Thursday, November 6, 2014

Democratic Voice of Burma

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Democratic Voice of Burma

NGOs say ethnic areas have no ‘virgin lands’
Bullet Points: 6 November 2014
Five gunshot wounds found on Par Gyi’s body
Burma, Belarus agree military technical cooperation
Burmese army committed war crimes, says rights group
Suu Kyi calls for critical eye on reforms
No significant progress at Shan ceasefire talks

NGOs say ethnic areas have no ‘virgin lands’

Posted: 06 Nov 2014 04:21 AM PST

The Ethnic Community Development Forum (ECDF) released a statement on Thursday which slammed Burma's draft National Land Use Policy for failing to protect small-scale farmers and ethnic minorities—in part because the policy's approach to "virgin lands" overlooks traditional shifting agricultural practices of certain ethnic groups in Burma.

In its statement, the coalition of local ethnic NGOs said, "We do not accept the land classification of 'Vacant, Fallow, Virgin Land.’ There is no [such land] in ethnic territories."

The Burmese government seems to think otherwise, and is planning to convert what it considers "wasteland" into "productive" land by selling it to large-scale agriculture and industrial companies.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has created a "30-year Master Plan" which it hopes will encourage foreign investors to transform 10 million acres of "wasteland" into textile factories and rubber, palm oil and cassava plantations.

The idea is to use Burma's cheap labour force and supposedly ample supply of "unused" land to mass produce exports for its three large neighbouring markets: China, India and ASEAN.

Danny Marks, a PhD Candidate at the University of Sydney who has researched smallholder agriculture in Southeast Asia, told DVB that the National Land Use Policy is just another way of legitimising the government's master agricultural plan—a process that could destroy the livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers.

“It’s a shame that the draft Land Use Policy gives higher priority to the interests of foreign investors than smallholder farmers even though smallholders are the backbone of Myanmar's [Burma's] economy. This policy could ignite already-existing social discontent among smallholder farmers," he said.

Marks also said the draft policy is driven by short-term economic interest, and that "in the long run, it will worsen food security and degrade the country's environment.”

According to a paper written by Kevin Woods, an expert on Southeast Asian resource politics at the Transnational Institute (TNI), the draft land use policy will serve as a blueprint for the third major land law passed by Burma's quasi-civilian government. Woods indicates that these laws—coupled with Burma's generous foreign investment rules—are designed to dispossess local farmers from their land in favour of foreign investors. He also indicates that Burma’s land law regime will only perpetuate a process that has been going on for years.

Wood's paper, entitled "The politics of the emerging agro-industrial complex in Asia's 'final frontier'," says that as of March 2012, the government had allocated 3.5 million hectares of land to local agribusiness companies—the vast majority of which were affiliated with the Burmese military. During this "allocation" process, Woods notes that smallholder farmers were forcibly evicted, received scant compensation and were even arrested for protesting.

Recently, many farmers have attempted to fight back by engaging in "plough protests," whereby they grow crops on land which the military previously confiscated from them. DVB has covered several of these protests, and often times the protestors have wound up in prison.

In August, for example, local farmers from Mandalay Division's Sintgai Township were sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for trespassing and destroying property during a plough protest.

According to the ECDF statement, another sticking point is that large-scale development projects continue to be launched in many ethnic areas where ongoing armed conflict has already ravaged communities. These projects also have a tendency to exacerbate old conflicts and spark new clashes.

Perhaps the most destructive example of the latter situation is the role played by the Myitsone Dam in sparking widespread conflict in Kachin State. In the past few years, NGOs have issued multiple statements and reports condemning large-scale development projects for destroying local ecosystems; forcing people off their land; and damaging ethnic communities in various ways.

The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) issued a report in May which documented a rising number of landgrabbing cases in southeastern Burma following the 2011 ceasefire between the Karen National Union and the Burmese army—a phenomenon which the NGO attributed, in part, to large-scale development projects in the region.

