The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• UNFC to Meet Government’s New Peace Negotiator in Chiang Mai
• AmCham, UMFCCI to Host Conference on US Investment
• Burma Army Accused of Torturing, Killing Civilians in Shan State      
• Government Urged to Strengthen Safeguards on Press Freedom
• Myanmar Investment Commission to Reform in June
• Protest Bill Passes Upper House, Disappoints Rights Groups
• Kachin Political Prisoner Overlooked in NLD’s Early Amnesties
• More Refugees Expected to Return From Thailand Next Year
• Chinese Transgender Man Fights for Job Equality
• North Korea Says Trump Isn’t Screwy at All, a Wise Choice for President
• Philippines President-Elect Says Won’t Rely on United States

UNFC to Meet Government’s New Peace Negotiator in Chiang Mai Posted: 01 Jun 2016 07:48 AM PDT UNFC Chair N'Ban La (left) and New Mon Sate Party Chair Nai Htaw Mon (right) at Wednesday's meeting of the UNFC. (Photo: Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of non-state ethnic armed groups in Burma have said that they will meet on Friday with Dr. Tin Myo Win, the Burmese government's newly installed peace negotiator, after a two-day meeting of the alliance in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Consisting entirely of non-signatories to last year's nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), the UNFC remains an influential bloc which the government is eager to woo into what Suu Kyi has styled a 21st Century Panglong Conference. The UNFC's Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN), which comprises 13 members drawn from the member groups, will meet in Chiang Mai with a government delegation led by Tin Myo Win, who is best known as the longstanding personal physician of pro-democracy leader and current state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. Khu Oo Reh, the secretary of the UNFC, currently heads the DPN. "I received a letter from Dr. Tin Myo Win [on behalf of] the 21st Century-style Panglong Conference preparation committee. I replied today that our members agreed to the meeting," Khu Oo Reh told The Irrawaddy. Khu Oo Reh stressed the need for all communication from the government to the armed groups in the alliance to be channeled through UNFC structures, rather than through individual member groups and leaders, so as to preserve an "all-inclusive policy." Khu Oo Reh's words appeared to reflect concerns over growing polarization among ethnic armed groups in Burma, evident not only in recent conflict between certain NCA signatory groups—of which there are eight in total—and non-signatories, but in requests in early May from the Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) to leave the UNFC. Spokesmen from the TNLA and the MNDAA, interviewed by Radio Free Asia earlier in May, blamed "weak assistance" from the UNFC and its member groups in the face of assaults from the Burma Army over the last year—but the Burma Army's insistence on marginalizing these two groups from formal peace negotiations may have contributed to their isolation from UNFC-member groups more eager for a timely peace deal. Yet TNLA representatives have officially said that they simply do not want their group's presence in the alliance to hinder the process. Discussions on Thursday will touch on the two groups' requested departure from the alliance, Khu Oo Reh explained, alongside the need to a hold a formal meeting with the eight groups who signed the NCA. Such a meeting has not taken place since the NCA came into effect. Khu Oo Reh added that he has asked the TNLA and the MNDAA to join them in the Friday meeting with the government delegation. On Tuesday, President Htin Kyaw formed several committees to steer the peace process, including one to oversee the formation of the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (the successor to the Myanmar Peace Center under the previous government) and a Union Peace Conference preparation committee—along with two sub-committees tasked with holding talks with NCA signatory and non-signatory groups respectively. On Wednesday afternoon, UNFC chair Lt-Gen N'Ban La met with Lt-Gen Yawd Serk of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS), whose armed wing is named the Shan State Army-South, to seek a resolution to ongoing conflict between TNLA and SSA-S troops in northern Shan State. UNFC had previously said it would intervene. The RCSS signed the NCA in October last year, while the TNLA was prevented from doing so on the insistence of the Burma Army, who had fought with them repeatedly that year. At the Wednesday RCSS-UNFC meeting, the two leaders also discussed future collaboration and exchange of views between the UNFC and NCA signatory groups, according to RCSS spokesperson Col Sai La. The post UNFC to Meet Government's New Peace Negotiator in Chiang Mai appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

