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Constitutional Crackdown Brings A Dark Day for Democracy in Burma

11667386_955058997889068_2167914014950225816_nAfter an increasingly dispiriting start to 2015, and with landmark national elections now likely only five months away, Burma’s flimsy “reform process” is unraveling inexorably. First there was the 10 March crackdown on the nationwide student protest movement at Letpadan, Bago Region; then the Committee to Protect Journalists’ revealed that, despite much-heralded media reforms in 2011, Burma featured yet again in its 2015 rogues’ gallery of top 10 most censored countries on the planet; more recently, the refugee crisis, triggered mostly by severe state and religious persecution of the Rohingya and other Muslim minorities in Arakan State, caught the world’s attention. Meanwhile, grave human rights abuses – including sexual violence – continue unabated in ethnic conflict areas, especially in war-torn Kachin State, parts of northern Shan State and Arakan State, bringing the total number of IDPs in Burma to over 660,000.

June 30, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , , | Read more >>

As the Conflict in Ethnic Areas Continues the International Community and the Burma Government Must Respect the Rights of Refugees and IDPs

kh9Every year on 20 June, many refugees who have fled Burma due to ongoing conflict, persecution, and human rights abuses, mark World Refugee Day with a sense of uncertainty and anxiety towards their future. This year, as the rainy season begins, refugees along the Thailand-Burma border and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kachin, Chin, Arakan and northern Shan States, as well as other conflict-ridden areas, face severe shortages in aid. Over 220,000 IDPs are in camps in northern Burma, while a further 110,000 refugees live in a protracted refugee situation along the Thailand-Burma border. If Burma hopes to make a genuine transition towards democracy it must recognize, respect, and protect the rights of refugees and IDPs […]

June 23, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , | Read more >>

Another Year Passes in the War Against the Kachin, the International Community Must Pressure the Burma Government

concern-IdpsOn 9 June 2015, the latest summit of ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) concluded in Law Khee Lar, Karen State. On the very same day four years ago, Burma Army broke its 17-year-old ceasefire agreement with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and launched a relentless offensive in Kachin and northern Shan State. As EAOs, including the KIA, were reaffirming their unity, organizations around the world displayed solidarity with those suffering from this four year war, calling for conflict to end, and humanitarian aid to be delivered to over 120,000 displaced by this bloody and ruthless war […]

June 16, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Read more >>

The Burma Government Must Stop Condoning Sexual Violence in Conflict Areas

imagesOn 5 June 2015, Burma Campaign UK released a briefing paper that illustrated the Burma Government’s lack of action towards eliminating sexual violence since it signed the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict (the Declaration) last year. As a signatory to the declaration, Burma agreed to prioritize prevention of sexual violence and to hold all perpetrators accountable to the full extent of the international law, amongst other related commitments.

Unfortunately, not only has Burma ignored its commitments to the Declaration, it is also actively violating it, as cases of rape and sexual assault continue to emerge from conflict areas. According to Burma Campaign UK, “Given the widespread nature of sexual violence by the Burmese Army, the refusal to act, and now the violation of commitments made in the Declaration, it can only be concluded that the use of rape and sexual violence by the Burmese Army is condoned at the highest level of the government and the military.” […]

June 8, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Read more >>

A Regional Solution to the Refugee Crisis Must Address Root Causes

Irrawaddy-Boat-29-May-2015On 29 May 2015, Thailand hosted the long-awaited Special Meeting on Irregular Migration to address the unfolding refugee crisis in the Andaman Sea. The talks brought together representatives from 19 nations mainly in the ASEAN region, along with delegates from the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). At the time of the meeting, the Arakan Project has reported that at least 6,000 refugees, mainly Rohingya, are unaccounted for and likely stranded at sea. Victims of discrimination and denied even basic human rights back in Burma, these individuals are risking malnourishment, dehydration, and abuse in order to escape repressed lives under the Burma Government.

As more and more refugees are rescued from the squalid conditions at sea, survivor accounts have begun to emerge. Human Rights Watch recently published accounts that detail the dangerous journey from Burma, including stories involving traffickers intentionally abusing the refugees in order to hasten ransom demands, being forced at gunpoint into departing refugee boats, and the cramped and overcrowded conditions of the boats used to transport the refugees. A 16-year-old Rohingya girl described her experience on board the refugee boat, “When I got to the big boat … I cannot explain my feeling I was so scared. We were about 16 people in one small room. The doors were always locked. The smugglers put the food and water through a small hole, we never saw them.” […]

June 1, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Read more >>

Fate of the Rohingya Remains Uncertain

Burma Information MinistryThe UN High Commissioner for Refugees has stated there are still thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees stranded at sea, half of whom have been confined to their boats for more than a month. Many of the refugees are facing severe food and water shortages, and rescuers from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia – including Sumatran fishermen who have taken it upon themselves to rescue refugees – have reported that a number of boat people are in grave condition. Meanwhile, on 24 May 2015, another mass grave containing hundreds of refugees was unearthed near one of the recently uncovered human trafficking camps in Malaysia. A number of the victims were found to be from Burma, demonstrating the desperation faced by thousands of refugees wishing to emigrate from the oppression faced back home.

