Librarian's Choice
အဓိကအကြောင်းအရာ
Description/subject:
About 2,350 results (November 2017)
Source/publisher:
Youtube
Date of entry/update:
2017-11-04
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Renewable energy Myanmar
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
About 603,000 results (November 2017)
Source/publisher:
Youtube
Date of entry/update:
2017-11-04
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Renewable Energy - Global
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
The Environmental Protection Agency Ireland (EPA), in conjunction with the National Dialogue on Climate Action, hosted a public lecture .
Prof Chris Rapley
Source/publisher:
Environmental Agency Ireland via Climate Change
Date of publication:
2017-10-26
Date of entry/update:
2017-11-01
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Title: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Description/subject:
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966; entry into force 3 January 1976...
Myanmar signed the treaty on 16 July 2015 and ratified it on 6 October 2017, with the Declaration that: ?With reference to article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar declares that, in consistence with the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of 1993, the term ?the right of self-determination” appearing in this article does not apply to any section of people within a sovereign independent state and cannot be construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of a sovereign and independent state. In addition, the term shall not be applied to undermine Section 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, 2008.”
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of publication:
2017-10-06
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-28
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Bill of Human Rights, Migrants' rights: other relevant international and regional standards and mechanisms, Trafficking: other relevant standards and mechanisms
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"Experts of the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar conclude visit to Bangladesh.....The Human Rights Council on 24 March 2017 decided (through Resolution A/HRC/RES/34/22) to dispatch urgently an independent international fact-finding mission, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to establish the facts and circumstances of the alleged recent human rights violations by military and security forces, and abuses, in Myanmar, in particular in Rakhine State, including but not limited to arbitrary detention, torture and inhuman treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings, enforced disappearances, forced displacement and unlawful destruction of property, with a view to ensuring full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims, and requests the fact-finding mission to present to the Council an oral update at its thirty-sixth session and a full report at its thirty-seventh session"
Source/publisher:
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Date of publication:
2017-10-27
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-28
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - inter-governmental and other international sources, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
Remarks by Ms. Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, at the 31st meeting of the Third Committee - Notably, on the situation of the Rohingya.
Yanghee Lee
Source/publisher:
United Nations General Assembly
Date of publication:
2017-10-25
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-28
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
General Assembly - Webcasts
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"Myanmar?s leader has been widely condemned for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis but the blame for abuses more squarely lies with the autonomous military"...By law... Suu Kyi has no power over the wholly autonomous military, which is under the exclusive control of Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. While Suu Kyi was criticized for the ill-treatment of Rohingya even before August this year, Min Aung Hlaing visited Austria and Germany in April, Russia in June, India in July and Japan in August.
On each visit he received a red carpet welcome while the Rohingya crisis, not to mention the wars against Kachin, Palaung and Shan ethnic minority rebels in Myanmar?s north, was apparently never broached..."
Bertil Lintner
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times"
Date of publication:
2017-10-21
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-23
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"On 25 August
2017
, violence dramatically escalated in
northern
Arakan/Rakhine State, after
insurgents staged a major coordinated attack against
security forces outposts.
The Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for the offensive,
in order to
?liberate our people from
dehumanized oppression perpetrated by all successive Burmese regimes”.
The
ensuing military
clearance
operations
killed
hundreds
of
people
and
forced
over
507,000
civilians
from
all
communities
to
flee
their
homes.
Independent
reports
documented
that
"operations"
mostly
involved
the
Tatmadaw
indiscriminately
burning
Rohingya
villages
and
opening
fire
on
their
residents,
with
some
instances
of
villagers
joining
the
militants
to
fight
the
security
forces.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra?ad Al
Hussein declared
?[t]his turn of events is
deplorable. It was
predicted and could have been prevented”. He noted that
?decades of persistent and systematic human rights
violations, including the very violent security responses to
the attacks since October 2016 [see
Escalation of violence],
have almost certainly contributed to the nurturing of violent
extremism, with everyone ultimately losing”.
The latest wave of deadly violence in Arakan State did not
happen overnight. Independent
accounts, including a flash
report issued by the Office of the UN
High Commissioner
on Human Rights (OHCHR) on 3 February 2017, showed
that,
since 9 October 2016, the Tatmadaw has targeted
Rohingya
with
?unprecedented”
violence.
Burmese
authorities, including military
Commander-in-Chief Sr Gen Min Aung Hlaing and
State Counsellor Aung
San Suu Kyi, have repeatedly
denied
the
accusations of
human rights violations [see Government "terrorist ”
narrative].
The outbreak of violence took place just hours after the Advisory Commission
on Rakhine State ?
also
known as Annan Commission ?
released its final report, jeopardizing the
implementation of its
recommendations.
