Saturday, March 15, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

BUSINESS WEEKLY 14 March 2014

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 03:55 AM PDT

Ups and downs

The Burmese currency strengthens for a fourth week running, its buying rate lowering from 968 to 962 kyat to the US dollar, while the selling rate moves from 973 to 970 kyat to the dollar. Gold is down though, tumbling to 688,500 kyat per tical, down more than 7,000 kyat from last week. All fuel prices have remained the same since November: petrol is 820 kyat, diesel 950 kyat, and octane 920 kyat per litre. High-quality Pawhsanmwe rice is still selling for 1,200 to 1,300 kyat per basket at Rangoon markets, while low-quality Emata rice remains at 850-900 kyat.

 

Yoma plans high-rises over Rangoon heritage site

Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd and First Myanmar Investment Co are to construct two office towers, a commercial centre and other developments on a 10-acre site surrounding the 136-year-old British Burma Railway Company building in downtown Rangoon, according to a statement by the World Bank's International Finance Corp, which is backing the scheme. The colonial railway building, which is one of Rangoon's best known heritage sites, is due to be renovated into a Peninsula Hotel in a separate project.

 

Thai firm announces Dawei deal

Thai energy firm Andaman Power & Utility has announced that it has been selected by the Burmese government to be "the sole electricity and utility provider" for the Dawei special economic zone and the surrounding area. It is thought that the company has been granted rights to build a 500-megawatt natural gas power plant in Dawei, although a first phase target would be for only 50 megawatts. The statement comes just a few months after the largest Thai construction firm, Ital-Thai pcl, was axed from the deep-sea port project.

 

Agriculture: Burma must ease export laws to encourage FDI

In an effort to restore Burma as a top world rice exporter, critics of the government have advocated for improving and revising current rice policies and export regulations. The Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF) has claimed that unless the government encourages foreign investors to invest in the rice industry, the country's hopes of ensuring domestic production and surplus for exporting are unlikely to come to fruition.

Read more: http://www.dvb.no/news/agriculture-burma-must-ease-export-laws-to-encourage-fdi-myanmar/38374

 

Burmese bank to offer industrial loans

The Myanmar Small and Medium Industrial Development Bank (SMIDB) is planning to lend 20 billion kyat (US$20 million) to industries in the country over the 2014-15 fiscal year, according to a Xinhua report on Thursday citing official sources. SMIDB has already granted 10 billion kyat to 62 Burmese entrepreneurs, the sources said, and a total of 12 branch offices of the bank have been opened across the country. Meanwhile, a Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Bill has been brought to parliament and is expected to be enacted in near future.

 

Japanese firm KDDI to enter Burma's mobile market

Japanese telecommunication operator KDDI Corporation is seeking infrastructure investments in Burma's communications sector. In a Rangoon meeting on 13 March, the general manager of KDDI's engineering division, Masakatsu Sawada, told the Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry that KDDI would focus on building antennas and mobile towers and selling wireless CCTV camera systems. KDDI was among the bidders for Burma's two telecommunication operator licenses, won eventually by Qatar-based Ooredoo and Norwegian firm Telenor.

 

Mons count heads to justify National Race Representatives

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 03:29 AM PDT

As official Burmese census enumerators begin their task in earnest, Mon ethnic officials are conducting a head-count of their own. The program is intended to determine whether Mon National Race Representatives could be warranted in divisions outside of Mon State that have large populations of the ethnic minority.

The count is underway in Rangoon, Pegu and Tenasserim Divisions.

The 2008 constitution provides for National Race Representatives to be appointed in administrative regions that boast a "suitable population" of a single ethnic group. That representative is then "entitled to participate in the legislature of Regions or States".

Currently, the only Mon ethnic affairs minister who exists outside of Mon State represents those in Karen State.

"The constitution provides that we can appoint a representative for the Mon population in a region if we have the numbers," said Min Soe Aung, director of Rangoon Division Mon Population Survey Programme.

"Also recording a precise number of the populations in administrative regions will be helpful in introducing Mon curriculums and organising events such as the Mon National Day, and allow us to work together for social and economic affairs."

The independent Mon population count began in Rangoon and Pegu Divisions in mid-2013. So far, 40,000 Mons have been registered across 40 townships in Rangoon Division.

Min Soe Aung believes there to be more than 60,000 Mon in Rangoon Division.  However, he suggested that previous listings have identified Mons incorrectly and created a shortfall in numbers — ruling out a Mon representative in Rangoon.

This year, the program began in Tenasserim Division where according to Mi Kun Chan Noon of the Tenasserim Division Census Steering Committee, around 50,000 Mons have been counted across 10 townships so far.

The count will not effect Mon participation in the upcoming nationwide census.

