurisdiction inside Myanmar. If the Court were to accept the NUG Declaration, it could lead to an investigation into atrocity crimes such as the one the ICC is currently conducting in Ukraine. The opinion written by Dr Ralph Wilde, an expert on international law at University College London, is being released by the Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) to mark the first anniversary of the NUG making its declaration public. It is endorsed by some of the world’s leading international law experts. According to Wilde, the ICC’s legal obligation to accept the NUG declaration “is based in part on the fact that the NUG is the legitimate government of Myanmar as a matter of domestic law, having been elected by a landslide in November 2020. The junta seized power in a coup in February 2021 and is operating on a manifestly unconstitutional and thereby illegitimate basis.” It flows from this, says MAP Director, Chris Gunness, “that the ICC could and should initiate proceedings against the Myanmar junta. There is a clear case to be answered, with over two thousand people killed since the coup, according to conservative estimates, around fifteen thousand arrested, over a million displaced by conflict and some fourteen million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.” MAP’s Protection Director, Damian Lilly, argues that “the execution of four prisoners of conscience at the end of July and the international condemnation of this heinous act underlines the urgent need for Myanmar’s junta to be held accountable for its atrocity crimes. An investigation by the ICC is one of the few paths towards justice for the people of Myanmar.” Wilde’s opinion argues that such a move “supports the ultimate aims of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding document: to end impunity for serious crimes through the exercise of criminal jurisdiction nationally and, if that is not forthcoming, internationally.” “The good news for the ICC is that there is already plenty of evidence available to prosecute member of the military junta,” says Lilly. “The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) established to investigate the 2017 genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya population, has collected a plethora of evidence of crimes also committed since the coup and is mandated to share this with the ICC.” Following the ICC Prosecutor’s decision to seek authorisation to begin an investigation into Ukraine, over forty states parties referred the situation there to the Court. Gunness urged them to take similar action on Myanmar. “We call on the states parties to the Rome Statute and the Prosecutor, to demonstrate that the lives of the people of Myanmar matter as much as the lives of people in Ukraine. Given that the NUG Declaration provides the gateway for action, the ICC Prosecutor and the states parties have no excuse for further delay. The people of Myanmar have been waiting long enough for justice. States and the ICC Prosecutor must act.”..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Accountability Project
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-07
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Title: လေးစားစွာ အသိအမှတ်ပြုလျက်နှင့် ကျေးဇူးအထူးတင်လျက်ရှိပါကြောင်း
Description: "၁။ ၂၀၂၂ခုနှစ်၊ ၇၇ကြိမ်မြောက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂအထွေထွေညီလာခံတွင် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စုအား လက်မခံဘဲ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ (NUG) အားအသိအမှတ်ပြုလက်ခံရေးနှင့် သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းအား မြန်မာအမြဲတမ်းကိုယ်စားလှယ်အဖြစ်ဆက်လက်ထားရှိရေးအတွက် ရည်ရွယ်ပြု လုပ်မည့် Global and Local Action Campaigns များတွင်အသုံးပြုရန် ကြွေးကြော်သံ၊ ဆောင်ပုဒ်နှင့် Profile Picture Frame Design များဖိတ်ခေါ်ပွဲကို ၂၀၂၂ခုနှစ်၊ ဩဂုတ်လ ၁ ရက်မှ ၂၁ ရက်အထိ Credential Challenge Campaign 2022 ကပြုလုပ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ ၂။ အဆိုပါဖိတ်ခေါ်ပွဲတွင် တော်လှန်ရေးစိတ် ဓါတ် ထက်သန်စွာဖြင့် ကြွေးကြော်သံ၊ ဆောင်ပုဒ်နှင့် Profile Picture Frame Design များပေးပို့ ခဲ့ကြသူ တစ်ဦးချင်းစီအား အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အတိုင်ပင်ခံကောင်စီ (NUCC) ကိုယ်စား လေးစားအသိအမှတ်ပြုလျက်နှင့် ကျေးဇူးအထူးတင်ရှိ ပါကြောင်းထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Consultative Council
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-07
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Title: Myanmar: Escalation of conflict in Rakhine and Southern Chin Flash Update (As of 5 September 2022)
Description: "Highlights Rising tensions between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine and southern Chin since June have led to frequent armed clashes, including the use of heavy weapons and airstrikes. The renewed conflict follows a temporary ceasefire between the AA-MAF, which had been in place since November 2020. Most of the fighting has been reported in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Mrauk-U townships in Rakhine State and in Paletwa township in Chin State. As of 5 September, almost 9,600 people have consequently been displaced, bringing the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) from past and present AA-MAF fighting across Rakhine and Paletwa township in Chin State to nearly 84,000, according to UN latest figures. Key roads and waterways have been blocked, restricting the movement of civilians and preventing humanitarian assistance from reaching people in need. Local and international partners have been providing emergency assistance to affected people where access is permitted but many areas remain unreachable. Humanitarians need unimpeded access to affected areas and the removal of bureaucratic obstructions to allow for the delivery of timely, life-saving support to people in need. Funding is urgently needed to replenish depleted supplies and address expected shortages, especially in food assistance, water and sanitation services, shelter and non-food items (NFIs) and health services for IDPs and other affected communities. Pre-positioning of stocks is critical given the escalation of clashes and movement restrictions on humanitarian actors..."
Source/publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (New York) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-06
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Title: UNICEF Myanmar Humanitarian Situation Report No. 7 for 1 July to 31 August 2022
Description: "Highlights: As of 29 August, the number of displaced people has reached 1.3 million nationally, including displacement since February 2021 and protracted displacement prior to the military takeover. Some schools reopened across the country, as the school year began in June, but many more remain closed, particularly in rural areas. Only 33 per cent opened in Kachin, Kayah, and Chin states while, in Sagaing region, around half the schools are closed because of the conflict. Levels of violence and instability have worsened, causing large-scale internal displacement and disrupting children’s opportunities to learn safely. The Mine Action Area of Responsibility (AoR) reported 185 incidents of landmines and explosive ordnance from January to June 2022 of which 33 percent of the casualties are children. UNICEF continues to work towards providing assistance to the victims and increasing explosive risk education for children and their parents. UNICEF and its partners have seen a marked improvement in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) indicator. 40,834 people were assisted during the period, a 53 per cent increase compared to the previous month, due to the implementing a variety of methods including virtual access and hotlines, capacity building and communities empowering, allowing expanded access in hard to reach areas. A total of 3,568 children aged 9 to 18 months were vaccinated against measles in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan during the reporting period. Situation in Numbers 5,000,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance (HRP 2022) 14,400,000 people in need (HRP 2022) 974,400 Internally displaced people after 1 February 2021 (UNHCR) 45,500 People displaced to neighbouring countries since 1 February 2021 330,400 people living in protracted displacement before February 2021 (UNHCR) Funding Overview and Partnerships UNICEF Myanmar Country Office is appealing for US$151.4 million to deliver humanitarian assistance to displaced people and host communities across the country. The Myanmar Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) estimates that, in 2022, 14.4 million people, including 5 million children, need assistance. From January to August 2022, UNICEF has received generous contributions from the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA), the European Commission/ECHO, the German Federal Foreign Office, Global Thematic Humanitarian Funds, Denmark, Japan, Norway, the Korean Committee for UNICEF and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). UNICEF Myanmar has so far received US$31.93 million; an increase of US$0.8 million from the previous reporting period. This fund has already contributed to delivering much-needed assistance through UNICEF programmes for Nutrition, Health, HIV/AIDS, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Education, Child Protection, Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE), Protection of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), Social Protection, Accountability Affected Population (AAP) and Cluster coordination. The Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal had a funding gap of 79 per cent by the end of August. This affects humanitarian assistance and services to the targeted populations, especially children in need. Continued support from donors means that UNICEF can scale up responses and accelerate service deliveries to the population in dire need. UNICEF expresses its sincere appreciation to all private and public sector donors for their contributions to supporting the children of Myanmar. Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs Overall, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate across the country, with an escalation in armed conflict in the northwest and southeast regions and in Kachin state, resulting in increased displacement. As of 29 August 2022, an estimated 974,4001 people had been internally displaced since February 2021, which has resulted in more than 1.3 million internally displaced people living in camps, protracted settings and informal displacement sites across the country. The northwest region remains the most affected by the crisis with more than 665,700 displaced people; these are mainly in Sagaing (528,300), Magway (98,100), and Chin (39,300). An estimated 44,300 people crossed the border to the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur. More than 22,544 civilian properties including houses, churches and monasteries have been destroyed or burnt in the northwest region. Access to the area for aid workers has not improved, as the de facto authorities maintain tight control on issuing travel authorizations. The United Nations continues to engage with the authorities to try to gain better access to more townships in the northwest region. The Humanitarian Country Team has approved an Inter Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG) for the northwest, which will address strategic operational issues. The number of displaced people in Kachin state increased from 1,600 as of 25 July to 10,000 by the end of August. This is in addition to the 91,500 displaced people living in protracted situations since before 2021. During the first week of August, more than 2,300 people (53 per cent women) were displaced in Hpakant township, Kachin State due to intensified clashes. UNICEF, in partnership with Karuna Mission Social Solidarity (KMSS), provided WASH supplies to 111 households in the displacement sites. In Rakhine, the humanitarian situation remains unpredictable due to the heightened tension and clashes between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar Armed Forces. Access to locations with high humanitarian needs, such as Maungdaw north, remains severely constrained, impacting the ability of humanitarian actors to provide assistance to the population in need. Across the state, 219,000 people remain in a situation of protracted displacement. In northern Shan state, a total of 656 people were displaced in Nawnghkio township due to armed clashes during 5 August and 7 August, but they returned to their homes on 12 August. Humanitarian agencies are finding it harder to access camps for displaced people in southern Shan and Kayah due to increased restrictions on movement of humanitarian assistance. The security situation in Kayah state is deteriorating as clashes continue, particularly in Hpruso and Demoso townships. In the southeast, armed conflicts have escalated across the region, specifically in Bago East where the number of displaced people has risen sharply to 33,800 by the end of August..."
Source/publisher: UN Children's Fund (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-06
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Title: အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ အပတ်စဉ်သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်ချက် (၁၉/၂၀၂၂)
Description: "National Unity Government Weekly Press Update (19/2022)..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-06
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Title: Briefing Paper: Effective Control in Myanmar
Description: "5 September 2022: The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) has the greatest claim to effective control in Myanmar, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) explains in a new briefing paper, published today. The illegal military junta in Myanmar does not have effective control of the country and cannot continue to be engaged with by the international community on the assumption that it does. “The world needs to wake up to the reality that a new Myanmar is already taking shape,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “The National Unity Government is not a shadow government or a government in exile. It is the representative of the people’s revolution and resistance to the military junta, the combined forces of which control the majority of the country.” The briefing paper “Effective Control in Myanmar” applies international standards to the NUG and allied resistance organisations as well as the military junta to determine which entity best meets criteria used to establish effective control of a state. SAC-M’s analysis finds that the NUG and resistance organisations have effective control over 52% of the territory of Myanmar. The junta is being actively contested in a further 23% and can only claim to have stable control over 17% of the territory. The trajectory of the conflict favours the resistance, and the junta is losing what control it does have at an increasing rate despite the continued use of mass atrocities by junta forces. “The resistance is holding Myanmar together in the face of the junta’s barbaric killing and wanton destruction. It is paramount that ASEAN, lest it be relegated to total irrelevance, and other regional actors understand and recognise this if they genuinely want to facilitate a return to peace and stability in the region,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “A process could now be undertaken through which the gains made by the democracy movement in Myanmar can be formalised, such as a people’s election or referendum held in resistance territory.” The junta has forced Myanmar’s former central administration to the brink of collapse. The junta is unable to govern and is reduced to an occupying military force in a diminishing amount of territory. Resistance organisations including the NUG, Ethnic Resistance Organisations (EROs), people’s administrative bodies, the Civil Disobedience Movement and other civil institutions and movements are administering an increasing range of government functions and delivering services to millions of people. The combined capacity of the resistance is an essential lifeline as the acute humanitarian crisis in Myanmar worsens and the international community continues to fail to deliver aid at scale. “The NUG is the legitimate government of Myanmar and should have been recognised formally as such long ago. But instead, there is a complete mess in the international system when it comes to Myanmar’s representation. That is depriving the Myanmar people of their voice at a time when they need it the most,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “The revolution in Myanmar will succeed. But history will not look back kindly on how we in the international system failed to stand with the people.” Armed resistance to the junta has now saturated wide swathes of townships across most states and regions in Myanmar, demonstrating the strength of the population’s rejection of the military playing any further role in the nation’s politics. The NUG is guided by the Federal Democracy Charter, a roadmap that seeks to realise Myanmar’s long-held federal and democratic aspirations..."
Source/publisher: Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-05
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Title: UN Envoy Warns of ‘Multidimensional Catastrophe’ in Myanmar, Urges Global Action
Description: "The UN Special envoy on Myanmar has warned of a “multidimensional catastrophe” if the regional and international communities don’t make a serious effort to support the Southeast Asian country, which has descended into conflict since last year’s military coup. Myanmar has been politically and economically devastated since the coup. Far from bringing the whole country under its control, the regime is still struggling with nationwide popular armed resistance against its rule. The economy has been in a downward spiral, with fuel in short supply and foreign reserves dwindling. “We cannot wait. A multidimensional catastrophe will emerge in the heart of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] unless we as a regional and international community come together to seriously find new ways to support this Myanmar-led process towards an inclusive society and democratic future,” said the envoy, Noeleen Heyzer, in her remarks at a seminar at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore on Monday. Myanmar is an ASEAN member. The warning came after her controversial mission to Myanmar last month during which she met with regime chief Min Aung Hlaing in an attempt to mediate the crisis, including calling for an immediate end to the junta’s violence against the Myanmar people. However, after receiving a low-grade reception from the junta she made no breakthrough. Instead, it became another failed UN mission in Myanmar, used by the regime to promote its legitimacy as well as to express its displeasure over the UN’s actions against it. However, the envoy insisted that her visit was part of the UN’s broader efforts to support an effective and peaceful Myanmar-led political pathway to return to civilian rule based on the will of the people, saying, “My mandate as an impartial actor [is] to engage with all stakeholders in Myanmar, the region and globally, consistent with the principles of the United Nations.” In her remarks at the seminar on Monday, the envoy said there was no clear path out of the crisis and that there would be no easy solutions. During her visit to Myanmar, she wasn’t allowed to meet detained popular leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and she said on Monday that “If I ever visit Myanmar again, it will only be if I can meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.” She also admitted that in the case of Myanmar, the limitations of the United Nations and the international community are also clear, adding that continued differences in the positions among member states of the UN was also a factor, according to highlights of the seminar released by the envoy’s office. “Thus, I will continue to appeal to all governments, regional organizations and other key stakeholders, to listen to the will of [the] people and be guided by that will,” she said. Despite its condemnation of the coup and the regime’s killing of more than 2,000 people so far, the UN has still failed to take serious action against the Myanmar junta. The UN Security Council still hasn’t been able to pass any resolutions due to resistance from China and Russia, the junta’s major allies. At the regional level, ASEAN has tried to mediate the Myanmar crisis since last year with its peace plan, which includes an immediate cessation of violence against civilians. However, the junta ignored the plan. At the same time, both the UN and ASEAN have failed to “officially engage” with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which was formed by the elected lawmakers of the ousted National League for Democracy and their ethnic allies, and commands the loyalty of the vast majority of Myanmar people. Following the envoy’s meeting with Min Aung Hlaing , the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), a group of former UN experts on the country, urged Heyzer to engage with the NUG instead. The NUG also called on the envoy to publicly strengthen partnerships with it, as well as with ethnic armed organizations and civil society, and to truly listen to and respect the aspirations of the Myanmar people..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-05
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Title: Commission of Inquiry for Myanmar holds its first session
Sub-title: The high-level investigation will address the matters raised by the ILO Governing Body regarding the situation of freedom of association and forced labour in the country.
Description: "GENEVA (ILO News) – The Commission of Inquiry, set up by the ILO Governing Body of the International Labour Office at its 344th Session in March 2022, in respect of the non-observance by Myanmar of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) , and the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) , held its first session at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva from 25 to 27 August 2022. The first session of the Commission of Inquiry launched a procedure leading to a full and independent investigation into the matters brought before it by the Governing Body and the preparation of a report containing findings and recommendations to address these issues. The Commission’s members are eminent legal experts from the Philippines, South Africa and Bangladesh. There have previously been thirteen Commissions of Inquiry established by the ILO to investigate allegations of serious non-observance of ratified international labour standards. Such Commissions represent the highest level of ILO supervisory mechanisms..."
Source/publisher: International Labour Organization
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-02
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Title: Ex-UK ambassador and her husband jailed for a year in Myanmar, reports say
Sub-title: Vicky Bowman and Htein Lin were arrested last week accused of violating immigration laws
Description: "Britain’s former ambassador to Myanmar and her husband, a prominent artist, have been sentenced to one year in prison by the country’s military-controlled courts, reports say. Vicky Bowman, who was the ambassador in Myanmar from 2002 to 2006, and her husband, Htein Lin, a veteran democracy activist, were arrested last week in Yangon and accused of violating immigration laws. They have each been sentenced to one year in prison, according to the BBC and Associated Press. Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for campaigns, Ming Yu Hah, described news of their conviction as extremely concerning. “Myanmar’s military has a notorious track record of arresting and jailing people on politically motivated or trumped-up charges,” she said. Separately on Friday, courts sentenced the ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, to three years’ imprisonment for electoral fraud, meaning she faces a total 20-year sentence. Further cases against her, which could lead to decades more prison time, are ongoing. The ousted president, Win Myint, and the former minister of the president’s office, Min Thu, also received sentences of three years for electoral fraud, according to AP. The military has sought to justify its 2021 coup by alleging widespread fraud in the 2020 election – which Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won by a landslide. The Asian Network for Free Elections, an independent group that observed the 2020 vote, found it was “by and large, representative of the will of the people”, however. In a statement, it condemned the latest convictions and called on the military to respect the results of the election. Dr Sasa, spokesperson for the National Unity Government (NUG), which was formed by elected lawmakers as well as activists in opposition to the coup, said the cases against Aung San Suu Kyi were ridiculous, and that the military was simply trying to silence her. She has been denied free and proper access to her lawyer, he said. “This is just the military doing everything they can to prolong their reign of terror agains the people of Myanmar. This has nothing to do with rule of law, nothing to do with justice, it’s all about them remaining in power,” said Sasa. Advertisement The sentences announced on Friday, including those relating to Bowman and Htein Lin, showed the true colours of the Myanmar military, he added. “Regardless of whether you are a foreigner, or a diplomat, whoever you are, if you are in Myanmar, you are not safe. They do not see you as a human being. They see you as someone who can be taken away from the house at night,” he said. Bowman, who is fluent in Burmese and began her diplomatic career working as the second secretary at the British embassy in 1990, now leads the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. Htein Lin is one of Myanmar’s most famous artists. He was imprisoned for more than six years under military rule in 1998 and is known for continuing his art while in detention, improvising with materials to create more than 1,000 works. The junta said previously that the pair violated immigration regulations because they had not registered their new address with the authorities. The arrests came last week as the UK announced new sanctions targeting military-linked companies and said it would “intervene” in a genocide case filed by the Gambia against Myanmar at the international court of justice in 2019. More than 15,320 people have been arrested since the military took power in a coup on 1 February 2021, and 12,219 remain in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks arrests and killings. Other foreign nationals being held are Prof Sean Turnell, an Australian economic adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, and Toru Kubota, a Japanese film-maker..."
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-02
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Title: Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan 2022 Mid-Year Report (1 January to June 30)
Description: "Changes in Context The people of Myanmar continue to face an unprecedented political, human rights, and humanitarian crisis that is posing grave protection risks for civilians, limiting access to vital services including health and education, and driving deep food insecurity. Humanitarian needs have worsened across the country as conflict continues to rage, causing unprecedented levels of displacement, destruction of property, and land mine contamination especially in the country’s northwest and southeast and driving grave protection risks for civilians. Forced recruitment – including of children – is being increasingly reported. The use of heavy weapons, including air strikes and artillery fire, continues to claim lives and pose risks to the safety and security of civilians, while raids, random searches and arrests are of grave concern. The destruction of civilian properties, particularly homes, combined with the protracted fighting, is prolonging the displacement of IDPs and further degrading people’s fragile living conditions. The arrival of the monsoon in the second quarter of the year has been a miserable time for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people living in informal sites and in the jungle or forest without proper shelter. While there have been modest access openings, these are very localized, and the overall access environment remains heavily constrained with a strong reliance on and risk transfer to low-profile local responders. Humanitarian operating space is under increasing threat from bureaucratic blockages imposed by the de facto authorities around registration, travel, banking, and visas. While the economy has shown a glimmer of improvement in the past few months, inflation is undermining this modest recovery at the household level with fuel and food becoming increasingly unaffordable and adding to financial stress in vulnerable households. Expansion of conflict In the first half of the year, fighting has further escalated across multiple states and regions in Myanmar, particularly in the Northwest and Southeast, with no signs of abating. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, since the military takeover, nearly 2,000 civilians have been killed during hostilities and other fatal incidents, including as a result of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERWs).1 Nearly 20,000 civilian properties, including houses, churches, monasteries, and schools, are estimated to have been destroyed during hostilities, although figures are difficult to verify. The Northwest has seen the greatest intensification of conflict between the MAF and PDFs and the biggest surge in displacement since the original HRP was published. Now, more than half of all new IDPs are in the Northwest, with the heaviest concentration in Sagaing. There have been various waves of fighting in different states across the Southeast as the MAF has attempted to take control of EAO-controlled areas. Across the Southeast, fighting intensified in January and February as the MAF intensified campaigns in Kayin and Kayah states. In Kayin state, combined MAF/Border Guard Forces and combined KNU/ PDF forces clashed frequently and intensely. Heavy artillery shelling and airstrikes in these areas caused mass displacement, including across the border into Thailand. During the same period fighting escalated substantially across nearly all of Kayah state between the MAF and the aligned Karenni resistance groups. Loikaw town, in particular, experienced a sustained campaign of aerial bombardment that caused 80 per cent of the town to be displaced to other parts of Kayah state and southern Shan. Fighting also intensified throughout other parts of the Southeast, particularly during the second quarter, with heavy clashes and sudden spikes in displacement in Mon, Tanintharyi and eastern Bago between the MAF and aligned militia groups and the KNU and PDFs. In Rakhine, a ceasefire between the MAF and Arakan Army (AA), continued to hold at mid-year but tensions are building with sporadic confrontations presenting the very real risk that the conflict could resume in the second half of the year. Intermittent clashes, numerous mine incidents, arrests, and counter-arrests on both sides have been reported with some smallscale displacement. Contingency planning has been undertaken in case the situation worsens..."
Source/publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (New York) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-02
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Title: Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 21 | 2 September 2022
Description: "This regular update, covering humanitarian developments up to 25 August, is produced by OCHA Myanmar in collaboration with the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group and UN agencies. The next humanitarian update will be issued at the end of September 2022 HIGHLIGHTS & KEY MESSAGES • Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the armed conflict while households are grappling with financial stress as a result of soaring inflation. • Almost 1.3 million people are currently displaced across the country. This includes more than 974,000 people displaced by the conflict and insecurity since the military takeover last year. • Tensions are rising in Rakhine state and southern Chin between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the Arakan Army (AA) with concerns for the impact of a resumption in fullscale fighting on civilians. Funding is urgently needed to procure depleted supplies for both the ongoing response and to meet new needs both for displaced people and affected communities. • Rising food prices and constrained agricultural production nationwide are contributing to deep food insecurity as items become more unaffordable for much of Myanmar’s population. Fertilizer and other farm inputs are now prohibitively expensive, lowering productivity at the same time that fuel challenges and conflict are making transportation of produce more difficult. Concerns remain regarding food availability during the upcoming lean season as conditions are expected to worsen. • Low availability of some medical products is being reported due to import issues. • Despite the ongoing challenges, humanitarian partners have continued to rapidly scale-up in response to new needs, reaching a total of 3.1 million people with at least one form of assistance in the first half year of 2022. • However, due to a shortfall in funding and access constraints, partners are not able to deliver the depth of relief required and there are significant unmet needs. • The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) is only 17 per cent funded, leaving a gap of US$688 million (FTS) that is forcing partners to make tough decisions about prioritization of assistance. Worryingly, funding remains below 2021 levels despite a dramatic increase in needs in 2022..."
