The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• Identity Hurdle Snags Tenasserim Mon’s Ethnic Affairs Minister Push
• Photo of the Week (Feb 6, 2015)
• Shell Inks Contract to Explore 3 Offshore Oil and Gas Blocks
• Low Labor Cost Ranks Burma among Top Countries for Investment
• Activists Uneasy Over Special Branch Reshuffle
• ‘Burma Has a Long Way to Go Before It Is a Really Democratic Nation’
• Me and My Language
• Burma Students Reject Govt Warning to Stop Protests
• Police Rescue Hundreds of Child Workers in Southern India
• US Lawmakers Begin Push for More Sanctions on North Korea
• Sri Lanka Backs China Port City Deal After Threat to Cancel

Identity Hurdle Snags Tenasserim Mon’s Ethnic Affairs Minister Push Posted: 06 Feb 2015 04:21 AM PST Ethnic Mon in Rangoon celebrate Mon National Day on Wednesday. (Photo: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A count of the Mon population in Tenasserim Division has found that more than 62,000 people identify as a member of the ethnic minority, but with about two-thirds of that total lacking official documentation bearing out their ethnicity claim, the chance to elect a minister to represent their interests may be missed. Under Burma's Constitution, ethnic groups in the country are entitled to an ethnic affairs minister if they comprise at least 0.1 percent of the national population within a given state or division. Based on the results of the 2014 census, which put Burma's population at 51 million people, an ethnic Mon population of at least 51,000 people is required to be entitled to an ethnic affairs minister. But about two-thirds of the 62,000 self-identifying Mon in Tenasserim Division either lack national identity cards or are not identified as Mon on their ID, the committee that carried out the survey says. That includes nearly 9,000 people who said their national ID card does not reflect their true ethnicity, with the majority of these cases instead identified as a member of the majority Bamar ethnic group. "Some people cannot even speak Burmese but they were listed as Bamar on their IDs," said Ngwe Lay, a communications officer for the Mon State-based Mon Population Survey Committee. "The project aimed to get an accurate list of the Mon population living in the region and to get a Mon ethnic minister elected if we met 0.1 percent of the nationwide population." The Mon Population Survey Committee began its head count for Tenasserim Division in December 2013 and concluded in November 2014. In a report submitted to 13 government bodies including Tenasserim and Mon regional governments, both houses of Parliament and the Union Election Commission, the committee suggested that the issues be resolved by ensuring prompt issuance of national ID cards to those without such documentation, and allowing people who claim to have been misidentified on their ID card to have the document changed. The report was submitted in November, but thus far none of the government entities to which it was sent has replied to the committee. "We have asked that IDs be issued quickly, in time for the upcoming election," Ngwe Lay said. "We heard that the local immigration has started a project to make IDs in Yephyu Township after we submitted our report," Ngwe Lay said. A determination on states' and divisions' eligibility for ethnic affairs ministers will be made prior to the national election slated for late this year. Hla Maung Cho, deputy director of the Union Election Commission (UEC), said that determination would depend solely on the ethnic population figure tallied in the 2014 census. Though the Ministry of Immigration announced Burma's total population in August of last year, it has said a breakdown along ethnic lines will not be made public until May 2015. A separate Mon-led effort to count the ethnic group's population in Rangoon came to an end after one year, with organizers coming up short in their attempt to achieve the threshold required for ethnic affairs minister eligibility. A lack of funding meant the Mon Population Data Project only tallied 41,000 Mon living in Rangoon Division, though the group claims the total population stands at about 100,000. "The Rangoon immigration said if individual people want to change their ethnic ID, they will have to change it accordance with procedures. It's difficult to change it, but we do explain and encourage people to get it changed," said Nai Soe Aung of the Mon Population Data Project. "Our ethnic population in Rangoon Division, although we have enough [for an ethnic affairs minister], we weren't eligible to choose our own minister in 2010. We weren't given a chance to choose someone to represent the Mon population in Rangoon Division. So, we started to count our population with this aim," he said. In the 2010 general election, areas with sizeable Mon populations including Rangoon Division, Pegu Division and Tenasserim Division were not allotted an ethnic affairs minister seat, with the government's official population counts putting the ethnic minority below the 57,000 people that constituted 0.1 percent of the 57 million people Burma is said to have in the 2008 Constitution. There