Right to Health: reports of violations in Burma

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Description: "Documented incidents 12 July 2023: At an IDP camp near former Daw Noe Ku village, Shadaw township, Loikaw district, Kayah state, a newly-built local clinic, a school, and some civilian houses were damaged in airstrikes conducted by the Myanmar military; one civilian was killed and three injured. Sources: Delta News Agency, Kantarawaddy Times and Radio Free Asia 12 July 2023: In Ye-U town and township, Shwebo district, Sagaing region, the local resistance forces used a drone armed with explosives to drop bombs on the traditional medicine hospital to attack the Myanmar military occupying the hospital. The drone was shot down by the Myanmar military. Source: Telegram 15 July 2023: In Ye-U town and township, Shwebo district, Sagaing region, the local resistance forces used a drone armed with explosives to drop bombs on the traditional medicine hospital to attack the Myanmar military occupying the hospital, reportedly injuring six soldiers. Sources: Khit Thit Media and Myaelatt Athan 16 July 2023: In Ye-U town and township, Sagaing region, the local resistance forces used a drone armed with explosives to drop bombs on the traditional medicine hospital to attack the Myanmar military occupying the hospital. Source: Myanmar Pressphoto Agency 16 July 2023: Near Mar Le Taw village and village tract, Sagaing township, district, and region, an ambulance transporting wounded junta soldiers was damaged when it was attacked by the local resistance forces using remote-controlled mines. Sources: Khit Thit Media, Myaelatt Athan and Myanmar Pressphoto Agency 19 July 2023: In Kawkareik town, township, and district, Kayin state, an artillery shell landed in the compound of a hospital but did not explode during an attack by a joint force of an ethnic armed organisations Klohhtoobor Karen Organisation and local resistance forces on junta security forces stationed at the hospital and checkpoints in this town. The hospital was functioning at the time of the attack. Sources: Eleven Media, Khit Thit Media and Popular News Journal 20 July 2023: In Pa Dar Nyay village, Nwar La Woe village tract, Loikaw township and district, Kayah state, three civilians who were wounded by artillery fires by the Myanmar military were not allowed to leave the village to seek health care as part of a continuous blockade on the area. Source: Myanmar Pressphoto Agency 21 July 2023: In Hpakant town and township, Mohnyin district, Kachin state, an artillery shell landed in the compound of the township hospital during armed clashes between the Myanmar military and a joint force of the KIA and local resistance forces. The hospital was functioning at the time of the attack. Source: VOA Burmese 22 July 2023: In Inn Da Rant village, Pa Lway Shwe village tract, Katha township and district, Sagaing region, a pharmacy and over 20 civilian houses were torched by the Myanmar military. Source: Khit Thit Media 22 July 2023: In Khin-U town and township, Shwebo district, Sagaing region, the local resistance forces attacked the Myanmar military and militia based at the township hospital, using firearms. The hospital was not functioning at the time of the attack. Around 40 soldiers have occupied this hospital for around one year before this attack. Sources: Democratic Voice of Burma, Khit Thit Media and Mizzima 23 July 2023: In Wetlet town and township, Shwebo district, Sagaing region, the local resistance forces used two drones armed with explosives to drop bombs on the traditional medicine hospital to attack the Myanmar military and militia occupying the hospital. The hospital was not functioning at the time of the attack. The town’s fire brigade office and police station were also attacked with armed drones. The attack reportedly killed at least two junta security force members and injured seven. Sources: Democratic Voice of Burma, Khit Thit Media and Myaelatt Athan 24 July 2023: In Myeik town, township, and district, Tanintharyi region, the local resistance forces issued a warning to five LNGOs forbidding them from delivering aid to or cooperation with the Myanmar military, accusing the LNGOs of using the vehicles to transport junta’s weapons. The LNGOs denied the accusation. Sources: Mizzima and Tanintharyi Times..."
Source/publisher: Insecurity Insight (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2023-07-25
Date of entry/update: 2023-08-01
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Description: "A Commentary by DPAG and TNI Gender norms affect everyone: people of all genders and ages, people in urban and rural areas, people with high-paying and low-paying jobs, people who use or do not use drugs, as well as people living with health statuses of all kinds. Paired with one’s socioeconomic backgrounds, gender norms and inequalities come in different shapes and sizes, and so do visions of gender justice. As part of our exciting journey exploring the endless multitude of gender just visions, we spoke with Sakura (30) and Noe Noe (26), two transgender1 women working as peer educators and advocates at the Myanmar MSM and Transgender Network (MMTN), an organisation specialised in HIV prevention and care related activities in various parts of Myanmar. Our conversation with Sakura and Noe Noe shows that there is so much that the HIV movement – particularly that involving transgender women – can teach us about gender justice. HIV care for transgender communities in Myanmar: Slow and uneven There are approximately 270,(external link)000 people living with HIV in Myanmar, according to 2021 data. The number of new HIV infections in Myanmar has decreased each year, from almost 30,000 in the early 2000s to around 11,000 in 2017. Myanmar has also performed reasonably well(external link) when it comes to providing treatment access for people living with HIV, and is facilitating viral suppression for 95 percent of those on treatment. Programmes involving PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a prescription medicine that can reduce one’s chance of becoming infected with HIV, are available since its inclusion in Myanmar’s National Strategic Plan IV 2020-2025. However, both the COVID-19(external link) pandemic and the political crisis that erupted in 2021(external link) have undermined HIV related programmes, along with the wider healthcare system on which such programmes rely in Myanmar. Stigma and criminalisation continue, in particular related to sexuality, gender expressions, and drug use, weakening any attempt to curb HIV-related morbidity and mortality. This disproportionately harms marginalised communities such as sex workers, people who use drugs, men who have sex with men (MSM)2, and transgender people already suffering from socioeconomic exclusion or exploitation. In the context of HIV response and related data in Myanmar, transgender women have typically been categorised in the MSM population(external link), even though many of them do not identify as men. Meanwhile, as underlined by Sakura, HIV prevention and care services (including the PrEP programme) in Myanmar were initially targeted only towards the so-called MSM community, and “only a couple of years back the PrEP programme was widened for the transgender community,” added Sakura. “Transgender people often face discrimination not only due to their gender [expressions], but also because society tends to associate them with HIV spread and infection,” explains Sakura as she describes her HIV prevention work in six townships across Yangon, as well as parts of Rakhine and Mon State. Indeed, a 2021 report by the UNFPA(external link) shows that transgender women are more likely to experience violence and discrimination compared to others who do not identify as heterosexual or cisgender3 (such as – but not limited to – people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer4, or LGBTQ+5), who are already highly vulnerable to stigma and abuse, including in medical settings. “Prior to Covid, there seemed to be more teasing and stigma targeting the transgender community, but now transgender people seem to have more freedom and mobility,” added Sakura as she talked about the growing visibility of transgender and other LGBTQ+ people, including in social movements across Myanmar. “Societal perspective has been slowly changing for the better, because there have been more social media and online campaigns against discrimination, for instance in the form of videos. These online campaigns are more attractive nowadays, and social influencers – like famous make-up artists – are involved in talking about topics that are considered taboo such as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR(external link)), PrEP, et cetera,” explained Sakura, sounding optimistic about the post-Covid changing attitudes towards transgender people. Nevertheless, many people still do not take transgender people seriously. Noe Noe, who is now involved in a SRHR education project of MMTN, was previously reluctant to be fully involved in this work because she was afraid of being discriminated against. She said, “when trying to educate the general population [about SRHR], some people don’t want to listen to us and they don’t respect us. Some people would tease and insult us.” So how does one persevere and keep doing this challenging work? When we asked her, Noe Noe answered, “my strategy is to be as patient as possible. Sometimes I want to respond to those who insult and tease me, but I have to control my emotions. The Buddhist teaching of ‘tolerance’ helps me to ‘tolerate’ those insults and instead focus more on the goal of the work.” Beyond the so-called ‘key populations’ At MMTN, part of Sakura’s responsibilities is to provide HIV awareness training amongst various men who have sex with men and transgender communities. These include training and outreach efforts to curb the spread of HIV through education and referral programmes. “Our awareness training covers issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights, sexual orientation, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics, and sexually transmitted infections (STI). We also address practical STI prevention strategies such as the systematic use of condoms, information and assistance for HIV testing, and more,” said Sakura as she elaborated on her work with MMTN. Though MMTN’s work seems to focus more on the specific needs of men who have sex with men and transgender communities, Sakura and Noe Noe argue that a large part of their – and other peer workers’ – responsibility is to reach beyond the so-called key populations (namely MSM and transgender communities). In other words, HIV prevention and care work is not only about reaching out to the communities stereotypically associated with HIV, but also about building connections with the wider society. “During our awareness raising programmes, we talk with family members, friends, and other people around those who identify as MSM or transgender. Even police officers come and listen sometimes, even though we are not specifically targeting them,” according to Sakura. Similarly, MMTN’s new peer-led SRHR education project, for which Noe Noe is now preparing to be a champion trainer, consists of education curricula tailored to three categories of target groups – LGBTQ+ communities, young people, and the general public (notably cisgender and heterosexual people). This means Noe Noe and 13 other champion trainers will be covering all topics related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. They are now getting ready to educate others about practical matters such as family planning, but with a more holistic approach that embraces people of all genders and sexualities. Indeed, when it comes to HIV prevention and care, Sakura and Noe Noe highlight the importance of demystifying gender and sexuality amongst the general public by engaging in meaningful conversations with people who do not necessarily or openly identify as queer, taking into account that social stigma (or conversely – acceptance and solidarity) influences public health. Marginalisation and discrimination tend to push people away from the very support system from which they could benefit – be it health, social, or otherwise. This not only increases the vulnerability of marginalised communities, but magnifies overall public health risks which at the end of the day impact everyone, albeit in unequal ways. Gender and class Born, raised and based in Yangon, Sakura began working as Assistant Project Officer at a leading HIV clinic for transgender communities several years ago. She joined MMTN in February 2023. Prior to her involvement in the HIV movement, Sakura worked as a make-up artist. “I became involved in this movement because I wanted to help improve the health and education of transgender women,” and based on her experience operating in the field, Sakura wishes that her fellow community members could go beyond survival economies – from make-up and flower industries to sex work – and take a more prominent role in community mobilisation and movement for progressive change. The barriers to such an aspiration seem insurmountable sometimes, as Sakura notes how transgender women are more socially and economically disadvantaged when compared with men who have sex with men (let alone compared with other groups more privileged due to their class, gender, or sexuality). She recalled her own lived experience, resembling those of other transgender women around the world(external link), “compared to MSM, I’ve been more discriminated against by family members,” and “we often see that transgender communities seem to be less [formally] educated than MSM. It is generally harder for transgender people to find jobs or livelihoods.” Noe Noe, who unlike Sakura was born and raised in a small city outside Yangon, then added, “many of my transgender friends in rural areas died due to HIV. Many of them don’t know about or don’t have access to antiretroviral treatment, or they may not have the means to access it.” Difficulties in accessing healthcare, educational and livelihood opportunities mean that many transgender people6 have to rely on informal/survival economies such as sex work and/or drug-related livelihoods (such as small-scale drug selling), which remain highly criminalised in Myanmar, affecting people whose existence challenges the gender binary and/or heteronormative norms. This is why sex workers in particular are highly vulnerable to HIV infection and related risks. Meanwhile, gender affirming healthcare7 is still lacking and largely inaccessible for transgender communities. Coupled with economic hardship and social stigma, this exacerbates the mental health toll(external link) of being transgender in Myanmar. Inequalities also prevail between those residing in urban and rural areas, or between more ‘developed’ and more remote areas. “Gender norms tend to be more rigid in rural and remote areas. Boys get bullied in schools or rejected by family members for expressing more feminine traits, and they have not even started crossdressing yet. This has a lot to do with people’s limited understanding of gender and sexuality,” explained Noe Noe. Such experiences of rejection and isolation tend to have long-lasting impacts on one’s life, and oftentimes these experiences extend well into adulthood. As added by Sakura, “transgender people tend to have self-doubt, maybe because since we were very young we have never really been accepted [by others]. Even when applying for a job at a place like MMTN, for example, we might have this inner fear that we won’t be accepted, even though we have the same skills as others who are not transgender. This is why many transgender people end up doing jobs typically reserved for transgender people.” Another significant – yet often taken for granted – challenge is “the fact that many transgender people do not have mobile phones and social media due to their low living standards. This makes it hard to reach them and to involve them in peer-to-peer engagement and work,” added Sakura, illustrating how precariousness often stands in the way of sustainable collective mobilisation. Determined to change this, Sakura emphasised once again, “what’s most important for me is to help educate fellow transgender friends, and stress the need for better job opportunities so we could have higher standards of living.” On top of all that, Sakura and Noe Noe underlined the importance of meaningful work for the transgender community, “our involvement in this movement is not necessarily about the money. It’s also about setting examples and opening doors for others from our community, In the past we were only pawns, but now we’re becoming role models,” said Sakura, passionately, after which Noe Noe added, “when I go out into the community and educate others, I am doing something big for society, not just for myself.” Disrupting the gender binary Sakura explained, “in Myanmar language, we use the term ‘Ah Pwint’ to refer to a transgender woman, and this term literally translates to ‘open flowers’. But to refer to MSM, ‘Ah Pone’ is more often used, and it literally means ‘closed flowers’, mainly because MSM tend to be more closeted [in comparison with transgender people] and many of them need to pretend and hide.” Perhaps it is through this act of following (albeit unwillingly, for some) heteronormative standards of masculinity (and straight-passing) that ‘Ah Pone’ seem to have relatively smoother access to more formal and well-paying jobs. ‘Ah Pwint’, on the other hand, tend to face more frequent rejections due to their bolder gender expressions and more importantly due to the rigid and sexist ways society fabricates womanhood. One can observe that “’Ah Pone’ can more easily blend in,” said Sakura, as we discussed why only one (Noe Noe) of the 14 champion trainers working on the MMTN’s new peer-led education project is transgender. However, this is not to say that all transgender women are uniformly bold in their gender expressions, and not all men who have sex with men – either those identifying as gay, bisexual, or otherwise – (want to) pass as straight and/or face no challenges in navigating life, work, and relationships. Further, both Sakura and Noe Noe warn that individual choices are constantly shaped by one’s surroundings. “Some people may choose to present as ‘Ah Pone’ because there are certain factors that prevent them from crossdressing or expressing their more feminine side. Perhaps their biological family don’t accept that, or perhaps they themselves do not accept that. But in the [MMTN] office, we [‘Ah Pwint’ and ‘Ah Pone’] work together. We consider each other as family. No one has to hide their identity here, and the office is a safe space for people to be themselves,” added Sakura. Queer communities in Myanmar are also increasingly using the term ‘Ma Pone Ma Pwint’ (meaning ‘open or closed flowers’) to describe the common overlap between ‘Ah Pone’ and ‘Ah Pwint’, in so doing denoting the complexity of one’s gender, sexual expressions, and more interestingly how they disrupt rigid norms tied with the gender binary.8 After all, our identities and expressions – gender, sexual, or otherwise – are complex and nuanced. As human beings, we cannot be neatly put into boxes, nor can our gender and sexuality be turned into mutually exclusive categories. Self-labelling can feel empowering for some, and it can help us reclaim identities traditionally discarded by mainstream society, similar to the way the previously derogatory term ‘queer’ is so widely used across the globe today. Without the HIV movement, much of this would have remained a distant dream. From public health to gender justice In Myanmar, the HIV movement is closely linked with – and in many cases plays an important role in pushing for – public health programmes to address HIV. In essence, these public health programmes are not specifically aimed at advancing queer rights, but in reality, they end up (and in fact, they wouldn’t be as effective without the act of) visibilising and empowering queer communities, especially those living on the margins due to their socioeconomic and health struggles. Despite their challenging situations, many of them are heavily involved in HIV activism, shaping the movement as influential leaders. “Now I’m at a place where I provide awareness and information to the general public. When we go out into the field and do this work, people see us differently. They see me as a transgender person doing something for the wider society, and it’s almost like they are envious of me, and they might think, ‘if she can do it [this kind of important work], then I should be able to do it’,” said Noe Noe. Further, by debunking myths and taboos around gender and sexuality (and how they affect one’s socioeconomic status), the HIV movement embraces people outside the queer community who tend to be cast out or forgotten by more mainstream activists. Here, we can think of ethnic women who engage in sex work or women who use drugs, who unfortunately remain underrepresented in women’s organisations, and while many of them come from poor and/or working class backgrounds, their distinct needs and struggles are rarely incorporated in the agendas of workers movements. As such, HIV advocacy, despite carrying a primarily public health goal, helps brings intersectional oppression (and struggle) to the surface, and revealing inequalities amongst people typically seen as a monolith from the outside. It is through this work that the HIV movement enriches our perspective on gender justice, one that goes beyond the stereotypical needs of only cisgender and heterosexual women, but one that acknowledges and embraces the diversity of intersectional struggles. Tags MYANMAR COMMENTARY MYANMAR The term ‘transgender’ is “used most often as an umbrella term and frequently abbreviated to ’trans.’ Identifying as transgender, or trans, means that one’s internal knowledge of gender is different from conventional or cultural expectations based on the sex that person was assigned at birth. While transgender may refer to a woman who was assigned male at birth or a man who was assigned female at birth, transgender is an umbrella term that can also describe someone who identifies as a gender other than woman or man, such as non binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, no gender or multiple genders, or some other gender identity.” Source: https://lgbtqia.ucdavis.edu/educated/glossary. Reflecting on the experiences of and lessons learned by Sakura, this commentary largely focuses on the particular challenges faced by those identifying as transgender women, whose experiences of stigma, violence, and discrimination resemble – yet can be more severe, albeit underestimated, than – those faced by cisgender women. The term ‘men who have sex with men’ has been used since the late 1980s and its abbreviation MSM since mid 1990s, primarily within the context of public health in general and HIV response in particular. The use of the term is considered helpful mainly by those in health and academic sectors for its focus on behaviour (as opposed to identity) which “might put someone at risk for an infection such as HIV or monkeypox”. From this point of view, arguably, "[p]revention strategies that target people based on 'what you do' rather than 'who you are' reach more people who may be affected by a public health concern, including heterosexual men who have sex with men, rather than limiting outreach just to those who identify as gay or bisexual." See: https://theconversation.com/men-who-have-sex-with-men-originated-during-the-hiv-pandemic-to-focus-on-behavior-rather-than-identity-but-not-everyone-thinks-the-term-helps-189619 Nevertheless, similar to the term ‘women who have sex with women’, the use of the term MSM risks underestimating the complexity and nuances of one’s sexuality and gender (and how it interacts with discriminatory policies and norms), reducing same-sex or same-gender relations as merely sexual, and disregarding the significance of self-labelling ("and, by extension, their self-determination"), “community, social networks, and relationships in which same-gender pairing is shared and supported." See: https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2004.046714. The term MSM is used throughout this commentary because it was the term commonly referred to by Sakura, the respondent. ‘Cisgender’ is used to describe someone whose gender identity largely corresponds with the biological sex assigned at birth. ‘Cisgender’ is thus fundamentally distinct from ‘transgender’. Previously known and used as a derogatory term against non-heterosexual people, the term ‘queer’ is now increasingly used to refer to identities and expressions outside heterosexual and/or cisgender norms. It is sometimes used as a catch-all term including all identities under the LGBTQ+ banner, and/or used to imply the complexity of one’s sexuality, gender, and relationships. The abbreviation LGBTQ+ or extended variations of it (such LGBTQIA+, which includes ‘intersex’ and ‘asexual’) is often used as an umbrella term for gender and sexual identities and expressions outside cisgender and heteronormative standards, which are highly diverse. However, we note that people’s gender and sexual identities and expressions can be complex, nuanced, intersectional, and fluid. Thus, gender and sexual identities and expressions cannot be neatly turned into labels and/or categories that one can easily assign to (groups of) individuals. In addition, due to social and legal frameworks in Myanmar (and many other jurisdictions across the globe) that marginalise and criminalise gender and sexuality outside cis-heteronormative standards, numerous individuals may – for the safety of themselves and their loved ones – choose to hide their identities and expressions, and in so doing they comply with cis-heteronormative standards, thereby ‘passing’ – or ending up being categorised – as cisgender and/or heterosexual. Transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people are highly diverse and have diverse experiences. This commentary is based on a conversation with Sakura(‘s experience and insights), hence the piece’s main focus on transgender women in Myanmar. Needless to say, the experiences of transgender women cannot be generalised, and surely they cannot be generalised for other transgender people, such as transgender men and genderqueer or non-binary people, amongst others. According to the World Health Organization, gender affirming healthcare can “include any single or combination of a number of social, psychological, behavioural or medical (including hormonal treatment or surgery) interventions designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity.” See: https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/gender-incongruence-and-transgender-health-in-the-icd. For people whose gender identity and expressions do not align with their sex assigned at birth (and the gender norms that come with it), gender affirming healthcare can help enhance their quality of life, especially their mental health (see: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/trgh.2015.0008), while lack of access can lead many to seek unsafe and/or illegal interventions. It is important to note that each person has their own unique experience and preference when it comes to gender affirming healthcare, and not every transgender person chooses to undergo medical interventions such as hormone therapy and surgery. Furthermore, cisgender people can also access gender affirming healthcare, for example “cisgender men who take testosterone therapy, cisgender women who undergo breast augmentation.” See: https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-gender-affirming-care#access Though beyond the scope of this commentary, there are many other terms and concepts being used in Myanmar to refer to the different gender and sexual identities and expressions. The term for transgender man for example is ‘yout ka shar’..."
