The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Canadian Mining Firm May Have Breached Sanctions, Rights Group Says
- US University Pulls Plug on Pioneering Program With Rangoon Counterpart
- Upper House Passes Controversial ‘Population Control’ Bill
- Festival Celebrating Rangoon Life to Begin Next Month
- Students Stage Sit-In at Dagon University
- Among Displaced Kokang, Livelihoods and Loved Ones Lost
- Thousands of Garment Workers Strike in Rangoon
- Drug-Resistant Malaria Found Close to Burma Border With India
- China to Project Power From Artificial Islands in South China Sea
- Photo of the Week (20.2.2015)
- Burma Official Urges China to Prevent Rebel Attacks From Across Border
- Thailand Bans Surrogacy for Foreigners in Bid to End ‘Rent-a-Womb’ Tourism
- Red Cross Convoy Attack: The Scariest Moment of My Life
| Canadian Mining Firm May Have Breached Sanctions, Rights Group Says Posted: 20 Feb 2015 06:44 AM PST  A ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the official opening of the Monywa copper mine. Robert Friedland is seen cutting the ribbon along with several representatives of the Burmese regime, Jan. 19, 1999. (Photo: MICCL) For many years, Canada's since-rebranded Ivanhoe Mines was one of the very few Western mining companies involved in Burma through its stake in one of the country's largest mines, located near Monywa. Recently disclosed documents reveal that during the period between April 2003 and January 2004, Ivanhoe’s local Burmese joint venture may have violated a number of Western sanctions by selling copper to internationally blacklisted military-affiliated entities. An exhaustive report by Amnesty International titled, "Open for Business? Corporate Crime and Abuses at Myanmar Copper Mine," released in early February, details recorded sales between the firm's local Burmese joint venture, Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Ltd (MICCL) and several military connected entities, despite Ivanhoe’s stated claim that copper mined and processed on site was exclusively sold to Japan's Marubeni. Based on internal documents obtained by Amnesty, the report said that MICCL’s list of buyers "reads like a who's who of the Myanmar [Burma] security forces and its establishments." The internationally renowned rights group said the fact that copper was sold to blacklisted entities "raises issues around breaches of sanctions" at the time the sales took place. Ivanhoe, which is now known as Turquoise Hill Resources, entered into a joint venture with Burma's state-owned Mining Enterprise No. 1 in April 1996, taking a 50 percent stake in MICCL. When mining at Monywa began, access to the site and surrounding areas was severely restricted by the then-ruling military regime. The project has long been associated with land disputes, and in 2012 made international headlines after a violent crackdown on protesters at the now-notorious Letpadaung deposit, which was undeveloped at the time of Ivanhoe's involvement. Documents cited by Amnesty offer several revelations about Ivanhoe's mysterious years in Burma. A collection of US Embassy cables indicate that the firm continued to be involved in the Monywa mine for several years after February 2007 when its 50 percent stake in MICCL was transferred into what the company said was an "independent third party trust". The cables also indicate that a notorious blacklisted crony was involved in the eventual sale of Ivanhoe’s Burmese assets. Amnesty further claimed that internal sales documents, never before disclosed, show that Ivanhoe lied publicly about who was buying MICCL's copper. Amnesty's dossier—comprising leaked cables and internal sales records—collectively raises questions about whether MICCL’s copper sales and the subsequent transfer of Ivanhoe’s stake in MICCL potentially ran afoul of three sanctions regimes: Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The report called for investigations in all relevant jurisdictions. According to the documents, during a 10-month period up to and including January 2004, MICCL sold 100 tonnes of copper to an entity known as the Office of Defense Service Industry, which the group said "seems to refer to the Directorate or a unit of the Directorate of Defense Industries [DDI]," known in Burmese as Ka Pa Sa, the arms and munitions manufacturing division of the Ministry of Defense. The documents also show that 3 tonnes of copper were sold to No. 11, Light Infantry Division, a unit later identified by Human Rights Watch as being involved in the brutal suppression of monk-led protests that took place in Rangoon in September 2007. They further reveal that MICCL sold copper to an entity listed as No. 1, Defense Service Intelligence. Amnesty said this appeared to be a reference to a unit that at the time of the sales was under direction of the Directorate of Defense Service Intelligence (DDSI), which was headed at the time by the powerful Military Intelligence Chief Khin Nyunt. Large amounts of copper also appear to have been sold to an entity listed as Special Branch, another section of Burma’s security apparatus, and more still to the Thaton branch of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a regime-backed organization linked to numerous violent acts carried out against opponents of the regime. The group was largely believed to have been behind the 2003 Depayin massacre, involving an attack on Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy which killed dozens of her fellow National League for Democracy (NLD) members. According to the documents, 50 tons of copper were also sold to an entity listed as the Shan State National Army (SSNA), formed in 1995 by a group of disgruntled members of opium warlord Khun Sa’s Shan Mon Tai Army. Amnesty said that the sale of the copper to army-controlled entities contradicted statements from Ivanhoe Mines indicating that copper produced by MICCL was only being sold to the Japanese firm Marubeni for export. The report cites numerous Ivanhoe company filings made between 2000 and 2004 stating that "[t]hroughout the term of the copper sales agreement, Marubeni has the exclusive right to market copper produced from the Monywa Copper Project throughout the world." According to Amnesty, the sales documents prove that "Ivanhoe Mines lied publicly about the copper sales in its filings with the US and Canadian regulatory authorities." In addition to being inconsistent with claims made by Ivanhoe over the years, the copper sales may also have violated sanctions placed on Burma, Amnesty said. Ivanhoe’s stake in MICCL was—at the time the sales took place—held by a British Virgin Islands-based subsidiary. As an overseas possession, the British Virgin Islands were subject to certain EU and British restrictions barring dealings with Burma’s military and therefore, according to Amnesty, "may have committed an offence under UK law" depending on whether the copper ended up being used for military purposes such as the manufacturing of weapons or vehicles. Amnesty urged all relevant authorities to fully investigate the sales and the use of the product to determine whether sanctions had been breached. Ivanhoe’s 2007 Divestment from Monywa Called into