AmCham, UMFCCI to Host Conference on US Investment Posted: 01 Jun 2016 05:35 AM PDT The previous US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez speaks at the UMFCCI office in Rangoon on Feb. 25, 2013. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — After a successful meeting between American Chamber of Commerce Myanmar (AmCham) members and high-ranking Burmese government officials last month, a new summit to feature Burmese economists and US businesspeople has been set for next Monday in Rangoon. The conference will be hosted at the offices of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), a powerful trade organization, to discuss the opportunities and challenges for US companies doing business and investing in Burma. "This will be a big [conference] as economists and business executives will discuss the challenges of investing here," Maung Maung Lay, vice chairman of the UMFCCI, told the Irrawaddy. "Many US delegations are coming to Myanmar now, so we will have to do many things to persuade them to invest here, such as encouraging the government to provide basic infrastructure," he said. Burma's top businesspeople and experts will be participating in the conference, he added. A US business delegation led by AmCham met with the newly-elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in Naypyidaw in May to discuss ways to improve the business environment in Burma and increase direct investment from the US, according to an AmCham statement. The business delegation applauded the government's legal and policy reforms aimed at boosting economic growth and recommended further strengthening of the legal framework for foreign ownership and improvements in infrastructure. Zaw Lin Htut, chief executive officer of the Myanmar Payment Union, said more US businesses will come to Burma because the US government has already started to lift economic sanctions. "They [the US government] have begun easing sanctions and have lifted the investment limit from US$500,000 to $5 million, which has piqued many investors' interest," he said. In AmCham's statement, GE International's Chief Country Representative in Yangon Andrew Lee wrote, "The American business community is appreciative of the recent relaxation of a number of financial and trade embargoes imposed by the US government; however, more normalization is needed to allow US interests in Myanmar to flourish by leveling the playing field with other international companies." At last month's meeting, delegates from 30 US companies met with the heads of several important government ministries, as well as the chairman of the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission Shwe Mann. The post AmCham, UMFCCI to Host Conference on US Investment appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Burma Army Accused of Torturing, Killing Civilians in Shan State       Posted: 01 Jun 2016 05:08 AM PDT SSA-North troops on the frontlines near the Wan Hai headquarters. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Burma Army soldiers have been torturing and killing civilians and using them as human shields in a recent offensive against the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) in Kyaukme Township, displacing over 1,000 villagers, according to the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF). The fighting erupted in May near the site of the Upper Yeywa dam, where local residents have voiced strong opposition to the project. A report from the rights group on Wednesday indicated that at least 56 residents from some nine villages experienced human rights violations between May 11th and 21st of this year. Sai Kheun Mai, the spokesperson for SHRF, said that eight of these nine villages had also endured bombing campaigns and that some villagers remain unable to return to their homes. He told The Irrawaddy that of nine deaths which had occurred, three were of Shan villagers between 26 and 30 years old who were the victims of extrajudicial killings. Additionally, five villagers were reportedly beaten by the Burma Army's Light Infantry Division 504; and 42 villagers from various villages were used as human shields. SHRF, which regularly documents human rights violations in Shan State, said that the organization condemned the Burma Army for "these violations that meet the definition of war crimes" and that it "calls for an end to impunity for the perpetrators." Sai Khuen Mai said his group has urged the international community to "publicly denounce" the military's ongoing offensives, which "make a mockery of the peace process," referring to a recent European Union (EU) delegation's failure to mention the continuing atrocities that coincided with an EU delegation's recent visit to Burma. SHRF's report said that the rights organization "regrets that the EU diplomatic delegation, which visited Hispaw [east of Kyaukme] on May 16, placed no blame with the Burma Army for the fighting and made no mention of their [the Burma Army's] ongoing atrocities." The Irrawaddy was unable to reach the military's spokesperson for comment on Wednesday. The post Burma Army Accused of Torturing, Killing Civilians in Shan State       appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Government Urged to Strengthen Safeguards on Press Freedom Posted: 01 Jun 2016 04:56 AM PDT Unity Journal reporter Lu Maw Naing (L) and CEO Tint San on their way to Pakkoku Township Court in Magwe Division in July 2014. (Photo: Citizen Journalist) A prominent US-based media rights organization has written to President Htin Kyaw, urging the new government to strengthen legal protections on press freedom, and ensure that reporters can practice their profession independently and without fear of reprisal. