The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Activists Say Urban Insecurity Hampers Women’s Capacity
- Thai King Bhumibol, World’s Longest-Reigning Monarch, Dies: Palace
- UNFC to Meet Govt in Naypyidaw on Saturday
- Mongla: ‘the Wildlife Trafficking Capital of the World’
- Security Tightened on Border with Southern Arakan State
- Thai King’s Medical Condition Has ‘Overall Not Yet Stabilized’: Palace
| Activists Say Urban Insecurity Hampers Women’s Capacity Posted: 13 Oct 2016 06:46 AM PDT  Attendees at the Safe Cities Campaign event. (Photo: Zue Zue / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Women's rights activists have called on the government to consider the needs of women in its delivery of public services while also increasing its budget for women, and enacting and enforcing laws and policies to protect and promote their rights. Action Aid Myanmar, in cooperation with local partner organizations, launched a "safe cities campaign" at its office in Rangoon on Tuesday, saying that women are experiencing urban insecurity, particularly in Rangoon. Their definition of urban insecurity for women goes beyond physical violence or sexual harassment, but also considers their accessibility to health care, education, job opportunities and public utilities like electricity and transportation in urban areas. Urban women's insecurity not only affects their lives, but also impacts their families, said Daw May Sabai Phyu, director of the Gender Equality Network, at the launching ceremony. "In some cases, women have to reject job opportunities that come to them just because they don't want to go back home late at night. Expanding safe and secure services within their reach will solve this problem," she said. Rangoon Division Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, who was also present on the occasion, said: "We need to make sure there is greater security for women in Rangoon. We have to try to make Rangoon a safe town for women, and we would try to accumulate as much budget as possible for this. We will also consider women's issues in budget management." Adriano Campolina, CEO of Action Aid International, said, "We need policy changes. Stronger policies and laws are needed, and security needs to be strengthened in places in which there is frequent [sexual] violence. We need police departments that will hold perpetrators accountable." The safe cities campaign is first of its kind in Burma. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko The post Activists Say Urban Insecurity Hampers Women's Capacity appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Thai King Bhumibol, World’s Longest-Reigning Monarch, Dies: Palace Posted: 13 Oct 2016 06:41 AM PDT  Members of the Thai public weep after an announcement that King Bhumibol Adulyadej has died, at the Siriraj hospital in Bangkok, on Thursday. (Photo: Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters) BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was the world's longest-reigning monarch, died in hospital on Thursday, the palace said in an announcement. He was 88. King Bhumibol reigned for seven decades after ascending the throne in 1946. His loss will be deeply mourned in Thailand, where he was regarded as a pillar of stability during decades of political upheaval and rapid development. The palace did not give a reason for his death but he has been sick in hospital with various ailments for much of the past year. "His Majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully," the palace said, adding he died at 15:52 local times (0852 GMT). His son and heir apparent, the 63-year old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, is expected to become Thailand’s new king. Parliament was due to meet in a special session later on Thursday after a meeting of the cabinet, a legislature official said. Anxiety about the king's health and the succession has formed the backdrop to over a decade of political upheaval in Thailand that has included two coups. More than 1,000 people gathered at the hospital where the king had been staying. Many of them started to cry as the news of his death broke. "I feel so saddened by this news. He has given so many things to the country," said Apinut Jaroonpipatkul, a 25-year-old medical student. King Bhumibol was seen as a force for unity, and there have long been concerns that without him the country's divisions could worsen. That seems unlikely under the military government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has kept a tight grip on power since toppling an elected government in 2014. Prince Vajiralongkorn has yet to command the respect and adoration that his father drew after a lifetime on the throne. He has kept a lower profile than King Bhumibol for most of his life but in the past two years took on more of the public duties the king was no longer able to perform. The prince divorced his third wife in 2014. Thailand's strict lese-majeste laws have left little room for public discussion about the succession. It has been so long since Thailand has had a succession, there is no modern precedent. Thailand is expected to be in mourning for months and possibly longer, and the prince's coronation will not take place until that mourning period is over. When the king's sister died in 2008, a 100-day mourning period was declared. She was cremated 10 months after her death. The king was seen as head of an institution central to Thai identity and as a father-figure to the nation. The post Thai King Bhumibol, World's Longest-Reigning Monarch, Dies: Palace appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| UNFC to Meet Govt in Naypyidaw on Saturday Posted: 13 Oct 2016 03:22 AM PDT  UNFC members meet in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Thursday. (Photo: Kyaw Kha / The Irrawaddy) CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The ethnic armed alliance the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) will meet with government peace negotiators in Naypyidaw on Saturday, where demands for a cessation of Burma Army hostilities will be discussed. Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), which member groups of the UNFC did not sign. The UNFC held a meeting at its headquarters of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand on Thursday, in preparation for the Naypyidaw meeting. Nai Hong Sar, vice chair of UNFC, said their delegates would "reiterate our eight demands," which include for a comprehensive ceasefire to be announced by the Burmese government, and for international monitoring of a ceasefire. UNFC delegates raised these demands in an earlier meeting with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon in July. Nai Hong Sar told The Irrawaddy that the Naypyidaw meeting was intended to "build understanding." Describing the need for international observers to monitor any ceasefire agreement, he mentioned how clashes had even erupted between the Burma Army and an NCA signatory, the Restoration Council of Shan State, earlier this month. He also cited recent Burma Army offensives in Karen State, an area supposedly covered by the NCA. Despite the staging of the "21st Century Panglong" peace conference in late August and early September, Burma Army offensives—with air strikes and artillery shelling—have stepped up in recent weeks against the Kachin Independence Army, a member organization of the UNFC. Although UNFC members attended the peace conference, they did not take part in the political dialogue framework review session that followed in September. The government's National Reconciliation and Peace Center in Rangoon will host the next session for reviewing the framework—which will set the shape and terms for political dialogue over a federal restructuring of the state—on Tuesday of next week. A UNFC delegation is expected to join this time. The post UNFC to Meet Govt in Naypyidaw on Saturday appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Mongla: ‘the Wildlife Trafficking Capital of the World’ Posted: 13 Oct 2016 01:51 AM PDT  Blocks of elephant hide and other dried parts from a variety of animals are offered by a Mongla vendor. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) Mongla lies on the border of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern China and Shan State in northeastern Burma. Situated in the heart of the Golden Triangle, the city is known among other sad epithets as the wildlife trafficking capital of the world and for drugs, gambling, and prostitution. Despite officially belonging to Burma, the area operates as a special armed region, making it both difficult and expensive (if not off limits) for most Burmese and non-Chinese nationals to visit. Furthermore, its overwhelming influence from China—ranging from its currency, technology, and infrastructure to the language, entertainment, and food—also deters Burmese and foreign tourists in Burma from visiting Mongla. Instead, it is frequented annually by hundreds of thousands of visitors from mainland China, who drive across the border "illegally" from Daluo without a visa or border pass. Despite their unauthorized status, there is little that is either secret or mysterious about their travel and whereabouts. Mainland Chinese enter Burma on roads that circumvent the official port of entry, but are still monitored by local government officials, who jot down names and receive 53 CNY (US$8) in cash per visitor. Upon their return, they are subject to stringent checks by Chinese customs agents, who will thoroughly search their car and belongings for illegal contraband. Illicit goods, including drugs, wild animals, and weapons, are both less regulated and more readily accessible in Burma than in China. If smugglers are caught, they face stiff fines and years in jail.  Slow loris, a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List, are sold alive and slaughtered for parts in the Mongla market. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) Mongla's large outdoor market in the city center is about the size of a soccer field, and is open daily. Despite offering few visual attractions, the market features a vast selection of produce and household goods (about 90 percent of which have been imported from China) as well as a smaller variety of fresh vegetables and fruits that have been grown locally. Vendors are typically unemployed Han from mainland China, but also comprise a number of Shan (known as Dai in China), Akha, and other ethnic minority groups from Mongla's surrounding countryside. Between rows of fresh fish, vegetables, and flowers, the market includes a section for wildlife with perhaps 15 to 20 traffickers of increasingly threatened animals, including rare and endangered species.  Clouded leopard, a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List, in the Mongla market. