Burma Campaign UK
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,” …
The UN’s fact-finding mission to Burma is calling for the military to be totally isolated, reports the Voice of America, because the leadership has done little to address widespread rights abuses around the country. The fact-finding mission is now seeking more information on the military’s business ventures in the hopes of helping countries to hit …
The World Bank is considering granting a $100 million loan to Burma to implement a “Rakhine Recovery and Development Support Project”, reports Coconuts Yangon. But rather than address the violence against Rohingya Muslims that has driven hundreds of thousands of them from the country, the plan could make the bank complicit in crimes against the …
Anna Roberts and Wai Hnin of Burma Campaign UK were at the teachers trade union NASUWT conference in Belfast this weekend. Lots of support for our campaign, including access to education for Rohingya children. Wai Hnin, Burma campaign UK’s Campaigns Officer, at the NASUWT conference.
Mizzima reports on Burma Campaign UK’s call to the UK government to spend more on humanitarian aid to refugees and internally displaced people. The proportion of British aid spent on humanitarian aid, which helps refugees and internally displaced people, has fallen, and now makes up just 17 percent of the budget. The UK government claims it …
One of three Kachin activists jailed for six months just for organising peaceful protests to help free villagers trapped in the jungle after the army attacked their villages has been released, reports Mizzima. Nang Pu was released on 5 April from prison two months early. The three Kachin activists, Nang Pu, Lum Zawng and Zau Jat, …
Al Jazeera reports on progress following the publication of Burma Campaign UK’s “dirty list”, which named and shamed 49 companies from the US, Europe, India, China and elsewhere that do business with the military or are involved in projects that threaten human rights. Some companies named in the dirty list have responded by pulling out …
Bangladesh risks creating a “new crisis” for Rohingya refugees if it goes ahead next month with plans to relocate 23,000 refugees to an uninhabited island prone to cyclones, a United Nations human rights envoy has warned. According to Al Jazeera, Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur who visited Bhasan Char recently, told the Human Rights Council that she was …
Mark Farmaner, Karin Valtersson, Anna Roberts and Doug Janke from Burma Campaign UK’s team with Karen grassroots delegation Wah Ku Shee and Hsa Moo.