Campaign News

In a strongly worded opinion piece for Al Jazeera, Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, writes: “The change that so many hope to see in Myanmar will not come to fruition while the army retains its current dominance. Unchecked trade and investment with military companies will only …

Overseas based Burma ethnic alliance and coalition groups issued statements welcoming Gambia’s lawsuit to the International Court of Justice for genocide against the Rohingya by the Burmese government. Karen News quotes Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK: “These legal cases will help put the military on notice that they cannot continue to evade justice …

Burma Campaign UK welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court to go ahead with the investigation into alleged crimes against the Rohingya people from Burma. The Court may exercise jurisdiction over crimes when part of the criminal conduct takes place on the territory of a State Party. Burma is not a State Party but …

VOA News reports on the rise of heroin addiction in jade mining areas along the Chinese border in Kachin State. Corruption is rife in the region.  Some law and mining officials illegally distribute the drug, which is largely smuggled in from neighbouring Shan state, according to Burma Campaign UK. Amphetamine addiction is also on the …

Radio Free Asia reports that residents of northern Shan state’s Pa-O Autonomous Region are up in arms over the Burmese government’s decision to extend the operation period of a Chinese-owned coal-fired power plant that they say has exceeded land use specifications, severely polluted the local environment, and jeopardized their health and their livelihoods. The Pa-O …

Burma Campaign UK today joins the climate strike. Burma is the second most vulnerable country in the world to climate change. Anna Roberts, Mark Farmaner and Karin Valtersson at the climate strike

The European Parliament today called on the EU to lead on referring Burma to the International Criminal Court. The current EU position is that it does not support a referral and the EU and EU External Action Service have a long track record of ignoring European Parliament Resolutions on Burma. Read European Parliament resolution

A new cross-party report by British MPs, two years on from the Rohingya crisis, is out today. It highlights the need for the British government to push for ICC referral, sanctions on military companies, a stronger position on Rohingya citizenship, and more long-term planning for humanitarian aid. Burma Campaign UK gave evidence to the inquiry …

Doug Janke, Head of Development, on Burma Campaign UK’s stall at this week’s Trades Union Congress in Brighton. Thank you to the TUC for supporting human rights and democracy in Burma. Doug Janke with the TUC’s General Secretary Frances O’Grady

Eminent Burmese filmmaker and rights activist Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who was sentenced to one year in prison for criticizing the military-drafted 2008 Constitution and the military’s role in politics, has drawn the attention of international organizations, says India’s Face2News. Face2News reports on Burma Campaign UK’s mission to ask Aung San Suu Kyi to release Min Htin Ko …

Burma Campaign UK’s Executive Director Anna Roberts and Campaigns Officer Wai Hnin were at Vale Earth Fair in Guernsey this Bank Holiday weekend. Vale Earth Fair have been supporting Burma Campaign UK for many years. Anna Roberts and Wai Hnin at Vale Earth Fair

Nearly 40 international firms including US tech giants Google and Apple, as well as Britain’s Peel Group, China’s Huawei and Japanese financial services company JCB have been added to Burma Campaign UK’s “Dirty List” for doing business with the military, reports the Irrawaddy. Burma Campaign UK’s Director Mark Farmaner said, “When an international company does …

A Belgian company has become the first to announce it is cutting ties with the Burmese military after a United Nations fact-finding mission called on businesses to sever all financial links to the country’s generals. Satellite communications firm Newtec said it would “follow the recommendations by the UN and stop commercial ties with Mytel,” a local …

The most recent UN report outlines how European companies have helped fund military operations in Burma by entering into business ventures with firms controlled by key members of the military. The UN is now urging the international community to sever all ties to these companies and implement a global arms embargo. Mark Farmaner, director of …

The Burmese military has exploited a large network of business ties to fund “brutal operations against ethnic groups”, a United Nations fact-finding mission said in its latest report. It calls on the international community to sever all ties with the military and impose financial sanctions, an arms embargo and a consumer boycott. Mark Farmaner, director …

The US State Department announced that it has barred several senior Burmese military officials from entering the United States, over a lack of accountability for atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said the ban would have little effect and more needed to be done to hold those guilty of …

The United States has issued sanctions to Min Aung Hlaing and three more top military leaders over what it called “gross human rights violations” during the “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya Muslim minority. The leaders and their immediate families are barred from entry into the US, reports the New Mexico-based public broadcasting service KRWG. “It …

The United States has imposed sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing and three of Burma’s highest-ranking generals for their roles in the atrocities carried out against Rohingya Muslims since 2017. The four generals and their immediate family members will be barred from entering the US. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said the travel ban …

Burma’s bid jointly with Thailand to host the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2021 has been met with a chorus of criticism, reports Myanmar Mix, as activists and politicians raise human rights concerns in Rakhine state. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, was surprised by the decision to accept the bid, “even by FIFA’s low standards. You …

Aung San Suu Kyi’s status has sunk to a new despicable low, according to the National, after she met prime minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, and agreed with him that “one of the greatest challenges … is migration [and] continuously growing Muslim populations”. “We thought that Aung San Suu Kyi would move in the areas she could …

Coconuts Yangon reports that Aung San Suu Kyi, meeting Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, agreed with him that “one of the greatest challenges” facing their countries is “migration” and how to “co-exist” with “continuously growing Muslim populations.” “Aung San Suu Kyi seems more comfortable with Europe’s right-wing populists than the countries which spent years supporting …

Burma Campaign UK on Wednesday called on Facebook to ban nearly 30 pages belonging to the Myanmar military and military-backed companies, reports the Irrawaddy. Although Facebook had previously removed military pages, fake accounts and military mouthpiece pages, the statement said, more than 25 military and military-backed companies’ pages are still hosted on the platform. “Whether …

Facebook now has 18 million local users in Burma and is a parallel space for the conflict in Rakhine State, reports the website Coda Story. In late 2018, and again in early 2019, Facebook announced it had dismantled sweeping “Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior” (CIB) campaigns directly traceable to the military. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s State Counsellor …

A decision by New York Times Style Magazine editors to pair an article on Burma’s struggles with its “brutal history and violent present” with a high-end fashion shoot has prompted a social media backlash, says Coconuts Yangon. “Using genocide to promote high-end fashion shows quite a lack of judgement and sensitivity. It’s a bizarre feature,” …