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute ( Amsterdam)
2023-07-04
Date of entry/update: 2023-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and 11 years of conflict in Kachin have affected tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) who have sought shelter in various camps across Kachin State. People in Need (PIN) and our local partner organisation, Diocesan Commission for Education (DCE-Banmaw), support quality education for children in need through Education in Emergencies (EiE) programmes in the most conflict-affected areas in Kachin State. With financial support from the Myanmar Humanitarian Fund (MHF), PIN and DCE-Banmaw distributed student kits, provided home-based learning materials, and facilitated psychosocial support activities for more than 2,700 children in five IDPs camps and one host village in Bhamo district, Kachin State. New academic year and new challenges to accessing education In June 2022, children were supposed to return to school for the new academic year. However, many parents and caregivers faced financial crises and could not send their children back to school. At that time, PIN and DCE-Banmaw continued to support the educational needs of children between kindergarten (KG) and Grade 8. Htang Nu (name changed), a mother of three school children who received support from PIN and DCE-Banmaw, showed her gratitude to PIN and our donor. “I have three children, in Grades 1, 4, and KG. I have no money to enrol my children in school, so I borrowed money to pay school registration fees. At the beginning of the school year, my children were sad about using old school equipment, which was quite damaged. Now, they are happy to wear new school backpacks and use books, pencils, and raincoats from the distribution.” With these educational materials, children can continue their learning. Hkawng Hkawng (name changed), a 16-year-old, Grade 8 student studying at one of the IDP camps’ schools, dreams of becoming a doctor: “I love receiving student kits, such as backpack, raincoat, books, pens and other things. I am thankful I have them. I want to be a doctor and treat poor people in camps. That is why I study so hard to achieve my goal.” In addition to providing educational materials, children also receive psychosocial support activities to develop their social and emotional capacities and support their well-being. Supporting teachers, parents, and schools There are numerous challenges facing displaced and conflict-affected families and children, and access to quality education is one of the most urgent and critical needs. Volunteer teachers, educators, and parents play a key role in providing quality education to these children. Yet teachers and parents face many challenges; Lu Hpring (name changed), a headmistress of a school camp, expressed, “Most of the parents in the camps are earning money from daily labour at sugar cane farms, and some are returning to their land from which they fled to plant rice. Sugar cane farmers are losing profits and investments due to lingering border restrictions on exports to China, which have impacted the internally displaced people who can earn money from it.” Lu Hpring shared concerns regarding enrollment, “Our school accepts kindergarten to Grade 9 students. Some school children experienced late entry into the school system because their parents could not save the money to send them to school. Ongoing conflicts, COVID and border closures have caused several challenges for the parents.” Likewise, she adds, “despite the financial barriers, parents still face challenges to enrol in school. Most high school students drop out whether they fail or pass the matriculation exam. Parents cannot afford to send them back to school because they lack financial support. As all know, we live in a conflict-affected area with limited resources for better education.” To help ease these tensions, PIN and DCE-Banmaw provide volunteer teacher incentives, teacher capacity-building training (including on teacher well-being practices), and positive parenting skills workshops to parents and caregivers. Through school improvement planning, education committees and others (including parents and community leaders) work together to define the needs of the schools (e.g., materials and resources, infrastructure needs, training, etc.) and receive funds to address what is most necessary. Helping the most hard-to-reach children is essential In Kachin, only “a few local aid organisations can access hard-to-reach areas,” says Gam Seng (name changed), a DCE-Banmaw project focal person. Under this project, and through People in Need’s leadership, providing educational support to the most hard-to-reach children has been possible. A holistic approach to education is needed, even in these areas. “That is why DCE-Banmaw and PIN aim to strengthen quality education,” including by training “local teachers and camp-based volunteer educators with the Teaching in Crisis Contexts (TiCC) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curricula” and providing activities that can help to “protect the children,” such psychosocial support activities and “parent [and caregiver] skills workshops.” *The names of certain individuals and locations have been changed for their protection..."
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Source/publisher: People in Need
2022-11-15
Date of entry/update: 2022-11-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Good morning. Thank you all for joining us today – in the room and online. As you know, after four years as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, my mandate ends next week, on 31 August. The world has changed fundamentally over the course of my mandate. I would say the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ever-increasing effects of climate change, and the reverberating shocks of the food, fuel and finance crisis resulting from the war against Ukraine have been the three major issues. Polarization within and among States has reached extraordinary levels and multilateralism is under pressure. Important protest movements occurred in every region of the world demanding an end to structural racism, respect for economic and social rights, and against corruption, governance deficits and abuse of power – in many instances accompanied by violence, threats and attacks against protesters and human rights defenders, and at some times against journalists. Some led to real change in the country. In other cases, rather than listening to the voices of the people, governments responded by shrinking the space for debate and dissent. Over the past few months – once the COVID situation allowed me to resume official country visits – I have been to Burkina Faso, Niger, Afghanistan, China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peru and Bangladesh. I have been able to see first-hand the impact of climate change, armed conflict, the food-fuel-finance crisis, hateful rhetoric, systematic discrimination, and the human rights challenges around migration, among other issues. The UN Human Rights Office has worked, in a myriad of ways, to help monitor, engage and advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights. As I have said before, at the UN, dialogue, engagement, cooperation, monitoring, reporting and public advocacy must all be part of our DNA. We have worked to try to help bridge the gap between government and civil society, to support national implementation of human rights obligations and advise on reforms to bring laws and policies into compliance with international standards, to expand our presences in-country so we are a in a better position to work closely with the people on the ground. We have spoken out in private and public on country-specific and broader issues. And we have seen some progress. The recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the UN General Assembly last month marked the culmination of many years of advocacy by civil society. I am proud of my Office’s support and strong backing of this movement throughout the course of my mandate. The extreme weather events of the past few months have again driven home, powerfully, the existential need for urgent action to protect our planet for current and future generations. Meeting this need is the greatest human rights challenge of this era – and all States have an obligation to work together on this, and to walk the talk, to fully implement the right to a healthy environment. The response to the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss must be centred in human rights, including the rights to participation, access to information and justice, and by addressing the disproportionate impact of environmental harms on the most marginalized and disadvantaged. There has also been steady progress towards abolition of the death penalty – some 170 States have abolished or introduced a moratorium, in law or in practice, or suspended executions for more than 10 years. The Central African Republic, Chad, Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone and Papua New Guinea are among those who have taken steps to fully abolish the death penalty. Other States, including Liberia and Zambia are also actively considering abolition. Malaysia announced that it will abolish the country’s mandatory death penalty, including for drug related offences. As of today, 90 States have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the key international treaty prohibiting the use of the death penalty. Concerns remain, however, about the increased use or resumption of capital punishment in other countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and Singapore, and others like China and Viet Nam continue to classify data on its use as a State secret, limiting the possibility of scrutiny. I have – from the beginning of my mandate – pushed for greater recognition of the indivisibility and interdependence of economic, social and cultural rights with civil and political rights. The effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brought into stark focus this interdependence. States must draw lessons from the pandemic and the current food-fuel-finance crisis by designing long-term measures to build better and stronger universal public health and social protection systems. Social protection coverage must facilitate access to health care, protect people against poverty and ensure essential economic and social rights, including food, water, housing, health and education. I also call on States to adopt proactive measures, including food, agriculture and fuel subsidies, to mitigate the impact of the crises. All of this needs to be designed with people as part of the solution, through investment in inclusive, safe and meaningful channels for debate and participation at all levels. Governing is tough – I know because I have twice been President of my country, Chile. There are always many pressing demands, challenges and problems to address. But governing is about prioritizing – and human rights must always be a priority. In many situations my Office has been covering, there is a lack of political will to take the necessary steps to really tackle a situation head on. Political will is key – and where there is a will, there is a way. States often invoke their own particular context when faced with allegations of human rights violations and when called upon to take steps to address them. Context is indeed important – but context must never be used to justify human rights violations. In many instances, sustained advocacy on key human rights issues, grounded in international human rights laws and standards, bears fruit. In Colombia this month, the incoming administration has pledged a shift in its approach on drug policy – from a punitive to a more social and public health approach. By addressing one of the deep-rooted causes of violence in Colombia, this approach could be instrumental to better protect the rights of peasants, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities and of people who use drugs, both in Colombia and globally. My Office has been advocating – globally – for a human rights-based approach on drug policy, and is ready to assist. The worldwide mobilization of people for racial justice, notably in 2020, has forced a long-delayed reckoning with racial discrimination and shifted debates towards a focus on systemic racism and the institutions that perpetrate it. I call on all States to seize this moment to achieve a turning point for racial equality and justice. My Office is working on its second report to the UN Human Rights Council on this issue, to be presented next month. I have always sought – even on the most challenging issues – to encourage dialogue, to open the door for further exchanges. This means listening as well as speaking, keeping our eyes and ears to the context, identifying entry points and roadblocks, and trying to build trust incrementally, even when it seems unlikely. During my four years as High Commissioner, I had the privilege of speaking to so many courageous, spirited, extraordinary human rights defenders: The brave, indomitable women human rights defenders in Afghanistan; The determined mothers of the disappeared in Mexico; The inspirational staff working at a health centre in Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, serving victims of sexual violence; The wisdom and strength of indigenous peoples in Peru, who are on the frontlines of the impact of climate change, illegal mining and logging, and defend their rights in the face of serious risks; And the empathy and generosity of communities hosting internally displaced people in Burkina Faso. I found allies in traditional village leaders in Niger, who were working in their own ways to advance human rights in their communities; I met young people from Malaysia, Sweden, Australia, Costa Rica and elsewhere whose resourcefulness, creativity and ambition was palpable; I shared the pain of the father in Venezuela who showed me the sports medals his teenage son had won, before he was killed during protests in 2017; And I shared the tears of the mother I met in Srebrenica who carried hope that 27 years after her son disappeared, she will one day find his remains and lay him to rest next to his father’s grave. Last week, I spoke with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. One teacher I met told me he had earned distinctions in all his classes at school in Myanmar and had dreamed of being a doctor. Instead, he has spent the past five years in a refugee camp, having had to flee his country – because he is Rohingya. “I still cry at night sometimes when I remember my dream,” he told me, adding that “my Buddhist friends are now doctors in Myanmar.” My own experience as a refugee was much more comfortable, with the means to continue my education and with a good standard of living – but the yearning for one’s homeland, the desire of so many of the Rohingya to return home resonated deeply with me. Sadly, the conditions needed for them to be able to return to their homes in a voluntary, dignified and sustainable way are not there yet. Today marks five years since more than 700,000 Rohingya women, children and men were forced to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh – and Myanmar’s human rights catastrophe continues to worsen, with the military (the Tatmadaw) maintaining military operations in Kayah and Kayin in the southeast; Chin state in the northwest; and Sagaing and Magway regions in the Bamar heartland. The use of air power and artillery against villages and residential areas has intensified. Recent spikes in violence in Rakhine State also seemed to indicate that the last fairly stable area of the country may not avoid a resurgence of armed conflict. Rohingya communities have frequently been caught between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army fighters or have been targeted directly in operations. Over 14 million need humanitarian assistance. We continue to document gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law on a daily basis, including repression against protesters and attacks against civilians that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. I urge the international community to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people of Myanmar, to insist on prompt restoration of civilian rule, and accountability for violations committed by security forces. Yesterday marked six months since Russia’s armed attack. Six unimaginably terrifying months for the people of Ukraine, 6.8 million of whom have had to flee their country. Millions others have been internally displaced. We have documented at least 5,587 civilians killed and 7,890 injured. Of these casualties, nearly 1,000 are children. Six months on, the fighting continues, amid almost unthinkable risks posed to civilians and the environment as hostilities are conducted close to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. I call on the Russian President to halt armed attack against Ukraine. The Zaporizhzhia plant needs to be immediately demilitarized. Both parties must respect, at all times and in all circumstances, international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The international community must insist on accountability for the many serious violations documented, some of which may amount to war crimes. I am alarmed by the resumption of hostilities in northern Ethiopia. Civilians have suffered enough – and this will only exacerbate the suffering of civilians already in desperate need. I implore the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to work to de-escalate the situation and immediately cease hostilities. I also urge a renewed focus by the international community on protracted – often forgotten – crises including the situation in Yemen, Syria, the Sahel and Haiti. And I urge continued support for the UN Human Rights Office, the UN human rights treaty bodies, and the UN Special Procedures mechanism, all of which work tirelessly in defence of international human rights laws and standards. The journey to defend human rights never ends – and vigilance against roll-backs of rights is vital. I honour all those who, in their own ways, are working to defend human rights. As a woman and a lifelong feminist, I want to pay particular tribute to women human rights defenders, who have been at the forefront of social movements that have benefitted all of us. They have often been the ones bringing to the table the unheard voices of the most vulnerable. I will continue to stand with you as I return home to Chile. To end, I would like to thank you journalists, based here in Geneva and across the globe, for the indispensable work that you do. When we in the UN Human Rights Office raise the alarm, it is crucial that it rings loudly, and this is only possible when the world’s media gets the stories out there..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "World Vision has been present in Myanmar for over two and a half decades working for the most vulnerable children and families, partnering with the Government departments, local partners and different stakeholders. Commenced with Health intervention in 1993, WVM has expanded its area of work and has been operating programmes on Education, Child Protection, Health and Nutrition, Livelihoods, Disaster Risk Reduction, and Emergency Response, ensuring that children are well educated, protected from violence and hostile environments, and benefited from their families' secured livelihoods..."