The Annan Commission -
inaugurated on 5 September 2016 at the behest of Aung San Suu Kyi and chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
?
was mandated
with
providing recommendations to secure peace and prosperity in Arakan State.
Its final report, which did
not name the Rohingya at Aung San Suu Kyi?s request, urged
Burma
to eliminate all restrictions on
the
people?s ability to gain citizenship, move free
ly and participate in politics..."
Source/publisher:
ALTSEAN-Burma
Date of publication:
2017-10-13
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-20
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - NGO sources
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
650.79 KB
more
Description/subject:
A Comparative Study of Land Rights Systems in Southeast
Asia and the Potential of National and International Legal
Frameworks and Guidelines....."Land rights systems in Southeast Asia are in constant
flux; they respond to various socioeconomic and political pressures and to changes in statutory and customary
law. Over the last decade, Southeast Asia has become
one of the hotspots of the global land grab phenomenon,
accounting for about 30 percent of transnational land
grabs globally. Land grabs by domestic urban elites,
the military or government actors are also common in
many Southeast Asian countries. Large-scale land grabs
are facilitated by a coalition of investor-friendly host
governments, local political and economic elites and
a variety of players from the ?Global North?, including
multinational corporations, international development
banks, commercial financial institutions and bilateral
donors and development agencies. Weakly recognized
customary rights in combination with state ownership
of large portions of the national territory (e .g . forestland
in Indonesia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia, public domain land in the Philippines) allow the respective
governments to categorize the people living on these
lands as ?illegal occupants?..."
Professor Andreas Neef
Source/publisher:
Brot für die Welt
Date of publication:
2016-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-19
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Source/publisher:
United Nations Information Centre, Yangon
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-18
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"This study emerged out of an identified need to document social
processes leading to land insecurity, and those leading to investment
and sustainable use of lands by rural populations. Focusing on the
Delta and Dry Zone, the main paddy producing regions of Myanmar,
this analysis unravels the powers at play in shaping rural households?
relationship to land. From British colonization to the 2012 reforms,
many issues have remained relatively unchanged with regards to
local dynamics of landlessness, exclusion processes, local power plays,
restrictions in farmers? land rights and the State?s excessive focus on
rice. In the midst of a fast evolving legal context, this work provides a
typology of farmers and the landless and argues that more attention
needs to be paid to understand the diversity of rural households and
forms of landlessness."
M. Boutry, C. Allaverdian, M. Mellac, S. Huard, U San Thein, Tin Myo Win, Khin Pyae Sone
Source/publisher:
GRET (of Lives and Land Myanmar research series)
Date of publication:
2016-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
4.11 MB 10.58 MB
more
Description/subject:
"Early in the morning of 25 August 2017, members of a Rohingya armed group, the Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army (ARSA), attacked approximately 30 security force outposts in northern Rakhine State.1 In its
response, the Myanmar Army, rather than targeting ARSA, launched an attack on the Rohingya population
in northern Rakhine State as a whole. Often working with Border Guard Police (BGP) and local vigilantes, the
military has carried out a campaign of violence that has been systematic, organized, and ruthless.
In this briefing, Amnesty International presents evidence that the Myanmar military has killed at least
hundreds of Rohingya women, men, and children; raped and perpetrated other forms of sexual violence on
Rohingya women and girls; and carried out organized, targeted burning of entire Rohingya villages. This
briefing builds on Amnesty International?s published findings since the crisis began, including on the
Myanmar military?s use of anti-personnel landmines. In seven weeks, the relentless human rights violations
have forced more than 520,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. More cross the border daily.
The attack on the Rohingya population has been both systematic and widespread, constituting serious
human rights violations and crimes against humanity under international law (see text box below). The
violations and crimes have been committed within a context of decades of systematic, state-led
discrimination and persecution of the Rohingya population and occasional large-scale outbursts of violence.
After ARSA attacks on security force outposts in October 2016, the Myanmar military carried out ?clearance
operations” marked by widespread and systematic human rights violations, including unlawful killings,
sexual violence and other forms of torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests, which Amnesty
International concluded may have amounted to crimes against humanity. The current campaign is an
escalation, with the targeted burning of villages on a massive scale seemingly designed to push the Rohingya
population in northern Rakhine State out of the country and make it incredibly difficult for them to return..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (ASA 16/7288/2017)
Date of publication:
2017-10-18
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-18
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
4.06 MB 4.84 MB
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Description/subject:
Mr. Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
Mr. Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator;
Mr. William Lacy Swing, Director General, International Organization for Migration...(16 October 2017, Geneva/New York): After violence broke out in Myanmar?s Rakhine state on 25 August, more than 500,000 Rohingya refugees crossed into neighbouring Bangladesh in less than five weeks. Tens of thousands of refugees have arrived since, fleeing discrimination, violence and persecution, as well as isolation and fear.