Question In February 2007, Ivanhoe Mines placed the 50 percent stake it owned in MICCL into what it described as an "independent third party trust" in accordance with what it claimed was its divestment from the country. The trust was—according to Ivanhoe—tasked with selling its 50 percent stake in the mine, something that Ivanhoe did not report taking place until 2011. Prior to Ivanhoe’s announcement that its stake had been sold, the company claimed that it had nothing to do with day-to-day operations of the mine after its 50 percent stake in MICCL was transferred to the trust. US diplomatic cables disclosed by WikiLeaks in September 2011, however, suggest that claim wasn't true. A US cable dated January 2009 suggested that MICCL’s acting General Manager Glenn Ford was still acting under the orders of Ivanhoe’s head office in Vancouver, which contradicted Ivanhoe’s claim that it had no role in MICCL after its stake was transferred to the trust. "According to Ford, Ivanhoe Headquarters instructed him to produce a small amount of copper every six months," the cable read. The document shows that the order was meant to prevent a contract clause from kicking in that would give the state-owned entity that jointly held the mine, Mining Enterprise No 1, the right to completely take over the mine should it remain inactive for a year. Another US cable dated September 2008 portrays Ford telling US Embassy officials that Burmese billionaire Tay Za facilitated negotiations between Ivanhoe and several Chinese companies, which could be a violation of both US and Canadian sanctions. Although headquartered in Vancouver, Ivanhoe was listed on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York-based Nasdaq, which meant that the firm was subject to American rules as well those north of the border. "For the past year, Ivanhoe has been negotiating through regime crony Tay Za with a consortium of three Chinese companies—WanBo [sic] Copper, Norinco Copper, and Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco)—that want to purchase its contract… He [Ford] opined that the consortium’s connections to Tay Za play a pivotal role in the negotiations with the GOB," the cable read. A later cable said that the Chinese buyers paid Tay Za $50 million for his assistance. Both Wanbao Copper and its Burmese subsidiary Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. are owned by China North Industries Corp., also known as NORINCO, a weapons firm. Wanbao is now heading the development of the lucrative Letpadaung deposit, which was part of the Monywa mining project but had not yet been developed during the time Ivanhoe was involved. In a letter to Amnesty, a former Ivanhoe employee in Burma, Oxford-trained geologist Dr. Andrew Mitchell, who served on the board of MICCL from 2007 to 2011, indicated that what had been Ivanhoe’s stake in the mine—which was later divested into an overseas trust—did end up being sold to Chinese firms. Mitchell argued, however, that Amnesty's conclusion that Ivanhoe remained involved after divesting was erroneous, claiming Ford was referring to the trust when speaking to embassy officials about Ivanhoe. "It was customary in the early days of the Trust to refer to the Trust as Ivanhoe in private conversations," he wrote, because the government and former partners still used the old name. Amnesty countered that it was "difficult to reconcile" Mitchell's explanation with Ford's specific reference to "Ivanhoe Headquarters" telling him to do something. After extensive searches in corporate registries in numerous offshore tax havens where various trust related entities were based, Amnesty was able to conclude that the trust "was not an independent entity, and that Ivanhoe Mines had set up a protector company in Barbados that had oversight of the Trust." Amnesty’s report flagged as problematic the opaque manner in which Ivanhoe transferred its stake in MICCL to the trust, which was overseen by a protector company, Sentinel Holding Company. While the cables suggest that Tay Za could have facilitated the eventual sale to Chinese firms, Ivanhoe never publicly disclosed who bought its stake. Ivanhoe did announce in August 2011 that the trust had sold its 50 percent stake in MICCL for $103 million. In June 2010—more than a year before Ivanhoe announced that the sale had been made—NORINCO signed a production sharing contract with the military-controlled Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. for the Monywa copper mining project, which, according to Amnesty, “raises serious questions about how NORINCO and UMEHL were able to enter into an agreement for the Monywa project when MICCL still held these rights.” Amnesty ultimately recommended that Canadian authorities investigate the sale of Ivanhoe’s Burmese assets and the operation of the trust to determine whether sanctions had been violated. The current government in Ottawa—which last year hosted a high level trade delegation from Burma that included the controversial Burmese billionaire Stephen Law (also known as Tun Myint Naing or Lo Ping Zhong), son of the late drug lord Lo Hsing Han—has as yet given no indication that such an investigation is imminent. Ivanhoe Chairman Unhappy with Amnesty Prior to the report’s publication, Amnesty wrote to the man who headed Ivanhoe Mines throughout its entire stint in Burma, Robert Freidland. The billionaire mining mogul was asked about the Monywa mine project with regard to the London-based organization's stated human rights concerns. His response was printed in full at the end of the report. "It is far from clear to me how this narrative and the questions presented in your letter have any relevance to such an investigation. I perceive a fishing expedition, the purpose of which, at least as it relates to me, would appear to involve adding two parts innuendo to two parts insinuation and suggesting that the answer is five," said Friedland in his letter. Friedland was particularly irked by Amnesty's questioning of the Monywa Trust’s structure. "I also take issue with Amnesty's characterization of the Monywa Trust structure, which implies that it was devised solely as a means to obfuscate the ownership of the Myanmar Assets and create the false impression that the Company had divested itself of the Myanmar Assets while nonetheless secretly maintaining control. If this is your theory, then it is simply wrong," Friedland’s letter to Amnesty states. This is not the only mine-related controversy Friedland has been involved in. Following a lengthy court battle Friedland paidUS $20 million to US authorities after a mine operated by the subsidiary of a previous company he headed—Galactic Resources—spilled thousands of liters of toxic mining waste water from the Summitville gold mine into Colorado’s Alamosa River in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Summitville mine fiasco is considered by many to be one of the biggest environmental disasters in the history of the United States, earning Friedland the nickname "Toxic Bob". Since taking over the Summitville site from the bankrupt Galactic in 1992, the US Environmental Protection Agency has spent more than $200 million on clean-up efforts at the mine site