February 28 - March 6, 2015

MSF forced to suspend activities

Domestic media (state/private)

Irrawaddy – “Burma Suspends All Aid Operations of MSF” February 28, 2014

• Following disagreements over the implementation of aid programs in Arakan State, the Burmese government has suspended all operations of the MSF in the country.
• Acussations that the MSF-Holland’s projects in the Arakan State had violated certain conditions of its memorandum of understanding with the government.
  • Ye Htut – the President’s Office spokesman claims that MSF had deployed more foreign staff than it was allowed to, that the MSF had failed to remain neutral and impartial, (this based on the idea that more Rohingya Muslims were being treated than to the ethnic Rakhine population) and finally, that the MSF had been running clinics for newborns against the wishes of the government.
  • Ye Htut also explains that there are many NGOs working in the country and that the decision to close the particular NGO is solely based on the allegations that the MSF violated the agreements of the country.
• There is no other non-governmental organization that operates at the scale of the MSF, stressing that the MSF-Holland has operated in the region since 1992.
• The group’s current problems seem to be linked to the January 13 incident in the Du Chee Yar Tan village in the Maungdaw Township. 
  • This is a Rohingya Muslim village where, in the wake of the incident, the MSF treated over 22 patients who were wounded in the supposed attacks on the village.
  • Also, the UN said it received “credible evidence” to indicate that Arakan villagers and government security forces were involved in an alleged massacre of dozens of Rohingyas.
    • To this, Burma’s government has denied the killings that took place and government investigations claim that Rohingya villagers killed an on-duty police sergeant.
    • In response to this accusation, the National Human Rights Commission said that, “it was learned from 2 doctors of the MSF that their clinics did not treat any such patients”.

The Myanmar National Times – “Patients in limbo as government shuts MSF clinics” March 3, 2014

• MSF-Holland was shocked at the decision to force it to shut its operations and leave Rakhine State.
• MSF stresses that it has always emphasized patients over politics, stating that their presence in the region has brought infrastructure, logistics, experience and staff and that no one else has that.
• The closure of the MSF clinics show that there will be an incredible health care problem in the region.
  • “there are not enough facilities in the state’s hospitals to treat Rakhine and Rohingya people, and the movement restrictions placed on Rohinga mean those who live in villages, IDP camps and remote areas cannot seek treatment at these government facilities”.
• State health official, U Aung Thuein, said that he was confident that there will be no shortfall in treatment. He expressed that, “with the help of the Ministry of Health and other NGOs, [the state government] can fill the gaps”.
• In recent months, opposition to the MSF-Holland organization’s presence, mainly in the Rakhine State, has mounted with protestors taking to the streets to demand the closure of its operations.
  • This is due to the perception by the ethnic Rakhine that the MSF favors the state’s Muslim population.
  • MSF representatives state that the MSF has proven, over its 22 years in the region, that they deliver healthcare based solely on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender HIV status or political affiliation.
• Interesting to note that the MSF-Switzerland operations do not appear to be affected by the shutdown order, as it operates under a separate agreement that remains in force. 

International media - private

IRIN: Humanitarian News and Analysis – “Myanmar still talking tough over MSF expulsion from Rakhine” March 3, 2014

• February 27th, 2014, following a written order from the Burmese government, all operations of the MSF ceased in the country.
  • Reason for this is due to the apparent response to a growing public perception that the aid that the NGO provides in the Rakhine State was being unevenly distributed, ie. That greater assistance is being provided to displaced Rohingya Muslims than to the ethnic Rakhine population.
  • MSF-Holland and other international NGOs are being accused of favoring the Rohingyas, who, under Burmese law, are considered to be stateless and are referred to locally as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh
• As a result, the authorities in the Rakhine state say they are ready to take over the health program. 
  • Director of Rakhine’s health department quoted as saying that, “We can take over in one week”.
• The suspension also highlight an increasingly difficult working environment for the humanitarian staff in the Rakhine State.
  • Dealing with population displacement, hundreds of people being killed in conflicts from 2012 between the Rakhine Buddhist and the Rohingya Muslims.
• The NGO work will continue in other regions of the country, such as in Kachin and Shan states, as well as in the Yangon Region.
• OCHA in February, launched a campaign for public information in Sittwe, to improve understanding of humanitarian response development projects across the state, as part of an effort to be more transparent about their work and increasing outreach to the public.
• Aye Nyein says that the anger with the MSF in the region remains intense and that as a result of such, all of the staff in Rakhine would need to be replaced. 
  • “Once MSF is gone the protests will die down. We don’t want anything left from MSF. No staff, no medicine, no cars, no boats.”
  • Further stresses that the transfer from MSF’s program to the Department of Health will be a smooth transition.
• Meanwhile, the MSF remains, “extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Rakhine State who currently face a humanitarian medical crisis”. 
  • Statistics from the previous year (2013) suggest that over 400,000 primary healthcare consultations and over 2,900 emergency referrals were carried out in eight townships in the Rakhine State. 
  • Since 2004, MSF teams in the Rakhine State have treated over 1.24 million malaria patients.
  • Finally, statistics show that the ratio in Myanmar of doctor to citizen is roughly 450 doctors for 3.3 million people. In contrast, the MSF had over 500 staffed workers in the Rakhine State alone.

