Inside Myanmar, calls for UN intervention grow louder

The World
Patrick Winn

March 18, 2021 

A brutal military coup has some protesters calling for armed intervention — but is this a real possibility?

People walk along a deserted road blocked with improvised barricades build by anti-coup protesters to secure a neighborhood in Yangon, Myanmar, March 18, 2021.

Credit:AP

Myanmar is in the grips of a sickening cycle.

Nearly every day, unarmed protesters are gunned down by soldiers or riot cops. Social media inside the country is a churn of violent images: maimed bodies and young lives cut short.

Six weeks have passed since the military seized total power and instantly sparked a mass uprising — one powered by huge rallies and a general strike, which is grinding the economy to a crawl.

UN: Killings of Peaceful Protesters by Myanmar Junta Soaring

VOA

By Lisa Schlein
March 16, 2021 

People carry a wreath as they attend the funeral of Khant Nyar Hein, a medical student who was shot and killed during the security force crackdown on anti-coup protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, March 16, 2021.

GENEVA - Human rights officials are expressing alarm at the soaring death toll in Myanmar as the military junta’s security forces intensify their brutal crackdown on protesters.

The past week has been particularly deadly. The U.N. human rights office says 11 people were killed on Monday and 57 over the weekend by security forces that used live ammunition against peaceful protesters.

Diplomats: UN to condemn violence against Myanmar protesters

INDEPENDENT

Via AP news wire

10th March 2021

U.N. Security Council diplomats say members have approved a statement calling for a reversal of the military coup in Myanmar and strongly condemning the violence against peaceful protesters and urging “utmost restraint” by the military.

Myanmar(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

U.N. Security Council members approved a statement Wednesday calling for a reversal of the military coup in Myanmar and strongly condemning the violence against peaceful protesters and calling for “utmost restraint" by the military, three council diplomats said.

The diplomats, who said the presidential statement had been approved by all 15 council members including Myanmar’s neighbor and friend China spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of its official adoption at a council meeting expected later Wednesday. A presidential statement is a step below a resolution but becomes part of the official record of the U.N.’s most powerful body.

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. 

UN: Boat with Rohingya refugees adrift without food, water

ARAB NEWS

AP
February 24, 2021

A group of Rohingya refugees is adrift in a boat in the Andaman Sea without food or water, the UN said. (File/Reuters)

• The UN and rights groups have said many of the refugees were ill and suffering from acute dehydration
• Reports said about 90 refugees, including some children, started the journey to seek better lives

DHAKA: A group of Rohingya refugees is adrift in a boat in the Andaman Sea without food or water, the United Nations said Wednesday, as their families worried that many may have already died.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, said it understands that some of the refugees died after the boat left southern Bangladesh about two weeks ago. It said it does not know the boat’s exact current location.

A fight is brewing over Myanmar's seat at the United Nations

CNN
Richard Roth and Caitlin Hu, CNN

March 3, 2021

Video Here

(CNN)The fight for control of Myanmar has now officially arrived at the United Nations.

In a letter seen by CNN, Myanmar's UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has told the international body that he still represents Myanmar, after making an impassioned speech last week rejecting the country's military takeover.

Meanwhile, a deputy ambassador to the UN from Myanmar will claim that he is now the man the military authorities want to represent the country.

Both sides have sent the UN letters to make their case on official letterhead.

Indipendent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar

the ambassador to the UN dismissed from his post

Saxon

February 28, 2021

The junta in Burma on Saturday dismissed its ambassador to the United Nations, the day after its spectacular break with military power which intensified the repression of demonstrators in the country.

On Saturday evening, state television MRTV announced that Kyaw Moe Tun was no longer Burma’s ambassador to the UN. He “did not follow the orders and direction of the state, and betrayed the country“, she announced.”Therefore, he is dismissed from his post as of today“.