Source/publisher: World Vision Myanmar
2022-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2022-07-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "YANGON, Myanmar – With the support from Global Affairs Canada, UNFPA Myanmar has launched Baykin 2 mobile application, partnering with 360ed team. Integrating with Augmented Reality (AR), Baykin 2 app is designed to introduce adolescent and young people in Myanmar with key topics on sexual and reproductive health & right, gender equality, gender-based violence and other youth related contents such as self-defense. Baykin 2 app integrates learning and gaming to increase the engagement of young users and provide better visuals for learning about their bodies and rights. It additionally seeks to equip adolescents and young people with knowledge and tools to be aware of and thus less vulnerable to gender-based violence. UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, is continuously investing in adolescents and youths to realize their full potential and their rights and providing supports to meet sexual and reproductive health needs and eliminate all forms of gender-based violence..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Population Fund
2022-06-24
Date of entry/update: 2022-06-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "UNODC in Myanmar aims to prevent drug abuse, enhance access to community-based drug treatment & reintegration services, especially among vulnerable populations. "My son wanted to stop using drug, but we did not know how to help him, but through the advice received at the Rebirth Rehabilitation Service Center my son is now healthy and has got a second chance to build back his life better and I am really thankful to the drug treatment and rehabilitation services in the community," said U Naw Tawng, a concerned father from Myitkyina, Kachin state. Stories like U Naw Tawng’s show the impact of illicit drug use on people especially in vulnerable communities such as IDP camps and surrounding areas in Myitkyina, where UNODC continued to deliver and support community based drug prevention, treatment and services for people suffering from drug addiction problems. Illicit drug use is having a significant impact on people's health and wellbeing, and negatively affects the long-term prospects for an eventual return of the expanding numbers of IDPs to their home areas. Aiming to minimize the adverse health and social consequences of drug abuse in Kachin state's IDP camps and surrounding areas, UNODC’s experts work directly with and mentor volunteers in IDP camps to ensure people who use drugs can access health-centered services within their community setting. Ze Hkawng, an ex-drug user from Mawhpawng Lhaovo camp, overcame drug addiction with the help of community-based drug treatment and services programme. He has been trained by UNODC and is volunteering at the programme now actively. While screening risky drug behavior, he said "I was happy when I heard about the community-based drug treatment and services initiated by UNODC because I did not know how to get help to stop using drugs. The programme helped me to rid myself of the addiction and I am now healthy and happy. I think many youths like me need help, so I hope this programme will help them just like it helped me." Since October 2021, the program supported the referral of 30 clients to government, INGOs and NGOs run service centers based on the client’s needs such as methadone maintenance therapy, HIV testing, Hepatitiis screening, counselling services, as well as community based treatment and rehabilitation services in coordination and cooperation with relevant partners. To reach more people, UNODC has started to roll out hybrid online training of trainers to participants from local faith-based organizations, enabling them to pass on their knowledge on a community-based approach to drug dependence treatment and services to members of the community. With their new knowledge, they will be able to conduct training sessions such as the one organized by UNODC's field staff for volunteers (half of whom were female and have of whom were male) from IDP Camps in Myitkyina together with NGOs and faith-based organizations working on drug and health areas. The workshop improved the skills of the IDP camps volunteers to screen and refer people who use drugs to the community based services, while at the same time facilitating improved networking and coordination among services providers and the volunteers. Mrs. Hkawn Ra, a camp leader from Du Kahtawng camp, said that joining the workshops has provided them with information on the referral pathway for service delivery, not only in the camp but also to surrounding areas as well. Mr. Joseph, a camp leader from Manhkring IDP camp, agreed with Mrs. Khawn Ra and added that the training also provided urgently needed assistance to the volunteers in their camps who will assist with drug-related issues in the camp. The trainings are part of UNODC’s collaboration with NGOs and faith-based organizations working on drug prevention, treatment, harm reduction, drug rehabilitation and social reintegration services, aimed at strengthening capacities to provide community-based services in particular in IDP settings. In Kachin, the programme focuses on preventing drug use and addressing drug-related issues among people in IDP camps and surrounding communities in three selected area of Kachin state: Myitkyina, Waimaw and Mogaung. In line with international standards and a balanced approach to drug control as reflected in an outcome document during the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem, UNODC in Myanmar aims to prevent drug abuse, and enhance access to community-based drug treatment and reintegration services, especially among vulnerable populations..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Myanmar
2022-05-11
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "At least 297 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities, and transports in Myanmar were perpetrated from February 1 to September 30, 2021, according to an analysis based on open-source reports compiled by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR). Myanmar’s armed forces and police reportedly committed the vast majority of attacks amid resistance to the military takeover. The Myanmar military’s (“Tatmadaw”) wanton violence against health workers and facilities is fueling the collapse of the country’s health sector and its COVID-19 response, as the emergency in Myanmar devolves into a protracted conflict. Within the 297 total incidents that took place across Myanmar during the first eight months of the military’s coup and crackdown (February 1 to September 30, 2021), Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR highlight reports of: 210 health workers arrested 40 health workers injured 29 health workers killed Hospitals raided at least 87 times Hospitals occupied at least 56 times 25 incidents impacting COVID-19 response measures “The Tatmadaw uses restrictions on health services as a tool of repression and control,” said Christina Wille, director of Insecurity Insight. “Many people are denied health care. Amazingly brave health workers continue to provide care in clandestine ways but frequent raids and curfews, medical shortages, and power outages jeopardize health facilities and put patients’ lives at risk. The international community needs to take bolder steps to address Myanmar’s tragedy. “The humanitarian tolls have increased as COVID-19 spreads largely unchecked. The recent military build-up in Myanmar’s border areas portends additional atrocities and the displacement of more people,” said Wille. “Myanmar’s catastrophe won’t remain inside the county’s borders.” The incidents referred to are based on the dataset 01 February – 30 September 2021 Violence Against Health Care in Myanmar Data, which is available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX). For the purposes of this research brief, one incident can comprise multiple types of violence or threats such as those above. The brief does not include incidents of violence against patients. Selected events can also be viewed on the global map on threats and violence against health care. The new research brief highlights several alarming developments in the military’s ongoing crackdown on the medical profession and the anti-coup movement. The military has used health facilities to arrest civilians suspected of participating in the anti-coup movement. For example, an elderly pro-democracy activist received a call about his eligibility for a COVID-19 vaccine. Upon arrival at a COVID-19 vaccination center on August 4, he was reportedly arrested by armed forces and remains detained in the county’s capital. The Tatmadaw often denies medical care to detainees in its custody. Health workers continue to be targeted for providing care, with detainees coerced into confessing to falsified charges, such as possession of weapons or links to anti-junta terrorism. In one instance on September 25, a doctor and nurse who volunteered to treat COVID-19 patients were reportedly dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night, tortured, and killed by the military-run State Administrative Council (SAC). The COVID-19 response has been derailed by the military’s violence against health care. For example, four NGO workers for an organization that transports COVID-19 patients and delivers medical supplies were arrested by the SAC, who also reportedly seized two of the group’s ambulances. The military has blocked numerous international and local aid groups from reaching people in need. Patients are also routinely blocked from accessing care. State and non-state actors continue to use explosive weapons around health facilities. In one case, on September 22, a car bomb exploded outside the military-occupied Public Hospital in Mandalay region, killing one person and injuring two others. “There is no doubt that the emergency has spiraled into a protracted humanitarian crisis,” said Sandra Mon, a PHR expert and epidemiologist from Myanmar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights. “The military junta continues to intimidate and threaten health workers, even during the third wave of COVID-19 that devastated the country. The collapse of Myanmar’s health care system and the evolution of the conflict has now led to health being used as a political bargaining chip. Conflict should never justify inaction, especially where public health is concerned. Myanmar’s international allies must continue to press for unhindered delivery of medical and humanitarian aid to the people. Global health diplomacy must be invoked.” While the vast majority of attacks and threats against health care have been perpetrated by Myanmar’s armed forces, non-state actors also reportedly committed violence against health care in May and June. Of the 297 total incidents, at least 267 are attributed to Myanmar’s armed forces (State Administrative Council/SAC or the Tatmadaw) and 14 to non-state actors. The perpetrators are unclear in 16 incidents. The increase in attacks by non-state actors was driven in part by escalating conflict between the military and local ethnic militias in recent months, particularly in the Chin and Kachin states, as well as the shadow government’s September declaration of a “People’s Defensive War.” The research brief also includes testimonies from nurses in Myanmar, collected by Insecurity Insight with support from the Tropical Health and Education Trust in September 2021. “We are not criminals,” said one nurse, whose identity is concealed due to extreme security risks. “We are caring and compassionate nurses who want to help reduce pain and suffering. We just want to give care to our people.” Another nurse told researchers: “This is not the first time in our history that we suffer from dictators. Back then, we couldn’t let the world know what was happening. Today, we are globally connected and want to raise our voices. We don’t want our country and health system to deteriorate. It is our human right to speak out and say where we stand on this.” Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR used an open-source methodology to compile incidents noted in local, national, and international news outlets, online databases, and social media reports. The incidents reported are neither a complete nor a representative list of all incidents. Most incidents have not undergone verification by Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR. Data collection is ongoing and data may change as more information is made available. However, the data offers a snapshot of how Myanmar’s military is persecuting health workers and targeting facilities amid its broader crackdown on dissent. “Myanmar’s military must immediately cease hostilities and allow prompt, equitable, and unhindered delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and lifesaving aid to the country’s besieged civilians,” said Susannah Sirkin, director of policy at Physicians for Human Rights. “UN member states must use all tools at their disposal to pressure and influence the Myanmar military to abide by international humanitarian and human rights law. In a year that has seen rampant conflict- and COVID-19-related violence against medical professionals, Myanmar may be the worst place on Earth to be a health worker today due to the onslaught from the military. The global community cannot let this stand.” The research brief makes several recommendations to UN member states, urging the international community to ensure the full implementation of UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2286, adopted in May 2016, which strongly condemns attacks on medical personnel in conflict situations, as well as UNSC Resolution 2565, which calls for a global ceasefire during the COVID-19 pandemic..."
Source/publisher: Physicians for Human Rights (New York)
2021-10-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The Myanmar Humanitarian Fund enables national and international humanitarian organisations to provide life-saving assistance to vulnerable and displaced people
Description: "(အောက်တွင် မြန်မာဘာသာဖြင့် ဖတ်ရှုနိုင်ပါသည်။) The Myanmar Humanitarian Fund (MHF), a country-based pooled fund managed by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has allocated US$12.4million in 2021 to strengthen humanitarian response efforts to growing needs across Myanmar. This funding is enabling national and international humanitarian organisations to provide life-saving assistance and protection services to vulnerable and displaced people in Chin, Kachin, Magway, Rakhine and Shan states as well as in south-eastern parts of Myanmar, where there has been an increase in humanitarian needs due to conflict since 1 February. As part of the $12.4 million, the MHF has provided $330,000 to national humanitarian partners to top-up their ongoing projects to address the emerging humanitarian needs following escalation of hostilities in Chin, Kachin, Rakhine and Kayin states. Since 2020, the MHF has allocated a total of $28.5 million to 32 partners, most of whom are national and local humanitarian organisations. These 56 life-saving humanitarian and COVID-19 related projects are contributing to changing the lives of almost 1.2 million people, of whom more than half (56 per cent) are women and girls, almost half (44 per cent) are children and 11 per cent are people with disabilities. Bringing services closer to the people “I am overjoyed to see my daughter do remedial exercises without the need to travel far,” said Khadija, a mother of a five-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, from Dar Paing Village, northwest of the capital Sittwe, in Rakhine State. Khadija is among the 345,000 people, who benefited from improved access to primary health care and nutrition services between May and August 2021. The projects have been implemented by national and international humanitarian partners and with the financial support of the MHF. “I am really thankful for the help to run an outpatient therapeutic centre, that is indispensable for families like us,” Khadija said. Just like other displaced families living in camps or camp-like situations in Rakhine State, Khadija cannot afford to access health services by herself at the medical facility far away from where she lives. Displaced people in Rakhine and in other conflict-affected parts of the country continue to experience significant challenges in accessing basic services, including healthcare, education and livelihoods opportunities. This is where national and international humanitarian organisations are coming in to help by bringing these services closer to affected people with the support of the MHF. Empowering national humanitarian partners Wherever possible, the MHF strives to ensure that its funding support goes to national partners, who remain the backbone of humanitarian operations in Myanmar. At the moment, the MHF is directly supporting seven national humanitarian organisations who are delivering lifesaving assistance in Chin, Kachin, Magway, Rakhine and Shan states, as well as in south-eastern parts of the country. There are also 27 humanitarian projects by international organisations funded by MHF that are being implemented in partnership with 40 national organisations. In addition to funding support, the MHF also strives to build the capacity of national organisations in mobilising complimentary resources, including from other funding sources. Dire humanitarian crisis The MHF funding is critical in the current context, where around 3 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection services across various parts of Myanmar. This includes about 1 million people living in conflict-affected areas identified at the start of 2021 in the Humanitarian Response Plan. An additional 2 million people have been identified to receive humanitarian assistance and protection services as part of the Interim Emergency Response Plan. The Plan mainly focuses on people in urban and peri-urban areas in Yangon and Mandalay, as well as those displaced or otherwise affected in Chin and Kayin states since 1 February. The Myanmar Humanitarian Fund The MHF - one of 19 county-based pooled funds that OCHA manages across the world - brings together the contributions from donors into a single, unearmarked humanitarian fund. Since 2020, the MHF has received US$32.3 million in contributions from a total of 12 donors. The allocations by MHF aim to support projects in line with the strategic objectives of the Humanitarian Response Plan and Interim Emergency Response Plan. The MHF remains flexible in its approach, and together with its Advisory Board, strategises its contributions based on the context and adapts its approach to the changing realities on the ground. For example, in 2020, the MHF made a reserve allocation in the amount of $4 million to boost humanitarian efforts, aiming to ensure a coordinated response to COVID-19 and related support for displaced people and other vulnerable people in conflict-affected areas. Myanmar Humanitarian Fund သည် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုဆိုင်ရာအကူအညီနှင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ရောဂါ တုံ့ပြန်ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများကို အရှိန်အဟုန်မြှင့်လုပ်ဆောင်နိုင်စေရန် ဒေသခံမိတ်ဖက်များကို ကူညီပေးလျက်ရှိသည်။ OCHA ကစီမံခန့်ခွဲနေသည့် နိုင်ငံတွင်းစုပေါင်းရံပုံငွေယန္တရားတခုဖြစ်သော Myanmar Humanitarian Fund (MHF) သည် ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ်အတွင်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတဝှမ်းမှာ တိုးပွားလာသော လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုဆိုင်ရာအကူအညီများကို ထိထိရောက်ရောက်တုံ့ပြန်ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်စေရန် အမေရိကန်ဒေါ်လာ ၁၂ .