The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Ethnic Rebel Summit in Panghsang Redux, But Dynamics Differ
- No Response, No Accountability for Tenasserim Coal Mine Damage
- Lingering Problems, New Challenges for Foreign Investors Despite Reforms
- China to Allow All Couples Two Children to Counter Aging Population
- In Defeat for Beijing, Hague Court to Hear South China Sea Dispute
- Amnesty Accuses Australia of Paying People Smugglers
| Ethnic Rebel Summit in Panghsang Redux, But Dynamics Differ Posted: 30 Oct 2015 06:52 AM PDT  : A peace monument erected in the aptly named Panghsang Peace Square in the eponymous capital of the Wa Special Region. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) PANGHSANG, Wa Special Region — The leaders of several ethnic armed groups will converge this weekend on Panghsang, where the United Wa State Army (UWSA) has invited 12 fellow ethnic armed groups for a meeting to discuss their shared absence from the signing of a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government earlier this month. While some ethnic armed groups' delegations have already arrived to the town, many of them are still en route to Panghsang, the capital of the semi-autonomous Wa Special Region in northeast Shan State. Security in UWSA-controlled territory appeared heightened during the three-hour drive by car from Mong La to Panghsang, with checkpoints administered by the ethnic Wa army stopping the car in which The Irrawaddy was traveling three times, despite the vehicle being clearly marked as belonging to the rebel group. Our driver was asked to show his ID card at one stop, despite him wearing a full UWSA uniform. The summit beginning on Sunday is the second time this year that the UWSA has hosted a meeting of Burma's ethnic armed groups, though the conflict dynamics have shifted markedly since the first meetup nearly six months ago. While the meeting in early May came with most of the nation's ethnic armed groups in relatively equal standing vis-à-vis the government, the coming summit is being convened less than three weeks after the groups split over the signing of the ceasefire, with eight armed organizations signing the accord but about a dozen others either abstaining or shut out by the government. The UWSA's invitation exclusively to non-signatories is not likely to be viewed favorably by a Burmese government that pushed aggressively to ink the peace pact this month. As the leaders of ethnic armed groups make their way to Panghsang, many have opted to enter the Wa Special Region through China or Thailand, using illegal channels to avoid Burmese government authorities that they worry could give them trouble. Nai Hong Sar Bong Khaing, a central committee member of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), told The Irrawaddy that members of the NMSP delegation headed for Panghsang had asked him for travel advice ahead of the meeting, and he suggested not to travel inside the country with those concerns in mind. "They asked for my thoughts about traveling inside the country. … For me, I told them that it is not a good time to travel inside the country," said Nai Hong Sar Bong Khaing, adding that he did not know which way the NMSP leadership ultimately would choose. To attend the Panghsang meeting in May, leaders from the NMSP traveled through official channels, flying from Rangoon to Kentung before driving to Mong La and then on to the Wa Special Region. That, however, was before the group had positioned itself among those who did not sign the nationwide ceasefire. Other armed groups as well have decided to cross the borders of China or Thailand to get to Panghsang for the meeting, However, Saw Lwin, the general secretary of the Kayan New Land Party, told The Irrawaddy that his group kept its travel aboveboard, flying from Loikaw in Karenni State to Shan State's Lashio, and then traveling overland from there. Asked by The Irrawaddy if he was concerned about hassle from the government along the way, he replied: "We cannot be afraid of them because this is the right thing for our group, we need to attend this meeting." "They never like whenever our ethnic armed groups all get together and talk at a meeting. They are afraid of this," Saw Lwin added. Though eight armed groups signed the nationwide ceasefire in Naypyidaw on Oct. 15, several of the nation's largest ethnic armies, including the UWSA, withheld their signatures. Other non-signatories include the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Shan State Army-North, groups with considerable strength based primarily in Shan State. All three have clashed with the Burma Army even as negotiations for the nationwide ceasefire moved haltingly forward this year, and the most recent flare-up between the government and the SSA-N began on Oct. 6 but has continued in the post-ceasefire signing period. Saw Lwin's Kayan New Land Party is among three groups invited to the upcoming meeting that did not attend the May gathering, along with the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO) and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang). The most notable absence from the talks that start Sunday is the Karen National Union (KNU), one of Burma's largest ethnic armed groups, which signed the ceasefire with the government earlier this month and thus did not receive a UWSA invite. A statement issued by the UWSA ahead of this