Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Myanmar, Bangladesh to Begin Repatriating Refugees in January

Posted: 20 Dec 2017 08:21 AM PST

YANGON — Social Welfare Union Minister U Win Myat Aye told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to start repatriating Rohingya refugees before the end of January.

Bangladeshi news outlets reported that the country's foreign affairs minister, M Sahidul Haque, and U Myint, permanent secretary of Myanmar's own Foreign Affairs Ministry, signed off on the terms of reference for a Joint Working Group (JWG) in Dhaka. Each country will have at least 15 members on the JWG.

In late November, the two countries inked a memorandum of understanding and agreed to form the JWG within three weeks to work on repatriating the more than 620,000 Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh since the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked several police posts and an army base in northern Rakhine State in late August. The UN has called the clearance operations the Myanmar Army launched in response a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

According to a Dhaka Tribune report, the agreed terms of reference recognize the Rohingya refugees as displaced "Myanmar residents" and say official transfers will begin by Jan. 23.

The news reports say the Bangladeshi foreign minister will lead the JWC and that the body will include representatives from several government agencies from both Bangladesh and Myanmar, including disaster management, home affairs, immigration and national intelligence.

Minister U Win Myat Aye, who also chairs a special committee charged with overseeing implementation of recommendations by the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, said he did not know the composition of the JWC because he did not join Myanmar's delegation to Bangladesh for the signing.

The minister said Myanmar has already handed out application forms for the refugees to fill out with their background information. He said each completed form will be examined for accuracy and, once approved, sent back to Bangladesh to allow the refugee's return.

"We don't have a specific number of refugees [to repatriate] because it is voluntary repatriation. We told them to prioritize displaced Hindus but it needs official recognition by the Joint Working Group," U Win Myat Aye said.

Although Myanmar has been planning to resettle Rohingya refugees in Maungdaw Township, exactly where remains unclear. U Win Myat Aye suggested that the location of some Muslim villages might change.

"We re-drafted town plans and some things have changed. For instance, if a road expands a village will be located near where it used to be [before the clearance operations]. But some villages will be located in the same place," he said.

The international community and human rights groups have urged Myanmar to let the refugees return safely to their original home sites.

The post Myanmar, Bangladesh to Begin Repatriating Refugees in January appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar Ends Cooperation with UN Rights Rapporteur

Posted: 20 Dec 2017 06:46 AM PST

The government of Myanmar has informed UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee that she has been barred from returning to the country and that cooperation will be withdrawn for the duration of her tenure, the UN reported today.

Ms. Lee had been due to visit Myanmar in January to assess the state of human rights countrywide, including reports of abuses against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.

"I am puzzled and disappointed by this decision by the Myanmar government," Ms. Lee said. "This declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a strong indication that there must be something terribly awful happening in Rakhine, as well as in the rest of the country."

The special rapporteur said she sincerely hoped Myanmar would revisit the decision.

However, U Zaw Htay, director of the Myanmar President's Office, said in a text message to the Irrawaddy that Ms. Lee was not impartial nor objective in her work.

"There is no trust on her. Therefore, we informed through Myanmar Permanent Mission in NY and Geneva UNSG Office in NY and OHCHR in Geneva," U Zaw Htay wrote in his text message.

Ms. Lee had previously been afforded cooperation and access to Myanmar, and had maintained a relationship of mutual respect with the government, according to the UN statement. But the government said it views her end-of-mission statement in July as biased and unfair.

The special rapporteur's mandate requires two visits to Myanmar a year, in order to report to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly. Since taking up the mandate in June 2014, Ms. Lee has visited Myanmar six times.

"It is a shame that Myanmar has decided to take this route," Ms. Lee said.

The government has repeatedly denied human rights violations are occurring throughout Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State. "They have said that they have nothing to hide, but their lack of cooperation with my mandate and the fact-finding mission suggests otherwise," Ms. Lee said in a statement.

