Campaign News

An impromptu recital of a Kipling poem by Boris Johnson on a visit to the Shwedagon pagoda was so embarrassing the UK ambassador was forced to stop him, reports the Guardian. “It is stunning he would do this there,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK. “There is a sensitivity about British colonialism and …

The Guardian reports that St Hugh’s College Oxford, where Aung San Suu Kyi studied as an undergraduate, has removed her portrait from public display and placed it in storage, following international criticism over her role in the Rohingya crisis. Burma Campaign UK’s director Mark Farmaner said “This seems a rather cowardly action by St Hugh’s. …

Frontier Myanmar reports on Britain’s suspension of its educational training courses for the Myanmar military due to the violence in Rakhine State. Burma Campaign UK’s director Mark Farmaner told Frontier Myanmar “Ending this training should have been a no-brainer, not something to dither over for three weeks while ethnic cleansing happens … A major rethink on …

Interviewed by Al Jazeera, Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, raised concerns about media coverage ignoring Min Aung Hlaing’s role in the Rohingya crisis, the government whipping up tensions using social media and the lack of press freedom inside Burma. Listen to Al Jazeera interview

Asked if tourists should boycott Burma, Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK said there is no current call for a tourism boycott. “Anyone choosing to avoid holidaying in Myanmar is making a personal moral choice, but it won’t do anything to help the Rohingya”, he told Coconuts. “A danger of people staying away from Myanmar is that …

An early day Parliamentary motion on Rohingya refugees, calling for independent observers to visit the region, an end to the violence, and humanitarian action, has so far attracted the support of 71 MPs. Text of early day motion 255

Min Aung Hlaing, head of the Burmese military, is committing ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya in Burma. He is responsible for the biggest human rights and humanitarian crisis in Burma for decades. But his brutal army is still allowed to buy foreign weapons to commit horrific human rights abuses. We need to stop countries selling …

Prince Charles has been urged to cancel a proposed trip to Myanmar this autumn, reports the International Business Times. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, said an official royal visit to Myanmar sent the wrong message at this time. “To have someone of Prince Charles’s stature go to visit the country would be seen …

“By standing shoulder to shoulder with the military, [Suu Kyi] has bought into the narrative they use to justify their behavior, that the nation is under serious threat from foreign terrorists”, Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, told the Christian Science Monitor. “Now her government is propagating that narrative, which is increasing tensions and …

Thanks to the TUC for supporting human rights and democracy in Burma. Doug Janke, Burma Campaign UK’s head of development, on our stall at the TUC conference today.

Fergal Keane’s article for the BBC features an image of Aung San Suu Kyi on a former Burma Campaign UK poster with the words “Please use your liberty to promote ours”. “Aung San Suu Kyi does not control the military and they do not trust her. But her refusal to condemn well-documented military abuses provides …

“She was the one person in the country who really could have challenged this really ingrained and endemic prejudice against Muslims in the country and Rohingya in particular,” Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK told Canada’s CBC News. And Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, said “We are witnessing the most horrific situation …

Calling for international action to end the genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority community, Asia Sentinel quotes Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK, saying that the British government has not changed its policy and is conducting business relations with Myanmar as if nothing has happened. Read Asia Sentinel article

In its editorial today, the Guardian calls for an end to British training of the Burmese army. “The military’s head, Min Aung Hlaing, has no pedestal to topple from. Few even know his name. But they should; he is the man who calls the shots. Finding ways to exert pressure on the military is essential. …

Experts say targeted sanctions, rather than general criticism, are the best way to help the Rohingya, reports Mint Press News. Arguing for pressure to be placed on individual governments to stop feting Min Aung Hlaing, Mark Farmaner said “He loves his international trips – going abroad and luxury dinners. He’s posting it on his Facebook all the time.” …

The international community should focus its attention on the Burmese army chief to stop the violence in Rakhine State, Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, told the Al Bawaba Middle East news service. “There is one person in Burma who has the responsibility for what’s happening and has the power to stop it and that …

The Burmese army’s systematic campaign of terror against the Rohingya is the “biggest human rights crisis Burma has faced in decades”, Mark Farmaner told the BBC’s World at One today. He called for visa bans against Min Aung Hlaing and other army chiefs, an end to the British military training programme, and a global arms embargo. …

Mark Farmaner, the Director of Burma Campaign UK, supported a statement from the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson condemning the violence against the Rohingya but criticized the British government for its continued funding of the Burma Army, reports Karen News. “Boris Johnson is right to call for action by Aung San Suu Kyi, but why …

Burma Campaign UK said that Boris Johnson’s critical comments on Burma could have gone further, according to the Middle East news service The National. Burma Campaign UK’s director, Mark Farmaner, said that the British government needs to be pressurising Ming Aung Hlaing, the armed forces’ commander-in-chief, in order to halt the attacks. He also said …

Burma Campaign UK’s director, Mark Farmaner, believes the foreign secretary could have gone further in his remarks urging Aung San Suu Kyi to do what she can to end the violence in Rakhine State. He said Mr Johnson should have also criticised the armed forces’ commander-in-chief: “Min Aung Hlaing’s soldiers are the ones killing hundreds of …

Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, welcomed the UN Security Council discussion on Burma requested by the UK, but called on the British Government to go further in its objections to the current situation in Rakhine. “Supporting Aung San Suu Kyi and reforms in Myanmar doesn’t mean the British government has to stand by and do nothing …

Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK, one of several former Aung San Suu Kyi supporters interviewed by the Washington Post, said that while Suu Kyi may be constrained by the political situation, there are many areas where she has the freedom to act and has not done so. “There are problems which will take years …