August 1-7, 2014

Ethnic conflict ceasefire talks advance

State-owned media

The Myanmar Times – “Ethnic groups send mixed messages on draft ceasefire,” 4 August 2014

• 16 members of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team, who are negotiating the ceasefire with the government on behalf of armed ethnic groups, gathered in Laiza for discussion on 25 – 29 July. Several armed groups who were not included in the NCCT, met separately on 30 – 31 July.
• Some agreements have been reached on a draft nationwide ceasefire. A single draft of seven chapters was agreed in April, but around one quarter of the text still remains to be finalised.
• Ethnic groups however, say that they will need further guarantees from the government on minority rights and the introduction of a federal system before negotiations can advance further.
• The government did not dismiss the issue but said it would need to be discussed at a later stage.

Private media

The Irrawaddy – Ethnics discuss roster of eligible ceasefire groups,’ 4 August 2014

• Ethnic armed groups and the Burmese government peace delegation met on Sunday to discuss which groups would qualify to sign a long sought after nationwide ceasefire agreement.
• The two sides attempted to set criteria that ethnic armed groups must meet in order to sign the accord.
• However, it appeared that the government was seeking to exclude certain ethnic groups from signing the agreement.
• Saw Kwe Hoo Win, member of the NCCT and General Secretary of Karen National Union said of the talks, ‘organisations based abroad that are active in Burmarelated campaigns and advocacy work and overseas groups critical of the government or anti-government would be excluded from the list of qualified organisations.’

Tensions over upcoming elections

State-owned media

Myanmar Times –  “Census ethnicity data release delayed until after election,” 4 August 2014

• Census results on the ethnic population of Burma will not be released until after the 2015 elections.
• This follows concerns that the results could provoke further communal conflict, which in turn has caused some to believe that the results are being withheld due to political motivations. U Kyaw San Wai, a senior analyst at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies Singapore, said that he believed that the primary reason for the delay was the government’s desire to ‘minimise risk ahead of 2015 elections.’
• Nevertheless, officials maintain that the delay has been caused by data-input difficulties after a higher number of people than expected chose not to identify as one of the 135 set ethnic groups on the census questionnaire.
• The Burmese government allowed only 135 ethnic categories on the census, and decreed that no one would be allowed to select ‘Rohingya’ as their ethnicity. Some communities refused to comply and were therefore skipped.
• The inclusion of the question of ethnicity was controversial from the very beginning of the census. Many experts advised that it be removed for fear of provocation; Human Rights Watch called the limitation of ethnic groups on the census a ‘deeply flawed’ system. 

Private 

The Irrawaddy –  “Activists take to the streets to oppose Burma’s changing electoral system,” 5 August 2014

• More than 100 people gathered in front of Rangoon’s City Hall on Tuesday to protest plans to change the Burmese electoral system to proportional representation before the 2015 elections.
• The Upper House of Parliament has already approved the measure, and it was discussed in the Lower House last week.
• However, it appears that the government attempted to suppress the protests prior to the event. Myat Kyaw, spokesman for the Mass Movement Acceleration Network, a leading group in the protest said, ‘the authorities refused us permission to protest. We asked for Kyauktada Township but they gave us Tamwe Township… We can’t accept Parliament’s decision because it came as a result of oppression by the majority in Parliament. Ethnic minority parties and the NLD still oppose it.’

US declare Burma an area for concern

Private 

Democratic Voice of Burma –  “’Religious discrimination and violence rife in government practices,’ says US,”