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Tackle impunity, discrimination in Burma: Quintana

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 03:01 AM PDT

Burma's nascent democracy faces immense challenges in coming years, some with the capacity to "jeopardise" progress made since the country's transition from military dictatorship to quasi-civilian leadership in 2011, a UN official concluded.

Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Burma, will present the findings of his final mission to Burma to the Human Rights Council on Monday in Geneva.

"In assessing the reforms that have been initiated so far," reads his report, released in advance of submission to the council, "the Special Rapporteur stresses that this can only be viewed as the start of a long process of reform that will be required to address the deep seated human rights issues in Myanmar [Burma]."

The Special Rapporteur made stern recommendations to the Burmese government in order to keep the transition on track, including support for an independent investigation into an alleged massacre in Duchira Dan [also written Du Char Yar Tan], on 13 and 14 January this year.

"The Special Rapporteur believes that investigations conducted with the involvement and support of the international community, including in relation to technical assistance, represents an opportunity to turn the tide of impunity in Rakhine [Arakan] State," the report read. Quintana identified tackling the country’s history of impunity as "one of the most important challenges that Myanmar is facing".

Rights groups have welcomed Quintana's appraisal. In a statement on Friday, Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said that since ”The United Nations have confirmed what human rights organisations have been saying, that crimes against humanity have taken place against the Rohingya," the British government must now support an international investigation.

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“This report highlights very serious ongoing human rights abuses which violate international law, and contrasts significantly with the rosy picture that the British government and others try to present about Burma,” he said.

On Tuesday a government investigative commission presented their findings to the public, maintaining that no massacre occurred in Duchira Dan. Quintana's assessment, made public on Wednesday, stated that "domestic investigations have so far failed" to identify and hold perpetrators of atrocities accountable.

Quintana has served as the Special Rapporteur to Burma for six years, a tenure that will end in May. From 14 to 19 February, he made his ninth and final visit to the country, making stops in Kachin State, Sagaing Division and Arakan State. His final report stresses that he saw "no improvements" in Arakan, where over the course of five visits he has reported severe, targeted, policy-enshrined discrimination against Rohingya and other Muslim groups.

Systematic mistreatment of Muslims in Burma, the report said, may amount to crimes against humanity that could be punishable by the International Criminal Court and, "if left unaddressed, could jeopardise the entire reform process."

In the three years since Burma's reforms began, the Special Rapporteur has noted several commendable improvements. The release of more than 1,100 political prisoners, a marked effort to rid the Burmese military of child soldiers and ongoing progress towards a nationwide ceasefire — which negotiators are trying to secure in April this year — are among the government's "significant improvements", though none of these efforts have yet been carried to completion.

Political prisoners remain in jail, many of those pardoned were not released unconditionally, and Burma has retained prohibitive legislation that the Rapporteur believes has been selectively enforced to hinder activism. These laws should be reviewed and amended, the report said.

Burma’s government has not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Quintana has urged them to do.

While ceasefires have been secured with 14 of Burma's ethnic armed groups, fighting continues in Kachin and northern Shan State, which has led to the displacement of an estimated 100,000 people since the reform process began.

Other items of  serious concern include acute tenure insecurity and limits to press freedom. Both of these problems will need to be addressed through improved legislation, the report said.

Among Quintana's 60 recommendations are changes to the Constitution, the 1982 Citizenship Law and judicial procedures. Burma would also "benefit greatly" from an in-country Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, it said.

While Burma evidently has a long way to go and remains in a "fragile" phase, the report concludes that there is "limited space for backtracking."

Push to ban harmful Chinese snacks from schools

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 11:54 PM PDT

The Consumer Protection Association of Myanmar [Burma] (CPAM) will lobby against the sale of imported snacks from China at schools, after tests show high levels of harmful chemicals.

According to CPAM coordinator Ba Oak Khine, inspections conducted at several government-run Basic Education Schools in December showed certain Chinese-brand snacks contained a high quantity of prohibited dyes and preservatives.

"We found that the Chinese snacks – jellies, chips and sweets – we picked up at a school canteen contained high doses of additives and prohibited colouring agents. The food also lacked expiry dates on the packages," said Ba Oak Khine.

He said the group would seek the cooperation of administrators at schools in Rangoon and Mandalay divisions to remove the snacks, popular among school children for their bright packaging and low cost.

Dr Thet Thet San of the government Education Office in Rangoon said Chinese snacks had been prohibited in schools last year, however the ban was not enforced. She expressed a hope that renewed efforts would now bring a different outcome.

"There are countless numbers of these snacks being introduced in the market every day without proper registration or approval by health authorities," said Dr Thet Thet San.

The CPAM plans further inspections at the beginning of the new school year in June.

"We already have approval from the Education Office for further inspections." Ba Oak Khine said.