is currently only one Mon ethnic affairs minister nationwide, in Karen State. The post Identity Hurdle Snags Tenasserim Mon's Ethnic Affairs Minister Push appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Photo of the Week (Feb 6, 2015) Posted: 06 Feb 2015 03:18 AM PST The post Photo of the Week (Feb 6, 2015) appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Shell Inks Contract to Explore 3 Offshore Oil and Gas Blocks Posted: 06 Feb 2015 02:56 AM PST Anglo-Dutch firm Shell will explore three offshore deep-water blocks for oil and gas in Burma after signing a deal with a state-owned firm on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Royal Dutch Shell and its Japanese partner Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (MOECO) signed an exploration and production sharing contract with state-owned firm Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in Naypyidaw on Thursday for three offshore deep-water blocks. The contract allows Shell to assess the potential of deep-water blocks AD-9 and AD-11 off Arakan State and MD-5 off Tenasserim Division, according to a press release issued by the Anglo-Dutch firm. Shell is the main operator, with a 90 percent stake in each of the three blocks, while MOECO will assume a 10 percent participating interest. While global oil prices have fallen sharply since mid-2014, Shell said it was delighted to pursue the opportunity to "unlock and develop" Burma's energy resources. "The three blocks offer an exciting frontier exploration opportunity to apply the advanced deep-water technical capabilities we have built up around the world over the past three decades," Graeme Smith, VP Exploration Asia and Australia at Royal Dutch Shell, said in the statement. The potential oil and gas reserves of the three blocks, which together cover some 21,000 square km with water depths ranging from 1,800 to 2,700 meters, is not known. Zay Yar Aung, the Minister for Energy, said the oil and gas exploration was pivotal in the development of Burma's energy sector and would help spur economic growth, according to the press release. The chairman of Parami Energy Group of Companies, Pyi Wa Tun, said Shell's return to Burma was good news for the oil and gas industry, especially as some firms have been hesitant to enter the market. "The government's bidding rounds were successful for international firms," he said. "Many world famous oil and gas firms were really interested to invest in Burma." Pyi Wa Tun added that the government should ensure its energy policies offered sustainable benefits for the country. Since the current quasi-civilian government came to power in 2011, the first and second bidding rounds for onshore blocks were held in 2012 and 2013, followed by a third round of bidding last year. Burma's Ministry of Energy named nine international companies, including Russian, Italian and Canadian firms, as winners of tenders to explore onshore territory for oil and gas reserves in 2013. In March 2014, the Ministry of Energy announced the awarding of offshore exploration rights to international firms including Shell, France's Total, Italy's Eni, Norway's Statoil and ConocoPhillips from the United States. Malaysia's Petronas, Thailand's PTTEP and Total are working on deep-water blocks in Tenasserim Division, while South Korea's Daewoo International and Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd. jointly operate oil and gas fields off Arakan State. The post Shell Inks Contract to Explore 3 Offshore Oil and Gas Blocks appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Low Labor Cost Ranks Burma among Top Countries for Investment Posted: 06 Feb 2015 02:28 AM PST Workers protesting at Thazin Biscuit Factory in Mandalay in January 2014. (Photo: Zarni Mann / The Irrawaddy) Burma has been named one of the five best countries in the world for cheap labor, making it much more attractive for manufacturing investment than neighbors China and Thailand. "Businesses with supply chains and operations in [Burma], Bangladesh and Cambodia are benefiting from the world's lowest labor costs," a study by analysts Verisk Maplecroft said. The business risk assessors' Labor Costs Index measured a combination of wages, employment regulations, social security contributions and labor productivity to assess the cost-competitiveness of workforces in 172 countries. Burma is ranked in the top five best places in the world for low labor costs by the index, which places China at 64th due to its rising wages. Thailand is ranked 93rd in the index, where the higher the number the better the ranking in terms of labor competitiveness. "China…has seen costs in the labor market rise rapidly in line with the country's phenomenal economic progress. By contrast, key sourcing destinations that are increasingly replacing Chinese manufacturers in global supply chains perform very well in the index with [Burma] (ranked 171), Bangladesh (170) and Cambodia (169) all ranked among the five lowest-cost economies," Verisk Maplecroft said. Burma's ranking is beaten only by the small east African country of Djibouti. The 10 highest labor-cost countries in the study are all in