Burma’s discriminatory treatment of the Rohingya continues to fuel the refugee crisis in the Andaman Sea. Over the past weekend, President Thein Sein approved the Population Control Health Care Bill, which enshrines into law the authority for state governments to determine birth-spacing guidelines in regions that are deemed to be facing high population growth, thus potentially acting as a tool for religious and ethnic discrimination. This repressive and discriminatory bill, a component of the controversial Race & Religion Protec tion Laws, has been supported by an influential group of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks, such as the notorious Wirathu. The group has long spearheaded the hate campaign against Burmese Muslims of which many analysts claim is politically motivated by elements within the state apparatus.

May 25, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , | Read more >>

Human Rights at the Bottom of the Andaman Sea

rohingya-boat-koh-lipe-thailandEarlier this week, two boats containing 600 refugees from Burma – mainly Muslim Rohingya – were turned away from the shores of Malaysia, having fled oppression under the Burma Government. They had been at sea for over two months and faced severe dehydration, starvation, and sickness. According to the International Office for Migration, there may be up to 8,000 still stranded at sea, many of whom will perish unless the international community provides urgent and substantive support. The scale of the exodus from Burma is alarming; according to the UN, this year alone more than 25,000 refugees have left Burma and Bangladesh for the shores of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Many have been identified as Rohingya, Burma’s most persecuted religious minority population. For decades, the Rohingya have been systematically denied citizenship by their oppressive, military-backed government and subjected to repressive and discriminatory legislation, widespread and systematic human rights abuses, and violence that Human Rights Watch has classified as ethnic cleansing. Since 2012, hundreds have died and more than 140,000 have been displaced from their homes and villages. At the very least, the Burma authorities have been criminally negligent as regards the Rohingya; in many cases they were reportedly complicit in the violence. The Burma Government has shown no willingness to even investigate the violence, let alone prosecute those responsible.

May 18, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , , | Read more >>

Familiar Blocks on the Road to Peace

6-May-2015-IrrawaddyAs the ethnic armed groups’ summit in Panghsang, Shan State concluded on 6 May 2015, familiar obstacles still loom large in the peace process. Namely, the 2008 Constitution, continued attacks and human rights violations committed by the Burma Army, and a lack of trust. Various commentators and organizations, including Burma Partnership, sounded words of caution after the over excitement caused by the agreement in principle of the draft nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), and those words of caution are salient today as peace remains out of sight.

The summit in Panghsang, territory controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), brought together 12 major ethnic armed groups for talks that lasted six days. Groups that were present included those bearing the brunt of Burma Army offensives the past few weeks, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). In fact, as talks were being held, the Burma Army attacked Kachin Independence Army (KIA) positions with airstrikes. It is not just the armed groups themselves who are bearing the brunt of attacks, but horrific human rights violations committed by the Burma Army on fleeing ethnic Kokang villagers, such as extrajudicial killings, including beheadings, are creating deep-seated fear among those who have been displaced by the conflict, but who are being pressured to return by Burma authorities […]

May 11, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Read more >>

World Press Freedom Day or World Press Restrictions Day?

(Photo from the book FORCED TO FLEE: Visual Stories by Refugee Youth from Burma. Read life stories and dreams of hundreds of refugee youth from Burma here)

Sunday 3 May, 2015 was World Press Freedom Day and the Burma Army embraced the sentiment of this day by issuing a gaging order on the media, aimed at stopping them from reporting on statements by the ethnic armed group, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) with which the Burma Army is at war with. Meanwhile, 12 journalists remain in prison, demonstrating why the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) designated Burma as the 9th most censored country in the world.

Five of the most high profile incarcerated media workers, four journalists and the chief executive officer of the Unity Journal, have been in prison since reporting on a secret chemical weapons factory of the Burma Army in January 2014. They are serving seven years with hard labor after being charged under the colonial-era State Secrets Act. International human rights group, Amnesty International, brought attention to this issue on World Press Freedom Day, encouraging supporters to post ‘#FreeUnityFive’ on the Burma Government’s Information Minister’s Facebook wall. It is not just the Unity five that are in prison. Seven more media workers spent World Press Freedom Day without their freedom, including five from the Bi-Midday Sun newspaper and two from the Myanmar Post Weekly […]

May 4, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Read more >>

Hopes Shattered a Year on from Burma’s ASEAN Chairmanship

22.04.2015.acsc.apf2015The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Civil Society Conference/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum 2015 (ACSC/APF) ended on 24 April 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bringing the voices of the people of ASEAN together in its yearly three day event. It reminds us of the historic ACSC/APF 2014 that was held for the first time in Burma and the hopes raised and duly dashed since that forum in the past year. As civil society throughout the region strives for better promotion, protection and respect for human rights, a review of the human rights situation and democratic reforms in Burma over the past year represent dreams turning into nightmares.

Events at the ACSC/APF 2015 involving Burma included a theatre play by Burma’s students and youth depicting the events of Letpadan, where over 100 students and supporters were detained after a violent attack by police and hired thugs on the column of students marching from Mandalay to Rangoon. The play called for the government to release the 79 student protesters and their supporters that remain in jail. The ASEAN Youth Forum labelled this strive for education reform by Burma’s students as an “endless and painful struggle.” Events brought to mind previous student demonstrations and consequent crackdowns such as in 1974, 1988 and 1996, all of which were committed by overtly military regimes. It begs the question; what has changed? […]

April 27, 2015 | By Burma Partnership | Tags: , , , , , , | Read more >>