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| Commentary on “ UNFC commits to NCA negotiations, Panglong process” Posted: 03 Mar 2017 12:28 AM PST The UNFC 8 point proposal spelled out in this report is the key to make the NCA a more fair negotiation process and correct the lop-sided present form of agreement. In other words, until now which is the only game in town, would become a level playing field, where contenders could participate in an equal manner.  But when General Mya Tun Oo, joint chief of staff of the army, navy and air force, said by signing the NCA in its present form would do away with the recent Tatmadaw offensives in Kachin and Shan States, he was in effect saying that "if you people don't sign, we will go on with the offensive and swing you to do it". Precisely, he rejected the most important condition proposal of Tatmadaw's unilateral ceasefire declaration, followed by ethnic armies ceasefire declaration, which will then would become a bilateral one, thereby torpedoing the UNFC proposal altogether. This means, there is no political will and for that matter no good will from the part of the Tatmadaw to end the war for mutual benefit, but to force the ethnic resistance armies to give in to its "negotiated surrender" mode of political settlement, which will not happen given the time tested approach employed earlier for decades by the Tatmadaw and the will of the ethnic people to wage and continue with the resistance war. On top of this, Mya Tun Oo rejection of all-inclusiveness by refusing even to consider talking about taking the Kokang, Palaung and Arakan Army into the NCA; and Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing recently telling Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang that the ethnic armies refused to "sign the NCA because they do not want to carry out peace processes similar to that of international community. Despite wishing to demand all political rights through the meeting in political trend, they want to hold up the armed struggle line. No country accepts the demand of political rights all over the world by holding firearms," according to the publication in his Facebook. To sum up, despite the Chinese pressure for all-inclusiveness peace negotiation, the Tatmadaw seems to be determined to go on for a continued military offensive on the ethnic armies, presuming that the country's sovereignty is solely owned by it and justify its war on the ethnic nationalities as preserving national unity through sheer military might. But the fact is that this political notion is contested by the ethnic armies and as well ethnic political parties based on "shared-sovereignty" notion, which in effect means the monopoly of sovereignty by the Tatmadaw and as well, Bamar political class, would not be accepted and this main bone of contention should be ironed out through peaceful negotiation process, rather than just war. That is in fact the roots of the whole conflict problematic. Link to the story: http://frontiermyanmar.net/en/unfc-commits-to-nca-negotiations-panglong-process |
| Addressing drug problems in Myanmar Posted: 02 Mar 2017 08:16 PM PST Time has come to embrace a different approach and adopt policies that are based on public health, community safety, human rights and development. Only such policies will deliver on the promise to improve people's lives; only such policies will truly allow Myanmar to reduce the harm caused by problematic drug use, trafficking and production. This policy briefing was drafted by a group of local and international organisations with indepth knowledge and extensive experience of drug-related issues in Myanmar. It is structured around a set of five strategic interventions, each of which comes with concrete recommendations that are adapted to the Myanmar context. It contains reliable, up-to-date information and examples of evidence-based practices from Myanmar and around the world. We identify the following 5 key strategic interventions.
Introduction Myanmar's drug policies are out-dated and inadequate to respond to the great challenges posed by problematic drug use and production in the country. The 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law has failed to eliminate - or even reduce - drug use, trafficking and production. Worse, the implementation of harsh policies and penalties has caused immense additional harm to Myanmar people and communities. Thousands of people have been unnecessarily exposed to the risk of infectious diseases and premature death as a direct result of those policies. Myanmar prisons are filled with drug users serving long-term sentences for mostly non-violent small drug offenses, while major traffickers are left undisturbed. Entire villages of impoverished poppy farmers have been targeted by forced eradication campaigns and pushed further into poverty, without any viable livelihoods alternatives to survive and pay for healthcare and education of their children. Fortunately, successful interventions have also been conducted in the country. HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs started to decline following the implementation of health and harm reduction services for drug users. The lives of thousands of drug users and their families have hugely improved, thanks to the benefits of methadone programmes initiated by Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports. Several isolated communities from Eastern Shan State that were included in alternative development programmes voluntarily abandoned opium cultivation and successfully transitioned towards licit livelihoods strategies. These domestic experiences add up to a growing body of evidence from all around the world, which indicate that policies grounded in public health, human rights and development, can yield an impressively wide range of benefits. Indeed, such policies not only improve people's health and support livelihoods, they also lower levels of drug related crime and corruption, reduce violence, conflict, and pressure on the criminal justice system, and ultimately result in greater social cohesion. Existing good practices are no doubt positive steps but are yet to be implemented at scale. Overall, the lack of adequate response by previous Governments has led to great frustration among affected communities and the Myanmar population at large, as drug related problems have continued to mount and have become a key national concern. Time has come to learn from such failures, embrace a different approach and adopt policies that are based on public health, community safety, human rights and development. Only such policies will deliver on the promise to improve people's lives; only such policies will truly allow Myanmar to reduce the harm caused by problematic drug use, trafficking and production. Link story : https://www.tni.org/en/publication/addressing-drug-problems-in-myanmar |
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