Fighting for democracy and saving lives in Burma
Since the brutal military coup, people in Burma/Myanmar are appealing for international help. Burma Campaign UK is answering their call.
Will you make a donation today?
Help us support activists on the ground in Burma/Myanmar
“How many of us have to die before the international community helps us?”
This is the question people in Burma keep asking.
Since the brutal military coup, people in Burma/Myanmar are appealing for international help. Burma Campaign UK is answering their call.
Will you help us with a donation today?
With incredible bravery and determination, people in Burma have been resisting the coup. Every day since the coup, hundreds of thousands of people across the country have come out on the streets to demand an end to military rule.
The military have responded with a brutal crackdown. More than 500 peaceful protesters have been shot or tortured to death, more than two thousand have been arrested.
On one day alone, more than 100 people were killed across the country by security forces. In ethnic areas the military have bombed villages, causing thousands of people to flee for their lives.
Keeping up the pressure for international action
Burma Campaign UK is working around the clock to support the people in Burma and get the international community to act. Within hours of the coup, Burma Campaign UK was working to mobilise international action against the military, and assisting media with information.
We have worked with activists and organisations across Burma to make sure their voices and demands for international action have been heard.
Human rights activists in Burma want sanctions to stop the flow of money and weapons to the military. And they want justice.
We have helped secure sanctions on military companies.
We are building a global campaign for countries all over the world to impose arms embargoes.
We have forced many companies to stop doing business with the military.
We are campaigning for countries to stop training the Burmese military.
We are using every tool we can to try to put international pressure on the military.
But more needs to be done, and urgently. Everything that can be done, must be done.
Will you make a donation today?
Help us provide urgent help to keep activists safe
People in Burma need the world to act but they also need urgent help to keep them safe. We need your help to do this.
We have been able to quickly provide practical assistance and funding to activists at risk. With the ongoing brutal military crackdown, many activists have had to go into hiding, forced to flee their homes at short notice leaving everything behind.
For the safety of the people we work with we can’t tell you many details about this work.
We can tell you we have helped protesters to escape arrest, jail and torture. People are free and safe now because of our help.
We have been able to fund healthcare to people affected by the coup.
And we are funding emergency aid to the thousands of people who have fled to areas of ethnic states not under military control. Protesters and activists who would otherwise be arrested, but are now left with nothing, some not even with a change of clothes.
We can’t do this without your support
We are a small organisation and we are dependent on donations from individual supporters such as yourself. Simply put, the more donations we get, the more we can do to help.
Will you make a donation today?
People in Burma are doing everything they can to resist the coup. They are risking their lives every day to fight for their rights, for democracy, for peace and justice.
We are doing everything we can to help them in these desperate times. But we need your help to do that. I hope you are able to add your support.
Thank you so much.
EU slaps fresh sanctions on Myanmar junta – Deccan Herald
The EU has added eight officials from Myanmar’s junta and three firms linked to the military to its sanctions blacklist over the country’s February coup and bloody repression of protests, reports the Deccan Herald.
The UK also announced sanctions on the same companies as well as the military junta’s ruling body the State Administration Council.
Anna Roberts, executive director of Burma Campaign UK, said it was a way of keeping up economic pressure. “The EU must now also look at creative ways to stop oil and gas revenue reaching the military. It is vital to continue to systematically identify and cut sources of revenue to the military.”
Myanmar: State of Fear (Wai Hnin Pwint Thon interviewed) – Al Jazeera
Since the military coup in February, a climate of terror has engulfed Burma. Disappearances, detention without charge, alleged torture and mysterious deaths are just some of the actions under the spotlight following widespread protests against the military takeover.
Al Jazeera’s report exposes a secret interrogation centre in the country’s biggest city, Yangon. This investigation also reveals how Western tech firms have sold surveillance software and data extraction tools to the country.
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, Burma Campaign UK’s Campaigns Officer, is interviewed about her father’s experience of arrest and detention.
Watch Al Jazeera investigation report (Wai Hnin interviewed 7.50 – 9.30 and 24.15 – 25.20)
UK accused of a ‘abandoning’ Rohingya with ‘catastrophic’ 40% aid cut – the Guardian
The government has been accused of abandoning Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh after cutting aid to the humanitarian response by more than 40%, reports the Guardian.
“Dominic Raab talks the talk but he doesn’t walk the walk on Burma. He likes to offer statements, whether it is on justice or support to protesters, but doesn’t follow it up with action. This includes aid. In their most dire moment of need, Dominic Raab has decided to abandon the poorest people of Burma,” said Karin Valtersson, Burma Campaign UK’s campaigns officer.
UK aid to Rohingya £27.6m, almost half of 2020 – Dhaka Tribune
The British government has announced “shocking” cuts to its aid in support of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, reports Dhaka Tribune.
“Even in a climate where aid cuts were expected due to the government’s broken promise of delivering 0.7% of GNI in aid, this is still shocking,” said Karin Valtersson, campaigns officer at Burma Campaign UK.
“The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are genocide survivors, they are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, many are survivors of sexual violence, of torture, of having witnessed family members including children being killed by the Burmese army,” she said.
EU must sanction Burmese timber and gems industry
Timber and gems exports from Burma are worth billions of dollars a year, and now that the military have seized government departments at gunpoint, that money will be going to the military.
This money will help pay for the bullets fired at protestors and the bombs being dropped on ethnic civilians.
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon interviewed – France 24
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, campaigns officer at Burma Campaign UK, and the daughter of a man serving a 65-year jail sentence in Myanmar for his part in the 2007 protests, gave France 24 her take on the current situation.
Wai Hnin says negotiations will have to happen but that talking with the Myanmar military is futile. She calls for international action to hold the military to account and end the impunity it has so far enjoyed for its crimes. Burma must be referred to the International Criminal Court.
EU imposes Myanmar sanctions as murder rate becomes ‘unbearable’ – the Telegraph
The European Union has slapped asset freezes and visa bans on 11 members of the Burmese junta linked to the military coup on February 1 and a brutal crackdown on protesters, reports the Telegraph.
“After seven weeks of delay, the EU finally announces its action against the military in response to the coup. 11 members of the military can no longer take holidays in EU member states. Pathetic,” tweeted Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK.
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon testimony to US Senate Committee
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, Burma Campaign UK’s Campaigns Officer, testified today to the United State Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. She thanked the US for being first to act after the coup and called for US leadership in taking diplomatic, economic and legal measures against the Burmese military.
“On the streets in my country, young people come back onto the streets day after day despite knowing they could be shot. They are doing everything they can. We are asking you to do everything you canto help people in Burma.”
Watch Wai Hnin Pwint Thon’s testimony (starts at 2:12:25, ends at 2:17:50)
Australia cuts military ties amid ‘rising death toll’ – Al Jazeera
Australia has suspended its defence cooperation programme with Burma amid concern about the “escalating violence and rising death toll”.
“Australia has finally ended a training programme it should never have started in the first place,” said Anna Roberts, the executive director of Burma Campaign UK. “Twelve more countries are still engaged in training and cooperation with the Burmese military. Countries providing training to the Burmese military have sided with the military, which is shooting peaceful protesters. They cannot claim non-interference in Burma’s internal affairs when they are helping one side. A military which is killing civilians.”