Bangladesh seeks UN intervention to end Rohingya crisis

THE NATION

Anadolu
June 18, 2021

Bangladesh urged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to help resolve the Rohingya crisis, saying deteriorating political situation in Myanmar is hampering the peaceful repatriation of refugees.

Bangladesh is currently hosting about 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in camps in the southeast coast of Cox’s Bazar. Uncertainty looms over their repatriation to Rakhine state following a military coup in Myanmar on Feb. 1.

UN proposal seeks arms embargo and democracy in Myanmar

abc NEWS
By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press
18 June 2021

Diplomats say the U_N_ General Assembly is expected to approve a resolution calling on Myanmar’s military junta to restore the country’s democratic transition and calling on all countries “to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.”

On Location: June 18, 2021
Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. General Assembly is expected to approve a resolution calling on Myanmar’s junta to restore the country’s democratic transition and for all countries “to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar,” diplomats said.

The draft resolution also condemns deadly violence by security forces and calls on the junta to unconditionally release the ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint “and all those who have been arbitrarily detained, charged or arrested."

UN: New resolution against violence in Myanmar must prompt global arms embargo

AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL

18 June 2021,

All countries must stop selling arms to Myanmar following the adoption of a resolution by the UN General Assembly condemning the use of lethal force and violence in the country, Amnesty International said today.

The resolution, passed by an overwhelming vote of 119 to 1 with 36 abstentions, calls on member states to prevent the flow of arms into the country. It strongly condemns the worsening crackdown on peaceful protesters and civil society, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of arbitrary detainees and an end to restrictions on freedom of expression.

United Nations set to call for halt of arms to Myanmar: diplomats

WHBL

Michelle Nichols

Syndicated Content
Jun 17, 2021 

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United Nations General Assembly is set on Friday to call for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urge the military to respect November election results and release political detainees, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi, diplomats said.

Western states have been pushing the 193-member body to consider a draft resolution, but it was postponed at the last minute in a bid to win more support, including from nine Southeast Asian nations.

‘Waiting for us to die’: Indonesia’s Rohingya refugees left in legal limbo for years

South China Morning Post

Eko Rusdianto  and Aisyah Llewellyn
Medan,Makassar
19 Jun, 2021

• Makassar, in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province, is home to thousands of refugees and asylum seekers – but legally, all are just ‘transiting’
• Dwindling resettlement quotas in third countries mean some have been waiting to leave for a decade or more, as they battle with illness and depression

Reyas Alam visit the grave of Haji Mohd Shiraj, a Rohingya refugee who died in Makassar while waiting to be resettled. Photo: Eko Rusdianto

The number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution and human rights violations rose for the ninth year in 2020 despite the pandemic, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency. About 20.7 million people are considered refugees under the UNHCR’s mandate. On World Refugee Day, This Week in Asia looks at the plight of Rohingya communities seeking temporary refuge in Indonesia and India.

COURAGE AND TERROR IN MYANMAR

New Internationalist
16 June 2021 

Lives and livelihoods have been laid down for democracy. The economy is on the brink of collapse. The world must support the people’s quest to end military rule once and for all, writes Preeti Jha.

We shall not be moved! Anti-coup protesters remain seated in front of a line of riot police trying to clear roads in Yangon. Partially visible is a poster urging citizens to join the Civil Disobedience Movement. PANOS PICTURES

When the soldiers came knocking in the middle of the night, some ministers had already packed a bag. After days of hushed rumours, Myanmar awoke to a crushing new reality: its decade-long experiment in democracy, for all its flaws, was over.

The 1 February coup forced the nation of 54 million back under military rule. It marked the latest slide to autocracy in Asia, where democratic freedoms have been in retreat from Thailand and Cambodia to Hong Kong. In Myanmar, though, the generals had never even left the chamber.

Under a constitution they engineered for a ‘disciplined democracy’, the military was guaranteed a quarter of parliamentary seats – enough for veto powers. The army also controlled three key ministries, enshrining its grip over a country it had impoverished over half a century of authoritarian rule.

Myanmar’s anti-junta protesters go online to support Rohingya

DAWN
AFP

June 14, 2021

YANGON: Anti-junta protesters flooded Myanmar’s social media with pictures of themselves wearing black on Sunday in a show of solidarity with the Rohingya, a minority group that is among the most persecuted in the country.

