Burma: Scrap Proposed Discriminatory Marriage Law

(Bangkok, March 25, 2014) – Burmese President U Thein Sein and National Assembly Speaker U Thura Shwe Mann should reject proposals for discriminatory marriage legislation that would strip Buddhist women of the right to freely choose whom they marry, Human Rights Watch said today. Burma’s donors should make it clear that passage of such a discriminatory law will put at risk continued increases in levels of aid and investment.

Myanmar: Need for Permission Dropped from Assembly Law

The notorious provision in the Law on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession required permission to protest and is infamous in Myanmar as “Section 18”. ARTICLE 19 has tracked 132 cases where the government has arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned people for failing to get prior permission to protest. Many of those people were protesting against Section 18 itself […]

UNPFA IS LAUCHING 2014 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS ON 1ST MARCH 2014 DESPITE THE WORNG ETHNICITY CODING, WITHOUT INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY CONSULTATION AND APPROVAL

We, the Kachin National Organisation, are extremely concerned that Ms. Janet Jackson, UNFPA Representative is planning to launch controversial ‘2014 Population and Housing Census on 1st March 2014’ despite the incorrect ethnicity coding and without proper inclusive community consultation with ethnic nationalities […]

The 2014 Census, Identity and Citizenship in Burma/Myanmar

The 2014 Population and Housing Census is likely to undertake the most significant ethnic and political boundary-making in Burma/Myanmar since the last British census in 1931. However, by using flawed designations from the colonial era and ignoring the complexity of the present political landscape, the census is likely to raise ethnic tensions at precisely the moment that peace negotiations are focused on building trust […]

Burma: United Nations Working Group finds that the detention of human rights defender Mr. Htin Kyaw was arbitrary

On December 11, 2013, Burma’s President Thein Sein ordered the release of 41 political prisoners in a presidential amnesty. Among those freed was prominent human rights defender Mr. Htin Kyaw, leader of the Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF), an organisation that assists grass-roots communities in their struggle against land-grabbing and other human rights violations. He was re-arrested on the same day on sedition charges and eventually released in another presidential amnesty on December 31, 2013 […]

Laphai Gam Detention Illegal Says United Nations

The United Nations Working Group On Arbitrary Detention has issued a ruling that the Burmese government’s detention of Kachin farmer Laphai Gam is arbitrary, and demanded his immediate release. Burma Campaign UK took his case to the United Nations for review last year […]

Whose Guns Are Silent?

As President Thein Sein once again claimed success in the peace process, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, was denied permission to visit the active warzone in Kachin State, illustrating the gap between words and reality.

In President Thein Sein’s address for swearing in new deputy ministers on 15 August, he stated that “the guns have gone silent,” echoing his remarks on his visit to the UK in July where he asserted that “very possibly, over the coming weeks, we will have a nationwide ceasefire and the guns will go silent everywhere in Myanmar for the first time in more than 60 years.” The reality is that the guns of the Burma Army are far from silent, and the ethnic people, particularly in Kachin State and northern Shan State, are suffering more under Thein Sein than the previous military regime headed by Than Shwe […]

Thein Sein Should Come Clean On Role In Crushing 88 Uprising

On the 25th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising in 1988, Burma Campaign UK is calling on President Thein Sein to reveal the exact role he played in suppressing the uprising. Thousands of students and protestors died when the military and security forces crushed the uprising […]

Thein Sein’s Words Must be Followed by Action

President Thein Sein completed his first visit to the UK and France on 18 July with more promises of reform and was prematurely rewarded with trade and investment discussions, military cooperation and a gloss of legitimacy. Although Prime Minister David Cameron, President François Hollande, as well President Thein Sein, paid lip-service to reform and human rights, this does not disguise the reality of a dire human rights situation, the stalled peace process, and the empty promises of reform that characterize Burma today.

One of the promises that Thein Sein made was that all political prisoners would be released by the end of the year. It has been over two years since Thein Sein assumed the office of President, and the amount of times that world leaders have pushed him on this issue has been countless. Yet there remain hundreds of people languishing in jail for their political activism, while the number of new political prisoners is increasing. On the very day that Thein Sein made this statement, a 74 year-old Rohingya human rights activist in Arakan State was arbitrarily arrested and detained. Just a few days later on 18 July, Daw Bawk Ja, a Kachin human rights activist and member of the National Democratic Force, was unlawfully detained on politically motivated charges […]

Burma: Identifying and Freeing Remaining Political Prisoners

The president of Burma, or Myanmar, U Thein Sein in his recent visit to the United Kingdom has made a commitment that all political prisoners in his country will be released by the end of the year. According to him, a committee is continuing to review all relevant cases and determine those persons […]