Campaign News
Modern Ghana reports on the continued detention of the two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
The online media portal quotes Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK: “We’ve seen the Burmese government coming under intense pressure over the arrest and trial and jailing of these journalists. And it really has drawn attention to the fact that under the NLD, freedom of expression, media freedom, has not improved, and is actually getting worse in the country.
“So even though it was the military which framed these journalists and the military which wanted to press ahead with the prosecution, the civilian side of the government, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi is able to release them, and is choosing not to.”
Burma Campaign UK has put Facebook on its shame list of 49 state and private firms from Europe, Asia and the United States working with the military, according to the Pakistan-based UrduPoint.
Burma Campaign UK says “The Dirty List Names international companies doing business with the military in Burma. The list also includes international companies involved in projects where there are human rights violations or environmental destruction.”
Facebook is one of 49 companies from the US, UK, France, Switzerland and China named on Burma Campaign UK’s “dirty list” of corporations accused of involvement in human rights and environmental violations, reports the Guardian.
“We hope that being named on this list will prompt some companies to end their involvement with the military or operations linked to human rights and environmental problems,” said Burma Campaign UK. “In doing so, they act as a warning to other companies.”
Burma Campaign UK has unveiled a ‘Dirty List’ of companies they claim are linked to the Myanmar military or with operations linked to rights violations or environmental destruction, reports One World.
Companies which supply equipment to the military, or do business with the military, are complicit in the human rights violations committed by them,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “We are not saying don’t do business in Burma, we are saying don’t do business with the military.”
49 companies worldwide are named and shamed in Burma Campaign UK’s latest “Dirty List” of firms that do business with the military, reports the Irrawaddy. The companies’ operations have been linked to human rights violations or environmental destruction in Burma.
Mark Farmaner, BCUK’s Director, told The Irrawaddy: “There is no single measure that will pressure the military to change, but every small form of pressure will add up to stronger pressure. Everything that can put pressure on the military should be tried.”
Burma Campaign UK has joined other human rights organisations in support of the three Kachin activists jailed for organising peaceful protests, reports RFA.
“It is outrageous that they should have been jailed for organizing candlelight vigils and peaceful protests, calling for humanitarian aid for starving people,” said Anna Roberts, BCUK’s executive director. “Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have the majority in parliament to repeal all repressive laws, and they should do so. The only reason these three activists are now in prison is that the NLD doesn’t care enough about fundamental human rights to protect them.”
Burma Campaign UK has “named and shamed” 49 international companies it accuses of having links to the Burmese military, reports the UAE-based National.
“Companies which supply equipment to the military, or do business with the military, are complicit in the human rights violations committed by them,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of BCUK. “We are not saying don’t do business in Burma, we are saying don’t do business with the military.”
The Burma Campaign UK, published its “Dirty List of international companies linked to the military in Burma, or companies whose operations are linked to human rights violations or environmental destruction”, reports the journalist Rashmee Roshan Lall.
The 49-strong list included America’s Western Union and Facebook, India’s Tata, and Japan’s Toshiba. Burma Campaign UK said its aim was to put pressure on “companies to stop doing business with the military … To date, the main response of the international community to genocide in Burma has been to impose a ban on a small number of military personnel going on holiday to certain countries.”
Humanitarian organisations have hit back at accusations that they are blocking the repatriation of Rohingya refugees living in crowded camps in Bangladesh.
Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, described as nonsense the Burmese government’s accusation that NGOs are trying to prevent refugees from returning to Myanmar because they are making money. He said refugees are refusing to return because neither the government nor the military respect their human rights: “The government only wants refugees to return as a public relations move to try to avoid more international pressure.”
Lway Poe Kamaekhour from the Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO) joins Zoya Phan and Anna Roberts from Burma Campaign UK at the 2018 Film festival on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, at the BFI London.
