Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

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Democratic Voice of Burma

Natural Fruit ups ante against rights activist
Business as usual: martial law won’t affect cross-border trade
Review Committee supports overturning Article 436
Ceasefire talks underway in Rangoon
Women want their share of peace

Natural Fruit ups ante against rights activist

Posted: 21 May 2014 04:39 AM PDT

Following a few months of relative quiet, the defamation case against British researcher Andy Hall is back in motion. Hall, who already faced three charges of defamation and violation of Thailand's Computer Crimes Act, is set to appear before a public prosecutor on 18 June on an additional criminal charge.

A Thai pineapple processing company, Natural Fruit, brought the initial case against Hall in February 2013, alleging that his published research on conditions for migrant workers damaged the company's reputation. The charges include two counts of criminal defamation, violation of Thailand's controversial Computer Crimes Act, and a civil defamation lawsuit claiming damages of US$10 million.

The new criminal defamation charge, over which Hall was questioned by authorities on Monday, was levelled after Hall appeared in an Al Jazeera video segment produced in Rangoon. According to Hall, no one at Natural Fruit or among their counsel has seen the entire interview in question, having viewed only an edited clip on YouTube. He contends that the charge should be immediately dropped because "it's not within the jurisdiction of the Thai legal system to prosecute me for that."

Natural Fruit disagrees. The company's lawyer, Dr. Somsak Torugsa, told DVB on Wednesday that "under Thai law, any charge of defamation that is made against Thai citizens or Thai companies can be tried in a Thai court of law."

The prosecutor will decide on 18 June whether the case will proceed to court; Hall said that all of the charges have already been approved by both the Thai Attorney General's office and the Chief Prosecutor. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in jail for each.

"I intend to defend all the cases," he told DVB on Tuesday. "There are a lot of them adding up, and I intend to defend them all."

Hall has been a researcher and advocate of migrant issues in Thailand for almost a decade, and last year he served an advisory role to Burma's Ministry of Labour under an EU-led guidance programme. He contributed research to a 2013 report by an organisation called Finnwatch alleging abuses against migrant workers at several food production facilities in central Thailand, including Natural Fruit. Hall was lead researcher of the report, working at the time as Associate Researcher at Mahidol University in Thailand.

While the other companies that he investigated, Thai Union Manufacturing and Unicord, participated in "very open dialogue", Hall says that "we contacted Natural Fruit many times and they didn't respond, and that's why we went public with the findings."

Those findings implicated the company in myriad abuses including restrictions on movement, underpaid labour, excessive fees and extremely unsafe working conditions. The report also suggested that many of the facility's employees were involuntarily brought there by smugglers; though they intended to come to Thailand for some type of job, "no one wanted to work there in the first place".

Natural Fruit's legal counsel said that the company rejects all of the allegations.

The offenses detailed by Finnwatch ultimately led to costly inquiries and some procurement renegotiations between European retailers and their Thai suppliers. It also brought extra scrutiny to lengthy supply chains ending in Thailand, where many Burmese and other Southeast Asian migrants are employed.

Some of Hall's supporters have argued that corporate information is too difficult to obtain from Thai companies, and that if a producer that supplies markets worldwide prefers not to be suddenly audited, they should take the initiative to be transparent about their labour practices.

Phil Robertson, Deputy Director for Human Rights Watch Asia division, endorsed Hall's research as credible and fact-based, predicting that "the company and the prosecutor are going to find it very difficult to prove otherwise". But for Natural Fruit, said Robertson, that's not the point; the company is more concerned with punishing Hall "because he has hit them publicly and demonstrated to the company's workers that it is possible for them to demand better treatment and wages."

One potential outcome of the case, regardless of the verdict, is that it could intimidate rights workers and inhibit independent investigative work. While criminal libel laws have often been used to silence Thai journalists, activists and rights workers, Thai authorities and businesses alike have now become comfortable reaching across borders to keep people quiet. The Hall case is just one timely example.

"It's a worrying trend that's going on," said Hall, remarking on another ongoing case of two journalists in southern Thailand facing a criminal trial for quoting controversial content published by the Reuters news agency. The pair — a Thai reporter and an Australian editor — have also been charged for defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act. Phuket police told DVB last week that they are still reviewing a complaint against Reuters, but did not confirm that charges will be pressed against them.

As Hall, who now lives in Rangoon, is scheduled to return to Bangkok in June to face the prosecutor, he said that he is preparing to hear charges and perhaps be jailed. He has also made clear that he will not pay bail, and will instead ask the Thai Food Processing Association, a semi-governmental industry regulating body, to pay on his behalf, "to send a message to the international community that this is just one company that's going the wrong way, and it's not reflective of the general situation in Thailand."

Business as usual: martial law won’t affect cross-border trade

Posted: 21 May 2014 03:55 AM PDT

Additional footage from Reuters

Residents in the Burmese border town of Myawaddy fear that the imposition of martial law in neighbouring Thailand will disrupt the flow of border trade.

In the early hours of Tuesday 20 May, Thailand's army declared martial law in the country, in an effort to stabilise the political unrest that's been ongoing for the past six months.

"The situation could lead to a hike in commodity prices here and transportation woes," said one Myawaddy resident. "It could also make it difficult for migrants across the border to send money back home."

Following a coup in 2006, Thailand's military shut down the country's border checkpoints, which halted the inflow of Thai commodities in Myawaddy town, leading to a price hike.

Myawaddy residents are worried the same could happen again, although the Thai army have denied they are staging a coup.

As of yesterday, Thai commodity prices in Maywaddy were yet to change.

Thin Thin Myat, chairperson for Myawaddy Traders Association, reassured residents by saying that the events in Thailand would not affect cross-border trade.

