Democratic Voice of Burma |
- International pressure on Burma, Thailand to deal with Rohingya issues
- Embassy warns Burmese to avoid Bangkok rallies
- Rangoon journalists rally for imprisoned colleague
- Kukis refuse to crumble
- Thousands greet Suu Kyi in Kale, en route to Chin State
| International pressure on Burma, Thailand to deal with Rohingya issues Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:21 AM PST Following an international statement last week calling for the Burmese government to allow immediate humanitarian access to an impoverished Rohingya refugee camp in Arakan state, US-based international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday released a report in which it called on Thailand's authorities to take greater care of Rohingya boatpeople and to take punitive action against any officials found complicit in smuggling operations. Noting that many children had been separated from their parents while in detention in Thailand, HRW called for the Thai government to reunite Rohingya children and their families in "safe and open family shelters". The report noted that many of the boats which arrive on Thai shores carry unaccompanied Rohingya children. "Rohingya children need safe, secure environments after fleeing violence in Burma and enduring the trauma of difficult journeys," said Alice Farmer, children's rights researcher at HRW. "Yet Thailand locks up many who reach its shores, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking and further abuse." Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, an NGO that defends Rohingya rights, confirmed that it was general practice for Thai immigration officials to separate male and female boatpeople when processing them. "Some children become unaccompanied in government shelters as their male relatives are kept in immigration detention centres," she said. “Indefinite detention is not a solution, in particular for children, and alternatives should be found," said Lewa. HRW said that new research indicates abuses by Thai authorities and called for punishments against officials found complicit in such cases. The report follows a recent in-depth article by news group Reuters which accused Thai naval immigration officials of involvement in the trafficking of Rohingya boatpeople to Malaysia. "Thousands of Rohingya have passed through one of at least three 'trafficking camps' in southern Thailand, where some have been held for ransom or sold to fishing boats and farms as manual laborers, according to Reuters and other media reports in December 2013," read the HRW report. "The reports allege that Thai immigration officials collaborated with the traffickers by transferring Rohingya held in Thailand to the custody of the traffickers," the report said. "A high-ranking police official confirmed to journalists the existence of the camps and acknowledged an informal policy called 'option two', which relies on smuggling networks to expel Rohingya migrants, including asylum seekers, from Thailand. The United Nations has called for an investigation into the reports Thai immigration officials moved refugees from Burma into human trafficking rings." HRW went on to say that if the Burmese government refuses to accept the return of stateless Rohingya migrants, the Thai government should release them as "there is no legitimate reason to detain people solely for immigration violations who cannot be repatriated". No Thai immigration authority could be reached for comment when contacted by DVB on Tuesday. Thai naval immigration authorities reacted to the Reuters report in December by filing a defamation suit against a local website, Phuketwan, which ran coverage of the alleged smuggling operation and which has routinely published details of Rohingya boatpeople washed up on Thai shores. Speaking to DVB on Tuesday, Phuketwan editor Alan Morison said the investigating officer in the case has said he is compiling a summary for the public prosecutor in mid-January. Morison said that despite calls by international media and human rights groups to withdraw the charges, the commander of the Thai naval authority refuses, saying that the Phuketwan report has damaged Thailand's image. Meanwhile, Morison said, reports continue to surface of Rohingya boatpeople arriving in Phuket and other locations in southern Thailand, apparently en route to Malaysia to find work. Phuketwan reported that 139 Rohingya Muslims arrived on Phuket on 25 December, and Morison said that two further instances of boats carrying perhaps 200 migrants each from Burma (or Bangladesh) had been reported this week. The cool season in Southeast Asia from October to February dictates calmer seas and is usually the time when Rohingya and other would-be migrants take to the high seas in boats, after paying brokers to transport them to Malaysia. According to Chris Lewa of Arakan Project, November saw the highest number of Rohingya boatpeople recorded to date. "Some 9,000 Rohingya left from only northern Arakan state in November 2013," she said, noting that her NGO estimates that between 65,000 and 70,000 Rohingya fled persecution in northern Arakan state over the past year, and that those figures did not include other ports of exit such as Sittwe, where Arakan Project has no data. Lewa said that most Rohingya currently pay a fee of between 100,000- 200,000 kyat (US$100- $200) to a broker before leaving Arakan state, but must then pay an additional fee of 65,000- 75,000 baht (up to $2,500) to smugglers in Thailand. On 30 December, the US, the EU, Switzerland and Turkey issued a joint-statement saying that the "international community" is deeply concerned by the dire humanitarian situation faced by Rohingya IDPs in Taung Paw camp in Myebon Township. Noting that the deteriorating living conditions in the camp have created an inhumane environment for camp residents, the statement said that the 752 families living in the camp have faced "very poor living conditions, including lack of safe drinking water, limited healthcare services, malnutrition, and restrictions on movement outside the camp" for the past 14 months. It further added that the international community has received credible reports that local community members in Myebon have harassed relief workers and impeded the access of humanitarian supplies to the camp. "These actions are unacceptable," the joint-statement read, and called for the Burmese authorities to ensure greater security for and access to the camp's displaced Rohingya. In February last year, UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana remarked after a visit to Taung Paw that it “felt more like a prison than a camp”.