The speed and scale of the influx made it the world?s fastest growing refugee crisis and a major humanitarian emergency. The Government of Bangladesh, local charities and volunteers, the UN and NGOs are working in overdrive to provide assistance. But much more is urgently needed. The efforts must be scaled up and expanded to receive and protect refugees and ensure they are provided with basic shelter and acceptable living conditions. Every day more vulnerable people arrive with very little — if anything ? and settle either in overcrowded existing camps or extremely congested makeshift sites..."
UN Principals call for solidarity with Rohingya refugees
Source/publisher:
UNHCR, OCHA, IOM
Date of publication:
2017-10-16
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-17
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - inter-governmental and other international sources
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"Since August 25, Burmese security forces have been carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. Over half a million Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape killings, arson, and other mass atrocities. The Rohingya, effectively denied citizenship under Burmese law, have faced decades of repression and discrimination. About 120,000 remain internally displaced from waves of violence in 2012 and 2016, in dire humanitarian conditions. Human Rights Watch researchers are reporting from the field on the crisis and its global impact.....Children?s Rights ...Refugees and Migrants ...Refugee Rights... Asylum Seekers ...Internally Displaced People... United Nations... Women?s Rights... Sexual Violence and Rape ...
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2017-10-04
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-13
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - NGO sources, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar?s government will manage the redevelopment of villages torched during violence in Rakhine state that has sent nearly half a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh, a minister was reported on Wednesday as saying. The plan for the redevelopment of areas destroyed by fires, which the government has blamed on Rohingya insurgents, is likely to raise concern about prospects for the return of the 480,000 refugees, and compound fears of ethnic cleansing.
?According to the law, burnt land becomes government-managed land,” Minister for Social Development, Relief and Resettlement Win Myat Aye told a meeting in the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said..."
Simon Lewis
Source/publisher:
Reuters
Date of publication:
2017-09-27
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-13
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
138 KB
Local URL:
2013-07-31-Pyidaungsu_Hluttaw_Law21-bu.pdf
2013-07-31-Pyidaungsu_Hluttaw_Law21-bu.pdf more
Description/subject:
"Horrendous bloodshed would result should the notion of ethnic cleansing take hold in Asia...HONG KONG ? The real significance of the crisis of the Rohingya minority of Myanmar extends far beyond the two issues currently at the center of global attention.
Yes, it is a humanitarian crisis of huge dimension, and true as well that it has revealed the fragility of Aung San Suu Kyi?s status as a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
But what is not properly appreciated yet is that, unless handled with much greater care than seen to date, this issue will long reverberate through all of Southeast Asia, far beyond Bangladesh..."
Philip Bowring
Source/publisher:
"Japan Times"
Date of publication:
2017-09-18
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-13
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - Media sources
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"Region?s head of human rights calls on Aung San Suu Kyi to stop violence as report says ?clearance operations? include killings, torture and rape...Myanmar security forces have driven out half a million Muslim Rohingya from northern Rakhine state, torching their homes, crops and villages to prevent them from returning, the UN human rights office said on Wednesday.
Jyoti Sanghera, head of the Asia and Pacific region of the UN human rights office, called on the Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to ?stop the violence” and voiced fear that if the stateless Rohingya refugees return from Bangladesh they may be interned.
?If villages have been completely destroyed and livelihood possibilities have been destroyed, what we fear is that they may be incarcerated or detained in camps,” she told a news briefing.
?We die or they die?: Rohingya insurgency sparks fresh violence in Myanmar
Read more
The UN political affairs chief, Jeffrey Feltman, is due to visit Myanmar on Friday, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
In a report based on 65 interviews with Rohingya who have arrived in Bangladesh in the past month, the UN human rights office said that ?clearance operations” had begun before insurgent attacks on police posts on 25 August and included killings, torture and rape of children.
The UN?s Jyoti Sanghera: ?If villages have been completely destroyed ... what we fear is that they may be incarcerated or detained in camps.?
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The UN?s Jyoti Sanghera: ?If villages have been completely destroyed ? what we fear is that they may be incarcerated or detained in camps.? Photograph: Martial Trezzini/EPA
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra?ad al-Hussein ? who has described the government operations as ?a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” ? said in a statement that the actions appeared to be ?a cynical ploy to forcibly transfer large numbers of people without possibility of return”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian"
Date of publication:
2017-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-13
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - inter-governmental and other international sources
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"Despite Myanmar?s recent transition to civilian leadership, the military has retained significant power and is most to blame for the sectarian violence against the Rohingya...State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has faced the brunt of international criticism for what has been described as ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, but Myanmar?s military, which has executed the crackdown in Rakhine State, is largely to blame, says Francis Wade, a journalist and author of Myanmar?s Enemy Within: Buddhist Violence and the Making of a Muslim ?Other.? The military still retains a great deal of political and economic power despite the country?s recent transition to a civilian-led government, explains Wade. Still, he says that in echoing the military?s rhetoric against the Muslim minority group, Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian government have only fueled the sectarian violence..."