၄သန်းကို ချမှတ်ပေးခဲ့ပါသည်။ အဆိုပါရံပုံငွေသည် ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့မှာ စ၍ ချင်း၊ ကချင်၊ ရခိုင်၊ ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်နှင့် မကွေးတိုင်းများသာမက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအရှေ့တောင်ပိုင်း ဒေသများတွင်ပါ အရေးကြီးအကူအညီနှင့် အကာအကွယ်ပေးရေးလုပ်ငန်းတွေ လုပ်ဆောင်နိုင်စေရန် ပြည်တွင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာ လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုဆိုင်ရာ အဖွဲ့အစည်းများကို ကူညီပေးနိုင်ခဲ့သည်။ အဆိုပါရံပုံ‌‌ငွေ၏ တစိတ်တပိုင်းအဖြစ် ချင်း၊ ကချင်၊ ရခိုင်နှင့် ကရင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်း ဖြစ်ပွားနေသော တိုက်ပွဲများကြောင့် လိုအပ်လာသည့် အကူအညီများကို ဆက်လက် ဖြည့်ဆည်းနိုင်ရန် နိုင်ငံတွင်းရှိ လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုလုပ်ငန်းဆောင်ရွက်သူများ လက်ရှိလုပ်ဆောင်နေဆဲ လုပ်ငန်းများထဲသို့ အမေရိကန်ဒေါ်လာ ၃၃၀,၀၀၀ ထပ်ဆောင်ပေးခဲ့ပါသည်။ MHF သည် အရေးကြီး လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအကူအညီနှင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ရောဂါနှီးနွှယ်လုပ်ငန်းများကို ဆောင်ရွက်နေသော မိတ်ဖက်၃၂ ဖွဲ့အား အမေရိကန်ဒေါ်လာ ၂၈.၅ သန်းကို ၂၀၂၀ ခုနှစ်ကတည်းက ပေးအပ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ အဆိုပါအဖွဲ့များတွင် အများအားဖြင့် နိုင်ငံတွင်းနှင့် ဒေသခံမိတ်ဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ ပါဝင်ပြီး လုပ်ငန်း ၅၆ ခုကို လုပ်ကိုင်လျက်ရှိကာ လူပေါင်း ၁.၂ သန်းအတွက် ကောင်းမွန်သော အပြောင်းအလဲများ ဆောင်ကျဉ်းနိုင်အောင် ကြိုးပမ်းလျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ၎င်းလူဦးရေ ၁.၂ သန်း၏ ထက်ဝက်ကျော် (၅၆ ရာခိုင်နှုန်း)မှာ အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ ထက်ဝက်နီးပါး (၄၄ ရာခိုင်နှုန်း)မှာ ကလေးငယ်များနှင့် ၁၁ ရာခိုင်နှုန်းမှာ မသန်စွမ်းများဖြစ်ကြပါသည်။ လူထုအတွက် အကူအညီပေးနေသော ဝန်ဆောင်မှုများ “အဝေးကြီးသွားစရာမလိုဘဲ ကိုယ်ကာယသန်စွမ်းရေးလေ့ကျင့်ခန်းတွေ လုပ်ခွင့်ရတဲ့သမီးလေးအတွက် ကျွန်မ ဝမ်းသာလိုက်တာ” ခါဒီဂျာသည် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်၊ အနောက်မြောက်ဘက်ရှိ ဒါးပိုင်ကျေးရွာမှ အာရုံကြောနှင့်ကြွက်သားညီညွတ်စွာလှုပ်ရှားနိုင်မှုမရှိသည့် cerebral palsy ရောဂါခံစားနေရသူ ငါးနှစ်သမီးကလေး၏ မိခင်ဖြစ်သည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် မေလမှ ဩဂုတ်လအတွင်း ခါဒီဂျာအပါအဝင် လူဦးရေ ၃၄၅,၀၀၀ အတွက် အခြေခံကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုနှင့် အာဟာရပြည့်ဝရေးဝန်ဆောင်မှုလုပ်ငန်းများကို တိုးချဲ့ပေးအပ်နိုင်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ အဆိုပါလုပ်ငန်းများကို MHF မှ ကူညီပေးသောရံပုံငွေဖြင့် နိုင်ငံတွင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာ လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုလုပ်ငန်းဆောင်ရွက်သူမိတ်ဖက်များမှ ဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ “ပြင်ပလူနာတွေအတွက် ကုထုံးစင်တာ ဖွင့်လှစ်ပေးခဲ့တဲ့အတွက် လှိုက်လှိုက်လှဲလှဲ ကျေးဇူးတင်ရှိပါတယ်။ ဒီလိုစင်တာတွေက ကျွန်မတို့လို မိသားစုတွေအတွက် မရှိမဖြစ်ပါ“ ဟု ခါဒီဂျာက ဆိုပါသည်။ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းရှိ ယာယီစခန်း သို့မဟုတ် ယာယီစခန်းကဲ့သို့သော အခြေအနေမျိုးတွင် နေထိုင်နေကြရသူ အိုးအိမ်စွန့်ခွာထွက်ပြေးလာခဲ့ရသူ အခြားမိသားစုများကဲ့သို့ပင် ခါဒီဂျာလည်း ၎င်းနေထိုင်ရာကျေးရွာပြင်ပရှိ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုလုပ်ငန်းများကို လက်လှမ်းမီရန် ခက်ခဲလျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်နှင့် အခြား ပဋိပက္ခဒဏ်ခံစားရသော နေရာများတွင်လည်း အခြေခံကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှု၊ ပညာရေးနှင့် အသက်မွေးဝမ်းကျောင်းမှုလုပ်ငန်းများကို လက်လှမ်းမီရန် စိန်ခေါ်မှုများရှိနေဆဲဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ထို့ကဲ့သို့ အကူအညီလိုအပ်နေသူများအတွက် နိုင်ငံတွင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာမှ လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုလုပ်ငန်း ဆောင်ရွက်သူအဖွဲ့အစည်းများက အရေးကြီးအကူအညီများရရှိရန် MHF ၏ ရံပုံငွေဖြင့် ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးနေခြင်းဖြစ်ပါသည်။ နိုင်ငံတွင်း လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုဆောင်ရွက်သူမိတ်ဖက်များကို စွမ်းဆောင်ရည်မြှင့်တင်ပေးခြင်း MHF သည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုလုပ်ငန်းများ၏ကျောရိုးထောက်တိုင်ဖြစ်သော နိုင်ငံတွင်းမိတ်ဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများထံသို့ ရံပုံငွေအကူအညီများ ရောက်ရှိစေရန် အစဉ်အမြဲကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိသည်။ MHF သည် ချင်း၊ ကချင်၊ ရခိုင်၊ ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်နှင့် မကွေးတိုင်းများသာမက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအရှေ့တောင်ပိုင်းဒေသများတွင်ပါ အရေးကြီး လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအကူညီပေးရေးလုပ်ငန်း ဆောင်ရွက်နေသူ နိုင်ငံတွင်းအဖွဲ့အစည်း ၇ ခုသို့ အကူအညီများကို တိုက်ရိုက်ပေးအပ်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ရံပုံငွေထောက်ပံ့ရေးအပြင် အခြားရံပုံငွေရင်းမြစ်များအပါအဝင် ထပ်ဆောင်းရင်းမြစ်များ ပေးအပ်ရာတွင်လည်း နိုင်ငံတွင်းအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၏ စွမ်းဆောင်ရည်မြှင့်တင်ရန် ကြိုးစားလျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ခက်ခဲလျက်ရှိသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအကျပ်အတည်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအနှံ့အပြားရှိ လူဦးရေ ၃ သန်းမှာ လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအကူအညီနှင့် အကာအကွယ်ပေးရေးဆိုင်ရာ ဝန်ဆောင်မှုများ လိုအပ်လျက်ရှိနေပြီး အကူအညီများပေးအပ်နိုင်ရန် လက်ရှိအခြေအနေတွင် MHF၏ ရံပုံငွေသည် ပဓာနကျလျက်ရှိသည်။ အဆိုပါလူဦးရေထဲတွင် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်အစတွင် Humanitarian Response Planအရ ပေးအပ်ရန်သတ်မှတ်ခဲ့သည့် ပဋိပက္ခဒဏ်ခံစားရသူ ၁ သန်းပါဝင်ပါသည်။ ထို့ပြင် ထပ်မံ၍ Interim Emergency Response Plan အရ လူဦးရေ ၂ သန်းကို လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအကူအညီနှင့် အကာအကွယ်ပေးရေးဝန်ဆောင်မှုများပေးအပ်ရန် သတ်မှတ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ ၎င်းအစီအစဉ်သည် ရန်ကုန်နှင့် မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီးအတွင်းရှိ ဆင်ခြေဖုန်းနေရာများတွင် နေထိုင်ရသူများအပြင် ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့ကတည်းက ချင်းနှင့် ကရင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာရသူများ၊ ထိခိုက်ခံစားရသူများကို ဦးစားပေးကူညီပေးရန်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ Myanmar Humanitarian Fund MHFသည် တကမ္ဘာလုံးတွင် OCHA က စီမံခန့်ခွဲနေသော နိုင်ငံတွင်းစုပေါင်းရံပုံငွေ ၁၉ ခုထဲမှတခုဖြစ်သည်။ အဆိုပါရံပုံငွေသည် အလှူရှင်များဆီက ရရှိသော ထည့်ဝင်ငွေများကို တစုတစည်းထဲထားရှိသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုလုပ်ငန်းဆိုင်ရာ ရံပုံငွေဖြစ်သည်။ ၂၀၂၀ ခုနှစ်တွင် အလှူရှင် ၁၂ ဖွဲ့ထံမှ ထည့်ဝင်ငွေ အမေရိကန်ဒေါ်လာ ၃၂.၃ သန်းရရှိခဲ့ပါသည်။ MHFမှ ချမှတ်ပေးမှုများသည် Humanitarian Response Plan၊ Interim Emergency Response Plan များ၏ ဗျူဟာကျရည်မှန်းချက်များနှင့်အညီ လုပ်ငန်းများကို ထောက်ပံ့ပေးရန်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ MHF၏ ချဉ်းကပ်မှုမှာ ပြောင်းလွယ်၊ ပြင်လွယ်သောသဘောရှိသည်။ ထို့ပြင် MHFသည် အကြံပေးဘုတ်အဖွဲ့နှင့်အတူ နေရာဒေသအပေါ်မူတည်၍ ထည့်ဝင်မှုများကို ဗျူဟာကျစီမံလျက်ရှိကာ ပြောင်းလဲနေသောအခြေအနေအပေါ်မူတည်၍ ချဉ်းကပ်မှုပုံစံကို ပြောင်းလဲပေးပါသည်။ ဥပမာ ၂၀၂၀ခုနှစ်တွင် MHFသည် ပဋိပက္ခဒဏ်ခံစားရသော နေရာများရှိ နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာလာရသူများနှင့် အခြားထိခိုက်လွယ်မိသားစုများအတွက် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအကူအညီများ တိုးမြှင့်ပေးနိုင်ရန် အမေရိကန်ဒေါ်လာ ၄ သန်းကို အရန်ရံပုံငွေအဖြစ် သတ်မှတ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ ထိုသို့ဆောင်ရွက်ရာတွင် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ တုံ့ပြန်မှုနှင့် ဆက်စပ်အကူအညီများကို ညှိနှိုင်းလုပ်ဆောင်သည့် တုံပြန်မှုအဖြစ်ရည်ရွယ်ကာ ပေးအပ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: United Nations Myanmar
2021-09-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: တရားရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၊ ပြည်ထောင်စုဝန်ကြီး ဦးသိန်းဦး၏ နိုင်ငံရေးအကျဥ်းသားအားလုံးလွတ်မြောက်ရေးနှင့် အကျဥ်း‌ထောင်များအတွင်းရှိ အကျဥ်းသားများအား ကိုဗစ် ၁၉ ရောဂါကူးစက်ဖြစ်ပွားမှုမှ ကာကွယ်နိုင်ရန် ဆောင်ရွက်သင့်သည်များ ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးရန် တောင်းဆိုခြင်းနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ သတင်းထုတ်ပြန်ခြင်း (ဇူလိုင် ၁၆)
Description: "(Yangon- 16 JULY) As the Covid-19 crisis in Myanmar has reached a critical stage, the junta has announced the presence of Covid in Insein Jail. The 'Special Tribunals' established for the trial of persons detained for peaceful protests have been suspended. Reporting across the country is minimal, and the pandemic is likely to have reached all detention facilities, since our people are reporting cases, and deaths in all areas of Myanmar. “Holding people in detention without trial, in overcrowded facilities where Covid-19 is spreading out of control, will be a death sentence for many whose only crime was to peacefully express their fervent desire for democracy," said NUG Minister for Justice, U Thein Oo. " The legal system in Myanmar is operating under de facto Martial Law. with Special Tribunals headed by military judges in detention centres. The military must be held responsible for the extrajudicial killings they have engaged in since this coup, and this includes any deaths that occur in prisons due to Covid and an absence of health care." Many of those detained have been held without trial for more than five months, in overcrowded conditions and some have experienced interrogations techniques that amount to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. They must be released immediately, and their families informed of their health status before release so that appropriate treatment and isolation measures can be taken to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the virus. Since March 2020, Covid-19 prevention measures have led to the closure, or only partial operating of all courts in all areas of Myanmar, except Rakhine State. This has resulted in a massive backlog of cases, and overcrowding in all jails and prisons. All of those who on remand must be released on bail immediately. In addition, prisoners with less than a year of their sentence to run should also be released. These measures will help to relieve overcrowding in the jails, so that correct procedures for controlling the spread of Covid-19 in jails can be put in place. The Minister added: “The President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, met with Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar on June 3, 2021 and requested that IRCRC visits to places of detention be resumed. This visit was the first by an international organisation to meet the State Administrative Council, and was reported by the junta as recognition of its rule. If this visit was sincere, the IC RC must renew and maintain pressure on the junta to allow this access and activities to support prisoner rights."..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Justice
2021-07-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-03
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Sub-title: As COVID-19 wreaks havoc in Mandalay, volunteers are doing their best to help save lives, cemeteries are overwhelmed and daring protesters continue to defy the junta with street marches.
Description: "The sound of sirens echoes through the streets of Mandalay city, as ambulances ferry people with COVID-19 symptoms in what is often a fruitless search for a hospital that will accept them. Many with serious symptoms die before they can be admitted to hospitals despite the best efforts of charity group members and volunteers who tend to them during the journey. “The hospitals are refusing to accept patients and patients often lose their lives while ambulances are rushing from one hospital to another,” said charity group member U Ko Thet, who also owns the Sein Sunn Nyo oxygen factory. COVID-19 patients in Mandalay are being treated at seven hospitals, including the People’s Hospital, and a 204-bed treatment centre that opened at the site of the city’s former airport in Chanmyatharzi Township in July. Yet, the relatives of patients in hospitals say these facilities are full or near capacity, and patients are not receiving adequate care because of a shortage of healthcare personnel. “If a patient tests positive, we have to request the help of volunteer charity groups for transportation and the groups don’t have as many ambulances as before,” said a doctor at one of Mandalay’s hospitals, who asked not to be identified. “The number of patients is out of all proportion to the number of healthcare workers, and it is the people who suffer. Health workers are also getting infected.” The doctor said the highly-infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 has sparked fear among Mandalay residents. “People are beginning to believe that if you are hospitalised, you are likely to die. This variant is so severe, and many patients need intensive care,” the doctor said. Personnel and oxygen shortages The third wave of COVID-19 has hit Myanmar much harder than the first and second waves, when the National League for Democracy government’s response to the pandemic was bolstered by the support of legions of charity group volunteers, international aid, and the trust and cooperation of the public. In addition to government healthcare workers participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement, the number of volunteers at clinics and hospitals has also dramatically decreased. With hospitals overflowing and understaff, many seriously ill COVID-19 patients have no choice but to make do at home. “People are in dire need of everything, unlike during the time of the people’s [NLD] government,” said Ko Thet. “During the first and second waves … everyone cooperated to help [COVID-19 patients], in a systematic and disciplined way. Now, everything is upside-down. There is a shortage of skilled doctors and nurses to provide proper treatment and people are losing their lives. We volunteers are helping not because we support the dictators, but because we are people helping people,” he said. An official in the sanitation department of Mandalay City Development Committee said more than four tonnes of biohazard waste was being collected daily from hospitals and quarantine centres. The amount is actually less than during the first and second waves, sid the official, who asked not to be identified, but the waste was not being disposed of as safely because of the shortage of volunteers. “It is becoming dangerous – we have to take great care not to become infected,” said the official, who asked not to be named. As with everywhere else in the country, the high number of COVID-19 patients with breathing difficulties has sparked a frantic search in Mandalay city for oxygen with which to treat them. Volunteers from young men’s associations and charity groups have been distributing oxygen to patients in urgent need and for many this is the only option. “At present, oxygen is the first priority,” said Ko Thet. “My plant can fill 700 40-litre cylinders a day for emergency patients in dire need.” Even so, Ko Thet’s factory is unable to help everyone who is in need of oxygen, he said. Some residents are pooling their money to buy oxygen for their neighbors. U Satee, a Mandalay resident, said he and two friends in a motorcyclist group have been buying oxygen to distribute to the seriously ill. “When we see that people have survived with the help of the oxygen we donated, we are encouraged and greatly relieved,” he said. Charity groups in Mandalay say that with hospitals and quarantine centres at capacity, the number of people dying from COVID-19 at home is rising every day. U Tint, who heads the Parahita Mingaung group, a volunteer association, told Frontier 22 patients had died of COVID-19 at the hospital he was volunteering at on August 2 alone. “We are taking out the bodies. More than 200 bodies a day are being cremated at two of the three cemeteries in Mandalay,” he said. Between July 1 and August 2, the three cemeteries cremated or buried 2,761 bodies, including a record 185 on July 30. Protests and civil disobedience continue The State Administration Council went to great lengths to reopen schools on June 1 after a year of COVID-19 related closure, but a boycott by students as well as teachers, many of whom had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, meant that only about 20 percent of students returned to classes at the start of term. As COVID-19 cases began to climb again, the regime announced on July 8 that all schools would be closed until July 23, and they are yet to reopen. As part of the campaign to contain the spread of COVID-19, Mandalay’s Zay Cho market, Mann Myanmar Plaza and other popular shopping venues were closed on September 13 last year. The military council tried to force shops at Zay Cho market to open at the beginning of June, but owners have resisted because of their opposition to the junta and concern about the worsening COVID-19 situation. Street protests also continue, and neither harsh suppression by regime forces nor the risk of COVID-19 have stifled the determination of protest groups in Mandalay to show their contempt for the coup. At least eight protest organisations, including those representing the Sangha Union, student groups, engineers and neighbourhoods, have continued to march in Mandalay despite the danger. “We cannot afford to stop resisting against the dictator just because of the pandemic,” said Ko Min Bo, who leads a protest group in Mandalay. “We must stop COVID-19 and at the same time we must root out the military dictatorship. I want younger people to do whatever they can, even if they cannot participate in protest marches.”..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2021-08-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Even after six months of horrifying news from Myanmar, it is an incident that's shocked the country - five people who chose to jump from a building they were hiding in, some to their deaths, rather than face arrest.