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) It is a heart-rending scene I returned to repeatedly over the course of my brief stay in the city, and is among the saddest sites I have seen. Small monkeys; birds of prey with thick, dark plumage and piercing, orange eyes; green pigeons; hairless moles; slow loris; and other fur-covered animals—all alive—crouch listlessly or flap in fear in cramped metal wire cages. Some are curled into tight balls with their heads tucked away or keep their eyes semi-closed to the bright daylight. Their suffering is compounded by an array of fresh meat spread atop flattened cardboard boxes that are laid out on the ground or sit on top of black plastic crates.  A barking deer, or muntjac, hunted in the Wa State is strapped to the back of a motorcycle in Pangkham, the capital. Once in Mongla, barking deer is cut up, its skin and other parts offered for sale. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) The day's catch includes an assortment of barking deer, or muntjac, northern serow, civets, pheasants, clouded leopard, large soft-shelled turtles, and other indigenous species from the mountains—the few remaining spots of wilderness around Burma and Southeast Asia I imagine not yet desecrated by mining, logging, and other human activity. In addition to live animals and fresh meat, there are countless dried animal parts strewn across the ground or separated into neatly arranged piles. I am struck by the sheer magnitude of pieces, which include coiled snake skins, quills, skulls, carcasses, bones, paws, cloven hoofs, fur pelts, tusks, horn, antlers, and genitalia. As I venture to ask vendors and their customers questions, my horror and disbelief turn to despair and condemnation.  Dried parts from a variety of animals, including critically endangered species such as pangolin, are carefully arranged by a Mongla vendor. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) The animals are primarily used to steep in liquor as a tonic or elixir and for medicinal purposes. Like vitamins, each seems to serve a specific purpose. Small live owls cost 70 CNY (US$11) each and are said to cure headaches and other head ailments. Pangolin skins, a fully protected animal under both Chinese and Burmese domestic law and the multiparty Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), sell for 1,600 CNY (US$245) per pound and are supposedly good for the vertebra and spine. Dried chunks of elephant skin cut into crude rectangles resemble discarded scraps of fabric. They are said to cure stomach illnesses, and cost 200 CNY to 250 CNY (US$30 to $38) per pound. The thicker skin is more expensive. Other animal parts help revitalize kidney or liver function while tiger penises, of which there are a seemingly endless number, boost male virility. Like dried meat, fresh meat is also steeped in alcohol or eaten with the belief that it will strengthen the body's immune system. Prices range from 45 CNY (US$7) for a pound of barking deer to 8,000 CNY (US$1,227) for a whole Asiatic golden cat that appears to have been recently killed by a single bullet to the belly. Blood from the wound still looks fresh. In addition, fresh northern serow meat sells for 80 CNY (US$12) per pound while the head by itself costs 150 CNY (US$23). Other wildlife parts are sold as trophy pieces, for decoration, or as amulets and lucky keychains, including severed monkey hands with paw pads that are still soft. Unacquainted with the wildlife market, but accustomed to similar or higher prices for ordinary material goods, I am taken aback by the relatively low cost of increasingly finite resources with immeasurable value to the natural ecosystem and humankind.  At the Mongla market: two live owls cower in a cage, while blocks of elephant hide and other parts are offered. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) Business peaks in winter during the week-long Chinese Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, when the number of wealthy compatriots arriving from mainland China rises. They sport high-end smartphones, diamond-encrusted watches, and other expensive accessories and hail from cities as distant as Harbin in northeast China, near the Russian border, and closer metropolises like Kunming. They buy mostly for personal consumption or as gifts for friends and relatives. A tiger's leg, which is prized as a particularly effective restorative, fetches a premium at 3,000 CNY (US$460). The limb is severed from the lower shin and comes replete with an exposed bone, dried marrow, sinewy strands of tendon, four massive claws, and a trimming of fur at its base. I ask a potential customer whether it might be fake. I hope it is. He acknowledges that while imitations exist, most products here are, in fact, genuine and too difficult to fabricate well enough to make counterfeiting a worthwhile pursuit. Because the client's main concern is evading China's border control agents, the vendor readily agrees to mail him his purchase immediately upon payment. It turns out shipping wildlife from Mongla to China is no problem. One tiger leg takes five to six days.  