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The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

For the Love of the Lake

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 11:26 PM PDT

Fishermen at work on Inle Lake in Shan State. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy)

NYAUNG SHWE TOWNSHIP, Shan State — Gazing out over the vast expanse of Inle Lake, Daw Yin Myo Su remembers the good old days for Myanmar's second-largest body of fresh water, which is surrounded by misty mountaintops in her native southern Shan State.

As a child she paddled across the lake to visit relatives who, like the other ethnic Intha families that live in the area, resided in wooden houses perched on stilts over the water. During those trips across what is now one of Myanmar's most famous tourist destinations, she witnessed scenes that no longer exist today.

"Believe it or not, at that time you could drink the water in the middle of the lake when you got thirsty. You could swim. Fish were abundant, and drought in the summer was unheard of," the 42-year old says. "The situation now is as different as water to oil."

Speaking from the veranda of the Inthar Heritage House, a center she founded on the lakeshore to preserve Intha cultural traditions, she says the situation on Inle has visibly worsened but is not yet hopeless. "We can still fix up our lake," she says.

Situated 900 meters above sea level and nestled at the foot of the Shan Hills in Taunggyi District, Inle has long been a popular stop for international tourists, thanks to its iconic leg-rowing fishermen, floating gardens, stilt houses and biodiversity.

But activists and policymakers say the lake is on the verge of environmental disaster. Sewage and agricultural chemicals have polluted the water and poisoned the fish, while sedimentation has made the 44.9-square-mile lake shallower. Local population growth and tourism have added to the strain.

The most evident deterioration came in the summer of 2010, when an unprecedented drought in the region dried up much of the lake. The drought resulted from deforestation around the lake and several years of poor rainfall, and it led to severe sedimentation. By April, the vast area of water had shrunk by one-third, turning the vicinity of Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda, a sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site usually accessible by boat, into a virtual wasteland. Villages on the lake were also affected.

"I had to take a motorbike to go to my house because there was no water," said Buddhist monk U Vijja Nanda of his attempt that year to visit family in Hpa Kone village, where houses had previously been propped up by stilts over the water.

After the drought, the government hastily drafted a five-year conservation plan to reverse environmental degradation and assist local residents. Nearly five years later, UN agencies are offering assistance to develop a new conservation plan, with technical support from Norway.

But today the problem may be more complex.

"A drop in water quality is also a serious issue," says environmentalist U Aung Kyaw Swar, who is also the principal of a hospitality vocational training center linked with Inthar Heritage House. For two years, the heritage house has collected water samples at five locations around the lake, sending them to laboratories for testing.

"Most of the results show the water is contaminated with a heavy metal like lead that could be cancerous if consumed," he says, adding that farmers who grow tomatoes and other vegetables on floating gardens use excessive quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to boost yields.

The agricultural practice could devastate the ecosystem of the lake, which boasts 59 species of fish, including 16 that are endemic, according to the Inle Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary.

"They spray it directly on the plants in unregulated amounts," the environmentalist says. "The agricultural runoff contains chemical pesticides and pollutes the water."

Population growth has also had ill effects. Most of the more than 100,000 people currently living in homes over the lake and on its edges regularly dump sewage into the water, while small family-run weaving and silversmith businesses allow untreated wastewater to flow.

The lake's natural filtration system may have managed this issue in the past, but the pollution is now too severe. The Department of Fisheries last year reported that pH levels, a measure of acidity, had risen to between 8.4 and 9.6 at points on the lake, endangering once-abundant native fish species such as the Inle carp (Cyprinuscarpiointha, known locally as Nga-phane).

As a result, fisherman U Myo Aung takes home a smaller load these days.

"I only catch about 3 viss [4.8 kg] after spending the entire day on the lake," the 36-year-old says, compared with bringing in at least 4 or 5 viss on a single morning before the fish began dying out.

On the keel of his wooden boat sits his catch of the day: tilapia, a hardier species that was introduced to the lake because it can withstand the chemicals, but which is reportedly less tasty than the native Nga-phane.

"I earn just 1,000 kyat [US$1] for one viss of tilapia. They are the only fish I catch, but not in a very large amount," says the father of four.

Another reason for fish scarcity is the popularity of electric shockers among fishermen. The technique is an effective method for stunning the fish before they are caught, but it also devastates microorganisms in the lake that can improve water quality.

"They use it because they lack other economically viable alternatives," says U Sein Tun, the park warden of Inle Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, who has helped spearhead an education campaign to deter the practice. Last year 40 fishermen were arrested for using the electric shockers.

Whether or not his campaign is successful, other environmentally harmful practices have persisted.

"Activities that negatively impact the health of the lake have not changed," says Joern Kristensen, director of the Institute for International Development (IID), an Australia-based organization which in 2012 sent a report with recommendations for conservation and sustainable management to the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry.

