Thursday, August 22, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Burma govt slams Quintana allegation as ‘totally wrong’

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 05:24 AM PDT

The Burmese government has dismissed allegations made by a senior UN envoy, suggesting that police failed to protect his vehicle when it came under attack by an angry mob in the town of Meikhtila, as "totally wrong".

A spokesperson for President Thein Sein told DVB that Tomás Ojea Quintana, the UN's human rights rapporteur for Burma, was protected by "nearly 3,000" police officers during his recent visit to the conflict-torn town and expressed surprise at the accusations.

"It is not true, it is totally wrong," Ye Htut said on Thursday. "Maybe some people shouted at the side of the streets and maybe some people approached the vehicle when they tried to give him an open letter and t-shirt. [But] the police intervened and allowed the vehicle to proceed."

Quintana told a press conference at Rangoon airport on Wednesday that the police stood by as his car was besieged by "a crowd of around 200 people who proceeded to punch and kick the windows and doors of the car while shouting abuse".

The rapporteur was on a 10-day visit to the Buddhist-majority country, in part to investigate a series of violent incidents between Muslims and Buddhists which have spread across Burma over the last year, and which have increasingly targeted the Muslim minority.

He said he got "an insight" into the fear that Muslim residents would have felt when they were attacked by angry Buddhist mobs in Meikhtila in March and police failed to intervene. Quintana was subsequently forced to cancel a trip to a Muslim displacement camp in the town, which had been planned months in advance.

Quintana has been met with angry Buddhist protestors across Burma, who say he has been "biased" towards Muslims in his assessment of the clashes.

But Ye Htut insisted that police had ensured his safety and begun to disperse protestors in Meikhtila at 10pm, when a local curfew came into force.

"When Quintana arrived nearly 100 people were still in the area, but most of the people had already left," he said.

But speaking to DVB on Thursday, Quintana insisted that he feared for his "personal integrity" and saw how police "stood by as these 200 people were all over my car". He added that Burma's chief of police had later "expressed his regret" over the incident and agreed to bolster security for his Wednesday press conference.

Asked why the UN envoy had cancelled his visit to the Meikhtila displacement camp, Ye Htut responded: "Maybe he didn't want to face another protest like this." But he said that police would hold a full investigation into the incident.

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Over 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, have been displaced since the bloody ethno-religious clashes erupted in June last year. The violence corresponds with a rise in anti-Muslim propaganda led by the ultra-nationalist "969" movement, which calls for Buddhists to boycott Muslim businesses and avoid interfaith marriages.

The government has drawn criticism for defending 969 as "peaceful" and describing its most vocal advocate, monk Wirathu, as a "son of Buddha" even though he has compared Muslims to "mad dogs".

Quintana also accused the Arakan police of using "systematic" torture against incarcerated Rohingya Muslims who are denied citizenship and heavily persecuted in western Burma. Hundreds have been prosecuted and jailed for their role in last year's unrest, after what he described as "flawed" trials.

He also cautioned that the government's ongoing policy of segregation in Arakan state seems to have "become permanent" even though it was meant to have been transitory. "This policy of separation is mainly affecting Muslim communities because they have no freedom of movement."

Quintana's visit this week coincides with the launch of a report by Physicians for Human Rights, which warned that Burma's Muslims are at "great risk" of mass atrocities, including genocide, unless the government moves swiftly to stem hate speech and a culture of impunity.

Without self-determination, revolution will go on: Mon militia

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 05:01 AM PDT

The New Mon State Party (NMSP) says armed revolution will continue until self-determination is achieved.

Speaking on the occasion of the 66th Mon Revolution Day on Wednesday, Maj Nai Siri Mon Chan, a spokesman for the NMSP, urged all Mon people to unite and join hands for the sake of the revolution.

"Though we have signed a ceasefire with the Burmese government, our armed revolt will not cease until we achieve self-determination," he said. "All our comrades need to develop greater revolutionary awareness."

The Mon commander said the NMSP will work alongside the Burmese pro-democracy parties and other ethnic minorities to achieve its aims.

The Mon community has scheduled a conference to include organizations representing all Mon groups to discuss equality, peace and democracy, he said.

Mon Revolution Day was first established in 1948 on the full moon day of the Burmese month, War Khaung.

