30 Months of Myanmar Military Coup A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYTICAL REPORT ON INDIA'S APPROACH AND RELATIONS WITH MYANMAR

RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT? THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY’S FAILURE TO PROTECT THE ROHINGYA

In: Global Responsibility to Protect
Authors:Martin Mennecke and
Ellen E. Stensrud

Online Publication Date: 28 May 202

Abstract

The case of Myanmar has become one of the most glaring examples for the failure of the international community to realise the promise made with the adoption of the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm in 2005: ‘Never again’ has turned into again and again. A mix of unwillingness and inability to prevent atrocity crimes has in Myanmar over the past ten years led to several instances of atrocity crimes and genocidal violence against the Rohingya. Most recently, the military coup of February 2021 has showcased that the notion of an international community exercising a responsibility to protect the population of Myanmar against crimes against humanity and other atrocity crimes dissembles into a few states openly shielding the perpetrators, a few condemning and countering the newest cycle of violence, and many silent bystanders to the ongoing atrocities. This article discusses the role of the R2P norm in the case of Myanmar and introduces the different contributions that comprise the special issue on Myanmar and the failure of R2P.  

The 2021 Military Coup in Myanmar and the Rohingya Outlook: Interview with Aung Kyaw Moe | Nazia Khan

Mainstream 

Mainstream, VOL 60 No 37 September 3, 2022

Myanmar, is a country of 54 million people and acts as a link between South and Southeast Asia. At the time of independence from Britain in 1948 a democratic government was in place. In 1962 a military coup brought rule of a military junta that lasted for decades. The military-junta rule faced opposition from pro-democracy activists which included Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD). The 8888 Uprising and 2007 Saffron Revolution forced the military junta to adopt the 2008 Constitution through a referendum. Eventually, the military junta allowed an election in 2010 and also released Aung San Suu Kyi who had been kept under house arrest intermittently. The democratisation process also intensified the issue of the Rohingya ethnic community in the Rakhine State. The Rohingyas were not included in 135 ethnic groups recognized by the 1982 Citizenship Law and thus denied citizenship. Rohingya issue took a central place with the rise of extremist monks, Ashin Wirathu, and Bamar Buddhist extremist groups like the 969 Movement and Ma Ba Tha. Amidst this, the Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD party won an overwhelming majority in the 2015 election in Myanmar. Being in a position of power, Suu Kyi failed to acknowledge the plight of Rohingya who fled the country as a result of military violence and ethnic cleansing in 2017 in the northern Rakhine State. She not only refused to recognize the term Rohingya but defended the Myanmar military junta in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the case of Rohingya Genocide filed by the Republic of the Gambia. After winning the second election with a majority in 2020, the military junta carried out a coup in February 2021 against the Aung Sann Suu Kyi-led NLD government. Currently, Aung San Suu Kyi is jailed on the charges of election fraud and corruption. The citizens protested against the coup by the military, to which it retaliated with brute force. The deposed elected government responded by forming a Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw which created a government in exile known as National Unity Government (NUG). NUG also has an armed wing People’s Defense Forces to fight the military forces. Further, an all-inclusive platform known as, National Unity Consultative Council has been formed which includes the government in exile, civil society, activists and ethnic political parties of Myanmar to fight for restoring democracy in Myanmar.

Myanmar junta’s role in Rohingya case at ICJ is troubling

ASIA TIME

Parvej Siddique Bhuiyan
February 17, 2022

By allowing the coup regime to present a defense at upcoming genocide hearings, the court risks legitimizing the junta  

The Palace of Peace in The Hague, the official residency of the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Photo: AFP

 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) recently announced that it will hold a fresh round of hearings from February 21-28 into the Rohingya genocide case.

After the military-led “clearance operation” that forced 750,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, the West African nation The Gambia in November 2019 brought a case to the ICJ accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The junta overthrew the government they represented. What happens next for Myanmar's diplomats in limbo?

