Burma Signing Sexual Violence Declaration Should not Just be PR Exercise

Burma Campaign UK today called on the government of Burma to immediately publish what concrete actions it will take, within a specific timeframe, to actually implement the ‘Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict’, which it has finally signed […]

Burma Parliament Must Reject Dangerous Religious Conversion Law

The introduction of the draft Law on Religious Conversions (the Law) – published in full in Burmese in state media on 27 May 2014, for the consideration of Parliament and the public – has justifiably triggered a torrent of criticism over the past few days, at national, regional and international levels.  Human Rights Watch has urged the Burma Parliament to drop the Law, while the Asian Human Rights Commission has called for “the strongest opposition to the Law, both in the public domain and in the legislature.”

Part of a package of four bills which comprise measures to “protect race and religion,” the Law is the product of a very powerful lobby in contemporary Burma, namely a coalition of Buddhist monks known as the “Organization for the Protection of Race, Religion and Belief” (the OPRRB), which has been petitioning President Thein Sein and the Burma Government to address the simmering issue of race and religion since religious and communal tensions first broke out in Arakan State almost exactly two years ago.  One of the leaders of the OPRRB, Tilawka Biwuntha, told Radio Free Asia that his organization were pleased with the introduction of the Law.

Press Release – Special Adviser to the UN Secretary- General on Myanmar

The Special Adviser welcomes the constructive dialogue held between the Government of Myanmar’s Union Peace-making Work Committee and the Kachin Independence Organization in Myitkyiana on 13 May. The meeting was held against the backdrop of concerns about recent clashes between the Armed forces of Myanmar and the Kachin Independence Army […]

ASEAN: Time to Get Serious about Protecting Human Rights

Paris, Bangkok: ASEAN must stop putting human rights on the backburner and adopt measures that strengthen its regional human rights mechanisms, FIDH said today. On 10-11 May, ASEAN leaders will convene in Burma’s capital, Naypyidaw, for the 24th ASEAN Summit. Tensions in the South China Sea are expected to top the Summit agenda. However, ASEAN leaders should be more concerned over the serious human rights crises that threaten their internal stability and, in some cases, have cross-border implications […]

United Nations Expert Says There Are “Elements of Genocide” Against Myanmar’s Rohingya

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Tomás Ojéa Quintana has said “There are elements of genocide in Rakhine with respect to Rohingya.”[…]

Burma Campaign UK Welcomes Foreign Office Quarterly Human Rights Update

Burma Campaign UK welcomes the new quarterly human rights update on Burma published today by the British Foreign Office. The update summarises human rights developments in Burma for the months of January-March 2014 […]

UN: Request for Burmese Peacekeepers Misguided

(New York) – A United Nations offer to the Burmese armed forces to consider sending troops to UN peacekeeping missions could lead to abuses and undermine peacekeeping standards, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The secretary-general’s special advisor on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, extended the invitation to the Burmese defense services commander in chief, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, during a recent visit to Burma […]

MYANMAR: ABOLISH ABUSIVE RESTRICTIONS & PRACTICES AGAINST ROHINGYA MUSLIMS

The 79-page report, Policies of Persecution: Ending Abusive State Policies Against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, produced by Fortify Rights is based primarily on the analysis of 12 leaked official documents and a review of public records, as well as interviews with Rohingya and others in Myanmar and Thailand. The documents published in the report reveal restrictions that deny Rohingya basic human rights, including the rights to nondiscrimination, freedom of movement, marriage, family, health, and privacy. All of the restrictions and enforcement methods described in the report appear to be in effect at the time of writing.

“Regional Order 1/2005,” obtained by Fortify Rights, lays the foundation for a two-child policy enforced in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, requiring Rohingya “who have permission to marry” to “limit the number of children, in order to control the birth rate so that there is enough food and shelter.” This order—which in practice translates to a strict two-child policy— also prohibits Rohingya from having children out of wedlock […]

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 […]

Statement From Members Of The European Burma Network

Members of the European Burma Network express their deep concern at reports of further massacres of members of the Rohingya ethnic group in Burma. The report by the United Nations that at least 48 Rohingya men women and children have been killed, and that police were involved, provides yet more evidence that the current approach by both the government of Burma and the European Union to address ongoing abuses against the Rohingya is failing […]