The Irrawaddy Magazine

---

• Legal Team Finds ‘Strong Evidence’ of Rohingya Genocide in Arakan State
• Four Years On, Still No Justice for Sumlut Roi Ja
• Internet Freedom Stalls after Prosecutions, Govt Interference
• Burma Army Launches Midnight Attack on SSA-N Headquarters
• Woman Faces Additional Charge in Facebook Defamation Trial
• Student Leader Kyaw Ko Ko Arrested After Months in Hiding
• China Indicts Former Senior Provincial Official for Graft
• El Nino Drought Poses Poverty Challenge for Indonesia
• Cambodia’s PM Condemns Attacks on Lawmakers, Rails at Opposition

Legal Team Finds ‘Strong Evidence’ of Rohingya Genocide in Arakan State Posted: 29 Oct 2015 06:04 AM PDT Muhammad Ali, a 54-year-old Rohingya man suffering from tuberculosis for over a year, at a camp for internally displaced people in Sittwe, Arakan State, April 24, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — A legal analysis has found "strong evidence" that genocide is being committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority in western Burma's Arakan State, prompting a call for the United Nations to intervene. A 78-page report, published on Thursday by the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic (LIHRC) at Yale Law School for the NGO Fortify Rights, concludes that actions and inactions by the government of Burma satisfy the criteria of genocide as defined by the 1948 Genocide Convention. The report, based on three years of research produced by Fortify Rights, is the first to apply international law to the situation in Arakan State, also known as Rakhine, where an estimated 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship and subjected to widespread discrimination. Examining the government's treatment of the minority since Burma's independence from British colonial rule in 1948, the LIHRC found evidence of consistent rights abuses that have continued into the current reform period, which began when President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government took office in 2011. Titled "Persecution of the Rohingya Muslims: Is Genocide Occurring in Myanmar's Rakhine State? A Legal Analysis," the report presents historical context and new documentation of abuses committed against the minority before outlining the relevant legal criteria of genocide. While LIHRC does not conclude definitively that genocide has occurred in Arakan State, the report suggests that the state could be responsible for either committing or failing to prevent a genocide and recommended that the United Nations establish a commission of inquiry to investigate, determine whether the crime has occurred, identify perpetrators and suggest means of ensuring they are held accountable. "The acts committed against the Rohingya, individually and collectively, meet the criteria for finding acts enumerated in the Genocide Convention and have been perpetrated against a protected group," the report reads, referring to the convention's definition of "groups," "acts" and "intent" requisite to the crime. "Allegations of genocide should not be taken lightly," Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, said in a press statement on Thursday. "Rohingya face existential threats, and their situation is worsening. Domestic remedies have failed. It's time for the international community to act." Burma's Rohingya population is not recognized by the government as an ethnic group, referred to instead as "Bengali" and viewed as illegal immigrants. While many have lived within Burma's borders for generations, they have long faced obstacles to acquiring legal documents and changes to citizenship criteria in 1982 have rendered them stateless. In 2012, riots that began in central Arakan and soon spread throughout the state disproportionately affected Rohingya communities, leaving more than 140,000 confined to camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Conditions in the camps and restrictions on movement applied to the Rohingya population at large contributed to tens of thousands of Rohingya fleeing the country by boat to seek asylum in neighboring countries. Those departures, as well as a growing number of migrants leaving Bangladesh in search of economic opportunity, ultimately led to a migration crisis that reached its zenith earlier this year when thousands of people were abandoned at sea amid a crackdown on human trafficking syndicates. "The plan of the government is to finish our people, to kill our people, but they cannot kill us all by the bullet," read the testimony of a Rohingya man interviewed by Fortify Rights. "But what they can do is deny food and medicine, and if the people don't die, they will leave the country. The government has used a different option to kill the people." The post Legal Team Finds 'Strong Evidence' of Rohingya Genocide in Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Four Years On, Still No Justice for Sumlut Roi Ja Posted: 29 Oct 2015 04:21 AM PDT Dau Lum with his wife, Sumlut Roi Ja, a Kachin woman who was abducted on Oct. 28, 2011. (Photo: Dau Lum) On Oct. 28, 2011, Sumlut Roi Ja was harvesting corn on her family's land when she, her husband and her father-in-law were abducted by Burma Army soldiers. The two men managed to escape, dodging bullets and running through thick hillside vegetation, but Roi Ja was not so lucky. Four years later, Roi Ja has yet to return, and her family believes she never will. The then-28-year-old ethnic Kachin mother is largely believed to have been raped and murdered, as witnesses had informed the family about one year after her disappearance. Roi Ja and her family were believed to have been abducted by a number of troops