Interview by Eleanor Albert; Francis Wade, Interviewee
Source/publisher:
[US] Council on Foreign Relations
Date of publication:
2017-10-02
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-12
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - academic, library and think-tank sources and individual scholars, Political role of the Tatmadaw
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group, are fleeing persecution in Myanmar?s western Rakhine State, fueling a historic migration crisis...Discriminatory policies of Myanmar?s government since the late 1970s have compelled hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya to flee their homes in the predominantly Buddhist country. Most have crossed by land into Bangladesh, while others have taken to the sea to reach Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Renewed violence, including reported rape, murder, and arson in 2017, triggered a massive exodus of Rohingya amid charges of ethnic cleansing against Myanmar?s security forces. Those forces claim to be carrying out a campaign to reinstate stability in the western region of Myanmar..."
Backgrounder by Eleanor Albert
Eleanor Albert
Source/publisher:
Council on Foreign Relations
Date of publication:
2017-10-04
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-12
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - academic, library and think-tank sources and individual scholars, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"...Credible information indicates that the Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed the
property of the Rohingyas, scorched their dwellings and entire villages in northern Rakhine
State, not only to drive the population out in droves but also to prevent the fleeing Rohingya
victims from returning to their homes. The destruction by the Tatmadaw of houses, fields,
food-stocks, crops, livestock and even trees, render the possibility of the Rohingya returning
to normal lives and livelihoods in the future in northern Rakhine almost impossible. It also
indicates an effort to effectively erase all signs of memorable landmarks in the geography of
the Rohingya landscape and memory in such a way that a return to their lands would yield
nothing but a desolate and unrecognizable terrain. Information received also indicates that the
Myanmar security forces targeted teachers, the cultural and religious leadership, and other
people of influence in the Rohingya community in an effort to diminish Rohingya history,
culture and knowledge..."
Source/publisher:
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Date of publication:
2017-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-11
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - inter-governmental and other international sources, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
124.93 KB
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Description/subject:
"As of 1 October 2017, more than 809,000 Rohingyas are estimated
to be sheltering in Bangladesh, having fled violence and persecution
in Myanmar. Violence which began on 25 August has triggered a
massive and swift refugee influx across the border - an estimated
509,000 people have arrived in the space of a month. These refugees
have joined some 300,000 people who were already in Bangladesh
following earlier waves of displacement. The Rohingya population
in Cox?s Bazar is highly vulnerable, many having experienced severe
trauma, and are now living in extremely difficult conditions.
The existing refugees, along with the unprecedented volume of new
arrivals, have put immense strain on infrastructure, services and
the host population, overwhelming existing response capacity. Most
who have arrived came with very few possessions. They are now
reliant on humanitarian assistance for food, and other life-saving
needs. Population movements remain highly fluid, with people
settling into pre-existing makeshift or spontaneous sites before
infrastructure and services have been established. Many sites are
now alarmingly overcrowded, exacerbating risks to people?s security,
safety and wellbeing. In these highly congested conditions there is an
increasingly high risk of an outbreak of disease.
Many of the new arrivals are visibly traumatized and disoriented,
suffering from the consequences of extreme violence, from the
loss of or separation from family members, and from the ordeal of
displacement. Rape, human trafficking, and survival sex have been
reported among the existing perils for women and girls during
flight. Children?s well-being and mental and physical development is
affected by the incidents that led to their flight and there are growing
numbers of separated and unaccompanied children being reported.
Most newly arrived children have not been able to access education
since they arrived. Protection interventions and up-scaled outreach
and referrals are needed to ensure that protection responses and
services reach those most in need.
The Government of Bangladesh has triggered a wide response across
Ministries, agencies, and the Military, and on 14 September allocated
2,000 acres of land for the establishment of a new camp. Local
communities have been at the frontline of the response, providing
food and basic items for new arrivals. National and international
humanitarian agencies have rapidly responded in support of
Government efforts.
However, the scale of needs dramatically exceeds our current
capacity to deliver. A rapid scale-up and comprehensive
humanitarian response by all partners is critical at this stage.
The Rohingya Refugee Crisis Response Plan is focused on life-saving
and protection assistance for the most vulnerable people. The Plan
targets 1.2 million people, including all Rohingya refugees, and
300,000 Bangladeshi host communities over the next six months.