weekend's meeting said participants would discuss two points: how to present a united front as non-signatories, and how to deal with whatever new government takes power following Burma's Nov. 8 general election. The UWSA is Burma's strongest ethnic armed group, but did not participate in the multilateral negotiations over the nationwide ceasefire agreement. It reached a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government in 1989, and has said that pact would have made its signing of the nationwide accord redundant. The post Ethnic Rebel Summit in Panghsang Redux, But Dynamics Differ appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| No Response, No Accountability for Tenasserim Coal Mine Damage Posted: 30 Oct 2015 06:47 AM PDT  Mon State locals protest against the construction of a coal fired power plant in May 2015. (Photo: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Karen villagers say the massive toll on their community from the nearby Ban Chaung coal mining project has been ignored by the government, the ethnic armed group in control of the area and the companies involved in the venture. Approved by the Ministry of Mines under the former military regime in March 2010, Mayflower Mining Enterprise Ltd. was initially allocated three land parcels in Dawei. A further three allotments were granted in March 2012, with the total size of the project spread over 2,100 acres of land in upland Tenasserim Division. A report released on Friday by a consortium of local civil society groups alleged that Mayflower Mining had unlawfully brought in two Thai-based firms—East Star Company Ltd. And Thai Asset Mining Co. Ltd—to operate the mines and construct roads linking the Ban Chaung mines to the Dawei Special Economic Zone and a port 45 kilometers to the south in Thayetchaung Township. Investment and mining laws require foreign firm to secure operational approval from both the Ministry of Mines and the Myanmar Investment Commission. Thant Zin, a representative of the Dawei Development Association, told a Friday press conference that there was no record of either East Star or Thai Asset Mining having approval to operate the Ban Chaung mines from either body, while Mayflower Mining appears to have no direct involvement in mining operations. East Star commenced operations at Khon Chaung Gyi village in late 2011 and early 2012, destroying 60 acres of a cardamom plantation without informing or seeking consent from landowners, the report said. The company also seized land in nearby Kyaut Htoo village, setting up an operations camp close to a Burma Army base. Naw Pe The Law, a spokeswoman for the Tarkapaw civil society group, said that if the project was granted permission to expand and encompass all six allotments, more than 20 villages and 330,000 people would be affected by land seizures or the environmental effects of the project. "We are indigenous people but we were never informed these projects would occur," she said. "We only found out when the mining started. Even though it started in 2011, there has been no environmental or social impact assessment done. Even though every villager is against it, the project continues, and there is no accountability for anyone." Despite being in its infancy, the Ban Chaung project has had a dramatic impact on the local environment since operations commenced. Villagers told civil society groups that East Star had dumped tailings into streams, while the nearby water table had acidified and killed local marine life. Mining dust and recurring coal fires—which East Star made cursory efforts to extinguish by covering waste piles with dirt—have led to an increase in respiratory illnesses, while others reported an outbreak of skin diseases. The Buck Stops There Registered in Bangkok and Rangoon in 2010, Mayflower Mining was founded by Kyaw Win, a close associate of former junta deputy Gen. Maung Aye who established his fortune in the timber trade in the early 1990s. Kyaw Win's move into banking in 1994 saw the establishment of the Myanmar Mayflower Bank, which at its height was the third largest financial institution in the country before it was shuttered in 2005 following a money laundering investigation. The Ban Chaung project area, around 50 kilometers from the Thai border, has long been under the de facto control of the 4th Brigade of the Karen National Union (KNU). Despite mining operations falling in the armed group's control area, the KNU has regularly deflected accountability for the project. Thant Zin of the Dawei Development Association told The Irrawaddy that villagers had attempted to petition the ethnic armed group at least five times to stop the project since 2013 without receiving a response. On some occasions, the KNU told villagers to seek redress from the Burmese government and the Ministry of Mines, who in turn referred the villagers back to the KNU. In January 2014, the first secretary of the Mergui-Tavoy District KNU office attempted to order a temporary suspension of the 60 acres currently being mined. Operations continued as normal. Two months later, the district KNU office signed a contract with villagers stating that mining would not expand beyond its present operations. Protests continued, with a November 2014 local blockade of access roads built by East Star and Thai Asset eventually removed by the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the KNU. Friday's report on the Ban Chaung project called on the Burmese government to cease granting mining approvals in ethnic areas without the consent of the local community and for the KNU to end its support for local mining operations. 