belonging to Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion 321 near the town of Loi Jel in northern Burma's Kachin State. The incident occurred just months after the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire agreement between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese government, and has become an oft-cited example of the tragic fallout that civil war and military impunity has had on ethnic communities. Dau Lum, Roi Ja's husband, sought justice for his young wife at every level of Burma's judiciary, ultimately bringing her case—Dau Lum vs. Lt-Col Zaw Myo Htut, commander of LIB 321—to the Supreme Court. The suit was dismissed due to lack of evidence in March 2012, and her family has lost all hope of reprisal. Later that year, various civil society groups began to take up the cause. The Kachin Women Association of Thailand (KWAT) sent a letter to President Thein Sein pleading with him directly to re-open the case, but no action followed. Roi Ja's family has appealed to the Kachin State chief minister, the district governor, the commander of LIB 321 himself, all to no avail. The case struck a deep and resonant chord among many of Burma's ethnic minority communities, particularly Kachin people affected by war. Roi Ja is, sadly, among a long list of women who suffered abuse by the Burma Army, which typically enjoys impunity in conflict areas. Burma Army troops have been repeatedly implicated in sexual violence; KWAT has documented no less than 74 cases of sexual assault allegedly committed by Burmese soldiers since 2011, during the so-called reformist era led by Thein Sein. KWAT secretary Seng Zin told The Irrawaddy that most of those cases were resolved in military courts, beyond the reach of public scrutiny. One such case, which caught the attention of the international media and drew criticism from all angles, was the alleged rape and murder and two young Kachin teachers in northern Shan State in January of this year, also widely believed to be the work of Burma Army troops. The government promised an investigation into the horrendous incident, but no one has yet been held responsible. "There are many cases that are far worse than that of Sumlut Roi Ja," lawyer Mar Khar, who represented Dau Lum, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, "but only with the help of her family were we able to bring her case to the highest court." One of the major obstacles to justice in conflict-affected areas is fear of retribution; many villagers who have suffered abuse or losses are afraid to speak out because they believe their families will be subjected to further abuse. Roi Ja's courageous family is not alone in their suffering, nor are they alone in their futile search for fairness. No one has yet been held accountable for the death of freelance journalist Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Par Gyi, who was killed in the custody of the Burma Army late last year. Likewise, the abduction and death of Kachin villager Ung Sau Tu Ja earlier this year is also unresolved. As another year goes by and Roi Ja's daughter grows up without her, her family refuses to stand down. Roi Ja, while lost, remains an immortal reminder of the human cost of Burma's civil war and its people's hunger for justice. The post Four Years On, Still No Justice for Sumlut Roi Ja appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Internet Freedom Stalls after Prosecutions, Govt Interference Posted: 29 Oct 2015 04:12 AM PDT Buddhist monks sit at an internet cafe in Rangoon. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters) RANGOON — Four years since the beginning of political reforms, a nascent move towards internet freedom in Burma has stalled in the wake of military and political pressure on users, according to a new report from Freedom House. The US-based human rights watchdog's annual 'Freedom of the Net' report, released on Wednesday, said that authorities had taken a heavy-handed approach to the publishing of online material during protests, clashes between the military and ethnic armed groups, and in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 general election. "Myanmar's failure to remove restrictive punishments for online content occurred in the context of a deliberate government campaign to marginalize balanced and dissenting voices," the report stated. "Tactics included economic pressure on independent media, manipulative political commentary, and tacit encouragement of nationalistic hate speech against the Muslim minority." Covering the period between June 2014 and May of this year, Freedom House noted that despite recent liberalization of the sector, a number of military and government-linked figures retained significant financial stakes in telecommunications companies. In the months following the report period, the country has seen a number of high profile arrests under the country's telecommunications laws. Chaw Sandi Tun, 25, is before the courts in Irrawaddy Division over a post which implied that military personnel had refashioned their uniforms to match the clothes worn by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, while 43-year-old Kachin peace activist Patrick Kum Jaa Lee has been detained for sharing a picture of a man stepping on a portrait of Burma Armed Forces chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Critics of the prosecutions pointed to the government's failure to take action over social media posts that incited religious hatred, along with arguably defamatory posts authored by figures connected to the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. Burma ranks on par with Thailand on the report's annual