The plan prioritizes the provision of life-saving assistance, improving
the conditions and management of settlement areas, as well as
promoting protection, dignity and respect for the Rohingya refugees.
The plan also factors in a contingency for new arrivals that are
anticipated in the coming months, as the influx continues day to
day. Given the scale and the possibility of a rapid deterioration of
conditions, which could turn the crisis into a catastrophe, partners
remain committed to the principle that our plans must be grounded
in capacity. We urge more experienced partners with relevant
expertise to join the response, so that we are better able to cover
urgent needs and save lives..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Date of publication:
2017-10-05
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-08
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - inter-governmental and other international sources
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"The only likely outcome of the crisis is the near-permanent presence of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya along the Bangladesh border...The harrowing scenes of human suffering on the Myanmar?Bangladesh border have provoked outpourings of sympathy and some firm statements by international politicians. At least half a million people have been brutally expelled from their homes and are now living in miserable conditions in muddy refugee camps and storm-drenched shanty towns. As the international community debates how to respond, it needs to take a clear-eyed view of the situation and recognise a brutal truth: the refugees are almost certainly not going home.
Consequently, policymakers must not hide behind the fiction that Bangladesh is only temporarily hosting the refugees in preparation for their rapid return home. Over-optimistic assumptions now will lead to worse misery in the long term. Instead, the world needs to plan on the basis that Bangladesh will be hosting a very large and permanent refugee population..."
Bill Hayton
Source/publisher:
Chatham House
Date of publication:
2017-10-06
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-07
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - academic, library and think-tank sources and individual scholars, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Chatham House
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"...Some of the current wave of refugees have stepped on landmines during their attempts to leave Myanmar. International news agencies and human rights organizations have stated that they have witness testimony of new use of landmines by Myanmar?s Armed Forces along the NRS-Bangladesh border, and this has reportedly led to the issue being raised with Myanmar by Bangladesh authorities.,,
UPDATE 19 SEPTEMBER 2017
"The ICBL/Landmine Monitor has verified that recent mine victims were from newly laid mines.
On 28 of August, humanitarian workers providing relief to refugees camped on the Zero line of the border witnessed an Army truck arrive on the Myanmar side and unload three boxes from which soldiers took mines and placed in the ground. This continued on that day from 10am until 3pm. The mines were laid commencing in Taung Pyo Let Yar village tract of Maungdaw Township, which is adjacent to border pillar No. 31 in Bangladesh. This area demarcates the beginning of the land border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, as south of this area the border follows the Naf River.New mine use was witnessed along about a 20km stretch of the shared border between Burma and Banladesh. This stretch lies between the two main land crossing routes between Burma (Maungdaw township) and Bangladesh (Bandarban District). Subsequent to the daytime landmine operation, the Burmese Army brought trucks at night to continue laying mines, which could be seen under the lights by which they worked. Mine laying continued during the next few days, and was witnessed progressing along the border to the northeast in Mee Taik, Nga Yant Chaung, Hlaing Thi, Bauk Shu Hpweit and In Tu Lar townships. Mine laying was last seen continuing to the east of In Tu Lar township.
All mines were laid on the eastern side of the border fence."
Source/publisher:
Mine Free Myanmar
Date of publication:
2017-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-06
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reports and maps covering anti-personnel landmines and Burma/Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - NGO sources
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"Yesterday, 21 September 2017, at the United Nations General Assembly, Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, stated, ?We are horrified to see that the Myanmar authorities are laying landmines along their stretch of the border to prevent the Rohingya from returning to Myanmar. These people must be able to return to their homeland in safety, security and dignity.” "
bmban
Source/publisher:
Mine Free Myanmar
Date of publication:
2017-09-23
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-06
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reports and maps covering anti-personnel landmines and Burma/Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - NGO sources
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
Summary: "The present report provides an overview of human rights developments in
Myanmar up to 25 August 2017. It builds on previous reports to identify key human
rights challenges facing the Government and contains recommendations on the step
needed to address them."...Conclusions:
"The Special Rapporteur recognizes that development and security are pressing
priorities for Myanmar currently. However, she also urges Myanmar to recognize
human rights as an equal priority, both because human rights are a lynchpin in
ensuring that development and security are realized in a balanced and just way and
because steps to guarantee the rights of the people of Myanmar are steps to improve
their day-to-day lives.
In striving to achieve these three priorities, the United Nations and its partners
can, and do, offer vital assistance. The Special Rapporteur is therefore extremely
concerned by the increasing anti-United Nations and anti-
international non -governmental organization sentiment being built up in some areas of the
country, which appears to be going unchallenged. The Government must take active
steps to stop incorrect rumours or stories from being spread and to publicly
recognize the vital work carried out by these organizations. She recalls, however,
that to be a true democratic society, freedom of expression must be guaranteed and
any steps should respect this right. In this vein, she encourages the Government to
urgently protect freedom of speech and remove the current limitations on this right
while ensuring that incitement to hate, into
lerance and violence is appropriately
dealt with in line with international standards and norms. Myanmar also needs to
recognize the indispensable work carried out by civil society organizations and
human rights defenders and urgently ensure that they can
work freely without fear
of reprisals, threats or intimidation.