Since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power in a February 1 coup, an anti-junta movement demanding a return to democracy has grown to include fighting for ethnic minority rights.

Anti-junta protesters in Myanmar show support for Rohingya

TRT
14.06.2021

The mostly Muslim Rohingya - long viewed as interlopers from Bangladesh by many in Myanmar - have for decades been denied citizenship, rights, access to services and freedom of movement.

Myanmar has been rocked by mass protest since the military ousted civilian leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi in February 2021. (AFP)

Anti-junta protesters have flooded Myanmar's social media with pictures of themselves wearing black in a show of solidarity for the Rohingya, a minority group that is among the most persecuted in the country.

Activists and civilians took to social media on Sunday to post pictures of themselves wearing black and flashing a three-finger salute of resistance, in posts tagged "#Black4Rohingya".

Myanmar’s pro-Rohingya social media campaign gathers mass support

Aljazeera
14 Jun 2021

Since the military coup, an anti-military movement demanding a return to democracy has grown to include fighting for ethnic minority rights.

In 2017, a bloody military campaign in Myanmar's west sent about 740,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border into Bangladesh carrying accounts of rape, mass killings and arson [File: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters]

Hundreds of thousands of Myanmar’s anti-military government protesters have flooded social media with pictures of themselves wearing black in a show of solidarity with the Rohingya, a minority group that is among the most persecuted in the country.

Since the military overthrew civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power in a February 1 coup, an anti-military movement demanding a return to democracy has grown to include fighting for ethnic minority rights.

In Myanmar, Health Care’s Collapse Takes Its Own Toll

The New York Times

Richard C. Paddock
June 12, 2021

Two days after Myanmar’s military seized power in February, doctors at North Okkalapa General Hospital in Yangon wore red ribbons to signal their opposition to the coup.Credit...The New York Times

Since the February coup, many physicians have refused to work at state-run hospitals. “I will never blame the doctors,” said a patient whose treatment stopped.

U Hla Min, a rice farmer in central Myanmar, was getting regular radiation therapy for cancer when the military seized power on Feb. 1. Initially expected to survive, he lasted less than three months.

His treatment ended when doctors at Mandalay General Hospital walked off the job to protest the coup. Soldiers soon occupied the hospital and others across Myanmar, using them as bases for their bloody crackdown on resistance to their rule. Many medical workers and would-be patients, fearing arrest or worse, stayed away.

Coal-fired power plant in Myanmar backed by China that villagers feel powerless to oppose

SCMP
Robert Bociaga
13 Jun, 2021

Almost two decades ago, in a small hillside town in southern Shan State, Myanmar’s largest coal-run power plant was built. Tigyit has been forever changed by this joint venture between the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation and a group of Myanmar businessmen affiliated with the country’s ruling generals who were responsible for the coup d’état on February 1, which ended the nation’s all-too-brief flirtation with democracy.

About 60 hectares of land were confis­cated to build the Tigyit plant, yet local communities surrounding the site, such as the Pa’O and Taungyo people, say they have seen no compen­sation for the land appro­priated for the power station or for the adjacent forests that have been razed to make space for mining the coal that fuels the plant.

Myanmar's anti-junta movement shows viral support for Rohingya

France24
Yangon (AFP)

13/06/2021

Myanmar has been rocked by mass protest since the military ousted civilian leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi in February STR AFP

Anti-junta protesters flooded Myanmar's social media with pictures of themselves wearing black Sunday in a show of solidarity for the Rohingya, a minority group that is among the most persecuted in the country.

Since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power in a February 1 coup, an anti-junta movement demanding a return to democracy has grown to include fighting for ethnic minority rights.

Myanmar dispatches: ‘we need humanitarian aid in Min Dat right NOW’

JRIST

URIST Staff
JUNE 11, 2021

JURIST EXCLUSIVE – One of our Myanmar law students reporting for JURIST calls on the international community to help thousands of Myanmar people displaced from their homes in Min Dat, Chin State, by recent junta military action. She also comments on a disquieting surge in COVID-19 in Kalay State, near the border with India.

The military junta is putting enormous pressure on Min Dat. They mainly target unarmed villagers. They use unarmed civilians as human shields and pressure PDF [People’s Defence Force] and CDF [Chin Defence Force] soldiers to retreat. People’s defense forces have no choice but at the verge of threats against lives, they have to retreat.