and its vicinity. Confusingly, Friedland is once again heading a mining firm known as Ivanhoe Mines, an entity wholly distinct from the Ivanhoe Mines examined by Amnesty. In 2013, shortly after his departure from the firm previously known as Ivanhoe Mines, another firm Friedland headed—Ivanplats Limited—was renamed Ivanhoe Mines. The new Ivanhoe Mines has recently come under criticism in South Africa for allegedly aggressive tactics used to secure mining rights from small scale landholders. As Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper reported in January, company staff allegedly threatened an 82-year-old illiterate villager with the loss of her meager pension unless she agreed to allow drilling in her corn field. In April 2006, Friedland was burned in effigy by Mongolian protesters in the landlocked country's capital who were opposed to an Ivanhoe-backed megaproject. A Familiar Tone Friedland's troubles in other parts of the globe sound a familiar tone given his company's history in Burma. The Monywa mining project has long been plagued by land rights disputes and other community grievances. Amnesty's report further implicates Ivanhoe in a series of land confiscations that took place in around the Monywa mine site during the 1990′s. In May of 1996 shortly after Ivanhoe entered into the joint venture with state owned ME1 and then again in November 1997, government authorities, according to Amnesty’s research, confiscated 5,411 acres of land from local farmers without compensation. Dozens of families were evicted from their land to make way for the development of the Sabetaung and Kyisintaung deposits. According to Amnesty, Ivanhoe "benefitted from the forced evictions as they were carried out for its joint venture with ME1." After conducting extensive interviews with local farmers Amnesty concluded that Ivanhoe "did not take any corrective measures once the forced evictions were carried out by the government although the company could not have been unaware of the impact on affected people." The reported land grabs that took place in the 1990′s mirror the ongoing dispute between local farmers and the mines new Chinese operators and their Burmese partners that has been ongoing at the mine since 2012. Much of the controversy involves land grabbing in around the Letpadaung deposit which remained undeveloped at the time of Ivanhoe’s involvement in the project. A November 2012 incident that took place near the mine site during which police fired white phosphorus munitions directly at a group of unarmed protesting farmers and monks made headlines around the world. The post Canadian Mining Firm May Have Breached Sanctions, Rights Group Says appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| US University Pulls Plug on Pioneering Program With Rangoon Counterpart Posted: 20 Feb 2015 06:33 AM PST  Staff walk out of the Rangoon University Library in 2012. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — There are few countries in which education is as contentious and politically fraught as Burma, a fact that one American university learned the hard way after a ground-breaking program with Rangoon University withered on the vine in its third year running. The international relations and comparative politics program, run entirely by US-based Johns Hopkins University, was housed under the International Center of Excellence (ICOE) at Rangoon University. An initiative of Johns Hopkins' prestigious School of Advanced International Studies, the ICOE accepted its first program applicants in 2013. Despite uncertainty surrounding its accreditation and what type of diploma graduates would receive, the program ran smoothly for its first two years, with ICOE graduating a total of 60 students in 2013 and 2014. Problems arose when the program began accepting its third year of students, admitting 32 students out of 67 applicants in June 2014. Johns Hopkins was told by Education Minister Khin San Ye that the program's memorandum of understanding, signed by the late former Education Minister Mya Oo, was no longer valid. "Before, the program had a guarantee of academic freedom; self-autonomy; subject cooperation in teaching; a chance for teachers from other universities to join even though the program is held at Yangon University," said Phone Win, director of Mingalar Myanmar, a local nonprofit that was assisting the ICOE program. "When we tried to sign an MOU again for the third year, they [the Education Ministry] didn't want to grant some of those provisions. [The ministry] asked to eliminate self-autonomy because the education law is still being discussed. The Ministry of Education said the MOU could not be signed with them and they asked us to do it with Yangon University. Yangon University asked why they should guarantee academic freedom when even they don't have it," Phone Win told The Irrawaddy. The 2014-15 academic program was due to begin in November 2014, but classes have not been convened to date. The pro-rector of Rangoon University, Prof. Kyaw Naing, said the university rector had been notified by ICOE's main funder, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), that the program would no longer receive money. There has not been any official communique from Johns Hopkins University to Rangoon University indicating the program's termination, according to Kyaw Naing, who claimed that an MoU with the Ministry of Education would not be necessary for Johns Hopkins' continued involvement in the ICOE. A coordinator who worked for the ICOE program confirmed an end to Johns Hopkins University's involvement in the program. "The ICOE was an institution that suffered from lack of 'buy-in' from all of the institutions which were ostensibly supporting the program," she told The Irrawaddy, saying the Ministry of Education, Yangon University, USAID and Johns Hopkins University itself had all failed to follow through on initial commitments to the ICOE. Phone Win said the pullout of the US university was a great loss for Burmese students because the ICOE was the only internationally assisted university-level program that was operating a full one-year program inside Burma. Other international assistance in education typically involves short-term programs such as one-week seminars in Burma or short trips overseas. "Sending people overseas for long or short periods of time to get education they cannot otherwise get here is not the best option," said the ICOE coordinator, who asked for anonymity. "There need to be programs like the ICOE that allow for higher level/adult education that works to address Myanmar's development needs." For now, the future of the program remains unclear, she said, describing the ICOE as "something of a zombie." "There are others who have expressed interest in taking up the program. We are still working to see if that will be feasible," she said. The rector of Rangoon University, Aung Thu, told the Myanmar Times this week that "Yangon University has it own standards while the international university Johns Hopkins has its suitable educational standards." The post US University Pulls Plug on Pioneering Program With Rangoon Counterpart appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Upper House Passes Controversial ‘Population Control’ Bill Posted: 20 Feb 2015 06:20 AM PST  Supporters of the Ma-Ba-Ta, a nationalist Buddhist movement, demonstrated last year calling for Race and Religion Protection bills to be passed into law. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma's Upper House on Thursday passed the Population Control Bill, a piece of controversial legislation that aims to establish government control over women's reproductive rights and grants authorities the power to identify regions where women will be encouraged to have only one baby every three years. The bill was passed in the Upper House, which is dominated by the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and a bloc of military lawmakers, with 154 votes in favor and 12 opposed. The bill is in the most advanced stage among a package of four bills dubbed the "Race and Religion Protection" legislation, which the government has been drafting after coming under pressure from an influential group of nationalist Buddhist monks, the Ma-Ba-Ta, who have been accused of spreading anti-Muslim hate speech and whipping up nationalism. Deputy Attorney General Tun Tun Oo, whose office is involved in drafting the bills, told The Irrawaddy that the new bill would help improve health care services for women in impoverished regions. "The bill is aimed at providing full health care services and education [for women] in poor regions. It is only for those who want to observe [rules] out of their own volition," he said, adding, "The law carries no restrictions nor punitive actions against those do not want to obey" government rules on child birth. Tun Tun Oo said families in areas considered by the government to be too poor to sustain certain population growth rates would have to comply with the new rules on child birth. "The bill has no restriction for those who can afford to raise [their children]," he added. Khin Maung Yi, chairman of the Upper House Bill Committee and a USDP member, said, "We drafted this bill together with concerned organizations in line with international norms. The World Health Organization does suggest a 36-month-period of birth spacing. But there is no problem if this provision is not followed—there is no prohibition or penalty." Opposition lawmakers and human rights activists, however, criticized Upper House support for the bill, saying that it violated women's basic rights, while the vaguely-worded legislation would give local authorities broad powers to apply population control measures in areas of ethnic or religious minorities. Aung Kyi Nyunt, an Upper House lawmaker with the National League for Democracy, said the bill violated Burmese citizen's individual rights as stipulated in the Constitution and contravened the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to which Burma is a party. He said he believed the Population Control Bill violated CEDAW Article 16(e), which states that women have full rights "to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights." Susana Hla Hla Soe, from the Karen Women's Action Group, said in a reaction there was no practical need for the bill as Burma is not experiencing rapid population growth, but rather a slowing. Aung Myo Min, executive director of Equality Myanmar, said on Friday that he believed the bill had not been altered from the draft that had been circulated by the government in December. He warned that if passed into law it could have far-reaching consequences for women. "Superficially it looks like it could be good, but… if you look closely they can use the law in specially designated areas… it gives full powers to local authorities to implement that [bill]," he said. "There are no criteria; the local authorities can make any decision. It can mean big interference on public life… the state interferes in the family life of the woman." In December, a group of 180 civil society groups voiced their concern over the "Race and Religion Protection" bills. A brief legal analysis by the groups said the Population Control Bill would violate CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of a Child, while it warned that children born not in line with the rules of the bill would be at risk of not being registered by local authorities. "The entire draft laws, including the definitions, are not clear, and could be viewed as being designed to target the country's minority and ethnic populations," the NGOs also said. Aung Myo Min said the Race and Religion Protection bills were proposed because the government and ruling party were playing nationalist politics. "Now the nationalist movement is stronger, and so they want to use that law to gain more popularity and attack any movement or other political party that does not support that law," he said. The Ma-Ba-Ta gathered more than 2 million signatures in support of the Race and Religion Protection bills last year and President Thein Sein responded in December by forming a commission to draft the four bills and prepare them for parliamentary vote. The Population Control Bill, some activists believe, could also be an attempt at controlling the Muslim majority areas of northern Arakan State, where approximately one million stateless Rohingya live. In 2013, local authorities in the area tried to introduce a two-child limit in Muslim-majority areas, claiming that the impoverished region had too high population growth rates. Additional reporting by Paul Vrieze. The post Upper House Passes Controversial 'Population Control' Bill appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Festival Celebrating Rangoon Life to Begin Next Month Posted: 20 Feb 2015 05:00 AM PST  Pedestrians walking through a market in downtown Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — An art festival celebrating the beauty of Rangoon and the everyday rhythms of its residents will be held across the city next month. The Yangon Art and Heritage Festival will be held from Mar. 1-22 and will be open to all members of the public free of charge. "This is the very first festival of its kind aiming to show [Rangoon's] people their cultural legacy through community and art," said Htein Lin at a press conference on Friday. Artists from Burma and abroad will share their works with the people of Rangoon through participatory art workshops. The festival will exhibit winning entrants from a photography competition, install artwork on a public bus reflecting the daily lives of commuters, and exhibit film compilations on the history of street food featuring interviews with local chefs. More than a dozen art galleries will participate in the festival under the banner of 'My Yangon My Home'. "In keeping with the theme, I will put around 50 paintings on display which depict the old architecture of Rangoon and its street life," said Ko Sid, founder of the Myanmar Ink Art Gallery. The Yangon Art and Heritage Festival is supported by the British Embassy in Rangoon and will be curated by both local and international artists. The post Festival Celebrating Rangoon Life to Begin Next Month appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Students Stage Sit-In at Dagon University Posted: 20 Feb 2015 04:37 AM PST  