Sub-title:
An independent, community-based assessment of health and human rights in the Cyclone Nargis response
Description:
"Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma on May 2, 2008, making landfall in the Irrawaddy Delta, 220 km
southwest of Rangoon. This was a massive cyclone which would have been a challenge for any
country to address. In all, some 140,000 lives are thought to have been lost, and at least 3.4 million
persons were directly affected. Nargis hit Burma, a country under long-standing military rule, at a
crucial time: just days before a national referendum on a new military-backed constitution was
planned.
The response to Cyclone Nargis on the part of Burma’s ruling junta, the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), was profoundly affected by the junta’s policies, its practices toward
its citizens generally, and by the political imperatives of the junta’s referendum priorities. The
junta’s response was marred by failures to warn, failures to respond, limits on humanitarian
assistance from independent Burmese NGOs and citizens, and limits on humanitarian assistance
from international entities eager to assist.
Independent assessment of the Nargis response has proven to be challenging. Assessments done
with the collaboration of the junta have reported little on the human rights situation for survivors
and relief workers.
Burma Before the Storm
Military rule in Burma has also been characterized by widespread human rights violations,
including the violent suppression of the ‘Saffron Revolution’ in 2007, and severe curtailment in
social spending. The official government expenditure on health is about $0.70 per capita per annum
or 0.3% of the national GDP, amongst the lowest worldwide. The health and social services
situation is more severe in rural and ethnic minority areas.
The Referendum and the New Constitution
The SPDC announced in February, 2008, that it would hold a referendum on its new military-
drafted constitution on May 10. The constitution had been drafted in secret by military-appointed
representatives, without the participation of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the
Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), winners of the 1990 elections which were never
recognized by the regime.
It was against this complex and contested backdrop that the worst natural disaster ever to hit Burma
made landfall.
The Emergency Assistance Team - Burma
Within days of the cyclone health care workers from the Thai-Burma border region joined together
to create EAT, the Emergency Assistance Team- Burma. The teams, eventually 44, were comprised
of several volunteers each; most were cyclone survivors. They received training in emergency
responses, food and water distribution, and basic first aid provision. The EAT teams, working
“under the radar” and with local community based organizations (CBO) while unaffiliated with any
formal NGO or GO, went deep into the affected areas to provide relief to survivors.
Their efforts are part of a larger ongoing effort of border-based social organizations which quickly
respond to challenges such as Cyclone Nargis, mobilizing through a network of other CBOs. By After the Storm: Voices from the Delta
the end of the first phase of relief (in the first three months) 44 direct assistance teams had provided
assistance to an estimated population of some 180,000 survivors in 87 villages across 17 townships.
An Independent Assessment of the Nargis Response
In response to reports of human rights abrogation in cyclone-affected areas, a collaborative group
was formed which included EAT and the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human
Rights to conduct an independent assessment. With technical assistance provided by local
organizations Global Heath Access Program and Karen Human Rights Group, two rounds of data
collection were undertaken in the Irrawaddy Delta by the EAT teams: from June to September, and
October to November, 2008. A total of 90 interviews were conducted. Interviewees were 33 relief
workers and 57 survivors, interviewed in storm-affected areas (including in Irrawaddy Division)
and in Thailand.
RELIEF EFFORTS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK
The Government of Burma1
/Myanmar is not a party to most international human rights treaties, but
acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991, and the Convention on
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, albeit with
reservations. By accession to the CRC, the junta has legally agreed to recognize the right of the
child to reach the highest standard of health and access to health care. Under CEDAW special
consideration is given to realizing women’s rights to health care and to the needs of rural women.
The Responsibility to Protect
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) report of the International Commission on Intervention and
State Sovereignty (ICISS), issued in 2001, advanced a framework for international human rights
protection, declaring that it was each sovereign nation’s responsibility to protect their citizens from
crimes against humanity, genocide, and other mass atrocities. This was later reaffirmed by the 2005
resolution of the UN General Assembly and the 2006 UN Security Council resolution. The 2005
resolution concluded that it is the responsibility of the international community
to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with
Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity .” and taking “collective action” only “on a case-by-case basis
and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be
inadequate and national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations.
R2P was invoked in the early, stalled response to the Cyclone but was never implemented. The
people of Burma, including EAT, did respond to the responsibility to protect—despite junta
harassment, arrest, and in some cases, imprisonment, for providing humanitarian assistance..."
Source/publisher:
The Emergency Assistance Team and The Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Date of Publication:
2009-03-00
Date of entry:
2021-08-16
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Countries:
Myanmar
Language:
English
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Format:
pdf
Size:
1.88 MB
Resource Type:
text
Text quality:
- Good