UN human rights expert asks to visit strife-torn Arakan State

Thursday, 26 July 2012 14:54 Mizzima News

The UN expert on human rights in Burma will visit the country for four days starting on Tuesday, at the invitation of the government.

Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana will tour the country, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a statement on Wedneday.

Quintana has requested to visit Arakan (Rakhine) State and Kachin State and will report his findings to the UN's Human Rights Council, OHCHR said.

However, it was unclear if Quintana would be given permission to visit Arakan State in western Burma where widespread sectarian violence has claimed up to 78 lives and where thousands of homes and businesses were burned in June. There are reports of continued unrest in the area, and human rights groups have called for an independent investigation by a credible group.

In a statement released by OHCHR, Quintana cited “ongoing human rights challenges, including ... recent violence in Rakhine state, as well as continuing armed conflict, particularly in Kachin State.”

Quintana will meet with government officials, politicians, the National Human Rights Commission and civil society groups in Naypyitaw and Rangoon, according to the Geneva-based agency.

He said that there has been “significant progress on reforms (in Myanmar), which I hope will culminate in the creation of a peaceful and vibrant democracy that respects human rights and upholds the rule of law”.

A press conference is planned at Rangoon International Airport at the end of his mission on August 4.

Kachin Refugees Face Extreme Food Shortages in Pangwa

By SEAMUS MARTOV / THE IRRAWADDY| July 25, 2012 | 

These children are IDPs sheltering at Jegau Camp in Kachin State. The Pangwa camps are reportedly much more spartan and are located high in the mountains. (PHOTO: THE IRRAWADDY)

MAI JA YANG—Local aid workers in eastern Kachin State say more than 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) face extreme food shortages in a makeshift camp located in government-controlled territory south of the town of Pangwa.

The IDPs, who are predominately farmers, fled when heavy fighting broke out earlier this year between Burma’s government forces and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in the area surrounding Pangwa, a town on the Sino-Kachin border northeast of Myitkyina which was once the stronghold of the New Democratic Army Kachin (NDAK), a now defunct ceasefire group.

A Kachin aid worker who visited the isolated camp last week described the conditions as “extremely poor.” He said, “There isn’t enough food, medicine or shelter, and the people are suffering immensely.”
A smaller temporary refugee camp has also been established on the Chinese side of the border, but conditions are similarly poor, he said.

No relief supplies have arrived at the camp from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) or the World Food Program (WFP).

Although the UN agencies have been able to make regular visits to camps located in and around the KIO-controlled town of Mai Ja Yang over the past few months, UN agencies have yet to visit the camps located south of Pangwa.

Only once in the past year has the UN been able to visit camps in the Laiza area, the de facto capital of the KIO, currently home to more than 20,000 people.

According to the Kachin aid worker, both camps south of Pangwa are overcrowded. The camps’ high elevation in the mountains means the temperatures are cold which, combined with the seasonal wet weather, has exacerbated health problems.

Most of the camps’ residents are from Waimah Township and are predominately from the Lachik (also known as Lashi), Lawngwaw and Lisu ethnic Kachin subgroups who populate the local area. Many of the displaced families do not speak the dominate Jinghpaw Kachin dialect let alone Burmese which has further complicated efforts by outsiders to help them.

Aba Awng, a spokesman for Relief Action Network for IDPs and Refugees, a local group that has sent humanitarian aid supplies to these camps, told The Irrawaddy that he is gravely concerned about conditions in the Pangwa camps. “It is very cold and the displaced families need better shelter, clothes and medical care,” he said. He mentioned that no education facilities exist for the children.

Barbara Manzi, the head of mission in Burma for OCHA, confirmed that the UN is aware of the camps near Pangwa and that the concerned UN agencies want to help.

“We are trying our best to reach all IDPs, regardless of where they are located,” she told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

However, local sources said that while fighting has eased in the area somewhat since June, it will remain very difficult for the UN to reach these IDPs because of their remote location and lingering political issues.

Tensions between the UN and Burmese government authorities have risen considerably over the past month due to the humanitarian crisis created by the turmoil in Arakan (Rakhine) State, and specifically the arrest of three local UNHCR staff who were charged with “stimulating” riots. The three continue to be held despite a visit to Burma in early July by UNHCR head António Guterres. An additional seven to nine staff from other international NGOs were also detained in Arakan State.