All civilians should be fully protected in all areas of the country, and no
allegations of serious human rights violations should be left uninvestigated or
dismissed, no matter who the alleged perpetrators. Now, more than ever, Myanmar
should enlist the assistance of outside experts to independently, impartially and
objectively assess what happened in Rakhine State following the attacks on Border
Guard Police facilities on 9 October 2016 a
nd the clashes in November 2016 and the
continuing reports of killings and other rights violations during related security
operations, with the sole emphasis on finding out what exactly happened, so that
future incidents can be avoided. Similarly, Myanmar
must ensure that the numerous
and continuing cases of alleged serious violations of human rights by all parties to
the conflict in Shan and Kachin States are impartially and independently
investigated. The people of Myanmar also have a right to know the truth, whatever
that may be, and this is why the Human Rights Council established a fact-finding
mission, and why it would be in the best interest of Myanmar to cooperate fully
with it. The Special Rapporteur reiterates that she stands ready to work with
Myanmar to ensure that the rights of all are guaranteed."....
Recommendations:...
Yanghee Lee
Source/publisher:
United Nations General Assembly (A/72/382)
Date of publication:
2017-09-08
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-05
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Reports to the GA by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (English)
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
7.76 KB
Local URL:
SRM-Report-A-72-382-en.htm
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Description/subject:
KEY POINTS:
•
The 21
st
Century Panglong Conference, also known as the Union Peace Conference, has
been hailed as the most encouraging initiative to achieve countrywide peace and political
reform in Myanmar since the Panglong Conference of February 1947. Two ?Panglong-21”
meetings have been held so far. With the National League for Democracy government
prioritising ethnic peace, this is a long-needed moment of opportunity for national
reconciliation that should not be lost.
•
There have been three important advances in the landscape of national politics so far.
First, different points of view could be expressed by a diversity of stakeholders, including
representatives of political parties, the national armed forces (Tatmadaw), ethnic armed
organisations and civil society groups. Second, the revival of such a symbolic platform
raises the potential for the two key processes in national reform ? parliamentary and ethnic
peace ? to be brought together on the same track. Third, there is broad agreement in public
statements on the need for pro-federal reform.
•
Worrying failings, however, are beginning to appear, raising warning spectres from the
country?s troubled past. Dating back to the Panglong Conference in 1947, each new era of
government has witnessed new political initiatives to foster national peace, and all have
been unsuccessful. This must not happen again.
•
Amidst urgent concerns: there is a lack of inclusion in the present peace process; Tatmadaw
domination still continues; there is an over-reliance on the inconclusive Nationwide
Ceasefire Agreement of ex-President Thein Sein; land-grabbing, natural resource
exploitation and economic opportunism remain widespread; and military-first solutions
are still being pursued in several parts of the country. Meanwhile civilian displacement
and humanitarian suffering have not ended, highlighted by continuing emergencies in the
Kachin, Rakhine and Shan States.
•
The international response to Myanmar?s ethnic challenges is divided. Western governments
have backed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement as the road to peace; the NLD-led
administration has reduced cooperation with United Nations? mediation; and China is
seeking to take on the leading international role. Concerned by instability along its border,
China recognises that a majority of ethnic armed organisations have been marginalised
in the peace process to date. But, with major geo-political ambitions of its own, China?s
involvement is only adding to uncertainties about Myanmar?s future direction.
•
A window of opportunity still remains. But, for genuine peace and national reform to be
achieved, the 21
st
Century Panglong must deliver a political destination of hope that includes
all peoples rather than another cycle of failure in the country?s history of ethnic conflict.
In one of the most ethnically-diverse countries in Asia, the present crises in Myanmar?s
borderlands are not exceptions but long-standing examples of failures that lie at the heart
of the modern-day state."