Europe. However, the attractiveness for investors in setting up factories in Burma, Bangladesh and Cambodia is tempered by the business reputational risk factors of "poor working conditions and high levels of child labor and trafficking," said Verisk Maplecroft. The Verisk Maplecroft study said companies need to be alert to the risks associated with operating in or sourcing from low-cost locations. "While [Burma], Bangladesh and Cambodia present low labor costs, each is rated as 'extreme risk' by Verisk Maplecroft for health and safety, working conditions, child labor and human trafficking. Countries with low levels of socioeconomic development and inadequate environmental protections present a host of additional risks and indirect costs to business, including brand damage, investor alienation, and potential lawsuits." The average wage in Burma, Bangladesh and Cambodia is less than US$100 per month compared with US$450 per month in China, the International Labor Organization said. "To a large extent there is a ‘necessary evil’ in this," economist and long-time Burma analyst Sean Turnell told The Irrawaddy. "There is as yet no other avenue toward genuinely transformational industrial development than the traditional labor-intensive, low productivity, first step. Overwhelmingly this comes in the form of the clothing and textile industry, of course." Verisk Maplecroft's senior human rights analyst, John Thompson, told The Irrawaddy that Burma's lack of a minimum wage rate for most industries makes foreign investors "vulnerable to accusations of exploitative labor practices." The lowest paid workers in Burma earn only 1,700-2,000 kyat per day (US$1.70-US$2.04). "[Burma] continues to pose some of the highest labor risks in the world," Thompson told The Irrawaddy. "As a result of generally poor working conditions, severe deficiencies in workplace inspections, and anti-union discrimination, reputational risks abound for companies sourcing from or operating in the country. "While the country has shown improvement in labor and human rights protections since 2011, important questions remain regarding [Burma's] ability to maintain its upwards trajectory. The next three years will be a critical period in terms of solidifying nascent reforms, much of which will give a clearer picture of the country's long-term trajectory," Thompson said. Turnell, a professor at Australia's Macquarie University, added: "A labor-rights adhering [Burma] has considerable comparative advantages, especially in the production of rights-sensitive consumer goods that appeal to richer consumers, mostly but not exclusively, in the United States and the West. "Good labor practices need not be more costly. They often greatly enhance labor productivity, while ensuring against unrest." The post Low Labor Cost Ranks Burma among Top Countries for Investment appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Activists Uneasy Over Special Branch Reshuffle Posted: 06 Feb 2015 02:08 AM PST Police from Special Branch watching activists who marked the 25th Anniversary of Burma's pro-democracy popular uprising. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Activists have expressed concern over a decision by Burma's Home Affairs Ministry to bring under its direct control the country's Special Branch police, an institution notorious for suppressing dissent by jailing critical voices under the former military regime. A number of politicians and activists were put behind bars over the years by Special Branch (SB), which effectively used trumped-up charges as a tool to restrict activities deemed anti-government. On Monday, an order signed by Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Ko Ko announced that his ministry had brought the Special Branch of the Myanmar Police Force under its direct control as of Feb. 1, a move many politicians view as granting the unit more authority to an institution with a checkered past. Previously, Special Branch was a department within the Myanmar Police Force. Tun Kyi, from the Former Political Prisoners Association, said the move was a cause for concern among Burma's pro-democracy advocates, and could pose a threat in particular to student activists who have been out on the streets across Burma to protest a controversial National Education Law. "SB has in the past violated human rights on the pretext of [national] security," said Tun Kyi. "What they are doing is not for democratic reform, but to perpetuate their power. It is SB that has constantly arrested politicians. I see the move as a negative change," Tun Kyi told The Irrawaddy. Jimmy, a prominent member of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, said the administrative reshuffle would serve to empower Special Branch, and signaled the government's intention to better monitor political activities. "The Home Affairs Ministry will give direct instructions to SB as regards politicians," Jimmy said. President Office's Director Zaw Htay defended the move, however, saying it was simply intended to streamline the administrative apparatus by combining government departments. "It is not that SB alone is being moved," Zaw Htay told The