It remains to be seen whether the UN’s troubles in western Burma will complicate its efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians caught in the ongoing conflict in Kachin State.

Suu Kyi Calls for Ethnic Rights in First Debate

NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| July 25, 2012 | 

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to MPs in the Lower House on Wednesday. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for laws protecting the rights of ethnic minorities during her first parliamentary debate in Burma’s Lower House on Wednesday.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) chairman supported a proposal of Ti Khun Myat, the MP representing Shan State’s Kut Khai Constituency for the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), to enact laws to protect minority groups.

Protecting the rights of ethnic minorities is a complex issue and more than simply preserving their culture and language, said the Nobel Laureate.

“It also cannot be detached from the Panglong spirit which is based on equality and mutual respect,” said Suu Kyi. “Keeping this in mind, we, all of us parliamentarians, must work together to amend the laws as necessary to be able to protect ethnic rights as well as to develop a truly democratic nation.”

The proposal to protect the rights of minorities applied mainly to ethnic languages, literature and culture, and some MPs criticized the current wording for lacking provisions for equality, autonomy and human rights.
Ba Shein, a Lower House MP for the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said he supports the proposal but it also needs to include guarantees of ethnic equality.

“There needs to be many amendments to make in order to have equality for the ethnics as well as to build the federal union which the ethnics consistently want to establish,” he said.

Nine MPs including Suu Kyi discussed the proposed legislation during Wednesday’s session of the People’s Parliament after it was first introduced as a topic on Tuesday.

Two other NLD members—Min Thu from Naypyidaw’s Ottarathiri Constituency and Ohn Kyaing from Mandalay’s Maha-Aung-Myay Constituency—joined Suu Kyi in the debate.

The democracy icon also raised the issue of the term “ethnics” as the controversial 2008 Constitution does not contain a specific definition. According to the 1982 citizenship law, an ethnic group must have been living permanently on Burmese soil since before 1823 to be eligible for citizenship.

Suu Kyi also highlighted poverty in ethnic states as well as their underdeveloped condition due to a continuous cycle of civil wars. Burma’s highest poverty rate is in Chin State at 73.3 percent with 43.5 percent in Arakan State and 37.1 percent in Shan State, she said, noting that the national average was 25.6 percent.

Her speech was broadcasted live on Burma’s SkyNet channel which offers live coverage of parliamentary debates.

Fighting intensifies in Kachin and Northen Shan State 

Kachin Land news 23/07/2012

With a political solution still far from sight, fierce fighting continues between Kachin Independence Army and Burmese Army. About 1650 battles have been fought since renewed fighting began on June 9, 2011. KIO delegates have asked at least in three meetings to withdraw Burmese troops from KIO territory. But Burmese army has increased troop deployment in order to escalate its offensive war and fighting has intensified in Kachin and Northern Shan State.

A fierce fighting between KIA’s 38^th Battalion under 4^th Brigade and Burmese Army’s Kutkai-based 241^st LIB under North Eastern Regional Military Command took place at Bang Lum hill near Pang Sai in Northern Shan State on July 19 at 4 am, reported a frontline source. Another battle took place between KIA’s 12^th Battalion under 3^rd Brigade and Burmese army’s 99^th LID near Kai Htik on July 19 at 5 am. KIA’s 24^th Battalion under 5^th Brigade has fought against Burmese army’s 387^th LIR under 21^st MOC at Bum Sawn hill on July 19.

KIA’s 24^th Battalion under 5^th Brigade encountered Burmese Army’s soldiers under 21^st MOC between Bum Sawn hill and Daw Hpum on July 20 at 10:45 am.

At 10 am on July 21, a battle took place between KIA soldiers under 5^th Brigade and Burmese army’s 142^nd LIB at Ban Kawng Mu village. On the same day, another fighting took place between KIA’s 23^rd Battalion and Burmese army’s 40^th LIB near Laja Yang.