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2017-09-21
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-05
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), TNI-BCN Project on Ethnic Conflict in Burma
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1 MB
Local URL:
TNI-2017-09-19-beyond_panglong-red.pdf
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Description/subject:
Abstract: "The massive overseas expansion of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is a central aspect of China?s ?rise? to great-power status. There is significant disagreement, however, over how to interpret SOEs? role. Are they instruments of Chinese statecraft, being directed purposefully from Beijing as part of a ?grand strategy?? Or are they relatively autonomous, profit-maximising businesses, their free-wheeling behaviour often undermining Chinese foreign policy? Finding that there is evidence for both theses, we provide a framework to explain this. We propose theorising party-state/SOEs relations using the concepts of state transformation and regulatory statehood. We show that the Chinese state?s fragmentation, decentralisation and internationalisation since the late 1970s has substantially increased SOE autonomy and weakened but also transformed the executive?s control, reconfiguring it towards a regulatory mode of governance. Party-state/SOEs relations are thus characterised not by direct command and control but weak oversight and ongoing struggles within the party-state. We illustrate this using a case study of China Power Investment Corporation and its Myitsone hydropower dam project in Myanmar. Here, a central SOE clearly defied and subverted central regulations, profoundly damaging Sino-Myanmar state-to-state relations. Party-state authorities are now struggling to rein in this and other central SOEs."
KEYWORDS: China, state transformation, regulatory state, state-owned enterprises, corporate governance, Myanmar
Lee Jones, Yizheng Zou
Source/publisher:
New Political Economy, Volume 22, 2017 - Issue 6
Date of publication:
2017-05-03
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-30
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
China-Burma relations
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"In the last few weeks, over 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a bloody pogrom in Myanmar?s Rakhine state, crossing into Bangladesh. Among the horrified and largely moralistic reactions in the West, some have pointed to economic factors supposedly behind these events. They are right to highlight the importance of political economy drivers of conflict, but their analysis is disappointingly superficial and crude. This post critiques their approaches and briefly outlines a better one...In short, while simple pecuniary motives can never be entirely discounted, particularly in Myanmar?s borderlands, the political economy underpinning the current Rohingya crisis is far more complicated than is suggested in articles making a few sloppy references to megaprojects and land grabs. Ultimately, like Myanmar?s other ethnic conflicts, it reflects the crisis-ridden nature of the Burmese state since its inception.
Burma was founded with no real meaningful consensus among its population groups over the nature of the state or nation, or the extent of power and resource sharing. Bamar-Buddhist chauvinists, unprepared to make the concessions needed to secure others? consensual participation in nation-building, have instead sought to impose their vision by force, leading to brutality across the borderlands. However, the Rohingya have suffered particularly harshly because their claim to ethnic-minority status is not even recognised. While the Bamar state seeks to coercively incorporate recognised ethnic minority groups into the Union, it seeks to coercively exclude the unrecognised Rohingya. That is, ultimately, traceable to British colonialism and its legacy..."
Lee Jones
Source/publisher:
"New Mandala"
Date of publication:
2017-09-26
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-30
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
Reports back to 2005
Source/publisher:
UN Security Council
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-29
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
UN Security Council
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"Myanmar may soon face a land conflict epidemic as a result of the growing influx of investments and
the consequent demand for land, unless laws and policies that adequately address land rights issues
are urgently adopted and implemented.
The Myotha Industrial Park typifies Myanmar?s current economic development model, which seeks
to incentivize investment in areas designated as ?least developed.” The Myotha Industrial Park,
developed by the Burmese company Mandalay Myotha Industrial Development (MMID) in Ngazun
Township, Mandalay Region, is a glaring example of how Myanmar?s rural communities suffer harmful
consequences and receive little or no redress as a result of large-scale industrial projects.
In the Myotha Industrial Park area, a combination of a flawed legal framework, unscrupulous authorities,
and irresponsible investors produced a perfect storm in which more than 1,000 families from 14 villages
lost their land ? their sole source of livelihood ? to make way for the project?s development..."
Source/publisher:
FIDH - N° 702a
Date of publication:
2017-09-27
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-27
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Land confiscation for military, commercial and other purposes, Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to land, property and planning (commentary)
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.38 MB
Local URL:
fidh-2017-09-27-land_of_sorrow-en.pdf
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Description/subject:
The first 7 minutes are abut the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Source/publisher:
UN General Assembly
Date of publication:
2017-09-21
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-22
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English (translation)
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"Henry Van Thio, Vice President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, addresses the general debate of the 72nd Session of the General Assembly of the UN (New York, 19 - 25 September 2017)."...Mostly dealing with the current situation in Rakhine State and the Government?s responses
Source/publisher:
United Nations General Assembly
Date of publication:
2017-09-20
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-21
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Statements by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"KhinZaw Win on the worsening, bloody business-as-usual in Rakhine...I returned to Myanmar to find the country locked in yet another Rohingya crisis, one that is far more serious this time. Before I left I stated that military administration in Rakhine could be imminent. Then on 25 August there were fresh attacks and the situation blew up again. Security personnel as well as civilians have been killed. On Friday 1 September there was a press conference by the Defence Ministry where the spokesman said that the military had proposed that military administration be installed in north Rakhine but the government of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had turned it down. If military rule had been established and the violence grew worse, the onus would have been on the military. But now she and the NLD government have to bear the blame for not heeding this advice.
