Myanmar: UN Chief Urges Country to Move beyond ‘Narrow Agendas’ and towards Cooperation

Myanmar has shown progress in areas of socio-economic development, national reconciliation and democratization, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirmed today, while also warning that the Asian country still faced “critical hurdles” as it approached its impending elections […]

Burma: Ongoing Judicial Harassment and Arbitrary Detention of Htin Kyaw, Tin Maung Kyi and Zaw Win

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Burma […]

Press Release on John Kerry’s Visit to Burma

Just days before US Secretary of State John Kerry is due to visit Burma, more than 100 security forces came to the Rohingya IDPs camp in Thandawlee village in Sittwe, capital of Arakan State, and killed one Rohingya and seriously injured two others. More than 15 Rohingyas were arrested by security forces. At the same time, Rohingyas in Buthidaung and Maungdaw, in northern Arakan, have been arrested, threatened and harassed while the government attempts to collect population data […]

Multi-Faith Network Urges Secretary Kerry to Raise Religious Freedom Violations with Burmese Government

Members of the US-based International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable, a multi-faith informal group of organizations and individuals advocating for freedom of religion or belief, have written to US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of his visit to Burma, urging him make it a priority to discuss reported violations of freedom of religion or belief with the government […]

တိုင္းရင္းသားလက္နက္ကိုင္ ေတာ္လွန္ေရးအဖြဲ႔အစည္းမ်ာ၏ ထိပ္သီးအစည္းအေ၀း ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကျငာခ်က္

Press Release: World Bank Moves to Undermine the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

In an unprecedented move, the World Bank will be proposing that governments could ‘opt-out’ of requirements designed to protect indigenous peoples from unintended and negative consequences from development activities funded by the multilateral lender. In a leaked draft of new environmental and social standards to be considered for public consultation by a committee of the World Bank Executive Board on 30th of July, language has been included that would allow governments to disregard their existing obligations to indigenous peoples […]

Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar

Introduction:

Good evening and thank you all for coming today. I have just concluded my first official ten- day mission as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. The objective of my visit was to assess the human rights situation in Myanmar through a better understanding of the realities on the ground. Accordingly, I sought to engage constructively with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including Government officials, political, religious and community leaders, civil society representatives, as well as victims of human rights violations and members of the international community. I was pleased to have had a frank and open exchange of views on a range of matters related to my mandate. And I am grateful that many were so forthcoming in their views on sensitive issues […]

Civil Society’s Recommendations to the ASEAN Ministers Meeting (AMM) in the Review and Amendment of the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the ASEAN

We, members of civil society organizations from Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Malaysia, Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia on 15-16th July 2014 for the 3rd Regional Civil Society Meeting for the Annual ASEAN Ministers Meeting (AMM) with the aim of providing inputs from civil society to the AMM on the review and amendment of the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). […]

Brang Yung Detention Illegal Says United Nations

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued a ruling that the detention of the ethnic Kachin farmer Brang Yung is illegal and called for his immediate release, and for adequate reparation.

Brang Yung was arrested in June 2012 by the military-backed government in Burma. He was charged under Article 17/1 of the Unlawful Association Act, and he is serving a 21 year prison sentence in Myitkyina Prison […]

Burma Must Find a Path to a More Tolerant Society

The streets of Mandalay, which just recently drew over 20,000 people in support of National League for Democracy and 88 Generation Peace and Open Society’s joint campaign to amend Section 436 of the Constitution in support of democratic reform, remain deserted this last week as many business owners closed their shutters in fear, following serious unrest in the city. In the second largest city in Burma, violent mobs took over the streets, leaving two people dead and dozens injured. Some stated that over “70 police were here but did nothing,” as Buddhist mobs torched a school in a Muslim area. Ironically the international community has mostly stayed silent in the wake of the recent events when their actions are needed to protect the people of Burma, especially the most vulnerable communities, more than ever.

The series of events began on 1 July, just hours after the extremist Buddhist monk, and leader of the anti-Muslim 969 movement, Wirathu, picked up a questionable post from the social media site Facebook that highlighted an alleged rape of a Buddhist woman committed by two Muslim brothers. According to David Mathieson, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, Wirathu, who is based in Mandalay, appeared to have played “a pivotal role” in inciting the unrest, fanning tensions by spreading accusations with religious inferences, while calling for action against the two Muslim brothers who own a teashop in the same area where his monastery is located […]