The post Myanmar Ends Cooperation with UN Rights Rapporteur appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Press Council Offers to Mediate in Case of Arrested Reuters Reporters

Posted: 20 Dec 2017 06:16 AM PST

YANGON — The Myanmar Press Council (MPC) said today that it would like to mediate in the case of two Reuters reporters who have now spent more than a week in state custody without word of their location or contact with family or lawyers.

The MPC made the offer in a statement it released at the press conference in Yangon on Wednesday.

The council added that it would like to serve as an expert witness should the case go to trial and if the court allowed it. The MPC said it was also prepared to provide the reporters with legal assistance to ensure that justice was served.

The two Reuters journalists, Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, have been detained at an undisclosed location since their arrest on Dec. 12 in Yangon, allegedly for possessing police reports containing detailed information about the fighting between government troops and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in late August. Two policemen were also arrested for allegedly providing the documents to the reporters.

The police opened the case under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act's Article 3, which allows for prison sentences of up to 14 years. The policemen were charged under both the Official Secrets Act and the Myanmar Police Force Maintenance of Discipline Law.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that President's Office spokesman U Zaw Htay said the police had nearly completed their investigation of the two journalists and that their case would head to court soon afterward.

At the press conference on Wednesday, local reporters criticized the MPC for not doing more to protect the Reuters journalists or denounce their arrest.

"We couldn't take to the streets or shout as soon as we knew about the arrest because we are not activists," countered U Aung Hla Tun, a vice chairman of the MPC.

He said the council has resolved more than 300 disputes in recent years, 97 percent of them before they went to court.

"We are not a journalists network or association. We have laws, but we aren't satisfied with them. But as a council we have to act in accordance with the existing laws," said U Thiha Saw, an MPC secretary. He added that the council was working to amend the country's News Media Law and encourage passage of a draft Right to Information Law so that journalists have more protection.

The council said that its chairman was an expert witness in the Unity Journal case in 2014.

Despite its intervention, the Union Journal's chief executive and four of its reporters were sentenced to 10-year jail terms with hard labor that July under the Official Secrets Act for reporting on a military chemical weapons factory in Magwe Region. The court reduced their sentence to seven years in October 2014 and released them courtesy of a presidential pardon in April 2016.

In 2017, 11 journalists were arrested and taken to court by either the military, police or nationalists on defamation charges or under various laws including the Official Secrets Act and the Unlawful Associations Act.

The post Press Council Offers to Mediate in Case of Arrested Reuters Reporters appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

UN Agency, Ministries Launch ‘Life and Love’ App Aimed at Young People

Posted: 20 Dec 2017 04:01 AM PST

YANGON – To help young people learn about their bodies and how to adopt a healthy lifestyle, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports on Wednesday launched a mobile app to provide trustworthy information about love, sex and health.

The mobile app, Love Question, Life Answer, is designed to give young people the confidence to make decisions that are safe and that they will not regret.

Taking advantage of technological advances and the proliferation of mobile phones since Myanmar's transition to democracy in 2011, the UN agency and the ministries – the Ministry of Health and Sports with support from the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Social Welfare— along with the Myanmar Medical Association are targeting the app at younger people, who account for almost one-third, or 16 million, of Myanmar's total population of 52 million.

Dr. Hlaing Htaik Htar Khin, a program analyst at the UNFPA's Reproductive Health Department, said: "It is an awareness-raising app, which will allow young people to be able to access accurate information on reproductive health, which they need to know, from a trusted source, so they will not need to ask other people. And they can use it by themselves via their mobile phones during their free time."

The information on the app is provided in the Burmese language, and features topics such as safe sex and contraception, early marriage and unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV, puberty and menstruation, gender and body dilemmas, drug abuse and alcohol problems, and last but not least, love and relationships.

The app can be used while offline, and requires only wifi access or mobile data to be downloaded from the Google Play Store or App Store. The app can also be shared from one mobile phone to another via file-sharing tools such as Zapya.

Daw Hlaing Htaik Htar Khin said the app was created based on data from the 2014 census and the 2015-16 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), which revealed many young girls and women aged between 15-19 fall pregnant even though they are not ready for this life-changing event.