‘A catastrophe’: UN warns of intensifying violence in Myanmar

Aljazeera
11 Jun 2021

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says military government is ‘singularly responsible’ for violence and ‘must be held to account’.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that multiple reports indicate that armed conflict is continuing, including in Kayah State, Chin State and Kachin State [File: Denis Balibouse/Reuters]

The United Nations human rights chief has warned that violence is intensifying across Myanmar, slamming the country’s military government for being “singularly responsible” for a “human rights catastrophe”.

Why the National Unity Government’s Statement on Myanmar’s Rohingya Is Important

THE I DIPLOMAT

Angshuman Choudhury

June 09, 2021

The shadow government’s formal pledges to offer a persecuted minority justice and rights could help shape Myanmar’s future.

On June 3, Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) – a shadow government formed by civilian lawmakers deposed by the military in its 1 February coup – released a historic position paper on the country’s Rohingya community. The three-page document formally lays down a set of pledges and positions that mark a clear break from the past in the relationship between the Myanmar state and the stateless Rohingya Muslim community.

Welcomed by many as a progressive declaration, it sets out with the premise that “everyone in the Union has full enjoyment of fundamental human rights” and that the NUG will “not tolerate any form of discrimination.” It asserts that “all ethnic groups who are native to the Union have full enjoyment of individual rights held by individual people and collective rights held by ethnic groups.”

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.

Myanmar people’s army aims wishfully at Tatmadaw

ASIA TIMES

DAVID SCOTT MATHIESON
JUNE 8, 2021

National Unity Government will be hard-pressed to form a force that can credibly challenge the 350,000-strong Tatmadaw

A screen grab from a video provided to AFPTV from an anonymous source and taken on May 23 shows a People’s Defense Force fighter shooting during clashes in Moebyel in Shan state, in which dozens of Myanmar security force members were killed and a police station seized, according to rebel fighters. Photo: Handout via AFP

If Myanmar’s security landscape was devilishly complicated before the February coup d’etat, the growing national-level armed resistance to the military-formed State Administration Council (SAC) junta has rendered it almost incomprehensible.

In recent weeks, veteran ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) such as the Karen National Union (KNU) and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) have ramped up attacks on the military, or Tatmadaw. Peasant revolts using flintlock rifles and muskets in the hills of Chin state have likewise seen locally raised defense forces inflict major casualties on army units.

Journalists Who Fled Myanmar Find Third-Country Refuge

VOA
By Associated Press
June 08, 2021

This handout photo from Thailand's San Sai District Administrative Office taken May 9, 2021, and released June 2, 2021, shows five Myanmar nationals, including three Democratic Voice of Burma journalists during their arrest at a residence in Chiang Mai.

BANGKOK - Three journalists from military-ruled Myanmar who were convicted of illegal entry after they fled to Thailand have been sent to a third country where they are safe, their employer said Monday.

The three staff members of the Democratic Voice of Burma, better known as DVB, were arrested on May 9 in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai along with two other people from Myanmar described as activists. On May 28, they each were fined $128 (4,000 baht) and sentenced to seven months' imprisonment, suspended for a year.

Escape from Myanmar: How reporter Mratt Kyaw Thu fled to safety in Spain

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Jun 08, 2021,

File photo of Myanmar journalist Mratt Kyaw Thu

It was only when he boarded the plane that would fly him to Europe that Mratt Kyaw Thu finally felt safe for the first time since Myanmar's military coup on February 1.

It had been an arduous few months for the journalist who quickly found himself on the military junta's wanted list for his reporting of its deadly crackdown on anti-coup protesters.

ASEAN meets with China as progress on Myanmar consensus stalls

NIKKEI ASIA
HOTARO TANI,
Nikkei staff writer
June 8, 2021 

Bloc wants commitment from junta that its envoys have access to 'all parties' 

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (center) delivers a statement, flanked by his ministers following an ASEAN Leaders' Meeting in April in Jakarta where a five-point consensus over Myanmar was reached. © AP 

 

JAKARTA -- ASEAN "will appreciate" China's help in carrying out its five-point consensus to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, Indonesia's foreign minister said on Monday as the regional bloc looks to spur slow progress on the outcome of its emergency meeting in April.

Foreign ministers from the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations members met with their Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Chongqing on Monday to discuss regional issues, including the ongoing turmoil in Myanmar.