In its report, KHRG cited the Hatgyi Dam as just one of several examples in which development projects have incited conflict and displaced locals from their land. In an article published by the Karen News Group (KNG), the KHRG report was cited as saying the following:

"Armed conflict broke out between [government-allied border guard forces and Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) soldiers] over the Hatgyi Dam in 2012, which caused villagers to flee and be displaced from their homes for a short period of time. Because of land confiscation, tens of thousands of villagers have been displaced and communities face increasing water contamination and damage to land because of development projects."

KNG also reported in September that a coalition of local NGOs in Shan State called for a moratorium on large resource-extraction projects after locals complained that one project had "contaminated the water supplies of nine villages in the area and destroyed 100 acres of farmland because of pollution."

The draft National Land Use Policy appears to address some of these problems by proposing a "temporary suspension of investments which require land acquisitions" until the policy is approved, but ECDF says the draft's focus on "investments which require land acquisitions" is actually a red-herring that ignores the larger problem.

Instead of suspending just one subset of projects, ECDF insists there is an "immediate need … to postpone all … investments in ethnic areas during the current national reconciliation and peace-building process" in order to avoid further land conflict.

In its statement, ECDF said it rejects the draft policy on grounds that it was drawn up without sufficient public input. The government gave the public three weeks to submit comments on the draft, but ECDF believes this time period was not long enough given the length and complexity of the document—not to mention the lack of a political atmosphere conducive to open dialogue. As a result, the NGO coalition said that many important stakeholders did not have a meaningful opportunity to participate in the process.

In particular, ECDF said the land use policy was drawn up without consulting small-scale farmers, ethnic groups, women and others who are liable to suffer if the draft policy is approved.

Speaking to DVB by telephone, Danny Marks said, "The three-week time period was just too short. The government should have had meaningful public consultations and allowed smallholder farmers to suggest amendments because they're the ones who will be most affected by this policy.”

Bullet Points: 6 November 2014

Posted: 06 Nov 2014 03:30 AM PST

On tonight's edition:

Suu Kyi calls for critical eye over Burma reforms
Par Gyi’s body exhibits five gunshot wounds
WFP IDP rations to continue as far as January
Ethnic land rights groups hit out of government plans
Min Aung Hlaing inspects weapons in Belarus

You can watch the English headlines every weeknight on DVB TV after the 7 o'clock news.

Five gunshot wounds found on Par Gyi’s body

Posted: 06 Nov 2014 03:15 AM PST

Five bullet wounds were uncovered on the exhumed body of Par Gyi, according to a doctor involved in his autopsy, speaking to Naw Ohn Hla, the head of the Democracy and Peace Women Network and a colleague of Ma Thandar, Par Gyi's widow.

"The doctor said one bullet passed through the chin to the head; two were shot through his back and exited through the chest; one was in his thigh; and one in his ankle," she told DVB on Thursday. "He told us that the gunshot through the back had broken Par Gyi's ribs."

No official forensic report has yet been issued.

Journalist Par Gyi's body was exhumed from a shallow grave in a field in Kyaikmayaw Township in Mon State on Wednesday. It was taken to Moulmein Hospital for examination.

According to eye-witness Nay Myo Zin, the corpse showed signs of a broken jaw, a caved-in skull, and swelling on the torso indicating broken ribs.

"It is completely clear that Ko Par Gyi was tortured," he said.

Ma Thandar confirmed that the decomposed body was that of her husband.

Burmese military officials maintain that Par Gyi was shot dead as he attempted to wrest control of a gun from a guard and then tried to run away.

More than 100 people witnessed the exhumation, including activists and members of civil society groups. Many slammed the conditions under which the slain Burmese journalist was buried.

Mee Mee of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society said, "The body was not buried deep. It was about six inches below the surface. It is not true what the government said about the body being buried properly."