CNN
Caitlin Hu, Julia Hollingsworth, Eliza Mackintosh and Helen Regan,
June 29, 2021

New York (CNN)In a beige stone townhouse on a leafy New York street, a political coup thousands of miles away has split an office in two.

Downstairs in the dimly lit building, staffers at Myanmar's Permanent Mission to the United Nations receive orders from the military junta, which overthrew the country's elected government on February 1.

Upstairs, charismatic ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun is leading what is effectively an underground diplomatic corps, part of an attempt to wrestle back control of the country. His conference room is decorated with portraits of a long line of his military-aligned predecessors, reminders of what he's up against.

The Arakan Army, Myanmar Military Coup and Politics of Arakan

tni
Authors: Kyaw Lynn
Programmes:Myanmar in Focus

A Myanmar Commentary by Kyaw Lynn

In the aftermath of the November general election the intense fighting between the national armed forces (Tatmadaw) and the Arakan Army came to an unexpected halt. Since the February coup of the State Administration Council, the situation has remained delicately poised. Political sentiment is very high. But Rakhine nationalism is presently on a different cycle to political movements in other parts of the country. In this commentary Kyaw Lynn outlines why the coming months will remain a time of high tension and uncertainty in Arakan politics.

Arakan Army troops in forest training / Photo credit JG

When political analysts in Myanmar and beyond discuss the role of ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) in the struggle against the military coup in February, the Arakan Army (AA) becomes one of the key political forces in shaping their dialogue and perceptions. The AA, the military wing of the United League of Army (ULA), is the only armed group that can challenge the power of the national armed forces (Tatmadaw) on Myanmar’s western frontiers. This became especially evident during the 2018-20 period when the ULA-AA demonstrated its sharp resistance against the power of the centralised Myanmar state. Behind the ULA rise, there were three key features: popular support among the Rakhine population, well-trained soldiers, and a younger leadership that read the evolving mood and political situation in the country perceptively well.

Where Poets Are Being Killed and Jailed After a Military Coup

The New York Times

By Hannah Beech
May 25, 2021

Poetry remains alive in Myanmar, where unconventional weapons are being used to fight a military that has killed about 800 people since it staged a coup on Feb. 1.Credit...The New York Times

More than 30 poets have been imprisoned since the military seized power in Myanmar, a country where politics and poetry are intimately connected.

After the first and second poets were killed, the third poet wrote a poem.

Do or die moment for ASEAN in Myanmar

ASIA TIMES
By NILE BOWIE

APRIL 23, 2021

Bloc's extraordinary Myanmar crisis meeting on April 24 could be the last diplomatic chance to prevent a regional catastrophe

Milk Tea Alliance Indonesia in action during Solidarity for the Myanmar People in front of the ASEAN Secretariat building in Jakarta on March 12,2021. Photo: DasrilRoszandi / NurPhoto via AFP

SINGAPORE – When Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meet in Jakarta to discuss the worsening political crisis in Myanmar on April 24, it will mark the first time that the regional organization holds a highest-level meeting to address a specific situation of concern involving one of its members.

Non-interference in domestic affairs has traditionally been one of ASEAN’s basic operating principles, along with decision-making by consensus. As such, Saturday’s summit is seen as a test of the grouping’s code of constraint as regional leaders find themselves under mounting pressure to engineer a workable, face-saving resolution before the crisis spirals further out of control.

Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup

AAPP

April 23, 2021

Updated 23 April 2021

As of 23 April, (745) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (6) fallen hero today. These (6) heroes from Mogok Town in Mandalay Region and Pakokku Town in Magwe Region were killed on previous days but documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.

As of April 22, a total of (3371) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1118 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.

With Recent Coup, Myanmar’s Military Diverges From the Indonesian Path

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Richard Borsuk
April 20, 2021

After Suharto’s fall in 1998, Indonesia’s military did what Myanmar’s Tatmadaw needs to do, but won’t: relinquish an overt role in politics.

