Friday, April 19, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Bangladesh Gov’t to Hold Jobs Fair for Cox’s Bazar Youth Following Protests

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 07:44 AM PDT

DHAKA—Bangladesh will hold the first-ever employment skills fair in Cox's Bazar district on May 4 following recent protests by host community youths demanding better access to jobs with the many non-government organizations providing relief to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Ukhia and Tekhnaf sub-districts.

District administration officials believe the job fair, at which the NGOs will offer job-seeking youth technical assistance, will create awareness among the job seekers and help them to compete in local job markets, which have reportedly begun to shrink in response to a funding crunch.

Cox's Bazar district deputy commissioner Kamal Hossain said that the day-long  “employment skills fair” would be held in Ukhia sub-district, with local and international NGOs and UN agencies setting up stalls.

According to the district administration, the Cox's Bazar-based Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), which led the coordination of the humanitarian response to the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on behalf of the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, will provide technical assistance.

The ICSG's national coordination officer, Saikat Biswas, said the employment skills fair would create opportunities for local job seekers, helping them to develop their CVs and post them online.

Jobseekers who register at the fair will receive automatic alerts when employment opportunities appropriate to their skill sets arise.

According to the office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission in Cox’s Bazar, over 17,000 people are working for more than 120 local and international NGOs and UN agencies in jobs related to the Rohingya crisis.

While there is no available data on how many employment opportunities currently exist in Cox's Bazar, various groups have in recent months mobilized local youths to protest alleged job discrimination and termination by the NGOs.

At the end of January, Adhikar Bastabayan Committee Ukhiya, which bills itself as a rights-implementation committee, organized hundreds of local job seekers in Cox's Bazar's Ukhiya demanding employment by local and international charities working in the district's Rohingya camps. Their 14-point list of demands, issued to the local administration, included taking steps to halt “planned” job cuts within the host community by the NGOs.

Committee leader Imrul Kayes Chowdhury, also a local correspondent for Jamuna television, said the decision to hold the jobs fair was the result of their activities over the past few months.

Imrul Kayes alleged that over 2,500 people were fired from different local and international NGOs in the name of job cuts, when in fact they were let go to make room for more internal hiring.

“We want accountability and transparency in employment,” he said.

He accused the NGOs of nepotism and said hardly any locals were getting senior-level job opportunities.

“Employers are providing jobs to their relatives, compromising equality in the employment process, which made us angry. Finally, we took to the streets,” Imrul told The Irrawaddy.

He also said locals were going without jobs while outsiders were being employed.

The campaigners said 70 per cent of total employment in Rohingya response activities should be from the host community, and called for a reduction of the salary disparity between local and international employees.

Following the protests, the Cox's Bazar-based Rohingya response NGO Platform on Feb. 3 issued a statement saying it had conducted a survey of 102 local and international NGOs that employed 17,275 people in various posts.

Sixty-six percent of the employees were from Cox's Bazar while 34 percent were from elsewhere, but only 2.4 per cent were foreigners.

A number of senior and mid-ranking NGO workers said that a few people were using the jobs campaign for their own ends, and in many cases were pushing for the reinstatement of locals who had been fired for failing to perform their duties or after being disqualified.

Many NGO officials were unwilling to comment formally because they wanted to avoid further escalation of the tension, but said the so-called movement really aimed to drive a wedge between the host community and Rohingya refugees. They accused the campaigners of spreading hate-speech on social media.

Imrul said the campaign sought only to create awareness among the host community. His critics however, told The Irrawaddy he wanted to exploit the movement for his own political purposes.

The Cox's Bazar deputy commissioner said he hoped that the jobs fair would ease concerns among the local job seekers, as it would include a technical workshop and would also try to recruit people on the spot, if suitably qualified candidates were found.

The post Bangladesh Gov't to Hold Jobs Fair for Cox's Bazar Youth Following Protests appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Myitsone Dam Roundup

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 07:03 AM PDT

The controversy over whether to resume work on the Beijing-backed Myitsone Dam has intensified since China's ambassador to Myanmar attempted to pressure Kachin political and religious leaders to support the project late last year. But the people of Myanmar are still in the dark on their government's plans for the dam—construction of which was suspended in 2011 by the previous government following a nationwide public outcry—as their leader, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been silent on the issue. The public is concerned that the US$3.6-billion (5.4 trillion kyats) project will destroy the country's lifeline Irrawaddy River and disrupt its water flow downstream, and are worried about the project's potential to flood an area the size of Singapore, destroy livelihoods and displace more than 10,000 people. Currently, anti-dam sentiment is running high in the country, with prominent environmentalists, academics, writers and artists rolling up their sleeves to save the Irrawaddy by saying no to the dam. At the same time, people are interested to see what the State Counselor will say on the issue when she meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week.