Description: "The police have condemned the group as terrorists, but the husband of one victim tells the BBC she was a compassionate wife and mother who felt she was working to alleviate the people's suffering. This is the tale of her untimely death. It was on Tuesday afternoon that eight young activists found themselves trapped by a police raid. The military had seized power months earlier in February, throwing the country into turmoil as millions protested against the coup. At least 900 people have been killed by the military's violent response, and thousands more arrested. Wai Wai Myint was one of those caught up in the movement opposing the military junta. She was one of the five who jumped off a commercial building in downtown Yangon as the police charged in, falling onto a concrete pavement. She and at least one other person died at the scene. The other three have been taken to a military-run hospital. In the first photograph of Wai Wai Myint that began circulating on social media after news of her death, she stands ramrod straight, looking defiantly at the camera. Her fingers are raised in the three-finger Hunger Games salute that has become the trademark gesture used by young dissidents in South East Asia. The military authorities have described the group she was with as terrorists who were planning to plant bombs. They have published confessions by two of the activists who did not jump and were arrested there, and photographs of what they say were ingredients for explosives. But that is not the image painted by her husband, Soe Myat Thu. He had to say goodbye to Apple, as he calls her, at a military-organised mass cremation for her and four other people, including the young man who died with her when they jumped. No photographs were allowed, and the families were not permitted to take away the ashes. The military junta in Myanmar has been trying to restrict the funerals of those killed in the uprising against the coup, as they often turn into anti-military demonstrations - sometimes cremating bodies in secret rather than returning them to their relatives. Soe Myat Thu held up a flower for her, and took that back home in place of her remains. The move towards politics They were a comfortably middle-class couple, both ethnic Chinese, with a six year-old daughter. Soe Myat Thu is a dentist, and Wai Wai Myint was a gems and jewellery trader. She had been brought up by two aunts, he told the BBC, and always had plenty of money to enjoy life. Photographs of her show a well made-up young woman posing in stylish clothes. She liked going out clubbing with girlfriends, he says, but had a strong social conscience, regularly donating money to poorer neighbours or to animal welfare groups. He said the couple had not been interested in politics at all, with Wai Wai Myint even saying that they should stay away because it could be dangerous. When the coup happened, she did not react much at first. But she was kind-hearted, he says, and became upset when the first protester to die, a young woman called Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, was fatally shot in the capital Nyapyitaw a week after the coup. Her death was widely mourned and triggered further anger against authorities. The shooting of a young protester Wai Wai Myint donated money to Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing's family, and began posting on her Facebook page about other victims of the increasingly violent military response to the civil disobedience movement. He said the couple both knew they could not change things themselves, but when she saw people being shot by the military she became more outspoken in her comments. He describes her as a bold character who was more ready to take risks than he was. Soe Myat Thu says she was arrested once during a protest, and he had to negotiate to get her out of custody. She was very angry about that, he remembers, because of the way she had been kicked and beaten. He had then warned her not to go to any more protests, reminding her that she had a daughter to care for. After that, he believed that his wife was no longer involved with the opposition. It has evolved from a non-violent protest movement in the weeks after the coup to an underground resistance which today uses handmade guns and bombs, and is believed to be behind the assassination of officials who co-operate with the military. He says he knew the other activists who were caught with Wai Wai Myint, in the building where they were staying on 44th Street in downtown Yangon, not far from their home. They were all members of the Pzundaung Botahtaung Young Strike Committee, one of many groups formed in Yangon in the first days after the coup to resist it. She used to hang out with them, he says, and sometimes brought them to their house to eat and use their internet. "I admired and felt sorry for them as they were prepared to go out and face danger when I would not," he said. But he had no idea she was going to join them in their hideout on Tuesday; she had only told him that she was going out for a little while, and left the house without changing her clothes and putting on make-up, as she usually did. It is not clear what Wai Wai Myint's role was in the group, or whether she was even a member. It was possible that she was only paying the rent and offering other kinds of material support. Activists opposing the coup in Myanmar have to keep moving from place to place to avoid arrest. Soe Myint Thu believes it was what she felt about the suffering of the people, and her determination not to accept the military junta, that eventually drove her to her fate..."
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2021-08-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "At least 252 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities, and transports have been perpetrated in Myanmar from February 1 to July 31, 2021, according to an analysis based on open-source reports conducted by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR). The country’s armed forces and police reportedly committed the vast majority of attacks amid ongoing protests against the military coup. In addition to the military’s attacks on civilians and demonstrators, health workers have been targeted for providing medical care to injured civilians and other health workers have been attacked for their participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which is protesting the military takeover. Violence against health care is increasingly derailing Myanmar’s COVID-19 response and vaccine roll-out, the research brief finds. Within the 252 total incidents that took place across Myanmar during the first six months of the military’s coup and crackdown (February 1 to July 31, 2021), Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR highlight reports of: 190 health workers arrested 37 health workers injured 25 health workers killed Hospitals raided at least 86 times Hospitals occupied at least 55 times 17 incidents impacting COVID-19 response measures The incidents referred to are based on the dataset 01 February – 31 July 2021 Violence Against Health Care in Myanmar Data, which is available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX). For the purposes of this research brief, one incident can comprise multiple types of violence or threats such as those above. For example, in one reported incident in Kyauk Kone township in Yangon city on February 27, 20 health workers were arrested and four were injured. The brief does not include incidents of violence against patients. While the vast majority of attacks and threats against health care have been perpetrated by Myanmar’s armed forces, non-state actors also reportedly committed violence against health care in May and June. Of the 252 total incidents, 234 are attributed to Myanmar’s armed forces (State Administrative Council/SAC or the Tatmadaw) and 15 to non-state actors. The increase in attacks by non-state actors was driven in part by escalating conflict between the military and local ethnic militias in recent months, particularly in the Chin and Kachin states. The research brief highlights reports that staff from the World Health Organization , non-governmental organizations (NGO), and international non-governmental organizations have been threatened and forced to return to work by the military council. Most of them were either working from home or had stopped working due to the current security situation. There are reports that the SAC is trying to replace NGO workers believed to be close to the CDM with government appointees. “Myanmar’s COVID-19 response is on life support – yet another consequence of the military’s unconscionable violence against health workers and facilities,” said Jennifer Leigh, an epidemiologist serving as PHR’s Myanmar researcher. “Six months into the coup, the military’s war on medics rages on. By brutalizing medical professionals during a pandemic, Myanmar’s junta is escalating its COVID-19 catastrophe and violating long-standing international principles of protection of health care, including the obligations of health professionals to care for the sick and wounded without interference.” The research brief highlights a range of violence that has marred the country’s COVID-19 response. For example, personal protective equipment and oxygen supplies were confiscated for exclusive use by the military in Chin, Kayin, and Yangon. Throughout July, the military reportedly assaulted four civilians for transporting an oxygen tank in Mandalay, arrested three civilians retrieving oxygen and nine volunteers assisting with fills, and killed one civilian in search of oxygen. In one incident on July 13, 2021, security forces opened fire on crowds of civilians queuing in line for oxygen cylinders in Yangon. COVID-19 centers have been raided and, at least two, closed down. A COVID-19 facility in Mandalay was raided and its medical equipment seized for alleged COVID-19 violations. Two COVID-19 treatment centers in Sagaing were destroyed by military shelling. “Tragically, Myanmar has endured more reported attacks and threats against health care in 2021 than any country on Earth,” said Christina Wille, director of Insecurity Insight. “Myanmar’s surging COVID-19 crisis increasingly threatens other countries in the region and the global community. We call on all United Nations (UN) Member States to act to ensure the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 2286 and adopt measures to enhance the protection of and access to health care in situations of armed conflict. All people in Myanmar should benefit from unhindered delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations, medication, and supplies.” Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR used an open-source methodology to compile incidents noted in local, national, and international news outlets, online databases, and social media reports. The incidents reported are neither a complete nor a representative list of all incidents. Most incidents have not undergone verification by Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR. Data collection is ongoing and data may change as more information is made available. However, the data offers a snapshot of how Myanmar’s military is persecuting health workers and targeting facilities amid its broader crackdown on dissent. The research brief makes several recommendations to UN Member States, urging the international community to ensure the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, adopted May 2016, which strongly condemns attacks on medical personnel in conflict situations..."
Source/publisher: Physicians for Human Rights (New York)
2021-08-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-11
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Description: "Authorities in Myanmar currently have no plan to include minority Rohingya Muslims living in densely-packed camps as they begin vaccinating priority groups against COVID-19 in western Rakhine State, the junta-appointed local administrator said. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh during military operations in 2017 and those who remain complain of discrimination and mistreatment in a country that does not recognise them as citizens. Local administrator Kyaw Lwin told Reuters from Sittwe township that the rollout had begun there with 10,000 vaccinations for priority groups such as the elderly, healthcare workers, government staff and Buddhist monks. There were no current plans for vaccinating any of the Muslims living in camps in Sittwe, he said. "We are only following orders," he said, declining to comment on whether the plan amounted to discrimination against the Rohingya, who say they can trace local roots back centuries. "It all depends on how many vaccines we receive and the instructions we get. So far we haven't received any instructions regarding that," Kyaw Lin said. Spokespeople for Myanmar's health ministry and the military authorities did not answer calls seeking comment on the vaccination plans. Myanmar's coronavirus response almost collapsed after a Feb. 1 coup as many health workers stopped work in protest, but the army is now trying to step up vaccinations as Myanmar faces its worst spike in infections. An average of nearly 300 people a day have died in recent days, according to official figures that medics believe are significant underestimates. CAMPS AFFECTED The densely packed shacks and muddy narrow alleys where Rohingya live behind barbed wire to separate them from the Buddhist majority in Sittwe have also been hit by the coronavirus, residents say. From the Thet Kal Pyin camp, Nu Maung, 51, told Reuters authorities had collected names for possible vaccinations if shots become available for those who are over 60, but there was no sign of that happening. He himself had suffered COVID symptoms, but he was unable to get to the hospital for tests, he said. "Many people are sick. A lot. A few people died, mostly older people," he said. Authorities have not given figures for infections in the camps. At two other camps near Sittwe, Phwe Yar Gone and Thet Kal Pyin, residents said the authorities had not sent anyone to prepare the ground for potential vaccinations. Fortify Rights group human rights specialist Zaw Win said it was shocking but unsurprising that Rohingya would not be a priority for vaccination. "Rohingya have long faced extreme restrictions on their rights and in their everyday lives, including the right to health," he told Reuters. "Rohingya we are speaking to in Northern Rakhine have expressed fear and distrust of the state medical system and what might happen to them if they try to go to hospital with COVID-19 symptoms." An estimated 140,000 displaced Rohingya live in Rakhine state. The vast majority of them are confined to camps, with those in or around Sittwe housing more than 100,000 people. Up to half a milllion more Rohingya remain in villages elsewhere in Rakhine. Rohingya residents of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, north of Sittwe, said some Rohingya villagers had been vaccinated, but that supplies had now run out. At least 700,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine for Bangladesh in 2017 during operations by the army under the command of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who is now prime minister and head of Myanmar's junta. U.N. investigators said the operations were carried out with "genocidal intent" but the army denied that and said they were aimed at countering terrorists. Vaccinations started this week in the camps in Bangladesh that house more than one million Rohingya refugees..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-08-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-11
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Description: "While Myanmar has been experiencing massive political and economic turmoil since the February coup, a deadly third wave of COVID-19 has hit the country, bringing with it all four known coronavirus variants. Thousands of people are dying as a direct consequence of the military regime’s incompetent and negligent handling of the pandemic, and Myanmar is not close to controlling the latest outbreak of the disease. The Irrawaddy interviewed Dr. Tin Tin Htar Myint, an epidemiologist working for Pfizer, an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation, about the pandemic. The following are excerpts from her interview published on the Burmese website. All four coronavirus variants have been found in Myanmar. What are the consequences of that? COVID-19 cases are rising significantly in Myanmar. So are cases in neighboring countries such as India, Bangladesh and Thailand. Looking at Myanmar, there were no cases in April. Perhaps there were no infections or there were no tests. But even with no tests, we would have known if there were infections. Cases started to rise at the end of June and beginning of July. Cases are still continuing to rise and won’t peak until around the end of August. Then, they may decline gradually. People have to be careful until mid-September. Some countries are already facing the fourth wave of COVID-19. Do you think the third wave will overlap with the fourth wave in Myanmar? More waves will come and we don’t know how long they will last. Bangladesh has suffered two waves continuously, the first was not serious, but the second is massive. India has suffered a massive outbreak and cases are drastically declining now. By THE IRRAWADDY 4 August 2021 While Myanmar has been experiencing massive political and economic turmoil since the February coup, a deadly third wave of COVID-19 has hit the country, bringing with it all four known coronavirus variants. Thousands of people are dying as a direct consequence of the military regime’s incompetent and negligent handling of the pandemic, and Myanmar is not close to controlling the latest outbreak of the disease. The Irrawaddy interviewed Dr. Tin Tin Htar Myint, an epidemiologist working for Pfizer, an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation, about the pandemic. The following are excerpts from her interview published on the Burmese website. All four coronavirus variants have been found in Myanmar. What are the consequences of that? COVID-19 cases are rising significantly in Myanmar. So are cases in neighboring countries such as India, Bangladesh and Thailand. Looking at Myanmar, there were no cases in April. Perhaps there were no infections or there were no tests. But even with no tests, we would have known if there were infections. Cases started to rise at the end of June and beginning of July. Cases are still continuing to rise and won’t peak until around the end of August. Then, they may decline gradually. People have to be careful until mid-September. Some countries are already facing the fourth wave of COVID-19. Do you think the third wave will overlap with the fourth wave in Myanmar? More waves will come and we don’t know how long they will last. Bangladesh has suffered two waves continuously, the first was not serious, but the second is massive. India has suffered a massive outbreak and cases are drastically declining now. The problem with the pandemic is that we can’t predict when the new waves will come or which variant will suddenly become deadly. There are many variants and we can only wait and see which one will cause problems. I can’t tell you if the third wave will overlap with the fourth wave. But the third wave will continue for some time. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people are dying daily in Yangon. Will the crisis get worse? Cases will continue to increase. But deaths may or may not increase even the infections increase. It depends on treatment. Hospitals are already full and there are oxygen shortages. What’s worse is that it is difficult to buy medicines, even paracetamol. So we have to expect the worst. What should people do as they can’t get proper treatment? Health experts have called for flattening the curve [which means slowing the spread of the epidemic so that the number of people requiring care at any one time is reduced and healthcare systems can cope] since the very first outbreaks. If cases rise rapidly, hospitals will become overstretched and there won’t be enough medicines and oxygen. It would be easier to handle the crisis by flattening the curve. The period of the outbreak may be longer, but the number of patients will be steady and doctors will be able to provide proper treatment and there will be enough medicines. So deaths can be reduced. What people can do is avoid contracting the virus. Elderly persons, people with underlying conditions such as obesity, heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes are particularly at risk now. There has been a lot of discussion on Facebook and television about how to avoid contracting the virus by social distancing and wearing masks. People should follow that advice. When will this pandemic be over? It was initially thought that there would be herd immunity when 70 or 80 percent of the population is vaccinated. But it appears that is not correct. In France, at least 50 percent of the population has been vaccinated. It’s the same in Germany and Israel. But cases are still surfacing. So it is very difficult to predict when it will end. Normally, a pandemic wave lasts for three to four months. From the examples of other countries, we hope cases will decline in Myanmar after three or four months. But there is no definite answer for that. What else would you like to tell the people of Myanmar? Myanmar is having bad luck now. The military has seized power and the country is suffering with the third wave. But there is always light at the end of the tunnel. The pandemic will not last forever. It will recede over time. Stay strong. If there are vaccines, take them, take the full doses. Wear masks. Keep a safe distance from people. Eat well, sleep well. Consult with a doctor when you don’t feel good, rather than self-medicating. And keep calm..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In the sixth month since its forcible and unconstitutional power grab, the junta’s oppressive acts to secure political, territorial, or economic control have escalated conflict and the deadliness of a third wave of COVID-19. COVID-19 ripped ferociously through Burma, where a weakened health system and junta restrictions on treatment measures contributed to untold deaths. As the junta brought testing closer to pre-coup levels, it saw COVID-19 positivity rates up to 40%. During July alone, security forces killed at least 56 civilians. There were 348 violent attacks that either targeted or failed to protect civilians during 1–23 Jul, and a total 3,446 incidents 1 Feb–23 Jul..."
Source/publisher: Altsean Burma, Burma Human Rights Network, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Initiatives for International Dialogue, International Federation for Human Rights, Progressive Voice, US Campaign for Burma, and Women Peace Network
2021-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: New restrictions on the sale and distribution of oxygen to the public have made it harder to treat COVID-19 patients at home and social welfare groups have warned the rules could result in more preventable deaths.