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) commended the government for granting a presidential pardon to four reporters and the CEO of Unity Journal. The five were serving seven-year prison sentences with hard labor, under the colonial-era State Secrets Act, for a series of investigative reports in January 2014 on what they claimed was a secret chemical weapons factory run by the Burma Army. The CPJ letter also welcomed the government’s recent move to abolish the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, a law that former military-backed governments in Burma have used to prosecute and imprison journalists for reporting news deemed detrimental to broadly defined "national security." Recent comments from Information Minister Pe Myint, that the government would soon ask parliament to amend or repeal various other laws restricting media freedom in Burma, were also welcomed in the letter. However, CPJ in their letter urged that the 1923 Official Secrets Act—used against the five from Unity Journal and many other journalists previously—be replaced with a Freedom of Information Act to ensure transparency across the government and bureaucracy. The letter also recommended the amendment or repeal of the 2014 Printing and Publishing Law, which allows the government to withhold media licenses and ban reporting deemed damaging to "national security, rule of law, or community peace and tranquility," or deemed to be "insult[ing to] religion." Laws governing the use of electronic media should also be amended to better safeguard press freedom, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in the letter. The 1908 Unlawful Associations Act—which criminalizes contact with the majority of Burma's ethnic armed groups—was also criticized as threatening to the work of journalists, many of whom must report on the long-running conflicts in Burma's borderlands. The post Government Urged to Strengthen Safeguards on Press Freedom appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Investment Commission to Reform in June Posted: 01 Jun 2016 04:52 AM PDT People sit in the reception area at the World Economic Forum on June 5, 2013, in Naypyidaw, where foreign investment into Burma was a main topic of discussion. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON —The Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) will be reformed this month in line with the Myanmar Investment Law, said Than Aung Kyaw, deputy director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA). "Each MIC term is only three years, so it's time for new members to be appointed," he said. The commission, which is responsible for assessing and approving large-scale investments and is headed by Union-level government officials, initially consisted of at least nine members who dealt largely with processing foreign investment. When Burma shifted to a quasi-civilian government in 2011, the government signed into effect the 2012 Foreign Investment Law—replacing the 1988 Foreign Investment Law and changing the MIC into a 16-member committee to review economic proposals. "The President's Office is in charge of appointing the chairman and members of the MIC, so we will have to wait [to see who is appointed], " Than Aung Kyaw said. Since Burma's National League for Democracy-led government swept to power in a landslide election in November, the business community has urged that the MIC be reformed. Maung Maung Lay, vice chairman of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), told The Irrawaddy that the reformed MIC should include experts who could create a smooth investment process for foreign investors. "The rules and regulations for foreign investors should be similar to those of other countries," said Maung Maung Lay, adding, "There is still too much red tape to navigate. If you can provide basic, better infrastructure, foreign investors will definitely look here." Khin Shwe, chairman of Zay Kabar Group of Companies, told The Irrawaddy in February that the commission has been unable to handle foreign investment comparable to some of Burma's neighboring countries. The country needed "a commission that could do better," he said. The MIC was a key player in amending the Myanmar Investment Law that was approved in January. In addition to combining the 2012 Foreign Investment Law and the 2013 Myanmar Citizens Investment Law, the new law purports to expand human rights protections for foreign investment projects. The post Myanmar Investment Commission to Reform in June appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Protest Bill Passes Upper House, Disappoints Rights Groups Posted: 01 Jun 2016 02:23 AM PDT Police in Letpadan on March 2, 2015, when student protesters faced a blockade en route to Rangoon. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — A revised version of a bill replacing Burma's controversial Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law was approved by the Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday, while retaining criminal penalties against violators of the legislation amid criticism from rights groups. The Upper House Bill Committee submitted the amended bill to lawmakers after the chamber decided last week to review the proposed legislation, which was submitted in early May, as it faced criticisms from rights groups critical of several provisions that have been used to suppress political activists in recent years. Amnesty International's Southeast Asia and Pacific director, Rafendi Djamin, sent an open letter to Burma's Parliament last month, urging it to revise proposed amendments that "fall far short of bringing the Act into line with international human rights law and standards." "International human rights law and standards are clear that failure to notify the authorities must not be subject to criminal sanctions which result in fines or imprisonment," he stated in the letter. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) echoed those concerns in a statement on Friday, criticizing "overly broad and vague restrictions on speech," among other flaws. "The new Burmese government has moved quickly to replace the country's flawed assembly law, which has been used to imprison numerous activists for years," said Brad Adams, the director of HRW's Asia region. "However, the proposed [draft] law needs significant revisions to bring it up to international standards." Members of the Upper House Bill Committee last week discussed the proposed bill with representatives from the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). The advocacy group said changes in the new bill were insufficient, since peaceful protests could still entail jail terms and impromptu demonstrations were not accounted for. Despite these consultations, Tuesday's revised version did not succeed in meeting the rights groups' recommendations, retaining criminal punishments against violators and not including any provisions that related to impromptu demonstrations. Several provisions from the original proposal have been accepted: Demonstrators need to notify local authorities 48 hours in advance of any protest; a 15-day statute of limitations on prosecuting violators will be enforced; and demonstrators will be protected from prosecutions in multiple townships. However, the revised draft law would still allow the prosecution of three months imprisonment or a penalty of 30,000 kyats (US$25), or both, for protestors who fail to follow the rules. Repeat offenders may be charged with a one-year jail term or a penalty of 100,000 kyats, or both. Any protester who fails to follow their demonstration agenda, which specifies times, locations, and slogans they intend to use, shall be charged with a one-month jail sentence instead of three months, unlike in the committee's first proposed version of the draft law. The revised bill still retains the limit on the rights of non-citizens to assemble—denying the country's many non-citizens, who are marginalized under its controversial 1982 Citizenship Law, the right to peacefully demonstrate in public areas and prohibitions on protest speeches that may cause disturbances to public safety and affect the Union, race, religion, human dignity and moral principles. There are two other significant additions to the previous version: the redrafted bill would prohibit discriminatory and defamatory protests and any act of paying, bribing and threatening people to participate in demonstrations. Violators of these provisions would face a maximum one month in prison. Zaw Min, who chairs the Upper House Bill Committee, said the bill had already loosened multiple restrictions on protestors after hearing recommendations from stakeholders and rights groups. "Our committee has tried its best to modify the bill," he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "We considered what law would be the most balanced and suitable for both the authorities and the demonstrators during this transitional period." The committee chairman also touted a clause restricting authorities from carrying out "excessive" police force against protestors who violate the rules. The original controversial Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law was enacted in 2011 under the previous military-backed government. At the time, the law ostensibly bestowed new rights of protest and assembly. In the years that followed, however, the legislation was repeatedly used to arrest and imprison activists who flouted its harsh provisions. This included the need to seek "permission" from local authorities five days in advance of the protest and to supply detailed information on the content and intended location or route of any protest march. The bill will now move onto the Lower House before becoming law. The post Protest Bill Passes Upper House, Disappoints Rights Groups appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Kachin Political Prisoner Overlooked in NLD’s Early Amnesties Posted: 31 May 2016 11:55 PM PDT Hkawn Nan, left, holds a picture of her husband Brang Yung as Lashi Lu holds a portrait of her husband Lahpai Gam at their IDP camp in Myitkyina, Kachin State. (Photo: Seamus Martov / The Irrawaddy) Burma's newly installed National League for Democracy (NLD) government has pardoned and released more than 200 political prisoners and detainees facing politically motivated charges since it took power in April, including jailed student activists and journalists. The amnesties have been welcomed by rights groups, but despite the change in government, freedom remains elusive for Lahpai Gam, a 55-year-old refugee farmer from war-torn Kachin State. Lahpai Gam's arrest by the military in 2012 and subsequent trial and conviction for committing crimes against the state is, according to his supporters, a major miscarriage of justice. In a decision released in November 2013, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Lahpai Gam's original trial was conducted under circumstances that were highly unfair and ruled that his continued detention was illegal under international law. The committee found Lahpai Gam's claims—that during his interrogation by army personnel he was severely tortured and subject to a series of horrific abuses that included being forced to commit sex acts on his co-accused—to be credible. The UN group concluded that "such pervasive use of torture to extract evidence nullifies the possibility to fulfill the guarantee of the right to a fair trial." The UN Working Group concluded that the way in which military investigators from the Military Affairs Security (MAS or Sayapa in Burmese) handled Lahpai Gam's case also violated his human rights. "The Army in this case is prosecutor and judge, and has arrest, investigative and trial authority, leaving little room for an impartial trial and outcome," the decision stated, During the UN process, Burmese government authorities did not contest the claim put forward by Lahpai Gam's London-based international legal team that his confession had been obtained by torture. "The Government in its response does not dispute that the evidential basis of the case against Mr. Gam was built on information