"There is still considerable overuse of chemical fertilizer and pesticides negatively impacting the water quality. There is still untreated wastewater being let out into the lake from households and cottage industries, there are still trees being cut down around the lake to provide firewood for cooking, leading to soil erosion, and there is more noise from the growing number of boats on the lake."

In the 2012 report, the IID called for the formation of a single body to oversee conservation efforts at the lake. In January this year, President U Thein Sein gave his backing to the new Inle Lake Conservation Authority, which will coordinate and monitor all conservation activities, prioritize investments and project funding, and store data about the lake into a shared database.

"Everything is connected and needs to be managed in an integrated, holistic manner," says Mr. Kristensen.

In particular, he says it will be crucial to manage new income—generated in part by increasing tourism—toward projects that help maintain the health of the lake.

"This requires involvement and support by all interested parties, in particular the private sector, which benefits from the opening of Myanmar and has a strong interest in maintaining the lake region as an attractive destination for foreign and international visitors," he says.

Tourism has boomed over the past three years, with nearly 100,000 visitors heading to Inle Lake in 2013.

"We expect to have more than 150,000 visitors this year," says U Win Myint, the Intha affairs minister for the Shan State government.

Foreigners must pay a US$10 admission fee to see the lake, and half that money goes toward infrastructure development, while the rest goes to the state government. But the minister says little has been done to invest in the livelihoods of local people, who continue to use chemicals and electric shockers, while also throwing sewage into the water.

"They know what they are doing is bad, but they don't have economically viable alternatives. This is a problem that still lacks a solution," he says.

Construction of hotels and an increase in foreign investment could create jobs, he says, after the government approved a new hotel zone that will cover 662 acres on the lake's eastern shore.

And if residents living at the lake can take up hospitality jobs, they may find the means to support their families, adds Mr. Kristensen of IID.

"If young people who belong to the region are trained and find employment in the tourism industry, they will be good ambassadors for the lake," he says, while also laying out a less optimistic alternative: that new jobs go to people from Lower Myanmar who can speak English but do not understand the lake's cultural and environmental heritage. In that case, he says, "The next generation of farmers will continue unsustainable agriculture."

In the meantime, the hospitality training center at the Inthar Heritage House is staying busy. All 39 students at the center grew up on the lake and its surroundings. Most received scholarships to the center because they could not afford the tuition fees.

"As tourism booms and job opportunities open up, we are simply meeting the demand for qualified employees who are not only skillful, responsible and caring to guests, but also mindful about improving conditions of their family, Inle Lake and the country," says U Aung Kyaw Swar, the principal.

Daw Yin Myo Su, founder of the Inthar Heritage House, also chairs the training center and is now working on pilot projects to promote better agriculture practices and wastewater management systems on the lake.

"I believe if everyone contributes what they can, it's possible to make a change, no matter how bad the situation is. I just do what I can because I want to hand over the lake to the next generation in the same condition that I received it from my ancestors."

This article was first published as the cover story of the March 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

The post For the Love of the Lake appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Suspected Uighurs Rescued From Thai Trafficking Camp

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 11:07 PM PDT

Uighurs, China, human rights, refugees, UN, Rohingya, Myanmar, human trafficking

A suspected Uighur from China’s troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, holds his son at a temporally shelter after they were detained at the immigration regional headquarters near the Thailand-Malaysia border in Hat Yai, Songkla March 14, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

HAT YAI— About 200 people rescued by police from a human trafficking camp in southern Thailand are suspected Uighur Muslims from China’s troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, Thai police sources said on Friday.

The discovery is further evidence that human smugglers in southern Thailand—already a notorious trafficking hub for Rohingya boat people from Burma—are exploiting well-oiled networks to transport other nationalities in large numbers, despite an ongoing crackdown by Thai police.

"The human smugglers are expanding their product range," said Police Major General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, a U.S.-educated commander who has launched a series of raids on trafficking camps in southern Thailand, including the 200 suspected Uighurs rescued on Wednesday.

Two police raids in January freed a total of 636 people. At least 200 of them were Bangladeshis—an "unprecedented" number, said Thatchai.

The rest were Rohingya, mostly stateless Muslims from western Burma, where deadly clashes with ethnic Arakanese Buddhists in 2012 killed at least 192 people and left 140,000 homeless. Since then, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled from Burma by boat, many of them coming ashore in southwest Thailand.

On Dec. 5, Reuters reported that Rohingya were held hostage in illegal camps hidden near the border with Malaysia until relatives paid ransoms to release them. Some were beaten and killed. The Reuters investigation also found that Thai authorities had adopted a covert policy to push Rohingya detainees out to sea—and back into the hands of human traffickers—because police immigration detention camps were overwhelmed with new arrivals.

Claim to Be Turkish

The suspected Uighurs were discovered on Wednesday night in a hilly rubber plantation in an area where the Reuters report identified at least three camps used by Rohingya smugglers last year. The camp guards fled as police approached, Thatchai said.