Secretary-General condemns deadly violence against protestors in Myanmar

UNITED NATION

Political and Peacebuilding Affairs

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the lethal use of force against peaceful protestors in Myanmar, where demonstrations against the military takeover of the Government have been growing.

At least two people were killed on Saturday in protests in Mandalay, the nation's second largest city, according to media reports.

“I condemn the use of deadly violence in Myanmar,” the UN chief said in a post on his official Twitter account later that day.

“The use of lethal force, intimidation & harassment against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable. Everyone has a right to peaceful assembly. I call on all parties to respect election results and return to civilian rule.”

Protests growing steadily

UN appeals for rescue of Rohingya adrift in Andaman Sea

Aljazeera

22 Feb 2021

Refugee agency says the refugees have run out of food and water and a number of people have already died.

Rohingya take to sea in overcrowded wooden boats to try and get to Malaysia and Indonesia. The UNHCR says it has received reports of a boat adrift in the Andaman Sea and is urging governments to mount a rescue mission [File: Antara Foto/Rahmad/via Reuters]

The UN refugee agency is calling for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees after their boat broke down in the Andaman Sea leaving them adrift for days without food or water.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or UNHCR says it received reports of an “unconfirmed number of Rohingya refugees aboard a vessel in distress as of the evening of Saturday 20th February”.

Myanmar faces European push at U.N. to condemn coup

REUTERS

Stephanie Nebehay
APAC
FEBRUARY 10, 2021

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations’ top human rights body is to consider a resolution on Friday drafted by Britain and the European Union that would condemn Myanmar’s military coup and demand urgent access for monitors, a text seen by Reuters shows.

Myanmar citizens hold placards as they take part in a protest against the military coup in Myanmar at Bangkok's shopping district, Thailand, February 10, 2021. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

However, diplomats said Human Rights Council members China and Russia - who both have ties to Myanmar’s armed forces - are expected to raise objections or try to weaken the text.

Procedural wrangling began on Monday, with Beijing and Moscow raising objections over virtual voting as officials met to plan both the council’s four-week session from Feb. 22 and Friday’s special session on Myanmar.

The U.N. Security Council last week called for the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others detained by the military but stopped short of condemning the coup.

Myanmar: UN office expresses ‘strong concern’ at use of force against demonstrators

UN News

Peace and Security

9 February 2021

                       Unsplash/Kyle PetzerA pagoda at dawn in downtown Yangon, the commercial hub of Myanmar.

The United Nations in Myanmar has voiced strong concerns over Tuesday’s reported use of force by security forces against demonstrators protesting the military takeover and arrests of elected leaders and politicians.

I call on the security forces to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression”, Ola Almgren, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, said in a news release. 

“The use of disproportionate force against demonstrators is unacceptable”, he added. 

The UN office in the country cited reports from capital Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay and other cities, of numerous demonstrators having been injured, some of them seriously, by security forces in connection with the ongoing protests. 

UN condemns Myanmar coup

THE WEEK

February 06, 2021

The has sent shock waves across the country  

In a first contact between the UN and Myanmar Army since generals seized power in a bloodless coup, the Secretary General's special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener on Myanmar spoke with the country's deputy military chief and expressed strong condemnation of its action and called for the immediate release of all detained leaders.

"Our special envoy today had a first contact in which she expressed clearly our position to the deputy military commander," Guterres told AFP.

U.N. fears for Myanmar Rohingya after coup, Security Council due to meet Tuesday

REUTERS

Michelle Nichols
APAC
February 1, 2021

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United Nations fears the coup in Myanmar will worsen the plight of some 600,000 Rohingya Muslims still in the country, a U.N. spokesman said on Monday as the Security Council planned to meet on the latest developments on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: The United Nations logo is seen at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 23, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson 

 

Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other political leaders of in early morning raids.

A 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State sent more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing into Bangladesh, where they are still stranded in refugee camps. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Western states accused the Myanmar military of ethnic cleansing, which it denied.