Description: "When U Maung Ko’s blood oxygen levels began to drop dangerously due to COVID-19, the 42-year-old was lucky enough to secure a bed and treatment at a state hospital. But when Maung Ko’s father, U Tun Mya, also fell ill on July 4, there was nowhere for him to go; his grandson, Mg Htet Thura Zaw, instead arranged online consultations and medicine for Tun Mya from their Thanlyin Township home. When Tun Mya’s blood oxygen levels began to drop precipitously on July 7, Htet Thura Zaw began to search desperately for an oxygen cylinder to keep his 72-year-old grandfather alive. He managed to secure occasional oxygen deliveries for his grandfather from charity groups based in downtown Yangon, a one-hour drive away. On July 11, Htet Thura Zaw received the devastating news his father had died in hospital. Worse was to come. The next morning, the deliveries of oxygen for his grandfather failed to show up on time because the charity groups were facing longer wait times refill their cylinders. He watched in agony as his grandfather’s blood oxygen level dropped to between 35 and 40 percent. About 10 minutes after Tun Mya died, three oxygen cylinders arrived at the family’s home. “In 24 hours, I lost both my beloved father and grandfather,” a distressed Htet Thura Zaw told Frontier. “I feel like my future is hopeless without them. But like us, many people in Yangon Region are suffering because of these oxygen shortages.” Maung Ko and Tun Mya are just two among possibly tens of thousands of victims of Myanmar’s third wave of COVID-19, which has devastated the country over the past six weeks. The official COVID-19 death toll across June and July was 6,000, but many, like Tun Mya, were not counted because they died outside a government health facility. With an inadequate number of health staff, limited testing, lack of trust in the authorities and low vaccination rate, Myanmar was always vulnerable to a renewed COVID outbreak even without a coup. But the rapid pace with which the virus has spread and the sheer number of cases has created huge demand for oxygen to administer to severely ill patients. Supplemental oxygen is usually administered when a patient’s oxygen saturation falls below 90pc, but the high demand means that many are being turned away from hospitals until they are far below that threshold. With hospitals overwhelmed, most patients are now receiving treatment in their home, and are reliant on family members and charity groups to find oxygen cylinders and refill them regularly. Frontier interviewed representatives from fifteen social rescue teams and funeral service groups, who all said that demand for oxygen was only continuing to rise, along with the number of people dying in their homes. Daw Than Than Soe leads the Shin Than Kwink (Right to Live) Social Rescue and Funeral Services Group, which operates five ambulances in eastern Yangon. She said that from July 1 to 23, at least 150 suspected COVID-19 patients had died while being transferred to hospital by her group. “As the pandemic goes from bad to worse, the number of patients with hypoxia is increasing day by day,” she said. Accessing adequate oxygen supplies is only getting more difficult. In mid-July, the regime began restricting sales to the public. From July 28, the regime has ordered oxygen factories to only supply oxygen to those with a recommendation letter from the township “oxygen support committee”, which is run by local officials who answer to the junta. Social rescue teams and funeral service groups have condemned the restrictions, telling Frontier that it is likely to lead to more people dying in their homes unnecessarily because the regime is not allocating enough oxygen. Dr Khin Zar Win Pyae, a microbiologist at Nelson Labs in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States, criticised the bureaucratic delays that prevent patients from urgently seeking care. Lack of testing and contact tracing meant that Myanmar was likely to see more infections and deaths due to COVID-19, she said. “People no longer believe that this health care system will protect their parents’ lives. It is a situation of helplessness. So they decide to get treatment at home,” she added. Oxygen crisis It took the regime weeks to wake up to the crisis. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing rejected claims of an oxygen shortage at a coordination meeting on COVID-19 prevention, control and treatment in Nay Pyi Taw on 12 July. “Many people have criticised the oxygen supply in recent days. Actually, we have enough oxygen,” he said. “People are anxious and so they buy it … [but they] should not spread rumours.” But Dr Zaw Wai Soe, the National Unity Government’s health minister, said the shortage was simple math. Myanmar has confirmed an average 4,500 cases a day during July, peaking at more than 7,000 cases on July 14. But limited testing and an alarmingly high positivity rate – around 35 percent of all tests have come back positive – means the number is likely many times higher. Zaw Wai Soe said that about one-fifth of patients are likely to become critically ill and require oxygen. A severe COVID-19 patient may need two oxygen cylinders a day over the course of 10 days to recover. During the second wave that broke out in August 2020, Zaw Wai Soe served as vice-chair of the committee coordinating COVID-19 response in Yangon. He said officials calculated the number of oxygen cylinders required based on the number of cases, and ensured there were enough available each day. “The man who said we have enough oxygen may not know the calculations. Probably because he was advised by some good-for-nothing doctors,” Dr Zaw Wai Soe told Myanmar Now on July 18. Even as Min Aung Hlaing claimed there was no shortage, the junta was taking steps to control how oxygen factories distribute supplies to the public. At a press briefing in Nay Pyi Taw on July 12, Deputy Minister of Information Major-General Zaw Min Tun admitted that the government was prioritising oxygen supplies to hospitals and clinics, which has made it harder for private individuals to get oxygen on their own. The deputy minister also said that officials had received complaints about price gouging and consumer hoarding. “First, the reason we put these restrictions in place is because we discovered scams on the internet. Some people are committing fraud, pretending to provide services refilling oxygen supplies, and we received complaint letters,” he said. “Second, there are many cases of unnecessary use of oxygen supplies. For those who actually need oxygen, they can obtain refills with recommendation letters from local healthcare staff,” Zaw Min Tun added. In Yangon and other major cities, these restrictions have left people scrambling to secure oxygen supplies for sick relatives. Many are posting on social media about relatives who are in need of oxygen – tragically, these posts are often updated advising that the person in need has died. In July, Frontier interviewed relatives of 15 suspected COVID-19 patients who were being treated at home and relying on private oxygen supplies because they were not admitted to government hospitals and COVID treatment centres. Among the 15 patients, three recovered, seven died of hypoxia and five are still on oxygen. Shortages are common in other hard-hit cities such as Mandalay, Mawlamyine in Mon State and Kalay in Sagaing Region, according to Frontier’s interviews with social rescue teams and funeral service associations across the country. “Oxygen shortages are still happening in Mandalay. We help and donate oxygen to on average 40 residents a day in our township out of 100 requests we receive,” said an official from the Mandalay-based Payaheta Darri charity in Chan Aye Thar Zan township, who requested anonymity citing fears of reprisal. The restrictions have prompted international observers to accuse the regime of “weaponising” COVID-19 against the public, most of whom oppose its rule. “With the oxygen, they have banned sales to civilians or people who are not supported by the SAC, so they’re using something that can save the people against the people,” Ms Yanghee Lee, the former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, and a founding member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, recently told AP. Controlling the supply Through most of July, more than 3,000 people from across Yangon gathered each day at three privately run factories in South Dagon – Naing Family, Ayar San and Matesat – that have been refilling oxygen cylinders. When Frontier visited the Matesat factory on July 12, U Thant Zin from Thingangyun Township was lining up to refill oxygen cylinders for his grandmother. “She needs oxygen every day, so I come here to the oxygen plants in South Dagon Industrial Zone and line up. It takes a whole day to refill two oxygen cylinders,” he said. Although there have been confirmed reports of the authorities limiting oxygen sales to the public, the factories in South Dagon were able to continue sales through most of July. “The junta’s security forces are not preventing us from refilling oxygen for the public at the moment. We provide refills every day, but the number of people who need oxygen increases day by day,” an official from the Matesat factory, who requested anonymity, said at the time. However, that changed on July 28, when township General Administration Departments ordered factories in Yangon to provide oxygen only to those with a recommendation letter from local authorities. As a result, the queues at oxygen plants have largely disappeared – most plants have put up signs explaining they are no longer selling oxygen to the public. On July 20 the regime established township and ward-level “oxygen support committees” to issue recommendations and manage the provision of oxygen. The township committees are led by the township administrator and include other officials, community leaders and representatives of social welfare groups. Anyone who needs oxygen has to apply for a recommendation from their ward administrator by submitting a raft of documents, including the patient’s Citizenship Scrutiny Card, their household list, and photos of the patient, their oxygen level and the number of cylinders they have. Once approved, those in need are given a regular allocation of oxygen by the ward committees. Although it is relatively straightforward to get the recommendation for those possessing the proper documentation, both social welfare groups and individuals told Frontier they opposed the new distribution system. Frontier interviewed residents from North Okkalapa, Thingangyun, South Dagon and Thaketa who had received recommendation letters and all said the committees were not distributing enough oxygen. The ward committees are refilling only one 10 or 15 litre cylinder a day per person, and all five people said they were not actually filling the cylinders to full capacity. “I need four 40L cylinders for my friend … so I have to get more from oxygen donation charity groups,” said U Toe Toe Naing from North Okkalapa Township. “Getting oxygen for patients is getting harder and harder. There are likely to be more deaths because of the shortages.” Five social welfare and funeral service groups in Yangon confirmed to Frontier that the oxygen support committees are only providing them with enough oxygen to fill two 40-litre cylinders a day. “Two cylinders is not even enough for us to transport patients in our ambulance,” said an official from a social welfare group in North Okkalapa Township. “These days, even social rescues and funeral services groups are struggling to get oxygen – we can’t help patients who are in need.” Overwhelmed health care system Under orders issued by the junta in early July, close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients and those with COVID-19 symptoms must inform their respective township health departments or hospitals. If they test positive, confirmed cases must then report to their respective township, region or state health committee, and they will be sent to the relevant public hospital or COVID-19 treatment centre at the discretion of committees managing hospital admissions. At a COVID-19 coordination meeting on July 18, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said that 1,934 quarantine centres for about 69,800 patients have been prepared, as well as 1,114 additional locations that can accommodate nearly 46,000 patients. Care is also available at public hospitals, the senior general claimed. The junta’s announcement also states that patients with severe COVID-19 and emergency patients can go directly to the nearest public hospital or COVID-19 treatment centre, and that it is still possible to be admitted to a state facility for treatment. “If the patient is not severely ill, they may have to wait for a bed in the hospital. Sometimes it can take a while,” Dr Myat Thu Win, head of the medical services department in South Dagon township, told Frontier on July 18. “In severe cases, we immediately give them a referral letter … These patients can be admitted to the hospital the same day.” But in reality, COVID-19 treatment centres and government hospitals are already well over capacity and are turning away or sending home patients with dangerously low oxygen levels, according to staff from charities and family members of COVID-19 patients in Yangon and Mandalay. “Many hospitals lack health staff and have no empty beds,” said Than Than Soe of the Shin Than Kwink (Right to Live) Social Rescue and Funeral Services Group. She said her teams had transferred dozens of seriously ill patients to hospitals but been forced to take them home again because no beds were available. Around one-third died in the ambulances on the way home, she said. Thaketa township resident Daw Thidar Soe, elder sister of COVID-19 patient Daw Tin Tin Nwe, 45, told Frontier that North Okkalapa Hospital had refused to admit her sister on July 7, even though her oxygen saturation was below 60pc. “The doctor told me to contact our township medical officer to request admission to the hospital and we would have to wait. We couldn’t know exactly how many days it would take so I decided on home treatment and found private oxygen supplies for my sister,” said Thidar Soe, adding that her sister recovered by July 12. “The healthcare system just isn’t coping with the number of COVID-19 patients.” Microbiologist Khin Zar Win Pyae said that even if hospitals are full, the Ministry of Health and Sports should be conducting teleconsultations with patients who are receiving treatment at home. “And I would like to advise patients who use oxygen treatment at home to consult with qualified medical doctors before using it in order to avoid unnecessary side-effects.” A divided response The February 1 coup is a major reason that the health system is so chronically underprepared. It prompted tens of thousands of health workers to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, and significantly slowed an already limited vaccination program. Government health staff have refused to work under the military regime, and many of the volunteers who were the backbone of the National League for Democracy government’s COVID response have shunned the junta. Although they continue to try and provide healthcare to those in need, the regime has sought to stop them from providing medical treatment and have arrested CDM leaders. At a coordination meeting on July 23, a visibly frustrated Senior General Min Aung Hlaing urged striking doctors and nurses who joined the CDM to return to work and alleviate the staff shortages. “This is a social issue! This is a national issue,” he said. “I appeal again! I want to urge all healthcare professionals to cooperate.” The “appeal” has been largely ignored by health professionals who have joined the CDM. “The junta blames CDM doctors for failing to control the COVID-19 epidemic. But the military council has arrested, killed and imprisoned health doctors and volunteers,” said one health professional supporting the CDM in Mandalay who requested anonymity for security reasons. “When they return to the barracks, the doctors will spontaneously return to the hospitals.” Although it has been unable to address the manpower shortage, the regime has taken steps to increase supplies of oxygen, by making it easier to import liquid, medicine and medical equipment, such as oxygen concentrators. It has also been working to ensure that access to the increased supply requires interfacing with regime officials. On July 15, the first truckloads of liquid oxygen began crossing the border from Thailand, depositing their life-saving cargo at public hospitals in Yangon. Meanwhile, the United Nations announced on July 19 that it would step up its response to the COVID-19 outbreak and would work to alleviate the oxygen shortage by procuring oxygen concentrators and other equipment. On July 21, the European Union expressed sympathy to all people of Myanmar who have lost their loved ones in the pandemic and committed to doubling efforts with the Global Fund, COVAX, and other partners that can support medical care, oxygen supplies, testing and vaccinations. The regime has also issued an appeal of sorts for international support, with Min Aung Hlaing telling a “coordination meeting to beef up cooperation with the international community,” and that Myanmar should seek money from a COVID-19 response fund set up by ASEAN. Efforts were being made to work with ASEAN “and friendly countries”, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar quoted him as saying. The National Unity Government, meanwhile, has pledged to begin rolling out a vaccination programme of its own, targeting to immunise 20 percent of the population by working with the health teams of ethnic armed groups, and possibly international organisations, but it has provided few further details about the programme. In the meantime, local charities continue their struggle to keep patients alive. “Even charity groups like us have now run out of oxygen. From morning until night, we wait for the chance to refill oxygen,” said Than Than Soe of Shin Than Kwink. She said her organisation’s supplies are never enough to meet demand. “It’s devastating when people cry mournfully and ask for oxygen from us to help their family members and relatives who need it,” she said. “Of course I want to give them oxygen – but I simply can’t help.”..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2021-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: It's a double whammy that has left Myanmar with no room to breathe - a military coup coupled with a pandemic that has killed thousands.