Those rescued included at least 100 children, most of them toddlers or still breastfeeding, and a pregnant woman. They now sit on plastic mats in a parking lot at the regional immigration headquarters—the nearest police detention center is too full of Rohingya and Bangladeshis to accommodate them. Police say the group claims they are Turkish, although they have no documents to prove that.

The group in Hat Yai shows strong similarities to Turkic-speaking Uighur asylum-seekers who have been detained in Bangkok, police sources say.

In a possibly related incident, Malaysian police arrested 62 people who had illegally crossed the porous border between Thailand and Malaysia on Thursday, the New Straits Times newspaper reported. They also claimed to be Turkish, although it is highly unusual for Turks to seek asylum in this way.

Unrest in China’s Xinjiang province has killed more than 100 people in the past year, prompting a crackdown by Chinese authorities. Many Uighurs resent restrictions on their culture and religion, and complain they are denied economic opportunities amid an influx of Han Chinese into the province. Many Uyghurs refer to Xinjiang as East Turkestan. The region came under Chinese control following two short-lived East Turkestan republics in the 1930s and 1940s.

Keeping Silent

Thai Police are struggling to officially identify the group detained in Hat Yai. So far, none of them has spoken more than a few words of Arabic, even to local Thai Muslims who have arrived to offer help.

Their silence is only broken by the mewling of children. They all have fair, Caucasian features and the women wear headscarves which leave only the eyes uncovered.

"These people will refuse to acknowledge Chinese citizenship to avoid being forcibly repatriated," said Kayum Masimov, president of the Montreal-based Uyghur Canadian Society. "They will simply refuse to talk. They fear for their safety."

Masimov spoke by telephone to the man identified by police as the group’s leader and said he understood Uighur, a Turkic language. The leader gestured toward men not to talk when Reuters approached them.

"The leader says who can talk and who cannot talk," said Thatchai, the police major-general.

The 200 people in Thailand were part of what Masimov called an "unprecedented" exodus of Uighurs from western China in recent years. "We have never had so many people leaving our homeland," he said.

A Chinese diplomat had arrived to assess the situation, while Turkish officials were en route from Bangkok, police said.

Fearing Deportations

Thatchai said he planned to move the women and children into a meeting room inside the headquarters. Many of the suspected Uighurs were growing impatient. "They’re under pressure," he said. "They want to go somewhere but they don’t want to go back to China."

In 2009, 20 Uighurs were deported from Cambodia to China despite the objections of the United Nations and human rights groups, who said they faced lengthy jail terms upon their return.

New York-based Human Rights Watch also criticized Malaysia for deporting six Uighurs to China last December.

At least 100 Uighur men, women and children are being held at an immigration detention center in Bangkok, part of a small but growing number arrested for illegally entering Thailand, most likely overland through Laos from southwest China.

The United Nations refugee agency would not confirm the identity of the people detained in Hat Yai.

"We understand a large group of people were rescued after a smuggler’s camp was raided (in Thailand)," said Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the UNHCR. "We have a team there to assess their urgent humanitarian and any protection needs."

Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation with a chronic shortage of labour, is often the ultimate destination for growing numbers of Asian migrants and asylum-seekers who are falling prey to human trafficking rings.

On Mar. 6 Reuters reported that human traffickers had held hundreds of Rohingya Muslims for ransom in houses in northern Malaysia. Their graphic accounts of abuse suggested that trafficking gangs had shifted their operations into Malaysia as Thai authorities cracked down on jungle camps on their side of the border.

The post Suspected Uighurs Rescued From Thai Trafficking Camp appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Well-Known Chinese Dissident Dies After Being Denied Treatment

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 10:58 PM PDT

China, dissident, Beijing, human rights, prisoner of conscience,

Wang Yu, the lawyer of late human right activist Cao Shunli, talks on the phone in front of a hospital building where Cao was hospitalized at its intensive care unit in Beijing March 1, 2014, after she was not allowed to (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING — Prominent Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli, detained in September for staging sit-ins at the country's foreign ministry, has died, a fellow dissident and one of her lawyers said on Friday, after she was denied medical treatment in detention.

Cao's death is likely to trigger an outcry from China's fledgling rights community and criticism from the West, which has expressed concern about her case.

The news comes soon after the start of a session in Geneva of the UN Human Rights Council, a body to which China was elected amid controversy last November.

"On Sept 14…she was perfectly fine and going to Europe for a trip. Now she's gone. Cao Shunli's wishes were never accomplished," dissident Hu Jia told Reuters.

"When the weather gets warmer, we will stand outside the door of the foreign ministry, continue to petition and call for the supervision of the government's actions. We will remember this date."

Cao staged a two-month sit-in along with other activists outside the Foreign Ministry, beginning in June, to press for the public to contribute to a national human rights report.