In March, six weeks after the military in Myanmar staged its shocking coup, Indonesia’s military commander offered to share with it Jakarta’s “experience in building professional armed forces in the context of a democracy.”

Air Chief Marshal Adi Tjahjanto’s well-intentioned offer was ignored. Myanmar’s military, which decades ago sent officers to learn from Indonesia, doesn’t want lessons on coping with the transition from an authoritarian country to a democratic one. The Indonesian military, after Suharto’s dramatic fall in 1998, did what Myanmar’s Tatmadaw needs to do (but won’t): relinquish an overt role in politics.

A message from Myanmar

Trending Globally: Politics & Policy
The Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs
Brown University

Trending Globally: Politics & Policy · A Message from Myanmar

In February, a colleague at the Watson Institute forwarded the team at Trending Globally an email from a former student. The subject line read: “I write to you in desperation and with my life at risk.”

The email was sent from Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. The man who sent it was not exaggerating.

U.S. 'horrified' by Myanmar violence, Blinken says after bloodiest day since military coup

nbc News

By Yuliya Talmazan
March 28, 2021, 

The courageous people of Burma reject the military’s reign of terror,” Blinken said after the worst day of violence in Myanmar since last month's coup..

 

The United States is “horrified” by the bloodshed in Myanmar, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday, after the country’s bloodiest day of protests since last month’s military coup.

The violent crackdown on demonstrators by Myanmar’s security forces showed that the junta will “sacrifice the lives of the people to serve the few,” Blinken said in a tweet.

Widespread work stoppages in Myanmar against February 1 military coup

WSWS
Peter Symonds

09' March 2021

Large protests took place yesterday in Myanmar’s major cities, including Yangon and Mandalay, and towns across the country, demanding an end to military rule. Shops, businesses, factories and government offices remained shut following a call for an extended nationwide work stoppage. Thousands joined the demonstrations despite bloody repression by the army and police over the past week that has claimed at least 60 lives.

Protesters take positions behind a makeshift barricade as armed riot policemen gather in Yangon, Myanmar, Monday, March 8, 2021. (AP Photo)

On Sunday night, security forces occupied at least 20 government universities, schools and hospitals, including in Yangon, Mandalay, Magway, Monywa and Ayeyarwady. According to the Irrawaddy, police and soldiers opened fire and used percussion grenades in a bid to intimidate people who had gathered outside a teaching hospital in the North Oakkalapa Township of Yangon to oppose its use by the military.

Myanmar: 38 Died on Deadliest Day Yet for Military Coup Opposition, Says UN

LATEST LY

Agency News PTI

Mar 04, 2021

Myanmar security forces were seen firing slingshots at protesters, chasing them down and even brutally beating an ambulance crew in video showing a dramatic escalation of violence against opponents of last month's military coup.

Yangon, March 4: Myanmar security forces were seen firing slingshots at protesters, chasing them down and even brutally beating an ambulance crew in video showing a dramatic escalation of violence against opponents of last month's military coup.

A UN official speaking from Switzerland said 38 people had been killed Wednesday, a figure consistent with other reports though accounts are difficult to confirm inside the country. The increasingly deadly violence could galvanise the international community, which has responded fitfully so far. 

Myanmar Shuts Down All Passenger Flights in Country Amid Political Crisis. 

“Today it was the bloodiest day since the coup happened on February 1. We have today — only today — 38 people died. We have now more than over 50 people died since the coup started" and more have been wounded, the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, told reporters at UN headquarters on Wednesday. 

Japan's Myanmar Dilemma: How Hard To Push Against Military Coup Leaders? March 2, 202112:00 PM ET

npr

ANTHONY KUHN

March 2, 2021

Myanmar people and supporters march during on Feb. 14 in Tokyo to protest the military coup.Eugene Hoshiko/AP

SEOUL — The military's killing of at least 18 protesters on Sunday in Myanmar has increased pressure on foreign governments to use their influence to push for the release of the country's elected leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, from detention, and restore some measure of democratic rule.

