Democratic Voice of Burma |
- DVB Bulletin: 16 December 2014
- Election commision calls for more female politicians
- Kachin villagers isolated as military tensions escalate
- Burmese gender rights group meet with global leaders
| DVB Bulletin: 16 December 2014 Posted: 16 Dec 2014 02:32 AM PST On tonight's bulletin:
You can watch DVB Bulletin every weeknight on DVB TV after the 7 o'clock news. The post DVB Bulletin: 16 December 2014 appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group. |
| Election commision calls for more female politicians Posted: 15 Dec 2014 11:06 PM PST The Union Election Commission's chairman has urged for more female candidates in the upcoming elections. Tin Aye raised the topic of gender inequality in Burmese politics when he met with political parties in Rangoon on 15 December to discuss electoral procedures for the 2015 polls. "Burmese women [in post-independent Burma] have a right to vote and run in elections," he said. "But as the numbers show, there is a very small involvement of women in the political, governance and economic sectors, and in order to increase the percentage of women in these sectors the parties should field more female candidates." "Therefore, when they are fielding candidates I would like to urge that political parties consider women candidates with good qualifications." Tin Aye stressed that both men and women should be provided equal roles to promote all-inclusiveness as a basic democratic principal. Currently there are 25 female MPs in the 426-seat lower house, and only four women out of 220 MPs in the upper house. This makes up just 4.36 percent in the bicameral parliament. Though Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi is possibly the best-known female politician in Asia the country’s political system remains dominated by men. There have been numerous calls in recent years to make the system more inclusive as many maintain there are still huge divides in gender and racial equality in Burma. Related StoriesThe post Election commision calls for more female politicians appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group. |
| Kachin villagers isolated as military tensions escalate Posted: 15 Dec 2014 09:11 PM PST Villages in Kachin State have been cut off from their local town, Hpakant, amid rising tensions between the Burmese government military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Dashi Laseng, the Hpakant township chairman of the National League for Democracy, said residents from Jar Yar Yang village about eight miles southeast of the town have been unable to reach Hpakant or other local villages since 14 December. "We received complaints from the villagers that their movements have been restricted due to a rise of tensions between the [Burmese] Army and the KIA. These villagers make their living by selling farm products in the Hpakant town, so if they can't go their produce will become overripe," said Dashi Laseng. "We are planning to wait a little longer, and if this restriction of movement is not lifted we will speak to government authorities." He also said noted that villagers who went to Hpakant before the restriction was in place are stranded in the town and unable to go home. Other villages in the region have been affected in similar ways, such as Kan Si village west of Hpakant and Lone Khin being isolated since 18 November. Dashi Laseng said the Burma Army and KIA troops have dug themselves in on opposing banks of the Uru Creek, which has made many locals too scared to travel through the area. Both the Burma Army and KIA were unavailable for comment. San Aung, a broker in the peace talks between the government and the KIA said: "There have been tensions rising in the Hpakant area and villagers often subjected to movement bans. The [government] should not make the villagers' lives difficult, especially when there is already distrust looming about the ongoing peace process and doing so may provoke undesirable issues." The government and the KIA held their last round of talks in the beginning of October 2014 and agreed to reduce hostilities. Related StoriesThe post Kachin villagers isolated as military tensions escalate appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group. |
| Burmese gender rights group meet with global leaders Posted: 15 Dec 2014 08:35 PM PST The Women's League for Burma (WLB) raised the issue of sexual violence committed against ethnic women in a meeting with representatives of The Elders in Chaing Mai on Saturday. On 13 December WLB met with representatives of The Elders – a group of "independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights", as described on their website – including the former Finnish president and Norwegian prime minister who are plan to visit Burma soon. Tin Tin Nyo, general secretary of the WLB, told DVB the group also discussed with The Elders about the ongoing civil conflict in Burma and other political issues. "The [Elders], analysing the political environment in Burma, pointed out the two main obstacles in Burma are the existence of the military and the constitution," said Tin Tin Nyo. In their first visited Burma led by the former United States president Jimmy Carter in September 2013, representatives of The Elders noted there are very few women involved in the country's political process – with women making up only five percent of parliament – and underlined the need for changes. However, their time in Burma was not all a success and peace activists described them as inattentive to the issues they raised. The Elders was founded by the former South Africa president Nelson Mandela in 2007, and have been advocating political and economic reform in Burma. Related StoriesThe post Burmese gender rights group meet with global leaders appeared first on DVB Multimedia Group. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from DVB Multimedia Group | DVB Multimedia Group To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.