Source/publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (New York) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-09-02
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Title: Voices from Kayah: "Don’t know if there is anything left to call home"
Description: "Thousands of people have been forced to flee Myanmar’s Kayah State as clashes escalate, with many relying on the goodwill of others to meet basic needs. A father who wishes he could have warned his son about the risk of landmines near their village. A mother who held her newborn close as she sought shelter and safety. Parents who left their children at a church for safety while they risked their lives to return to their village to support the family. These are some of the stories that we heard while meeting with displaced communities in Loikaw, following intense fighting in Demoso, Hpruso, Pekon and other parts of Kayah and Shan states in Myanmar. "I thought the fighting would only last for one or two days," said Ma Kyi Kyi*, a mother of three children who has been moving from one displacement site to another in search of safety. "When the fighting first broke out, we ran to a village near Hsi Hseng Township in southern Shan State," she said. It was her first-time leaving home. We stayed there for one month with no electricity or water. Life is hard over there. People displaced by violence often have to seek shelter in remote areas without safe and sustainable access to healthcare, education and livelihood opportunities. The lack of healthcare facilities poses a particular risk during the flu season and for communities without access to clean water, which can lead to the spread of waterborne diseases. "We decided to come back to Loikaw in Kayah State as it is closer to our village. Now, I have been here for more than a year," Ma Kyi Kyi said. I don't even know when I can go home, and I don't know if there is anything left to call home. Increased clashes since the beginning of the year have seen thousands flee Kayah State to seek shelter not just in towns like Loikaw but also across southern Shan State. Monasteries, churches or the homes of extended family have served as places of shelter in Shan townships like Taunggyi, Hsi Hseng, Pinlaung, Nyaung Shwe, Kalaw, Pindaya, Lawksawk and Laihka. With the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), the ICRC in Myanmar has sought to help communities affected by violence in Kayah and southern Shan since January this year. From January to July, more than 4300 families across southern Shan received urgent food rations, including rice, peas, oil and salt. In Kayah State, since May, we've helped more than 1000 families with financial support to cover their basic needs..."
Source/publisher: International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-31
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Title: National Unity Government Weekly Press Update (18/2022)
Description: "1. NUG committed to returning the Rohingya and to working with ICC to prosecute atrocity crimes...2. NUG Defense Minister commends PDF’s professionalism and counter-offensive operations (24/08/2022)...3. NUG considers election of EC and CEC members of Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association (MGJEA) null and void (23/08/2022)...4. NUG announces advanced trained Special Operation Force (SOF) (22/08/2022)...5. Citizens can now pay taxes through NUGPay (23/08/2022)...6. NUG efforts to build new housing continues (24/08/2022)...7. NUG seeks to repeal 1982 Burma Citizenship Act that discriminates against the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-29
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Title: အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ အပတ်စဉ်သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်ချက် (၁၈/၂၀၂၂)
Description: "National Unity Government Weekly Press Update (18/2022)..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-29
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Title: Burma/Myanmar - Violence against the Rohingyas (August 25, 2022)
Description: "Five years ago today, Burmese troops began carrying out a campaign of violence against the Rohingya minority, resulting in a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale and the displacement of nearly a million people. The political crisis that began with the coup d’état on February 1, 2021, has aggravated the security situation and made the prospect of the refugees’ return more remote. Burmese security forces continue to carry out acts of violence, and France calls for their immediate, unconditional halt. Working with its European partners and under the auspices of the UN, France will continue its humanitarian commitment to displaced persons and refugees. We demand unhindered humanitarian access to vulnerable populations. We commend the role played by Bangladesh, which has continuously shown its solidarity by taking in hundreds of thousands of people. France will continue to advocate for ending impunity for those responsible for crimes committed in Burma against the civilian population. France supports efforts by ASEAN and its Special Envoy to Myanmar to establish a political dialogue process that includes the democratic opposition, which is essential to ending the crisis in that country..."
Source/publisher: Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-25
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Title: Fifth anniversary of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar: joint ministerial statement
Sub-title: Foreign ministers gave a joint statement marking the 5th anniversary of the Myanmar military’s attack against Rohingya and ensuing crisis.
Description: "Joint statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union, and the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States: Five years ago, the Myanmar military launched a violent attack on Rohingya communities in Rakhine, killing, raping, and torturing thousands of Rohingya men, women, and children and forcing over 700,000 to seek refuge in Bangladesh – where they joined other Rohingya, who had fled earlier attacks and decades of systemic discrimination. These deplorable actions against Rohingya precipitated one of the largest mass exoduses of a minority in recent history. We are concerned by the UN Fact Finding Mission’s establishment of consistent patterns of serious human rights violations and abuses, of which many amount to grave crimes under international law. We also recognize other initiatives to hold perpetrators accountable, including The Gambia’s efforts before the International Court of Justice, which is currently examining whether the atrocities committed by the Myanmar military against Rohingya amounted also to genocide. We reiterate that Myanmar must comply with the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures order. The same actors that committed these reprehensible actions led the military coup d’état in February 2021, and today continue to perpetrate atrocities against political dissidents and vulnerable populations, including other ethnic and religious minorities across Myanmar, and have done so for decades. The Rohingya themselves suffer human rights violations and abuses, discrimination, systematic persecution, and denial of access to basic services – including the right to citizenship. Around 150,000 Rohingya have been confined to camps without freedom of movement in Rakhine for a decade. Women and girls continue to be at extreme risk under the current conditions. As we mark five years since the brutal 2017 campaign against Rohingya, we commend the courage of Rohingya communities and remember all the victims. We reiterate our commitment to holding the perpetrators of these violations and abuses to account, and acknowledge the work of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and others contributing to this objective. We call on the military regime to cease its violence against those who have suffered under its rule, including the decades of grave human rights violations and abuses endured by Rohingya and other communities in Myanmar. We thank the UN relevant bodies, Bangladesh, and other hosting nations for their generosity and providing lifesaving support to Rohingya and remain dedicated to supporting Bangladesh to ensure that the needs and rights of all refugees and impacted host communities are met. We also appreciate the important efforts of humanitarian organizations to extend protection and assistance for Rohingya communities. At the same time, we call on the international community to help to ensure justice for Rohingya victims, support host communities, and foster conditions that will allow for the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return to their communities. Rohingya must be meaningfully included in discussions around the future of Myanmar."..."
Source/publisher: Govt. UK (London)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-25
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Title: National Unity Government Statement (20/2022) - Statement Marking the Fifth Anniversary of the 2017 Atrocity Crimes Against the Rohingya
Description: "The National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar marks with great sadness the fifth anniversary of the widespread military atrocities directed against the Rohingya community in Rakhine State. In 2017, the Myanmar military killed and disappeared many thousands of Rohingya. Rape and sexual violence, including mass rape, were part of a deliberate strategy to terrorise and uproot the population. Hundreds of villages were razed and countless homes destroyed. Five years later, more than one million Rohingya remain forcibly displaced from the country where they belong. According to the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, military atrocities were directed against ethnic groups in Kachin and Shan States in addition to the Rohingya. This historic impunity has since enabled the Myanmar military to commit countrywide atrocities at the helm of an illegal military junta. Since the junta’s failed coup d’état, a further million Myanmar civilians have been displaced. More villages have been bombed and shelled, unknown numbers of homes have been torched, and new massacres are manifest. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as represented by the National Unity Government, acknowledges with great shame that historic exclusionary and discriminatory policies, practices and rhetoric against the Rohingya and other ethnic groups also laid the ground for these escalating atrocities. The National Unity Government is therefore pursuing three concurrent actions: establishing conditions to support the repatriation of Rohingya community; securing justice and accountability; and delivering equality to all persons in law and practice. At the end of her recent visit to Bangladesh, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said that there remains ‘resounding hope’ among Rohingya refugees that they will be able to return to their homes in Myanmar. Yet the High Commissioner also concluded that conditions are not yet right for voluntary, dignified, safe and sustainable returns. The National Unity Government remains committed to working with the Rohingya community, ethnic partner organisations, the Government of Bangladesh and the UN to create conditions conducive to bringing the Rohingya home. On accountability, the National Unity Government is intensifying efforts with the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and options for universal jurisdiction to deliver justice to the Rohingya and to rigorously punish perpetrators of atrocity crimes. On equality, the National Unity Government is acting on the commitments set out in its Policy Position on the Rohingya in Rakhine State. This includes comprehensive law and policy reform, in consultation with the Rohingya and other minority communities, that will prioritise citizenship rights, non-discrimination, equal opportunities, and combating hate speech. These actions face significant obstacles. They are tied to the cementing of democracy, the ending of atrocities, and the inevitable defeat of the terrorist junta. Ultimately, the people of Myanmar will prevail, and these commitments are core to the future envisaged by the Federal Democracy Charter – a nation founded on peace, justice, equality, unity, human rights, and the protection of minorities. We urge international organisations to deliver tangible means of support and work together with the National Unity Government and all stakeholders in our endeavours to bring justice and peace for the Rohingya community..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-25
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Title: Press conference by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, Geneva, 25 August 2022
Description: "Good morning. Thank you all for joining us today – in the room and online. As you know, after four years as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, my mandate ends next week, on 31 August. The world has changed fundamentally over the course of my mandate. I would say the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ever-increasing effects of climate change, and the reverberating shocks of the food, fuel and finance crisis resulting from the war against Ukraine have been the three major issues. Polarization within and among States has reached extraordinary levels and multilateralism is under pressure. Important protest movements occurred in every region of the world demanding an end to structural racism, respect for economic and social rights, and against corruption, governance deficits and abuse of power – in many instances accompanied by violence, threats and attacks against protesters and human rights defenders, and at some times against journalists. Some led to real change in the country. In other cases, rather than listening to the voices of the people, governments responded by shrinking the space for debate and dissent. Over the past few months – once the COVID situation allowed me to resume official country visits – I have been to Burkina Faso, Niger, Afghanistan, China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peru and Bangladesh. I have been able to see first-hand the impact of climate change, armed conflict, the food-fuel-finance crisis, hateful rhetoric, systematic discrimination, and the human rights challenges around migration, among other issues. The UN Human Rights Office has worked, in a myriad of ways, to help monitor, engage and advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights. As I have said before, at the UN, dialogue, engagement, cooperation, monitoring, reporting and public advocacy must all be part of our DNA. We have worked to try to help bridge the gap between government and civil society, to support national implementation of human rights obligations and advise on reforms to bring laws and policies into compliance with international standards, to expand our presences in-country so we are a in a better position to work closely with the people on the ground. We have spoken out in private and public on country-specific and broader issues. And we have seen some progress. The recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the UN General Assembly last month marked the culmination of many years of advocacy by civil society. I am proud of my Office’s support and strong backing of this movement throughout the course of my mandate. The extreme weather events of the past few months have again driven home, powerfully, the existential need for urgent action to protect our planet for current and future generations. Meeting this need is the greatest human rights challenge of this era – and all States have an obligation to work together on this, and to walk the talk, to fully implement the right to a healthy environment. The response to the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss must be centred in human rights, including the rights to participation, access to information and justice, and by addressing the disproportionate impact of environmental harms on the most marginalized and disadvantaged. There has also been steady progress towards abolition of the death penalty – some 170 States have abolished or introduced a moratorium, in law or in practice, or suspended executions for more than 10 years. The Central African Republic, Chad, Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea are among those who have taken steps to fully abolish the death penalty. Other States, including Liberia and Zambia are also actively considering abolition. Malaysia announced that it will abolish the country’s mandatory death penalty, including for drug related offences. As of today, 90 States have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the key international treaty prohibiting the use of the death penalty. Concerns remain, however, about the increased use or resumption of capital punishment in other countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and Singapore, and others like China and Viet Nam continue to classify data on its use as a State secret, limiting the possibility of scrutiny. I have – from the beginning of my mandate – pushed for greater recognition of the indivisibility and interdependence of economic, social and cultural rights with civil and political rights. The effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brought into stark focus this interdependence. States must draw lessons from the pandemic and the current food-fuel-finance crisis by designing long-term measures to build better and stronger universal public health and social protection systems. Social protection coverage must facilitate access to health care, protect people against poverty and ensure essential economic and social rights, including food, water, housing, health and education. I also call on States to adopt proactive measures, including food, agriculture and fuel subsidies, to mitigate the impact of the crises. All of this needs to be designed with people as part of the solution, through investment in inclusive, safe and meaningful channels for debate and participation at all levels. Governing is tough – I know because I have twice been President of my country, Chile. There are always many pressing demands, challenges and problems to address. But governing is about prioritizing – and human rights must always be a priority. In many situations my Office has been covering, there is a lack of political will to take the necessary steps to really tackle a situation head on. Political will is key – and where there is a will, there is a way. States often invoke their own particular context when faced with allegations of human rights violations and when called upon to take steps to address them. Context is indeed important – but context must never be used to justify human rights violations. In many instances, sustained advocacy on key human rights issues, grounded in international human rights laws and standards, bears fruit. In Colombia this month, the incoming administration has pledged a shift in its approach on drug policy – from a punitive to a more social and public health approach. By addressing one of the deep-rooted causes of violence in Colombia, this approach could be instrumental to better protect the rights of peasants, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities and of people who use drugs, both in Colombia and globally. My Office has been advocating – globally – for a human rights-based approach on drug policy, and is ready to assist. The worldwide mobilization of people for racial justice, notably in 2020, has forced a long-delayed reckoning with racial discrimination and shifted debates towards a focus on systemic racism and the institutions that perpetrate it. I call on all States to seize this moment to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice. My Office is working on its second report to the UN Human Rights Council on this issue, to be presented next month. I have always sought – even on the most challenging issues – to encourage dialogue, to open the door for further exchanges. This means listening as well as speaking, keeping our eyes and ears to the context, identifying entry points and roadblocks, and trying to build trust incrementally, even when it seems unlikely. During my four years as High Commissioner, I had the privilege of speaking to so many courageous, spirited, extraordinary human rights defenders: The brave, indomitable women human rights defenders in Afghanistan; The determined mothers of the disappeared in Mexico; The inspirational staff working at a health centre in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, serving victims of sexual violence; The wisdom and strength of indigenous peoples in Peru, who are on the frontlines of the impact of climate change, illegal mining and logging, and defend their rights in the face of serious risks; And the empathy and generosity of communities hosting internally displaced people in Burkina Faso. I found allies in traditional village leaders in Niger, who were working in their own ways to advance human rights in their communities; I met young people from Malaysia, Sweden, Australia, Costa Rica and elsewhere whose resourcefulness, creativity and ambition was palpable; I shared the pain of the father in Venezuela who showed me the sports medals his teenage son had won, before he was killed during protests in 2017; And I shared the tears of the mother I met in Srebrenica who carried hope that 27 years after her son disappeared, she will one day find his remains and lay him to rest next to his father’s grave. Last week, I spoke with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. One teacher I met told me he had earned distinctions in all his classes at school in Myanmar and had dreamed of being a doctor. Instead, he has spent the past five years in a refugee camp, having had to flee his country – because he is Rohingya. “I still cry at night sometimes when I remember my dream,” he told me, adding that “my Buddhist friends are now doctors in Myanmar.” My own experience as a refugee was much more comfortable, with the means to continue my education and with a good standard of living – but the yearning for one’s homeland, the desire of so many of the Rohingya to return home resonated deeply with me. Sadly, the conditions needed for them to be able to return to their homes in a voluntary, dignified and sustainable way are not there yet. Today marks five years since more than 700,000 Rohingya women, children and men were forced to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh – and Myanmar’s human rights catastrophe continues to worsen, with the military (the Tatmadaw) maintaining military operations in Kayah and Kayin in the southeast; Chin state in the northwest; and Sagaing and Magway regions in the Bamar heartland. The use of air power and artillery against villages and residential areas has intensified. Recent spikes in violence in Rakhine State also seemed to indicate that the last fairly stable area of the country may not avoid a resurgence of armed conflict. Rohingya communities have frequently been caught between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army fighters or have been targeted directly in operations. Over 14 million need humanitarian assistance. We continue to document gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law on a daily basis, including repression against protesters and attacks against civilians that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. I urge the international community to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people of Myanmar, to insist on prompt restoration of civilian rule, and accountability for violations committed by security forces. Yesterday marked six months since Russia’s armed attack. Six unimaginably terrifying months for the people of Ukraine, 6.8 million of whom have had to flee their country. Millions others have been internally displaced. We have documented at least 5,587 civilians killed and 7,890 injured. Of these casualties, nearly 1,000 are children. Six months on, the fighting continues, amid almost unthinkable risks posed to civilians and the environment as hostilities are conducted close to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. I call on the Russian President to halt armed attack against Ukraine. The Zaporizhzhia plant needs to be immediately demilitarized. Both parties must respect, at all times and in all circumstances, international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The international community must insist on accountability for the many serious violations documented, some of which may amount to war crimes. I am alarmed by the resumption of hostilities in northern Ethiopia. Civilians have suffered enough – and this will only exacerbate the suffering of civilians already in desperate need. I implore the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to work to de-escalate the situation and immediately cease hostilities. I also urge a renewed focus by the international community on protracted – often forgotten – crises including the situation in Yemen, Syria, the Sahel and Haiti. And I urge continued support for the UN Human Rights Office, the UN human rights treaty bodies, and the UN Special Procedures mechanism, all of which work tirelessly in defence of international human rights laws and standards. The journey to defend human rights never ends – and vigilance against roll-backs of rights is vital. I honour all those who, in their own ways, are working to defend human rights. As a woman and a lifelong feminist, I want to pay particular tribute to women human rights defenders, who have been at the forefront of social movements that have benefitted all of us. They have often been the ones bringing to the table the unheard voices of the most vulnerable. I will continue to stand with you as I return home to Chile. To end, I would like to thank you journalists, based here in Geneva and across the globe, for the indispensable work that you do. When we in the UN Human Rights Office raise the alarm, it is crucial that it rings loudly, and this is only possible when the world’s media gets the stories out there..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-25
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Title: ILO Brief: Riding out the storm: Organizational resilience of trade unions and civil society organizations following the military takeover in Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar trade unions and civil society organizations face existential threat following military takeover Targeted persecution severely limits ability to operate; more flexible and responsive support from international community needed to avoid collapse of civic space and worker organizing. BANGKOK, Thailand (ILO News) - The military takeover in Myanmar has taken a severe toll on trade unions and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) providing services to workers and migrants, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Riding out the storm: Organizational resilience of trade unions and civil society organizations following the military takeover in Myanmar details the severe impact of the February 2021 takeover on trade unions and CSOs. It highlights how the targeted persecution of these groups, including arbitrary arrests, detentions, acts of violence, raids on homes and offices, seizure of equipment, threatening phone calls, interrogations and surveillance, have substantially limited their ability to operate. Trade unions and CSOs reported being forced to make major adjustments to their work in response to the heightened safety and security concerns since the military takeover. “Trade unions and Civil Society Organizations have provided the foundation for much of the progress made on increasing labour rights protection in Myanmar over the last decade. The current state of affairs represents a genuine threat to their existence. The international community must stand with these organizations to help them survive and continue their vital work,” said Panudda Boonpala, ILO Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. The report recommends that the international community increases its flexibility and responsiveness to counter this existential threat to civic space and worker organizing in Myanmar. For more information please contact: Steve Needham Senior Communication Officer ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific E.: [email protected] M.: +66 83 606 6628..."
Source/publisher: International Labour Organization via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-24
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Title: As Myanmar Coup Intensifies Regional Human Trafficking, How Will China Respond?
Sub-title: The growth of human rights atrocities in Myanmar has spilled over to the region – including Chinese nationals forced into labor.
Description: "Since the 2021 Myanmar coup, over 2,200 people have been killed by the military. The military doubled down on political repression by executing well-known political activists and burning villages with members participating in armed resistance. Threats to human security in Myanmar have spread to the region as observed by the outflow of refugees, human trafficking of women and children, drug smuggling and so on. Foreigners have also become victims of human trafficking in the wake of the Myanmar coup. Dozens of Chinese-speaking people are being kidnapped from Thailand to Myanmar for scam activities. In May 2022, Malaysians were lured by offers of high-salary jobs in Thailand but subsequently trafficked to Myanmar. Later, Taiwanese and Hong Kongers also fell into similar job scams and were enslaved. The victims were imprisoned and coerced to work for crime syndicates as online scammers. Those who disobey or underperform face physical punishments or worse forms of abuse. Families of the victims were asked to pay ransoms in exchange for the release of their loved ones. Myanmar is not the only country where human trafficking gangs operate. Special economic zones in Cambodia and Laos are notorious human trafficking hubs as well. However, being enslaved in Myanmar is particularly problematic given the volatile situation in the country. Many victims are kept near the Shwe Kokko area in Myawaddy, Karen State. Shwe Kokko sits on the Thai-Myanmar border. The area is controlled by the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) affiliated with the Myanmar military. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. In 2017, Yatai International, owned by She Zhijiang, a Chinese national who holds Cambodian citizenship, formed a joint venture with the Karen BGF’s company Chit Linn Myaing Co Ltd, to develop a $15 billion special economic zone (SEZ) in Shwe Kokko. The project was portrayed as a high-tech hub with an airport, industrial zone, villas, hotels and other facilities. With the strong presence of Chinese investors, workers, and visitors, some dubbed the area Chinatown in Karen State. Evidence shows that the so-called high-tech hub runs casinos and extends into scam and other illegal activities. She is a fugitive in China. The Thai authorities arrested him in August 2022 for running illegal online gambling operations. She’s Yatai International claimed that the Shwe Kokko project was part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), capitalizing on the loosely defined undertaking. In 2017, Chinese state media Xinhua’s Yangon office once reported the Shwe Kokko project was an important component of the BRI. Furthermore, the project was reportedly constructed by state-owned enterprise China Metallurgical Group Corporation. As reports about casinos and other crimes connected to the project surfaced, the Karen government suspended the project in 2019. The National League of Democracy (NLD)-led government also investigated the project the following year. Beijing subsequently dissociated itself from the controversy and stated that the SEZ was a private investment. Prior to the coup, Karen organizations, including the Karen Peace Support Network, exposed illicit activities surrounding the Shwe Kokko project. Myanmar nationals were tricked into working in Shwe Kokko but ended up being forced into labor. One victim was rescued by an elected lawmaker in Karen State in 2020. Following the coup, however, these informational and rescue channels have been shut down. Beijing promised to rescue trafficked victims from China and Hong Kong. However, to tackle the problem, the Myanmar government’s commitment to crack down on human trafficking criminals is essential. To save the victims from the Shwe Kokko area, the coup government must act. Nonetheless, the military regime does not have a reputation for civilian protection. It loots citizens’ homes, shoots at children, tortures dissidents to death, sets fire to villages, and commits other mass atrocities. It is dubious what would incentivize the military to care about the lives of foreigners. Moreover, the Karen BGF is under the partial command of the military. It fought alongside the regime against other armed resistance groups in Karen State. An investigative report even suggests that the coup government also profits from the lucrative business in the Shwe Kokko area. As the BGF is linked to the military, the coup government’s unwillingness or inability to clamp down on transnational crimes is troublesome. Given the cordial relations between Beijing and the military, Beijing should have leverage in the situation. We hope for the best, that China’s diplomatic efforts can successfully bring the captives home. However, Beijing should revisit its relations with the Myanmar junta, who may be complicit in the kidnapping activities. Contrary to international opprobrium after the coup, China and Russia are the two permeant members of the United Nations Security Council that have granted legitimacy to the military. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing has upheld the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. It continues sticking to the golden rule in foreign policy despite no sign that the Myanmar military restrains its brutality. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. Beijing even reassured the junta that it would always support Myanmar in safeguarding sovereignty when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi received the military-appointed foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, in Anhui province in April 2022. Both sides agreed to advance the BRI projects along the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) and develop a community with a shared future. The BRI aims to increase transcontinental connectivity. The infrastructure projects have great potential to enhance the economic development of China and the host countries if the projects are implemented transparently and responsibly. However, it is questionable whether the CMEC project implementation can comply with social and environmental standards in the host country under the current regime. It appears that the BRI inadvertently reinforces the troublesome status quo in Myanmar. Financing the military and boosting its legitimacy inevitably intensify domestic human rights abuses and transnational crimes. The escalation of human rights atrocities in Myanmar and human trafficking in the country contradicts the visions presented by Beijing. Since the coup, Beijing reiterated its preference for political dialogue instead of pressure as a strategy to de-escalate the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. However, the growth of human rights atrocities in Myanmar has spilled over to the region. China’s business-as-usual approach in post-coup Myanmar may undermine regional human security and harm its international image. With an ambition to be recognized as a responsible power, it is time for Beijing to review its relations with the Myanmar junta. You have read 4 of your 5 free articles this month..."
Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-23
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Title: A Brief History of the UN’s Failed Missions in Myanmar
Description: "Last week’s meeting between UN special envoy Noeleen Heyzer and the Myanmar junta chief ended without any breakthrough, becoming yet another failed UN mission to the country, one of many involving the world body’s diplomats and military rulers of Myanmar since 1990. Rather, regime chief Min Aung Hlaing took the meeting as an opportunity to personally vent his discontent at the UN, as well as to lecture the envoy, according to a transcript of the meeting the regime released on Friday in response to the envoy’s statement, which the regime said was “one-sided” and “created misunderstanding about Myanmar.” In her statement after the meeting on Aug. 17, the envoy outlined the discussion and said the meeting didn’t in any way confer legitimacy on the regime. According to minutes of the meeting, Min Aung Hlaing expressed his displeasure at the world body’s refusal to recognize the regime’s representative, among other things. He also told a barefaced lie, claiming that “Myanmar has gained stability”, which he said made it hard for him to understand why the UN has issued many statements expressing concerns about the country. He told Heyzer that it would be more appropriate to make comments on Myanmar only after gaining an understanding of the real situation in the country, and criticized her decision to take a flight from Yangon to Naypyitaw, saying she missed an opportunity to see the situation on the ground by traveling in a car. Plus, contradicting mounting evidence, he denied his troops were torching civilian homes. In short, the envoy returned from Myanmar barehanded after enduring an hours-long dressing-down on various topics from Min Aung. She was given a low-grade reception and used by the junta to promote its legitimacy, something it has been internationally denied. She outdid her predecessors, however, by prompting the regime to release a transcript of the meeting, which was unprecedented. The meeting between the UN special envoy and Myanmar regime leader was the UN’s latest attempt to mediate peace in the country, which has been consumed by conflict sparked by the military coup last year. But it failed, just as all the world body’s previous efforts in the country did, especially those dealing with the country’s military rulers over the past more than 30 years. The UN has appointed a series of envoys on Myanmar since 1990, when the country was under military rule after the failed pro-democracy uprising in 1988. It started with Japanese diplomat Sadako Ogata, who was appointed as an independent expert by the UN Commission on Human Rights. Her successors included Malaysian businessman Razali Ismail and Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari, who tried to create a dialogue between then junta chief Than Shwe and detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Razali, who served from 2000 to 2006, made 12 visits and Gambari traveled to Myanmar at least four times. But both failed to bring tangible results. When the Malaysian diplomat quit in 2006, he told The Irrawaddy, “It is best to conclude that I have failed.” Some of the UN envoys brought with them conflicts of interest that tainted the public’s perception of them. Rumors circulated that some UN envoys took “boxes of presents” from the generals. Some Myanmar people called Gambari “kyauk yu pyan,” which means “one who takes gems and then leaves,” according to The Associated Press. A Malaysian company headed by Razali, IRIS Corp, even clinched a business deal with the military government, selling high-tech passports to the regime. Then came Heyzer’s predecessor Christine Schraner Burgener. In September last year, shortly before her term as the UN Secretary General’s special envoy on Myanmar was to end, the Swiss diplomat tweeted that her efforts to facilitate an “all-inclusive dialogue in the interest of the people were not welcomed by the military.” In other words, she confessed that her months-long attempts, in the wake of the takeover, to persuade the coup leaders in Naypytaw to engage in dialogue to settle the political and social turmoil caused by the coup had failed. Heyzer began her duties in December 2021. Unlike her predecessor, she was invited by Min Aung Hlaing to visit the country. But like all the envoys before her, she failed the Myanmar people. Her failure highlights one of the UN’s historic problems: its lack of muscle, especially in dealing with such a repressive country. It has now been 32 years that the UN has failed the Myanmar people by sending one envoy after another. It must take harsher approaches to the regime. If not, the world body will merely be a thing of ridicule, not only among Myanmar people but to Min Aung Hlaing himself. In the wake of the meeting, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), a group of former UN experts on the country, urged Heyzer to engage more with Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG) instead. While meeting with Min Aung Hlaing may have been essential to the special envoy in attempting to fulfil her mandate, it said, “It is clear that nothing of significance will come of it.” SAC-M member Yanghee Lee, a former UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, said Heyzer must now be looking forward to formally engaging with the NUG, which was formed by the elected lawmakers of the ousted National League for Democracy and their ethnic allies, and commands the loyalty of the vast majority of Myanmar people. “She must go the extra mile to find a solution acceptable to the peoples of Myanmar,” Lee said..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-22
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Title: Five Years On, Rohingya Refugees Face Dire Conditions and a Long Road Ahead
Description: "In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. Hundreds of thousands fled and are now living in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Thomas Kean explains why prospects for near-term repatriation remain low. What is the situation of the Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh five years ago? Nearly all of the approximately 730,000 Rohingya who fled Myanmar in the second half of 2017 remain in sprawling refugee camps in southern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. The total number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh – including both those displaced by the 2017 atrocities and the several hundred thousand who sought refuge earlier – is close to one million. To date, not a single refugee has returned to Rakhine State through the formal repatriation mechanism that Myanmar and Bangladesh set up in November 2017, soon after the exodus started. There were two failed attempts, in 2018 and 2019, to convince several thousand refugees to return, but those selected were unwilling to join the process absent sufficient Myanmar government assurances about their security, access to citizenship and livelihood opportunities upon return. The two countries have not yet been able to restart the process, and prospects for returns have only grown dimmer following the Myanmar coup in February 2021. Living conditions for the refugees are poor and worsening. Most live in Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp in the world. They have few job opportunities and little access to formal education, while crime and violence, including killings of Rohingya community leaders, are on the rise. Factions within the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which launched attacks in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017 that the Myanmar military used to justify its crackdown on the Muslim minority, have been fighting with rival groups for control of the camps. Bangladesh has blamed ARSA for the killing of a prominent Rohingya leader, Mohib Ullah, in September 2021. On the night of 9 August, two more community leaders were shot dead in the Jamtali camp. Partly in response to this violence, Bangladesh has been imposing tighter restrictions on the refugees, including limiting their ability to come and go from the camps, gain access to the internet and mix with locals. The combination of prolonged displacement and deteriorating camp conditions has prompted some refugees to take difficult decisions about where their future lies. An unknown number – almost certainly in the hundreds, but possibly in the thousands – have returned to Myanmar informally. Others have paid hefty sums to traffickers to embark on dangerous boat journeys to Malaysia, which hosts the largest Rohingya refugee population after Bangladesh, while a smaller number seek passage to Indonesia. Almost 30,000 Rohingya have also relocated to Bhasan Char, a small silt island in the Bay of Bengal that the Bangladesh government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing specifically to host up to 100,000 refugees. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been pushing Bhasan Char as a “temporary solution”, insisting that it offers refugees better facilities than the overcrowded camps where most still reside. Humanitarian organisations long lobbied against this plan, primarily out of concern about the island’s exposure to cyclones and flooding, as well as about limitations on freedom of movement and lack of access to livelihoods. The Bangladeshi government eventually went ahead with the plan, anyway, moving the first group of Rohingya to the island in May 2020. From December of that year, it began sending thousands each month and it became fairly clear that Dhaka planned to continue relocations with or without international support. In October 2021, the UN high commissioner for refugees, on behalf of UN agencies working on the Rohingya refugee response, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangladeshi government to cooperate on service delivery to the island. The memorandum could be a positive development as it commits Dhaka to ensuring that relocations are voluntary and refugees have accurate information on living conditions awaiting them on the island. (There were allegations of coercive relocations when the first refugees arrived there.) For those who do choose to relocate to Bhasan Char, escaping the worsening situation in the Cox’s Bazar camps is likely to be the major motivation. The rise in crime and violence in and around the camps has heightened public pressure on the Bangladeshi government to adopt a tougher stance. The Bangladeshi government’s decision to press on with relocating Rohingya to Bhasan Char reflects a hardening of its position toward the refugee population. Although it opened its borders to the desperate refugees in 2017, Bangladesh made clear from the beginning that it would not allow them to stay indefinitely and that it expected international support to both host the Rohingya and facilitate their return to Myanmar. Now, the lack of progress on repatriation has left both the Bangladeshi people and the government increasingly frustrated – at Myanmar, outside actors and the refugees themselves. This development was foreseeable: for a country that still has high levels of poverty and unemployment, hosting over a million refugees is clearly an enormous challenge, particularly for the communities hosting them in Cox’s Bazar. The rise in crime and violence in and around the camps has heightened public pressure on the Bangladeshi government to adopt a tougher stance. As Dhaka becomes more impatient, it is also making life more difficult for the refugees. It has progressively placed greater restrictions on their movement, including by fencing off the camps, and closed some private schools and businesses that were being run inside. There has also been little progress on delivering formal education using the Myanmar curriculum, something that many refugees say they want and Crisis Group has advocated for. These restrictions have raised concerns that the Bangladeshi government is attempting to coerce refugees to return to Myanmar or, at least, relocate to Bhasan Char. While that may not be entirely fair, with repatriation seemingly a long way off, Dhaka should at least ensure that all children in the camps have access to formal education – preferably the Myanmar curriculum – and that families have some livelihood opportunities. Providing some means for self-sufficiency and hope for a better future would have obvious benefits for the refugees. It may also help mitigate the possibility that frustration with their dire conditions will manifest in growing security risks. What have been the primary impediments to repatriation both before and after the February 2021 coup in Myanmar? Even prior to Myanmar’s February 2021 coup, progress on official repatriation efforts had been scant. After the two failed attempts in 2018 and 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed further discussions between Bangladesh and Myanmar, which was then governed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). The nascent process had also been plagued by bureaucratic disputes over documentation, with Myanmar agreeing to accept only a small fraction of the refugees that Bangladesh had proposed for repatriation. Moreover, the Myanmar government showed no sign of addressing refugees’ concerns on key points, such as citizenship, security and livelihoods. Naypyitaw failed to provide proper information on even the most basic questions, such as where the refugees – many of whom came from villages that the military razed to the ground after the 2017 exodus – would be sent after arriving at transit camps on the Myanmar side of the border. To complicate the situation further, in December 2018 the Myanmar military began fighting a new war in Rakhine State against insurgents from the Arakan Army, a pro-Rakhine ethnic armed group. The heavy fighting that raged in the state over 2019 and 2020 meant that repatriation was virtually impossible for security reasons, above and beyond the Rohingyas’ other concerns. Most refugees are ... wary of returning to Myanmar when it is ruled by the very generals who orchestrated the 2017 violence against them. Although Rakhine State has largely been spared the post-coup violence that has engulfed much of Myanmar since February 2021, the military’s power grab has been a further setback to any prospect of repatriation. Despite the junta’s public claims that it is committed to moving ahead with the process – likely a reflection of its desire to cultivate international approval and mitigate its post-coup isolation – Naypyitaw shows little inclination to do more than pay lip service to repatriation efforts. Pressure from Western governments, several Muslim countries and China (which has weighed in at Bangladesh’s request) appears to have had little impact. In January, bilateral talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh finally resumed, but so far there has been little progress. Most refugees are, in any case, wary of returning to Myanmar when it is ruled by the very generals who orchestrated the 2017 violence against them. As for hostilities between the Arakan Army and the military, fighting largely paused after the two sides reached an informal ceasefire in November 2020, but new power dynamics have emerged in the aftermath that any repatriation effort will need to take into account. The insurgents have consolidated control over much of the state, particularly its rural areas, rolling out an administrative, judicial and security system through which it polices communities, administers justice and collects taxes. This system is like a patchwork: in some areas, the Arakan Army has full control, while in others it shares authority with the military regime or has little direct control. The implications for repatriation are direct, as many Rohingya would be returning to areas now administered by the group or at least under its strong influence. The Arakan Army’s administrative rollout has also put it on a collision course with the military regime, which means fighting might resume. Clashes between the group and security forces have been reported across the state over the past months, with dozens of soldiers reportedly killed. Maungdaw Township in northern Rakhine State, where many of the refugees originated, appears to be a particular hotspot for conflict: located on the border with Bangladesh, the area is strategic for both the military and the Arakan Army. There have been several clashes in the area in recent months; on 18 July, the insurgents ambushed a convoy of the regime’s Border Guard Police, killing at least four and capturing thirteen. These events do not bode well for Rohingyas’ ability to return to Rakhine State. How is the situation for the Rohingya who remain in Myanmar? For the estimated 600,000 Rohingya still in Myanmar, nearly all of whom live in Rakhine State, the situation remains bleak, but there are at least some signs that popular attitudes toward them are shifting. The Rohingya are still subject to discriminatory state policies – since the coup, the military regime has tightened restrictions on movement in some areas – and the country’s economic collapse over the past eighteen months has further worsened their plight. Around 120,000 live in displacement camps that were set up following an outbreak of communal violence in 2012. They are almost entirely dependent on international aid. The remaining Rohingya are also often caught between the military and the Arakan Army – sometimes having to pay taxes to both sides or wrestle with duplicative administrative requirements. Many would likely be caught in the crossfire if war were to resume. Not surprisingly, some are trying to leave the country through risky and expensive overland journeys, mainly to Malaysia. The regime has arrested hundreds of Rohingya trying to flee the country over the last eighteen months; because the vast majority lack citizenship documents, it is a criminal offence for them to cross a state or region boundary. At the same time, however, the rise of the Arakan Army has eased some of the ethnic tensions in Rakhine State. The ethnic armed group shifted the narrative in Rakhine, portraying the Burman-led central government, rather than the Muslim minority, as the real enemy of the Rakhine people. The two-year war that paused in 2020, in which Rakhine civilians suffered abuses at the hands of the military, which was backed by the NLD government, reinforced this idea. But the Arakan Army has also changed its tone on the Rohingya significantly. Prior to 2018, it was antagonistic, reflecting the group’s desire to win popular support among local Rakhine Buddhists, who have long resented the Muslim minority. More recently, however, the Arakan Army has made some conciliatory moves: its leader, Twan Mrat Naing, tweeted greetings for the Muslim festival of Eid, and the group issued a condolence letter when a prominent Rohingya academic died in April. The insurgents are facilitating greater freedom of movement for the Rohingya in areas they control and providing them with some services. These gestures are in addition to more concrete measures the insurgents have taken to bring the Rakhine and Rohingya together and that could, over time, diminish the risk of communal violence. For example, the Arakan Army has organised sporting events involving the two communities, included Rohingya leaders in its administrative structures and asked Rakhine communities in some areas to refer to the Rohingya by the more neutral term “Muslims” rather than “Bengalis” (which the Rohingya consider derogatory, as it implies that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh). Perhaps most importantly, the insurgents are facilitating greater freedom of movement for the Rohingya in areas they control and providing them with some services, such as access to judicial mechanisms. Useful further steps would be for the Arakan Army to include Rohingya representatives in higher levels of its administrative system for the areas it controls and address complaints that some of its Rakhine administrators are not treating the community fairly. Beyond Rakhine State, the coup also appears to have triggered something of a shift in the way at least some within the broader Myanmar population view the Rohingya. The vast majority among the country’s Burman majority population had accepted the military’s claims that its 2017 operations against the Muslim minority were a legitimate response to a terrorist attack, in part because the immensely popular Aung San Suu Kyi had also propagated this narrative. After the coup, though, many experienced or witnessed for the first time the military’s capacity for inflicting extreme violence on civilians, something that had until then been largely confined to ethnic minority regions. The junta’s brutality against Burman communities appears to have prompted some to reassess the events of 2017, concluding that the military did indeed commit atrocities against the Rohingya. Manifestations of this change in sentiment emerged in numerous apologies and public expressions of support for the Rohingya both online and at demonstrations against the coup, something that would have been previously unimaginable. The National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration formed by ousted lawmakers and operating mostly from abroad, has also adopted a policy toward the Rohingya that guarantees their right to citizenship and commits to ending other discriminatory policies against them. Although these promises have not been tested, because the NUG is not in control of the state, they are nevertheless notable given that the NUG is largely an offshoot of Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD, which did little to dismantle repressive policies against the Rohingya when it was in power. What can donors and other outside actors do for Rohingya refugees? With any meaningful repatriation highly unlikely in the foreseeable future, it is essential that donors increase their support for Bangladesh’s response to the refugee crisis. International funding for the refugee response has declined significantly in 2022, in part due to other humanitarian emergencies, such as the war in Ukraine, and there is a growing risk of donor fatigue. The funding gap is compounded by rising food prices, which means that the money that is coming in is not buying as much. Leaving Bangladesh to handle this massive refugee crisis on its own is hardly fair given the country’s own development challenges. It can only make things worse for a refugee population already living in miserable conditions. But while more funding for the refugees in Bangladesh is necessary, it is also just a temporary fix. Improving the lives of the refugees and mitigating the impact on Bangladesh will require more than humanitarian aid. Thus, even though repatriation seems unlikely while the military is in charge of Myanmar, it remains important to make as much progress as possible, which means that Bangladesh will need to continue engaging the junta on the subject. Such engagement will at least keep the pressure on the military and give refugees some hope of returning home. While some may choose to return of their own accord, either through the formal mechanism or informally, regardless of who is in power, it is crucial that Dhaka stick to its policy of not forcing refugees to return against their will. Bangladesh should ensure that any repatriation is safe and dignified. Similarly, it should continue to work with international donors and humanitarian organisations to improve conditions both in the camps in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char. Bangladesh’s very active civil society – its universities, think-tanks and NGOs – should do its part to positively influence policy and public opinion toward the Rohingya in Myanmar by engaging counterparts in Myanmar civil society and the NUG. Third-country resettlement should be part of the conversation about durable solutions for [the Rohingya]. With prospects for repatriation so dim and integration in Bangladesh infeasible given both public opinion toward the Rohingya and the sheer number of refugees, it seems increasingly clear that third-country resettlement should be part of the conversation about durable solutions for this population. Dhaka has previously resisted this idea, arguing that the possibility of resettlement would encourage more Rohingya to cross the border into Bangladesh and that it would reduce the pressure on Myanmar to take refugees back. These are both risks, but Bangladesh needs to weigh them against the risks created by the situation in Cox’s Bazaar and the lack of other viable plans for drawing down the numbers in the camps. After five years, the time may now be ripe for Bangladesh to review its policy and for foreign governments – particularly in the West, but also in Asia – to make clear they are ready to support Dhaka by accepting some refugees for voluntary resettlement. At the same time, other countries hosting large Rohingya populations, including Malaysia, India and Saudi Arabia, should reverse a worrying trend toward greater restrictions and even threats to send them back to either Myanmar or Bangladesh. In order to help resolve the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, these countries should be normalising their Rohingya populations, not cracking down on them. While pushing Naypyitaw to create the conditions for repatriation to begin, Dhaka should also consider engaging the Arakan Army. To date, the Bangladeshi government has largely ignored the group’s overtures due to its policy of not engaging entities that undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries. But given the insurgents’ expanding grip on Rakhine State, it will likely need their backing for any repatriation to proceed on a significant scale. This is something the Arakan Army may be willing to entertain, not least because of its desire to open a dialogue and build a relationship with Dhaka. Given the fraying ceasefire between the military and Arakan Army, this step will require some discreet, careful diplomacy, but it is important. Apart from providing humanitarian aid – both in the Bangladesh camps and in Rakhine State – foreign governments and other outside actors should continue to support efforts to hold the Myanmar military responsible for its abuses against the Rohingya. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are investigating the 2017 atrocities and an Argentine court, asserting universal jurisdiction, is similarly investigating claims of genocide. But the most advanced process is at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where The Gambia has brought a case against Myanmar under the UN Genocide Convention. The first hearings got under way in December 2019, with Aung San Suu Kyi flying to the Netherlands to personally defend her country against allegations it had violated the convention. After the coup, the court allowed the military regime to appoint a new legal team to defend the case – a decision that was not without controversy, given how the regime took power – but has recently rejected the objections to the case put forward by the junta’s legal team. While hearings can now proceed, it is likely to be many years before the court reaches a verdict. Five years after the massive exodus of 2017, it is clear there is no simple, straightforward solution to one of Asia’s largest refugee crises. Focusing on repatriation alone, or on just funding the aid response, is not sufficient. While finding a way for the Rohingya to return home should remain the goal, it is important that a range of strategies are pursued in parallel in order to bring about the best outcome for this beleaguered population and for the communities hosting them in southern Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: International Crisis Group (Belgium)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-22
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Title: It’s Time to Help Myanmar’s Resistance Prevail
Sub-title: The country’s brutal coup regime is no candidate for political compromise.
Description: "The international community can be divided into three camps in dealing with Myanmar’s brutal coup regime. One consists of a shameless group that includes Russia, China and India that supports the junta and, in the case of Russia and China, supplies weapons to further their own narrow national interests. A second is a divided ASEAN that cobbled together and continues to promote the so-called “five-point consensus,” an incoherent initiative that was dead on arrival more than a year ago. The third is the West, which has imposed sanctions, offered humanitarian aid and taken a strong rhetorical position opposing the coup, yet criticizes armed resistance and avoids bold action, favoring instead the cautious, ineffectual path of supporting ASEAN’s failed plan. Such is the international picture as Myanmar’s junta wages unrestrained warfare on its own public in a desperate attempt to hold onto power. The people of Myanmar ask with growing frustration why the international community isn’t doing more to help them. It’s an appalling situation, with the military’s brutality, hunger for power and economic incompetence responsible for thousands of deaths and arrests and widespread destruction — not to mention massive instability, an economy on the precipice and a horrific humanitarian crisis. There is no end in sight. Myanmar’s future will be determined largely by what happens inside the country, but the international response matters and could be critical in the runup to rigged elections next year that the junta hopes will legitimize its rule. During that period, one can expect the Myanmar military to continue trying to cow the population into submission with indiscriminate violence and terror while it prosecutes — if not murders — its political opponents. The National Unity Government (NUG) and the diverse Myanmar resistance, in turn, will no doubt continue their struggle, hoping to win more international support and sufficiently weaken the junta so that it looks for an exit. On balance, the net impact of the international community’s efforts to date has been neutral. The substance of China, India and Russia’s support for the junta, including arms, has balanced the rhetoric, moral outrage toward the junta and public support of much of the rest of the world for the Myanmar people. If this trend continues, it is possible, if not probable, that the regime will succeed in using next year’s sham elections to gain some international legitimacy, likely extending its reign of brutality. Either way, the Myanmar people will continue to suffer and ask why the world — particularly the West — is so willing to help Ukraine but not assist them against a force that is every bit as brutal and evil as Putin’s invading army. The Need to Back a National Uprising It is time for the West, led by the United States and ideally joined by at least a few ASEAN members disgusted by the junta’s behavior, to step up its contribution with the express goal of helping the resistance movement prevail. The effort needs to start with a clear analysis and understanding of the situation inside the country. This is not a typical power struggle between two rival political communities. It is a national uprising against a hated, corrupt and bloodthirsty military that has waged war against ethnic minority communities for decades, committed genocide against the Rohingya population, and is now operating with a brutality and cruelty not seen in Southeast Asia since the Khmer Rouge. ASEAN’s five-point consensus to promote dialogue and end the violence was doomed because it failed to reflect this reality. There was never any chance that the military would stop committing violence against the people, nor was there ever any hope that the ASEAN special envoy (or anyone else) would persuade General Min Aung Hlaing and his compatriots to be reasonable. It was impossible even to imagine a dialogue producing a political compromise that would be acceptable to the Myanmar people, until and unless the military felt under such duress that it was compelled to make dramatic concessions. The junta’s decision to execute four opposition actors on July 25 — explicitly rejecting ASEAN’s pleas — should make it crystal clear to all concerned that after 15 months of failure, the ASEAN five-point consensus is dead and should be given a proper burial The only way for Myanmar to emerge from this crisis with any hope of peace and stability is for the military to be forced out of power, or at least forced into a position of such weakness that it seeks a face-saving departure from power to preserve itself. There is no other path. The military’s bogus elections planned for 2023 aim only to transform Myanmar into a single-party state, or what the junta refers to as “disciplined democracy.” Bolder Policies Could Help the Resistance Those members of the international community who care about the Myanmar people — or at least want to see the country return to stability and the hope of progress — need to step back, rethink their approach and pursue much bolder policies that increase the resistance’s chance of success. Specifically, they should consider the following: As suggested by Malaysia, formally scrap the ASEAN five-point consensus, which at this point is doing more harm than good by perpetuating the illusion that a viable political process exists, which confers a degree of legitimacy on the junta. Sharply increase public and private engagement with the NUG and other key actors who are active against the junta, including the critically important ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and leaders of the civil disobedience movement. At least double the amount of assistance to civil society organizations supporting core resistance groups, including the NUG, National Unity Consultative Council, state-level consultative councils, local governance actors, civilian wings of ethnic armed groups, strike committees, and civil disobedience movement groups, among others. Find creative ways to provide funding for the NUG and allied groups, including funds aimed at encouraging defections from the military. Significantly expand fellowship or other opportunities for resistance actors in the United States, and bolster funding for education of Myanmar students in-country (either online or via NUG or EAO-supported schools), in Thailand and India, and elsewhere. Coordinate targeted sanctions by coup-opposing governments and devote the resources needed to identify and, where possible, block or freeze the flow of funds to the junta. The United States should reconsider joining EU sanctions on Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, which accounts for much of the junta’s revenue. Such sanctions pose a supply problem for U.S. ally Thailand, but a dedicated team should be seeking creative ways to address the issue. Stop all humanitarian assistance that goes through the junta. Instead, the U.N. secretary-general should lead an international campaign to create humanitarian assistance corridors via Thailand and India. Redouble efforts to pursue international legal action against the junta, including by joining Gambia’s case at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya. Finally, countries that host NUG offices should step up coordination and cooperation, as former U.K. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Tonkin has suggested. In pursuing these steps, the international community should recognize that while the urgent task is helping the resistance push the military out of power, even that will not be sufficient. Myanmar will still face a monumental struggle to rebuild from the devastation of the past 18 months, to obtain accountability for current and past abuses, and perhaps more importantly, to build trust between the country’s many ethnic minority groups — including the Rohingya — and the majority people. There is no guarantee that such a program supporting resistance and rebuilding will work. Lots could go wrong. But it offers at least the possibility of success. So long as the military remains in power, there is simply no hope for Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: United States Institute of Peace
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-22
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Title: Statement by Students' Unions regarding United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Ms. Noeleen Heyzer's Visit to Myanmar
Description: "On August 16, 2022, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General Ms. Noeleen Hazer, came to Myanmar and met with the junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, and military associates. This trip is said to be a follow-up visit of the request for the immediate cessation of all violence in Myanmar and the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need. Although it had been announced that the Special Envoy, Ms. Noeleen Hazer, would meet with stakeholders and leaders from various sectors in Myanmar during this trip, she only met and discussed with the military junta. She did not meet with the oppressed people and political prisoners, who are pertinent to the demands for delivery of humanitarian assistance and release of unjustly detained political prisoners, and she did not meet with democracy activists either. While the United Nations have declared that they do not recognize the military regime as the legitimate government, this visit by Ms. Noeleen Hazer is apparent to be in recognition of the military council. Therefore, we regard Ms. Noeleen Hazer’s visit as an unfair meeting which did not involve equal discussions with stakeholders from different sectors and only had one-sided discussions with the terrorist military, and hence, we strongly condemn this visit. We would like to apprise the United Nations of the need to carefully prevent more activities as this - which appear to be in recognition of the military junta and neglecting the consent of Myanmar people. As the United Nations is an organization committed to peace and justice, we earnestly urge the Special Envoy Ms. Noeleen Heyzer to meet as soon as possible with the National Unity Government (NUG), which has received the support of Myanmar people, the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), composed of pro-democracy alliances, as well as stakeholder groups. The military junta has also published the discussions between Special Envoy Ms. Noeleen Hazer and the military council. We urge the Secretary-General to release a clear statement on whether these publications are accurate, and whether they are consistent with the stance of the United Nations..."