UNHRC – Refworld – Myanmar – “Myanmar still talking tough over MSF expulsion from Rakhine” March 3, 2014

• This article echoes the sentiments evidenced in the above mentioned articles, providing insight on the disagreements between MSF-Holland and the government of Burma.
• State departments met over the weekend to draft a strategy and timeframe for taking control of the medical charity’s programs.
• The suspension of the MSF in the Rakhine region only highlights the increasingly difficult working environment of the staff and the recent protests that have been underway against the MSF in the area.
• Here, Aye Nyein takes the opportunity to point out that any and all protest and issues in the region will die down once the MSF has been completely removed from the region. 

Human Rights – Democratic transition

Domestic media – private 

Democratic Voice of Burma – “Reformist government must acknowledge past: HRDP” March 5, 2014

• Human Rights groups in Burma have urged President Thein Sein’s reformist government to create counseling and rehabilitation centers for the victims of Burma’s previous regime.
• HRDP (Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network) said that since Thein Sein’s civilian government came to power in 2011, progress for the human rights situation in the country is hollow without he full reconciliation of the past.
• Maung Maung Lay, an HDRP board member explains that since the country claims it is going through a democratic transition, the government must provide justice for the victims of the human rights violations of the past, otherwise, the government reforms will not be regarded as fair or just. 
  • Maung Maung Lay has experienced the military regimes violence firsthand in 2007 where she was beaten by 100 men who were acting on government orders.
• Co-founder of Rainfall, a women’s rights group, Zin Mar Aung said that the brisk pace of reform seen in 2011 has slowed down, and that the blame can be directly associated to the negligent government officials.
  • Furthermore, Zing Mar Aung acknowledges that there are increasing challenges for the development of human rights in Burma, but stresses that if the authorities cannot effectively deal with them, then the reforms are questionable. 
• The secretary of the government backed Myanmar National Human Rights Commission says that all human rights activism is welcome and encouraged. However, in the meantime, the human rights operations should be in accordance with the existing laws.
• The selective enforcement of Article 18 the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, has landed many activists in prison and has become highly criticized by the international community. 

Continued ban on inter-faith marriage

Domestic/Diaspora media – private 

Burma News International – “Ministries to continue to drafting inter-faith marriage ban” March 1, 2014

• On February 27, 2014, it was decided that the ministries of Religion and Immigration and Population will be asked to contribute towards a proposed law to ban inter-faith marriages.
• This decision was made at a meeting held with the Speaker of the Pyidaugsu Hluttaw, Thura U Shwe Mann and the chairpersons/secretaries of the Pyithu and Amyothahluttaw 45 member parliamentary committees.
• This request has come after a petition in support of an inter-faith marriage ban containing more than 1 million signatures that was sent to the President by the Myanmar Organization for the Protection of Nation and Religion.
• However, some PMs have stated that although they are not opposed to a law banning marriage between Buddhists and non-Buddhists, they were against restrictions based on religion. 

Myanmar News.net – “Myanmar Tamils seek to protect their identity” March 6, 2014

• Roughly two percent of Myanmar’s 55 million population is made up of people of Indian origin.
• Within this two percent, the largest group is that of the Tamils. The experience of the Tamils in the region has gone from one extreme to the other in the past 200 years.
• Following Burmese independence in 1948, the introduction of land reforms, the imposition of the Burmese language and the decisions to give preferential treatment to the majority Burmese communities has resulted in the Tamils being pushed down in the social hierarchy.
• Tamils are now attempting to revive their language and culture in the region through education and opening new Tamil schools.
• The restrictions on minority populations within Burma meant that Tamils were isolated for many years, and are just now trying to revive their own culture and history.