A prominent US-based media rights organization has written to President Htin Kyaw, urging the new government to strengthen legal protections on press freedom, and ensure that reporters can practice their profession independently and without fear of reprisal.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) commended the government for granting a presidential pardon to four reporters and the CEO of Unity Journal. The five were serving seven-year prison sentences with hard labor, under the colonial-era State Secrets Act, for a series of investigative reports in January 2014 on what they claimed was a secret chemical weapons factory run by the Burma Army.
The CPJ letter also welcomed the government’s recent move to abolish the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, a law that former military-backed governments in Burma have used to prosecute and imprison journalists for reporting news deemed detrimental to broadly defined “national security.” (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
June 2, 2016
More Refugees Expected to Return From Thailand Next Year
More individual and large-scale returns of Burmese refugees from Thailand are expected during the dry season next year, according to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that provide assistance to more than 120,000 refugees on the Thai-Burma border.
In its report released Tuesday, the UN’s refugee agency, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a growing number of refugees in Thailand’s camps were seeking support to return and rebuild their lives back home because they were encouraged by the prospects of the peace process, social and democratic reforms and the new civilian government.
The report said that several hundred Burmese refugees from nine camps along on the Thai-Burma border have approached the UNHCR in recent months seeking support to return home. In response, the UNHCR dispatched a team to conduct voluntary repatriation interviews in Nupo Camp in Thailand’s Tak province. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
In its report released Tuesday, the UN’s refugee agency, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a growing number of refugees in Thailand’s camps were seeking support to return and rebuild their lives back home because they were encouraged by the prospects of the peace process, social and democratic reforms and the new civilian government.
The report said that several hundred Burmese refugees from nine camps along on the Thai-Burma border have approached the UNHCR in recent months seeking support to return home. In response, the UNHCR dispatched a team to conduct voluntary repatriation interviews in Nupo Camp in Thailand’s Tak province. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
Scottish companies set for oil and gas trade mission to Myanmar
A Scottish economic development agency will lead a trade mission to explore investment opportunities for oil and gas companies in Myanmar, Asia’s “final frontier”.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has vast underdeveloped oil and gas reserves and its government, which is guiding the transition to democracy after decades of military rule, is keen to develop the nation’s indigenous energy sector.
Scottish Enterprise plans to use the trip to find out how Scotland’s wider supply chain can fill the gaps in Myanmar’s oil and gas supply chain.
Energy firms in the UK have been looking to branch into different producing regions to make up for a downturn in North Sea activity amid the oil price rout. (Courtesy of energyvoice.com)
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has vast underdeveloped oil and gas reserves and its government, which is guiding the transition to democracy after decades of military rule, is keen to develop the nation’s indigenous energy sector.
Scottish Enterprise plans to use the trip to find out how Scotland’s wider supply chain can fill the gaps in Myanmar’s oil and gas supply chain.
Energy firms in the UK have been looking to branch into different producing regions to make up for a downturn in North Sea activity amid the oil price rout. (Courtesy of energyvoice.com)
June 1, 2016
Kachin Political Prisoner Overlooked in NLD’s Early Amnesties
Burma’s newly installed National League for Democracy (NLD) government has pardoned and released more than 200 political prisoners and detainees facing politically motivated charges since it took power in April, including jailed student activists and journalists. The amnesties have been welcomed by rights groups, but despite the change in government, freedom remains elusive for Lahpai Gam, a 55-year-old refugee farmer from war-torn Kachin State. Lahpai Gam’s arrest by the military in 2012 and subsequent trial and conviction for committing crimes against the state is, according to his supporters, a major miscarriage of justice.
In a decision released in November 2013, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Lahpai Gam’s original trial was conducted under circumstances that were highly unfair and ruled that his continued detention was illegal under international law. The committee found Lahpai Gam’s claims—that during his interrogation by army personnel he was severely tortured and subject to a series of horrific abuses that included being forced to commit sex acts on his co-accused—to be credible. The UN group concluded that “such pervasive use of torture to extract evidence nullifies the possibility to fulfill the guarantee of the right to a fair trial.” (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
In a decision released in November 2013, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Lahpai Gam’s original trial was conducted under circumstances that were highly unfair and ruled that his continued detention was illegal under international law. The committee found Lahpai Gam’s claims—that during his interrogation by army personnel he was severely tortured and subject to a series of horrific abuses that included being forced to commit sex acts on his co-accused—to be credible. The UN group concluded that “such pervasive use of torture to extract evidence nullifies the possibility to fulfill the guarantee of the right to a fair trial.” (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
Door-to-Door Voter Registration To Be Launched In Late June
Burma’s Lower House said that they will conduct door-to-door voter registration across the country to compile accurate voter lists for the next general election.
During a session of Parliament on Monday, Lower House lawmaker Nay Myo Htet, representing Rangoon’s Kyauktada district for the National League for Democracy, questioned the Union Election Commission (UEC) on its plan for assembling voter lists, citing the inaccuracy of the lists made for last year’s election.
The 2015 lists were highly controversial, with reports of the names of deceased people included and large numbers of ethnic minorities excluded. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
During a session of Parliament on Monday, Lower House lawmaker Nay Myo Htet, representing Rangoon’s Kyauktada district for the National League for Democracy, questioned the Union Election Commission (UEC) on its plan for assembling voter lists, citing the inaccuracy of the lists made for last year’s election.
The 2015 lists were highly controversial, with reports of the names of deceased people included and large numbers of ethnic minorities excluded. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
Bangkok Wants Wa Army Bases Withdrawn From Thai Territory
Thai military officials have asked their Burma Army counterparts to help in convincing a powerful ethnic Wa armed group, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), to withdraw its bases on the Thai-Burma border, where some are on Thai territory.
The Thai authorities made the appeal during a meeting between Thai and Burmese border security officials held in the Thai border town of Mae Sai, which sits adjacent Burma’s Tachileik town, on Monday, according to sources close to both the Thai and Burmese militaries.
The request comes just a few days after the Burma Army chief, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, visited the Thai capital of Bangkok on Thursday, when he met with top-ranking Thai military brass including junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who is also the country’s prime minister. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
The Thai authorities made the appeal during a meeting between Thai and Burmese border security officials held in the Thai border town of Mae Sai, which sits adjacent Burma’s Tachileik town, on Monday, according to sources close to both the Thai and Burmese militaries.
The request comes just a few days after the Burma Army chief, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, visited the Thai capital of Bangkok on Thursday, when he met with top-ranking Thai military brass including junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who is also the country’s prime minister. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)
Myanmar's Suu Kyi to lead new effort on restive Rakhine State
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi will lead a new effort to bring peace and development to Rakhine State where violence between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims in recent years has cast a cloud over progress on democratic reforms.
More than 100 people were killed in violence in the western state in 2012, and some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are stateless, took refuge in camps where their movements are severely restricted.
Thousands have fled persecution and poverty in an exodus by boat to neighbouring South and Southeast Asian countries. (Courtesy of uk.reuters.com)
More than 100 people were killed in violence in the western state in 2012, and some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are stateless, took refuge in camps where their movements are severely restricted.
Thousands have fled persecution and poverty in an exodus by boat to neighbouring South and Southeast Asian countries. (Courtesy of uk.reuters.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)