Students outside the office of the Dagon University rector on Friday. (Photo: Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Students of Dagon University in Rangoon's outer northeast have staged a sit-in protest outside the office of the rector, after being unwittingly drafted into a campus event held to denounce nationwide demonstrations against the National Education Law. On Monday, senior members of the student body were called into the university's Khaung Nyunt Hall for an unannounced presentation, during which a group of students went onstage to express their concerns that the protest marches headed to Rangoon would lead to the closure of universities. The state-owned Mirror newspaper reported the next day that Dagon University students had organized the event with 400 people in attendance. Angered by the suggestion that the campus was united in opposition of the demonstrators, around 30 students blocked the entrance to the rector's office between 10:30am and noon on Friday, before the rector agreed to meet with the group and listen to their concerns. "The teachers called masters and final year students into the hall without explaining why," Nan Lin, president of the Dagon University student union, told The Irrawaddy. "When the students arrived and realized what was happening they tried to leave, but the teachers didn't allow it. It violated the rights of students." In a press conference, Prof. Hla Htay, the rector, stated that the campus administration had not deceived students, and it was the university regularly called students into the hall for campus events. "I take responsibility for the event," he said. "I did it to talk about the need for peaceful learning and success in examinations. It was not a counter-protest." The rector told reporters at a press conference that he had intended to warn the students to study for upcoming assessment. "Now the exams are near and there are many students in my university," said Hla Htay. "Some are more focused on sports, music and dance so my aim was to remind students that the exams will come soon and they should study." Dagon University will hold first semester examinations in the middle of March. After being questioned, the rector admitted that in previous years there had not been any campus-wide entreaties to students similar to the one made on Monday. Other educational institutions have been eager to distance themselves from the latest round on student protests, which began in Mandalay on Jan. 20 when student leaders vowed to march to Rangoon in the pursuit of reforms to the National Education Law. The University of Forestry, near the capital Naypyidaw, issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that teachers and students at the campus "believed the National Education Law is suitable to the current situation" in Burma and did not want protests to disrupt public order. A draft revision of the National Education Law was submitted to Parliament on Monday after the government agreed to talks with student leaders and education activists, and most student demonstrations heading for Rangoon have halted. The government has given in-principle agreement to 11 amendments, including expanding access to education, raising government outlays toward the education sector, native language instruction in ethnic minority regions and loosening central control of the curriculum. The post Students Stage Sit-In at Dagon University appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Among Displaced Kokang, Livelihoods and Loved Ones Lost Posted: 20 Feb 2015 04:15 AM PST  Refugees from the Kokang Special Region pass the time at a temporary camp for displaced persons in Lashio, Shan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) LASHIO / KUNLONG, Shan State — Tens of thousands of civilians who fled fighting between the Burma Army and Kokang rebels in Laukkai and the wider Kokang Special Region find themselves scattered across northern Shan State and China's Yunnan province. Among them are a large contingent of migrant workers from central Burma who, after seeing their salaries disappear along with the employers that dispensed them, are weighing their options at temporary camps in Lashio, Kunlong and elsewhere. "We left all of our belongings to speed up travel. Our lives were the most precious thing to save first," said Kyaw Min, a worker who arrived in Kunlong, about 32 miles southwest of Laukkai. Many workers like Kyaw Min are from small towns and villages in Magwe and Pegu divisions and the Irrawaddy Delta region, drawn to northeast Burma annually to work on plantations during the sugarcane harvest. With their Kokang bosses and plantation owners having fled to China as battles raged between Kokang rebels and government troops, these workers were unpaid and abandoned in the sugarcane fields located on the outskirts of Laukkai and other towns in the Kokang Special Region. When food supplies on the plantations dwindled but gunfire did not, most decided to leave the fields to undertake risky journeys back to their homes. Early movers were able to hire trucks out of the region, but those departing later had no choice but to walk as transportation options dried up with the mass exodus. "We had to sell some of our belongings to make some money. Some of us couldn't even carry clothes or blankets, even though they are sick. But we are really glad we made it to Lashio and hope to go back home very soon," said Naing Oo, a worker from Pegu Division. "We just want no war. Because of war, we lost our jobs, earning no money and instead having to run for our lives," he added. The conflict began on Feb. 9 and has pitted the Kokang rebel Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) against government troops in some of the fiercest fighting in years. Dozens of soldiers on both sides have been killed, with untold civilian casualties as well. Among the displaced in Lashio are the families of civil servants, police personnel and Burma Army soldiers. Most of them have left husbands, sons or daughters in Laukkai, where fighting continued on Thursday. Some have lost loved ones in the ongoing conflict. "My husband died during the battle in Laukkai and the army sent us here to Lashio for our safety. I feel proud of him and feel sad at the same time, as I don't know what to do now without him," said Aye Aye Win, a mother of two. Others said they would anxiously wait out the fighting in Lashio. "We are now so worried for them. When the conflict is over, I will urge my husband to quit the job or not return to the Kokang region ever again," said Kyi Kyi Mar, the wife of a police sergeant who remains posted in Laukkai. The post Among Displaced Kokang, Livelihoods and Loved Ones Lost appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Thousands of Garment Workers Strike in Rangoon Posted: 20 Feb 2015 01:55 AM PST  Employees of the Tai Ye Shoe Factory camp out in Rangoon's Hlaing Thar Yar Township demanding higher wages, Feb. 19, 2015. (Photo: Sai Zaw/ The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Thousands of Rangoon's factory workers this week vowed to continue a strike until they receive a pay raise, following warnings from the divisional government not