extracted from him, which he surrendered as a result of torture." In a ruling issued last November, Burma's Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Lahpai's Gam's co-accused, Brang Yung, but upheld the 21-year sentence for Lahpai Gam, who, like his fellow refugee farmer, had been convicted on explosive charges and being a member of an illegal organization, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). Lahpai Gam's friends and family maintain those charges are completely untrue. Both men had been living in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Myitkyina and were arrested in June 2012 by soldiers from Burma Army Battalion No. 37, while working as cattle hands near Tar Law Gyi, south of the Kachin State capital. Citing their initial confessions, prosecutors had accused the pair of being high-level operatives from the KIO who had been plotting to use explosives against military targets in Kachin State, an allegation that Lahpai Gam's wife Lashi Lu strongly denies. "He confessed because they nearly killed him," she told The Irrawaddy during an interview in July last year. Lashi Lu has been able to have brief visits with her husband over the course of his imprisonment. The decision by the Supreme Court, which largely consists of former military officials, to issue a split ruling came as a surprise to many following the case, as both men had originally been convicted for supposedly conspiring with each other. During an interview conducted late last year, Lashi Lu explained that both men were together in the Myitkyina prison when they received news of the court's decision. Brang Yung, who is the younger of the two men, read out and translated a summary of the court's decision to Lahpai Gam, who cannot read Burmese well. The decision to uphold his conviction left Lahpai Gam devastated, says Lashi Lu, who is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her children at their IDP camp on the outskirts of Myitkyina. Following a two-month delay that was ostensibly due to a clerical error, Brang Yung was released in late December of last year. In a phone interview conducted shortly after his release, he confirmed to The Irrawaddy that both he and Lahpai Gam had endured brutal beatings at the hands of the interrogators from MAS, a branch of the military notorious for its treatment of detainees. "They asked whether we have wives," he told The Irrawaddy. "Then they took off our clothes and longyis and forced us to have sex with each other. Our hands and legs were cuffed. We could not do anything." Lahpai Gam's lawyer Mar Hkar remains optimistic that his client will eventually be freed. At the beginning of the year, the Myitkyina-based lawyer with the help of colleagues in Rangoon filed another appeal with the Supreme Court seeking to overturn Lahpai Gam's conviction at the state court. Some five months after the appeal was accepted, the Supreme Court has yet to schedule a date for a hearing. If Lahpai Gam's final appeal is unsuccessful, a presidential pardon will be his only hope for an early release from his lengthy 21-year sentence. Although most of the scores of individuals pardoned by the NLD government earlier this year were not convicted on charges related to armed insurgency or being part of an illegal organization, there is already a precedent for presidential pardons in these types of cases. Another one of Mar Hkar's clients, Lahtoi Brang Shawng, was released in July 2013 by a decree from then President Thein Sein after he had exhausted all of his legal appeals. Brang Shawng, who the government had originally alleged was also a high-level KIO operative, had been convicted under similar circumstances to Lahpai Gam: a guilty verdict that relied heavily on a confession obtained by MAS that Brang Shawng later said he was forced to make following grueling torture sessions. It remains to be seen if the NLD government, which is nominally led by President Htin Kyaw with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi calling the shots, will choose to act on the UN Working Group's conclusion that Lahpai Gam should be released immediately. During the lengthy period that the Nobel Prize winner spent under house arrest, the Working Group issued six separate opinions that found that her detention violated international law, decisions that were cited by her supporters worldwide during the lengthy campaign to free Suu Kyi. The Burma Campaign UK, which aided the London-based lawyers Timothy Straker and Sappho Dias with Lahpai Gam and Brang Yung's submissions to the UN Working Group, has followed their cases closely and continues to advocate for Lahpai Gam's release. The advocacy group's director, Mark Farmaner, wants the NLD government to move quickly to free Lahpai Gam. "After so much talk from Aung San Suu Kyi about the rule of law, it is astonishing that the NLD-led government has kept Lahpai Gam in jail despite the UN ruling that his detention breaks international law, and demanding his release. The NLD demonstrated in April that it can move fast to release political prisoners when it wants to. There is no excuse for detaining Lahpai Gam for a single further day," said Farmaner. The post Kachin Political Prisoner Overlooked in NLD's Early Amnesties appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