The fact of people getting killed and brutalized, whoever they are, is no longer a matter for explanation or blame, much less denial. The inadequacy of such responses stands out. There does not appear to be any well-thought-out approach to the Rohingya issue, much less a national security strategy. Since the beginning of this year there have been calls to convene a meeting of the National Defence and Security Council but the state counselor was extremely reluctant to do so. More is the pity, I should say..."
KhinZaw Win
Source/publisher:
teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2017-09-11
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-20
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description/subject:
"Speech by the State Counsellor on Government?s efforts with regard to National Reconciliation and Peace"
Source/publisher:
Youtube
Date of publication:
2017-09-19
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-19
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
By Aung San Suu Kyi (Statements, Speeches, Writings, Interviews), Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
159.48 KB
Local URL:
ASSK-speech-2017-09-19-red-tpo.pdf
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Description/subject:
"... the many smaller noticeboards that have sprung up with increasingly frequency across the country. These are written in Burmese only, often use the colourful Buddhist flag as a background - and declare that particular village or township to be "Muslim Free."
As part of IWPR?s two-year anti-hate speech project in Myanmar that ran until this July, we documented and reported the increasing incidence of these signs. Many of them further clarified that "Muslim Free" meant that Muslims were not allowed to stay the night, nor own any property there. Some went up at riverboat stations, denying Muslims access.
We asked the authorities if they knew who had put these signs up, and why they weren?t being removed. We never got a satisfactory answer.
IWPR also found photos of these signs on Facebook, being shared and applauded by users who urged their own communities to take note and follow suit. Incendiary comments and ethnic slurs were typical. Muslims were described as dogs and vermin who had no place in the country and were threatening the state?s very existence..."
Alan Davis
Source/publisher:
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) via Refworld
Date of publication:
2017-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-17
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"UN chief Antonio Guterres says Myanmar?s de-facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi has ?a last chance? to stop the military crackdown on Rakhine state and ease the Rohingya crisis, the BBC reports.
"If she does not reverse the situation now, then I think the tragedy will be absolutely horrible, and unfortunately then I don?t see how this can be reversed in the future," the UN secretary general said during an interview with BBC?s HARDtalk programme.
Guterres reiterated that the Rohingyas should be allowed to return to Myanmar.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra?ad al-Hussein has called the situation a ?textbook example of ethnic cleansing?..."
Source/publisher:
Observer Online Desk
Date of publication:
2017-09-17
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-17
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"The Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: " /ˌʃɪnˈhwɑː/[1]) is the official press agency of the People?s Republic of China. Xinhua is the biggest and most influential media organization in China. Xinhua is a ministry-level institution subordinate to the Chinese central government. Its president is a member of the Central Committee of China?s Communist Party..."
Source/publisher:
Xinhua News Agency
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-17
Type:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
News - International sources
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"Myanmar?s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has "a last chance" to halt an army offensive that has forced hundreds of thousands of the mainly Muslim Rohingya to flee abroad, the UN head has said.
Antonio Guterres told the BBC?s Hardtalk programme that unless she acted now, "the tragedy will be absolutely horrible".
The full interview with Antonio Gutteres will be broadcast on BBC World News on Monday, 18 September at 03:30, 08:30; 14:30 and 19:30 (all times GMT)..."
Source/publisher:
BBC - Hardtalk (clip)
Date of publication:
2017-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-17
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
"More than 80 sites set ablaze in orchestrated campaign since 25 August...
More than 370,000 Rohingya fled across border in less than three weeks...
Testimonies show attacks were planned, deliberate and systematic...
Amnesty International can reveal new evidence pointing to a mass-scale scorched-earth campaign across northern Rakhine State, where Myanmar security forces and vigilante mobs are burning down entire Rohingya villages and shooting people at random as they try to flee.
The organization?s analysis of active fire-detection data, satellite imagery, photographs and videos from the ground, as well as interviews with dozens of eyewitnesses in Myanmar and across the border in Bangladesh, shows how an orchestrated campaign of systematic burnings has targeted Rohingya villages across northern Rakhine State for almost three weeks.
?The evidence is irrefutable ? the Myanmar security forces are setting northern Rakhine State ablaze in a targeted campaign to push the Rohingya people out of Myanmar. Make no mistake: this is ethnic cleansing,” said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International?s Crisis Response Director..."
Additional articles and images
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2017-09-14
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-15
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description/subject:
Emma Alberici speaks to Amnesty International?s crisis response director Tirana Hassan about the ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Australia?s response to the attacks.
Emma Alberici (interviewer), Tirana Hassan (interviewee)
Source/publisher:
ABC News
Date of publication:
2017-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-15
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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