to cause public upset. About 2,000 employees of several factories in Shwepyithar Township began their strike on Feb.2, demanding that their monthly wages be raised from 50,000 kyats (US$50) to 80,000 kyats. Employees of the E-Land garment factory met on Tuesday with Rangoon Division Chief Minister Myint Swe for a fourth round of negotiations, but they declined his offer to ensure that the company implements a raise of $12, less than half of the increase employees had demanded. "We want our basic pay to increase by 30,000 kyats," said striking worker Khin Myo Oo, speaking to The Irrawaddy shortly after the meeting. "They only want to give us 12… We can't negotiate, so we will continue our strike." On the day of the negotiations, the divisional government issued a public statement declaring that legal action would be taken against employees or employers that "harm peace and rule of law," specifying that violence and protests that "counter" the law would be punished. The statement said the striking workers were obstructing gates near the factories, preventing those who wanted to go to work from doing so and blocking deliveries. Myo Min Min, an employee at E-Land and the chairman of Shwepyithar Township Garment Workers Union, told The Irrawaddy that they have sought official permission for a protest. Several marches have taken place in the weeks since the strike began, most recently on Monday, though he anticipated that forthcoming demonstrations will be bigger. "We will have a more severe march than the one we did on Feb. 16," he said, "we applied for permission today." Workers from at least three garment factories—E-Land, Ford Glory and Costec International—are involved in the Shwepyithar strike, while reports have surfaced of similar strikes in various townships across Rangoon. All three factories have been forced to cease operations since early February. Garment factory workers earn about $50 per month plus overtime pay, Myo Min Min said, adding to up to somewhere between $65 and $100 including stipends for living allowance. Employers deduct $10 if a worker is absent, he added. These estimates align with other reports of average manufacturing wages in Rangoon. A minimum wage law was passed in March 2013, but setting a wage has been deferred because the Ministry of Labor has yet to conclude a study on workforce size, living standards and household expenses, which begin in late January after a two-year delay. The Myanmar Trade Union Federation (MTUF), an influential local labor alliance, independently conducted a similar survey in July 2013, recommending that the national minimum wage be set at 7,000 kyats per day for a household of three people. "If the government can fix a minimum wage, this problem will be solved," said Myo Myo Aye of the MTUF, remarking on a sudden increase in wage-related strikes throughout Burma's industrial zones over the past two years. "Until they do that, workers will be demanding higher pay." At least six large factory strikes are now ongoing in two of outer Rangoon's industrial zones, totaling about 4,000 employees. Additional reporting contributed by May Sitt Paing. The post Thousands of Garment Workers Strike in Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Drug-Resistant Malaria Found Close to Burma Border With India Posted: 19 Feb 2015 09:59 PM PST  A child suffering from malaria receives a traditional treatment outside the city of Myitkyina, Kachin State, on Feb. 22, 2012. (Photo: Reuters) LONDON — Malaria with total resistance to the antimalarial drug artemisinin has taken hold in Burma and spread close to the border with India, threatening to repeat history and render crucial medicines useless, scientists said on Friday. If the spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites were to reach into India, they said, that would pose a serious threat to the chances of global control and eradication of the killer mosquito-borne disease. And if resistance spreads from Asia to Africa, or emerges in Africa independently—as has been seen before with previously effective but now powerless antimalarials—"millions of lives will be at risk," they said in a report. "Myanmar [Burma] is considered the front line in the battle against artemisinin resistance as it forms a gateway for resistance to spread to the rest of the world," said Charles Woodrow of the Mahidol-Oxford tropical medicine research unit, who led the study at Oxford University. In a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, Woodrow's team collected 940 parasite samples at 55 malaria treatment centers across Burma and its border regions. They found that almost 40 percent of the samples had mutations in their so-called kelch gene, K13—a known genetic signal of artemisinin drug resistance. They also confirmed resistant parasites in Homalin, in the Sagaing Division, only 25 km (15 miles) from the Indian border. While there have been significant reductions in the numbers of people falling ill and dying from malaria, it still kills around 600,000 a year—most of them children in the poorest parts of sub-Saharan Africa. From the late 1950s to the 1970s, chloroquine-resistant malaria spread across Asia to Africa, leading to a resurgence of cases and millions of deaths. Chloroquine was replaced by sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), but resistance to SP subsequently emerged in western Cambodia and again spread to Africa. SP was replaced by artemisinin combination treatment, or ACT, and experts now worry that history may repeat itself yet again. "The pace at which artemisinin resistance is spreading or emerging is alarming," said Philippe Guerin, director of the Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network. Woodrow noted that thanks to advances in the science of genetic analysis, researchers tracking artemisinin antimalarials are in "the unusual position of having molecular markers for resistance before resistance has spread globally." "The more we understand about the current situation … the better prepared we are to adapt and implement strategies to overcome the spread of further drug resistance," he said. The post Drug-Resistant Malaria Found Close to Burma Border With India appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| China to Project Power From Artificial Islands in South China Sea Posted: 19 Feb 2015 09:53 PM PST  Filipino activists and Vietnamese nationals display placards and chant anti-China slogans in Manila on May 16, 2014, protesting Beijing's reclamation of the Johnson South Reef. (Photo: Reuters) HONG KONG — China's creation of artificial islands in the South China Sea is happening so fast that Beijing will be able to extend the range of its navy, air force, coastguard and fishing fleets before long, much to the alarm of rival claimants to the contested waters. Reclamation work is well advanced on six reefs in the Spratly archipelago, according to recently published satellite photographs and Philippine officials. In addition, Manila said this month that Chinese dredgers had started reclaiming a seventh. While the new islands won't overturn US military superiority in the region, Chinese workers are building ports and fuel storage depots as