She went missing in mid-September after authorities prevented her from flying to Geneva for a human rights training program. She was formally arrested in October on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking troubles," the watchdog group Human Rights in China said.

Cao's family saw wounds on her body, Liu Weiguo, a lawyer who has been acting for Cao, told Reuters, citing another of her lawyers, Wang Yu. But it is unclear how they were inflicted.

"The hospital is not willing to let the lawyer and the family look at the body," Liu said.

Liu said he was "very saddened" by the news, saying both he and Wang had urged officials holding Cao to allow her medical treatment since last October but no action was taken.

Human Rights in China had quoted Cao's lawyer last month as saying she suffered from tuberculosis, liver disease and other ailments. Medical parole was denied until she was seriously ill.

Wang had told Reuters that Cao's younger brother planned to sue the Chaoyang District Detention Centre in Beijing, where his sister was being held, for its "criminal acts" in refusing to give her medical treatment.

The lawyers "definitely plan to sue" the Chaoyang detention centre after consulting Cao's family, Liu said, adding, "the entire legal and human rights community is indignant about this."

Cao died in a Beijing hospital to which authorities had finally let her be taken. Two weeks ago, a friend told Reuters she had suffered organ failure and had only a few days left.

Hundreds of activists along with Cao had urged officials to reply to their requests to participate in drafting China's national human rights report ahead of the country's Universal Periodic Review by the United Nations in October.

Cao had been at the forefront of efforts to participate in the process to join the Universal Periodic Review since 2008.

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The French Connection

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 08:00 PM PDT

France, Myanmar, Burma, The Irrawaddy, French, ambassador, Total, oil, Rakhine, Arakan, human rights, political prisoners, Thierry Mathou

French Ambassador to Myanmar Thierry Mathou says "major steps await Myanmar in 2014." (JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

Relations between Myanmar and France date back to the early 18th century, but ties were largely on hold in recent decades due to Western sanctions on Myanmar's former military regime. Since the current government introduced reforms after coming to power in 2011, however, the two countries have moved quickly to increase their engagement. The Irrawaddy recently spoke with France's ambassador to Myanmar, Thierry Mathou, about his country's growing role in Myanmar's ongoing political and economic transition.

Question: How would you describe the relationship between France and Myanmar today?

Answer: France-Myanmar relations are growing better every day. The number of French citizens living in Myanmar is booming: It's now 65 percent more than last year. More and more companies are settling down here. French citizens are the most numerous European tourists to visit the country. President U Thein Sein's visit to Paris last year, the first ever of a Myanmar head of state to France, was a milestone in the history of intergovernmental exchanges between our two countries. In 2012 we were honored to receive Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for her first trip overseas since her release from house arrest. Many other bilateral visits are in the pipeline. France is eager to engage with Myanmar in a very positive way in sectors such as the economy, culture, education and health, while further promoting democracy and human rights remains very high on our agenda.

Q: The release of political prisoners has been a condition for many Western governments to boost ties with Myanmar. President U Thein Sein promised to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013, but activists say dozens remain behind bars. What's your take on the situation? Will this affect French engagement here?

A: Obviously this is still an issue. Hundreds of political prisoners have been released since 2011. We have acknowledged and praised this unprecedented trend. Forming the Review Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (RCRPP) was also a significant step. Yet all remaining political prisoners have to be released and arbitrary arrests have to be ended. Freedom of conscience must have no boundary.

Q: The French oil giant Total faced some criticism from the international community for its work in Myanmar during the former military regime. Did the French government ever consider trying to persuade the company to divest?
 
A: Oil and gas companies are engaged in long-term strategies that involve commitments over several decades that are different from governments' approaches. In the case of Total, the implementation of the Code of Conduct has always been very important for the French government. I notice that Total's Socio-Economic Program is now described as an example by many stakeholders, both in Myanmar and abroad. In that respect France has always been keen to promote the principle and values of CSR [corporate social responsibility] that should become the motto of all investors in Myanmar.

Q: What French investment has come to Myanmar since 2011, and what angles are prospective investors looking at now?
 
A: The number of French companies coming to Myanmar is increasing rapidly. Large companies like Accor, Alstom, Bouygues, Lafarge, L'Oreal, Schneider Electric, Technip and many others are already in place. SMEs [small and medium enterprises] are also studying the market. Others are to come. The French-Myanmar Business Association, which used to be the oldest Western business association in this country, will soon become a full-fledged chamber of commerce under the name of the FMCCI [French Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry]. Yet like others, French companies need improved macroeconomic and sectorial policies, better legal stability and more transparency, to invest in the long term on a larger scale.

Q: Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) has held partnership talks with several international telecoms firms, including France Telecom. Can you tell us more about that?