ASIA

At Least 18 Killed By Myanmar Security Forces In Deadliest Day Since Coup

Among Asian countries, Japan is one of the most influential. How it decides to handle Myanmar's coup could have a major impact on the Biden administration's bid to put democracy and alliances at the heart of its foreign policy.

Facebook Takes a Side, Barring Myanmar Military After Coup

The New York Times

By Paul Mozur, Mike Isaac, David E. Sanger and Richard C. Paddock
Published Feb. 24, 2021

Continue reading the main story

The move puts the social network squarely on the side of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement after years of criticism over how the military has used the site.

Soldiers set up barricades in Yangon, Myanmar, this month as tens of thousands gathered to protest the coup that ousted the civilian government.Credit... The New York Times

Facebook said on Wednesday that it had barred Myanmar’s military from its platforms, weeks after the country’s fragile democratic government was overthrown in a military coup.

The move, which also bars military-owned businesses from advertising on Facebook, plunged the social network more directly into Myanmar’s post-coup politics. The decision left little question that the company was taking the side of a pro-democracy movement against a military government that had abruptly seized power.

Facebook acted after years of criticism over how Myanmar’s military has used the site, including to incite hatred against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority group. Since the coup early this month, which ousted the civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and returned Myanmar to full military rule, the military has repeatedly shut off the internet and cut access to major social media sites.

Facebook Takes a Side, Barring Myanmar Military After Coup

The New Your Times

By Paul Mozur, Mike Isaac, David E. Sanger and Richard C. Paddock
Feb. 24, 2021

The move puts the social network squarely on the side of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement after years of criticism over how the military has used the site.


Soldiers set up barricades in Yangon, Myanmar, this month as tens of thousands gathered to protest the coup that ousted the civilian government.Credit... The New York Times 

Facebook said on Wednesday that it had barred Myanmar’s military from its platforms, weeks after the country’s fragile democratic government was overthrown in a military coup.

The move, which also bars military-owned businesses from advertising on Facebook, plunged the social network more directly into Myanmar’s post-coup politics. The decision left little question that the company was taking the side of a pro-democracy movement against a military government that had abruptly seized power.

U.N says it is 'essential' that aid work continue in Myanmar after military coup

REUTERS

Reuters Staff
FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Demonstrators march with signs to protest against the military coup and demand for the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon, Myanmar, February 12, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

(Reuters) - The United Nations said on Friday it is essential that lifesaving humanitarian assistance continue to be delivered in Myanmar, after a military coup on Feb. 1 that has sparked mass protests across the country.

“The UN and its partners have, for many years, been responding to humanitarian needs caused by conflict and natural disasters in Myanmar,” said Ola Almgren, the U.N. Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar.

US hits Myanmar with sanctions, aid cuts, export bans in bid to reverse military coup

abc NEWS

Conor Finnegan
11 February 2021, 

  U.S. leverage may be limited with generals who've defied pressure for decades.

People in Myanmar take to streets to protest the military coup.

ABC News’ Ian Pannell reports on the nationwide protests taking place in Myanmar in the week since the military detained the country’s democratically-elected leader

The U.S. is implementing its first penalties against Myanmar's military leaders after declaring their overthrow of the democratically elected government last week a coup d'état.

Military coup in Myanmar

HAWK NEWSPAPER

Devin Yingling

February 9, 2021

What is the recent political history of Myanmar? 

After gaining independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar, then known as Burma, was ruled by military forces until 2012. In 2015, former State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi’s, National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide election, ushering in a civilian-led government. 

Myanmar held a general election on Nov. 8, 2020, continuing the democratic electoral process. One thousand one hundred seventy one national, state and regional seats were up for election, according to the Myanmar Times. Suu Kyi’s government won in a landslide victory. The NLD’s primary opposition in the election was the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).