More Refugees Expected to Return From Thailand Next Year Posted: 31 May 2016 11:52 PM PDT Refugees who fled Burma walk at the Mae La refugee camp, near the Burma border in Thailand's Mae Sot district, Tak province, on July 21, 2014. (Photo: Reuters) More individual and large-scale returns of Burmese refugees from Thailand are expected during the dry season next year, according to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that provide assistance to more than 120,000 refugees on the Thai-Burma border. In its report released Tuesday, the UN’s refugee agency, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a growing number of refugees in Thailand's camps were seeking support to return and rebuild their lives back home because they were encouraged by the prospects of the peace process, social and democratic reforms and the new civilian government. The report said that several hundred Burmese refugees from nine camps along on the Thai-Burma border have approached the UNHCR in recent months seeking support to return home. In response, the UNHCR dispatched a team to conduct voluntary repatriation interviews in Nupo Camp in Thailand's Tak province. Iain Hall, the agency's senior field coordinator in Mae Sot said in the report, "While UNHCR is not promoting or encouraging large-scale returns at this point, we recognize that every refugee has the right to return home and will facilitate their requests as we can." Duncan McArthur, partnership director at The Border Consortium (TBC), an NGO that has been providing humanitarian aid to Burmese refugees for more than 20 years, told The Irrawaddy that more refugees from Thailand are expected to return in the dry season next year. "I think group returns may start to increase in the next dry season [February to May 2017]. But we don’t expect a big movement during the wet season [June to August this year]," McArthur told The Irrawaddy. The preparation process such as consultations and meetings with community organizations are still going on in the camps and concerned communities, according to McArthur. Meanwhile, the Karen National Union, an ethnic Karen armed resistance organization, is preparing land allocations and housing to host returning internally displaced persons and refugees. It also has built some houses in territories it controls in Karen State and Tenasserim Division, southeastern and southern Burma. NGOs like TBC, the UNHCR and the World Food Program will provide assistance such as food, shelters and other supplies to refugees who have returned and are planning to return home, said NGO sources. "UNHCR will support refugees’ returns if we can confirm that their decision is voluntary and if the Myanmar authorities welcome them home," wrote Hall, adding the UN refugee agency’s involvement is contingent on there being no significant security issues in the areas of return and assurances that the UNHCR can access those regions to assist local communities and returning refugees. However, some refugees still have lingering concerns over safety, land and livelihoods, and prefer to take a wait-and-see approach. Naw Poe, a resident of Nupo Camp, told the UNHCR team that some refugees are, however, still worried about fighting in parts of the country. She was quoted in their report as saying, "If the Myanmar government can issue an announcement that it welcomes refugees back, that would give people the confidence to return." The UNHCR’s staff also informed refugees that the organization can provide assistance such as transportation and reintegration grants and three months of food assistance in cash during the facilitated phase of return. In Burma, the UNHCR is engaged in community-based livelihood support and is advocating for returning refugees' right to access public services such as healthcare and education. The post More Refugees Expected to Return From Thailand Next Year appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Chinese Transgender Man Fights for Job Equality Posted: 31 May 2016 11:46 PM PDT Participants take part in a Pride Run, an event of the ShanghaiPRIDE LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) celebration in Shanghai, June 13, 2015. (Photo: Aly Song / Reuters) BEIJING — A 28-year-old transgender man who goes by the name of "Mr. C" has become the public face of the fight for job equality in China, where sexual and gender minorities are only beginning to emerge from virtual invisibility. The man, who keeps his real name secret to protect his parents' privacy, is fighting his dismissal from a medical testing center in court and is seeking a ruling stating that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. "On my shoulders I am carrying the hopes of many, many people," said Mr. C, who's been both praised and insulted since filing the country's first suit against transgender job discrimination earlier this year. "Many people are working toward [employment equality]. I cannot let them down. There are many members in our group who are unwilling to or dare not step forward, but they are watching." While still relatively conservative, Chinese society has grown gradually more accepting of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in recent years, particularly among the younger generation. That's encouraged some members of sexual and gender minorities to come forward and demand their legal rights, with mixed results. In 2014, a Beijing court ruled "conversion therapy" intended to change gays' sexuality to be illegal. A court in the central province of Hunan shot down an attempt by a gay couple to register their marriage in April. Although never specifically outlawed, alternative expressions of sexuality were frowned upon following the 1949 establishment of the communist People's Republic, which associated them with the corruption and decadence of the former imperial regime. Those caught up in police raids could be jailed on charges of hooliganism or even executed during particularly severe crackdowns. In 2001, however, the Chinese Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Police raids on