Thursday, April 17, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Burmese journalists pray for Zaw Pe’s release

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 05:04 AM PDT

DVB reporters and staff in Rangoon gathered for Burmese New Year's Day to pray for the release of their colleague, Magwe correspondent Zaw Pe [Zaw Phay] who was recently sentenced to a one- year jail term for charges related to his journalistic work.

Zaw Pe and his friend Win Myint Hlaing were each sentenced to one year in prison by Magwe Township Court on 7 April after being found guilty of charges of "trespassing" and "disturbing a civil servant on duty", pressed by a government official. The Magwe Divisional Education Department official pressed charges in August 2012 after Zaw Pe had inquired about a scholarship programme.

On 17 April, fellow DVB staff in Rangoon, wearing matching black t-shirts carrying placards calling for the release of Zaw Pe and for greater press freedom, gathered at the east gate of Shwedagon Pagoda in a prayer session. They also released fish and birds as acts of merit-making, a traditional Burmese custom at this time of year.

Hla Hla Win, a DVB reporter who also had been arrested and jailed by authorities while covering news in 2009, said: "Zaw Pe went to the government office to cover news which was in the public interest and his jailing indicates that no reporter in the country is safe to cover news at government offices without risking arrest.

"We are journalists collecting information for the public and not some thieves or criminals – we don't deserve to spend even one day in the prison," she said.

DVB staff members in Mandalay also released fish and birds on Thursday as symbolic calls for justice for Zaw Pe.

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Meanwhile, Mandalay-based journalists from several media outlets gathered at the historic Maha Myat Muni Pagoda and prayed for the release of all reporters arrested and jailed in the line of work.

Zaw Thet Htwe, a former political prisoner and leading member of the Interim Myanmar Press Council who took part in the activity, said the jailing of reporters for chasing news is completely unacceptable.

"Basically this indicates that every reporter can be sued for charges such as trespassing for visiting a venue to cover news. This basically makes it impossible for them to work anywhere in the country and therefore we cannot accept this," he said.

"We would like the government in Burma, the parliament and the public, as well as the international community, to know that the jailing of Zaw Pe was completely unfair and this is why we have joined this event today."

DVB has vowed to work with other media organisations and rights groups to continue campaigning for Zaw Pe's release.

Rights group calls for international investigation into sexual violence by Burma military

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 04:43 AM PDT

In a report reopening allegations of the Burmese army's persistent and systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) has reignited calls for an international commission into violence against women in Burma.

"The widespread nature and scale of rape and sexual violence incidents meets the legal definition of war crimes and crimes against humanity," the BCUK report reads, citing the UN's repeated use of the terminology which define those legal terms in statements made on sexual violence perpetrated by the Burmese army.

In a 2008 report, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, alluded to instances of sexual violence, which "are not simply isolated acts of individual misconduct by middle- or low-ranking officers, but rather the result of a system."

Despite this, the UN has at no level initiated any investigation into sexual violence described by BCUK "as an organised means of dominating and subjugating ethnic populations".

Nor has the seemingly reformist current Burmese government.

Thein Sein, despite appearing to have positioned himself as a counterweight to hardline military conservatism, has failed to acknowledge the possibility of rape and other grievous crimes against women by the army. "Our military is very disciplined. There is no reason for the military to commit acts of rape or murder," Thein Sein guaranteed in 2012.

Nor does domestic pressure exist which might force the government to make such an admission. The 2008 constitution provides legal foundation to a culture of impunity surrounding grievous human rights violations by the Burmese military. Article 455 states "no proceeding shall be instituted against … any member of the Government, in respect to any act done in the execution of their respective duties."

As the ruling government remains inextricably linked to the military there is a vested interest on the part of nominally civilian parliamentary representatives to suppress their own past indiscretions. BCUK's report notes that 45 incidences of military rape were chronicled between 1996 and 1998 in the immediate area surrounding Kentung, eastern Shan State. There, at that time, Thein Sein himself commanded troops during Burmese army offensives that resulted in the displacement of 300,000 villagers.

Tin Tin Nyo of the Women's League of Burma said she believes that since coming to power, Thein Sein has done nothing to improve the situation of women's rights in Burma.

Whilst constitutional Article 455 belies the need for a national-level inquest into sexual violence and other human rights abuses by the Burmese military, the British government has acknowledged the need for international acknowledgement of the issue of the systematic use of sexual violence by the Burmese armed forces.