Irrawaddy. "We'll also merge around 20 other government departments. For example, we'll merge the Road Transport Department and Road Transport Administration Department under the Rail Transport Ministry. We'll merge all the departments have the same practical function to streamline the bureaucracy," he said. Special Branch took the lead in collecting information and arresting dissenters after Burma's powerful Military Intelligence apparatus, which was headed by Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, was dissolved in 2004. Last year, Special Branch officers were dispatched to several offices of local media outlets, including The Irrawaddy, and questioned staff about editorial content and finances. Special Branch said the purpose of the inquiries was to find out how the publications had managed to stay afloat in a difficult market for print media. "It [Special Branch] is used to detaining politicians as it wishes. Now, as the position has been changed, it will be more arrogant than ever by using the [home affairs] minister's order as an excuse. I am sure it is bound to act with reckless disregard," said Tun Kyi. The post Activists Uneasy Over Special Branch Reshuffle appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘Burma Has a Long Way to Go Before It Is a Really Democratic Nation’ Posted: 06 Feb 2015 01:20 AM PST Australian Liberal MP Luke Simpkins in 2013, speaking at the Waneroo War Memorial in Perth. (Photo: Supplied) Luke Simpkins, a member of Australia's incumbent Liberal-National Coalition government based in the Western Australian city of Perth, recently made an unauthorized crossing into Burma to attend Karen Resistance Day at the invitation of the Karen National Defense Organization. Prior to his election, Mr. Simpkins was an officer in the Australian Army, retiring with the rank of Major. In recent years he has raised concerns about Burma's human rights situation in parliament on more than a dozen occasions, most recently to question the Burmese government's commitment to political reforms. The Irrawaddy's Saw Yan Naing spoke to Mr. Simpkins via email on Thursday to ask about his observations in Karen State and his intentions of raising ongoing human rights abuses in Burma with his government. Question: What was the purpose of your trip to Burma on Karen Resistance Day? Answer: I have many Karen in my electorate of Cowan and I have been hearing of this ongoing conflict for many years. It is important to go beyond the usual places that Members of Parliament visit. This visit added to my understanding of the history of the conflict and the causes of it. Q: What did you learn about the KNU armed struggle? A: I saw that the Karen people were not weary of their fight for self-determination and a democratic federal system of government. Q: What made you to travel to the Karen rebel area to show your support? A: I was invited to go there and I had met Maj-Gen Ner Dah Mya in Canberra before, so I was interested to see how they operated. Q: After observing the conditions facing the Karen rebels, are there any initiatives that you intend to work on when you are back in Australia? A: I want to raise the issues of concern to the Karen and ethnic nationalities in order to demonstrate that Burma has a long way to go before it is a really democratic nation. Their military's use of land mines, rape, murder and brutality cannot be ignored and they should be accountable for their actions. Q: The Australian government's position is that Burma is in democratic transition and the Burmese government is endeavoring to make peace with ethnic armed groups, including those associated with the Karen National Union. What is your opinion after observing the situation on the ground? A: I understand, from those I spoke to, that using "ceasefire" arrangements allows the Burmese Army to advance further into the ethnic states, reinforce their military bases and I even heard the allegation that foreign aid is being used to build roads that facilitate the conduct of military operations. Q: What issues will you raise with the Australian government now that you have returned to your country? A: I will raise specific cases of abuse and brutality that have been reported to me and ask the Government to link development assistance to outcomes for a true federal democracy in Burma. The post 'Burma Has a Long Way to Go Before It Is a Really Democratic Nation' appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Me and My Language Posted: 05 Feb 2015 04:00 PM PST Mon adults work to learn the script at informal lessons in Yangon. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) I am very comfortable talking in the Myanmar language—but don't ask me to do so with my mom. It just doesn't feel right unless we speak in Mon, which is after all, my mother tongue. When I'm in the company of my 86-year-old grandmother, there is no choice. My grandma speaks only Mon. In many ways it was she I have to thank for the rewarding if complicated feelings that I—like many speakers of minority languages—have about language today. As a very young child growing up in Thanbyuzayat, my hometown in Mon State, I spoke only Mon with my family. But by the time I reached preschool I had picked up some Myanmar from neighbors. Thanbyuzayat was originally a Mon town, but the Myanmar language was all around us. The administrative officials and school teachers were mainly ethnic Bamar, and a growing population of Myanmar-speaking migrants was arriving from the upper part of the country. Perhaps the rising use of the Myanmar language around us was one reason my grandmother arranged for me to attend summer courses at a nearby monastery to learn Mon reading and writing, which she had never learned herself. My grandma cannot read Mon and can write just a tiny bit of Myanmar script. "I want you to read me the sutras in Mon," she used to say, telling me this would help her memorize the old texts. There was always a certain atmosphere around our Mon classes. The monks told us that teaching the language was restricted, and that our classes were "unofficial," whatever that meant. We children just knew we were not supposed to talk about the classes openly. We could also see that there was barely any budget for the course and that the monks had to find the money somehow for our free textbooks. Eventually the course, and my writing instruction, ended when I was aged 10, due to lack of support from an abbot. By then I had studied just three textbooks. I had started to become interested in the Mon script, but there was no more opportunity to learn. Like most people from ethnic minorities in Myanmar, The Irrawaddy’s reporter Yen Snaing, who is ethnic Mon, has complicated feelings about her mother tongue. I had also realized very early on that I would have to focus on the Myanmar language if I wanted to communicate more widely. At school, all the teachers spoke Myanmar. I can still chant the nursery rhymes I learned there. As I grew older, I haunted the local book rental stores, devouring cartoon books, weekly journals, illustrated stories and translated stories from the West, all in the Myanmar language. I still had my fluent Mon, but even within my family, it was being used less. Some of my cousins had a Myanmar-speaking parent and Myanmar-speaking nannies. Most of them, and their children, now speak only in Myanmar. My mom says that if my siblings and I had not grown up speaking Mon as toddlers, we too would not be able to speak the language now. That seems true, and I am happy that I learned Mon from an early age—but now I am also feeling a bit ashamed that I can't read or write it. In some ways, in this Internet age, I am orphaned from my mother tongue. History Lessons As I began to make my way in adult life, for a time in Thailand and now in Yangon where I speak and work mainly in Myanmar and English (which I began to learn at around age 11), I found myself trying to fill in what increasingly looked like gaps in my knowledge. I realized that from my school textbooks I had learned about neither my culture nor my history. Mon stories did not feature in my school life—how come? I did learn that the ethnic Bamar won every war they fought with ethnicities like the Shan, the Mon, and China-based groups. And I learned about Myanmar's fight for independence from the British. But where were the Mon freedom fighters who were a part of that struggle? They were not in the books, or if they were, they were not identified as Mon. As an adult, I felt I had to unlearn much of the prejudiced or partial history I had learned from the textbooks, and teach myself from other sources. I found pride in learning that the Mon were almost certainly the first nationality in this country to believe in Buddhism and were among the first "civilizations" in Southeast Asia. You could say that Bagan would likely not be full of pagodas were it not for the Mon, and that the country today would likely not be majority Buddhist had the Thaton kingdom not existed. Scholars still debate much of our country's history and we all have a lot to learn. But today so much of old Mon culture and tradition has become blended into mainstream Bamar culture that even the Bamar don't realize it. Take Yangon's famous Sule Pagoda. In Mon, Sule is pronounced "Jule," a Mon word meaning "place of rest." The pagoda reputedly got its name after the legendary Mon King Okalappa stopped there on the way to what is now the site of the Shwedagon Pagoda, where he was bringing relics of the Buddha. There are many places with names that have a meaning in Mon but not in Myanmar. Nai Ngwe Thein, a former state education officer, told me that university students doing graduate Myanmar-language study have to study Mon in order to read the country's old stone inscriptions. "In a sense if you don't know the Mon language, you don't know all the Myanmar language," he said. Talking the Talk Living in Yangon now, I feel lucky to be a Mon speaker. Thanks to friends I have made at a Mon conversation club, I have found a space where I can practice and use the language again. I feel proud to speak Mon and wear Mon traditional dress within the Bamar-dominant society in which I now live. And I feel proud of my Mon name, which is something I have to try to live up to; it means cultured, or well-mannered. I