A tiger's leg, which is prized as a particularly effective restorative, fetches a premium at 3,000 CNY (US $460). Is it real? (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) Wildlife trafficking and associated environmental crime is a lucrative industry, with an estimated value of $8 to $10 billion annually in Southeast Asia alone, according to the US Trade Representative, a federal agency that develops and coordinates US international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy, as well as oversees negotiations with other countries. While often portrayed as a dangerous activity involving organized crime syndicates, a 2009 Smithsonian article by Charles Bergman on the illicit wildlife economy in Ecuador offers a different perspective: "It's not the shadowy activity people might think; it's more like an open secret," he writes. Despite its visibility, wildlife crime persists unchecked in Southeast Asia, as in Latin America, for myriad reasons, including the limited capacity of officials to conduct regular inspections, weak or inadequate regulations and law enforcement, and a lack of resources or resolve at the local level. This has evoked new responses from the global community to raise public awareness and encourage locals and tourists alike to play a more pivotal role in enforcing control, with "wildlife trade hotspots" like Mongla now marked by the World Wildlife Fund as both "trouble areas" and "opportunities for great conservation success."  A Mongla market vendor with his makeshift table displaying an Asiatic golden cat, common palm civet, ferret badger, and the remains of a red muntjac, or barking deer. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) So what can be done to stem the illegal wildlife trade? To start, the following measures can help market-goers and other travelers become more familiar with and better assess the trade in wildlife. These approaches can also provide conservationists with empirical evidence of the illegal trade, help them to identify trends and understand the changing conditions at the market, and enable them to ascertain the impact of their work and influence wildlife trafficking enforcement policies. Take pictures: Visual documentation serves as important evidence of wildlife trafficking and can help with the correct identification of animal species. While large cameras typically attract attention, it is common for market-goers to take photos and video of the wildlife being sold with their smartphones or other inconspicuous devices. Watch and observe: Take a rough count of the number of vendors and customers at the market, the frequency and pattern of sales, the volume of live and dead wild animals and wildlife parts, the availability of water and prevalence of hand and utensil washing to help prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases, and other trends and public behaviors.  The skins of Chinese pangolins, a critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List, for sale in the Mongla market. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) Talk and listen: Ask vendors and customers questions about the price of wildlife, the types of species for sale, the number of buyers and their consumption habits, the purpose of sales, the intended destination and means of transport, hygienic conditions at the market, and other aspects of the trade chain. Questions directed to traders about the source location of wildlife, poachers and hunters, and the sellers themselves are less likely to elicit a forthcoming response. Mandarin Chinese is often the standard language of communication given that demand is driven by mainland Chinese consumers. Share information: In recent years, effective new analytical tools and technologies have become available to the public to help combat wildlife trafficking and improve government, foundation, international agency, and NGO-led environmental conservation efforts. In Southeast Asia, these include:
In addition, the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group at Oxford Brookes University maintains a database that tracks the illegal trade in Mongla and is sourced in part with data contributed voluntarily by travelers.  Wildlife parts are sold as trophy pieces, for decoration, or as amulets and lucky keychains, including severed monkey hands with paw pads that are still soft. (Photos: Naomi Hellmann) Further responses to combat the illegal wildlife trade are widespread and multifarious. For non-travelers and people committed to improving animal welfare from home, help can be provided by allocating resources to fund the enforcement of CITES provisions and maintenance of nature reserves. In Asia, there are many national and international NGOs, including the World Wildlife Fund, TRAFFIC, Fund for Animals, China Exploration & Research Society, Wildlife Conservation Society, Nature Conservancy, Wild Aid, and International Fund for Animal Welfare. These organizations are dedicated to monitoring illicit markets, reducing consumer demand, and protecting threatened species. The global community can also assist with public education and awareness by sharing information online. At the same time, people who buy animals and wildlife products should make use of cultivated alternatives over wild stocks to stop the illegal trade. Finally, products including food, medicine, supplements, cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, décor, and furniture made from wild-sourced imports should only be purchased from licensed sources with genuine CITES certificates of species and origin. Republished with the kind permission of Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built + Natural Environments. The post Mongla: 