Through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, the UK government has provided funds in the region of US$500,000 for legal training for women and counseling to victims. Further to this, Hugo Swire of the UK Foreign Office met President Thein Sein and armed forces chief Min Aung Hlaing in January in Naypyidaw, where he lobbied for Burma's signature on the 2013 UN Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

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However this alone will not solve the problem, according to BCUK director Mark Farmaner. "We need to see a commission on sexual violence in Burma along the lines of the UN commission of Inquiry on North Korea." Farmaner told DVB. "It must be able to take evidence and make an assessment as to whether violations of international law are taking place."

Seng Shadan, of the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand, agrees that the international community must probe violence against women in Burma's peripheral ethnic areas. "Rape has been used as a weapon by the Burmese military for over 60 years," she told DVB on Thursday. "To change this would require a shift in the attitude of the government, which I don't think will happen without international pressure."

Journalists charged with defaming Thai Navy

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 04:08 AM PDT

Two Thailand-based journalists were charged on Thursday with defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for citing a Reuters article that contained allegations against members of the Royal Thai Navy.

Australian editor Alan Morison and Thai reporter Chutima Sidasathian of Phuketwan online news could face up to seven years in prison and fines amounting to US$3,000.

Following arraignment and five hours in holding cells, 100,000 baht (US$3,000) bail for each of the two defendants was posted on their behalf by supporters at the Andaman Foundation.

The pair are currently out of custody and due to return to court on 26 May for trial.

"This experience has only made us more determined to fight the charges," Morison told DVB on Thursday shortly after his discharge. "We've done nothing wrong."

Morison and Chutima were first informed of the impending charges in mid-December, five months after publishing an article that summarised an investigative report by Reuters news agency. Phuketwan cited a paragraph suggesting that some Thai officials profited directly from the smuggling of Rohingya Muslims from Burma.

Charges have not been brought against the authors of the contentious paragraph, Jason Szep and Stuart Grudgings. A Reuters spokesperson told DVB on Thursday that, "To our understanding, the complaint is under review by the authorities, but we have not been charged."

Szep and another Reuters reporter, Andrew RC Marshall, were awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for their reports on Burma's Rohingya Muslims, whom the United Nations has termed one of the world's most persecuted peoples.

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The stateless minority bore the brunt of two years of renewed communal violence in western Burma, where decades-long tension between Buddhists and Muslims exploded in a rash of riots that has left around 200 dead and more than 140,000 displaced.

Many have fled the country as a result of the conflict, often on boats that pass through Thai waters en route to Muslim-majority Malaysia. The award-winning Reuters coverage examined a network of human smuggling checkpoints, at which many Rohingya are thought to be intercepted, tortured, extorted and indefinitely detained.

The reports allege that some Thai naval officials abetted and profited from the scheme.

Phuketwan, an online news site founded by Morison in 2008, has been reporting on Thailand's treatment of Rohingyas for several years. Reuters retained the assistance of Chutima to secure local contacts throughout their investigation, though an agency spokesperson said that her role was "very limited".

Morison has criticised Reuters' remove from the case, calling on the agency to speak up for media freedom. He has further insinuated that the charges are a clear case of targeting a "small, local organisation with little resources", a suspicion that has been echoed by numerous rights groups including Human Rights Watch (HRW).

"Instead of being brave enough to stand up and defend themselves publicly, the Thai Navy plays 'shoot the messenger' with a small Phuket-based website with limited means to defend itself," said Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of HRW Asia. It seems clear, said Robertson, that the Thai military is picking on locals instead of taking on an international agency with lots of money and lawyers, even though they produced the disputed content.

Robertson also emphasised that the Thai Navy has yet to address the allegations against them, which are fundamental to the controversy.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has similarly denounced the charges, and forecasted that the case could set a precedent of trepidation among journalists in Thailand. Upon passage of the Computer Crimes Act in 2007, some rights groups anticipated that the law could be used to censor the media, but this is the first case in which it has actually been levied against journalists.

“The formal defamation and Computer Crime Act charges brought today against two Phuketwan journalists aims ultimately to curb reporting on the Thai military’s apparent involvement in gross human rights abuses,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s Southeast Asia representative. “Regardless of the case’s eventual verdict, the state-backed charges will cause self-censorship among all journalists covering the Thailand angle of Burma’s growing Rohingya refugee crisis.”

While the suspects have received substantial support from media rights advocates — "ludicrous" and "absurd" are among the many terms used to describe the case — Reuters has been relatively silent, but did tell DVB on Thursday that they "oppose the use of criminal laws to sanction the press — large or small, local or international — for publication on matters of serious public interest, like the Rohingya stories here."