"The mortality rate among young girls is also high, and when we asked about the causes of these deaths, we found many were the result of illegal abortions due to unwanted pregnancies or lives being lost during the delivery of the baby," she said.

The surveys indicated the root cause was a lack of knowledge among young people about reproductive health. Thus, the educators tried to think of a better approach to disseminate information about reproductive health to young people, who have wide access to mobile technology and who typically spend a lot of time in front of their screens.

As there is a taboo in Myanmar about openly discussing sexuality and the subject is not generally included in school curriculums, mobile phones were viewed as the best approach to reach young people, Daw Hlaing Htaik Htar Khin said.

The medical officer said the UNFPA would seek to raise public awareness about the app by using social media and multimedia platforms. It would also be able monitor the number of people who access the app to get information about the campaign's effectiveness.

The post UN Agency, Ministries Launch 'Life and Love' App Aimed at Young People appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Shanni Businessman Fatally Shot in Hpakant

Posted: 20 Dec 2017 02:31 AM PST

YANGON — The chairman of the Hpakant Motor Vehicles Supervisory Committee in Kachin State's Hpakant Township was shot dead by a group of unidentified gunmen on Tuesday around noon.

Police from Hpakant Township police station confirmed the death but said they were "still collecting information to identify the suspects," a police officer on duty told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

U Khin Soe, who is also the owner of the Chan Myay Si Bus Line, was sitting at his own bus station in the ward of Mashi Kataung in Hpakant when four bikers came on two bikes and fatally shot him. He was shot one time in his head and three times in his abdomen, according to locals.

"He is an ethnic Shanni man. He was shot dead while he was at his bus station. I don't know why he was shot," said Hpakant local U Khin Maung Lwin, who was at the crime scene.

There have been frequent shootings in Hpakant, mostly targeted at ethnic Shanni (also known as Red Shan) politicians and businesspeople since 2015, according to locals. Five Shanni people were killed from the start of 2015 to Dec. 19, 2017, and the victims were either members of political parties or businesspeople.

The post Shanni Businessman Fatally Shot in Hpakant appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myanmar to Bid to Add 88 Uprising to UNESCO Memory of the World Register

Posted: 20 Dec 2017 12:34 AM PST

YANGON — Myanmar will make a bid for the inclusion of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising in the Memory of the World Register, according to the committee for the establishment of the 8888 historical museum.

The committee has asked the Union minister for religious affairs and culture by letter in the last week of November to coordinate with UNESCO for the nomination.

"We committee members have agreed in principle to nominate it for inscription. The ministry however has not made an official reply. But the minister said that it would be better if we had made preparations. So, we are making preparations," U Ye Naing Aung, the spokesperson for the committee, told The Irrawaddy.

The committee is set to meet this week after consultation with historian Dr. Kyaw Win for the nomination, he said.

The1988 pro-democracy uprising was a series of nationwide protests that peaked on August 8, 1988 against the military dictatorship. The protests began as a student movement, but later were joined by people from all walks of life across the country.

If the uprising is inscribed in the Memory of the World Register, it will be an honor to all of the people who joined the 1988 pro-democracy movement, said U Ye Naing Aung.

"In addition, we can then get technical assistance from UNESCO to build the 8888 museum," he added.

"We want the world to recognize this movement so that no future governments can erase the history recorded in this museum," said one of the committee members U Ant Bwe Kyaw.

The nomination for the register has to be submitted to UNSECO before March, and will be put forward to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture around the last week of January or first week of February.

In November, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, the 88-Generation Peace and Open Society, and the organizing committee for the 8888 museum had a meeting, however, they were unable to reach an agreement regarding land acquisition for the museum.

The temporary 8888 Memorial Hall opened on Aug. 8, 2015 in Yangon's Thingangyun Township on the 27th anniversary of the uprising.