The Irrawaddy has been covering the Myitsone Dam issue since the late 2000s. Here we present some of our recent stories dating back to January of this year, when the dam issue was put back on the table by the Chinese side.

Cardinal Charles Bo Asks Myanmar, Chinese Leaders to Scrap Myitsone Dam

Statement issued Monday is the cardinal's second on the topic this year.

Myitsone—Decision Time for the 'People's Leader'

For State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, saving the Irrawaddy River means saving herself.

Myitsone Dam Is Now a Sovereignty Issue

As the State Counselor prepares to attend the BRI summit in Beijing, the likely political cost of yielding to China is becoming impossible to ignore.

Prominent Activists, Writers Form Group to Oppose Myitsone Dam

More than 200 environmentalists, writers and civil society leaders formed the national committee on Monday to urge the government to cancel the Chinese-backed project.

As China Pushes, Opposition to Myitsone Dam Builds

Politicians, Kachin activists, environmentalists join displaced villagers in taking a stand against the BRI project on the Irrawaddy River.

Suu Kyi Repeats Call for 'Wider Perspective' on Myitsone Dam

She vows a transparent decision that will be socially, environmentally sustainable, but does not offer a personal view or a timeline.

Chinese Company Lobbies Locals on Reboot of Suspended Myitsone Dam Project

Kachin State locals and officials say China’s State Power Investment Corporation is urging them to back the dam, which the government suspended under public pressure in 2011.

Analysis: Behind the Threats and Warnings of Chinese Ambassador's Kachin Visit

During meetings with Ambassador Hong Liang, Kachin leaders felt he pressured them on westerns relations and Belt and Road Initiative projects.

Why Is China In a Hurry to Revive the Myitsone Dam Projects?

The reasons are many. For one, Myanmar’s falling out with the West over the Rohingya crisis gives China leverage to insist on a project neither Naypyitaw nor locals want.

Gov't Working on Final Decision for Myitsone Dam, Minister Says

Minister U Thaung Tun acknowledges 'misguided' project has many environmental, social challenges and is deeply unpopular

Myitsone Dam 'Must Be Stopped': Cardinal Bo

'Mother Irrawaddy' in danger of being lost to the 'greed of a superpower', he warns

Military Chief Discusses IDPs, Peace, Myitsone Dam with Kachin Religious Leaders

He says Tatmadaw wants to get peace talks on track and facilitate IDPs' return; Myitsone Dam 'in Parliament's hands'

One Year On, No Response on Myitsone Impact Assessment

A commission tasked with assessing impacts of hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River submitted their findings one year ago, but a response is yet to come from the government.

Say No to Myitsone

As the government equivocates, public outrage against the dam project is building.

Police Open Case Against Anti-Myitsone Dam Protest Leader

Ja Hkawn faces lawsuit over 'unauthorized' loudspeakers, headbands at huge rally in Myitkyina

Chinese Officials Again Pressure Kachin Leaders to Back Myitsone Dam

Yunnan officials insist dam will benefit Myanmar, Kachin religious leaders say after meeting in Ruili

The post Myitsone Dam Roundup appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Shelling Injures Two Civilians in N. Rakhine, Villagers Say

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 05:53 AM PDT

YANGON — Two civilians in northern Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U Township were wounded by shrapnel from artillery fire after the Myanmar Army began shooting and shelling in the area on Wednesday night and into Thursday, according to locals.

Mrauk-U resident Ko Than Tun said about 460 people fled Baungdwat Village, about 3 km south of the township’s urban center, on Thursday and have taken shelter at the Myothit monastery in central Mrauk-U.

Daw Khine Sein Hla, one of the villagers who fled, said two light infantry battalions stationed near Baungdwat on Dataw hill, No. 377 and No. 388, began shooting heavily at about 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

She said a shell hit a home and injured a man, U Maung Tun Aye, in the face and his daughter, Ma Htay Htay Aung, 14, in the arm. The shooting and shelling prevented emergency rescue teams from taking them to the general hospital in the center of Mrauk-U right away, she added.

Daw Khine Sein Hla said other homes were also hit by bullets and shells but no one died. Having gone through a similar experience on Saturday, she said, they were quick to head for makeshift bomb shelters.