As of July 21, battle continues between KIA’s 24^th Battalion and Burmese army’s 387^th LIR near Bum Sawn hill. A battle took place between KIA’s 15^th Battalion under 3^rd Brigade and Burmese army’s 317^th LIR near Law Mun located between Kadaw and Namhpak Hka village on July 21 at 6 pm.

At least 3 Burmese soldiers and one KIA soldier have been killed in a battle fought between a KIA’s mobile battalion and Burmese army’s MOC-3 near Gang Dau on July 22.

Mitchell says US keeping some sanctions

Monday, 23 July 2012 12:07 Mizzima News

Derek Mitchell, the new US ambassador to Burma, has reaffirmed the importance of keeping some US trade sanctions in place to encourage further and quicker reforms.

Derek Mitchell speaks at the US embassy in Rangoon on Friday. Photo: Mizzima

“We have said in the past, and I have said, that we endorse continuing to keep in place many of the authorities – the sanctions authorities – in Congress,” Mitchell said during a press conference on Friday in Rangoon. He is the first US ambassador assigned to Burma in more than two decades.

The US Congress is expected to extend trade and certain other sanctions this week, after removing key investment sanctions on July 11.

Keeping key trade sanctions, said Mitchell, is “an insurance policy for the future in case things reverse.”

“We're talking about a rapid process. It's only really been a little over a year and there are still some questions about the future,” he said, adding that the trade import ban could be revisited later if the reform process continues.

A US Senate finance committee on Wednesday backed a three-year extension on the ban on importing goods made in Burma. President Obama has the power to rescind the sanctions if events warrant, officials said.

Mitchell said that suspension of investment restrictions is “done according to traditional US corporate principles and values” and could serve the long-term interests of the Burmese people by establishing the values of transparency.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi lobbied key US Sen. Mitch McConnell last week to work to remove more sanctions to aid the Burmese people.

Derek Tonkin,writing on the Network Myanmar website, said: "The news that the Senate Finance Committee is recommending the renewal for three years of the total ban on imports from Myanmar undermines recent statements by US officials that the US was moving away from 'blunter' generalised sanctions to more 'targeted' measures. Over 80 per cent of Myanmar exports in the run-up to the ban imposed by the 2003 Burma Freedom and Democracy Act were in the labour-intensive industry of garment manufacture. Suu Kyi is known to support such industries and it remains to be seen whether her recent contact with Sen. Mitch McConnell, who had earlier claimed rather improbably that she supported the renewal of the ban, will have any effect."

However, Suu Kyi has warned foreign companies to be cautious in investing in the oil and gas industries, which would require working with the state-run Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which she said lacks accountability and transparency. Doing deals with MOGE is the only way to gain access to energy resources. It just announced it was offering exploration rights for oil and gas in more than 20 offshore blocks, and many foreign companies are now expected to take part in energy development.

Recognizing concerns over corruption, transparency and human rights abuses in Burma, the Obama administration said it would require U.S. companies that invest in the country to give detailed reports on their investments to set a standard for transparency.

The administration has stipulated that U.S. companies must file regular reports on their investments in the country. Any U.S. legal person, which includes individuals and entities, engaging in investment that total more than $500,000, will have to report annually to the State Department on their investment. Further, the reports will be required to include information on any payments totaling more than $10,000 to Burmese government entities, including state-owned enterprises, said a fact sheet.

Aid to Kachin State slowly increases

Monday, 23 July 2012 12:37 Mizzima News

Humanitarian aid from the international community to refugees in Burma’s Kachin State totaled US$ 16.7 million at the end of May, according to domestic media reports.

The U.N. distributed rice to Seng Mai Pa IDP camp in KIO-controlled Mai Ja Yang in March. Photo: KNG

The UN has calculated that a total of $21.9 million would be needed to support a population of around 40,000 refugees in camps across the state, an article by the Eleven News Group said on Monday. Some groups say refugees' numbers far exceed that estimate.

“We’ve so far received 16.7 million of the expected amount. But the problem is that number of refugees has doubled,” a member of the Kachin Peace Network, which works with refugees, was quoted as saying. The private group successfully delivered a small amount of aid to the area this month.

Money and material has been donated by Australia, Germany, Britain, Denmark, the U.S, France, the UN, the World Food Program, UNICEF and other donors, said the newspaper.