scale of internet freedom. Following that country's May 2014 coup, Freedom House noted an increase in the number and severity of sentences handed down for insulting the Thai monarchy, while access to some foreign media outlets and the websites of political activists and human rights NGOs has been blocked. Vietnam, the worst performing regional country on Freedom House's index, had 29 online activists imprisoned by the end of May, with a further eight arrested or charged for "abusing democratic freedom to infringe on state interests." Globally, Freedom House said that internet freedom had waned for the fifth year running, with 14 of the 65 countries surveyed enacting new internet surveillance laws and a number of governments using arrest, detention, intimidation and torture to coerce users to delete content. The post Internet Freedom Stalls after Prosecutions, Govt Interference appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma Army Launches Midnight Attack on SSA-N Headquarters Posted: 29 Oct 2015 04:05 AM PDT Damage to a Wan Hai village home after an overnight mortar attack on Thursday. (Photo: Nang Seng Nom / The Irrawaddy) WAN HAI VILLAGE, Shan State — The military barraged the Wan Hai village headquarters of the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) shortly after midnight on Thursday, with more locals fleeing the area overnight. No casualties were reported, but a house and car were damaged during the mortar bombardment, according to SSA-N spokesman Lt-Col Sai La. "Yesterday, we managed to reclaim an important stronghold," he told The Irrawaddy, referring to SSA-N efforts on Wednesday to capture the nearby Kong Lin hill. "Perhaps because (the military) are angry with that, they attacked us at midnight with mortar fire. They fired eight shells and a house in the village center was hit, while the rest fell into farms." Sai La said his forces had sent a letter to Dr Sai Mauk Kham, chairman of the government's Union Peacemaking Working Committee, asking him to intervene to end the conflict. The SSA-N has yet to receive a response, and Sai La said he was concerned that clashes that began at the beginning of October would escalate further. Most villagers in Wan Hai have fled to nearby Pan Lauk village after the attack. Nan Kham, a Wan Hai local, said the SSA-N had asked villagers to leave their homes in anticipation of further attacks. Renewed clashes broke out between the Shan State Army-North and government troops on Oct. 6, after the ethnic armed group rejected a request to vacate their strategic port base in Tar San Pu village. More than 3,000 people are believed to have fled their homes in Kyethi and Mong Hsu townships in the following weeks. The Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), the political wing of the SSA-N, signed a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government in February 2012. In the years since, there have been hundreds of minor skirmishes between the military and the insurgent group. The two sides have clashes 15 times in October and the SSA-N have surrendered at least 10 strongholds over the course of the current military offensive. The post Burma Army Launches Midnight Attack on SSA-N Headquarters appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Woman Faces Additional Charge in Facebook Defamation Trial Posted: 29 Oct 2015 03:46 AM PDT Chaw Sandi Tun at Maubin Township Court in Irrawaddy Division on Tuesday. (Photo: Aung Aung Kyaw / Facebook) A young woman brought to trial in Irrawaddy Division after sharing a satirical post online deemed insulting to the military faces an additional defamation charge, the woman's mother told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. Chaw Sandi Tun appeared in Maubin Township Court on Tuesday where she was notified of an additional charge being brought against her under Article 500 of the Penal Code, a defamation clause, in addition to an existing charge under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law. Prosecutors have reportedly dropped the original charge filed under Article 34(d) of Burma's Electronic Transactions Law. Twenty-five-year-old Chaw Sandi Tun, also known as Chit Thami, is charged in relation to a photo collage shared online of Aung San Suu Kyi wearing a green traditional htamein, a female longyi, alongside Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and other military service personnel in newly redesigned uniforms. The post compared the new military garb to the apparel of the renowned opposition leader, who chairs the National League for Democracy (NLD) and once served nearly two decades of house arrest under the former military junta. "Today, she was charged under Article 500 of [Burma's Penal Code] for defamation against the commander-in-chief," Daw Ei San, the mother of the accused, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "Initially, they filed a suit against my daughter under Article 34(d) of the Electronic Transactions Law, that then changed to Article 66(d) [of the Telecommunications Law]." At least three other people are currently facing defamation charges under Article 66(d) for content shared to social media site Facebook. Patrick Khum Jaa Lee, the husband of renowned Kachin peace activist May Sabe Phyu, was arrested earlier this month over a Facebook post deemed to defame the Burma Army. He remains in custody after his second court hearing was deferred on Tuesday. Another incident involves a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) accused of defaming opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A third case was filed against a 23-year-old activist who shared a poem that suggested he had a tattoo of the president on his penis. The post Woman Faces Additional Charge in Facebook Defamation Trial appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Student Leader Kyaw Ko Ko Arrested After Months in Hiding Posted: 29 Oct 2015 02:42 AM PDT Kyaw Ko Ko, president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A leader of Burma's student movement that was that brutally crushed earlier this year was apprehended by police in Rangoon on Thursday after spending more than seven months in hiding. The All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) announced in the early afternoon that the group's president, 34-year-old Kyaw Ko Ko, had been arrested near San Pya market in Thingangkun Township. Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Thursday, ABFSU spokesperson Aung Nay Paing said the fugitive was found, arrested and taken away police, but the group did not know his current whereabouts. "He was detained by plainclothes police near San Pya Market at noon when he went out alone," Aung Nay Paing said, explaining that Kyaw Ko Ko was allowed to borrow an officer's cell phone to inform his peers of the arrest. Kyaw Ko Ko was a central figure in a stuent protest movement that began late last year against a new National Education law. The movement gained traction in early 2015, and culminated in a brutal police crackdown on March 10, when officers were seen surrounding and indiscriminately beating students, supporters and journalists outside a monastery in Letpadan, Pegu Division. More than 100 people were arrested during the crackdown, and about 60 are still in custody awaiting trial for various offenses including rioting, incitement and causing harm to a public servant. Kyaw Ko Ko, who was not present at Letpadan, led a similar peaceful demonstration in Rangoon on the same day, fleeing the scene as police arrived to break up the march. The sudden arrest came a day after the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) called for the release of all political prisoners—including all students and their supporters still awaiting a verdict—ahead a Nov. 8 general election. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) issued a similar request last week, calling on the government to immediately release all political prisoners and put an end to the arrest of opposition party supporters. According to AAPP, more than 560 people are either serving prison sentences or facing trial for charges deemed to be politically motivated. The post Student Leader Kyaw Ko Ko Arrested After Months in Hiding appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

China Indicts Former Senior Provincial Official for Graft Posted: 28 Oct 2015 10:32 PM PDT Communist Party Secretary of Hebei province Zhou Benshun speaks at a session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing on Mar. 7. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — China has indicted the former Communist Party boss of the northern province of Hebei on suspicion of bribery, the state prosecutor said on Thursday. The official, Zhou Benshun, previously had worked with China's disgraced one-time domestic security chief, who was jailed for life in June after a secret trial in China's most sensational graft scandal in 70 years. As the party boss in Hebei, Zhou was the top official in the province surrounding Beijing and China's most important steel producer. The prosecutor said Zhou was subject to "coercive measures," a term which normally refers to detention. He was sacked in July and accused of "serious breaches of discipline and the law," a euphemism for corruption. The prosecutor provided no further details and it was not possible to reach him for comment. It is also unclear if Zhou has a lawyer. The party's corruption watchdog handed his case over to legal authorities earlier this month. The Hebei city of Zhangjiakou this year won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics along with Beijing. Zhou had attended meetings of the bid committee. Zhou became party chief in Hebei in 2013. He had worked for five years in the Central Politics and Law Commission as its secretary general, under Zhou Yongkang, the domestic security chief jailed in June. The two are not related despite sharing a family name. President Xi Jinping, who doubles as party and military chief, has pursued a relentless campaign against deep-rooted corruption since assuming power three years ago, vowing to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies." The post China Indicts Former Senior Provincial Official for Graft appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

El Nino Drought Poses Poverty Challenge for Indonesia Posted: 28 Oct 2015 10:24 PM PDT Indonesian President Joko Widodo speaks at the US Chamber of Commerce dinner in Washington on Oct. 26. (Photo: Yuri Gripas / Reuters) KARANG JATI, Indonesia — On a dry and dusty sports field in central Java, Indonesian men dressed as traditional warriors take turns to battle with wooden staves, while village women crowd around, chanting: "All farmers let us pray that rain comes and washes our sorrow away." As in many parts of Java, Indonesia's main rice-growing island, seasonal rains are late coming to Karang Jati. A drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern, which scientists say could be the worst on record, means fields are fallow weeks after they would normally be sown. So the villagers have turned to a rainmaking ritual to hasten the planting season. Crop failures caused by an El Nino drought presage more pain for Southeast Asia's largest economy, which is already growing at its slowest pace in six years, by squeezing incomes, fanning