Source/publisher: Student Union Representatives Committee
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-22
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Title: ကုလသမဂ္ဂအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာအထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ် မစ္စနိုလင်းဟေဇာ၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသို့လာရောက်ခဲ့ပြီး အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီခေါင်းဆောင် မင်းအောင်လှိုင်နှင့် စစ်အုပ်စုအပေါင်းအပါတို့အား တွေ့ဆုံခဲ့ခြင်းအပေါ် ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများမှ သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
Description: "Statement by Students' Unions regarding United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Ms. Noeleen Heyzer's Visit to Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Student Union Representatives Committee
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-22
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Title: အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ကြေညာချက်အမှတ်(၁၉/၂၀၂၂) - ကုလသမဂ္ဂ အထွေထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အထူးသံတမန်၏ သဘောထား ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်အပေါ် တုံ့ပြန်ချက်
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Description: "အထွေထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ် မစ္စနိုလင်းဟေဇာ၏ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်အပေါ် ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် လွန်စွာစိတ်ပျက်မိကြောင်း ထုတ်ဖော်ပြောကြားလိုပါသည်။ အဆိုပါကြေညာချက်တွင် အထူးသံတမန်သည် အာဏာသိမ်းခေါင်းဆောင်မင်းအောင်လှိုင်နှင့် တွေ့ဆုံမှု ပါရှိပါသည်။ ကျယ်ကျယ်ပြန့်ပြန့်သတိပေးချက်များကြားမှ မစ္စနိုလင်းဟေဇာ၏တွေ့ဆုံမှုဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အထူးသံတမန်က အစည်းအဝေးသည် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့အား “မည်သည့်နည်းဖြင့်မျှ တရားဝင်ခွင့်” ပေးခြင်းမဟုတ်ကြောင်း ရှင်းလင်းပြောဆိုခဲ့ခြင်းအား ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ အသိအမှတ်ပြုပါသည်။ ယခုတွေ့ဆုံမှုသည် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများရပ်စဲရေး၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအားလေးစားမှု၊ လိုအပ်နေသူများ အားလုံးထံ လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုအကူအညီများရရှိရေးများအတွက် ထပ်မံတောင်း ဆိုမှုပြုခြင်းသာဖြစ် ပါသည်။ အထူးသံတမန်က လေကြောင်းမှ ဗုံးကြဲတိုက်ခိုက်မှုများနှင့် အရပ်သား နေအိမ်များကို မီးရှို့ ခြင်းများကို အဆုံးသတ်ရန်လည်း တောင်းဆိုခဲ့ပါသည်။ ထိုတောင်းဆိုချက်များအတွက် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ က အသိအမှတ်ပြုပါသည်။ သို့သော် ထိုသို့ထပ်ခါတလဲလဲ တောင်းဆိုမှုများသည် အသေးစိတ် ဆက်လက်ဆောင်ရွက်ရမည့်အကျိုးဆက်များနှင့် မဖြစ်မနေချိတ်ဆက်ထားခြင်းရှိရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အရပ်သားနေအိမ်များမီးရှို့ခြင်းကို အဆုံးသတ်ရန် အထူးသံတမန်ကတောင်းဆိုပြီးလျှင်ပြီးချင်းမှာပင် မကွေးတိုင်းအတွင်းရှိအိမ်ခြေ ၆၀၀ ရှိသောရွာကြီးတစ်ရွာကို စစ်တပ်က မီးရှို့ဖျက်ဆီးခဲ့သည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် မြန်မာပြည်သူလူထု၏တရားဝင်ကိုယ်စားပြုပြီးအကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အာဏာရှင်များအပေါ် တရားဝင်မှုကိုအပ်နှင်း၍မရနိုင်ကြောင်း အထူးသံတမန်သည် သတိပြုသင့်ပါသည်။ အထူးသံတမန်သည် စစ်ရာဇ၀တ်ကောင်၊ သူ၏ဝန်ကြီးတို့နှင့် လက်ဆွဲနှုတ်ဆက်ကာ ဓာတ်ပုံရိုက်ခွင့်ပြု ခြင်းအားဖြင့် ကြိုတင်ခန့်မှန်းထားသည့်အတိုင်းပင် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ဝါဒဖြန့်မှုအတွက် ကြားခံအဖြစ် အသုံးချခြင်း ခံခဲ့ရပါသည်။ အထူးသံတမန်က သူမ၏ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်တွင် “မြန်မာပြည်သူများတွင် ကြောက်ရွံ့ခြင်းနှင့် လိုချင်တောင့်တရမှုကင်း၀ေးသော ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် ကိုယ်ပိုင်ပြဌာန်းခွင့်ရှိသည်” ဟု အခိုင်အမာ ပြောကြားခဲ့သည်။ ဆွေးနွေးပွဲသည် “ပြည်သူများ၏ ဆန္ဒနှင့် ပြည်သူများ၏ လိုအပ်ချက်များကို အခြေခံ၍ အရပ်သား အုပ်ချုပ်မှုသို့ ပြန်လည်ရောက်ရှိရန်အတွက် ထိရောက်ပြီး ငြိမ်းချမ်းသည့် မြန်မာတို့ကိုယ်တိုင် ဦးဆောင်သော နိုင်ငံရေးလမ်းကြောင်းကို ပံ့ပိုးကူညီရန်” ပိုမိုကျယ်ပြန့်သော ကုလသမဂ္ဂ ကြိုးပမ်းမှု၏ အစိတ်အပိုင်းဖြစ်ကြောင်း အဆိုပါ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်တွင် ဖော်ပြထားသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများ၊ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ မရှိသော်လည်း မြန်မာပြည်သူများသည် ၎င်းတို့၏ ကိုယ်ပိုင်ပြဌာန်းခွင့်ကို နေ့စဉ်နှင့်အမျှ ကျင့်သုံးခဲ့ပြီး ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် အရပ်သားအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးတို့အတွက် အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာအခြေပြုသော တော်လှန်ရေးကြီးတစ်ရပ်ကို ဆင်နွှဲခဲ့သည်မှာ ၁၈ လကျော်ရှိခဲ့ပြီဖြစ်သည်။ အထူးသံတမန်က ပေးလိုက်ရသည့် မိမိ၏ နိုင်ငံရေးအရအနေအထားရပ်တည်ချက်ကိုနှိမ့်ချ ရင်းနှီး လိုက်ရမှုအတွက် 'ပွင့်ပွင့်လင်းလင်းပြောဆိုမှုများဖြင့် ဆက်လက်ထိတွေ့ဆက်ဆံရန်” အစီရင်ခံစာတွင် ဖော်ပြထားသော သဘောတူညီချက်ထက်ကျော်လွန်ပြီး စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ထံမှ လိုက်လျောမှုတစ်စုံတစ်ရာ ရယူနိုင်ခြင်း ရှိမရှိကိုလည်း အတည်ပြုနိုင်ခြင်းမရှိသေးပေ။ နိုင်ငံတော်၏အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ် ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်အား “အရေးကြီးလှသော အကျိုးသက်ဆိုင်သူ” အဖြစ်ဖော်ပြပြီး အထူးသံတမန်က နိုင်ငံတော်၏အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်သည် “သူမ၏ လက်ရှိအခြေအနေ” မှ မကြာမီအိမ်ပြန်နိုင်မည်ဟုမျှော်လင့်ကြောင်း ဖော်ပြခဲ့သည်။ ထိုသို့ဖော်ပြခြင်းသည် နိုင်ငံတော်၏ အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်အား သီးသန့်ချုပ်နှောင်ထားဆဲဖြစ်ပြီး အထူးသံတမန် လာရောက်ကြောင်း ကြေညာ သည့်နေ့တွင်ပင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့က နိုင်ငံတော်၏အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်အားနိုင်ငံရေးအရထောင်ဒဏ် ချမှတ်ခြင်းအား ခြောက်နှစ် ထပ်မံထည့်သွင်းချမှတ်ခဲ့ခြင်း အပေါ်လျစ်လျူရှုခဲ့ခြင်းပင် ဖြစ်သည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ မကြာသေးမီက ဒီမိုကရေစီရေး တက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူလေးဦးအား တရားလက်လွတ်ကွပ်မျက်မှုအတွက် အထူးသံတမန်က ‘နောင်တွင် ကွပ်မျက်မှုအားလုံးကို ဆိုင်းငံ့ထားရန်’ တောင်းဆိုခဲ့သော်လည်း အဆိုပါရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများ၏ နောက်ကွယ်တွင်ရှိနေသည့် တရားမ၀င်တံခါးပိတ် စစ်ခုံရုံးများ၏ စီရင်မှုဖြင့် ကွပ်မျက်ခြင်းမှာ လူသတ်မှုဖြစ်ကြောင်း ဖော်ပြမထားပါ။ အထူးသံတမန်က တွေ့ဆုံမှု၏ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်မှာ စစ်အစိုးရနှင့် 'လက်တွေ့ကျသော ခြေလှမ်းများ' ကို ဆွေးနွေးရန် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း အခိုင်အမာ ပြောကြားခဲ့သည်။ လူထုတော်လှန်ရေးကို ထောက်ခံအားပေးရန်နှင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ ၊ထောက်ပံ့ ကူညီမှုများအား လက်နက်သဖွယ်အသုံးချနေမှု၊ နိုင်ငံရေးအကျဉ်းသားများအား နှိပ်စက်ညှဉ်းပမ်းနေမှု နှင့် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်ရနေခြင်းများအားအဆုံးသတ်ရေးတို့အတွက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ကြိုးပမ်းမှု အားလုံးတွင် လက်တွေ့ကျကျမြင်နိုင်ရန်ပြသရမည်သာဖြစ်သည်။ အတိုချုပ်ပြောရပါက အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့အား ကျေနပ်စေရန်ချော့နေခြင်းများသာဖြစ်နေပါသည်။ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ ယုံကြည်မှုကို ပြန်လည်ရရှိရန်အခွင့်အလမ်းအတွက် အထူးသံတမန်သည် အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၊ တိုင်းရင်းသားတော်လှန်ရေးအဖွဲ့များနှင့် အရပ်ဘက်လူမှုအဖွဲ့အစည်းများနှင့် လူသိရှင်ကြား မိတ်ဖက်ဆက်ဆံရေးကို အားကောင်းစေရမည်ဖြစ်ပြီး၊ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ ဆန္ဒကို အမှန်တကယ် နားထောင်ကာ လေးစားလိုက်နာရန် လိုအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-20
[field_licence]
Type: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Title: National Unity Government Statement (19/2022) - Response to the Statement of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar
Description: "The National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar expresses its extreme disappointment at the statement issued by the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Myanmar, Ms. Noeleen Heyzer on 17 August 2022. The statement addressed the Special Envoy’s meeting with coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, which Ms. Heyzer pursued despite broad warnings. The meeting’s overriding outcome has been to diminish the credibility of the Special Envoy and the UN. We acknowledged that the Special Envoy has since clarified that the meeting did not “in any way confer legitimacy” on the junta. It is just another call for cessation of violence, respect of human rights, humanitarian access to all those in need. The Special Envoy also call for ending aerial bombings and the burning of civilian houses. We appreciated for those words. However, those repeated calls must be accompanied with specific consequences. A 600-house large village in Magwe Region was burned down by the military, immediately after Special Envoy’s call to end the burning of civilian homes. Special Envoy should note that the National Unity Government is the legitimate representative of the Myanmar people, and legitimacy cannot be conferred on a terrorist military junta. In allowing herself to be photographed shaking hands with a war criminal and his Minister, the Special Envoy has predictably been instrumentalised for junta propaganda. The Special Envoy in her statement asserts that the “people of Myanmar have the right to democracy and self-determination free from fear and want”. The statement adds that the meeting comprised part of broader UN efforts to ‘support an effective and peaceful Myanmar-led political pathway to return to civilian rule based on the will and the needs of the people’. For more than 18 months, the Myanmar people have exercised their self-determination daily through a rights-based revolution for democracy and civilian rule despite junta atrocities and UN inaction. It is also yet to be confirmed whether the high political cost borne by the Special Envoy secured any concessions from the junta beyond a reported agreement to ‘engage in frank conversations. Describing State Counsellor H.E. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a ‘critical stakeholder’, the Special Envoy expressed her hope that the State Counsellor “can return home soon” from “her current situation”. This ignored that the State Counsellor continues to be held in solitary confinement and had six years added to her political imprisonment by the junta on the same day that the Special Envoy’s visit was announced. On the junta’s recent extrajudicial execution of four democracy activists, the Special Envoy called for ‘a moratorium on all future executions’ but made no mention of the unlawful closed-door military tribunals behind these spurious convictions, let alone that the executions constituted murder. The Special Envoy has claimed that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss ‘pragmatic steps’ with the junta. Pragmatism must see the UN direct all of its efforts to supporting the people’s revolution and ending the junta’s violence, its weaponisation of aid, its persecution of political prisoners, and its impunity. Anything short of this is appeasement of a terrorist junta. And to have any chance of recovering the people’s trust, the Special Envoy must publicly strengthen partnership with the National Unity Government, Ethnic Resistance Organizations and civil society, and truly listen and respect to the aspirations of the Myanmar people..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-19
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Title: Resilient humanitarian workers redouble efforts to support communities in Myanmar
Description: "“The painful situation that I see our children in pushes me to work even harder,” said Shar Myar, * a humanitarian worker with an international organisation working in Myanmar. Since the military takeover in Myanmar on 1 February 2021, hundreds of children have been abducted, recruited into armies, arrested, and killed by landmines or artillery. Many have no access to basic social services, and millions need humanitarian assistance. Yet international agencies are staying on the ground, working with national organizations to deliver much-needed assistance. Shar Myar, who is from Myanmar and whose job is to monitor and report incidents of grave violations against children and link the children and families with response and support services, recently helped secure the release of two abducted children. As they have done for thousands of other children, her organisation supported them with health care, food, cash support and mental health counselling. Yet other cases end tragically. Shar Myar mentioned the case of four abducted boys, who were found dead in a pit latrine. “I can’t even find the words to express how I felt,” she said. The military takeover came on top of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated protracted conflicts already ongoing in many parts of the country. About 14.4 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance in Myanmar in a country of about 55 million, according to UN data. Moreover, most states and regions are contaminated with landmines, making Myanmar one of the world’s most mine-affected countries. Finding ways to cope Most aid workers in Myanmar have been personally affected. While on a short stay in her home state of Kayah, Shar Myar had to flee with her family. She now lives with seven members of her extended family in Yangon, in a small apartment. She has recently learned her family’s house in Kayah was burnt down. Kyaw Moe*, who works for another humanitarian organisation in Shan State, was in the office when he heard about the sudden military takeover. “It reminded me of the past,” he said. “I was scared for my country. I was so depressed that for the first week I found it difficult to get out of bed.” Another humanitarian worker, Aung Tun*, said that talking with children and families since the military takeover has been challenging. “I found it traumatising. I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “But I had to toughen up.” Aung Tun said he practises meditation and encourages his friends, particularly his male friends who are not used to seeking mental health support, to ask for help. New ways of operation Most aid and civil society organisations have had to find innovative ways to help affected people. Many staff of Myanmar origin find it hard to believe how the nature of their work has changed so quickly. Kyaw Moe used to work with the government. Now, much of his work is managing humanitarian assistance and addressing human rights violations, including organizing legal aid support. Security challenges and restricted access have hampered the provision of humanitarian assistance. However, this year, some humanitarian access has been granted, particularly to provide supplies and services for children and families living in towns. Aung Tun recently visited Kachin State, bordering China. Young people there - most of whom had to drop out of school or university – now take part in activities, including vocational training. While Aung Tun witnessed the positive impact of the activities, he also felt the pain that the young people had experienced. “They are only a few years younger than me,” he said. “They feel their future has been thrown away. I could see it in their eyes.” And Aung Tun talked on behalf of all humanitarian workers when he said, “The world shouldn’t forget Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-19
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Title: Statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator a.i, Mr. Ramanathan Balakrishnan, on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day
Description: "Yangon – On World Humanitarian Day 2022, I want to pay tribute to the dedicated aid workers of Myanmar who are risking their lives to deliver vital assistance to communities in need every day, and also remember those who have died or been injured in the course of their work. I want to use this occasion to call for an end to the unrelenting violence that is terrifying communities and making these brave humanitarian efforts necessary. Civilians should never be a target and humanitarian workers in Myanmar must be allowed to do their jobs free from restrictions and harassment, in line with all the protections afforded to them under international law. It takes a “humanitarian village” to help a community in crisis and the UN, International NGOs and the Red Cross family stand in solidarity with the growing network of local responders who have stepped up to help their own communities and are now the backbone of the Myanmar response. I applaud their tireless commitment to finding new ways of reducing suffering in the face of daily horrors. Never has this work been more important with conflict raging, 1.2 million people now displaced, and poverty and inflation surging. A massive national effort is underway to reach more than 6 million crisis-affected people with assistance before the end of the year and we are half-way to this annual goal despite severe access constraints. The humanitarian community has stayed and delivered, working with local partners to expand our operations on an unprecedented scale. With generous funding from donors, local, national and international humanitarian organizations reached more than 3 million people with assistance in the first half of 2022, but there is still a long way to go. This effort will require improved access to people in need, relief from debilitating bureaucratic constraints and a dramatic scale-up in donor support. Expanded humanitarian access, especially to conflict-affected areas, is vital and negotiations to secure this access should never be politicized or made transactional. The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan is just 17 per cent funded, 8 months into the year. More resources are desperately needed for us to continue our life-saving work and avoid heart-wrenching decisions about who we cannot help. On World Humanitarian Day, we urge the international donor community to again step-up in these difficult times and give generously in solidarity with the people of Myanmar, supporting the country’s “humanitarian village” to save lives and reduce suffering. Background On 19 August 2003, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years later, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day. Each year, World Humanitarian Day focuses on a theme, bringing together partners from across the humanitarian system to advocate for the survival, well-being and dignity of people affected by crises, and for the safety and security of aid workers. For this year’s World Humanitarian Day theme is ‘It takes a village’ emphasizing the global collective effort required by the entire humanitarian community from local volunteers through to UN agencies to protect and assist millions of people every day..."
Source/publisher: UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar via United Nations Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-19
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Title: United Nations Special Envoy Can Now Meet with Genuine Stakeholders in Myanmar’s Democratic Future
Description: "The Special Envoy of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to Myanmar can now look forward to holding constructive and public meetings with the National Unity Government of Myanmar, having fulfilled the absolute minimum requirement of her mandate by meeting with the leader of the military junta in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M). SAC-M was pleased to learn that nine months after her appointment, the UN Special Envoy was finally able to fulfil the minimum requirement of her mandate and travel to Nay Pyi Taw to meet with the leader of the military junta, Min Aung Hlaing. The members of SAC-M have been calling for Min Aung Hlaing to be prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes since their respective tenures as UN mandate-holders on Myanmar. “We can only imagine how awful it must have been for the UN Special Envoy to meet with murderer-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, and the revulsion she must have felt at having to shake his blood-soaked hand,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “Meeting with Min Aung Hlaing may have been essential to the Special Envoy in attempting to fulfil her mandate, but it is clear that nothing of significance will come of it.” Previous Special Envoys of the UN Secretary-General, a mandate that has existed for many years, have repeatedly tried to appeal to leaders of the Myanmar military for clemency towards the people of Myanmar. These include failed attempts to end the genocidal persecution of the Rohingya. More recent international efforts to curb the atrocities orchestrated by Min Aung Hlaing have been made following the military’s attempted coup, by successive Special Envoys of the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to Myanmar, all of which have been met with contempt. “The UN Special Envoy can surely have been under no illusions as to Min Aung Hlaing’s true character and intentions, however cordial their meeting may have been,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “The Special Envoy, coming from the region and with past experience as the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, is well aware of the will of the Myanmar people. Their aspirations were clearly expressed in the 2020 general elections, and the Special Envoy must now be looking forward to formally engaging with the National Unity Government, which was, of course, formed on the basis of the results of those elections. She must go the extra mile to find a solution acceptable to the peoples of Myanmar.” The National Unity Government of Myanmar has made clear its support for the Special Envoy’s mandate and its commitment to working with the Special Envoy and the UN to reach a durable solution to Myanmar’s multiple, protracted military-induced crises. In addition to being the legitimate representative of the Myanmar people, the National Unity Government and its allied Ethnic Resistance Organisations control more of Myanmar’s territory than the military junta and are increasing their capacity to administer government functions even in the face of the military’s massive ongoing campaign of destruction. “In order to have a positive influence on Myanmar’s political landscape, the UN Special Envoy will know that she must support the real agents of democratic progress in the country, and that is the people, represented by the National Unity Government,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “It is the people’s movement that has resisted the military’s attacks and, by forming administrative systems to provide life-saving and other governance services in the majority effective controlled areas, prevented Myanmar from becoming a failed state. The sooner that tangible international support can be channelled to the people through the National Unity Government, the sooner the massive human suffering in the country can be alleviated and the sooner Myanmar’s democratic future can be realised.”..."