'the Wildlife Trafficking Capital of the World' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Security Tightened on Border with Southern Arakan State Posted: 13 Oct 2016 12:58 AM PDT  Gaw Yin Gyi Island, off the coast of Irrawaddy Division. (Photo: Salai Thant Zin / The Irrawaddy) Security has been scaled up in Nga Yoke Kaung, a coastal sub-township in Irrawaddy Division that borders the southern tip of Arakan State, after attacks by assailants of unverified origin on border police posts in northern Arakan State on Sunday, followed by a ongoing manhunt. Two light infantry battalions under the Burma Army's South-Western Command, a naval detachment and units of the police are jointly securing the area, according to locals, who said they have never seen such a large military presence in the area. "Fully-armed soldiers from Southwestern Command arrived at Gaw Yin Gyi Island near our village this morning [Wednesday], and are stationed there. So is a naval ship nearby," a community elder of Nanthapu Village told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. Well-armed soldiers also arrived in four military trucks to provide security in and around Nga Yoke Kaung, said U Zaw Win, a local resident. "I think it is because of the concern that the terror in Arakan State may spread [south] to here. Fishermen are not even going out to sea because of the situation," he told The Irrawaddy. Nga Yoke Kaung is on the westernmost tip of Irrawaddy Division, on the Bay of Bengal. The adjacent stretch of sea has been a route used by human traffickers, taking migrants from Bangladesh and northern Arakan State bound for Malaysia and elsewhere in the region. On May 29 2015, an abandoned boat holding 733 trafficked migrants was found off the coastline there. Irrawaddy Division police chief Col Htun Min has instructed all the police stations in Nga Yoke Kaung sub-township to be on full alert, for "regional security," a police officer in Nga Yoke Kaung told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. The post Security Tightened on Border with Southern Arakan State appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Thai King’s Medical Condition Has ‘Overall Not Yet Stabilized’: Palace Posted: 12 Oct 2016 10:53 PM PDT  Well-wishers hold pictures of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej as they pray for him at the Siriraj hospital where he is residing in Bangkok, on Oct. 12. (Photo: Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters) BANGKOK, Thailand — The health of Thailand's 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning monarch, has "overall not yet stabilized," the palace said on Wednesday. The statement from the palace follows one on Sunday saying the king was in an unstable condition after receiving haemodialysis treatment, which is used to cleanse the blood of toxins, extra salts and fluids. A Reuters reporter at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital said all four of the king's children, including Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, visited him on Wednesday. "On Oct. 11 his blood pressure lowered and breath quickened," the palace said. The king's health has "overall not yet stabilized," it said. Several hundred people gathered at the hospital, where the revered king has been for much of the past year, to pray for him. The government had earlier urged people not to listen to rumors on social media about "situations," saying they should await official announcements. During his seven decades on the throne the king, who is seen as a unifying force, has intervened when events threatened to plunge Thailand into crisis. He has been treated for various ailments over the past year and was last seen in public on Jan. 11, when he spent several hours visiting his palace in the capital, Bangkok. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who is also head of the ruling junta, canceled an official engagement in Chonburi province on Wednesday and was having an audience with the crown prince on routine government work, the foreign ministry said. "The government spokesman has urged for the Thai public to rely on official announcements for an update on situations, rather than uncorroborated information in social media circles," it said in a statement, without referring to the king's health. US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said the US-born king has been a "true friend of the United States." "He's a revered figure in Thailand and he's an admired figure in the United States and we hope his situation will stabilize," Russel told reporters in Washington. Thailand has long been an ally of the United States, for decades united in opposition to the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. The Stock Exchange of Thailand closed down 2.5 percent, its lowest since the end of May, after falling as much as 6.9 percent at one point to its lowest since March 1, led by shares in the aviation and tourism industries. Wednesday's palace statement was the third health bulletin this month after the palace said on Oct. 1 the king was recovering after a respiratory infection. Laws protecting the royals from insult make it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent. The post Thai King's Medical Condition Has ‘Overall Not Yet Stabilized’: Palace appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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