'Left in the Lurch' Efforts to enshrine community protections as a precondition of mining projects have been glacial. An attempt to update the junta-era 1994 Mining Law, which would modernize the rules under which foreign and local companies are permitted to mine in Burma, has been stalled in Union Parliament for more than two years. Regulations establishing an environmental impact assessment procedure for the Ministry of Mines remain in draft form despite more than a year of deliberation. Vani Sathisan, legal adviser for the International Commission of Jurists, said that the ongoing dispute over the Ban Chaung project highlighted the pressing need for legislative reform. "This is a country where businesses normally proceed without input from local communities. Such secrecy fosters serious human rights abuses," she told The Irrawaddy. "In the absence of such key legislation that would protect the communities' rights and provide for a legal redress—and coupled with a judiciary that is not able to enforce these laws with independence and competence and provide access to remedy—communities are left in the lurch." Coal fired power projects, for which the Ban Chaung project was established to help service, have in recent years been a growing source of community discontent in southern Burma, particularly Tenasserim Division and coastal areas of Mon State. Over the last five years, a total of seven coal-fired power plants have been proposed in Tenasserim, with a combined maximum generating power of nearly 14,000 megawatts. A proposed 4,000MW power plant to service the Dawei SEZ was scuttled by the Thein Sein government in January 2012 on environmental grounds, in the wake of community opposition to the project. Last year, Thailand's Andaman Power & Utility said it had reached agreement with the Ministry of Electric Power to construct a scaled-down, 500MW coal plant to power the SEZ, where future development plans are largely underwritten by Thai investment. The post No Response, No Accountability for Tenasserim Coal Mine Damage appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Lingering Problems, New Challenges for Foreign Investors Despite Reforms Posted: 30 Oct 2015 02:09 AM PDT  Stacks of Burmese kyat notes are prepared at a bank ahead of being transported in Rangoon. (Photo: Minzayar / Reuters) RANGOON — Despite improving access for international capital and the streamlining of company registration regulations, significant barriers remain for prospective investors in Burma, with local experts warning the de facto reintroduction of foreign exchange controls will hamper future growth. In the annual Doing Business report, published on Tuesday, Burma climbed 10 places to 167th in the World Bank's index on the ease of doing business in 189 countries. Covering the year to June 2015, the report praised the dramatic reduction in the time needed to register a business with the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), along with the elimination of capital requirements for new enterprises. Burma remains the lowest ranked country in the Asean region, well behind regional neighbors Thailand (49), Laos (134) and Cambodia (127). With an average of three years to settle tort claims in Burma's court system, the country ranked 187th on contract enforcement, and lagged well behind the region in ease of access to credit and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders. Zaw Lin Htut, CEO of the Myanmar Payment Union, said he expected the banking sector to improve as recent foreign entrants established themselves in the local market, but said foreign investors would be reluctant to set up locally without legislative reform to credit laws. "This is only the beginning of the foreign banks operating in Burma," he told The Irrawaddy. "They can't yet provide good service for everyone, and that is a factor for why foreign investors are not happy to invest here… If the country focuses on what foreign investors need in the next couple of years, it will improve its ranking very soon." Following extensive deliberation, senior government figures including DICA director-general Aung Naing Oo promised that revisions to the 2012 Foreign Investment Law and the colonial-era 1914 Companies Law would be enacted before the general election. Both remain before the Union Parliament, which is not set to resume until after the election in mid-November. Along with distrust of the local banking system, recent efforts by the Central Bank of Myanmar to clamp down on foreign currency transactions are placing an additional burden on foreign operators. "Due to the weak banking system here, we are always having problems when transferring money from our foreign counterparts," said Zay Htet, managing director of the Georesources mining and exploration services company. "They are always considering this before working with local companies." "Some of my colleagues told me that they always have problems when they use foreign banks to send investment capital here. They can’t find good banks that can directly work here; this is the one single most important factor." The Central Bank's aggressive stance on monetary policy was taken in response