well as possibly two airstrips that experts said would allow Beijing to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. "These reclamations are bigger and more ambitious than we all thought," said one Western diplomat. "On many different levels it's going to be exceptionally difficult to counter China in the South China Sea as this develops." China claims most of the potentially energy rich South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims. All but Brunei have fortified bases in the Spratlys, which lie roughly 1,300 km (810 miles) from the Chinese mainland but much closer to the Southeast Asian claimants. Beijing has rejected diplomatic protests by Manila and Hanoi and criticism from Washington over the reclamation, saying the work falls "within the scope of China's sovereignty." The Philippines began expressing growing concern in mid-2014, in particular, accusing Beijing of building an airstrip on Johnson South Reef. Satellite analysis published by IHS Jane's Defense Weekly this week showed a new installation being built on Hughes Reef. It described a "large facility" having been constructed on 75,000 square meters of sand reclaimed since August. It also published images of Fiery Cross Reef, which now includes a reclaimed island more than 3 km (1.8 miles) long that experts said would likely become a runway. Work is also well established on Gaven, Cuarteron and Eldad Reefs, with the new dredging taking place on Mischief Reef. Boon for Fishermen While the prospect of China using the artificial islands to refuel warplanes in any conflict was a possibility, some experts highlighted significant non-military benefits. China could keep its fishing fleets and coastguard working in Southeast Asia more effectively, with crews able to re-supply and rest, said Carl Thayer, a South China Sea expert at Canberra's Australian Defense Force Academy. Oil explorers would similarly benefit. Reuters reported in July that Chinese authorities were encouraging fishermen to sail to the Spratlys, often providing fuel subsidies to help. Before the reclamation, China's facilities were limited to squat buildings and radar domes built on rocky outcrops, with limited berthing and storage facilities, a contrast to natural islands occupied by Taiwan and the Philippines. "Even before you factor in military questions, the expansion of Chinese fishing and coastguard fleets is going to be a strategic shift that is going to be very hard for anyone to counter," said Thayer. "And then you will have the navy just over the horizon." Thayer noted that while no legal claim could be extended from an artificial island, China would effectively move to force rival countries from the surrounding seas. Chinese strategic analysts said the build-up was being driven by what Beijing sees as security threats, especially the need to check Vietnam, which has had up until now the most holdings in the Spratlys, with 25 bases on shoals and reefs. Vietnam is also quietly building up its submarine fleet to counter China. The two Communist Party-ruled neighbors clashed at sea in 1988 when China took its first Spratly holdings, including Fiery Cross Reef, from Vietnam. Some regional military attaches believe China may eventually use helicopter facilities on the new islands to run anti-submarine operations. "This is less about politics and legal issues and more about security, from China's perspective," said Zhang Baohui, a mainland defense specialist at Hong Kong's Lingnan University. Gary Li, an independent security analyst in Beijing, said he believed any military pay-off would be relatively small from the new islands, given their distance from the Chinese mainland. "I suspect these reclamations would only ever have localized tactical uses in military terms," Li said. China's lack of offshore military bases and friendly ports to call on was apparent last year when Chinese naval supply vessels sailed to Australia to replenish warships helping look for a missing Malaysian airliner in the Indian Ocean. Naval planners know they will have to fill this strategic gap to meet Beijing's desire for a fully operational blue-water navy by 2050. More immediately, some analysts said they believed the islands would give China the reach to create and police an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) above the South China Sea. China sparked condemnation from Japan and the United States when it imposed an ADIZ, where aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities, above the East China Sea in late 2013. China has denied speculation it would follow suit in the South China Sea. Roilo Golez, a former Philippine national security adviser, predicted China would complete its reclamation work by early next year and announce an ADIZ within three years. "They are connecting the dots. They're putting real muscle into this," Golez said. The post China to Project Power From Artificial Islands in South China Sea appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Posted: 19 Feb 2015 09:35 PM PST
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| Burma Official Urges China to Prevent Rebel Attacks From Across Border Posted: 19 Feb 2015 09:02 PM PST  Residents of Laukkai wait to evacuate the town on Feb. 16. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — China should cooperate with Burma to prevent "terrorist attacks" being launched from Chinese territory, a Burma official said on Thursday after 10 days of fighting between the Burmese military and insurgents. Fighting broke out on Feb. 9 between the army and a rebel force in the Kokang region of northeast Burma, on the border with China, called the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). At least 50 government soldiers and 27 rebels have been killed, according to state media. The fighting has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, and about 30,000 of them have fled into China. China has called for peace and said it supported efforts to resolve the conflict so refugees could go home. The foreign ministers of both countries met on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, Hmuu Zaw, an official from the office of Burmese President Thein Sein, said in a Facebook post. "It is necessary to cooperate … on the understanding that terrorist attacks on Myanmar are not allowed from Chinese territory," Hmuu Zaw said. Officials at China’s embassy in Burma were not available for comment. The MNDAA emerged from the remnants of the Communist Party of Burma, a powerful Chinese-backed guerrilla force that battled the government before splintering in 1989. Led by ethnic Chinese commander Peng Jiasheng, the MNDAA struck a truce with the government which lasted until 2009, when government troops took over their region in a conflict that pushed tens of thousands of refugees into China. Peng’s recent return is seen at the root of the new fighting. "In 2009, Peng was driven out of Kokang, and now he’s back," said Bertil Lintner, an author and expert on the region. Hmuu Zaw suggested that China could do more. "The border stability and security that China is worried about would be restored immediately if Pen Jiasheng and accomplices were detained and transferred to the