A: Orange (France Telecom) is a world-class telecoms player which has unique experience in the transformation of incumbents worldwide in countries that face similar challenges as Myanmar. For that reason it has proposed a partnership to MPT that would enhance its strategic and business development which is crucial for MPT to face its new competitors. We have many reasons to think that Orange's proposal is by far the best for MPT. The decision is up to the Myanmar government.

Q: France co-chairs the sectoral working group in Myanmar on women's empowerment. Over the past year there have been continuing reports of rape in conflict zones, and women have remained largely sidelined during the peace negotiation process. What steps are being taken to address these issues?

A: France has chosen women's empowerment as one of its priorities in Myanmar because it is a very concrete way to promote democracy and human rights. The Women's Forum we organized in Yangon last December was an occasion to highlight the role of women in the peace-building equation. It showed that in a 2013 review of major peace processes around the world, less than 9 percent of negotiators were women. Myanmar is certainly not an exception. I was pleased to notice that thanks to the consistent advocacy of NGOs, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has decided that one-third of its central committee members would be women. This type of decision has to be amplified and implemented in all organizations, including government. But men's resistance is not always the problem. Women often have to be convinced. We will pursue our gender advocacy as we will defend women's rights wherever they are in danger.

Q: In the coming year, what can the Myanmar government do to encourage more French engagement?
 
A: We understand that genuine democracy cannot be created overnight. In that respect we acknowledge the step-by-step approach implemented by the government. But new major steps await Myanmar in 2014. As far as the peace process is concerned, we are looking forward to the long-awaited political dialogue which has to start as soon as the national ceasefire agreement is signed with clear and ambitious objectives that respect the rights of ethnic groups within the framework of national unity.

The ability of Myanmar to amend its Constitution in a way that demonstrates its willingness to further engage on the path of democracy and to implement much-needed changes in the interests of the people will also be closely watched. Any other approach would come as a disappointment both at home and abroad. Creating unnecessary delays and keeping restrictive clauses would be a bad signal.

Last but not least, we are looking forward to knowing the content of the Comprehensive Strategy and Action Plan for Rakhine State that the government has agreed to share with international partners, so that a solution can be found to the current crisis and we can offer our support.

Q: France has signed an agreement with Myanmar to help strengthen freedom of expression in the country by offering technical advice on media laws. How free is the Myanmar press today, and what is your opinion of draft media laws currently being considered by Parliament, including the printing and publishing registration bill?

A: Freedom of expression is coming a long way in Myanmar. Much progress has been made during the last three years, but many challenges lie ahead. France has a very simple stand as far as media laws are concerned: Always protect rights, never restrain liberty. Training is also essential in a world where journalists have to be responsible and independent actors of civil society. This is why France has taken the initiative with other partners to initiate the first School of Journalism in Myanmar that will soon open in Yangon.

Q: When President U TheinSein met President Francois Hollande in July last year, Mr. Hollande reportedly expressed concerns over the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities. How would you rate the Myanmar government on its response to reports of violence against Muslims since then?

A: Growing violence between religious minorities is a serious concern, especially in Rakhine State, where fear is on both sides. This situation should be addressed without delay through a "local peace process." First, bring people around the table and stop violence. Then discuss political issues, with no taboos, with the objective to bring long-lasting peace, stability and development in Rakhine while addressing concerns and respecting rights of both Buddhist and Muslim communities. Otherwise the current crisis could become a major problem for the overall transition process in Myanmar.

This interview first appeared in the March 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

The post The French Connection appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (March 15, 2014)

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 07:00 PM PDT

Yoma in Deal With Hong Kong Firm for Luxury Hotel in Rangoon

Burmese-owned conglomerate Yoma Strategic Holdings has signed another business deal, this time with the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels company (HSH) to open a luxury Peninsula brand hotel in Rangoon.

The two firms signed an agreement in Hong Kong to cooperate in acquiring and converting the famous colonial Burma Railways headquarters in the city's central business district, said travel industry magazine TTR Weekly.

"The agreement, subject to conditions and approval, will seek to redevelop and restore the heritage building, which dates from the 1880s and is one of the oldest existing colonial buildings in Rangoon," the magazine reported.

It's not clear what stage the partnership is at in securing a lease or ownership of the protected building and no details of cost or development timetable were announced.

The partnership was signed by HSH chief executive Clement Kwok and Singapore-based Yoma's chairman, Serge Pun.

"[Burma] is one of the world's most exciting emerging markets and we see good potential in this market as a luxury travel and tourism destination," Kwok said in a statement reported by TTR Weekly.

Only days earlier, Yoma announced it had signed an agreement with ED&F Man, an international food commodities merchant based in London to develop a large coffee plantation in Burma.

Yoma has business interests in real estate, agriculture, vehicles and tourism.