to a 30 percent slide in the Burmese kyat against the US dollar since January. While the greenback has seen a global resurgence, the local currency has declined relative to regional currencies as a result of the country's widening current account deficit. An abortive attempt by the Central Bank to reintroduce exchange controls saw a wide disparity between official and market rates and the reintroduction of a thriving black market currency trade, which had largely disappeared when the Burmese government floated the exchange rate in 2012. Zaw Lin Htut said that the kyat's instability was making it more difficult for foreign firms to forecast revenue, and the Central Bank's intervention had made investors wary of the potential for unpredictable revenue changes. Experts have called for the Central Bank to shift its monetary policy focus to combating Burma's rising inflation rate, forecast by the International Monetary Fund to hit 13 percent by the end of 2015. Independent economist Aung Ko Ko told The Irrawaddy that the Central Bank's current priorities were too aligned with the government, and reducing inflation at the expense of a weakened kyat would over time lead to greater prosperity and economic development. "The Central Bank is not meant to protect the government, but to help develop the country and people," he said. "It has to consider and take actions in the interests of the people and the country. It has an awesome responsibility." "Burma is a developing country with around 70 percent of the country's population residing in rural areas. Rather than taking a cue from US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, it should learn from central banks of Thailand and Vietnam how to stabilize inflation." The post Lingering Problems, New Challenges for Foreign Investors Despite Reforms appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| China to Allow All Couples Two Children to Counter Aging Population Posted: 30 Oct 2015 12:18 AM PDT  A boy sits on his father's shoulders as they pose for a photograph in front of the giant portrait of late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong on the Tiananmen Gate, in Beijing, China, on Oct. 2, 2011. (Photo: Reuters) BEIJING — China will ease family planning restrictions to allow all couples to have two children after decades of a strict one-child policy, the ruling Communist Party said on Thursday, a move aimed at alleviating demographic strains on the economy. The policy is a major liberalization of the country's family planning restrictions, already eased in late 2013 when Beijing said it would allow more families to have two children when the parents met certain conditions. A growing number of scholars had urged the government to reform the rules, introduced in the late 1970s to prevent population growth spiraling out of control, but now regarded as outdated and responsible for shrinking China's labor pool. For the first time in decades the working age population fell in 2012, and China, the world's most populous nation, could be the first country in the world to get old before it gets rich. By around the middle of this century, one in every three Chinese is forecast to be over 60, with a dwindling proportion of working adults to support them. The announcement was made at the close of a key party meeting focused on financial reforms and maintaining growth between 2016 and 2020 amid concerns over the country's slowing economy. China will "fully implement a policy of allowing each couple to have two children as an active response to an aging population," the party said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency. There were no immediate details on the new policy or a timeframe for implementation. Wang Feng, a leading expert on demographic and social change in China, called the change an "historic event" that would change the world but said the challenges of China's aging society would remain. "It's an event that we have been waiting for a generation, but it is one we have had to wait much too long for," Wang said. "It won't have any impact on the issue of the aging society, but it will change the character of many young families," Wang said. Too Little, Too Late? Under the 2013 reform, couples in which one parent is an only child were allowed to have a second child. Critics said the relaxation of rules was too little, too late to redress substantial negative effects of the one-child policy on the economy and society. Many couples who were allowed to have another child under the 2013 rules decided not to, especially in the cities, citing the cost of bringing up children in an increasingly expensive country. State media said in January that about 30,000 families in Beijing, just 6.7 percent of those eligible, applied to have a second child. The Beijing government had said last year that it expected an extra 54,200 births annually as a result of the change in rules. Chinese people took to microblogging site Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, to welcome the move, but many said they probably would not opt for a second child. "I can't even afford to raise one, let alone two," wrote one user. Couples who flout family planning laws in China are, at minimum, fined, some lose their jobs, and in some cases mothers are forced to abort their babies or be sterilized. In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest welcomed China's