Myanmar government if they happened to be China," he said. The clashes area a setback for government efforts to forge a nationwide ceasefire and end a patchwork of insurgencies that have bedeviled Burma since its independence in 1948. The state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Thursday that three other groups, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Kachin Independence Army and a faction of the Shan State Army, had joined attacks on the military this week. Salai T Hei, an official in an alliance of minority factions discussing the nationwide ceasefire, said the government should negotiate with the MNDAA. The post Burma Official Urges China to Prevent Rebel Attacks From Across Border appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Thailand Bans Surrogacy for Foreigners in Bid to End ‘Rent-a-Womb’ Tourism Posted: 19 Feb 2015 08:57 PM PST  Surrogate babies that Thai police suspect were fathered by a Japanese businessman who has fled from Thailand are shown on a screen during a news conference at the headquarters of the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok August 12, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — Thailand's interim parliament has passed a law that bans foreigners from seeking surrogacy services to end a "rent-a-womb" industry that made the Southeast Asian country a top destination for fertility tourism. Thailand was rocked by several surrogacy scandals last year, including allegations that an Australian couple had abandoned their Down Syndrome baby with his Thai birth mother taking only his healthy twin sister back to Australia with them. Another case involved a Japanese man who fathered at least at least 16 babies using Thai surrogates in what local Thai media called the "baby factory". Thailand gave preliminary approval in August for a draft law to make commercial surrogacy a crime. The draft passed its first reading in November and became law on Thursday. "This law aims to stop Thai women's wombs from becoming the world's womb. This law bans foreign couples from coming to Thailand to seek commercial surrogacy services," Wanlop Tankananurak, a member of Thailand's National Legislative Assembly, told Reuters. The law bans foreign couples from seeking surrogacy services and stipulates that surrogate mothers must be Thai and over 25. "The important part is if the couple seeking surrogacy services is Thai or the couple is mixed-race, they can find a Thai woman to be their surrogate providing she is over 25," he said, adding that violation of the law carries a "severe prison sentence". Critics say making commercial surrogacy illegal could push the industry underground, making it harder for patients to access quality physicians and medical care. Thailand's junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order, disbanded the upper house Senate following a May coup and placed all law-making authority in the hands of an interim parliament hand-picked by the military rulers. The post Thailand Bans Surrogacy for Foreigners in Bid to End 'Rent-a-Womb' Tourism appeared first on The Irrawaddy. | |
| Red Cross Convoy Attack: The Scariest Moment of My Life Posted: 19 Feb 2015 04:00 PM PST  Irrawaddy photographer Jpaing was among several photographers, Red Cross volunteers and civilians that came under attack on Tuesday. (Photo: Lynn Bo Bo) KUNLONG, Shan State — It was the scariest moment of my life. On Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 17, I and several other photojournalists travelled on a Myanmar Red Cross Society convoy carrying dozens of civilians through one of the most lawless and rugged areas of the Kokang Special Region in northern Burma's Shan State when we came under attack from unknown gunmen. We had spent Tuesday morning in Laukkai, the war-wrecked Kokang administrative capital located close to the Burma-China border, and photographed its deserted center. Businesses were shuttered, walls were scarred by bullet holes and once-thriving gambling stations were lifeless. We found a large group of terrified civilians hiding from the violence and helped them on to our trucks which bore Red Cross flags. Several minutes after we left Laukkai on our way back to Chin Shwe Haw, we heard the sudden crackle of automatic rifle gunfire coming from the left side of the seven-truck convoy. I was in the fourth vehicle, a van that was converted into an ambulance, and was with a group of seven women, one of whom was pregnant. I was sitting in the front seat when I saw a hail of bullets strike down on the road; immediately I realized we were the target of an ambush. A few seconds later, we heard a huge explosion nearby. We later learned it was a rocket-propelled grenade that luckily missed our convoy. I ran out of the van and dived into a roadside gutter for safety. Other people did the same. I found myself in the gutter lying near a Buddhist monk. Instinctively, I took his picture. Bullets struck the ground nearby. I was scared as hell; never in my 28-year-old life had I come under targeted gunfire. As a photojournalist working for The Irrawaddy for more than three years, I had faced danger before: Angered Arakanese mobs approached me in the aftermath of clashes with Muslims communities in 2012 and menacingly told me to "report right" on the violence in Arakan State. Last year, I spent days with the Ta'ang National Liberation Army as they moved in close proximity to the Burma Army through the Shan hills. Nothing compares, however, to the attack we experienced on Tuesday. The volleys of gunfire came to a halt after an agonizingly-long five minutes. Then, there came silence, and after a while we slowly raised our heads to see what had happened. The first vehicle in our convoy had sustained much of the attack. I found the driver and another Red Cross staff volunteer injured on the roadside. One had been hit in the abdomen and was crying out for help; the other only sustained a minor injury from being hit by parts of the shattered windshield. Wearing helmets and bulletproof vests, Lynn Bo Bo of the European Press Agency and Soe Zeya Tun of news agency Reuters rushed to the seriously injured man, and together with two Red Cross volunteers they carried him to the safety. I took their picture, and then I climbed into the van to help the injured. On our way back to Chin Shwe Haw, I let Moe Kyaw Than, who was in pain from the wound in his abdomen, sleep on my lap while I talked to him non-stop to keep him awake as blood streamed from the wound. Luckily, he was able to reach Kunglong Hospital on time to receive medical treatment. He survived the injury and I am happy to know that he is feeling better now. Despite the intense fear and danger, I have no regrets about joining the trip to Laukkai. I will never forget it and am satisfied knowing that I took good photos of the terrible events that affect some many peoples' lives in northern Shan State. We, journalists, not only care for news or the pictures we can get, we care about other people's well-being too. The post Red Cross Convoy Attack: The Scariest Moment of My Life appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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