Source/publisher: Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-19
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Title: Myanmar Junta Signals Contempt for UN With Low-Grade Reception for Envoy
Description: "When the UN Secretary General’s special envoy on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer met Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday, the world’s attention was focused on what they discussed and the substance of the meeting. Largely overlooked were other details—like how and where she was received—reflecting the host’s attitude toward his guest. Sadly, in this respect, contrary to other international dignitaries who preceded her, Heyzer received a low-key reception from the junta despite her status as the UN special envoy making her first visit to Myanmar since the military coup last year. The meeting took place at the junta leader’s office in Naypyitaw at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. According to the regime’s announcement, the meeting venue turned out to be the parlor of the State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman’s Office, not the Credentials Hall, where Min Aung Hlaing normally receives international guests. In June, when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s special envoy on Myanmar was in the country for the second time, Min Aung Hlaing welcomed Prak Sokhonn at the Credentials Hall, which is dominated by a huge gilded throne—a symbol of Myanmar’s sovereignty—inside the Presidential Residence. The same month last year, the junta chief received ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi and Erywan Yusof, Brunei’s foreign affairs minister, there. It was the same hall where Min Aung Hlaing received Prak Sokhonn as the ASEAN envoy in March. Since 2011, the Credentials Hall of the Presidential Residence, which has been occupied by Min Aung Hlaing since the takeover, has been used by successive Myanmar presidents to welcome international diplomats. Early this month when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Naypyitaw, he was ushered into the hall to see his host Min Aung Hlaing. The same treatment was even granted to an ex-diplomat: Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico governor, was greeted there when he was in Naypyitaw in November last year. So, why didn’t UN special envoy Heyzer get the same reception? There is a long history of feuding between the UN and Myanmar’s successive military dictators. The current regime leaders are taking their grudges out on Heyzer, as the world body’s special envoy to their country. The Singaporean diplomat arrived in Yangon on Tuesday on her inaugural mission to Myanmar since succeededing Christine Schraner Burgener of Switzerland as the UN special envoy in October last year. Heyzer was however received by Min Aung Hlaing in the parlor of the latter’s office. It was the same venue in which he received Hiromichi Watanabe, a member of Japan’s lower house of representatives for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Monday. It is speculated that the lawmaker sought the release of a Japanese filmmaker who was arrested on July 30 at a protest in Yangon. Prior to receiving permission to travel to Myanmar, Heyzer came under fire for controversial remarks deemed to be supportive of the regime. At her meeting with the junta leader, she wore a green skirt; an eyesore to some people, who wondered if she was trying to appease Min Aung Hlaing. The color green is associated with the Myanmar military. Sadly for Heyzer, Min Aung Hlaing was only too eager to give the UN a slap in the face. The junta media devoted only one line to the meeting in their reports, saying that the two sides discussed “promoting trust”, meaning no breakthrough came out of the meeting. At the same time, the junta used Heyzer to create the impression that it has legitimacy to govern Myanmar. Shortly before the meeting, the regime spokesperson said the UN special envoy was due to have an official meeting with the “current Myanmar government,” implying that they are the rightful government of Myanmar and that’s why the envoy came to see them. But in a statement released late Wednesday, the envoy said: “UN engagement does not in any way confer legitimacy.” Furthermore, the regime harbors grudges against Myanmar Ambassador to the UN U Kyaw Moe Tun, who was appointed by the ousted National League for Democracy government and has utilized his UN platform to humiliate the junta on the international stage. The regime is angry that the UN has decided to continue recognizing U Kyaw Moe Tun, while refusing to accept the junta’s representative. In retaliation, the regime closed Schraner Burgener’s office in Myanmar. nd it took nearly one year for Heyzer to meet the generals—receiving lowly treatment when she did. Under the previous military regime led by Than Shwe, Myanmar was known as a “diplomatic graveyard”, chiefly for the UN’s repeated failed missions to the country. To Myanmar’s generals, UN representatives are nothing more than diplomatic pawns in a game to deceive the international community..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-18
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Title: Myanmar’s Kangaroo Courts Hand Aung San Suu Kyi Another Six-Year Term While Sean Turnell Pleads Not Guilty
Description: "Myanmar’s junta continues to pursue a baseless campaign against former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the nation’s courts. But many others, like Sean Turnell, an Australian academic and advisor to Suu Kyi, have been caught in the political crossfire. On 15 August a special military court in Myanmar sentenced former government leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison for corruption, adding to the eleven years she was already serving. Given she is 77 years old, she will likely spend the rest of her life in detention if she serves these terms. But the military junta is not finished with her yet. She has been charged with at least 20 offences, including election fraud, corruption, and violating the Official Secrets Act. Very little is known about the cases since the trials take place in a closed court and her legal representatives are banned from talking to the media. After being deposed by a military coup in February 2021, Suu Kyi has spent most of the last year in an unknown location. In June, however, the military junta announced that she had been transferred to a prison compound in the isolated capital, Naypyidaw, and kept in solitary confinement. Sean Turnell, an Australian academic who was a close adviser of Suu Kyi, is also trapped in Myanmar’s partisan courts. As with Suu Kyi, he is charged with violating the Official Secrets Act and is being held in the Naypyidaw prison. On 11 August he faced court for the first time since his arrest eighteen months ago and pleaded not guilty to the charges. As with Suu Kyi his lawyers are unable to discuss the case and no details have been publicised. But it matters little what both Turnell and Suu Kyi plead during the court proceedings, nor what fabricated or fanciful evidence is deployed in their conviction. The junta has complete control of the courts with the judiciary beholden and loyal to the military. The aim of these cases is therefore not to establish guilt or innocence, or to seek justice. The guilty verdicts are predetermined. They are purely political kangaroo courts designed to sideline Suu Kyi from national politics for as long as the military considers it convenient. Turnell, as Suu Kyi’s close adviser, is collateral damage although he also serves as a useful bargaining chip for negotiations with the Australian government, which, almost alone amongst Western countries, has not sanctioned coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. The junta’s brutality and lack of regard for international norms and opinion was on show again in July when it executed four pro-democracy activists. The junta appears unable to act strategically in their own best interests, having alienated almost all potential allies, both domestically and internationally. The usually quite accommodating governments of ASEAN have increasingly criticised the regime and Russia, Myanmar’s main military supplier, barely registered a visit from Min Aung Hlaing. The military is facing legal jeopardy in international courts which are gradually clearing the paths towards prosecutions for genocide and other crimes against humanity. The junta’s brutal country-wide pacification strategy continues, with a recent assault on a village in Sagaing Region that included airstrikes from Mi-35 fighter jets and 60 soldiers dropped by helicopters. The bodies of 18 civilians were found after the attack, including a ten-year-old girl. Pro-democracy militias face off against the junta’s jets and choppers around the country with rifles and homemade explosives, although their local knowledge, particularly in the mountainous border regions, provides an advantage over the predominantly lowland military. The junta have over 12,000 political prisoners in detention and the prospects for the country and its people are bleak. The coup and its repercussions have undone a decade of reforms, which, while imperfect, transformed Myanmar. The country that the military took hostage in February 2021 is entirely different to that which existed prior to 2011, when the political and economic reform process began. While some ethnic groupings, notably the Rohingya, suffered appalling privations during the reform era, most of the country enjoyed freedoms that had never been experienced, or at least not for the preceding five decades under military rule. After the coup Myanmar is very reminiscent of its pre-2011 state, only this time with mobile phones. Academics and NGO workers endeavouring to support democracy and the people of Myanmar through local groups once again find themselves consigned to Thailand or Myanmar’s ethnically-controlled border zones; the “liberated areas” beyond the control of Myanmar’s military that were the bread and butter of activist research prior to 2011. When I was last in Myanmar, before COVID-19 and the coup, I caught up with Sean Turnell in Naypyidaw. He was, as always, amiable, humorous, and generous with his time. His hectic schedule as adviser to Suu Kyi and the government was chock full, addressing ten percent inflation along with “banks, money laundering, sanctions and the Chinese.” These issues seem almost trifling compared with the challenges now facing Myanmar’s people. While the Australian government and population should do everything in their power to support the democratising forces of Myanmar in general, as an Australian citizen, Sean’s grim predicament in Myanmar’s Kafkaesque court system must also not be forgotten..."
Source/publisher: Australian Institute of International Affairs
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-18
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Title: UN Myanmar Special Envoy post should be withdrawn – UN Secretary General must take lead
Description: "Burma Campaign UK today called on the UN Secretary General to personally take the lead in diplomatic initiatives to address the crisis in Burma and abandon the decades long failed approach of appointing UN Special Envoys. UN Myanmar Special Envoy Noeleen Heyzer has concluded her controversial visit to the Burmese military unable to cite a single tangible outcome. This should come as no surprise as this has been the outcome of the vast majority of UN Special Envoy visits to Burma for decades. Ignoring warnings that the visit would give an appearance of legitimacy to the military, Noeleen Heyzer proceeded with the trip, and posed for photographs with military leader Min Aung Hlaing. These pictures are now displayed across military-controlled state media, handing him a propaganda coup. Prior to 2010, previous UN Envoys held out for meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi and others. Noeleen Heyzer chose not to do so. Officials may cite as an excuse the fact that the focus of the visit was humanitarian, but this compromise will be seen by the military as a sign of weakness. A senior UN official accepting the sidelining of key political actors in the country will only encourage the military to believe it can continue to jail, torture and execute them with impunity. On the face of it, a focus on the humanitarian issues would be hard to argue against given the dire situation in the country, but it comes in a context of the military consistently using humanitarian access as leverage to gain international legitimacy. In the past, UN agencies and many international donors have been willing to go along with that. There is clear opposition to this approach within the country. Many millions of people in Burma who are in desperate need of international aid could be reached using cross border mechanisms, local civil society, some of the ethnic armed organisations, and the National Unity Government. However, most UN agencies and international donors provide little or no aid in this way. This leaves millions of people without the humanitarian aid they desperately need. Arguing that compromises have to be made negotiating with the military for humanitarian access while at the same time refusing to provide significant funding via Burmese civil society and the democracy movement where lives can be saved right now is an incoherent approach and requires explanation. In addition to questionable decisions regarding this most recent trip, there are broader concerns about the UN Special Envoy position. The Burmese military have long seen UN Special Envoys as a valuable diplomatic tool, playing games with visa access in order to push the bar so low that just being able to visit the country was judged as a success, despite there being no tangible outcome. For the Burmese military, UN Special Envoys are used to try to avoid or delay international action against them. Before 2010 they were frequently successful in this. The military know that a visit by a UN Special Envoy will be seized on by allies like China and Russia to claim there is a UN process and argue against further international action to promote human rights and democracy. In Asia and the West, the Special Envoy position was also often used as a fig leaf for inaction, also arguing that there is a process, and we must ‘wait and see’. With this visit and previous comments about power sharing, the current UN Special Envoy has lost the trust of many people in Burma. Previous UN Special Envoys have also been controversial, with Christine Schraner Burgener backing the racist National Verification Cards, which are part of the genocidal policies against the Rohingya. One previous Special Envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, was nicknamed ‘Gullible Gambari’ because of his apparent belief in everything the military told him. Regardless of the controversial positions or missteps of various Special Envoys, the position itself is a poisoned chalice doomed to failure. UN Envoys are mandated to engage in dialogue with stakeholders and the military but if they speak out publicly and honestly about the situation, they will be denied access to Burma. From the outset the military have veto power over what they can and cannot say. The Burmese military are well aware that they can safely ignore requests from UN Envoys without facing any consequences. UN Special Envoys on Burma have not been able to count on powerful UN members, and in particular on influential members like Russia and China, to provide critical support and reinforcement of their diplomatic efforts. The Burmese military lie to UN Special Envoys, attempt to manipulate them and break commitments. Eventually UN Envoys either finally realise they are being played or realise the military will never keep to commitments and start speaking out, and they are then denied visas. Then their term ends, a new UN Special Envoy is appointed, and the farce begins all over again. A day after the attempted coup began, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Washington Post: “We will do everything we can to mobilize all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails.” Now his Special Envoy poses for pictures with the leader of that coup. The Secretary-General appears to have abandoned the goal of ensuring the coup fails. For decades the Burmese military have held Burma back from economic development and democracy. The Burmese military are a violent extremist armed group which have committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. They are causing conflict, are linked to drug production, drug trafficking and money laundering. They are destabilising Burma. They should be treated as an illegal armed group. The goal of the United Nations should be the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of the Burmese military. This is the approach the United Nations is taking towards armed groups in more than 20 countries around the world. This should happen in tandem with ensuring justice and accountability for members of the Burmese military who have committed violations of international law and other crimes. “Decades of diplomatic efforts by UN Special Envoys to Burma have not only failed to produce positive results, but have in fact been used by the military to their benefit,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The goal of the United Nations should be disarm and dismantle the Burmese military, while also ensuring justice and accountability for members of the military who have committed crimes and violated international law. This effort should be led by the UN Secretary General himself. It is time that the UN Secretary General and governments stopped hiding behind UN Special Envoys, whose efforts they know are doomed to fail.”..."
Source/publisher: "Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-18
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Title: Can the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar Represent that State for the Purposes of Accepting the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court?
Description: "This Saturday, 20 August 2022, marks the one-year anniversary of the date it was made public that the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar had issued a Declaration to the International Criminal Court accepting the Court’s exercise of jurisdiction with respect to the situation in Myanmar on the basis of Article 12(3) of the ICC Statute. The legal effectiveness of the Declaration hinges on whether or not the NUG could act as the state of Myanmar for this purpose. This question implicates the broader matter of who can and should represent the state of Myanmar internationally, as a matter of international law – the NUG, or the Junta who took power in the coup in February 2021. And by association, even more broadly, who is and should be regarded as the ‘legitimate’ government of Myanmar, and on what basis. The Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP) commissioned me to write a legal opinion on the legal effectiveness of the Declaration. The opinion was sent to the individual States Parties to the Rome Statute, and the Office of the ICC Prosecutor, on Monday 15 August 2022. It explains that the Declaration was valid as a matter of relevant legal test, and should be accepted as such by the States Parties and the Court. It has been endorsed by a number of senior colleagues, including Radhika Coomaraswamy, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, John Dugard, former Judge ad-hoc at the International Court of Justice and member of the United Nations International Law Commission, Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and Justice of the South African Supreme Court, and Aryeh Neier, founder of Human Rights Watch and President Emeritus of the Open Society Foundations. A summary of the opinion follows. The full version, including the full list of endorsers, can be found here. An article in The Diplomat on the subject by John Dugard, Christopher Gunness (Director of MAP), Tommy Thomas (former Attorney General of Malaysia), Yuyun Wahyuningrum (a Representative of Indonesia to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights) and myself can be found here. On Friday 19 August 2022, a webinar will be held to present and discuss the opinion and the case for accountability more generally. Speakers are Aung Myo Min, the NUG Minister for Human Rights, Wai Wai Nu, Founder and Executive Director, the Women’s Peace Network in Myanmar, and former political prisoner, Antonia Mulvey, Founder and Executive Director, Legal Action Worldwide, Richard Goldstone and myself. It will take place at 6.30pm Myanmar time (noon UTC) and you can register to attend here. The recording of the webinar will be posted on the MAP website afterwards. Summary of the Opinion (taken from section 1.2): The International Criminal Court (ICC) is legally entitled and, indeed, legally required, to accept the Declaration of 20 August 2021 issued by the National Unity Government (NUG) under Article 12(3) of the ICC Statute as valid under that Article as an acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction by the State of Myanmar. The NUG is the legitimate government of Myanmar as a matter of domestic law, since it is formed of members who were elected under the Constitution, is committed to democratic, pluralistic and Constitutional rule, the rule of law and promotion of human rights and is the only alternative to the military junta/SAC, which is manifestly and inherently illegitimate, un-Constitutional and undemocratic, and engaged in widespread, systematic and grave human rights violations. It is also notable that the question of de facto control exercised within the country is in flux, with significant areas and population groupings not under the control of the junta while the NUG is also aligned with armed actors that control significant parts of the country. The analysis in this Opinion leading to the foregoing conclusion about legal status of the Declaration cascades through the different applicable legal regimes, from the general to the specific. It begins with the recognition of governments as a general matter, not specific to Myanmar, as a matter of the rules of customary international law based on the practice of States on the subject, and the implications of this for the ICC’s position on the Declaration. It then turns to the accreditation of representatives of member States before the UN General Assembly, again as a general matter, again explaining the implications for the Declaration. The focus then moves to these same two legal regimes as they have been applied to the situation of Myanmar, with further, more specific, implications for the Declaration. Finally, the sui generis legal position of the ICC is addressed, revealing further, distinctive norms applicable to the question of the legal status of the Declaration as far as the Court is concerned. As far as the ICC acting in a manner that is consistent with the general position in international law applicable to States when they recognize governments of other States, the ICC is free to decide whether or not to recognize the NUG as being a valid authority to issue the Declaration on behalf of Myanmar, and, if it decides in the affirmative, it can do this on any basis. In particular, there is no legal requirement to adopt a consideration based on the level of control exercised over Myanmar by the NUG. When it comes to the significance of the practice of the UN General Assembly on the accreditation of representatives of Member States, the Credentials Committee has been willing on occasions to approve the credentials of democratically elected governments and groups in restored democracies even in circumstances where they had been deposed from power or lacked effective control of the country concerned. In situations where there has been a refusal to accept the outcome of a free and fair election or where power has been illegally seized through a coup, the Credentials Committee has on occasions considered other factors, such as the legitimacy of the entity issuing the credentials, the means by which it achieved and retains power, and its human rights record. Bearing in mind the manifest similarities between this practice and the situation in Myanmar at the time the Declaration was issued, it follows that a decision by the ICC to accept the NUG as being a valid authority to issue the Declaration on behalf of Myanmar would be consistent with, and would follow from, a diverse set of precedents set by this UNGA practice as a simple matter of fact. Moreover, more specifically, if such a decision were to manifest not only factual coincidence with these precedents, but also to be partly made on the basis of similar normative considerations, it would also be consistent with, and, indeed, follow from, a diverse set of precedents to do this set by the UNGA. The significance for the ICC of the practice of the General Assembly on the representation of Myanmar in particular, and the situation at one stage of proceedings before the International Court of Justice is as follows. A decision by the ICC to accept the Declaration as valid would follow from the equivalent decision made by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2021 to recognize an official acting on behalf of the NUG to represent Myanmar as the Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations. This is not contradicted by the presence of two SAC ministers as Agents for Myanmar in oral proceedings at the International Court of Justice in 2022, since that presence cannot be understood to have necessarily operated on the basis of a more general acceptance by the Court on the merit of the SAC’s claim to be the government of the State. For the ICC to accept the NUG as capable of engaging the State of Myanmar so as to render the Declaration legally effective would be to follow from, be consistent with, and in one respect potentially required by, two related positions adopted by States and the United Nations that have direct legal significance to the entitlement of the NUG to represent the State in international law as a general matter (i.e. not just before the United Nations General Assembly). In the first place, there has been a consistent and widespread determination by both States and all the main relevant United Nations bodies and officials that the junta is illegitimate both as a general matter—based on how it was constituted—and in terms of the abuses it has perpetrated against the people of Myanmar. In the second place, there has been an act of collective recognition of the NUG as the government of that State by almost all the world’s states when they voted unanimously in the General Assembly on accreditation before that body. Moreover, a case can be made that this collective recognition was intended to have legal standing, in rendering obligatory the recognition of the NUG as the government of Myanmar. Since this was made unanimously, it has had the intended legal effect in terms of creating a rule of customary international law requiring the NUG to be accorded this status. In consequence, the ICC would be required to accept the Declaration as valid as far as the question of the NUG’s capacity to act on behalf of Myanmar to issue it is concerned. Finally, as a matter of the internal law of the ICC Statute which the ICC must comply with, given that, for the reasons set out above, treating the NUG as the government of the State of Myanmar is consistent with all the different relevant areas of international law and, indeed, a sui generis rule of international law adopting such treatment as a legal norm that may well have been established, the object and purpose of the Statute, to end impunity, requires the ICC to accept the Declaration as valid for the purposes of Article 12(3)..."
Source/publisher: Opinio Juris
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-17
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Title: The ICC Must Engage With Myanmar’s Democratic Government and Hold the Junta to Account
Sub-title: There is no way the people of Myanmar will find justice in national courts. The international community must act.
Description: "A year ago this week, Myanmar’s democratic, National Unity Government (NUG) made public a declaration that it accepts the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In effect, the NUG was requesting the ICC to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Myanmar. It was a watershed moment in the quest for accountability. Suddenly justice looked possible for 55 million Myanmar people, who since the coup on February 1, 2021, have been subjected to what U.N. human rights experts call “a brute force terror campaign.” Over 2,000 people have been killed, according to conservative estimates. Around 15,000 have been detained, over a million displaced by conflict, and some 14 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The shocking executions in July of four prisoners of conscience led to global condemnation and highlighted the urgent need for accountability. There is no way the people of Myanmar will find justice in national courts, which have become instruments of repression in the hands of a vindictive regime. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. But following the NUG Declaration, which the ICC acknowledged, the court has taken no further steps. What a contrast with Ukraine, where an investigation was initiated and within days its investigators were on the ground. We urge Ukraine-style action for Myanmar. There is not just a compelling humanitarian imperative. There is also a solid basis in law. The ICC has an obligation to accept the NUG declaration, paving the way for an investigation into events in Myanmar since the coup. The central question is whether the NUG can act on behalf of the State of Myanmar to trigger ICC jurisdiction. In our opinion it can. The NUG is the legitimate government of Myanmar as a matter of domestic law, since it is formed of members who were elected under the country’s 2008 constitution by a landslide in elections in November 2020. It is committed to democratic, pluralistic, and constitutional governance, the rule of law, and the promotion of human rights. By contrast, the junta attempted to seize power through a military coup that violated articles 71(a) and 417 of the 2008 constitution (which the military itself wrote). These articles lay out clear conditions for the dismissal of the president and the imposition of a state of emergency. And those articles were patently not followed when the president and other democratic leaders were imprisoned shortly before they were due to take office. Thus the military operates on an entirely illegitimate basis. The U.N. General Assembly (UNGA), made up of all U.N. member states, decided unanimously in December 2021 to continue to accept the NUG ambassador as the legitimate representative of Myanmar, in effect rejecting the nominee of the junta, and determining which entity should represent the state. This was based on well-established precedent in the UNGA. Since the early 1990s, where there have been competing claims to U.N. recognition, the U.N. has usually sided with those administrations that have democratic legitimacy and a solid human rights record. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. Effective control has become less of a necessary determinant, but in any case, the junta no longer exercised effective control, with significant areas and population groupings under the control of ethnic groups aligned with the NUG. In many urban centers, traditionally controlled by the government, there is anarchy. The UNGA decision effectively to continue to recognize the NUG ambassador is not merely a decision about a particular representative: It is about the general matter of who has the right to be treated as the government of the state before the United Nations as a whole. Such an implication is illustrated in the way the International Labor Organization describes the effect of the General Assembly decision. It affirmed that the decision determines “which entity is internationally recognized as representing the Government of the Member State in the Organization.” This collective recognition by states in the UNGA and its subsidiary organizations arguably had general effect in international law, as a determination of the NUG’s right to act as the government of Myanmar. Since this was made unanimously, it can be understood to require, as a matter of international law, the NUG to be accorded this status. In consequence, the ICC is legally required to accept the NUG Declaration as valid. It flows from this that it could – we would argue that it should — initiate an investigation into potential crimes committed in Myanmar since the coup. Such a move accords well with the recent decision of the U.N.’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, to reject the junta’s attempts to halt a case accusing it of genocide. It also supports the ultimate aims of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding document: to end impunity for serious crimes through the exercise of criminal jurisdiction nationally and, if that is not forthcoming, internationally. The good news for the ICC is that there is an oven-ready case waiting to be prosecuted. The U.N. Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, established to investigate the 2017 genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya population, has a plethora of evidence of alleged crimes, including those committed since the coup. The NUG declaration means that the precondition for the ICC to exercise jurisdiction over a situation in a state that is not party to the Rome Statute is now met. This is the same as Ukraine, also a non-party that made two such declarations. For the court then to go on to exercise jurisdiction, either the situation needs to be referred to it by one or more of the states parties to the Rome Statute, or the prosecutor needs to initiate an investigation. In Ukraine, the day after the prosecutor announced his decision to seek authorization to initiate an investigation, referrals by states parties, which currently stand at over 40, started to be made. We call on the states parties to the Rome Statute, and the prosecutor, to demonstrate that the lives of the people of Myanmar count as much as the lives of people in Ukraine. States should make referrals, and the prosecutor should seek authorization to initiate an investigation. This would go some way to address the concern that the ICC seems to be prioritizing the lives of Europeans over those in other parts of the world. Given that the NUG Declaration provides the gateway for action, the ICC prosecutor and the states parties to the Rome Statute have no excuse for further delay. The people of Myanmar have been waiting long enough for justice. States and the ICC prosecutor must act..."
Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-17
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Title: MEDIA ADVISORY: In first meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Special Envoy Heyzer states steps State Administration Council must take to de-escalate conflict and reduce suffering of Myanmar people
Description: "NAY PYI TAW – Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer met with State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw today, in her first visit to Myanmar as Special Envoy, to communicate in person the pragmatic steps to de-escalate the violence, address the multidimensional crisis and advance unfettered humanitarian assistance free of discrimination to all people in need. The Special Envoy’s meeting with the Senior General and his senior advisers is part of broader efforts by the United Nations to urgently support an effective and peaceful Myanmar-led political pathway to return to civilian rule based on the will and the needs of the people. The Special Envoy’s mandate as an impartialactor is to engage with all stakeholders in Myanmar, the region and globally consistent with the principles of the United Nations. The Special Envoy’s visit follows her extensive consultations with actors from across the political spectrum, civil society and as communities affected by the conflict. “The United Nations Secretary-General is extremely concerned about the gravity of the humanitarian, security, economic and political crisis,” Special Envoy Heyzer said. “My visit is to convey the concern of the United Nations and propose concrete steps needed to reduce the conflict and suffering of the people. UN engagement does not in any way confer legitimacy. The people of Myanmar have the right to democracy and self-determination free from fear and want, which will only be possible by the good will and efforts of all stakeholders in an inclusive process.” She added that the United Nations was focused on providing support to women in Myanmar, the protection and empowerment of whom is key to achieving peace and any economic and social transformation. The Special Envoy stated that any progress in Myanmar depended on an end to the violence and visible and significant improvements in the lives of people on the ground. Following the recent death sentences carried out against pro-democracy activists that the United Nations has strongly condemned, the Special Envoy directly urged the Senior General to impose a moratorium on all future executions. She also reiterated the United Nations Secretary-General’s call for the release of all political prisoners. “I urged the SAC to implement the Secretary-General’s appeal,” the Special Envoy said. “I also conveyed a specific request from the Australian Government that has asked for the release of Australian economist Sean Turnell. Personally, I call for the release of all children who are being detained in prisons or other facilities.” The Special Envoy amplified the latest call from the Security Council for an immediate cessation of all forms of violence, full respect for human rights and the rule of law, and full, safe and unfettered humanitarian access to all those in need. She called for immediate and specific de-escalation steps including ending aerial bombing and the burning of civilian houses and infrastructure. The Special Envoy stated her deep concern about civilian displacement across communities and the need for greater space for humanitarian actors to reach those affected with lifesaving support. She underlined that all parties must facilitate the unimpeded and immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance to all people in need without discrimination and free from instrumentalization. She highlighted the importance of delivery through all channels and raised the issue of an inclusive forum for humanitarian engagement, which several key ethnic armed organizations and other actors have asked her to establish, focusing on the emergency that is a direct result of the political crisis. The Special Envoy raised her request for a meeting with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi following her latest sentencing. “I’m deeply concerned about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s health and well-being in her current situation, and request that she can return home soon,” Special Envoy Heyzer said. “I want to have an opportunity to meet with her as soon as possible, both because I care about her personally and I believe she is a critical stakeholder for my dialogue with all parties concerned.” Ahead of her mission to Bangladesh later this month, the Special Envoy told the Senior General she plans to consult with the Government and visit the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar that host about 1 million Rohingya and other forcibly displaced people. She highlighted Myanmar’s responsibility for conducive conditions for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of refugees as well as to ensure that the Rohingya’s rights and well-being are integral to the future of a peaceful and prosperous Myanmar. The Special Envoy presented the Senior General with a copy of the UN Charter, on which the ASEAN Charter is based, and emphasized that sovereignty must come with development for all, leaving no one behind, and the promise that every individual in every country has an equal claim to dignity, respect and freedom from want or fear. The UN Charter is the foundation of the rule-based world order, the Special Envoy told the Senior General, adding that these norms and standards must be met if peace and stability are to be achieved. The Special Envoy emphasized the strong commitment of the United Nations to continue making all efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and community-based resilience support and protection services to people in need, guided by the internationally recognized principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence, and asked the Senior General to respect and support these efforts. She highlighted her continued resolve to act in a bridging role and leverage her convening power to address the protection needs and suffering of the most vulnerable and to end the conflict. Going forward, the Special Envoy and the Senior General agreed to engage in frank conversations, focusing on the need for inclusive solutions to a peaceful and democratic Myanmar, reflective of the will of the people..."
