Mark Farmaner joins calls for tough line on human rights at UN
Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, joined calls for maintaining a tough line on human rights at the UN General Assembly.
“Discontinuing the resolution will encourage the military to believe they can continue to commit human rights violations and block constitutional reform without any consequences,” he told The Myanmar Times.
One prisoner of conscience is one too many
Business community pins sanction hopes on State Counsellor’s visit to US
This article in Myanmar Times quotes Zoya Phan, Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK:
“The US imposed sanctions in response to human rights violations, and they are still taking place,” Zoya Phan, a political activist from the Burma Campaign UK, told The Myanmar Times. “Lifting sanctions will just encourage the Myanmar military to think they can keep committing human rights abuses and keep blocking constitutional reform and get away with it,” she said.
At the TUC
At the TUC working with our trade union brothers and sisters in solidarity on human rights abuses in Burma.
Watchlist enumeration forces teacher to return to exile in the US, even as govt pledges to trim roster
From The Myanmar Times:
“Several staff members from Burma Campaign UK believe they are still enumerated on the list as they have not yet been informed of their removal. In June, Burma Campaign UK wrote to the government asking for confirmation of which staff members remain on the roster and which have been removed.
“The NLD-led government should publish the blacklist and explain why human rights activists remain on it. Most governments have some form of blacklist to stop criminals or people who are a threat to the country, but people should not be blacklisted just because the government doesn’t like what they say,” Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, told The Myanmar Times.”
Speaking at University College London
Zoya Phan, Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK, with students and professor from University College London (UCL), after a talk on human rights in Burma.
Myanmar’s Best Chance for Internal Peace
Interesting article in the Asia Sentinel:
“We need to learn from the history of the KIO’s 17 years ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military,” said Lum Zawng, a lawyer and General secretary of All Kachin Youth Union. “They [the army] always demanded to disarm first and accept the 2008 Constitution, but no ethnic armed organization wants to disarm first. They have always said that talks and a political agreement should come first.”
“Attacks on the TNLA by the RCSS highlight a nationwide problem of how main ethnic groups will address concerns and demands of smaller ethnic groups within their states,” said Mark Farmaner, the Director of Burma Campaign UK, a human rights advocacy group. “These problems will be very complex to work through.”
Human Rights Groups Call for Investigation into Destruction of Mosques
In Karen News:
A group of 19 community based organizations has called for an official investigation into the destruction of religious buildings in Burma.
The statement was signed on behalf of a range of ethnic and human rights groups both local and international including Burma Campaign UK, Fortify Rights, and the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand.
The statement comes after a spate of violent attacks against Muslim places of worship. On June 1, a violent mob attacked and destroyed a Muslim prayer hall in Kachin State, and another mob destroyed a Mosque in the Bago region.
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi: Falling star or beacon of hope
Burma Campaign UK quoted in the Daily Mail:
“Meanwhile, the generals continue to wage war against several ethnic groups, who rose up against the central government following Myanmar’s independence from Britain in 1948. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said his group has received more reports of atrocities by the military in Kachin and Shan states in recent months than similar periods last year under the military-dominated government.
Zoya Phan speaks at the opening of the Aung San Suu Kyi Park, Norway
Zoya Phan, Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK, gave this speech at the opening of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Park in Froland, Norway on 19 June 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday:
Ladies and gentlemen,
I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be here today and to see people so many thousands of miles from our country would create a park like this and name it after our leader. It really gives us hope and encouragement. Everyone involved in the creation of this park has our thanks.
Ever since I came to Europe more than ten years ago, I have been attending events for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday.
Most of those times the events were held while Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest. They were not really celebrations. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday was an opportunity to remind the world that she and many hundreds of other political prisoners remained in jail. It was a time when the media, mostly banned from entering Burma, would report on what was going on.
So it is really wonderful to be here today, to celebrate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday with the opening of this park, at a time when she is not only free, but running the Burmese government.
The role Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has played in our struggle for freedom has been so vital. Within Burma she has been an inspiration to people, a brave and courageous woman who stood up to the half million strong army which we all feared.
And around the world, she was able to draw attention to what was going on in our country, to reach out to politicians, to media, to campaign organisations and to ordinary people, and mobilise international support.
That international support has been essential in bringing about the change we have seen in Burma so far. Never doubt the critical role that it played. And the government of Norway played a leading role in providing that support. For that, we are very grateful.
And we still need that support. As people from Burma, we are so happy to see the changes in our country so far. Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD are finally in government. Already there are plans to increase spending on health and education.
But at the same time we know the generals haven’t given up complete control. Far from it. The 2008 constitution they introduced gives them power and influence over every level of government. As far as they are concerned, the reform process is over. They don’t want to see any more change.
The Burmese Army is not under government control, and it is still attacking ethnic civilians. It breaks my heart that today in Burma, children are still forced to run for their lives as their villages are attacked by the Burmese Army, just as I was forced to run for my life 20 years ago. Until this is stopped, none of us can rest and we still need Norway’s support.
Naming this park after our leader means many things to us. It is a sign of acknowledgement and respect for a very special person who has made many sacrifices for her people. It is an import symbol of support and acceptance to the people from Burma who have been given a safe place to live here in Norway. And it is an act of solidarity with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and everyone from Burma, as we continue our struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights. Finally, I would like to say happy birthday Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!
Zoya Phan with former Norwegian PM Kjell Magne Bondevik at the opening of the Aung San Suu Kyi park,Norway, 19 Juen 2016