Campaign News

Article in today’s Guardian. Niranjan Rasalingam is an accountant from Croydon who has now spent more than a year in Insein jail in Burma without being formally accused of a crime. Last year Burma Campaign UK wrote to British Foreign Minister Hugo Swire MP calling on him to act to secure the release of Narinjan, …

Good news that around 52 political prisoners were released this week, but many more remain in prison. Burma Campaign UK condemns the sentencing this week of Patrick Kum Jaa Lee for six months for a Facebook post he denies even making. Burma Campaign UK also condemns the arrest on immigration charges of U Gambira, one …

Article in the Myanmar Times by Zoya Phan, Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK With the National League for Democracy likely to form the next government in Myanmar, is there finally an end in sight for conflict that has plagued the country since independence? Probably not. The NLD may have the will to bring peace, …

Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK, writing in Mizzima: As millions turned out to vote with hope in their hearts on Sunday, one of the groups of people unable to take part were Myanmar’s political prisoners. Some of the very activists whose struggle and sacrifice helped bring about the elections are …

Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK, writes in The Irrawady: Over the election period, there has been an obvious focus on Aung San Suu Kyi and her future political role in Burma. Many articles and comments have been very critical of both her style of leadership and her statements, or lack of, on …

Article by Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, in the International Business Times   People are rightly celebrating what looks like a huge victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, in the elections held in Burma on Sunday (8 November). But is this really the end of military rule? …

Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK, writes in the Huffington Post: For millions of people in Burma and for supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi around the world, Sunday’s election appears to be the fulfillment of their dreams. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) looks to have won a landslide victory, …

Burma Campaign UK Campaigns Manager Zoya Phan writes for The Independent:   As someone forced to flee Burma as a teenager when the Burmese army attacked my village, I haven’t been able to stop watching the news from my country about the elections. As the results started to come through showing a likely landslide for …

Burma Campaign UK Executive Director Anna Roberts is interviewed about the election on the Today programme, Radio 4. You can listen to the interview here (2hr 40 mins in to the programme)

Our briefing paper on the election is quoted in the Telegraph today: “The UK Burma Campaign estimates that up to 10 million people – around 20 per cent of the country’s population – may be unable to go to the polls. The electoral commission has cited ethnic conflict as a reason to cancel the election …

Burma Campaign UK is quoted in this article in Al Jazeera: Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party is expected to win big, but even a landslide may not bring significant change. “Just like all the previous elections, this election will not address key issues relating to ethnic rights and aspiration such as self-determination,” said Zoya …

Article in Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) by Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. November’s election keeps being described as a turning point in Burma’s transition to democracy. But Burma isn’t transitioning to democracy. It is transitioning into a new form of hybrid regime. The first major step in the reform process was the …

Please share

Elections in Burma are scheduled for 8 November. Our new briefing paper looks at what is likely to happen after election day, the process of the elections, and key election statistics. You can download the brieing here. Key points from the briefing include: Regardless of who wins the election, the military has control and/or influence …

An article in The Irrawaddy about a detailed report released by Global Witness on Friday, which alleged widespread corruption in Burma’s multibillion dollar jade trade at the behest of the military, senior figures from the former junta and individuals connected to the drug trade. Mark Farmaner, from Burma Campaign UK, is quoted: “British Burma policy …

The Guardian reports: Malnourished British prisoner suffering ‘awful’ conditions in Myanmar jail A British man held in Myanmar’s most notorious jail is wasting away in a tiny cell with no window and an open sewer for a toilet while the British government is ignoring pleas to intervene, his father has told the Guardian. The family …

An article in DVB about the case of Philip Blackwood: “Phil Blackwood, a bar-restaurant manager who has been incarcerated in Rangoon’s Insein Prison for nearly ten months, is malnourished and suffering from mental stress, according to his parents in Wellington, New Zealand. Speaking to DVB this week, Brian and Angela Blackwood said, “Philip had lost over …

This month’s edition is out and has everything Burma related that was raised in the British Parliament last month. Download the report here.

At the Trades Union Conference in Brighton, where hundreds of union delegates are writing messages of solidarity for Naing Htay Lwin and Myo Min Min – Trade Union leaders in Burma who were arrested just for asking for a pay rise of $1 a day for garment workers. Take action here to help free them. …

In Irrawaddy News: “Burma currently has better relations with neighbouring countries than at any time it its history,” said Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK. “Any weapons Min Aung Hlaing is considering buying from Israel must be for use in ethnic states. That Min Aung Hlaing chose to go shopping for weapons for use against …

Irrawaddy News reporting on London-based firm Aurasian Minerals Plc withdrawing its three applications for mineral exploration licenses to Burmese mining authorities, less than a year after submitting the applications. Mark Farmaner, director of the Burma Campaign UK, said that the firm appeared to have sought exploration licenses in Burma without appreciating the implications of the …

Andy Hall is a researcher who defends the rights of migrants in Thailand, including migrants from Burma. In 2013 he was involved in exposing how a factory in Thailand was committing human rights abuses against migrant workers in its factory. Abuses included child labour, workers being beaten, being paid illegally low wages and facing dangerous …

Article by Mark Farmaner, Director at Burma Campaign UK, in Mizzima Until his downfall in 2004, Khin Nyunt had been head of military intelligence as well as holding various other posts. He was a brutal man, Myanmar’s torturer-in-chief, responsible for monitoring and arresting activists. He was a staunch defender of the dictatorship, both as a …