On Friday, Ambassador Derek Mitchell said that the U.S. will donate US$ 3 million to the Food and Agriculture Organization to buy 3,400 tons of food, which is enough for six months for 55,000 refugees in Kachin and northern Shan states.

UN convoys and private groups have been successful in reaching the camps in recent months, following a period when the Burmese government or the Kachin Independence Organization denied access to the refugee areas.

Significant aid is also coming from area residents and church groups, officials said. Reports say there is a shortage of food, shelters, health care and a lack of teaching aids.

Clashes between the government and Kachin Independence army renewed in June 2011 and have continued even as peace negotiations are ongoing, although they have made little headway in resolving the political issues behind the fighting.

Villagers have fled to refugee camps in Kachin and northern Shan states and along the border inside China

Human Rights Groups Slam US Sanctions Waiver

By CHARLIE CAMPBELL / THE IRRAWADDY| July 12, 2012 | 

 

IDPs sheltering in Nam Kham, by the Sino-Burmese border in Shan State, after being displaced by ethnic conflict. (Photo: TSYO)

The suspension of US sanctions on Burma to allow investment in its controversial military-linked oil and gas industries will have dire consequences for human rights in the country, claim humanitarian groups.
The Obama administration announced on Wednesday that it will allow US investments and financial services in Burma just as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to address the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cambodia
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The new policy does not restrict US companies from partnering with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Burma’s state-owned oil company and the main source of revenue for the previous military government, and instead only requires that they inform the Washington government within 60 days of new deals.

This comes despite opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi—for decades the principle guide for US policy on the former pariah nation—calling last month on governments to block investments with MOGE until it meets international standards of transparency and accountability.

“The US government should have insisted that good governance and human rights reform be essential operating principles for new investments in Burma,” said Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch.

“By allowing deals with Burma’s state-owned oil company, the US looks like it caved in to industry pressure and undercut Aung San Suu Kyi and others in Burma who are promoting government accountability.”
The US issued general licenses to allow companies to operate in Burma while still keeping sanctions laws on the books. At present, Chevron is the only American company exempted from the sanctions and holds a 28 percent stake in the Yadana pipeline project, which is operated by French firm Total.

But the US oil and gas industry pressed the Obama administration for a wholesale removal of the investment ban without any limits on partnering with MOGE, citing potentially lucrative investment opportunities when Burma opens up additional oil and gas blocks for exploration later this year.
The new policy, initially billed as a “framework for responsible investment,” permits American companies to invest in all sectors of Burma’s economy—but not to directly partner with the military or those on the Treasury Department sanction’s list.
“President Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma continue to make significant progress along the path to democracy, and the government has continued to make important economic and political reforms,” read a White House statement on Wednesday.

“As we indicated in May, the armed forces and Ministry of Defense-owned entities will not be covered by these general licenses. In addition, US companies will be asked to report on their activities in line with international corporate governance standards.

“This order is a clear message to Burmese government and military officials: those individuals who continue to engage in abusive, corrupt, or destabilizing behavior going forward will not reap the rewards of reform.“
Nevertheless, human rights groups have been quick to remind the US government that the situation on the ground does not reflect this new-found optimism.

A statement by Freedom House on Wednesday admitted that foreign investment in Burma was necessary to alleviate the poverty of ordinary people, but added that “suddenly funneling money into the country’s opaque, scandalously corrupt business environment is no way to help Burma progress economically or politically. This is all the more true when the main investment goal is the exploitation of natural resources.”
Similarly, a recent joint letter by nine advocacy groups—comprised of AFL-CIO, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Institute for Asian Democracy, Open Society Foundations, Orion Strategies, Physicians for Human Rights, US Campaign for Burma and United to End Genocide—called on the White House to continue restrictive economic measures until ongoing concerns are addressed.

“Despite holding by-elections and taking other positive steps, the government has yet to institute the reforms necessary to move Burma toward democracy, and basic political power remains with the military,” said the coalition. “It is imperative for the United States to retain its leverage until real reform occurs.”
The European Union similarly suspended economic sanctions against Burma, although without any monitoring requirements on companies, in April despite protestations from human rights groups.