inflation and pushing more people into poverty. All this piles pressure on Joko Widodo, Indonesia's first president from humble origins, who made poverty reduction a priority but has seen it swell across this archipelago of 250 million people since he took office a year ago. The number of people officially classed as poor actually rose in the first six months of his presidency to 28.6 million in March from 27.7 million in September 2014. Twenty of Indonesia's 34 provinces are currently stricken by severe drought, according to the meteorology agency. The World Bank says that if there is a severe El Nino this year, rice production will fall by 2.1 million tons, or 2.9 percent, and rice prices will rise by 10.2 percent. That price rise will hit the poor hardest because they spend more of their income on food than the well off. "Reduced agricultural incomes and higher prices could be devastating for poor households," the Bank said in a report, adding that rice imports may be needed if El Nino intensifies. 'No Rain, No Money' Widodo has provided more funds for cash transfers and social schemes, but so far has refused to sanction rice imports, keen that Indonesia should be self-sufficient in food. "We are not talking about imports," Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told Reuters in a recent interview. "We are trying to make sure the domestic stocks are available and accessible." Other countries at risk of an El Nino drought, such as the Philippines, have taken advantage of low global rice prices to boost stocks with foreign imports. Such measures at least cap inflation if crops fail, though they mostly benefit people in towns who consume rice, rather than the farmers who produce it—all they can do is pray for the weather to change. "Our paddy fields depend on rainwater, so if there is no rain we suffer," said Darijan, a 60-year-old farmer in central Java who has started selling his soil to brick-makers to make ends meet. Agriculture accounts for nearly 14 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product, the highest among Southeast Asia's five main economies. One-third of the labor force works in farming, and more than half of poor households live off the land. "What is very important…to the poverty numbers is rice production and rice prices," Steven Tabor, the Asian Development Bank's head in Indonesia, told a recent conference. "And the beginnings of El Nino seem to suggest that we may be in for rising poverty toward the end of the year." As the drought drags on, Karang Jati's farmers such as 70-year-old Rohadi Rustam are anxious. "If there's no rain, we have no money," he said, sitting by his sun-cracked fields. "That's how we farmers live." The post El Nino Drought Poses Poverty Challenge for Indonesia appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Cambodia’s PM Condemns Attacks on Lawmakers, Rails at Opposition Posted: 28 Oct 2015 10:07 PM PDT Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen is seen on a television in a Phnom Penh restaurant as he delivers a speech on Wednesday evening. (Photo: Samrang Pring / Reuters) PHNOM PENH — Cambodia’s prime minister on Wednesday condemned a violent assault on two opposition parliamentarians as “cheap” and unforgivable and took aim at political rivals for stirring tensions with street protests that hurt the country’s image. In a rare televised address, Hun Sen called for calm and said those who dragged the lawmakers out of their cars and kicked them on the ground following a rally on Monday would be brought to justice. “We can’t tolerate and forgive those who committed this,” he said. “Regardless of who they are—whether they are supporters of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), the royal government, the opposition party—whoever committed this cheap act must be punished.” The two Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) lawmakers were attacked after a demonstration by supporters of the ruling CPP outside the national assembly. The address follows the collapse in July of a fragile truce between the two main parties, in which the CPP agreed to a series of concessions in return for the CNRP ending its yearlong parliamentary boycott. Hun Sen has been central to a war of words with the CNRP and criticized the party for staging protests during his recent visits to Paris and the United Nations in New York, which he said lacked “honor and dignity”. The CNRP’s rallies, he said, may have influenced the demonstration at parliament by his own supporters, noting that they had dispersed long before the lawmakers were beaten. “They (the attackers) were not the crowd of protesters, where are they from?” he said. “Whatever. I order today, no matter wherever they are from, they must be arrested and prosecuted.” The CNRP accuses Hun Sen of ceding sovereign territory to historic foe Vietnam, the latest attempt to portray him as a stooge of Hanoi, which riles him. Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia for three decades and has recently engaged in some sabre-rattling of his own, warning a CNRP victory in a 2018 election would see a return to civil war. Hun Sen’s address on Wednesday was uncharacteristically short at 11 minutes. His speeches are unpredictable and can go on for longer than five hours. He has typically used events like university graduation ceremonies and the launching of infrastructure projects to talk politics and lambast his critics, including the United Nations. The post Cambodia’s PM Condemns Attacks on Lawmakers, Rails at Opposition appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Irrawaddy. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States