Plans for Kyaukphyu-China Commercial Road, Rail Link 'Complete'

Plans for the development of a so-called commercial corridor linking the port and district of Kyaukphyu with China's Yunnan Province via the border crossing of Ruili are complete, a senior Ministry of Construction official told a Rangoon conference.

The corridor, which will include a new highway and railway line, proposed by China, is one of a number of transport improvements being considered and for which foreign investors are sought, the special construction promotion conference heard.

The conference was organized by Singapore's Centre for Management Technology.
"Besides the Kyaukphyu-Ruili Corridor, [Burma] and China have other bilateral agreements for more construction. We expect that the corridor project will be implemented soon," said ministry executive engineer Thet Zaw Win, Eleven Media reported.

Earlier this month, the government named the CPG Corporation of Singapore as leader of five firms chosen as consultants for the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone development.

Energy Ministry 'Struggling' With Offshore Block Bid Decisions: Report

Burma's Ministry of Energy seems to be having trouble making decisions on the award of licenses for 30 offshore oil and gas exploration blocks, a leading international oil industry magazine said.

"Results of the tender, which the energy ministry had indicated would be released late December or early January, are expected in March. Even so, the March timeline will also depend on the management," US based Rigzone said, quoting what it called a ministry source.

"Evaluation of the bidders' final proposals for the country's offshore exploration blocks appeared to have been completed although top governmental officials are still finalizing the tender award," it said.

The blocks were first put up for tender last June and 30 mostly large international oil companies submitted bids.

It could be that the ministry "finds it very hard to select from the many bidders," Rigzone quoted Rangoon law advisory company VBD Loi.

Drillers Plumb New Depths to Squeeze Burma's Oldest Oil Field

Renewed efforts to try to increase oil recovery from Burma's oldest oil field, the Yenangyaung, involve drilling to a new depth of more than 1,300 meters, a report said.

The drilling is being carried out by Goldpetrol, a company controlled by Singapore-based Interra Resources, said the industry magazine Rigzone.

Interra has been working in the field since 2011 under an Improved Petroleum Recovery Contract with the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.

The Yenangyaung field is in the Irrawaddy River valley north of Naypyidaw and was first tapped by the British in the 1930s.

The field and the adjoining Chauk field are not major oil providers. Production is currently limited to several hundred barrels of crude per day.

Military Keeps Strong Grip on Business Institutions, Says UN Investigator

Burma's military still maintains a strong hold on many of Burma's commercial and political institutions the United Nations' special representative to Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said.

"For the time being, the military retains a prevailing role in the life and institutions, [and] in general remain unaccountable," Quintana said in a statement in Geneva reported by AFP news agency. "The rule of law cannot yet be said to exist in [Burma]."

Quintana, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, last visited the country at the end of February. He is scheduled to present his final report before to the UN Human Rights Council on March 17.

On his way to Geneva, Quintana told reporters in Bangkok he was concerned about the effect of infrastructure projects in Burma on human rights issues such as land ownership and loss of home.

"What is the responsibility, not only of the government … but also of foreign investors? [Burma] lacks the concept of the rule of law and accountability. So if these infrastructure projects really affect the livelihoods, the local community and the environment, and they will, what will be the rule of law that will protect them?" said Quintana.

Air Asia Airline Gives 'Generous' Help to Suu Kyi Health Foundation

Malaysian regional budget airline Air Asia is helping the foundation to promote better health care in Burma launched this week by Aung San Suu Kyi.

The company, which flies between Kuala Lumpur and Rangoon and Bangkok and Rangoon and Mandalay, is giving unspecified aid to the Suu Foundation, said travel trade magazine TTR Weekly.

Air Asia chief executive Aireen Omar said the firm was "committed to develop the community and economy of the destinations that we fly to," but gave no details. Suu Kyi described the aid as generous, said the magazine.

One of the foundation's aims is to try to improve conditions at Rangoon Hospital where, it said, healthcare has "vastly deteriorated."

"Deprived of funding, training, and facilities, the hospital reflects the state of healthcare in Burma. The World Health Organization ranks [Burma] last of 190 countries in healthcare outcomes," said the foundation.

The post The Irrawaddy Business Roundup (March 15, 2014) appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.
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Shan Herald Agency for News

Shan Herald Agency for News

Graduate Seminar: Women of Kachin State: Trafficking and Militarized Femininity on the Burma-China Border

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 07:07 AM PDT

The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University presents the Graduate Seminar on "Women of Kachin State: Trafficking and Militarized Femininity on the Burma-China Border".

Secretariat, 12th APSA Conference
Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD)
Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University
239 Huay Kaew Road, Tambon Suthep, Amphoe Muang, Chiang Mai 50200
Tel: 66-53-943595/6 Fax: 66-53-893279
e-mail: rcsd@cmu.ac.th / rcsd.cmu@gmail.com
URL: http://rcsd.soc.cmu.ac.th  /www.soc.cmu.ac.th
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