• The US State Department’s ‘International Religious Freedom Report’ was released on Monday, declaring that the Burmese government appeared to be taking action to restrict the freedom of Muslims and Christians in Burma. The Government appeared to be primarily supporting ‘Theravada Buddhism,’ as shown by state funding of monasteries and Buddhist missionary activities.
• Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims appear to be the worst affected by discrimination from communities and government security forces. In Arakan State, Muslims have been forced into camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs,) as part of a national strategy to ‘impede the ability of Muslims to pursue livelihoods, access markets and engage with other communities.’
• The report singled out the anti-Muslim 969 movement as a particularly fervent instigator of violence. For example, the group incited attacks in March, which left between 44 and 87 dead, destroyed 1500 homes and displaced over 11,000 people, mainly Muslims. The 969 movement makes use of social media in order to disseminate hate speech and encourage violence.
• Christians have also suffered from anti-religious sentiment in the past 12 months, with reports of the Burmese army destroying churches, targeting religious leaders and barring access to churches in Kachin State.
• Churches are targeted, skilled Muslims are excluded from government and management sectors, but Buddhist monasteries appear untouched, which serves to imply an unwritten anti-religious policy running contradictory to the official constitution.
• The report renewed Burma’s status as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ for ‘engaging in or tolerating particularly severe violations of religious freedom.’
• This news comes ahead of Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Burma later this week. 

Arrests and detentions

Private 

Democratic Voice of Burma – “Five opposition party members charged for protest against PR system,” 6 August 2014

• After the unauthorised demonstration against proportional representation in Prome on Monday, local police detained five members of two opposition parties.
• Four members of the National League for Democracy and one member of the Democratic Party for New Society were arrested under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Processions Act, and if found guilty could face up to six months in prison or a fine of 30,000 kyat.
• The demonstrators claimed that they had requested permission to stage the protest, but their request had been rejected. The government claimed that this was because regulation had to be sought no fewer than five days prior to the planned protest, and that it was not appropriate to stage a demonstration against proportional representation since there had been no debate or approval of it in Parliament.
• The lawyer appointed to represent the five, Robert San Aung, said that the actions of the Prone police were in clear contradiction of the newly amended law on peaceful protests.

“Sittwe Court extends Rohingya activist’s detention, again,” 5 August 2014

• A court in western Burma has extended the detention of distinguished lawyer and human rights activist Kyaw Hla Aung for his support of the Rohingya.
• On Monday, the Sittwe district court postponed Kyaw Hla Aung’s proceedings until 18 August and denied him bail.
• Kyaw Hla Aung has been detained since July 2013 after his arrest for his alleged involvement in demonstrations against a citizenship verification program that would require ethnic ‘Rohingya’ to formally identify themselves as ‘Bengali’.
• Kyaw Hla Aung has criticised the apparent systematic persecution of Muslim Rohingya in Burma; the Burmese government and a large section of the population deny the existence of a Rohingya ethnic identity and claim that they are merely illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. One million are denied citizenship, and face persecution in the form of movement restrictions, family life and relocation to crowded camps with no access to medicines or clean water.
• He faces six charges that could result in a 20 year jail sentence if found guilty – these include rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon, organising or abetting unlawful assembly, robbery, obstructing duties of public servants and inciting unrest. The last charge falls under controversial Article 505(b), which has been used to quell riots and detain several activists involved in public gatherings who are critical of government policy.
• Matthew Smith, from Bangkok-based advocacy group Fortify Rights said, ‘what we’re seeing are repeated court appearances without verdict… We can’t say with any confidence when we might expect a verdict because the process is opaque and subject to questionable political pressures. The court should move to drop all charges and release him unconditionally.’
• Amnesty International have launched a campaign for Kyaw Hla Aung’s release, claiming that he has been ‘targeted as an influential human rights defender with connections to the international community.’ 

Radio Free Asia – “One Rohingya Muslim dead after shooting at Myanmar’s Refugee Camp’” 7 August 2014

• One Rohingya Muslim was killed, two injured and 15 detained after violence was sparked at the Darpaing Refugee Camp in Rakhine State on Wednesday, after a disagreement between two Muslims from a neighbouring town and a Muslim resident of the camp.
• Police officers claimed that the initial disagreement grew to involve 100 other members of the camp, and they were ‘forced’ to open fire five times to scare off the residents who they claimed were attacking them with slingshots. When the crowd responded attackingly to these shots, they opened fire four further times.