Thai officials have thus far been unavailable for comment.

 

Literacy campaign aims to coach 46,000 people

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 03:00 AM PDT

University lecturers and students are volunteering their time during this summer holiday as part of the 2014 Literacy Campaign in Burma, which aims to provide free classes to 46,479 people, including children and elderly persons who never learned to read.

The campaign, which takes place from 1 April to 15 May, aims to provide literacy classes in more than 1,000 wards and villages in 29 townships across the country, and will benefit from the time given by some 4,200 students and university faculty members who will volunteer to teach reading and writing skills.

Khin Maung Htwe, assistant director of the Myanmar Education Research Bureau (MERB) overseeing the campaign, said: "Literacy is the key to educational development in this country; therefore our aim is to help everyone in the country become literate."

Speaking at 6 April ceremony to launch the 2014 Literacy Campaign in the village of Sanpya in Mandalay Region, Burma's President Thein Sein said, "As development of the nation totally depends on [our] literacy rate and education development, strenuous efforts are being made for undertaking reforms in [the] education sector so as to improve education standards," according to a report in state-run The New Light of Myanmar.

According to government statistics, Burma's literacy rate in 2000 was over 91 percent. MERB is projecting the figure will go up to 95 percent after 2015 following successive literacy campaigns.

UN data from 2007-11 puts the adult literacy rate in Burma at 92 percent, which compares favourably with several neighbouring countries; while Thailand and China boast adult literacy rates of 94 percent, Cambodia is 74 percent, India is 63 percent and Bangladesh just 57 percent, according to the UN.

 

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Humanitarian crisis looms as Kachin conflict intensifies

Posted: 17 Apr 2014 12:43 AM PDT

Burmese Army's 223rd Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) troops have launched another offensive on Wednesday at 5am against KIA's 1st Battalion post located near Chyari- Dagaw in Momauk Township. Burmese Army troops fired several rounds of artillery shells, followed by ground offensive on KIA positions at around 10:30 am, said a KIA frontline source.

KIA's 1st Battalion troops had withdrawn on Wednesday from its Dagaw Mada Post located about a half mile away from Chyari- Dagaw where the current fighting is taking place. The KIA source says a combined force of Burmese Army's 223rd LIB and 601st LIR launched a joint attack against KIA to occupy Dagaw Mada Post.

KIA's 9th Battalion troops engaged in a battle against an unknown Burmese Army unit at Hka Hkip village in Kutkai Township in northern Shan State on 15 April. No casualties on either side have been reported so far.

A local source says Burmese Army troops stationed at Lawdan, located between Bhamo and Lwe Je, have randomly fired several rounds of artillery shells into surrounding area to expand territory under their control.

Local villagers from Awng Nan, Awng Ra, Hkyet Wa Hkan and other smaller villages have to flee their homes due to ongoing bombardments by government troops and fighting between KIA and Burmese Army troops.

Mary Tawm, coordinator of local Kachin aid group Wunpawng Ninghtoi (WPN) said, "I am very worried about the villagers and it seems that there will be more IDPs in Mansi Township and Momauk Township."

"There has been fighting every day in different parts of Mansi and Momauk townships and the conflict area is not very far from the over 10,000 IDPs living in six different camps," she said. "If the situation continues like this, more people will be forcefully displaced."

The Joint Strategy Team (JST) for Humanitarian Response in Kachin & Northern Shan States, a group which is comprised of major local NGOs and faith-based organizations like BRIDGE, Kachin Baptist Convention, Kachin Relief and Development Committee, Kachin Women's Association, Kachin Development Group, Karuna Myanmar Social Services, Metta Development Foundation, Shalom Foundation and WPN, on Monday issued a statement on current massive displacement of over 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees.

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The JST urges warring parties to immediately cease fire, and to implement and fully abide by the agreements previously made between the two sides. The JST said it requests both Burmese Army and KIA to ensure full compliance of international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles. The group also said the safety and protecting the security of the IDPs, especially children and more vulnerable ones, is the first priority for both parties involved in the current conflict.

The group asks Chinese government to keep with the principle of non-refoulement for refugees and international donor organizations to help IDPs with their basic needs for food and shelter.

Aid workers say local Chinese authorities asked refugees living at a temporary makeshift camp at Lung Krawk on the China side of the border not to stay in the camp and told them to stay at friends' and relatives' houses.

Lung Krawk was a temporary camp for Kachin refugees fleeing the war until Chinese authorities sent them back in August 2012.

This article was originally published in Kachinland News on 17 April 2014.
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