move but indicated it did not go far enough. "While this recent policy change does represent a positive step, we also look forward to the day when birth limits are abandoned altogether," Earnest said during a news briefing. William Nee, a China researcher at human rights campaign group Amnesty International, also urged China to go further. "China should immediately and completely end its control over people's decisions to have children. This would not only be good for improving human rights, but would also make sense given the stark demographic challenges that lie ahead," he said. Charging Growth The plenum also announced plans to attack other structural economic challenges, covering areas such as market pricing, innovation, consumption and more private ownership of assets. The party reiterated its goal of doubling GDP and incomes between 2010 and 2020—entailing a "medium-high economic growth target"—and committed to liberalizing its service sector to foreign investment. It said it would accelerate implementation of free-trade zones, and intervene less in the pricing of goods and services. However, it did not give a figure for its next five-year growth target. Chinese social media was buzzing earlier on Thursday with comments purportedly made by Premier Li Keqiang saying 6.53 percent was the minimum growth rate China needed to become moderately prosperous. "Not a lot of new stuff," said Chang Liu, China economist at Capital Economics in London. He noted that the commitment to put more state assets into pension funds would be a desirable way to get state money into private hands, with potential trickle-down effects on consumption, but was skeptical of implementation. "I think that's one of the tougher ones to carry out, given vested interests." The restated focus on innovation is getting more and more policy support as China tries to push its companies to move more quickly up the value chain. The post China to Allow All Couples Two Children to Counter Aging Population appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| In Defeat for Beijing, Hague Court to Hear South China Sea Dispute Posted: 30 Oct 2015 12:11 AM PDT  Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang points out a reporter to receive a question at a regular news conference in Beijing, October 27, 2015. (Photo: Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters) AMSTERDAM — In a legal setback for Beijing, an arbitration court in the Netherlands ruled on Thursday that it has jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines has filed against China over disputed areas in the South China Sea. Manila filed the case in 2013 to seek a ruling on its right to exploit the South China Sea waters in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected Beijing's claim that the disputes were about territorial sovereignty and said additional hearings would be held to decide the merits of the Philippines' arguments. China has boycotted the proceedings and rejects the court's authority in the case. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, dismissing claims to parts of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. The tribunal found it had authority to hear seven of Manila's submissions under UNCLOS and China's decision not to participate did "not deprive the tribunal of jurisdiction." The Chinese government, facing international legal scrutiny for the first time over its assertiveness in the South China Sea, would neither participate in nor accept the case, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters. "The result of this arbitration will not impact China's sovereignty, rights or jurisdiction over the South China Sea under historical facts and international law," Liu said. "From this ruling you can see the Philippines' aim in presenting the case is not to resolve the dispute. Its aim is to deny China's rights in the South China Sea and confirm its own rights in the South China Sea." The Philippine government welcomed the decision. Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, Manila's chief lawyer in the case, said the ruling represented a "significant step forward in the Philippines' quest for a peaceful, impartial resolution of the disputes between the parties and the clarification of their rights under UNCLOS." Bonnie Glaser, a South China Sea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, called the outcome "a major blow for China given that the opinion explicitly rejects China's arguments that … the Philippines has not done enough to negotiate the issues with China." The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines that this week challenged Beijing's pursuit of territorial claims by sailing close to artificial islands China has constructed in the South China Sea, welcomed the decision, according to a senior US defense official. "It shows that judging issues like this on the basis of international law and international practice are a viable way of, at a minimum, managing territorial conflicts if not resolving them," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another US official said the tribunal's decision undercut China's claims under the so-called nine-dashed line that takes in about 90 percent of the 3.5 million square kilometer (1.35 million square mile) South China Sea on Chinese maps. This vague boundary was officially published on a map by China's Nationalist government in 1947 and has been included in subsequent maps under Communist rule. "You can't say that the nine-dashed line is indisputable anymore because by acknowledging jurisdiction here the court has made clear that there is indeed a dispute," said the official, who asked not to be named. "To my mind, this announcement drives a stake through the heart of the nine-dash line." The court's rulings are binding, although it has no power to enforce them and countries have ignored them in the past. 