Source/publisher: UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs via United Nations Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-17
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Title: Myanmar Junta Uses UN Envoy for What It Craves: Legitimacy
Description: "The UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Myanmar has been used by the country’s military regime to enhance its legitimacy—something it has otherwise been denied by the international community due to its coup against the country’s elected government last year and the regime’s ongoing bloody crackdowns on its opponents. The envoy, Noleen Heyzer, is now in post-coup, conflict-torn Myanmar. The UN said she “will focus on addressing the deteriorating situation and immediate concerns as well as other priority areas of her mandate.” She met with the country’s military regime chief Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday afternoon and was not allowed to see the country’s ousted leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now in solitary confinement in a regime prison. Shortly before her meeting with the regime chief, however, the junta’s spokesperson said at a press conference that the meeting was the “Myanmar government’s official meeting.” “I will repeat, the UN envoy is meeting officially with the current Myanmar government,” said spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun. Following the coup in February last year, millions of Myanmar people took to the streets to reject the military takeover and refused to accept the junta as their government. The international community also declined to accept the junta as the legitimate government of Myanmar. It has refused to engage with the generals, with the exceptions of China, Russia, Japan and India. Even the UN has declined to recognize them. Instead, the world body has continued to recognize Myanmar’s ambassador from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government as the country’s representative. Since then, the regime, which has now killed more than 2,000 people in the country, has been desperately seeking recognition from other countries as Myanmar’s rightful government. Making matters worse for it, it’s also facing a contesting claim by the National Unity Government (NUG) formed by elected lawmakers from the NLD and their ethnic allies. Now, Heyzer, as the UN Secretary General’s special envoy, has helped to satisfy the regime’s craving for legitimacy. For Min Aung Hlaing, a visit by the UN envoy at a time when most of the world has turned away from him means a lot. He will simply be thinking that the UN would not bother to see him to discuss the country’s issues if it did not see him as the head of government. That’s why he invited her—and she came. Then the regime hurriedly proclaimed the event as an official meeting with the “current Myanmar government.” Heyzer has failed Myanmar’s people once again, after insulting them in February by saying they seek “negotiation” with the country’s military—the institution that has been killing them. Her visit comes at a time when diplomatic efforts to resolve the Myanmar crisis led by the UN and regional bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have made little headway, with the generals refusing to engage with their opponents. After Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Foreign Minister-cum-ASEAN special envoy on Myanmar Prak Sokhonn, Heyzer is the third dignitary working on Myanmar issues to meet the junta leader. It must be enough to make her predecessor Christine Schraner Burgener, envious. The latter’s highest achievement before leaving the position in September last year was having phone calls with the regime’s second man, Soe Win. So far, efforts by Hun Sen and Prak Sokhonn to convince the regime to stop killing its own people—a part of ASEAN’s peace plan for Myanmar—have borne no fruit. Prak Sokhonn recently admitted that not even Superman could fix the Myanmar crisis, as the regime has kept committing atrocities against civilians. Under these circumstances, Heyzer flew to Myanmar and snapped up Min Aung Hlaing’s invitation after, as the UN says, “extensive consultations with actors from across the political spectrum, civil society as well as communities affected by the ongoing conflict.” From the moment the trip was announced, however, it set alarm bells ringing. U Kyaw Zaw, spokesperson for the NUG, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that although the shadow government understood Heyzer is trying to do her job as a special envoy, “the UNSG special envoy must avoid giving legitimacy to the coup leader Min Aung Hlaing and [his governing body] the State Administration Council.” The NUG’s seriousness on the issue was evident, with its foreign minister and deputy minister also making comments on the same day. The trio of NUG officials said now is not the right time for Heyzer to visit the country, given the regime’s recent sentencing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy activists to further jail terms, as well as the executions of four activists in July. They cautioned the UN envoy to be aware of the failure of her ASEAN counterpart’s visits. In fact, after she was condemned for her power-sharing comments in February, Heyzer became the first international envoy to meet with the NUG’s parliamentary body and its relief and resettlement minister Dr Win Myat Aye to discuss issues including humanitarian assistance for Myanmar. It’s not clear if she has had more meetings with the NUG. At the time of reporting on Wednesday, details of the meeting between the UN envoy and Min Aung Hlaing were not known. Even if she did push the junta leader during the meeting to stop his soldiers from killing civilians and torching their homes, her words will be ignored. Prior to his meeting with the envoy on Wednesday, Min Aung Hlaing said at his governing body meeting on Tuesday that “if terrorist attacks continue to be carried out, we will act in accordance with our policy of anti-terrorism.” By “terrorists” he was referring to the NUG and People’s Defense Force (PDF) groups, which are waging an unwavering campaign of armed resistance against the regime across the country. His remarks imply that the junta has no plans to stop its violence. When Heyzer landed in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw on Tuesday, Scot Marciel, the former US ambassador to Myanmar, tweeted that while she was in an impossible situation, he didn’t see any value in going to meet the generals. “I mean how many senior UN and foreign officials need to be rudely rebuffed by the junta before the world stops trying to ‘persuade’ the generals to be reasonable?” the former ambassador’s Tweet reads. On the same day, the NUG said in an announcement that the UN special envoy’s visit must be directed at ending the junta’s violence, its weaponization of aid, its persecution of political prisoners, and its impunity. “Anything short of this would be an appeasement of war criminals,” it said..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-17
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Title: Amidst military rule, UN envoy travels to Myanmar for first time
Sub-title: UN special envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer travelled to the country for the first time since taking up her appointment last October.
Description: "Her visit follows the Security Council’s latest call for an end to the violence and unimpeded humanitarian access to the Southeast Asian nation. Ms. Heyzer, a women’s rights activist from Singapore, will focus on addressing the deteriorating situation there, according to the UN. News agencies cited security officials who wished to remain anonymous in reporting that Ms. Heyzer, landed in Naypyidaw on Tuesday afternoon. Ensconced in chaos Myanmar has been in chaos since the military overthrew the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi early last year followed by a bloody crackdown on protests against the coup. Despite that in April 2021 Myanmar’s military rulers had agreed to a five-point plan of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that would restore peace and stability to the country, little effort has been made to implement it. The State has since slipped into a situation that some have characterized as a civil war. Peace efforts Efforts by Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbours to revive peace have also been hampered by the country’s recent execution of four political activists, including two from the pro-democracy movement. The Security Council, including allies Russia and China, condemned the executions. Earlier this month news media said that Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who also serves as special envoy to Myanmar for the 10-member ASEAN, warned that further executions would force the regional group to reconsider how it engages with the country. Crimes against Humanity In its annual report released in early August, the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Burma found that a growing body of evidence that crimes against humanity were being committed in the country. Since the military coup, more than 2,100 civilians have been killed and nearly 15,000 arrested, according to news reports. Ms. Heyzer’s visit comes a day after a court in the military-run State convicted the ousted leader on four extra counts of corruption and added six more years in prison to her previous 11-year sentence. The UN had no details as to whether Ms. Heyzer will meet with Myanmar’s military rulers or Ms. Suu Kyi – a longtime UN demand, First visit The UN envoy’s visit follows extensive consultations with actors from across the political spectrum, civil society and communities affected by the ongoing conflict. From 1994 to 2007, Ms. Heyzer had headed the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which focuses on promoting women’s economic advancement, and from 2007 to 2014, served as the first woman Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)..."
Source/publisher: United Nations News Service
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-16
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Title: Burma/Myanmar – New prison sentence imposed on Ms Aung San Suu Kyi (16 Aug.22)
Description: "France condemns the new prison sentence passed yesterday on State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi following another arbitrary procedure. Once again, the military junta is seeking to undermine the legitimacy of democratically elected opposition members, contrary to the constructive political dialogue the Burmese people and international community wish to see. France reiterates its call for the immediate, unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners and for the cessation of violence perpetrated by the Burmese security forces. It maintains its support for ASEAN, which at the beginning of the month reaffirmed a firm, unambiguous position vis-à-vis the military regime, and for the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, whose role to find a way out of the crisis is more crucial than ever..."
Source/publisher: Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-16
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Title: National Unity Government: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs - အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ နိုင်ငံခြားရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန ကြေညာချက်အမှတ် (၁၆/၂၀၂၂)
Sub-title: Statement on the visit of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Myanmar -ကုလသမဂ္ဂအထွေထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံခရီးစဉ်အပေါ် ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်
Description: "The National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar takes note of the announcement that the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Ms. Noeleen Heyzer, will travel to Myanmar. The reported focus of Special Envoy’s visit will be to advance the UN Security Council’s calls for an immediate cessation of all forms of violence and for unimpeded humanitarian access, and to address ' the deteriorating situation and immediate concerns as well as other priority areas of her mandate'.1 Yet on the same day that the visit was announced, the illegal military junta added six years to the political imprisonment of State Counsellor H.E. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who continues to be held in solitary confinement despite repeated condemnation by the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. There is no coincidence in this timing. It is deliberate act of junta aggression against the UN - a live threat that any attempt by the Special Envoy to engage with Myanmar's democratically-elected leaders and its legitimate Government will result in swift reprisals. It also follows the terrorist junta’s extrajudicial execution of four democracy activists before the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 3 August 2022 and despite the ASEAN Chair’s public plea. Through murder and deception, the junta is attempting to hold the international community hostage. Not only has each ASEAN and UN entreaty been rebuffed, the rejections have been metered out in escalating atrocities. The Special Envoy’s visit must be directed at ending the junta’s violence, its weaponisation of aid, its persecution of political prisoners, and its impunity. Intensified efforts must also target the multiple junta-induced crises destabilising the region’s peace and security. Anything short of this would be an appeasement of war criminals. The National Unity Government remains a committed and dependable partner to the Special Envoy. Ms. Heyzer’s consultations must also include Myanmar’s Ethnic Resistance Organizations and civil society, and amplify the voices of the Myanmar people.....ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ကုလသမဂ္ဂအထွေထွေ အတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ် Ms. Noeleen Heyzer အနေဖြင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသို့ လာရောက်မည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သိရှိရပါသည်။ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်လာရောက်မည့် ခရီးစဉ်သည် ကုလသမဂ္ဂလုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက်မှုပုံစံအားလုံးကို ရပ်တန့်ရေးနှင့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အကူအညီများ အတားအဆီးမရှိ ဝင်ရောက်နိုင်ရေးတို့အား တောင်းဆိုပြီးနောက် ဆိုးရွားလာသော အခြေအနေနှင့် အရေးပေါ်ဆောင်ရွက်ရမည့်ကိစ္စရပ်များနှင့် အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်၏ လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်အတွင်းမှာရှိသော ဦးစားပေးကဏ္ဍများကို ကိုင်တွယ် ဖြေရှင်းရန်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။​ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်၏ ခရီးစဉ်ကြေညာသည့်နေ့တွင်ပင် တရားမ၀င် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုက နိုင်ငံတော်၏အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ် ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်အား ထပ်တိုးထောင်ဒဏ်ခြောက်နှစ်အား မတရားသဖြင့် ချမှတ်ခဲ့သည်။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီနှင့် အထွေထွေ ညီလာခံတို့က အကြိမ်ကြိမ် ရှုတ်ချခဲ့သည့်တိုင် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုသည် နိုင်ငံတော်၏ အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်အား ယခုကဲ့သို့ မတရားသဖြင့် ဆက်လက်အကျဉ်းချထားခြင်းပင်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ အခြေအနေမျိုးတွင် တိုက်ဆိုင်မှုဟူ၍ မရှိပါ။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စု၏ လုပ်ရပ်သည် ကုလသမဂ္ဂအား တမင်တကာ ရန်စသည့် လုပ်ရပ်ဖြစ်ပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ဒီမိုကရေစီနည်းကျ ရွေးချယ် တင်မြှောက်ထားသော ခေါင်းဆောင်များနှင့် ၎င်း၏တရားဝင်အစိုးရနှင့် ထိတွေ့ဆက်ဆံရန် အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်၏ ကြိုးပမ်းမှုမှန်သမျှသည် လျင်မြန်စွာ လက်တုံ့ပြန်ခြင်းခံရမည်ဟု အဓိပ္ပာယ်ရသည့် တိုက်ရိုက်ခြိမ်းခြောက်မှုတစ်ရပ်လည်းဖြစ်သည်။ ထို့အပြင် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုသည် အာဆီယံဉက္ကဋ္ဌ၏ လူသိရှင်ကြား တောင်းဆိုခဲ့မှုရှိခဲ့သည့်ကြားကပင် ဒီမိုကရေစီအရေး တက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူ လေးဦးအား အာဆီယံ နိုင်ငံခြားရေးဝန်ကြီးများ အစည်းအဝေးမတိုင် မီ မတရားသဖြင့် ကွပ်မျက်သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအနေဖြင့် လူသတ်မှုနှင့် လှည့်ဖြားမှုမှတစ်ဆင့် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းကို ဓားစာခံအဖြစ် ဖမ်းဆုပ်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းနေခြင်းဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုသည် အာဆီယံနှင့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂတို့၏ တောင်းဆိုချက်များကို ပယ်ချရုံသာမက အကြမ်းဖက်လုပ်ရပ်များအား ယခုထက် ပိုမိုတိုးမြှင့်လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် ရည်ရွယ်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်၏ ခရီးစဉ်သည် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စု၏ အကြမ်းဖက်လုပ်ရပ်များ အဆုံးသတ်ရေးကို ဦးတည်ရမည့်အပြင် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအနေဖြင့် ထောက်ပံ့ကူညီမှုများကို လက်နက်သဖွယ် အသုံးချနေခြင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံရေးအကျဉ်းသားများအား နှိပ်စက်ညှဉ်းပန်းခြင်းနှင့် ပြစ်ဒဏ်ပေးခြင်းတို့အား အဆုံးသတ်ရန် ဆောင်ရွက်ရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ထို့ပြင် ဒေသတွင်း ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးနှင့် လုံခြုံရေးကို မတည်မငြိမ်ဖြစ်စေသည့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုက လှုံ့ဆော်လျက်ရှိသည့် ပြဿနာ အကျပ်အတည်း များကိုလည်း ပစ်မှတ်ထားဖြေရှင်းရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အကယ်၍ ထိရောက်စွာ ဖြေရှင်းနိုင်ခြင်းမရှိပါက အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအား စစ်ရာဇဝတ်သားများအဖြစ်မှ သက်သာရာရသွားစေမည့်အဖြစ်သို့ ရောက်ရှိသွား နိုင်ပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ အထွေထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အထူးကိုယ်စားလှယ်၏ အားထားရသော မိတ်ဖက်အဖြစ် ဆက်လက်တည်ရှိနေမည်ဖြစ်ပြီး Ms. Noeleen Heyzer ၏ ဆွေးနွေးချက်များသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ တိုင်းရင်းသား တော်လှန်ရေး အဖွဲ့အစည်းများနှင့် အရပ်ဘက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ ပါဝင်ကာ မြန်မာပြည်သူလူထု၏ အသံကို ထင်ဟပ်ရမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ဖော်ပြအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Myanmar - NUG
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-16
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Title: Note to Correspondents: Travel of the Special Envoy for Myanmar
Description: "The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Noeleen Heyzer is travelling today to Myanmar. Following the latest call from the Security Council for an immediate cessation of all forms of violence and unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need, she will focus on addressing the deteriorating situation and immediate concerns as well as other priority areas of her mandate. The Special Envoy’s visit follows her extensive consultations with actors from across the political spectrum, civil society as well as communities affected by the ongoing conflict..."
Source/publisher: Secretary-General, United Nations
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-15
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Title: National Unity Government Statement (18/2022) - အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ကြေညာချက်အမှတ်(၁၈/၂၀၂၂)
Sub-title: “Statement on the joint letter addressing the United Nations Transforming Education Summit in New York” - “နယူးယောက်မြို့တွင် ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်မည့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ ပညာရေး အသွင်ပြောင်းမှုဆိုင်ရာ ညီလာခံသို့ တက်ရောက်ရန် စာရေးသားဖိတ်ကြားခဲ့မှုနှင့်စပ်လျဉ်း၍ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်”
Description: "ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် အမေရိကန် ပြည်ထောင်စု၊ နယူးယောက်မြို့တွင် ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်မည့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ ပညာရေး အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းမှု ဆိုင်ရာ ညီလာခံသို့ တက်ရောက်ရန် နိုင်ငံတကာ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး အဖွဲ့အစည်း ၁၂ ခုက စာရေးသား ဖိတ်ကြားခဲ့မှုအပေါ် ပြင်းထန်စွာ ကန့်ကွက်ပါသည်။ အဆိုပါစာတွင်မင်းအောင်လှိုင်သို့ လိပ်မူထားပြီး ဝဏ္ဏမောင်လွင် ကဲ့သို့သော အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စု အဖွဲ့ဝင်များကို မိတ္တူပေးပို့ထားသည်ကို တွေ့ရှိရပါသည်။ အဆိုပါပူးတွဲပေးပို့စာသည် မြန်မာပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးကို စော်ကားသကဲ့သို့ဖြစ်ပြီး သက်ဆိုင်ရာ အဖွဲ့အစည်း ၁၂ ခု၏ ပုံရိပ်ကို ထိခိုက်စေပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရအနေဖြင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ဆိုင်ရာ စောင့်ကြည့်လေ့လာရေးအဖွဲ့မှ ပြန်လည်တောင်းပန်စာကို တွေ့ရှိခဲ့သော်လည်း စာမှာ အလွန်တိုတောင်းသည်ကို ဝမ်းနည်းစိတ်ပျက်ဖွယ် တွေ့ရှိရပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည်သာ မြန်မာပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံး၏ တရားဝင်အစိုးရဖြစ်ပြီး ၂၀၂၀ ခုနှစ်၊ နိုဝင်ဘာလတွင် တရားဝင်ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်ထားသော လွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားလှယ်များဖြင့် ဖွဲ့စည်း ထားခြင်းဖြစ်ပြီး မြန်မာပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝန်းများမှ အားပေး ထောက်ခံမှုကို တစ်ခဲနက် ရရှိထားသော အစိုးရဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရအနေဖြင့် သိသာထင်ရှားသည့် နယ်မြေထိန်းချုပ်မှု၊ သင့်တင့်သော အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးလည်ပတ်မှုနှင့် အစိုးရယန္တရားကိုလည်း လည်ပတ်ဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂလုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီ၊ အထွေထွေညီလာခံနှင့် အထွေထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်ရုံးတို့မှလည်း အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရခေါင်းဆောင်များကို တရားဝင် အသိအမှတ်ပြုမှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်အုပ်စု ခေါင်းဆောင် မင်းအောင်လှိုင်သည် လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှု စသည့် စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှု များကို ကျူးလွန်နေသည့်သူဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၂၀၁၈ ခုနှစ်တွင် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ လွတ်လပ်သော နိုင်ငံတကာ အချက်အလက်ရှာဖွေရေးမစ်ရှင်မှ မင်းအောင်လှိုင်အား ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ ရိုဟင်ဂျာအရေး အပါအဝင် လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှု၊ လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှု၊ စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုများ နှင့်စပ်လျဉ်း၍ အရေးယူစစ်ဆေးနိုင်ရန် အစီရင်ခံစာရေးသွင်းခဲ့ပါသည်။ အဆိုပါကိစ္စရပ်များသည် ယခု နိုင်ငံတကာတရားရုံး (ICJ) တွင် တရားစွဲဆိုမခံရခင်ကတည်းက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖြစ်ပွားလျက်ရှိနေခြင်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီ၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ အထူးစောင့်ကြည့် ရေးအဖွဲ့နှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ လွတ်လပ်သောစုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးမှုယန္တရားတို့မှ စစ်ဆေး ထုတ်ပြန်ချက် များအရ မင်းအောင်လှိုင်သည် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စု၏ ခေါင်းဆောင်ဖြစ်သည့်အလျောက် အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှုများ၊ လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများ အတွက် များစွာတာဝန်ရှိပါသည်။ အဆိုပါ နိုင်ငံတကာ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး အဖွဲ့အစည်း ၁၂ ခုက ဖိတ်ကြားစာပေးပို့ခဲ့ခြင်းနှင့်စပ်လျဉ်း၍ အမြန်ဆုံးပြန်လည်ရုတ်သိမ်း၍ လူသိရှင်ကြားတောင်းပန်ရန်နှင့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအား မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ တရားဝင်အစိုးရတစ်ရပ်အနေဖြင့် အသိအမှတ်ပြုသည့် စာအပြည့်အစုံအား ရေးသားထုတ်ပြန်ရန် မျှော်လင့်ပါသည်။ တစ်ချိန်တည်းမှာပင် အဆိုပါ အဖွဲ့ ၁၂ ဖွဲ့အနေဖြင့် လွဲမှားသွားမှုအပေါ် အလေးအနက် ပြန်လည်သုံးသပ်ရန်နှင့် ယင်းကဲ့သို့ အမှားအယွင်းမျိုး နောက်တစ်ကြိမ် ထပ်မံမဖြစ်ပွားစေရန် သေချာဂရုပြုရမည်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ထိုသို့ပြန်လည်သုံး သပ်ရာတွင် ၄င်းတို့၏ မူဝါဒများ၊ ပရိုဂရမ်များနှင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများအားလုံးသည် မြန်မာပြည်သူ ပြည်သားများကို တိုက်ရိုက်အကျိုးပြုကြောင်း သေချာစေရမည် ဖြစ်သည်။ ပူးတွဲရေးသားထားသည့်စာတွင် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ ပညာရေးအသွင်ကူးပြောင်းမှုဆိုင်ရာညီလာခံသည် “ပိုမိုကောင်းမွန်သည့် နိုင်ငံတကာပညာရေးသို့ တက်လှမ်းနိုင်ရန် ရည်ရွယ်သည်” ဟူ၍ ဖော်ပြထားပါသည်။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီ၏ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ အထူးစောင့်ကြည့်ရေးအဖွဲ့မှ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီသို့ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇွန်လ ၂၉ ရက်နေ့က ပေးပို့သည့်စာတွင် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုအနေဖြင့် ပညာရေးစနစ်ပြိုလဲစေရန် ရည်ရွယ်၍ ကျောင်းများ နှင့် ကျောင်းသား /သူများအပေါ် တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများ ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့ပြီး အနည်းဆုံး (၇.၈) မီလံယံ ကျောင်းနေအရွယ်ကလေးများ၏ ပညာသင်ကြားမှု အခွင့်အရေးများ ဆုံးရှုံးခဲ့သည်ဟု ဖော်ပြထားပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရနှင့် အခြားသော သက်ဆိုင်ရာ တိုင်းရင်းသားအဖွဲ့အစည်းများအနေဖြင့် အဆိုပါ ပညာရေးလစ်ဟာမှုများကို ဖြည့်ဆည်းနိုင်ရန်ရည်ရွယ်၍ လက်လှမ်းမှီသမျှ ကလေးသူငယ်များအား ပညာသင်ကြားခွင့်ရရှိရန် ဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ကမ္ဘာ့ပညာရေး၊ သိပ္ပံနှင့် ယဉ်ကျေးမှု အဖွဲ့အစည်း (ယူနက်စကို) အနေဖြင့် စက်တင်ဘာလတွင် ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်မည့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ ပညာရေး အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းမှုဆိုင်ရာ ညီလာခံသို့ တက်ရောက်ရန် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအဖွဲ့ ကိုယ်စားလှယ်ကိုသာ အသိအမှတ်ပြု ဖိတ်ကြားသင့်ပါသည်။ ပူးတွဲပါ အဖွဲ့အစည်း ၁၂ ခုအနေဖြင့်လည်း ကမ္ဘာ့ပညာရေး၊ သိပ္ပံနှင့် ယဉ်ကျေးမှု အဖွဲ့အစည်း (ယူနက်စကို) ကိုသာ ကိုယ်စားပြုသင့်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-13
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Title: National Unity Government Statement (18/2022) - “Statement on the joint letter addressing the United Nations Transforming Education Summit in New York”
Description: "The National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar expresses its grave concern and extreme disappointment at a joint letter issued by 12 organisations on 11 August 2022. The letter, which discusses the upcoming United Nations Transforming Education Summit in New York, was addressed to Min Aung Hlaing and was copied to other junta members including Wunna Maung Lwin. The joint letter is supremely insulting to the Myanmar people and damaging to reputations of the 12 co-signatories. While the National Unity Government acknowledges the subsequent public apology issued by Human Rights Watch, this too falls woefully short. The National Unity Government is the legitimate representative of the Myanmar people. It was established by parliamentarians who were democratically elected in November 2020. It enjoys the popular support of the Myanmar people and large segments of the international community. It exercises significant and effective territorial control, manages ordinary governmental operations and delivers governmental services. The UN Security Council, General Assembly, and Secretary-General have each affirmed the continuing authority of the National Unity Government’s leaders. Min Aung Hlaing, however, is a war criminal responsible for atrocity crimes. In 2018, the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar called for Min Aung Hlaing to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including against the Rohingya in Rakhine State. An associated genocide case is active before the International Court of Justice. Since he has presided over his terrorist junta, Min Aung Hlaing has also been found responsible for grave human rights violations and probable war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. The National Unity Government therefore expects the 12 signatory organisations to issue a fuller apology to the people of Myanmar that also recognises the National Unity Government as the legitimate representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. At the same time, the 12 organisations must urgently determine how this serious mistake occurred and put in place procedures to prevent a repeat. Such a review would be consistent with the repeated calls on organisations and their donors to ensure that all policies, programs and interventions directly benefit the Myanmar people. In their joint letter, the organisations called on states to use the UN Transforming Education Summit to provide a ‘strong foundation for stronger international standards’ on education. As the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar reported to the UN Human Rights Council on 29 June 2022, junta attacks “on schools and children and the collapse of the state education system have deprived at least 7.8 million children of access to education”. The National Unity Government and its ethnic partner organisations are closing this gap by providing Myanmar’s children and youth with access to education. It follows that UNESCO must accredit the Myanmar representatives presented by the National Unity Government at the UN Transforming Education Summit in September. The 12 signatory organisations should make representations to UNESCO to this effect..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-13
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Title: Myanmar: Enduring support for growing humanitarian needs
Description: "Sometimes, in our work, community members stop just to talk with our colleagues. They share stories, feelings or experiences – seeking distraction or relief from stress. "I had heard about the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) but had never met anyone working with the organization before," a teacher in Mindat recently told a member of the ICRC team visiting the area as part of our humanitarian response. "When I did meet them, I felt quite sad because I realized that I am also one of those who have been internally displaced," he said. In June this year, the ICRC returned to Mindat in Chin State to provide support to communities displaced by conflict. This was our fifth trip to the area since clashes escalated more than a year ago. We were able to help around 900 people by supplying basic cooking materials such as rice, oil, salt and peas as well as providing hygiene supplies and water storage buckets. "We really appreciate receiving these items in this [rainy] season, as they can be hard for us to buy," that same teacher told our colleague. A man caring for his 90-year-old father talked to the team about the challenges many in the community are facing. "We cannot take sides in this situation; instead, we are fearful of everyone, which makes neutrality essential for us," he said. "If we don't send our kids to school, they'll grow too old and be unable to complete their education... but we are also reluctant to enroll our kids in school because we never know when the fighting may start again." Needing to stay and care for his father, the man is unable to go elsewhere in search of work or safety. In Mindat, many doors and windows remain closed. Some families spend the day working on upland farms and return home in the evening. Questions about how families are planning to access food during the rainy season are often met with silence. The monsoon season pummels the region with strong rains. These rains can cause landslides, which can damage roads and make travel unsafe. In these months, access to Mindat – high up in the hilly regions of southern Chin – can be a challenge for civilians, businesses and humanitarians alike. Despite the challenges and though the main market remains closed, more groceries and eateries have emerged compared to our last visit to Mindat in March. "I am pleased that the team was able to reach Mindat just as the rainy season began, both for the community and for the ICRC," said Kyaw Myint Tun, who led the ICRC response in Mindat. "Because of our previous experiences we all know how tough it is for the local people and international relief providers to get to hilly Chin State, like Mindat." People in Chin State – from Mindat and beyond – still require urgent humanitarian assistance. Clashes are ongoing and civilians continue to be caught in the crossfire. We plan to return to help meet those humanitarian needs soon..."