On the previous occasion one man, U Maung Kyaw Sein, 60, was killed and another man, U Kyaw Thein, was injured. Residents of Baungdwat said U Kyaw Thein was first taken to the general hospital in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, but later transferred to Yangon.

One resident, U Kyaw Hla Sein, said the army has build more than a dozen positions on Dataw hill and claimed that soldiers have periodically been firing randomly and unprovoked into the air since early this month.

The locations of Baungdwat Village and the No. 377 and No. 388 light infantry battalion positions on Dataw hill are show on this Google Earth map. / Google Earth / The Irrawaddy

"The Light Infantry Battalion 377 compound is situated a stone’s throw from my village. Although we did not catch them red-handed, we can sense it," said U Kyaw Hla Sein, referring to the shooting and shelling.

In a statement about the shooting near Baungdwat, the Office of the Commander-in-Chief claimed that the rebel Arakan Army (AA) had ambushed a military base in the area from a government-run school on Wednesday night. It made no mention of any injuries to villagers or damage to homes.

The statement said military officials met with the villagers who stayed behind in Baungdwat, urging them to not support the AA, to inform security forces if the group tried to make contact with them, and to cooperate with authorities to promote peace and stability.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun could not be reached on Friday afternoon for further comment.

Separately, residents of three villages in Buthidaung Township also fled their homes when the army started shelling in the area on Friday.

The Rakhine Ethnic Congress, a non-government groups, says more than 10,000 people displaced by the fighting between the military and AA are now taking shelter in Mrauk-U alone. The group estimates that more than 32,000 displaced people are taking shelters across northern Rakhine.

The post Shelling Injures Two Civilians in N. Rakhine, Villagers Say appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Thangyat Troupe Member Arrested over Performance Satirizing Military

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 04:54 AM PDT

MANDALAY—A member of the Peacock Generation Thangyat ensemble was arrested on Friday for participating in a performance that criticized the Myanmar military, the group said.

Mayangone Township police arrested Ma Kay Khine Tun at the Central Children's Hospital, where she works as a nurse, in the morning.

"The police said she was being charged under Section 505(a) [of the Penal Code] in connection with her performance with Peacock Generation," said Ko Zeyar Lwin, one of the group's leaders.

Section 505(a) makes it a crime to engage in activity seen to undermine the military.

Four other group members—Ko Zeyar Lwin, Ko Paing Phyo Min, Ko Paing Ye Thu and Ma Su Yadana Myint—were sued by Lieutenant-Colonel Than Tun Myint under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Acts in Mayangone Township on Monday for their participation in the same event.

They were briefly detained at Mayangone Township Police Station on Monday and released on bail.

At an event during the Thingyan New Year festival in Yangon, the group performed a number of Thangyat songs that criticized the military. Thangyat is a traditional Burmese performing art in which a group of performers sing satirical songs criticizing the situation in the country, and the government, and highlighting the difficulties and suffering of the people. It is mainly performed during Thingyan.

Some members of the Peacock Generation group wore military uniforms during their satirical performance, which featured Thangyat songs critical of the military and government, and of the country's political and economic situation.

"We were told we were sued because we used the military uniform and we criticized the military," Ko Zeyar Lwin said.

"Freedom of speech and expression in our country is declining dramatically and the military has become more sensitive to criticism. The government can't do anything regarding this matter because the 2008 Constitution bars it from doing so," he said.

The Peacock Generation group comprises current and former members of the Student Union and has been performing for nine years.

The group said that while they have had performances banned and disrupted in the past, this was the first time any of its members had been arrested.

"Last year, we were forced to stop our performances and some pavilions did not allow us to perform. But this year we've faced many kinds of disturbance. We've been forced to stop performances, arrested and sued, so this year is the worst year for us, as we have not been able to perform freely," Ko Zeyar Lwin said.

According to officers at Mayangone Police Station, the police were preparing to release Ma Kay Khine Tun on bail. Her first trial hearing has been scheduled for April 22.

"We are finished questioning her and she will be bailed out soon," said the duty officer, who refused to provide further information.

The Peacock Generation members said they were astonished that their friend was to be allowed bail under Section 505, when other activists detained under the law, such as filmmaker U Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, had been denied it.

"If our friend can be bailed under Section 505, we wonder why the courts are not considering allowing bail for U Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who is sick and needs medical attention," Ko Zeyar Lwin said.

A military spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the Peacock Generation case.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged authorities to drop the charges against the members of the Peacock Generation Thangyat group.

HRW also urged that the charges be dropped against U Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who was arrested and sued under Section 505(a) of the penal code for posting comments criticizing the 2008 Constitution on his Facebook page.