LGBT gatherings largely came to a halt, as long as they remained low-profile. Empowered by the internet and social media, LGBT groups in different cities began networking, leading to calls for strong legal protections. China has no law addressing employment discrimination, and efforts are ongoing to enact laws protecting minorities in the workplace. A recent United Nations Development Program survey found that only about 5 percent of sexual and gender minorities in China choose to come out in public, and that the workplace can become especially awkward and unpleasant after they do so. "The findings are clear. Sexual and gender minority people in China still live in the shadows," said the report, which drew on findings from a two-month survey of more than 30,000 people conducted in late 2015. Many LGBT respondents complained of losing jobs through discrimination, and thus had lowered their career hopes and had less desire to acquire new skills, according to the report. Li Yinhe, a prominent Chinese sexologist, said transgender people in particular are more likely to face workplace discrimination because of how they look and dress. "It's harder for them to disguise themselves," Li said. Given the prevailing sentiments, Mr. C's case has brought important public scrutiny to long-ignored issues, Li said. As in Western countries, the business community, rather than the government, is leading the way in China in pushing for equal opportunity, said Steven Bielinski, who has organized social events in Beijing and Shanghai to connect employers with members of the LGBT community. "Here in China I think the LGBT business issue has just reached a tipping point," Bielinski said. "More and more companies are thinking about what the LGBT community means for business in terms of talent and market." A job fair in Shanghai on a May weekend attracted a total of 34 companies—twice as many as the year before—including Chinese car-hailing app Didi Chuxing, the career site Kanzhun.com, and multinationals such as 3M, Citigroup and the Boston Consulting Group. It also was the first time that Chinese companies made an appearance, Bielinski said. Despite the interest, Bielinski cautioned against being too optimistic. Organizers declined to allow Associated Press journalists to attend the fairs out of privacy concerns. "It's just the start," Bielinski said. Building on that momentum, Mr. C hopes to nudge the government toward recognizing and protecting LGBT rights. Born female, Mr. C grew up in the southwestern province of Guizhou, a more conservative environment than the eastern cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. He didn't even come across the term "transgender" until age 21, when he finally was able to best describe his gender identity. After graduating from college in 2010, Mr. C continued to appear as a woman when applying for jobs. That all changed in 2013, when he began dressing as a man, wearing a buzz cut and growing a mustache. In 2015, he applied for a sales job with Ciming Health Exam Center in the provincial capital of Guiyang, but was let go at the end of the eight-day tryout. He believes he was dismissed because of his gender expression, but the company argued his job performance had been substandard. Mr. C took the dispute to a local labor arbitration panel, which ruled in early May that his dismissal had been legal, while ordering Ciming to pay him $62 in back wages. Days later, Mr. C filed his case in a local court, which has yet to put it on the docket. "Now I place my hope with the law," he said. "I will do whatever I can do to fight to the end." The post Chinese Transgender Man Fights for Job Equality appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

North Korea Says Trump Isn’t Screwy at All, a Wise Choice for President Posted: 31 May 2016 11:40 PM PDT US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures during a news conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, US, May 31, 2016. (Photo: Carlo Allegri / Reuters) SEOUL — North Korea has backed presumptive US Republican nominee Donald Trump, with a propaganda website praising him as "a prescient presidential candidate" who can liberate Americans living under daily fear of nuclear attack by the North. A column carried on Tuesday by DPRK Today, one of the reclusive and dynastic state's mouthpieces, described Trump as a "wise politician" and the right choice for US voters in the Nov. 8 US presidential election. It described his most likely Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, as "thick-headed Hillary" over her proposal to apply the Iran model of wide sanctions to resolve the nuclear weapons issue on the Korean peninsula. Trump instead has told Reuters he was prepared to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program, and that China should also help solve the problem. North Korea, known officially as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is under UN sanctions over its past nuclear tests. South Korea and the United States say its calls for dialogue are meaningless until it takes steps to end its nuclear ambitions. DPRK Today also said Trump's suggestion that the United States should pull its troops from South Korea until Seoul pays more was the way to achieve Korean unification. "It turns out that Trump is not the rough-talking, screwy, ignorant candidate they say he is, but is actually a wise politician and a prescient presidential candidate," said the column, written by a China-based Korean scholar identified as Han Yong Muk. DPRK Today is among a handful of news sites run by the isolated North, although its content is not always handled by the main state-run media. It said promising