David Cameron snail protest: speed up Myanmar sanctions
Stars of Myanmar Friendship, supported by Burma Campaign UK, held a protest today outside the British Foreign Office, calling for faster implementation of targeted sanctions against the Myanmar military.
The British government has still not sanctioned key sectors of support to the Myanmar military, including jet fuel, the gas industry and state banks. Members of the Myanmar community called on Foreign Secretary David Cameron to speed up the pace of new sanctions.
Zoya Phan interviewed by Burma News Network
Nant Zoya Phan, Burma Campaign UK’s Programme Director, talked to Burma News Network about the seminar “Towards a democratic Myanmar and its impact on security along the Thai border”, held on March 2-3 in the Thai Parliament, Bangkok, over the Burmese junta’s objection.
“It was emphasized that cross-border assistance is needed for war refugees” said Zoya Phan. “Humanitarian aid cannot be provided through the military council for the war refugees who are in the Myanmar border where there are millions. It was reported that it would work only if you pay directly through the Thai border. Thai parliamentarians accept and trust this presentation.”
House of Lords debates health care in Myanmar – Parliament Live TV
The House of Lords in the UK Parliament today held a short debate on Myanmar, secured by Lord Nigel Crisp. The Lords assessed the role the UK could play in supporting health care workers and the reconstruction of the health system in Myanmar.
462 CSOs urgently call on UN Security Council to protect civilians in Myanmar – Progressive Voice
Marking three years of the military junta’s failed coup, Burma Campaign UK has joined 461 organisations calling urgently for swift UN Security Council action against the military junta to end its war of terror and protect civilians in Myanmar.
House of Lords call for action on Rohingya genocide – Hansard
Today in the House of Lords, UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron was pushed on calling a UN Security Council meeting on Burma’s non-implementation of provisional measures set out by the International Court of Justice, to halt the Rohingya genocide. Burma Campaign UK has been campaigning for this, and it is great to see the pressure mounting on the British government.
Zoya Phan at UK Parliament
Zoya Phan, Burma Campaign UK’s programme director, took part with other friends from Burma in a Burma Hearing by the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission in Parliament today.
Violated: How Burma’s displaced women and girls are impacted by gender based violence
Burma Campaign UK”s Executive Director, Anna Roberts, spoke today at a vital conversation concluding UN Women’s 16 Days Of Activism against gender-based violence.
Anna Roberts reported on her recent visit to displacement camps on the Thai-Burmese border, and urged the case for humanitarian aid to go directly to the ethnic groups in border areas as the military’s hold weakens. Civil society is leading the opposition to the regime and BCUK is campaigning for the the political will to bring the military to international justice.
Watch conversation (Anna Roberts at 16.54 – 21.10, 42.15 – 47.18 and 1.01.40 – 1.03.16)
UK hits Myanmar border guard force colonel with sanctions – the Irrawaddy
The UK slapped sanctions on a leader of Myanmar junta-affiliated Border Guard Force (BGF) Colonel Saw Chit Thu and two others involved in the controversial Shwe Kokko new city gambling project in Karen State, over allegations of human trafficking, forced labor and human rights violations, reports the Irrawaddy.
The UK said the three people sanctioned over the Shwe Kokko project have been responsible for supporting or benefitting from the trafficking of individuals who were forced to work as scammers and were subject to torture, physical abuse and further cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.
Burma Campaign UK’s director, Mark Farmaner, said: “[Saw] Chit Thu belongs in jail and these sanctions should act as a stepping stone towards holding him to account for decades of human rights violations by soldiers under his command.”
Burma’s civil war escalates – Jungle World
The three Brotherhood Alliance (3BA) of armed ethnic organisations has earned success in Myanmar against the troops of the military junta and taken part of the largest state of Shan, including two cities on the border with China, reports Jungle World.
The said goal of the 3BA was to stop the criminal enterprises in cities on the border with China. “The 3BA could never have launched the offensive without informing China and without China’s approval,” says Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK.
“So far, the international community thought that the military was unbeatable and that the National Unity Government and the ethnic armed organisations had to negotiate with the junta from a certain point. Now it is conceivable that the military is being hunted out of office.”
Read Jungle World article (in German, translate icon to right of address bar)
Zoya Phan at World Liberty Congress
Zoya Phan, programme director of Burma Campaign UK, spoke at the first General Assembly of the World Liberty Congress in Vilnius, Lithuania, where 200 human rights and freedom activists, former political prisoners, political dissidents, opposition leaders, international human rights lawyers, and many more, from 56 countries dominated by autocratic regimes came together.