feel there is something special about being a Mon and speaking my own language with its long history and which has meanings that don't exist in any other language. One gripe: I don't like when Bamar people make fun of Mon people speaking the Myanmar language in a Mon accent. I know that speakers of dominant languages around the world often act in this way toward those with "regional" or "country" accents or tongues. But I sometimes wonder if Bamar are not just jealous that we speak an extra language! I have never felt animosity toward Myanmar people over the imbalances that exist in relation to this country's history, languages and cultures. I don't want to accuse anyone of anything. But a bit of rebalancing and recognition would be appreciated. I am sure that people from other ethnicities feel similarly. I just think we should value the beauty, richness and historical depth of all our ethnic cultures and languages. The Future Many people in Mon State are now afraid that their children will not value the language, or be able to speak it, given the huge exposure they have to Myanmar, which many young people also see as more useful. Even my sister has to make an effort to speak Mon to her one-year-old child as they are surrounded by Myanmar-speakers. I am not sure how many Mon speakers we have within the roughly two-million population of the state. I do know we have very few people who can write the language well, and most of those are monks. Myanmar is the language of governance and official life in the state. Most signposts are in Myanmar, though there are now a few in Mon also. Public announcements are generally in Myanmar. Even when people go about on the weekly request for religious donations, fewer now use Mon. But it has been inspiring to find out that language and education experts both here and around the world have shown the great benefits of children learning first through their home language or mother tongue—and that this viewpoint is now dominant. Kimmo Kosonen, a Finnish senior language consultant at Payap University and SIL International, said educators now understand that children who do not learn in their home language often struggle to reach their full potential. U Harry Htin Zaw, a researcher with the Shalom Foundation, said children should be allowed to learn in their first language. "If we don't recognize their language, we might be giving a message to the child that 'your language is not important.' The child might feel belittled," he said. Ethnic children who have to learn in Myanmar have extra difficulties, U Htin Zaw said. "A Bamar child may struggle with a subject when she or he starts school, while an ethnic child may have subject and language difficulties." Nai Ngwe Thein, a former state education officer, told me that when he worked in Kachin State in the mid-1990s, there was a high school dropout rate due to children not understanding lessons in the Myanmar language. Myanmar's education system is now undergoing reforms, but as yet there is very little implementation of mother tongue-based multilingual education. I hope this changes soon, because I think this is one way to ensure equal treatment and opportunities for all citizens and cultures. That's my dream; in my mind's eye I see a time when every ethnic child will be able to come home from school and read their own culture's nursery rhymes, poetry and stories to their parents. I dream that I may read the Buddhist sutras in Mon to my grandma before she dies. I fear I cannot really make this happen. But even if it doesn't, I know that she and I both treasure our talks together in our own language, in what little time we have. I might speak English at the office and Myanmar on the streets, but when I want to truly express the person I really am, only Mon will do. International Mother Language Day on Feb. 21 promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO in 1999. This story first appeared in the February 2015 print edition of The Irrawaddy magazine. The post Me and My Language appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma Students Reject Govt Warning to Stop Protests Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:01 PM PST Public support has been growing for hundreds of students who on Jan. 20 began a peaceful march from Mandalay to Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — University students from across Burma on Friday rejected a government warning that they stop protesting against a new education law that they say prohibits them from engaging in political activities and curbs academic freedom. A student activist contacted by phone said they continued their march Friday and that colleagues from different universities will join forces in Rangoon. "Many of our colleagues from Ayeywarwaddy [Irrawaddy] delta and southern Myanmar [Burma] are also proceeding with their protest march and we will all meet in Yangon [Rangoon]," said Ye Yint Kyaw, a student member of the protest group. On Thursday, the government accused the students of being manipulated by groups seeking to destabilize the country. A special announcement by the Government Information Committee broadcast