'Questionable Claims' Nevertheless, the decision keeps the spotlight on China. "Today's ruling is an important step forward in upholding international law against China's attempts to assert vast and, in my view, questionable claims in the South China Sea," said John McCain, chairman of the US Senate's armed services committee. On Thursday during a visit to Beijing, German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested China go to international courts to resolve its rows over the South China Sea. In a position paper in December, China argued the dispute was not covered by UNCLOS because it was ultimately a matter of sovereignty, not exploitation rights. UNCLOS does not rule on sovereignty but it does outline a system of territory and economic zones that can be claimed from features such as islands, rocks and reefs. The court said it could hear arguments including one contending that several South China Sea reefs and shoals were not important enough to base territorial claims on. On seven other submissions, including that China had violated the Philippines' sovereign right to exploit its own territorial waters, the court said it would reserve judgment about jurisdiction until it had decided the merits of the case. No date has been set for the next hearings. The Permanent Court of Arbitration was established in the Netherlands in 1899 to encourage peaceful resolution of disputes between states, organizations and private parties. China and the Philippines are among its 117 member countries. The post In Defeat for Beijing, Hague Court to Hear South China Sea Dispute appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Amnesty Accuses Australia of Paying People Smugglers Posted: 29 Oct 2015 10:57 PM PDT  Protesters react as they hold placards and listen to speakers during a rally in support of refugees in central Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 19, 2015. (Photo: Reuters) CANBERRA, Australia — Amnesty International used full-page ads in Australian newspapers on Thursday to accuse border protection officials of illegally paying people smugglers and endangering lives in their efforts to prevent asylum seeker boats from reaching Australia. The London-based human rights group's extraordinary advertising campaign in Australia's largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne followed the release of a report on Wednesday condemning the government's highly secretive Operation Sovereign Borders, a flotilla that has all but stopped asylum seeker boats. The government has rejected the report and denied any wrongdoing. Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who counts stopping the boats among the greatest achievements of the government he led for two years until September, used a speech in London this week to urge Europe to employ similar methods to stem the flow of migrants. Amnesty claims that Australian officials were "complicit in a transnational crime" in May when they paid people smugglers US$32,000 to take a boat carrying 65 asylum seekers bound for New Zealand to an Indonesian port. Amnesty said this could constitute illegally funding human trafficking. "Our Australian officials operate in accordance with domestic Australian law and in accordance with our international obligations," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters. Australia's Fairfax Media reported in June that an Indonesian police investigation had concluded smugglers had been paid more than $30,000 to take a boat loaded with asylum seekers back to Indonesia. Government ministers at the time denied that the Australian Border Force and defense officials ever paid money to people smugglers. But that denial did not extend to intelligence officials, who are understood to pay criminal informants for information. The government says it never comments on intelligence or security issues. Don Rothwell, an Australian National University expert on international law, said that if Australian officials had paid traffickers, they had broken the law. However, if the money was paid by intelligence officers, the attorney-general would have to authorize any prosecution under Australian law, he said. "The potential for prosecutions under Australian law … would appear rather remote," Rothwell said. Amnesty also accuses Australia of endangering 65 asylum seekers by forcing them from a well-equipped boat onto overcrowded boats with inadequate fuel for their journey back to Indonesia. Among other allegations, Amnesty said that Australian officials beat asylum seekers when turning their boats back toward Indonesia. Thousands of asylum seekers have flown from Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia to Indonesia to board rickety fishing boats for the voyage to Australia. The post Amnesty Accuses Australia of Paying People Smugglers appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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