So far, Myanmar has four tangible objects inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register—the Kuthodaw Inscription Shrines in 2013, the Myazedi Quadrilingual Stone Inscription and the Golden Letter of King Alaungpaya to King George II of Great Britain in 2015, and the King Bayinnaung Bell Inscriptions in 2017.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Myanmar to Bid to Add 88 Uprising to UNESCO Memory of the World Register appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Activist Says it’s Critical that More Women Participate in Myanmar’s Peace Process

Posted: 19 Dec 2017 06:00 PM PST

YANGON — Katherine Ronderos, director of LIMPAL Colombia, was invited by the Norwegian Embassy to participate in a Women, Peace and Security workshop in Yangon on Dec. 14-15, conducted in collaboration with Myanmar's Alliance for Gender Inclusion in the Peace Process.

LIMPAL Colombia is a branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and a member of the National Women and Peace Summit. It is also one of the leading organizations working to monitor implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which provides a framework for improving women's participation in the peace process.

She spoke with The Irrawaddy on Friday about her views on Myanmar's peace process and women's movement and about how important it is to include women in the peace process.

What do you think about the women's rights movement in Myanmar?

I am sure there are very strong movements and I am sure they are reaching a lot of women at grass-root level, and I think that's important to have. We discussed today how we reach those…women and men from other sectors that probably are not interested in the peace agreement or that are not interested in the political issues. But we need to get them interested because it's also important for them and for everybody.

How important is it for the peace process to be all-inclusive?

We need to include everybody because sometimes when people are in the cities they don't know much about what is happening in the conflict. That is related to them as well because it's [about the] future of the country. We need to get them involved, to get them interested in the political issues, to participate, to debate, because I am sure the differences here make a very rich country. But also we need to manage those differences in the different way.

What is important is to talk about reconciliation. It's about compromising, it's about tolerance, it's about respect, it's about inclusion and how we make our voices heard, how we dialogue with others who are different [from] us, how we resolve the problems in a very positive way without violence, without arms. So, understanding the other, recognizing the other.

Why is it important for women to participate in the peace process?

Women's participation is very important because we are citizens of this country. We have the right to participate. Nobody should discriminate [against] our participation just because we are women. Secondly, women are the center of the family, are the center of the society, are the ones holding families together, are the ones holding communities together, and they are the ones who know how to reconstruct the social fabric of the society.

Researches show when women participate in peace negotiations there is a better chance that peace is sustainable, that it will last longer.  So we need to make sure that every effort has women's voices and women's participation to make sure that it will be sustainable. Because they know the risk society faces when conflicts happen, and we have the right to decide what we want for our country.

What differences do you see between the peace processes in Colombia and in Myanmar?

I think there are a lot of differences. Because although we have been in conflict for sixty years, similar [to] Myanmar, but here in Myanmar it is ethnic-based conflict. It's been about exclusion [of] some groups to decide and to participate. In Columbia we don't have [a] variety of ethnic groups. But the conflict is about exclusion of the poor, of the rural people, no opportunity for them, no health, no education, and no job. That's why, for example, the armed actors and the armed groups in Colombia are requesting political participation. And I guess that could be a similar issue here. We need to start talking about political representation for those representatives of ethnic groups.

You may know that Myanmar has not yet met the target of 30 percent female participation in the peace process, as called for by women's rights groups. The share has increased slightly but it's still only 17 percent. How would you suggest raising it further?

There are many ways. One is preparing women to access political spaces. For example, we don't feel like we are ready to participate politically. You will need to get them education. We need to get prepared to get them knowledge. Two is to have other women's support. We need our constituency, we need our support groups for women to decide to do that step, to enter the political arena. Three, we need also generous support. We need to break that mindset that women are only able to be in the house, to cook, to look after the children.  We need to break that in the society and to tell the society that women are intelligent.

What advice do you have for men?

I think it is important for men to understand that it is important for the society as a whole to talk about gender equality because in the end the beneficiaries are the [societies] in general. We need men to stop thinking women are not good, women are useless, and start thinking women bring new ideas and new perspectives and new views on how to resolve the problems. Then they will have [a] better society, better family, and children with better education. So we need to start with the family as well.

The post Activist Says it's Critical that More Women Participate in Myanmar's Peace Process appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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