Activist Naw Ohn Hla said, "I feel sorry that the government statement was not true. There was not even a mat placed under the body. It was the worst abuse of human rights I have ever seen. This citizen was treated brutally. I feel very bad about it.”

Meanwhile, eight Buddhist monks have tried to intervene to prevent Par Gyi's remains from being transported back to Rangoon for burial.

According to Ma Thandar: "They said they wouldn't allow me to take the body. Mon culture doesn’t allow the transfer of a dead body from one area to another."

Naw Ohn Hla suggested the monks had ulterior motives.

"We asked them [the monks] where they were from, but they wouldn't tell us," she said. "They refused to say which monasteries they were from. We could also smell alcohol on their breaths."

Nai Layitama, a member of Mon National Party's central committee, said the eight monks were not Mon.

"These monks said that their instructions [not to transport the body] were based on Mon culture," he told DVB. "But they are not even Mon monks. They didn't even know how to speak the Mon language.”

Par Gyi's widow, Ma Thandar, said she just wants to take her husband's body to his hometown for a proper burial.

"I am a widow trying to get justice," she told reporters. "I think all people—anyone with a family—would sympathize with me. I just want to be allowed to bury my husband’s body. I want to request permission from the authorities to do this."

Burma, Belarus agree military technical cooperation

Posted: 06 Nov 2014 01:44 AM PST

Burma's Ministry of Defense has announced that it has agreed with Belarus to form a committee to oversee technical cooperation on military matters.

Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who heads the Burmese delegation to the former Soviet state, was cited saying that he had held talks with his Belarusian counterpart, Deputy Defense Minister Lt-Gen Yuri Zhadobin, on 4 November.

The two senior generals reportedly discussed an increase in cooperation and "friendship" between both countries' armed forces. The respective ambassadors should also take steps to increase bilateral ties, the statement said, adding that, as military technical cooperation increases, both nations should increase cooperation in combatting terrorism, as well as improving food security.

The issues of drugs and education were also tabled, the announcement said.

Burmese army committed war crimes, says rights group

Posted: 06 Nov 2014 01:37 AM PST

The Burmese army has targeted, attacked and killed civilians with impunity in ongoing fighting in Kachin State and northern Shan State, Fortify Rights said in a briefing published on Thursday.

The rights group urged the Burmese government to act to end such attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.

"The Burmese government wants the world to believe its human rights record is beyond reproach, but that's just not the reality," said Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights. "The romantic narrative of sweeping political change is inconsistent with the situation of ongoing war crimes and widespread impunity."

On Wednesday, The New York Times published the names of three top-tier Burmese military officers against whom sufficient evidence has been gathered in a report by Harvard researchers for war crimes against ethnic communities in Burma.

The Harvard report, which is due to be released on Friday, 7 November, has named Maj-Gen Ko Ko, who is currently Burma 's home affairs minister, Lt-Gen Khin Zaw Oo, now commander of the Army Bureau of Special Operations, and Brig-Gen Maung Maung Aye, whose current position is unknown.

The findings of the report were presented to the Burmese Deputy Defence Minister Maj-Gen Kyaw Nyunt by one of the authors, Mathew Bugher.

Bugher communicated the response of the Burmese defence minister to the The New York Times and said that, " He [Maj.Gen Kyaw Nyunt] essentially said, 'you got it wrong and your sources are all one-sided."

In a continuing investigation into the conduct of the war between the Burmese army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Fortify Rights documented incidents in 2011, 2012, and 2013 in which Burmese government troops attacked civilians and non-military targets in contested territories. Between September 2013 and August 2014, Fortify Rights conducted nearly 100 interviews in the conflict zones of northern Burma.

Most of the attacks documented by Fortify Rights reportedly occurred in civilian-populated areas with no presence of KIA or other non-state armed groups. These attacks led to widespread displacement of civilians and appear to be designed to undermine the KIA's civilian-support structures and to gain effective control of strategic locations, including trade routes and areas rich in natural resources, the report said.