Description: "On 1 February, Myanmar's military seized power from its civilian government, leading to a series of mass protests that show no signs of stopping. Among the protesters were thousands of healthcare workers who walked out, leading to a collapse in the healthcare system and throwing Myanmar's vaccination and testing response into chaos. And now, a surge in coronavirus cases fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant has dealt the country a fresh blow. People are lining up outside of oxygen factories in the hope of buying or refilling cylinders, despite a government ban on direct oxygen sales to the public. Crematoriums are overflowing with bodies. For some, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. "We keep asking ourselves, are we going to die of Covid or are we going to die because of the impact of the political crisis?" said journalist Aye Mya, whose name we have changed for safety reasons. "It's like we have to choose the best way to die," she said. Catching Covid in jail Myanmar has so far reported more than 280,000 cases and 8,200 deaths. But the case numbers are thought to be vast underestimates, because of limited testing. In July, Myanmar, which is home to around 54 million people, only tested between 9,000 and 17,000 people per day. Deaths are likely undercounted too. Only those who die at medical facilities are included in the official figures. Aye Mya believes her mother's death was not counted, because she was never tested for Covid despite displaying symptoms. She also fears her mother may have contracted it from her. Although she tested negative after her mother's death, Aye Mya believes she may have caught the virus while in jail - she was detained for four months after being arrested while reporting on the anti-coup protests. She developed symptoms soon after her release. Myanmar coup: What is happening and why? How Myanmar coup caused its healthcare to vanish "In the prison, we had about 50 inmates in the same room and it was so crowded. I saw a few severely ill people around me," she says. "My mum was in good health when I got out of prison, she washed my hair and we ate together. But not long after my illness, she got sick. I recovered a few days later but her condition deteriorated. She could not eat and had difficulty breathing." "Sometimes I feel like we are being attacked with a biological weapon," she said, recounting the horror of her mother's death. "When we got to the hospital, they said there was an oxygen shortage. We approached anyone with an oxygen cylinder and asked if there was any chance that we could rent it for a short period of time, but nothing was available. Mum died while we were hunting for oxygen around the hospital." Oxygen has become one of Myanmar's most valuable - and most controversial - commodities. Military leader Min Aung Hlaing has denied that the country has a shortage, saying people were stocking up due to "anxiety". The military has also restricted oxygen sales to private sellers, to prevent "hoarding". But some allege the army has been funnelling oxygen to military hospitals. "Our friends who are still working in government hospitals told us that security forces came and took the oxygen cylinders away," said a doctor working at an NGO, who did not want to be named. Health system collapses Myanmar's medical system was always fragile, but despite limited resources it managed to weather the virus last year. The coup changed that. "We were not very well prepared [for the pandemic]. On top of that, the army chose this precise time to mount a coup. The amount of disregard it has for the lives of its own people is staggering," said Khin Zaw Win, the director of think tank Tampadipa Institute in Yangon. "Other countries try to flatten the curve with an ultimate goal of preventing the medical system from collapsing," said Dr Phyu Phyu Thin Zaw, a public health expert at the University of Hong Kong. "But in Myanmar, the coup caused the collapse of the health system even before the third wave." Medical workers were among the first group to go on strike against the coup. At least 72 of them, including the former head of the vaccination programme, are currently detained, and nearly 600 have warrants out for their arrest, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Free medical services provided by doctors and nurses participating in the civil disobedience are under threat too. The military has been accused of arresting several doctors after pretending that there was a Covid patient who needed a home visit. They denied these allegations. They say about 60% of medical personnel are still working - a number that is most likely overestimated. The coup has also led to the disruption of the country's vaccination rollout, which was launched by the previous administration five days before the coup. The military has said six million Chinese vaccines and two million Russian vaccines will soon be delivered. But they are coming too late, according to Khin Zaw Win, who questioned how effective the military would be in mobilising the people to take the jabs. The impact of the situation is clearly visible outside Yangon's cemeteries, where long lines of hearses, ambulances, and private cars carry the dead every day. Sein Win Thai, of Bo Sein Funeral Service in Yangon, said he was overwhelmed. "My own father died three days ago. It was in the morning at about 9am. I could not get a funeral car straight away for him even though I run a funeral service," he said. "When we [eventually] got to Yay Way cemetery, we had to wait for hours as there were many funerals ahead of him. All were Covid victims." According to Yangon Region Administration Council chief Hla Soe, there were about 1,500 bodies recorded on 19 July - vastly higher than the official nationwide death toll of 281. Cemeteries in Yangon, he said, were only equipped to handle 300 bodies a day. Aye Mya's family managed to find a small oxygen cylinder in the end, though it was too late for her mother. Three other members of her family have now tested positive. "Dad said he felt sorry whenever he saw this cylinder because he felt we could not save her life, because we did not get that in time," she said. "Now we have to closely look after each other as we do not want to lose any more family members."..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "With coronavirus deaths rising in Myanmar, allegations are growing from residents and human rights activists that the military government, which seized control in February, is using the pandemic to consolidate power and crush opposition. In the last week, the per capita death rate in Myanmar surpassed those of Indonesia and Malaysia to become the worst in Southeast Asia. The country’s crippled health care system has rapidly become overwhelmed with new patients sick with COVID-19. Supplies of medical oxygen are running low, and the government has restricted its private sale in many places, saying it is trying to prevent hoarding. But that has led to widespread allegations that the stocks are being directed to government supporters and military-run hospitals. At the same time, medical workers have been targeted after spearheading a civil disobedience movement that urged professionals and civil servants not to cooperate with the government, known as the State Administrative Council. “They have stopped distributing personal protection equipment and masks, and they will not let civilians who they suspect are supporting the democracy movement be treated in hospitals, and they’re arresting doctors who support the civil disobedience movement,” said Yanghee Lee, the U.N.’s former Myanmar human rights expert and a founding member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar. “With the oxygen, they have banned sales to civilians or people who are not supported by the SAC, so they’re using something that can save the people against the people,” she said. “The military is weaponizing COVID.” Myanmar’s Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun did not respond to questions about the allegations, but with growing internal and external pressure to get the pandemic under control, the leadership has been on a public relations offensive. MORE ON THE PANDEMIC – Ravages of COVID surge evident inside Missouri hospital – Do I need to get tested for COVID-19 if I'm vaccinated? – EXPLAINER: Detailing Japan's new COVID state of emergency In the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper this week, several articles highlighted the government’s efforts, including what it called a push to resume vaccinations and increase oxygen supplies. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the military commander who heads the SAC, was cited as saying that efforts were also being made to seek support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and unspecified “friendly countries.” “Efforts must be made for ensuring better health of the State and the people,” he was quoted as saying. Myanmar reported another 342 deaths Thursday, and 5,234 new infections. Its 7-day rolling average of deaths per 1 million people rose to 6.29 — more than double the rate of 3.04 in India at the peak of its crisis in May. The figures in Myanmar are thought to be a drastic undercount due to lack of testing and reporting. “There is a big difference between the actual death toll from COVID-19 of the Military Council and reality,” a physician from the Mawlamyine General Hospital in Myanmar’s fourth-largest city told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal. “There are a lot of people in the community who have died of the disease and cannot be counted.” Videos proliferate on social media showing apparent virus victims dead in their homes for lack of treatment and long lines of people waiting for what oxygen supplies are still available. The government denies reports that cemeteries in Yangon have been overwhelmed but announced Tuesday they were building new facilities that could cremate up to 3,000 bodies per day. “By letting COVID-19 run out of control, the military junta is failing the Burmese people as well as the wider region and world, which can be threatened by new variants fueled by unchecked spread of the disease in places like Myanmar,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “The problem is the junta cares more about holding on to power than stopping the pandemic.” Myanmar is one of the region’s poorest countries and already was in a vulnerable position when the military seized power, triggering a violent political struggle. Under the civilian former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar had weathered a coronavirus surge last year by severely restricting travel and sealing off Yangon. Vaccines were secured from India and China, but Suu Kyi’s government was ousted less than a week after the first shots were given. As civil disobedience grew after Suu Kyi’s removal, public hospitals were basically closed as doctors and other staff refused to work under the new administration, instead running makeshift clinics for which they faced arrest, if caught. Some have returned to public hospitals, but the Mawlamyine doctor interviewed by AP said it was too dangerous. “I could be arrested by the junta anytime if I returned to the hospital,” added the doctor, who was part of the disobedience movement and has been treating patients with supplies he has scrounged. According to Tom Andrews, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s independent expert on human rights in Myanmar, government forces have engaged in at least 260 attacks on medical personnel and facilities, killing 18. At least 67 health care professionals had been detained and another 600 are being sought. Military hospitals kept operating after Suu Kyi’s ouster but were shunned by many people and the vaccination program slowed to a crawl before apparently fizzling out completely until this week. There are no solid figures on vaccinations, but it’s believed that about 3% of the population could have received two shots. The rapid rise in COVID -19 illnesses is “extremely concerning, particularly with limited availability of health services and oxygen supplies,” said Joy Singhal, head of the Red Cross’ Myanmar delegation. “There is an urgent need for greater testing, contact tracing and COVID-19 vaccinations to help curb the pandemic,” he told AP. “This latest surge is a bitter blow to millions of people in Myanmar already coping with worsening economic and social hardships.” Earlier this week, Andrews urged the U.N. Security Council and member states to push for a “COVID cease-fire.” “The United Nations cannot afford to be complacent while the junta ruthlessly attacks medical personnel as COVID-19 spreads unchecked,” he said. “They must act to end this violence so that doctors and nurses can provide lifesaving care and international organizations can help deliver vaccinations and related medical care.” After a long lull in humanitarian aid, China recently began delivering vaccines. It sent 736,000 doses to Yangon this month, the first of 2 million being donated, and reportedly more than 10,000 to the Kachin Independence Army, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in a northern border area where the virus has spilled over into China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian declined to comment directly earlier this week on the report of the delivery to the KIA, noting instead “the epidemic is a common enemy to all mankind.” The Global New Light reported Myanmar received another 1 million doses purchased from China. COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported as widespread in Myanmar’s prisons. On Wednesday, state-run MRTV television showed what it said were 610 prisoners from Yangon’s Insein Prison being vaccinated. The report was met with skepticism and derision on social media. Lee said if the government is trying to use vaccines and other aid to its advantage by positioning itself as the solution to the pandemic, it’s too late. “The people know now and it’s been too long,” she said. “COVID was not manmade but it got out of proportion because of complicity and deliberate blockage of services — there’s no going back.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Associated Press" (New York)
2021-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Myanmar's military ruler is looking for greater cooperation with the international community to contain the coronavirus, state media reported on Wednesday, as the Southeast Asian country struggles with a surging wave of infections. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing called in a speech for more cooperation on prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19, including with fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and "friendly countries", the Global New Light of Myanmar reported. Myanmar has been in chaos since the military ousted an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, with regular protests and fighting between the army and newly formed militias. Various countries including the United States and Britain have imposed sanctions on Myanmar's military rulers over the coup and the repression of pro-democracy protests in which hundreds have been killed. The junta leader said vaccinations needed to be increased, through both donated doses and by developing domestic production, aided by Russia, the newspaper said, adding Myanmar would seek the release of funds from an ASEAN COVID-19 fund. Myanmar recently received two million more Chinese vaccines, but it was believed to have only vaccinated about 3.2% of its population, according to a Reuters tracker. A drive to vaccinate some 40,000 inmates in densely packed prisons, which have seen major virus outbreaks recently, started on Wednesday, state-run MRTV reported. The military has appeared wary of outside help in past disasters, forcing Myanmar's people to help each other, though a previous junta did allow in aid via ASEAN after a devastating cyclone in 2008. There have been desperate efforts by people to find oxygen in many parts of the country. The Myanmar Now news portal, citing witnesses, reported that at least eight people died in a Yangon hospital at the weekend after a piped oxygen system failed. A medical staff wearing a protective suit stands near an ambulance, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Yangon, Myanmar, September 27, 2020. REUTERS/Shwe Paw Mya Tin/File Photo/File Photo Reuters could not independently confirm the report and the North Okkalapa General Hospital and a health ministry spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment. Infections in Myanmar have surged since June, with 4,980 cases and 365 deaths reported on Wednesday, according to health ministry data cited in media. Medics and funeral services put the toll much higher. Last week, prisoners in Yangon staged a protest over what activists said was a major COVID-19 outbreak in the colonial-era Insein jail, where many pro-democracy protesters are being held. Vaccinations began at Insein and a prison in the capital Naypyitaw on Wednesday and would be extended to inmates countrywide, MRTV reported, citing the prisons department. Efforts to tackle the outbreak have been further hampered by some of the worst flooding in years in eastern Myanmar. Despite Min Aung Hlaing agreeing to an ASEAN peace plan reached in April, the military has shown little sign of following through on it and has instead reiterated its own, entirely different plan to restore order and democracy. The military justified its coup by accusing Suu Kyi's party of manipulating votes in a November general election to secure a landslide victory. The electoral commission at the time and outside observers rejected the complaints. But in a further sign of the junta's tightening grip on power, the military-appointed election commission this week officially annulled the November results, saying the vote was not in line with the constitution and electoral laws, and was not "free and fair", MRTV reported..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-07-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The alternatives are home care or private hospitals, where treatment is costly and questionable.
Description: "The sickest COVID-19 patients in Myanmar are now being denied admittance to military junta-run public hospitals, family members and relief workers said Thursday, as the country’s healthcare system has been pushed to the brink of collapse during a poorly managed third wave of the coronavirus. The number of COVID-19 infections rose Thursday to a total of 284,099 since Myanmar’s first recorded case in March last year. The official monthly infection rate has jumped from around two percent of those tested in April 2020 during the first wave to 23 percent earlier this month, and at least 8,210 have died. The country’s public hospitals are operating at maximum capacity and had been turning away all but the most seriously ill, while others were forced to settle for treatment at home amid shortages of basic medical necessities, including oxygen supplies critical to mitigating hypoxia. But sources told RFA’s Myanmar Service that as of Thursday, even the worst afflicted patients are being rejected from hospitals—including those operated by the military regime—that had pledged to accept people infected with COVID-19, often with deadly consequences. Charity groups said that when patients are sent to hospitals, they will not be accepted without a referral letter from the township health officer. But even with a referral letter, they said, patients are generally refused admittance because of high body temperature. Other hospitals reject patients on the grounds that there are not enough doctors or beds. Myint Aung, 66, of Yangon’s South Dagon township, died at his home on July 9 after being refused a bed at an area hospital earlier that day, according to a family member who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity. “A chest x-ray was taken on arrival, and nothing was found in his lungs, so he was sent home as just a ‘suspected patient,’” the family member said. “He was told to go to Yangon General Hospital or to North Okkalapa Hospital, but we knew they wouldn’t accept him either, so we took him back home. If they had taken him into the ICU at the time, he might still be alive.” The circumstances surrounding Myint Aung’s death are becoming increasingly common. A video recently went viral on social media in which a crying young man claims that his sister exhibited severe COVID-19 symptoms and was rushed to a public hospital but was denied treatment and died. Soaring costs The alternative for COVID-19 patients is to go to a private hospital, but the cost of treatment is exorbitant, and the quality of care is questionable, sources said. “To get into a private hospital, you need to make a deposit of 100,000 kyats (U.S. $61), but even then, there is no guarantee you will get enough oxygen,” said Ma Khine Za from Yangon’s Shwepyithar township, adding that few people can afford the cost because many have lost their jobs during the pandemic. If you can afford the deposit, “you still have to bring your own oxygen cylinder, and it seems they have no guidelines for COVID-19 treatment,” she said. Ma Ei, who works for a charity group, said that for COVID-19 patients in Yangon that require treatment at home, the cost of nursing had risen from 80,000-100,000 kyats (U.S. $49-61) in mid-July to 120,000 kyats (U.S. $73). “Additionally, the patient’s family has to provide PPE (personal protective equipment) and other equipment, as well as a separate bedroom for them to live in,” she said. Meanwhile, oxygen prices have doubled in the past week, and even the cost of traditional medicines is on the rise, sources said. In Yangon, where COVID-19 infections are rising dramatically, aid workers told RFA that patients are dying every day without access to medical care and oxygen. There are currently five charity groups in Myanmar’s largest city that are providing oxygen to the infected because clinics are refusing to treat patients with fever and hypoxia. Among them, the Cetanar Shin Charity Association said that every day it treats 40-60 patients who need emergency oxygen because they were turned away from hospitals and clinics. Wai Phyo Aung, Cetanar Shin’s chairman, said that “two or three patients die each day” while receiving emergency oxygen from his group because they did not have access to proper medical treatment earlier. Min Din, chairman of the Yangon-based Metta Thingaha Free Funeral Association, which provides medical transportation and burial services for the less fortunate, told RFA that a growing number of COVID-19 patients are dying at home. “We are now taking on funerals only, beginning on July 10. We couldn’t transport COVID-19 patients anymore because the hospitals aren’t accepting them,” he said. “Recently, we’ve been picking up more bodies from people’s homes. Most of the corpses have oxygen canisters by their side [indicating that they were being treated for COVID-19].” Arrests continue Efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 in Myanmar were dealt a serious blow when the country’s military seized power on Feb. 1, claiming that a landslide victory by the NLD in the country’s November 2020 ballot was the result of voter fraud. The junta has provided no evidence to back up its claims and has violently responded to widespread protests, killing 936 people and arresting 5,425, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Tens of thousands of people, including many healthcare professionals, have left their jobs to join a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in opposition to junta rule. Many have faced arrest for voicing criticism of the regime. More than 4,600 people have died from COVID-19 over the past two months, according to the junta’s Ministry of Health and Sports, although the actual number is believed to be substantially higher, based on reports by charity groups that provide free burial services. Dr. Than Naing Soe, a spokesman for the junta’s Ministry of Health, said the country’s hospitals are overburdened due to a shortage of health workers. “For various reasons, only about 50 percent of the staff are working in some cases. Those who are working are exhausted, but more and more people are being infected,” he said. “For every 100 people infected, 20 need to be hospitalized and, of them, five need to go to intensive care.” Than Naing Soe said he was saddened by reports that patients are being turned away from hospitals due to staffing issues. He also urged people to stay home to reduce the risk of infection. But a doctor who declined to be named dismissed attempts by the military to appease the public, saying the situation would continue to worsen for as long as authorities continue to arrest people who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a walkout of medical and other professionals against military rule. “Doctors and other health workers continue to be arrested and tortured during this third wave … So, naturally, the healthcare they are providing is going to get worse,” he said. The doctor told RFA that the military has been too concerned with maintaining its grasp on power following the coup to effectively deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, he said, doctors in the CDM continue working to provide public health care, despite the risks they face. Earlier this week, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called on the U.N. Security Council and its members to pressure the junta to immediately end the arrests of health workers at a time when the country’s death toll is rising. On Thursday, Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward warned that half of Myanmar’s 54 million people could be infected with COVID-19 in the next two weeks as Myanmar’s envoy called for U.N. monitors to ensure an effective delivery of vaccines..