Karen state hit with flooding for second time in the last month

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 04:43 AM PDT

Monsoon rains inundated large swaths of Karen state earlier this week as local authorities scramble to set up relief camps in flood-hit areas.

In the state capital Hpa-an on Wednesday, local authorities established three emergency relief camps in different wards. According to locals, no casualties have been reported in connection with the fresh flooding.

“The flooding in Hpa-an was due to the flooding of the river. Emergency relief camps are set up in pagodas and a football stadium. An estimated 300 household are taking shelter in these camps," said one Hpa-an resident who spoke with DVB.

In nearby Hlaing Bwe township, four wards were at risk of being deluged as water levels in the area's streams continued to rise.

Chit Tin, a resident from Hlaing Bwe, said local streams had risen by three feet and relief camps were being set up at a school and monastery.

On Wednesday, Burma's Meteorological Department reported that the water levels in the Salween River in Hpa-an reached 808 centimeters, which is 56 centimeters above the advised threshold. The Irrawaddy, Sitdaung rivers' water levels were also reported to have breached their advised thresholds as well.

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According to forecasts, rain is expected to continue falling in the area for the next two days.

Residents from Karen's Myawaddy on the Thai-Burmese border town also voiced their concerns over possible flooding as the Moei River continued to swell with the seasonal rains.

In July, nearly 30,000 residents were relocated in Karen state due to flooding and more than 70 relief shelters were opened, according to the government statistics.

Burma’s electricity woes harm medicines, risk lives

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 04:18 AM PDT

The irregular electrical current across Burma is having a severe impact on the potency of various medicines that should be kept at specifically refrigerated temperatures, a senior doctor told DVB on Monday.

Dr Paing Soe Kyaw said liquid medications used in injections are more affected than oral medicines because of the need to maintain vaccines at strictly controlled temperatures.

"If medicines cannot be stored at fixed refrigerated temperatures they will lose their potency and effectiveness," he said. "Medication for cancer is especially vulnerable, as are vaccines for tetanus and rabies."

The Mandalay-based physician cited cases of diabetic persons dying due to the ineffectiveness of insulin that had not been refrigerated.

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Most hospitals in Rangoon have generators but many do not in other parts of the country. Burma's national grid only reaches a quarter of the country's 60 million people and even in Rangoon, only two-thirds of homes are connected. Blackouts are common and many families and business owners rely on generators for power.

Pharmacies in all regions are also victims of the power shortage. Paing Soe Kyaw warned customers about buying drugs from pharmacists that have been unable to refrigerate their medicines.

"I would advise people to buy medicine only from stores which keep materials refrigerated systematically," he said.

The most recent survey by the World Health Organization ranked Burma as worst for healthcare out of 194 surveyed nations. Only 3.9 percent of GDP is spent on healthcare in Burma, a figure that is astonishingly low even by comparison to its most impoverished of neighbours – Laos spends 4.5 percent of GDP on health while the figure is 5.6 percent in Cambodia.

 

First Chin conference in six decades to convene in November

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 03:54 AM PDT

A collection of Chin political parties, civil society organisations and an armed group are set to hold the ethnic group's first conference in six decades later this year.

According to the conference's implementation committee, the gathered groups will focus on reviewing issues concerning politics, economics, and Chin culture ahead of a wider ethnic nationalities conference that is set for next year.

Sali Nge Pe, who is a member of the implementation committee, said the conference is scheduled to kick off during the second week of November in Hakha township in Chin state.

"We will re-examine the status of 53 different ethnic groups who all claim to be Chins," said Sali Nge Pe. "At the national ethnic conference in 2014, our voice will be united."

At least four Chin political parties, representatives from the Chin National Front and civil society will attend the conference after holding three initial rounds of talks to discuss the event.

The first Chin conference was held on 20 February 1948 in Falam township, where representatives first established Chin National Day.

Thailand urged to lay out clear migrant policy

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 02:55 AM PDT

Thai and Burmese migrant advocacy groups on Wednesday called on the Thai government to lay out a concrete migrant policy for those Burmese who have passed the National Verification (NV) process and have entered or are planning to enter Thailand for work.

They also requested a clear policy be implemented for those migrant workers who have lived in Thailand for four years.

According to a 2003 Memorandum of Understanding signed between Thailand and Burma, any migrant who has been in Thailand for four continuous years must return home for three years before becoming eligible to return to Thailand for work purposes.