The Burmese army shelled and razed civilian homes, attacked makeshift camps of displaced persons, and entered villages while opening fire on civilians with small arms, Fortify Rights said. In some cases, soldiers committed extrajudicial killings.

"They shot at the villagers," said Khon Li Aung (not her real name), an ethnic Kachin woman, referring to Burmese soldiers who entered and attacked her village, Mung Ding Pa, on 22 October 2013. "Some [civilians] were running to the church and some were coming from the fields to get to the church."

Humanitarian law requires parties to armed conflict to distinguish between military and non-military targets, including civilians, and to refrain from attacking civilians. Moreover, attacking civilians is a war crime under international criminal law.

"The government's denial of wartime abuses and the international community's soft-stepping has gone on for too long," pointed out Smith.

Kachin State is home to multi-billion dollar jade deposits, minerals, timber, lucrative trade routes to China, and significant hydropower potential, all forming the backdrop to the conflict. These factors are compounded by ethnic and political disputes dating back decades. The conflict in Kachin State resumed in June 2011 in the area of a Chinese-investor-led hydropower dam near Sang Gang village, Kachin State, ending a 17-year-long ceasefire agreement.

Since 2011, the government and 14 non-state ethnic armies have signed preliminary ceasefire agreements. The KIA is not among those calling a truce with the government.

"If the government genuinely wants peace in ethnic states, it must end and rectify attacks on civilians and other abuses," said Matthew Smith. "The survivors of these attacks have been denied their right to access justice and compensation for their losses—that needs to change."

Suu Kyi calls for critical eye on reforms

Posted: 05 Nov 2014 11:45 PM PST

Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday that the country’s reform process has stalled.

Suu Kyi warned the international community not to be too optimistic, and called on the United States to make a more objective assessment of the reality in Burma.

The call comes one week out from US President Obama’s second trip to the country.

No significant progress at Shan ceasefire talks

Posted: 05 Nov 2014 09:19 PM PST

A Burmese government delegation travelled to the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai earlier this week to hold ceasefire talks with the Shan State Army- South (RCSS/SSA).

The negotiations followed a meeting in Naypyidaw on 31 October between the government team and the Shan State Army- North (SSPP/SSA).

Hla Maung Shwe from Myanmar Peace Center (MPC) headed the government delegation in Chiang Mai on 2 November.

RCSS spokesman Col. Sai La said, "The government delegation explained the current situation in Burma, especially the recent quadripartite talks involving President Thein Sein, the Commander-in-Chief, parliamentary representatives and political party leaders, as well as issues surrounding the signing of a nationwide ceasefire, and subsequent political dialogue.”

The Shan State Army- South intends to sign a ceasefire agreement, Sai la said, but is still in discussions on whether it will sign together with other groups or insist on a separate accord."

Nyo Ohn Myint from MPC said no significant progress was made at the talks this week.

"The RCSS side said it will sign a ceasefire and then participate in political dialogue," he told DVB on Wednesday. "Then, they will be able to concentrate on regional development issues. That's what they told us. We responded that we would pass the message along to Minister U Aung Min.”

RCSS delegates included Col. Sai La, Lt-Col. Khur Ngeen and Pyidaungsu Institute director Khuen Hseng, while MPC's Hla Maung Shwe, Nyo Ohn Myint and Tin Maung Than sat on behalf of the government.

On 31 October, the Shan State Army- North, or RCSS/ SSA, met with the government's Union Peace-making Work Committee Vice-chairman Thein Zaw in Naypyidaw.

RCSS representative Capt. Sai Phone Han said that talks focused on forming a committee to monitor regional stability and development cooperation. He said the Burmese army has proposed a committee with five representatives from both sides, while the RCSS/ SSA wish to see Shan political parties and civil society groups in attendance.

He said Thein Zaw's delegation have passed the matter to senior officials.

AllSBNews

Thursday, November 6, 2014