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| Embassy warns Burmese to avoid Bangkok rallies Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:07 AM PST The Burmese embassy in Bangkok has issued a warning to its nationals in the Thai capital to avoid anti-government rallies amid a threat by protesters to bring the city to halt on 13 January by blockading major roads. In an announcement dated 6 January, the embassy warned Burmese nationals to avoid getting involved in the so-called "Bangkok Shutdown" and associated rallies this week for the sake of their own security and to "prevent upsetting the friendship" between the two countries. "We are concerned for Burmese nationals, especially migrant workers, as they can get arrested or injured just for being in the wrong place Рwe are advising everyone to stay away from protest sites and to keep updated with the news," said Kyaw Kyaw Lwin, labour attach̩ at the embassy, speaking to DVB by phone. A Burmese migrant worker was injured on Monday morning while delivering snacks in an area where a rally was taking place, and the embassy said it has been trying to reach out to him to provide the necessary assistance. Kyaw Kyaw Lwin said Burmese migrants Рif forced to join the protests by their employers Рcan report the matter to their embassy or the Thai government's Department of Labour Protection and Welfare. More background on the Bangkok protests can be found here. |
| Rangoon journalists rally for imprisoned colleague Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:41 AM PST More than 200 journalists and activists took to the streets in Rangoon on Tuesday morning to denounce the imprisonment of Eleven Daily reporter Naw Khine Khine Aye Cho, popularly known as Ma Khine. The demonstration was organised by the Myanmar Journalists Network (MJN) and drew some 200 participants, including many of Rangoon's reporters. Demonstrators marched from City Hall to the Eleven Media Group offices in Tamwe Township, bearing t-shirts and placards with messages demanding press freedom in the country, which only abolished pre-publication censorship in August 2012. "The reporter was sentenced to three months in a Loikaw jail for pursuing news, and we see this as a threat to media freedom," said Myint Kyaw, general secretary of the MJN. "We are protesting not just for an individual news organisation, but against a possible threat to all reporters," he said. "Furthermore, all citizens have the right to appeal against an unfair trial." The protest was joined by members of the Myanmar Lawyers Network and 88 Generation Peace and Open Society (88GPOS) whose leader, Min Ko Naing, said that the group wanted to show its solidarity with the journalists. "We support freedom regardless of profession," said Min Ko Naing. "When there is oppression, we have to stand together on mutual ground and show our unity." Related StoriesMa Khine was sentenced to three months in prison in December by Karenni State's Loikaw Township court on charges of trespassing, criminal defamation and using obscene language. The charges were filed by a lawyer who claimed that the journalist entered her property without permission and became verbally abusive. Ma Khine testified that she was conducting an interview and had been invited inside by the lawyer, denying allegations of abuse and obscenity. Myint Kyaw said that just after Ma Khine was sentenced, the MJN released a public statement "strongly condemning" the prosecution as a threat to Burma's media freedom. After receiving no reply from authorities, the group applied for permission on 29 December to stage a protest in Rangoon, which was granted. Permission was denied, however, for a similar protest in Mandalay, also scheduled for Tuesday. Authorities in Aungmyay Tharzan Township on Sunday rejected a bid by local journalists on the grounds that the demonstration "was planned on a busy and crowded road," according to a police official. Despite being denied permission for a public gathering, about 20 journalists gathered at a Mandalay prison donning protest garb and carrying photographic equipment bound with bandages, in an act of solidarity with the Rangoon demonstrators. |
| Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:39 AM PST Various small tribes of different names have agreed to be registered in Burma's upcoming nationwide census as one entity only; the Kuki people. At a press conference on Monday, Ngai Ngai, a member of the Kuki Nationalities Affairs Committee, announced the agreement that was made at the Kuki National conference held in December last year. The tribes are currently listed as different ethnic groups, but they all identify themselves as Kuki. "We have reached an agreement; to be listed under one ethnic title – the Kuki – at the 2014 census. Various Kuki tribe leaders swore an oath upon the agreement at our traditional Jukhon Saba Dop ritual, in which they held a cup of liquor and an animal liver and vowed to register as the Kuki People." Related StoriesThe Kuki people are not listed among Burma's 135 officially recognised ethnicities. Instead they have been mistakenly considered members of various other ethnicities. The Kukis number around 200,000, with the majority living in northern Sagaing division or Chin state. Their next step is to propose to the Burma Immigration Ministry for official recognition as the Kuki. The 2014 nationwide census is set to take place from the 30th of March to the 14th of April this year. And the Kukis hope that by then, they will be recognised as one people. |
| Thousands greet Suu Kyi in Kale, en route to Chin State Posted: 06 Jan 2014 10:21 PM PST Thousands of supporters greeted Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the town of Kale in Sagaing Division on Monday when she made a stop in the town en route to western Burma's remote Chin state. Hla Oo, a youth member of Suu Kyi's political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and part of the party's tour convoy, told DVB that the delegation met with fanfare when they arrived in Kale on Monday afternoon. Suu Kyi met with NLD Sagaing Division Central Committee members and advised them to unite under the party's principles and guidelines. Suu Kyi went on to explain the party's position on the 2008 Burma Constitution, according to Myint Naing, chairman of the NLD Sagaing Division chapter. Along with several other party leaders, Suu Kyi arrived on Tuesday in Chin State where they aim to gauge public opinion on constitutional reform and meet with regional NLD supporters. The emissaries also plan to hold a public assembly in Chin State capital Hakha to inform the public about the intricacies and issues of the military-drafted 2008 Constitution. The delegation is set to arrive in the Chin State town of Tedim later on Tuesday, just across the border from Sagaing Division. From there they will travel to Falam, and on to Hakha on 9 December where she will speak publicly at the Wunthumong sports ground. Their arrival marks the start of Suu Kyi's second visit to the remote and impoverished ChinState – the first occurred in April 2003. |
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