Source/publisher: International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-12
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Title: Malaysian FM Calls on ASEAN to Engage With Myanmar’s National Unity Govt
Description: "Malaysia’s foreign minister on Wednesday urged member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to engage directly with the Myanmar junta’s opponents, and to bring other countries into efforts to bring peace to the military-ruled country. During a visit to Thailand, Saifuddin Abdullah said it was of the “utmost importance” that ASEAN members morally support Myanmar’s people and engage with opposition groups formed after the coup, including the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government that has been designated as a terrorist group by the regime. Since the military coup last year, Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil due to the regime’s brutal crackdowns on the opposition and popular armed resistance against military rule. ASEAN has been trying to mediate peace in the country since then by engaging only with the junta. The bloc’s efforts, however, have been criticized for making little progress. The regime has killed more than 2,000 people so far. “Now it is one-sided, we are only engaging the junta,” said the Malaysian foreign minister. Saifuddin said ASEAN foreign ministers discussed last week the possibility of seeking support from third-party states to help with the the bloc-led peace process. “Some of us brought it to the table that if ASEAN cannot do it alone then we will probably have to engage some of our ASEAN dialogue partners,” he said, without naming any countries. Among the 10 ASEAN states, Malaysia is one of the few that has been critical of the regime. In May, Saifuddin proposed that the regional grouping, which admitted Myanmar as a member under a previous military regime in 1997, consider informal engagement with the NUG, especially in the area of humanitarian relief. The junta’s Foreign Ministry condemned Saifuddin’s suggestion, calling it “irresponsible and reckless.” He met his NUG counterpart Daw Zin Mar Aung on the sidelines of the US-ASEAN special summit, becoming the first minister from the bloc to meet an official from Myanmar’s shadow government publicly. The Myanmar issue also dominated last week’s ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. In a statement following the meeting, the ministers showed their disappointment at the military junta’s lack of commitment to implementing the bloc’s peace plan, known as the Five-Point Consensus. Adopted last year, the plan calls on the regime to halt all violence in the country immediately and meet with all stakeholders to discuss ways of finding peace. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said there is a real danger that the political crisis in Myanmar could turn into a civil war, given the lack of progress on peace plans that the country has agreed with ASEAN. “I have to be very frank. It’s very dire. I think there is a real danger that the coup is sliding into a civil war. There’s been no progress on the Asean Five-Point Consensus,” Dr. Balakrishnan said..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-11
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Title: Atrocity Alert No. 312: Myanmar (Burma), Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and DR Congo
Sub-title: Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.
Description: "NEW REPORTS REVEAL EVIDENCE OF ATROCITIES IN MYANMAR Crimes against humanity continue to be systematically committed in Myanmar (Burma), according to a report released by the UN’s International Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) on 9 August. Violent conflict -which has engulfed Myanmar since the military launched a coup in February 2021 – is disproportionately affecting women and children. The IIMM documented evidence of sexual and gender-based crimes, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as crimes against children perpetrated by members of the security forces and armed groups. Children in Myanmar have also been tortured, conscripted and arbitrarily detained, including as proxies for their parents. “Crimes against women and children are amongst the gravest international crimes, but they are also historically underreported and under-investigated,” Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the IIMM, said in a press release. “Perpetrators of these crimes need to know that they cannot continue to act with impunity. We are collecting and preserving the evidence so that they will one day be held to account.” The IIMM’s report was released two weeks before the five-year anniversary of the so-called “clearance operations” by the military against the Rohingya, a distinct Muslim ethnic minority, in Rakhine State. The operations were characterized by brutal violence and grave human rights violations on a mass scale. As a result, over 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to Bangladesh. Severe violations of universal human rights and the risk of atrocity crimes persists for the Rohingya population remaining in Myanmar as the military continues to perpetrate widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses against civilians, particularly those from ethnic minority populations. On 4 August Reuters released an investigative report based on a cache of thousands of official documents that provides significant insight into how Myanmar’s military planned the Rohingya genocide. The documents, collected by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, reveal discussions and planning by senior military officials weeks before the “clearance operations” began, as well as their efforts to hide the operations from the international community. Liam Scott, Myanmar Expert at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “these reports clearly show that the previous government of Myanmar and the military systematically targeted populations within their borders, and that the military junta continues to do so. Based on the growing evidence of past and ongoing atrocity crimes, the UN Security Council should urgently refer the situation to the International Criminal Court and impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar. Moreover, additional states should formally intervene in The Gambia v. Myanmar Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice.”..."
Source/publisher: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-10
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Title: Myanmar: Japan-Trained General Linked to Abusive Forces
Sub-title: Tokyo Should Suspend Training, Cut All Military Ties
Description: "(Tokyo) – A Myanmar army general who received military training in Japan served as a high-ranking officer in a regional command that has been implicated in serious abuses in ethnic minority areas, Human Rights Watch said today. From August 2021 to July 2022, Brig. Gen. Tin Soe was based at Eastern Command headquarters, which oversees operations in southern Shan and Karenni (Kayah) States and whose forces were responsible for a massacre of civilians and other atrocities. The Japanese government should immediately halt its training program with Myanmar and investigate whether program participants have been involved in operations violating the laws-of-war. “Myanmar graduates of Japan’s military training program are serving in conflict areas where Myanmar military abuses are rampant,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch. “The Japanese government should stop playing with fire and immediately end its support of Myanmar’s military.” Then-Colonel Tin Soe received training at Japan’s Ground Self Defense Force Staff College from August 2016 to March 2017, based on information from the All Japan Defense Association and a Defense Ministry document. Tin Soe served as military attaché for the Myanmar embassy in Tokyo from 2019 to 2021, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter and state media reports. Two sources said that Tin Soe left Japan after the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar and was appointed a brigadier general. He was deployed to the Eastern Command headquarters in Shan State’s Taunggyi in August 2021. In July 2022, Tin Soe was relocated to Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, a source said. The Eastern Command, one of 14 regional commands of Myanmar’s armed forces, controls more than 40 infantry battalions in southern Shan and Karenni States, areas that have had increased fighting since the coup. Since the renewal of military operations in the region in May 2021, the United Nations, human rights groups, and independent media outlets have documented extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, looting, and arson, as well as offensives targeting civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and use of landmines by Myanmar forces under the Eastern Command. On December 24, 2021, in Karenni State’s Hpruso township, security forces summarily executed at least 39 people, including 4 children and 2 staff members from the international aid group Save the Children. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that many of the victims were bound, gagged, and showed signs of torture, and some may have been burned alive. “It is one of the most shocking and depressing things I have ever experienced,” said a doctor who performed autopsies on the victims. In February, the European Union sanctioned Brig. Gen. Ni Lin Aung, head of the Eastern Command and Tin Soe’s superior at the time, stating that he “directly commands the units in the State of Kayah, including those responsible for that massacre.” The EU also sanctioned Lt. Gen. Aung Zaw Aye, the commander of the Bureau of Special Operations No. 2, which oversees the Eastern Command. Light Infantry Battalion 531, which operates under the Eastern Command, was implicated in the massacre, as was Light Infantry Division (LID) 66. A LID 66 commander told Amnesty International that all ground operations in Karenni State were overseen by the Eastern Command. Other abuses against civilians have been reported in military operations against anti-junta armed groups and ethnic forces in Karenni State. The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar reported in March, “Instead of limiting its attacks to combatants from these groups, the military has targeted civilians, including by striking the region’s larger towns. The military has also pursued civilians as they flee, launching attacks on places where IDPs [internally displaced persons] are sheltering.” In May, Amnesty International reported on abuses carried out during Eastern Command operations including “unlawful attacks, village burning, pillage, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, and persecution of ethnic Karenni communities.” Infantry Battalion 102, under an Eastern Command combat division, committed several indiscriminate shelling attacks. Amnesty also reported on the military’s use of antipersonnel landmines “on a massive scale” in Karenni State, which the Karenni Human Rights Group said were responsible for killing or seriously injuring at least 20 civilians since June 2021. In May, the Shan Human Rights Foundation identified four infantry battalions under Eastern Command linked to human rights violations in southern Shan State’s Ywangan township, including the massacre of nine villagers in mid-April. Since 2015, the Japanese government has accepted cadets and officers from Myanmar under article 100 of the Self-Defense Forces Act, which permits training and educating foreign nationals in Defense Ministry facilities with the defense minister’s approval. In 2021, following the Myanmar coup, Japan accepted two cadets and two officers from Myanmar. In 2022, Japan again accepted two cadets and two officers from Myanmar for training. Previously, Human Rights Watch and Justice For Myanmar identified Hlwan Moe, a Myanmar Air Force lieutenant colonel trained by the Japanese government who was based at Magway Air Base in Magway region. Aircraft from the air base have been implicated in possible indiscriminate airstrikes since the coup. The Myanmar military has also committed summary executions, arson, and other abuses in Magway region. Human Rights Watch in December 2021 said that the Japanese government should immediately suspend the training program because it risks making Japan complicit in military atrocities. A Japanese Defense Ministry official responded that the ministry did not have any information about what the cadets and officers trained in Japan were doing once back in Myanmar. However, on April 26, during a parliamentary committee session on security, a defense official said the ministry “knows to a certain extent” what “positions” these program participants currently hold, but declined to disclose any details due to Japan’s “relationship” with “the other country.” On June 22, during an ASEAN defense ministers meeting, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said it will be “difficult to accept” officers for training if they are “complicit in oppression against civilians” once back in Myanmar. For decades, the Myanmar military has been responsible for war crimes in long-running armed conflicts with ethnic armed groups, and crimes against humanity and acts of genocide against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State, Human Rights Watch said. The Japanese government has called for a restoration of democratic rule in Myanmar and the release of elected government officials, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto Myanmar leader prior to the coup. On March 28, 2021, Japan’s Defense Ministry issued a joint statement with 11 other countries criticizing the military’s attacks against “unarmed civilians.” The Japanese government halted new non-humanitarian Official Development Assistance projects earlier in 2021, while allowing existing aid projects to continue. The Japanese Diet passed a resolution in June 2021 that condemned the coup and called for a “swift restoration of the democratic political system.” “The longer the Japanese government continues to train Myanmar soldiers and officers, the more harm it does to its own international reputation, as well as the lives of Myanmar people,” Kasai said. “As a country that wants to be recognized for promoting human rights, Japan should stand up for the rights of Myanmar’s people and cut defense ties with the junta.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-10
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Title: National Unity Government Weekly Press Update (15/2022) - အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ အပတ်စဉ်သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်ချက် (၁၅/၂၀၂၂)
Description: "1. NUG warns 8 unregistered Singaporean and Chinese investment companies to stop operation unconditionally [31/07/2022]...2. 3. Min Aung Hlaing’s mansion, located at 6 1⁄2 miles in Yangon, would be sold at 7 Million US dollars in shares. [5/08/2022]...3. NUG launches monthly support program for healthcare profes- sionals [03/08/2022]...4. NUG Foreign Minister remarks that condemnation, and attempts to support the democratic forces through humanitarian aid are proven to be of no use for the people of Myanmar..[30/07/2022]...5. Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun urges the international communi- ties not to let military’s atrocities continue...6. MOD plans to carry out fund raising campaign titled “Project Skywalk” that aims to increase supports to strengthening drone operations [04/08/2022]...7. NUG launch labour law portal [05/08/2022]..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-09
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Title: Press Release: Evidence of crimes against humanity in Myanmar escalate, with women and children severely impacted, according to Myanmar Mechanism Annual Report
Description: "Crimes against humanity continue to be systematically committed in Myanmar, with ongoing conflicts severely impacting women and children, according to the evidence gathered to date by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (Mechanism) and outlined in its Annual Report released today. The Mechanism has collected more than three million information items from almost 200 sources since starting operations three years ago, the Report notes. This includes interview statements, documentation, videos, photographs, geospatial imagery and social media material. The available information indicates that sexual and gender-based crimes, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, and crimes against children have been perpetrated by members of the security forces and armed groups. According to the Report, children in Myanmar have been tortured, conscripted and arbitrarily detained, including as proxies for their parents. “Crimes against women and children are amongst the gravest international crimes, but they are also historically underreported and under-investigated,” said Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Mechanism. “Our team has dedicated expertise to ensure targeted outreach and investigations so that these crimes can ultimately be prosecuted. Perpetrators of these crimes need to know that they cannot continue to act with impunity. We are collecting and preserving the evidence so that they will one day be held to account.” According to the Report, “there are ample indications that since the military takeover in February 2021, crimes have been committed in Myanmar on a scale and in a manner that constitutes a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population” and the nature of potential criminality is also expanding. This includes the execution of four individuals by Myanmar’s military on 25 July 2022, which was carried out after the Report was prepared. The Report is released just two weeks ahead of the five-year commemoration of clearance operations which resulted in the displacement of nearly one million Rohingya people. Most of the Rohingya who were deported or forcibly displaced at that time are still in camps for refugees or internally displaced persons. “While the Rohingya consistently express their desire for a safe and dignified return to Myanmar, this will be very difficult to achieve unless there is accountability for the atrocities committed against them, including through prosecutions of the individuals most responsible for those crimes,” said Koumjian. “The continued plight of the Rohingya and the continuing violence in Myanmar illustrate the important role of the Mechanism to facilitate justice and accountability and help deter further atrocities.” With the consent of its sources of information, the Mechanism is sharing relevant evidence to support international justice proceedings currently underway at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM or Mechanism) was created by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and other violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011. It aims to facilitate justice and accountability by preserving and organizing this evidence and preparing case files for use in future prosecutions of those responsible in national, regional and international courts..."
Source/publisher: Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-09
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Title: Report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (A/HRC/51/4)
Description: "Summary The present document is the fourth report submitted by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar to the Human Rights Council pursuant to resolution 39/2 of 27 September 2018, and it covers the Mechanism’s activities from 16 June 2021 to 30 June 2022. In August 2022, the Mechanism will complete its third year of operations. August will also mark the five-year commemoration of the 2017 clearance operations in Rakhine State, which led to the displacement of nearly 1 million Rohingya people. Tragically for the Rohingya and all the peoples of Myanmar, progress on ending impunity and ensuring accountability for crimes committed remains limited. Established for the purpose of facilitating justice and accountability efforts, the Mechanism continues to collect and analyse a substantial amount of information on the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011, including sexual and gender-based crimes and crimes against and affecting children. The information collected and analysed thus far includes evidence that reinforces the Mechanism’s assessment in its previous annual report that crimes against humanity continue to be systematically committed in Myanmar. Furthermore, the information includes evidence of intensified and sustained violence and the existence of various armed conflicts within Myanmar. Despite increasing challenges, the Mechanism seized opportunities to further deepen its collection and analytical activities, increase testimonial evidence, enhance specialized capacities, deploy cutting-edge technology and strengthen engagement with a range of stakeholders. Having made over 120 formal requests for information and assistance and engaged with nearly 200 sources and information providers, the Mechanism’s repository now consists of nearly 3,000,000 information items, including interview statements, documentation, videos, photographs, geospatial imagery and social media material. The evidence collected will facilitate the Mechanism’s efforts to build files that prove the commission of serious international crimes related to priority incidents and in relation to the individuals most responsible for the crimes. The Mechanism aims to facilitate justice for the people of Myanmar, including in proceedings before the International Court of Justice, ongoing investigations before the International Criminal Court, the ongoing investigation by judicial authorities of Argentina and future relevant jurisdictions. The Mechanism remains steadfast in its commitment to engage with all parts of the international community, in particular Member States in the Asia-Pacific region, in order to demonstrate its value as an effective contributor to justice and accountability for the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: UN Human Rights Council (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-09
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Title: Dragging Russia Into the Myanmar Conflict
Description: "It might sound cynical, but with Myanmar becoming more like Syria or South Sudan every day, it seems only fitting that Russia’s foreign minister visited Naypyitaw last week to provide some much needed moral and political support to the condemned regime. When Myanmar held its Armed Forces Day on March 27 last year, commander-in-chief and coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in his speech called Russia a “true and loyal friend”. Why? Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin was the highest-ranking foreign dignitary at the event in Naypyitaw. Two days later, Russia called Myanmar a “reliable ally and strategic partner.” When Russia invaded Ukraine, the regime backed the Kremlin, its spokesman saying that Russia was still a powerful nation that plays a role in keeping the balance of power for world peace. To this day, Russia remains one of the key arms suppliers to Myanmar’s military, while Russia has provided a postgraduate education to at least 7,000 Myanmar officers since 2001. Moscow has provided fighter jets, helicopters and air defense systems to Myanmar and it is no secret that the regime leaders prefer military hardware from Russia over China. But now, bilateral ties are not limited to military-to-military relations. Moscow seeks to deepen diplomatic, economic, trade and security relations with Myanmar. Last week, Moscow’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov visited Myanmar and met with top leaders including Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Isolated Myanmar’s leaders, shunned from a regional ministers’ meeting that was being held in Cambodia at the same time, welcomed Lavrov with broad smiles, to demonstrate that the regime has a powerful friend. However, the handshake between Lavrov and Min Aung Hlaing looked more like a meeting of partners in crime. Lavrov’s stopover in Myanmar before the minister’s attendance at the ASEAN regional meeting no doubt set alarm bells ringing in regional capitals and for Myanmar’s opposition. During his brief visit, which was held amid high security, the regime laid out the red carpet for Lavrov, with two military helicopters escorting his convoy from the airport to the hotel and his meetings. During his working visit, regime Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin also hosted a working luncheon for the Russian delegation at the Aureum Palace Hotel, owned by Myanmar crony Teza, one of the main brokers of arms deals between the Myanmar military and Russia. Lavrov made clear where Moscow stands to Myanmar ministers, who could not conceal their delight at the working luncheon. He said the Russian government was “in solidarity with the efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation in the country,” adding, “We appreciate the traditionally friendly nature of our partnership, which is not affected by any opportunistic processes.” Russia and Myanmar established diplomatic relations in 1948 and next year the two countries will celebrate the diamond jubilee anniversary of their ties. Lavrov described Myanmar as a “friendly and longstanding partner”, adding that the two nations “have a very solid foundation for building up cooperation in a wide range of areas”. Calling Russia, a “true and loyal friend” is not wrong; in fact, Russia (along with China) has been loyal in backing the regime at the UN Security Council. As permanent members of the council, the two major allies have exercised their veto power to block international sanctions against the Myanmar regime. In his remark, Lavrov made no mention of the junta’s daily brutal campaign and air raids against civilians and the opposition, which is understandable; Russia’s sophisticated jet fighters and helicopters have been deployed to attack the population, villages and armed resistance in Myanmar. The regime in Myanmar is isolated and faces sanctions, as well as condemnation at home and abroad. It has also struggled to counter an armed resistance over the past year. Since the Ukraine invasion, Moscow faces Western sanctions and is in a long and costly military campaign there. Min Aung Hlaing has chosen to wreak utter devastation. He has sent government leaders to prisons, including ousted State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Last month, he ordered the execution of prominent activists including a lawmaker. There is no turning back. He was pleased to receive Lavrov at the Presidential Palace to show that he has a friend in a high place. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar described the two nations’ ambitions to become “permanent friendly countries and permanent allies” who will aid each other to “manage their internal affairs without external interference.” But… Dragging Russia into the conflict in Myanmar will have major consequences. Three major players are now involved in the conflict in Myanmar: the West (chiefly the US), Russia and China. Perhaps it is easy to read the US reaction, but how Beijing sees Lavrov’s visit will be intriguing. In June, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told Wunna Maung Lwin that China pledged to support the military regime “no matter how the situation changes” in Myanmar over the coming months and years. China’s substantial economic and strategic interests in Myanmar are vast; moreover China’s influence and political clout is, compared to Russia, extensive. Still, while Beijing isn’t betting on the regime alone, its unequivocal support for the junta suggests its analysts believe the regime will eventually prevail over the anti-coup resistance, that outside support for the resistance movement will only prolong the inevitable, and that the regime offers the most likely route towards the stability necessary for the advancement of China’s substantial economic and strategic interests in the country. Beijing has allies in the country, while it is expected that Moscow will stick with the regime. Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations in the north have forged closer relations with China and depend on the powerful neighbor. China can only increase its support to these groups. On the Taiwan issue, meanwhile, China has halted cooperation with the US over critical issues and it will be difficult to seek any understanding on Myanmar due to the escalation of tensions. Last year, the United States and China brokered an agreement that will effectively block Myanmar’s military rulers from addressing the United Nations’ General Assembly, dealing a blow to the junta’s quest for international legitimacy. For its part, the West (including the US) supports the democratic opposition and shadow civilian government, the National Unity Government, but so far, no arms support has been involved. The US has however increased its humanitarian assistance and support for opposition and civil society groups since the coup. The US recently asked countries in the region to engage with the NUG, which has urged the international community to provide arms to its forces fighting against the country’s military regime. In June, the US State Department’s counselor urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to engage with the NUG, saying the country’s political crisis cannot be resolved by engaging only with the military regime. The US’s political support is limited, however. But the opposition in Myanmar has urged Washington to do more. Meanwhile, Russia’s assertive engagement with the regime in Naypyitaw only deepens. Myanmar has become a playground; dragging Russia in to play a bigger role in Myanmar sounds very ominous..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-08
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Title: Myanmar: ASEAN approach requires a reboot to end horrific crimes by the Myanmar military
Description: "As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marks its 55th anniversary today, Amnesty International urges the regional bloc to acknowledge the failure of its five-point plan published in April 2021 to end the violence and increasing human rights violations in Myanmar. “ASEAN must prove it is not a toothless body but acts decisively to hold the Myanmar military to account for its atrocious human rights violations. The military has decades of blood on its hands and will continue to trample on the lives and rights of millions of people in Myanmar if it is not made to face the consequences of its crimes,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns. “In the face of the continuing atrocities – including executions following unfair trials, extrajudicial killings and torture committed by the Myanmar military – ASEAN must swiftly adopt a more robust course of action so that military leaders end the escalating violent repression they have unleashed since the February 2021 coup.” To reinforce this message, Amnesty International projected the words “ASEAN must act now!” onto the building of the ASEAN headquarters in Jakarta on Monday. Since February 2021, the Myanmar military has systematically cracked down on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters nationwide, forcing 700,000 people from their homes, killing over 2,000 people and arresting almost 15,000 individuals. “For ASEAN to retain its credibility, it must change its approach to help end the country-wide bloodshed in Myanmar. ASEAN, collectively as a bloc and as individual member states, must also push for justice and accountability in Myanmar. It is imperative that ASEAN plays a constructive rather than obstructionist role and encourages other members of the international community to maximize pressure on the Myanmar military,” Ming Yu Hah said. “We urge ASEAN to demand immediate action from the Myanmar military, including the release of all those who are arbitrarily detained. ASEAN must also address other urgent needs, including committing to the non-refoulement of refugees or anybody else fleeing violence in Myanmar, facilitating desperately needed humanitarian assistance, and adding its voice to calls for a global arms embargo.” Amnesty International’s Indonesia office was joined by a number of Indonesian civil society groups on Monday as the message to ASEAN was projected onto the organization’s Jakarta HQ. During an ASEAN summit in Jakarta in 2021, Amnesty International reminded Indonesia of its obligation under international law to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar military officials on credible allegations of responsibility for crimes against humanity in Myanmar. “Myanmar’s military has made a mockery of ASEAN’s ‘Five-Point Consensus’ to reduce violence following the country’s military coup in 2021,” Ming Yu Hah said. “Instead of implementing the agreement, Myanmar’s military has continued to perpetrate grave human rights violations against the population of 54 million.” In the latest example of its abusive treatment of the Myanmar people, the military executed four men in July after grossly unfair trails – the first executions since the 1980s – with more than 70 people on death row post-coup. In research published in April, Amnesty International recorded increasing state repression in Myanmar, including shootings and beatings against many peaceful protesters. Testimonies indicated that plainclothes police officers are disguising themselves as fruit sellers and trishaw drivers to spy on anyone daring to express dissent. In retaliation against activists, the military has raided their homes and arrested their family members. A report by Amnesty International published in July showed that the Myanmar military is committing war crimes by laying antipersonnel landmines on a massive scale in and around villages in Kayah (Karenni) State. A further report published by Amnesty International on 2 August documented the Myanmar military’s use of torture tactics in detention, including inflicting sexual and gender-based violence and psychological torture. Amnesty’s investigation found that the Myanmar military also committed enforced disappearances and subjected detainees to torture and other ill-treatment in detention centres..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-08
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Title: BURMA COUP WATCH FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2022: Junta’s executions spark global outcry as opposition promises payback
Description: "As of 29 Jul, there had been at least 14,070 armed clashes and attacks, resulting in the displacement of some 866,400 people since the coup began. Junta troops continued to slash their way through the country in July, torturing and killing civilians, burning people alive, and torching villages. • Junta forces have killed at least 2,138 civilians and arrested 14,917 as of 29 Jul. The regime continued to target former officials and NLD members, as well as perceived opponents and their families. Reports suggested that the junta was installing facial recognition CCTV systems in several cities to beef up its surveillance capabilities. • The regime sparked global outcry by executing four political prisoners, including an MP, the first executions in decades. Opposition forces staged protest actions and vowed to step up resistance, as local media sources said the junta was preparing to execute 41 more inmates in Yangon. • Local civil society reported an increase in violence against women since the coup, with 1,835 cases documented in 2021 and 1,158 during Jan-Jun 2022. Women in conflict-affected areas reportedly suffered some of the most horrific abuses. • The ICJ dismissed the regime’s preliminary objections in The Gambia vs Myanmar case, allowing the proceedings to move forward. The NUG welcomed the ruling, saying it stood ready to cooperate with international accountability efforts. • The World Bank projected a mere 3% growth in 2021-22, warning that political and economic uncertainty had severely damaged Burma’s financial system. The junta further damaged the economy by tightening forex restrictions as inflation continued to hit all sectors hard. • French oil and gas firm TotalEnergies withdrew from Burma after transferring some of its shares to junta-controlled company MOGE, thus ignoring civil society calls to exit responsibly. • The junta hosted its first high-level regional meeting, which was attended by China’s Foreign Minister. • ASEAN barred the regime from attending a high level meeting while allowing it to chair another. Malaysia further hardened its stance against the junta, repeating calls for the bloc to engage with the NUG..."