But most migrants need to stay with their jobs in Thailand to support their families back home in Burma, the advocacy groups said, adding that employers don't want to lose trained workers in times of labour shortages, and that Burma is not yet ready to receive all the returning migrants into its job market.

Speaking to DVB on Wednesday, Sawit Keawwan, general-secretary of the State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation, said Burmese workers are an integral part of the Thai economy.

"We have to offer a good policy and service to migrant workers," he said. "The international community, especially the USA, is watching how effective our policies are. I want Burmese workers to enjoy the same rights as Thais."

The advocacy groups also urged the Thai government to provide the opportunity and a clear policy for migrant workers to have access to social security and healthcare. They added that a mechanism should be in place for punishing brokers and employers who exploit migrant workers.

Aung Kyaw, a representative from the Thailand-based Migrant Worker Rights Network, said the return of a large number of migrants to Burma would have an impact on the Thai economy.

"The Thai government accepts and agrees that migrant workers should be given appropriate opportunities to work in the country," he said. "But we need to hear an official policy. Everything is vague among employers, workers and brokers."

Many Burmese migrants have complained that they have been victims of job brokers who have overcharged them and misinformed them.

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Kyaw Kyaw Lwin, the labour attaché at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, acknowledged that migrant workers endured numerous hardships and that the number of people facing the four-year deadline is mounting."There will be nearly 100,000 workers whose visas will expire at the end of this year," he said, and recommended that all stakeholders prepare to discuss the situation at their earliest convenience.

Thailand currently plays host to an estimated 3 million foreign workers, over 80 percent of whom come from Burma.

 

Convoy attack offers UN envoy insight into residents’ fears

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 01:25 AM PDT

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, on Wednesday spoke of his concern about further violence in Arakan state where two people died in clashes between police and Rohingya Muslims last week.

Quintana spoke at a news conference in Rangoon where he summed up his recent trip to the region, during which his convoy was allegedly attacked by an angry mob in the town of Meikhtila, the scene of deadly violence between Muslims and Buddhist residents in March.

“The police and army have now taken charge of security in Rakhine State, although there are legitimate security concerns which the police and army are addressing. I have received many serious allegations of the disproportionate use of force in dealing with large crowds of Muslim protesters,” he said.

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Quintana also described the scene on Monday night in Meikhtila. He said his car was surrounded by around 200 people who began punching and kicking the windows as he tried to visit a camp for displaced persons, where 1,600 Muslims were living. As a consequence, his delegation was forced to abandon the visit.

“The fear that I felt during this incident, being left totally unprotected by the nearby police, gave me an insight into the fear residents would have felt when being chased down by violent mobs during the violence last March, as police allegedly stood by as angry mobs beat, stabbed and burned to death some forty three people,” Quintana said.

“I must highlight the obligation of the government to act immediately to control violent mobs running riot in communities and protect all people regardless of their religion or ethnicity,” he added.

The most recent unrest reignited earlier this month when the body of a Muslim fisherman washed ashore. Authorities said he had drowned after his boat capsized near his village in northwestern Burma, but local Muslims claim he was beaten to death.

The number of Rohingya boarding boats from Burma and neighbouring Bangladesh reached 34,626 people from June 2012 to May of this year, more than four times the previous year, says the Arakan Project, an advocacy group that has studied Rohingya migration since 2006.

Danish freight giant confirms Burma license

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 09:13 PM PDT

International freight and logistics firm Damco announced on Wednesday that it had been granted a permanent license to operate in Burma.

A subsidiary of Danish firm Maersk, Damco has ocean, air and land transportation contracts in 90 countries and has a notable presence in China. It becomes one of the first international companies to offer end-to-end logistics services in Burma.

“We have an immediate implementation plan as well as a long-term one to set up logistics capability and infrastructure in Myanmar," said Damco Cluster Manager Kiattichai Pitpreecha. "This will allow our customers to open up their supply chains and sourcing operations in the country, whilst ensuring the highest standards are met in terms of meeting the principles of the UN Global Compact."

In a statement on its website, Damco said that it is working closely with UK-based Institute for Human Rights and Business and the Danish Institute for Human Rights to ensure the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights are applied.

The firm said it has made initial steps for setting up an office in Burma, and already has a container freight station operation in Rangoon to manage their first shipments.
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