on state television said some political organizations were behind recent student protests, but did not identify them. It called on the public to cooperate, reminding them of past instability due to riots. Public support has been growing for hundreds of students who on Jan. 20 began a peaceful march of several hundred miles from the central city of Mandalay to Rangoon seeking to change an education law passed last year. They say the law fails to give autonomy to universities and does not allow the formation of student unions. Talks started by the government with the students this week were suspended over a disagreement about how many students could attend. The march has attracted the support of growing numbers of students and Buddhist monks. It also has many supporters from the opposition National League for Democracy party of Aung San Suu Kyi, which is expected to make a strong challenge to the military-backed government of President Thein Sein in elections set for later this year. The threat of an expanded protest is sensitive in Burma, in part because students were at the forefront of pro-democracy protests in 1988 that were brutally crushed by the military. But Ye Yint Kyaw said the protest march had been peaceful and that the students had also received support from local residents along the way. The post Burma Students Reject Govt Warning to Stop Protests appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Police Rescue Hundreds of Child Workers in Southern India Posted: 05 Feb 2015 10:03 PM PST More than four million children between the ages of five and 14 are employed across India. (Photo: Krishnendu Halder / Reuters) HYDERABAD, India — Police have rescued hundreds of children working in hazardous industries in a southern Indian city despite laws that ban child labor, an official said Thursday. In a series of raids on leather tanning and plastic factories in Hyderabad over the past 10 days, police said they rescued at least 350 children. Child welfare officials accompanied some of the children Thursday as they were sent in a special railway car to be reunited with their parents in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. Nearly 200 children returned to Bihar earlier in the week, police said. Police arrested five men accused of supplying children to factory owners. A police official said the children were working long hours in deplorable conditions. "We found the children confined to their work place in inhuman conditions," said V. Satyanarayana, a top police official in Hyderabad. "They were forced to work for nearly 12 hours a day without any respite." "Many of the children were suffering from skin and other diseases as they were forced to work in unhygienic and unventilated dark rooms," Satyanarayana said. He said their employers would monitor them with video cameras and any child who stopped working would be beaten. Raids on factories to check for child workers will be carried out twice a month, a labor welfare official said. "We are taking effective measures to eradicate the mafia behind bringing children from other states to work in hazardous industries in Hyderabad," R.V. Chandravan said. India has laws aimed at fighting child labor by making education compulsory up to age 14 and prohibiting their employment in hazardous occupations. But grinding poverty still causes many children to be pushed into work, with factory agents promising their wages to their parents. The 2011 census found that about 4.35 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 were employed across India. The post Police Rescue Hundreds of Child Workers in Southern India appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

US Lawmakers Begin Push for More Sanctions on North Korea Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:41 PM PST North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a New Year address in Pyongyang. (Photo: Reuters) WASHINGTON — US lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday to broaden sanctions against North Korea by imposing stiffer punishments on international companies that do business with Pyongyang. "In the wake of the state-sponsored cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, the bipartisan legislation targets North Korea's access to the hard currency and other goods that help keep the regime in power," the bill's co-sponsor, US Republican Representative Ed Royce said. "Additionally, it presses the Administration to use all available tools to impose sanctions against North Korea and on countries and companies that assist North Korea in bolstering its nuclear weapons program," Royce, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said in a statement. Current sanctions are focused largely on Americans and US companies. The initiative responds to concern in Congress about last year's cyberattack on Sony Pictures, which was blamed on Pyongyang, as well as what lawmakers see as the international failure to rein in the reclusive state's nuclear weapons program. The measure is co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, including the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Royce, and