U.N. fears situation will worsen for Rohingya in Myanmar

REUTERS

By Reuters Staff 

February 1, 2021 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United Nations fears the coup in Myanmar on Monday will worsen the situation for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims still in the country’s Rakhine state, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

“There are about 600,000 Rohingya those that remain in Rakhine State, including 120,000 people who are effectively confined to camps, they cannot move freely and have extremely limited access to basic health and education services,” he said.

UN, embassies fret over Myanmar coup talk

Bangkok Post 

AFP
29 Jan 2021

Supreme Court postpones decision on military-linked party's claim of electoral fraud

Myanmar is just a decade out of nearly 50 years of military rule. (AFP Photo)  

YANGON: More than a dozen embassies, including the US and EU delegations, on Friday urged Myanmar to “adhere to democratic norms”, joining the United Nations in a chorus of international concern about a possible military coup.

Political tensions eased slightly on Friday when the Supreme Court postponed considering allegations of electoral misconduct by President Win Myint and election commission chairman Hla Thein.

 
The submissions filed by the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) would be “reserved for judgement", the court said.

Move of Rohingya Refugees Poses Environmental and Human Rights Concerns

EcoWatch

Tina Gerhardt
Dec. 18, 2020

Rohingya refugees board a Bangladesh Navy ship to be transported to the island of Bhashan Char in Chittagong on December 4, 2020. AFP / Getty Images

On December 4, about 1,600 Rohingya traveled across the Bay of Bengal in seven navy boats from Chattogram to Bhasan Char. Bangladesh plans to move 100,000 families to the island.

The move poses serious concerns, both with regard to the environment and human rights.

Located about 18.6 miles (30 km) from the mainland, Bhasan Char is low-lying and prone to flooding. Therefore, it has been uninhabited. The island only formed in the past 20 years as a result of silt buildup. Bhasan Char rests at the confluence of three large rivers, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and the Meghna River, which collectively bring rich deposits of silt to the bay.

UN should help Rohingyas in Bhasan Char: Foreign minister

Prothum Alo------  

Prothom Alo English Desk
Dhaka
Published: 7 December 2020,

Foreign minister AK Abdul MomenUNB

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on Monday said the United Nations should help Rohingyas in Bhasan Char following the mandate on the basis of which the UN works in Bangladesh, reports UNB.

"They (UN) should follow their mandate (on refugees). It doesn't matter where they're living," he told reporters.

Momen said the UN should not think of whether the Rohingyas are living in Kutupalong, Bhasan Char or somewhere else. "It's their mandate to help them (refugees). They should do it."

Netherlands, Sweden call for urgent UN assessment on safety of Rohingyas at Bhasan Char

The Daily Star

Star Online Report
December 08, 2020

Photo: Star

 
The Netherlands and Sweden have called for urgent need for a UN assessment on the safety, feasibility and sustainability of Bhasan Char as a place for refugees to live.

The call came after a visit by the two European ambassadors to Cox's Bazar where about a million Rohingyas are living in congested refugee camps.

At least 1642 Rohingyas were transferred to Bhashan Char on December 5 amid criticism from the UN and rights bodies who say the island in Hatiya of Noakhali is low-lying and isolated. UN said it was waiting for assessment by a technical team of the UN.

UN recognises enormous investment in Bhasan Char: Mia Seppo

UNB

UNB NEWS
DHAKA
DECEMBER 05, 2020, 

It's sign of search for solutions to manage Rohingya situation, she says

UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka Mia Seppo on Saturday said the UN and its all the agencies recognise the enormous investment that the government of Bangladesh has made in building Bhasan Char for Rohingya relocation.

"We recognise the enormous investment...that's obviously a sign of the search for solutions in managing the situation," she told reporters after attending a programme marking the International Volunteer Day.

The government invested more than US$ 350.00 million to develop the 13,000-acre island with all modern amenities, year-round fresh water, beautiful lake and proper infrastructure and enhanced facilities, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).