"The Thai military is not staging a coup but only stepping in to restore order. As this is the case, there won't be any impacts on the border bridge. The likely impact is that people will worry about the trade flow and so may wait to transfer money across the border," she said.

The current political crisis in Thailand began in November 2013 when anti-government protestors, led by a former deputy prime minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, hit the streets to protest a series of bills and rulings by prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra and to call for her resignation.

Burmese migrants living in Thailand have been affected by the drop in value of Thai currency due to the political unrest, when sending remittances back to their families in Burma.

Meanwhile, life for most citizens in the Thai capital Bangkok and other cities carries on as usual, despite being subject to martial law.

Review Committee supports overturning Article 436

Posted: 21 May 2014 02:20 AM PDT

Burma's parliamentary Joint-Committee for Reviewing the Constitution (JCRC) is set to propose a constitutional amendment to Article 436 – the controversial clause that effectively bars any reform of the charter without full military approval – at the next session of parliament commencing on 28 May.

Tin Maung Oo, an MP for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and member of the JCRC, said the joint-committee is prioritising an amendment to Chapter 12, Article 436, based on recommendations from the public, and the fact that no other changes to the Constitution can be initiated without first lifting the restrictions imposed by 436.

"Our decision to prioritise amending Chapter 12, Article 436, is based on recommendations we have received from the public sector," he said. "The Constitution is a crucial component of the nation, and the time to change it is now. But we cannot move ahead without amending this article first."

Burma's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has in recent months mounted a countrywide campaign, calling for public support for her party's proposal to enact constitutional reform and, in particular, overturn Article 436. Suu Kyi has reiterated on each step of her campaign that Article 436 dictates that any proposals to amend clauses of the 2008 Constitution must be approved by 75 percent of representatives in both houses of parliament. As the military holds 25 percent of all seats, it effectively holds veto power over the Constitution, she says.

The 31-member JCRC is comprised of representatives from the Burmese military, as well as MPs from the USDP, NLD, Chin Progressive Party, All Mon Region Democracy Party, Shan Nationalities Democratic Party, Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, Pa-O National League, National Democratic Force, and National Unity Party.

Under condition of anonymity, one JCRC member also told DVB that the joint-committee was also considering proposals to change the term "Union", when referring to the country, to "Federal Union".

Ceasefire talks underway in Rangoon

Posted: 20 May 2014 11:25 PM PDT

Representatives of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) began talks with government peace negotiators in Rangoon on Wednesday morning to discuss the next steps in drafting what will ultimately be a single-text nationwide ceasefire agreement covering all the ethnic armed groups in Burma.

The eight-member NCCT delegation was led by Karen National Union General-Secretary Saw Kwe Htoo Win while the government team, known officially as the Union Peace-making Work Committee (UPWC), is made up of nine delegates, three each representing the government, the parliament and the Burmese military.

"The government delegation is headed by Union Minister U Aung Min and I understand that there will be three representatives each from the government, parliament and the Tatmadaw," said Hla Maung Shwe, an official from the Myanmar Peace Centre (MPC) which is mediating the talks.

Hla Maung Shwe told DVB that the MPC are expecting that the talks, which are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in the former Burmese capital, will produce definitive results on about 80 percent of the subject matter on the table.

A seven-chapter draft framework for the nationwide ceasefire agreement was outlined by the government and the NCCT at a previous round of talks in Rangoon in March.

However, following a later NCCT meeting held at the end of April in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, the ethnic alliance announced that it could not accept proposals by Burma's Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who submitted a six-point "wish-list" to the ethnic groups, including clauses that each NCCT member would "fully abide" by the country's existing laws, and undertake democratic reforms in conformity with the 2008 Constitution.

Earlier this month, Burmese officials accepted an invitation by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) to resume bilateral peace talks in the troubled northern state.

Burma's President Thein Sein has pledged to facilitate political dialogue after the nationwide ceasefire agreement has been signed by all concerned parties, and has expressed a wish to have an accord signed before August this year.

The NCCT is currently made up of 17 ethnic armies, many of whom have fought the central government for autonomy for decades.

Women want their share of peace

Posted: 20 May 2014 07:50 PM PDT

Sixty women's rights organisations gathered in Shan State, eastern Burma, on 18-19 May to discuss further inclusion of women in the country's peace process.

The two-day seminar in the Shan capital Taunggyi was joined by more than 150 representatives from throughout the region.

The meeting culminated with the release of a six-point plan to step up efforts towards a nationwide ceasefire while providing women a decision-making role in the process; creating effective security; and increasing protection for women and children in conflict areas.

The group also strategised effective implementation of the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which Burma signed in July 1997. The convention aims to tackle issues of rape, domestic violence, drugs and human trafficking.

Discussion centred mainly on issues most deeply felt by women in ethnic communities, and how their voices could be more meaningfully integrated into the peace process.

"Ethnic women are made to suffer oppression during conflicts, and so it will be more effective to have them involved in the peace process," said Ja Kai, a Kachin woman from Namtu town in northern Shan State.

Thandar Oo of the civil society group New Generation Shan State, which organised the seminar, reiterated the need for female representation in the process.

"Leaving women out will make the peace process lopsided," she said.

May Sabe Phyu, senior coordinator of the Gender Equality Network, told DVB by phone early this week that the government should find a better way to incorporate women into the process, which she believes will bring peace more swiftly while ensuring accountability throughout the process.

Burma's decades of civil war have taken an enormous toll on women's rights in ethnic areas. Rights groups claim that sexual violence is still being used to intimidate and torture ethnic women, particularly in troubled parts of Kachin, Karen and Shan states.

While a lasting peace could eventually temper abuses against women, so far all of the nation's peace efforts have been overwhelmed with male representation.

AllSBNews

Wednesday, May 21, 2014