to resolve issues on the Korean peninsula through "negotiations and not war" was the best option for America, which it said is "living every minute and second on pins and needles in fear of a nuclear strike" by North Korea. The North has for years called for the withdrawal of US troops from the South as the first step towards peace on the Korean peninsula and demanded Washington sign a peace treaty to replace the truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. Its frequently strident rhetoric also often threatens nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States. The post North Korea Says Trump Isn't Screwy at All, a Wise Choice for President appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Philippines President-Elect Says Won’t Rely on United States Posted: 31 May 2016 11:35 PM PDT Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte raises his arm during his last political campaign rally, Manila, Philippines, May 7, 2016. (Photo: Romeo Ranoco / Reuters) DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday his country would not rely on long-term security ally the United States, signaling greater independence from Washington in dealing with China and the disputed South China Sea. The Philippines has traditionally been one of Washington's staunchest supporters in its stand-off with Beijing over the South China Sea, a vital trade route where China has built artificial islands, airstrips and other military facilities. Duterte, the tough-talking mayor of Davao City who swept to victory in a May 9 election, has backed multilateral talks to settle rows over the South China Sea that would include the United States, Japan and Australia as well as claimant nations. He has also called on China, which claims most of the sea, to respect the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone granted to coastal states under international law. Asked by reporters if he would push for bilateral talks with China, Duterte replied: "We have this pact with the West, but I want everybody to know that we will be charting a course of our own. "It will not be dependent on America. And it will be a line that is not intended to please anybody but the Filipino interest." Duterte was unveiling his cabinet line-up a day after a joint session of Congress declared him the election winner. He formally takes over as president on June 30. Key ministerial appointments went mainly to conventional choices, a decision likely to allay nerves among foreign and domestic investors about a lurch away from reforms that have generated robust economic growth. They also may point to a bid to resolve differences over the South China Sea. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims to waters rich in oil and gas and through which trillions of dollars' worth of trade pass each year. Duterte's pick for foreign secretary, Perfecto Yasay, has sounded a conciliatory note. "I don't think that there is another way of resolving this dispute except talking to each other," Yasay told reporters this week. "We certainly would like to make sure that we are able to resume bilateral talks because these are necessary." Not So Clear Cut Muddying the picture somewhat was the choice of Nicanor Faeldon, a former marine who led a coup bid about a decade ago, as head of the customs bureau, the country's second-largest agency in terms of revenue. In December, Faeldon took a group of Filipino protesters to a disputed island in the South China Sea that is held by the Philippines, triggering an angry response from Beijing. Before Duterte's election, the Philippines also took the dispute to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, although China does not recognize the case. A ruling is expected in the coming weeks. "I am waiting for the arbitration," Duterte said of the process, when asked about investment prospects with China. "It will impact on us in so many fronts … I would like to wait for this, then, with the advice of the cabinet, I might be able to proceed. But you know, I am not ready to go to war. It will just result in a massacre." Duterte, 71, named a former school classmate, Carlos Dominguez, as finance minister, and an economics professor, Ernesto Pernia, as economic planning minister. "I can assure you they are all men of integrity and honesty," Duterte said in Davao, where he was mayor for more than two decades before being elected president. Dominguez, who was mining and farm minister in two previous governments, hails from a wealthy family that has interests in real estate and hotels, while the US-educated Pernia is a former lead economist for the Asian Development Bank. "We are very excited about this cabinet," said Perry Pe, president of the Management Association of the Philippines. "They will hit the ground running from the first day." Duterte's defiance of political tradition has drawn comparisons with US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. His "man-of-the-people" demeanor tapped into voters' disappointment at the ruling elite's failure to tackle poverty and inequality despite average economic growth of more than 6 percent under President Benigno Aquino. Duterte condones execution-style killings of criminals, shudders at the thought of wearing a tie or socks, and has vowed not to work until after noon when he becomes president. Some cabinet positions have yet to be announced, and two of the 21 jobs confirmed so far are women. When a female journalist asked a question at the briefing, Duterte wolf-whistled. The post Philippines President-Elect Says Won't Rely on United States appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

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