The court denied bail for U Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who is suffering from liver cancer.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, ex-Army Captain Ko Nay Myo Zin was arrested Friday and presented to Tike Gyi Township Court to face a lawsuit under Section 505. He is being sued for giving a speech against the military at an event in Aphyuk Township calling for the amendment of the 2008 Constitution. He was denied bail and sent to Insein Prison immediately following the court session.

The post Thangyat Troupe Member Arrested over Performance Satirizing Military appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Wa Rebel Group Resists Govt Push to Sign its Ceasefire Deal

Posted: 19 Apr 2019 03:57 AM PDT

PANGHSANG, Wa Self-Administered Zone — The vice chairman of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) criticized the government of the National League for Democracy for pushing the ethnic armed group to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

At a press conference in Panghsang on Wednesday, Zhao Guo An blamed the current administration for not implementing the deal the UWSA, Myanmar’s largest rebel group, struck with the administration that preceded it under U Thein Sein.

“Contradiction is not our problem. It is the problem of the government. There is a contradiction between U Thein Sein's government and [State Counselor] Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government. The Wa group has nothing to do with the NCA regarding the implementation of the peace process," he said.

He claimed that the UWSA agreed with U Thein Sein's government to enter into ceasefire deals at the state and union levels but not to sign the NCA, which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government is urging it to do.

The UWSA struck a truce with the military regime running Myanmar in 1989 and signed two ceasefire agreements with U Thein Sein's government in 2011, one in Panghsang and later another in Lashio.

"We have signed agreements at two levels. Why doesn't the government continue with them? We are being asked to sign the NCA, which we have nothing to do with. We reached many agreements with the previous government. We signed state and union level agreements," Zhao Guo An said.

The vice chairman said he was doubtful the truces the UWSA has signed with the government will remain in effect after the next general election in 2020.

“The NCA was discussed [by the government] with other ethnic armed groups, but the Wa group did not participate," he said.

The UWSA held its own peace talks with the government in the past. But in 2017 it allied with the Kachin Independence Army, National Democratic Alliance Army, Shan State Progress Party, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army to establish the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC). Since then it has demanded to hold talks with the government as a bloc.

The FPNCC refuses to sign the government’s NCA and has drafted an alternative.

“I don't know what he meant, but I have not heard such remarks from signatories or non-signatories to the NCA," U Hla Maung Shwe, an adviser to the government’s Peace Commission and secretary for the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee, told The Irrawaddy.

UWSA Commander-in-Chief Bao Youxiang demanded autonomy for his region at a celebration marking the group's 30th anniversary on Wednesday, vowing that ethnic Wa "will fight for their lives" to make it happen.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing were invited to the event but did not attend.

Analysts speculated that they did not attend because the invitation letter referred to the “Wa State people’s government.” The Union government considers the Wa Self-Administered Zone a part of Shan State.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did send the Wa a message to mark the event in which she urged the group to sign the NCA, adding that the agreement was a step toward the creation of a democratic federal union that would grant ethnic minorities equal rights and self-determination.

"We have offered to hold talks with Wa Special Region 2," said government spokesperson U Zaw Htay.

Article 56 (f) of the Constitution grants the Wa a self-administered zone covering six townships split between two districts. Although such zones are supposed to be under the control of the central government, the Wa effectively exercise total control over the area with their own government and administration.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

The post Wa Rebel Group Resists Govt Push to Sign its Ceasefire Deal appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Runaway Saudi Sisters Get Help Offer From Georgia

Posted: 18 Apr 2019 09:46 PM PDT

TBILISI, Georgia — Two Saudi sisters who fled their country and appealed for international protection earlier this week saying their lives would be at risk if they were to return to the conservative kingdom got an offer of help from Georgia on Thursday.

Immigration authorities in the former Soviet republic visited the siblings in their temporary apartment in Tbilisi, providing them with information on how to apply for asylum in the country, the Georgian Interior Ministry said.

“The purpose of the visit of law enforcement officers was to offer assistance and security guarantees to the women,” the ministry said in a statement.

The sisters, identified as Maha al-Subaie, 28, and Wafaa al-Subaie, 25, were later taken to the Interior Ministry’s Immigration Office aboard a security van, local media footage showed.

They had taken to Twitter on Wednesday saying they had arrived in Georgia and needed help from the international community to find a new country to call home.

The case is the latest to draw attention to Saudi Arabia’s strict social rules, which force women to obtain the permission of a male “guardian” if they want to work, marry or travel.

Rights groups say the system can trap women and girls as prisoners of abusive families, and the sisters are not the first Saudi women to seek urgent refuge outside their homeland.