Source/publisher: ALTSEAN-Burma,  Asia Democracy Network,  Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development,  Burma Human Rights Network,  Initiatives for International Dialogue,  International Federation for Human Rights,  Progressive Voice and US Campaign for Burma
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-05
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Title: Myanmar Emergency Update (as of 1 August 2022)
Description: "HIGHLIGHTS: Armed clashes across Myanmar continued to trigger displacement and affect civilians. As of 1 August, there were an estimated 1,244,000 internally displaced people (IDP) across Myanmar, including some 897,000 people who have been displaced within the country since 1 February 2021. In the South-East, small-scale IDP returns to their place of origin were reported in areas where fewer clashes have occurred in the last few weeks in Kayin State. Overall, the security situation remained dynamic with armed clashes continuing to trigger new displacements, mainly in Bago (East) Region and Kayin State. Local partners still face security risks and access challenges in areas of active conflict. UNHCR is monitoring the situation in these locations despite the challenges this unpredictable context has on displacement data collection and information verification and the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance. In the North-West, the situation remained increasingly volatile following an intensification of armed clashes. Artillery fire, aerial attacks and airstrikes, security operations, destruction of houses and properties as well as use of landmines continued to pose significant risks to people’s safety and security. In Kachin and Shan (North), armed clashes and airstrikes risks further exacerbating an already fragile humanitarian situation with displaced families finding safety in churches and monasteries in nearby villages. The situation has been worsened by heavy seasonal rains and flooding in Kachin State, where affected civilians are now staying in collective centres. Daytime robberies, thefts and burglaries are also reportedly on the rise in urban areas. In Rakhine State, humanitarian activities in the north of Maungdaw, Rakhine State (North), have been temporarily suspended since 18 July due to clashes. In Rakhine (Central), civilian arrests (including youth), increased military checkpoints and road and waterway closures were reported. The capacity to meet basic needs have also been diminished by rising commodity and fuel prices and reduced livelihoods..."
Source/publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-05
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Title: UNICEF Myanmar Country Office Humanitarian Situation Report No. 6: 1 January to 30 June 2022
Description: "Highlights From January to June 2022, the number of people fleeing from conflict[1]affected locations has increased by nearly 200 per cent, bringing the current number of people displaced since the military takeover to 866,400. 346,600 people who were displaced prior to February 2021 remain living in displacement sites. The “Bright Start: Mobile-based Health Microinsurance” programme for primary health care services has so far helped 27,500 people (69 per cent of the annual target). Despite the reopening of schools in June, UNICEF estimates that 6 million children currently have restricted or no access to learning. During the first half of 2022, UNICEF and its 12 health programme partners have provided 203,277 women and children with primary health care services. COVID-19 has led to increasing health needs and primary health care consultations, responsible for UNICEF HAC target to be exceeded mid-way through the year. Child protection case management interventions have reached 69 per cent of the annual target, helping 1,962 children (49 per cent girls), most of whom have experienced multiple deprivations including physical abuse, neglect, and maltreatment..."
Source/publisher: UN Children's Fund via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-05
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Title: Coming to Terms with Myanmar’s Russia Embrace: Crisis Group Asia Briefing N°173, 4 August 2022
Description: "What's new? Myanmar's coup and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have brought these already friendly countries closer together. Myanmar's regime has positioned itself as Russia's most uncritical post-invasion partner in Asia, while Russia has readily backed Myanmar's junta, diplomatically and with arms. They are now gearing up for tighter economic and trade relations. Why does it matter? Russia has thrown Naypyitaw a lifeline as it struggles to quash domestic resistance and secure international legitimacy, thus further antagonising countries pushing for Myanmar's return to democracy. The West worries that Moscow could use these ties to dodge sanctions. Foreign governments supporting positive change in Myanmar have few good options. What should be done? With few realistic ways to disrupt Russia-Myanmar relations, foreign governments should continue imposing targeted sanctions on the Myanmar regime and strengthen enforcement of bilateral arms embargoes. They should press ASEAN to keep excluding the regime from high-level meetings but avoid prematurely ending consensus diplomacy at the UN Security Council. Overview Myanmar's relations with Russia have moved into higher gear in recent years with regular high-level exchanges and closer cooperation. Naypyitaw has also grown increasingly reliant on Moscow for advanced weapons systems and technical training of military officers. Myanmar's February 2021 coup and Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year later have deepened the trends: facing stronger international sanctions and diplomatic isolation, the two countries are actively exploring ways to strengthen their security and economic ties. Countries trying to promote positive change in Myanmar, many of which have adversarial relations with Russia, are concerned that the growing bond undermines efforts to sanction both, but there is little they can do to change it. Instead, they should continue imposing targeted sanctions on Myanmar's military regime, enforcing bilateral arms embargoes, and pressing Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members to continue excluding the regime from high-level meetings to dent its legitimacy. At the UN, however, they should avoid diplomatic moves that might break the Security Council's fragile modus vivendi on Myanmar. Over the past two decades, the Myanmar military has tried to hedge its reliance on China as a diplomatic ally and arms supplier by forging stronger links with Russia. This trend stalled when the country drew closer to the West starting in 2011, and then accelerated following the army's violent expulsion of the Rohingya in 2017, which undermined its nascent engagement with Western militaries. Since then, the two countries have grown closer, with Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing making annual visits to Russia. Moscow has so far looked at Naypyitaw primarily as a military and technical partner, with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu leading the effort to position Russia as Myanmar's main supplier of sophisticated weapons, such as helicopters, fighter jets and air defence systems. Russia has also provided postgraduate education to at least 7,000 Myanmar officers since 2001. Beyond military ties, Shoigu also sees advantages in securing a strongly committed partner where South and South East Asia meet, in addition to Russia's longstanding partnerships with India and Vietnam. Until recently, the two countries' economic and non-military trade relations remained modest, but they appear to be deepening. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's 3 August visit to Naypyitaw may accelerate that trend. Following the Myanmar military's coup and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both countries have become more heavily sanctioned and diplomatically isolated, increasing the importance of their relations with each other. Russia has provided unstinting support for the junta in Naypyitaw following the coup, as well as continued weapons shipments, and the Myanmar regime has in turn positioned itself as Russia's most uncritical friend in Asia, vocally supporting the invasion of Ukraine. In recent months, the two countries have been developing direct banking and finance channels to support greater bilateral trade, including Myanmar purchases of Russian energy products..."
Source/publisher: International Crisis Group (Belgium)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-04
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Title: Interaction statement condemning the execution of pro-democracy activists in Myanmar
Description: "The recent execution of four Myanmar democracy activists further shows the military junta regime’s willingness to use brutality to remain in power, as well as the continued dismantling of the rule of law and shrinking civic space—all contributing to the dire humanitarian situation across the country. Since the 2021 coup, the international community, alongside local partners, continues to deliver assistance in Myanmar. This has been the case amidst escalating humanitarian needs and access impediments, serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and the combined impacts of the socio-economic crisis, COVID-19, and armed conflict on civilians. We call on the United Nations and relevant international institutions to take the necessary measures to: Protect and restore human rights, fundamental freedoms, and dignity of civilians. Guarantee that all people in need across Myanmar have unfettered and sustained access to urgent lifesaving assistance delivered through diverse aid modalities. Ensure the de facto authorities and other parties to the conflict abide by International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law and cease indiscriminate attacks against civilians, including on aid workers, facilities, and assets. InterAction stands with the people of Myanmar and their aspirations for freedom and democracy..."
Source/publisher: InterAction
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-04
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Title: McConnell Statement on Burma and Secretary Blinken’s Asia Trip
Description: "WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued the following statement today regarding Burma: “As Secretary of State Blinken undertakes his planned travel to Southeast Asia, I sincerely hope and expect that he will deliver a firm message to Burma’s neighbors and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: It is time for them to impose meaningful consequences on the junta in Burma that is literally getting away with murder. “Just today, the junta ruling Burma is welcoming Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, embracing an envoy from another autocratic regime. Apparently violent pariahs flock together. The free world can expect to see more of the same if the leaders of last year’s coup are not brought to heel. “If Burma’s neighbors and ASEAN are not willing to come to the aid of the innocent people who are suffering under the junta’s brutal and illegitimate rule, the Administration must use the authorities Congress has already given it to turn up the heat on the Tatmadaw and its sources of financial support. This should include sanctions on Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. “The people of Burma have suffered and waited for friends of democracy to come to their aid. Secretary Blinken must put the full weight of the Administration’s authorities squarely in their corner. It is time for less talk and more action.”..."
Source/publisher: Mitch McConnell Republican Leader
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-03
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Title: On-The-Ground in Burma: Issue 18
Description: "This is the US Campaign for Burma’s eighteenth monthly On-The-Ground in Burma briefer! This month’s briefer will discuss the current situation of IDPs and refugees, as well as a Rohingya from Cox’s Bazaar sharing the personal and community losses since living in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. This month’s briefer includes: July highlights An in-depth analysis on the international community’s questionable relationship with the Burmese military Four major policy recommendations A feature story about the experiences of a Karen refugee since fleeing Burma to Thailand An overview of IDP issues and rights abuses in each ethnic state and central Burma As the conflict escalates in Burma between the pro-junta militias, anti-coup forces, and the military, so has the violence and rights deprivations in ethnic regions and central Burma. Without strong tangible action, the Burmese junta will continue to commit crimes against humanity with impunity..."
Source/publisher: US Campaign for Burma
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-03
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Title: Going local: A fresh start for displaced communities in Myanmar
Description: "In Kachin State, communities in prolonged displacement are seizing opportunities to restart their lives. Ndau La Raw, 46, is all smiles as he gives a tour of his new home of wood and galvanized iron. “Words cannot explain how happy I am. Life will be easier for me and my children from now on,” he says. Ndau La Raw and his family moved into their house in December 2021. They were among the first to relocate to Maina Sut Chyai - a new village in Waingmaw Township - set up by internally displaced people in Myanmar’s northeastern Kachin State. Most had been trapped in displacement since 2012 due to armed conflict between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF). In the local Kachin language, “Sut Chyai” means prosperity, a name chosen by its residents representing their hope for a better future after a decade of hardship living in a nearby camp. In 2018, camp residents seized the opportunity to start their lives anew when a landowner in the area offered to sell his land to them. Maina Sut Chyai was born after dozens of displaced families procured individual plots with their own personal savings as well as loans from relatives. Construction work commenced soon after with the Karuna Mission Social Solidarity (KMSS), a local partner of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, constructing houses for each relocated family. To date, 33 formerly displaced families have moved to the village while an additional 65 from the camp are expected move there in the near future. “Previously, we lived in a longhouse with 10 families and did everything there. It was hot, noisy and cramped … it was difficult for us to find privacy,” says Ndau La Raw. Today, his family reside on two spacious plots of land measuring 6,000 square feet with three interconnected structures. The main building functions as the family’s living quarters. Two smaller ones serve as a separate kitchen and a shop where his wife sells groceries. “The shop is my favourite part. It faces the entrance of the village where I get to meet other former camp residents who are now my new neighbours,” says Ndau La Raw. Prospects for return to their villages of origin remain slim for displaced people due to continued fighting and insecurity. Nevertheless, examples of displaced communities finding opportunities to move out of camps and into areas like Maina Sut Chyai, where they can better integrate, are increasingly common in Kachin State. Despite an escalation of armed conflict across Myanmar following the military takeover of 1 February 2021, more than 2,300 Kachin displaced people, out of a population of 95,000, have sought to rebuild their lives by relocating to 19 locations last year. “While not without their challenges, these community-led initiatives are a crucial first step to enabling communities to build a better future for themselves after a decade of displacement,” said Andrew Mok, UNHCR’s Head of Office in Myitkyina, the state capital. To secure a real future in Maina Sut Chyai, residents have been proactive in advocating for key infrastructure. Apart from constructing a hand pump well on their own to draw clean water, the community also sought the support of KMSS and UNHCR to install latrines. The village is also in the process of being connected to the electricity grid with electrical poles and lines gradually installed. Ndau La Raw remains hopeful about the future. Having taught himself carpentry skills, he hopes to set up a business making furniture. “I currently have a workshop in the camp. Once electricity becomes available in Maina Sut Chyai, I will build a new workshop on my own land and grow my business from there.” Maina Sut Chyai’s relative proximity to Myitkyina, on the opposite bank of the Ayeyarwady River, makes it an attractive place to settle. The city is a regional centre for education, healthcare and work opportunities. “My three kids were young when we were displaced. Two of my children attend university in Myitkyina. I hope to give them the best future so that they can take of themselves as well as me and my wife when we are old,” he says..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-02
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Title: Myanmar: Detainees tortured to crush opposition to coup
Description: "Beatings, gender-based violence and arbitrary arrests documented Myanmar must immediately free all those unjustly detained Profound psychological trauma experienced upon release Authorities in Myanmar’s prisons and interrogation centres routinely subject people detained for resisting the 2021 military coup to torture and other cruel or degrading treatment, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing, more than a year and a half after the power grab shattered the country’s halting transition to civilian rule. Based on 15 interviews carried out in March 2022 with former detainees, lawyers of prisoners and experts, as well as a review of over 100 news reports, the briefing, 15 Days Felt like 15 Years, documents the horrific experiences of individuals from the moment they are arrested, through their interrogation and imprisonment, and after their release. Since the 1 February 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military has arrested more than 14,500 people and killed more than 2,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). From showing up without an arrest warrant and forcing confessions through torture or other ill-treatment, to enforceable disappearances, reprisals against relatives, and holding detainees incommunicado from family and legal counsel, military authorities flout the law at every stage of the arrest and detention process. This was horrifically demonstrated in the unlawful execution of four men in July, including a prominent pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker, following their death sentences by a military court. The executions were the first to be carried out in more than 30 years. More than 70 people remain on death row in Myanmar while 41 have been sentenced to death in absentia, according to AAPP. “Myanmar has stooped to unimaginable new lows in its vile and brutal treatment of detainees as part of an overall strategy intended to break their spirits and compel people to give up any resistance to the 2021 military coup,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard. “But it is having the opposite effect. The Myanmar people remain unbowed even after the litany of violations, including most recently the shameful and despicable executions of Kyaw Min Yu – also known as Ko Jimmy – Phyo Zeya Thaw, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.” “As a matter of urgency, Myanmar’s military must free thousands of people languishing in detention simply for exercising their rights, and let them return to their families. The United Nations Security Council must increase the pressure on the Myanmar military with a referral to the International Criminal Court, a global arms embargo and targeted sanctions.” Tased and beaten Amnesty’s research reveals how prison officials kicked and slapped detainees, and also beat them with rifle butts, electrical wires and branches of a palm tree. Detainees allege they were psychologically tortured with death and rape threats to force confessions or extract information about anti-coup activities. One person was presented with a parcel delivery that contained a fake bomb. Several former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International observed that other detainees had visible injuries on their bodies, including blood, broken limbs, and swollen faces. “When they [the police] found us sleeping, they beat us. When they caught us sitting, they beat us…They pointed G3 rifles at our foreheads and threatened that they could kill us anytime,” said one student arrested in the central Magwe Region. During the interrogation, whenever I used feminine pronouns for myself, they said you are gay, so you must like this and exposed their male genitals in front of me. One woman heard security forces plunging the head of another detainee in a bucket of water and using a taser on the person several times during interrogation. A student activist told Amnesty International that he saw police bang his friend’s head against the wall. Police also used a taser on his genitals and threatened to blow them up with a grenade. Ma Kyu, who was arrested in Karenni State for protesting the coup, told Amnesty what a police officer told her after she was detained: “We can just kill you after the arrest. We do not even need to put you in jail. We can simply shoot you.” ‘They took off my clothes’ Interrogators also committed sexual and gender-based crimes. Saw Han Nway Oo is a transwoman who was arrested and detained in September 2021 by the military on suspicion of having attended self-defence training. She was taken to the Mandalay Palace interrogation centre, which has become notorious for reports of torture. Over three days, she was interrogated at the palace centre and at a police station. She said the interrogators scratched her knees with sharp objects and sprayed methylated spirit over the bleeding wounds. She was not given food or water for three days. “During the interrogation, whenever I used feminine pronouns for myself, they said you are gay, so you must like this and exposed their male genitals in front of me.” They also looked at messages with her doctor and asked if she had had a sex-change operation. They then took off her clothes, looked at her naked body and mocked her. Other LGBTI people also experienced thorough body checks of their private body parts to ‘‘ensure whether they are males or females,” according to one detainee. Humiliating and invasive body searches may constitute torture or other ill-treatment, particularly for transgender detainees. Blindfolded and cut off Arrests are typically conducted during the night. During these night raids, soldiers and police break down doors, beat residents, ransack houses, confiscate electronics such as phones and laptops, and occasionally take valuable items such as jewellery. Protest leader Ma Win was arrested while travelling on a passenger bus in Mandalay Region. She was slapped in the face, handcuffed, blindfolded and driven to an unknown location. During an interrogation lasting more than 24 hours, security forces wearing heavy boots beat and kicked her and repeatedly threatened to kill her. Lawyers who Amnesty International spoke to described facing difficulties when trying to discover their clients’ whereabouts. At times, they resorted to paying bribes to get basic information. The prison facilities are crowded, with one person describing staying with 50 people in a cell meant for 10. Detainees also found dead insects and worms in their food. Though the experience of detention has exacted a profound psychological toll on those who have survived it, many activists are determined to keep resisting. “We will never give up,” Saw Han Nway Oo told Amnesty. “We are like phones, we will recharge once we run out of batteries.”..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-02
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Title: New ILO estimates show Myanmar remains deeply affected by job losses in first half of 2022
Description: "BANGKOK, Thailand (ILO news) - Myanmar remains deeply affected by heavy job losses 18 months after the military takeover on 1 February 2021 and two and a half years into the global pandemic, according to new estimates released by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO estimates that 1.1 million fewer women and men are employed compared to 2020, which indicates a small recovery in jobs in the first half of 2022. However, employment remains well below 2020 levels while the quality of jobs is deteriorating. Women are also more affected than men overall. In the first half of 2022, labour productivity contracted a further 2 per cent, adding to an 8 per cent contraction in 2021, reversing the strong gains that had been made in years prior to the military takeover. Labour conditions are deteriorating for many workers with serious violations of labour rights as referred to in decisions of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, ILO Governing Body and in the International Labour Conference Resolution of 2021. The situation has taken a toll on enterprises and workers in key sectors. In the garment industry, evidence points to an increase in casual or daily labour, irregular working hours and workers receiving lower pay. ILO research also shows that more widely, entitlements such as severance pay when workers’ jobs are terminated are also often not granted. “Eighteen months on from the military takeover, the employment situation in Myanmar remains very difficult. While there are limited signs of job growth, the ongoing erosion of labour conditions and the decrease in job quality is deeply concerning,” said Mr. Donglin Li, ILO Myanmar Liaison Officer..."
Source/publisher: International Labour Organization
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-01
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Title: UNHCR Representation in Myanmar - Fact Sheet August 2022
Description: "About UNHCR Since 1950, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has led international action to protect people forced to flee because of violence, persecution, war or disaster at home. Our work is entirely humanitarian and non-political, guided by the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. UNHCR’s primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee. Together with partners and communities, we work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another coun-try. UNHCR also protects and assists internally displaced people (IDPs) as well stateless persons. These groups are collectively known as our persons of concern. In more than seven decades of existence, the organization has helped tens of millions of people globally restart their lives. In Myanmar, UNHCR has been present since 1993 and maintains an operation of over 200 staff at 11 locations nationwide. Today, we care for the needs of over 1.7 million persons of concern in Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan states as well as Bago, Magway, Sagaing and Tanintharyi regions. By collaborating closely with partners such as sister UN agencies, international and local NGOs as well as local communities, UNHCR plays a key role in the provision of life-saving interventions, particularly in the areas of assistance coordination, services to mitigate protection risks and delivery of emergency relief in the form of non-food items such as shelter, blankets and household goods. We also advocate for the fundamental human rights of persons of concern and host communities, and work towards sustainable solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home and build a better future in cohesive and resilient communities..."
Source/publisher: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-01
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