Democrat Eliot Engel, which handles sanctions legislation in the chamber. A similar bill is likely in the US Senate. It is expected to enjoy strong bipartisan support in both chambers. The bill would authorize US officials to freeze assets held in the United States of those found to have direct ties to illicit North Korean activities like its nuclear program, as well as those that do business with North Korea, providing its government with hard currency. It would also target banks that facilitate North Korean proliferation, smuggling, money laundering, and human rights abuses, and target people who helped in the cyber attacks against the United States, Royce said. North Korea is already heavily sanctioned by the United States and United Nations for its arms programs and nuclear tests. President Barack Obama imposed new sanctions last year aimed at cutting the country's remaining links to the international financial system. The vast majority of North Korea's business dealings are with companies in neighboring China. The bill is intended to push the Obama administration, which contends the president already has sufficient authority to punish Pyongyang. "The activities of the Kim Regime threaten regional security through reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly deploying offensive cyber capabilities, and a range of other illicit activities," Engel said. He added that effectively enforcing sanctions against North Korea "is not something that the United States can do alone—it requires our allies, our partners, and the rest of the global community to join in this effort." Sony said on Thursday that Amy Pascal would step down as co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment after the hackers, angry about a movie she championed mocking North Korea's leader, exposed a raft of embarrassing emails between her and other Hollywood figures. The post US Lawmakers Begin Push for More Sanctions on North Korea appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Sri Lanka Backs China Port City Deal After Threat to Cancel Posted: 05 Feb 2015 08:49 PM PST   General view of the construction site for a China Communications Construction Co. Ltd.-funded port city, in Colombo, on Dec. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's cabinet said on Thursday it would allow a US$1.5 billion "port city" deal with China to go ahead, apparently dropping its earlier threats to cancel the project, approved by the last government. Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said new President Maithripala Sirisena would however discuss with Beijing controversial arrangements over the freehold of land to be used, when he visited China in March. Sri Lanka's neighbor India has raised concern over security threats posed by Chinese ownership of the freehold of 20 hectares of land next to the main commercial port in Colombo, as India is a major user of Colombo as a transshipment port. Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, before last month's presidential vote, said he would cancel the deal if his party came to power because no Environmental Impact Assessment or feasibility test had been presented to parliament. Sirisena, backed by Wickremesinghe's party, unseated ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the polls. "The prime minister said that an EIA has been done for land reclamation. However, it needs a second EIA for constructions after the land is reclaimed," Senaratne told reporters on Thursday, adding that a feasibility test also had been carried out. "He informed the cabinet that this has to be looked at with the relationship with China and to make any alterations where possible with the understanding of the Chinese government." Asked by reporters whether this meant the government would allow the port city project to go ahead, the spokesman replied: "Yes." The decision came a day ahead of a scheduled meeting between Wickremesinghe and Liu Jianchao, a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who launched the construction project when he visited in September last year. The site is on 233 hectares of reclaimed land in the capital Colombo. Under the proposed deal, 108 hectares would be taken over by China Communications Construction Co. Ltd., including 20 hectares on an outright basis and the rest on a 99-year lease. In a full-page newspaper advertisement on Thursday, Jiang Houliang, the head of CHEC Colombo Port City (Pvt) Ltd., a subsidiary of the state-owned Chinese investor, said his firm estimated 83,000 jobs and $13 billion of foreign direct investment would come from the project in the next 10 years. The development would include shopping malls, a water sports area, golf course, hotels, apartments and marinas. Wickremesinghe's pro-business United National Party says some development deals struck by the previous government, which was heavily dependent on China for new infrastructure, did not follow appropriate tender procedures and were not transparent.   The post Sri Lanka Backs China Port City Deal After Threat to Cancel appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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