“Women and girls in Saudi Arabia who attempt to flee from the control of their families can face very grave consequences,” said Suad Abu-Dayyeh, Middle East consultant for women’s rights group Equality Now.

“They are in danger of being locked at home for the rest of their lives, severely punished, and may even be killed,” he said.

Earlier this year, a Saudi teen who had holed up in a Thai airport hotel to escape her family won asylum in Canada.

And in 2017, a Saudi woman who had sought asylum in Australia, saying she feared violence from relatives, was stopped on a layover in the Philippines and returned to Riyadh.

The sisters said they had become stranded in Georgia after the Saudi government suspended their passports and they feared for their lives, as members of their family had come looking for them.

“We are in danger. We need your support to deliver our voice. We want protection. … Please help us,” Maha said in a Twitter video in which both sisters appeared without the head-covering veil imposed by Saudi social norms.

But on Thursday the Interior Ministry said there were no relatives in the country who posed a danger to them.

And the Saudi Embassy in Tbilisi said the women’s passports were still in effect.

“In reference to what has been said about the cancellation of the passports of the citizens Maha and Wafaa Zayed who are present in Georgia, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia confirms that their passports are still in force, and there is no truth to the circulated allegations that they have been cancelled,” the embassy said in a written statement.

Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Georgian authorities to keep the two women safe.

“By interviewing the sisters, the Georgian authorities have made a positive first step,” Giorgi Gogia, HRW associate director for Europe and Central Asia, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“The rest depends on the sisters’ wishes. If they file an asylum request, we hope that this request will be granted quickly,” he said.

The post Runaway Saudi Sisters Get Help Offer From Georgia appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Rights Group Urges Myanmar to Drop Charges Against Satirical Performers, Filmmaker

Posted: 18 Apr 2019 09:18 PM PDT

YANGON — Human Rights Watch urged Myanmar on Thursday to drop charges against four satirical performers and a filmmaker arrested after criticizing the military, as an army spokesman defended “rules and limits” on freedom of expression.

Police arrested four members of the Peacock Generation “thangyat” troupe on Monday after they broadcasted a live show on Facebook during traditional New Year celebrations. Thangyat is a centuries-old tradition of performance that often lampoons ruling powers and social foibles.

“Myanmar's authorities are demonstrating once again their intolerance of criticism, even in satirical form," Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

During their performance, the troupe criticized the military's role in politics, chanting "it's time to say goodbye."

The military ruled Myanmar for nearly 50 years — tolerating little dissent — until democratic reforms began in 2011. The Constitution still reserves 25 percent of seats in Parliament, and control of several important ministries, for the military.

The troupe members were charged under Section 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Act, which outlaws "defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening any person using a telecommunications network," and later released on bail.

A military spokesman told Reuters authorities planned to bring further charges under Section 505 of the Penal Code, covering public statements, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and does not permit bail.

The arrests follow criticism of authorities over restrictions imposed on thangyat during this year's New Year festivities.

Performers in Yangon, the commercial capital, were required to submit their lyrics to a censorship board, with a spokesman for the ruling National League for Democracy telling Reuters the restrictions were "temporary" as the country moved towards democracy.

“Two governments”

Members of the Peacock Generation did not submit their lyrics to the board before performing under streetlights on a dusty Yangon road on Monday night.

“In my opinion, the military has taken action against us…because the government didn't take action," said Paing Ye Thu, one of the members of the troupe and a youth leader for the NLD, adding that there were "two governments," referring to the army and civilian authorities.

“They are not protecting the interest of the people, they are protecting their own interest," he said, referring to the military. “Whoever pokes them, they will sue and threaten."

Defending the charges, Army spokesman Zaw Min Tun told Reuters freedom of expression was enshrined in the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, but there were "rules and limits."

"Everyone has the right to express themselves but not to insult or disgrace individuals or organizations," he said.

In a separate case, a prominent filmmaker named Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi was arrested last week after posting criticism of the Constitution on Facebook.

He has liver cancer and recently had surgery, his lawyer, Robert San Aung, told Reuters by telephone.

“For his case, the highest punishment is two years in prison," he said. “His family are crying seeing his bad health, with that severe punishment."

President Win Myint pardoned more than 9,000 prisoners in an amnesty to mark the first day of the New Year on Wednesday, but most were convicted of drug offenses and only two were political prisoners, according to a group that helps political prisoners.

The post Rights Group Urges Myanmar to Drop Charges Against Satirical Performers, Filmmaker appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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