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2021-07-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Since seizing power in a coup on 1 February 2021, the people of Myanmar have been forced to defend themselves amid the growing instability and state chaos. The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest battle civilians are facing. In a new briefing paper, “How the Myanmar Junta is Violating Humanitarian Principles in their COVID-19 Response,” the Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) finds that the junta is failing to respond effectively to the pandemic, and have violated humanitarian principles meant to ensure effective remedies during emergencies. The military cannot be trusted to allocate funds or resources to the general public. Rather than work to meet the needs of the thousands of COVID-19 patients who are dying in their homes and in crowded hospitals, the junta is arresting healthcare workers and denying life-saving medical supplies in urban and rural areas. The pandemic response has been complicated further by internal conflict fueled by the military junta. Ceasefires have been violated and urgently needed aid is being intercepted by junta soldiers. Their behavior is in direct violation of the humanitarian principles, which refer to healthcare as a human right. In failing to adhere to principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, the junta is failing the people. ND-Burma calls on the junta to relinquish their illegal hold on power. Combined with a lack of will power and intention, the junta has proven they cannot be tasked with coordinating an inclusive humanitarian response. With lives quite literally on the line, there is no time to waste. The international community must act swiftly by intervening to ensure the most vulnerable are protected and that health workers can do their jobs safely, and with dignity..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "နိုင်ငံရှိ စစ်တပ်၊ ရဲအစရှိသည့် လက်နက်ကိုင်တပ်ဖွဲ့များက လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို ပြင်းပြင်း ထန်ထန် ကျူးလွန်နေသည်။ ထို့အပြင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်း လူအသေအပျောက် များပြားလာခြင်းဖြင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါကလည်း ခြိမ်းခြောက်နေပြန်သည်။ ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါ ထိန်းချုပ်နိုင်ရေးနှင့် လူနာများကို ကုသပေးသည့် ကျန်းမာရေး လုပ်သားများအား စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက ဖိနှပ်ချုပ်ခြယ် ထိန်းချုပ်ထားသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများ၏ ကျွမ်းကျင်မှုက ပြည်သူလူထု၏ အသက်ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးအတွက် သေ ရေးရှင်ရေးတမျှ အရေးကြီးသည်။ တိုင်းပြည်၏ သူရဲကောင်းများဖြစ်သည့် ကျန်းမာရေးနယ်ပယ်တွင် ကျွမ်း ကျင်သူများ ကို ကူညီရမည့်အစား စစ်တပ်သည် ၎င်းတို့၏ အကျိုးစီးပွားကိုသာ ရွေးချယ် ဦးထိပ်ပန်ဆင် လျှက်ရှိသည်။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ ရက် အာဏာသိမ်းချိန်မှစပြီး စစ်တပ်၏ တရားမဝင် ထင်ရာစိုင်း အုပ်စိုးမှုကြောင့် ပရမ်းပတာ၊ ဝရုန်းသုန်း ကားဖြစ်နေသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များသည် လူ့အသက်ပေါင်းများစွာကို တန်ဖိုးမထား လျစ်လျူရှု ပြီး လူသားမျိုး နွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်သည့်ပြစ်မှု (CAH) ကျူးလွန်ကြသည်။ ၎င်းတို့ အာဏာတည်မြဲရေး အတွက် လုံခြုံရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့များက စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းချိန်မှစပြီး အပြစ်မဲ့ပြည်သူ ၉၀၀ ကျော်ကို အညှာအတာ ကင်းမဲ့စွာ သတ်ဖြတ်၊ ညှဥ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်ကြသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက လုပ်ငန်းကျွမ်းကျင်သူ ဆရာဝန်ကြီး များကို ဖမ်းဆီး ထိန်းသိမ်းထားပြီး သတင်းလွတ်လပ်မှုနှင့် နိုင်ငံသားအခွင့်အရေးလှုပ်ရှားသူများကို ကြောက် ရွံ့စေရန် ဖန်တီးထားသည်။ ကပ်ရောဂါ၏ ခြောက်လှန့်မှုနှင့် ပြည်သူလူထုအပေါ် ဆိုးကျိုးသက်ရောက်မှု တို့က “အားအပြင်းဆုံး မုန်တိုင်းတခု” ပမာဖြစ်သည်ဟု ကုလသမဂ္ဂက ပြောဆိုသည်။ လတ်တလောတွင် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ အတည်ပြုလူ နာ ၂၀၀,၀၀၀ ကျော်ရှိနေပြီး ကူးစက်ခံရသူ အရေအတွက်မှာ တိုးလာနေသည်။ အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်အာဏာရှင်များသည် တိုင်းပြည်၏ အချုပ်အခြာ အာဏာအလုံးစုံအား ထာဝရယူလိုသည် ကလွဲ၍ ပြည်သူလူထုအကျိုးအတွက် ဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်းမရှိသဖြင့် လူထုမှာ အောက်စီဂျင်နှင့် တကိုယ်ရေ အ ကာအကွယ်သုံး ကျန်းမာရေးပစ္စည်းများအပါအဝင် အသက်ကယ်ဆယ်ရေး အထောက်အပံ့များကို လက်လှမ်းမီ ရယူနိုင်ခြင်း မရှိပေ။ ကျန်းမာရေး အထောက်အကူပြု ပစ္စည်းများ ပိုမိုလိုအပ်လာသည့်အတွက် ဈေးမှာလည်း ထိုးတက်သွားပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကျန်းမာရေးဝန်ဆောင်မှု အခြေခံအဆောက်အအုံအပေါ် နောက်ထပ် ခြိမ်းခြောက်မှု ဖြစ်လာ သည်။ တိုင်းပြည်အနှံ့ရှိ ပြည်သူများမှာ ဆေးဆိုင်များရှေ့တွင် အကိုက်အခဲပျောက်ဆေး၊ ချောင်းဆိုးပျောက် ဆိုးနှင့် ဗစ်တာမင်စုံဆေးတို့ကို တန်းစီဝယ်သူနေကြပြီး ဆေးများမှာ အချိန်တိုအတွင်း ရောင်းကုန်သွား၍ ဈေးမှာလည်း နှစ်ဆခန့်တက်သွားသည်။ မျက်နှာဖုံးများမှာလည်း လုံလောက်မှုမရှိပဲ သာမန်ပြည်သူများ ဝယ် ယူနိုင်သည့် ဈေးထက်ကြီးမြင့်နေသည်။ သုဿာန်နှင့် မီးသဂြိုလ်စက်များတွင် ရာနှင့်ချီသည့် အလောင်းများ ကို နာရေးကူညီမှုအသင်းများက နေ့စဥ်မှတ်ပုံတင်၍ သဂြိုလ်ပေးနေရသည်။ သေဆုံးသူအများစုမှာ အောက် စီဂျင်ပြတ်လတ်၍ သေဆုံးကြခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ (NUG) က စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ ၏ ကိုင်တွယ်ဆောင်ရွက်မှုနှင့်ပတ်သက်ပြီး “ကိုဗစ် တတိယလှိုင်းကို ရင်ဆိုင်ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည့် မြန်မာပြည် သူများ၏ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်ပိုင်ခွင့်ကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ က ငြင်းပယ်နေသည်”ဟု ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့ သည်။ ND-Burma မှ ယခုစာတန်းငယ်တွင် ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သည်ဆိုသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာ ထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူ ၄ ချက်အပေါ်တွင် အခြေခံ၍ သုံးသပ်တင်ပြထားသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ အားနည်းချက်များကို မီးမောင်းထိုးပြထားပြီး ကပ်ရောဂါအပေါ် ၄င်းတို့၏ တုန့်ပြန်ဆောင် ရွက်မှု မရှိခြင်းကြောင့် လူ့အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအတွင်း အထိခိုက် အနစ်နာအလွယ်ဆုံးသူများကို ကျောခိုင်း ဥပက္ခောပြု ချန်လှပ်ထားသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီသည် လူသားချင်းစာနာသည့် အကူအညီပေးရေးအဖွဲ့ မဟုတ် သော်လည်း ၎င်းတို့လက်ထဲတွင် အရေးပေါ်ကူညီ ကယ်ဆယ်နိုင်သည့် ပစ္စည်းကရိယာနှင့် အရင်းအမြစ်များ ရှိနေသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သော်လည်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်မူ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့် ရှောက် ပိုင်ခွင့်၊ ကုသခံပိုင်ခွင့်နှင့် အန္တရာယ် တစုံတရာမရှိပဲ အရင်းအမြစ်ရရှိခွင့်တို့ကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့က ထိန်းချုပ်ဖယ်ရှားနေသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
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Description: "In addition to a vengeful campaign of human rights violations committed by state-backed forces, the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to increase the death toll in Myanmar. Health care workers working to control the spread of the pandemic and treat patients are being locked up by the junta. Myanmar needs health care workers now more than ever. Their expertise is critical to providing life-saving solutions. Yet, the military is choosing to preserve their self-interests instead of helping the country’s heroic health professionals Since the military junta seized power in a coup on February 1, disorder and chaos set the tone for their illegitimate rule. The junta’s disregard for life amounts to crimes against humanity. In their pursuit for power, security forces have ruthlessly killed and tortured over 900 innocent civilians since the military coup. They have arrested and detained senior health officials and created a climate of fear for press freedom and civil rights. The growing threat of the pandemic and its impacts on civilians is being described as the ‘perfect storm’ by the United Nations.1 There are currently over 200,000 cases of COVID-19 in Myanmar, and the numbers continue to rise daily. Aside from the ever-present tyranny of the state, citizens do not have access to life saving supplies, including oxygen and personal protective equipment. The demand for health supplies has also driven the market price up, posing yet another threat to Myanmar’s overwhelmed health care infrastructure. Civilians across the country are lining up in front of pharmacies waiting to purchase painkillers, cough medicine and multivitamin pills, all of which are in short supply and have nearly doubled in price. Face masks are in low supply with prices ‘beyond the reach of everyday people.’2 Funeral services are overwhelmed as hundreds of bodies are being registered daily at cemeteries and crematoriums. The majority are dying from a lack of oxygen.3 The National Unity Government expressed concern at the junta’s approach in handling the increase in cases in a statement which stated, “Myanmar people who are now going through the third wave of the pandemic, are seeing their health entitlements being denied by the regime.”4 In this short briefing paper, the Network for Human Rights Documentation (ND-Burma) will draw upon the four humanitarian principles which refer to healthcare as a human right. In this context, the failings of the military junta will be highlighted. In their lack of response to the pandemic, they are willingly leaving behind the most vulnerable in society. While the military council is not a humanitarian agency, they’re still equipped with the tools and resources to respond with concerned urgency. Health is a human right. But in Myanmar, the junta is stripping this right to access healthcare, treatment, and resources...."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Special rapporteur urges security council to call for ceasefire amid fears Covid will spread across wider region
Description: "Myanmar is at risk of becoming a super-spreader Covid state that fuels outbreaks across the region, the UN special rapporteur for the country has warned as he urged the security council to call for a ceasefire. The south-east Asian country is facing its most severe outbreak yet, on top of a deep political and economic crisis brought about by the military coup in February. Its vaccination programme has ground to a standstill, testing has collapsed, and government hospitals are barely functioning. Doctors, who have been at the forefront of an anti-junta strike and are refusing to work in state hospitals, have been forced to treat patients in secret because they face the constant threat of military violence or arrest. The exact number of cases and fatalities in Myanmar was unclear, said Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, in an interview with the Guardian. The targeting of journalists and doctors has made it hard to obtain accurate information about the crisis. “We know that this is a spike upward. It’s a very rapid, an alarmingly rapid rise,” said Andrews. According to the military-controlled ministry of health and sports, 4,629 people have died of Covid since 1 June. The figures are thought to be an underestimate. Military-controlled media announced on Tuesday that 10 new crematoriums would be built at cemeteries in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, to cope with the fatalities, the Irrawaddy news site, an independent outlet, reported. “In Yangon, it’s common to see three types of lines,” Andrews added. “One before ATMs, one for oxygen supplies – which is very dangerous because people are literally being shot at by the Myanmar forces for standing in line for oxygen – and the third being lines at crematoriums and morgues.” There is a severe shortage of oxygen, medical equipment and medication in cities across the country. Outside homes, people have hung yellow and white flags to signal that they need food or medicine, while social media have been flooded with pleas for help and death notices. Myanmar: number of coronavirus deaths per day Starting from day of first reported death The military has been accused of seizing oxygen supplies. It has ordered suppliers not to sell to the public, claiming that people are hoarding tanks. Andrews said international governments, including Myanmar’s neighbours, needed to act swiftly, or they would see the consequences of an uncontrolled outbreak at their borders. “Myanmar is becoming a super-spreader of Covid-19 with these very virulent variants – Delta and other forms of the disease, [which are] extremely dangerous, extremely lethal, extremely contagious … This is very, very dangerous for all kinds of reasons,” Andrews said. “It’s just a fact that Covid does not respect nationalities or borders or ideologies or political parties. It’s an equal opportunities killer. This is a region that is susceptible to even greater suffering as a result of Myanmar becoming a super-spreader state.” About a third of the world’s population lives in countries neighbouring Myanmar, he added. This includes China, which, along with Russia, has blocked previous attempts by the security council to pressure the Myanmar military. In February, the security council passed a resolution demanding ceasefires in all states experiencing conflict so that health workers could safely provide Covid vaccinations. Andrews said the resolution should now be reaffirmed in relation to the Myanmar crisis. This could help pave the way for international agencies to provide greater assistance. On Wednesday, the military-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar reported that junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, had addressed a meeting “to beef up cooperation with the international community, including Asean [Association of South-east Asian Nations] and friendly countries in the prevention, control and treatment of the Covid-19”. The details of the cooperation are not clear. Junta forces have engaged in at least 260 attacks against medical personnel and facilities, killing at least 18 people, according to the Office of the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. The military is holding at least 67 healthcare workers, and has issued arrest warrants for a further 600 medics. Last week, military officials reportedly posed as Covid patients in need of treatment to entrap medical volunteers in Yangon. Three doctors who went to help were subsequently arrested, according to a report by the independent outlet Myanmar Now. In total, at least 5,630 people are being held in detention facilities, including Insein prison in Yangon, where the virus has spread. U Nyan Win, who previously served as Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, and who was a senior member in her National League for Democracy party, died of Covid after becoming infected in jail, it was confirmed last week. At least 931 people – protesters, politicians and bystanders – have been killed by the military since February. There is significant evidence that crimes against humanity are unfolding in Myanmar, Andrews said. “This is not an errant commander here or there doing horrible things, this is very systematic, very clear … The junta going on state television and telling people don’t go on the streets [to protest] or you’ll get shot in the head. And then suddenly all these people are shot in the head.” Andrews said the need for international action was more urgent than ever. “The people of Myanmar are losing hope that the international community cares about what is happening in Myanmar,” he said..."
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
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Description: "The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar called on the United Nations Security Council and Member States to push for an emergency "COVID ceasefire" today in light of an explosion of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Myanmar even as the State Administrative Council (SAC) escalates its attacks against health care workers. UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews stressed the urgent need for Member States to use all the tools of the UN, including passage of resolutions demanding that the SAC immediately cease all attacks, especially against health care professionals who are desperately needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to devastate Myanmar. "Too many in Myanmar have needlessly perished and too many more will die without action by the United Nations," Andrews warned. "The UN must act immediately to halt the military junta's attacks, harassment, and detentions in the midst of a COVID-19 crisis. "Member States of the United Nations cannot afford to be complacent while the junta ruthlessly attacks medical personnel as COVID-19 spreads unchecked. They must act to end this violence so that doctors and nurses can provide life-saving care and international organisations can help deliver vaccinations and related medical care," Andrews said. "Member States with influence on Myanmar's State Administrative Council must follow passage of a UN resolution by urging an immediate cessation of attacks." The junta has murdered at least 931 people and is holding at least 5,630 in arbitrary detention where they are in danger of being infected with the virus. Another 255 people have been sentenced for trumped up crimes, with 26 of them - two of whom are minors - sentenced to death. According to the UNHCR, there are 570,320 internally displaced persons currently living in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayin, Mon, and Bago states. Junta forces have engaged in at least 260 attacks against medical personnel and facilities, claiming the lives of at least 18 people. Over 600 health care professionals are currently eluding outstanding arrest warrants and at least 67 are being held by junta forces. In February, the UN Security Council passed a strong resolution demanding ceasefires in all States experiencing conflict. Resolution 2565 demanded "all parties to armed conflicts engage immediately in a durable, extensive, and sustained humanitarian pause to facilitate the equitable, safe and unhindered delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations in areas of armed conflict". The Council further called for "full, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, without delay, for humanitarian personnel and medical personnel, their equipment, transport and supplies, in order to facilitate, inter alia, COVID-19 vaccinations, as appropriate". It also demanded the "protection, safety, and security of such humanitarian and medical personnel…" "This resolution represented a principled framework to address the outbreak of COVID-19 in States experiencing unrestrained violence. Given this escalating crisis, these demands must now be focused specifically on Myanmar. Doing so will save untold numbers of lives." Andrews concluded: "Of course the best outcome would be for the junta to stand down so that a legitimate civilian government can lead a coordinated response to the COVID-19 crisis. But in the immediate term, the junta's relentless attacks and detentions must end. For this to be possible, the people of Myanmar need the UN and its Member States to step up with strong, principled action."..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
2021-07-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပ ဒေသအသီးသီးမှ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများမှ မြန်မာ့အရေးအတွက် ပိုမိုထိရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာအရေးယူမှုများ နှင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ ချက်ခြင်းအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် တောင်းဆိုချက် (မြန်မာဘာသာပြန်)
Description: "We, the undersigned Student Unions from all across Burma and in the diaspora, release this statement to call for immediate and strong action by the international community in their fight against the military junta and the COV ID-19 pandemic. Students and student unions have historically been at the forefront of the struggle against illegitimate rule and oppression in Burma - from Burma’s independence movement, to the 1962 protests against Ne Win’s coup d'etat, the U Thant funeral uprising, the 1988 uprising, the 1996 protests, and 2007 Saffron revolution, to today's Spring Revolution, thousands of students have given their lives for the country’s freedom. As we write this statement, many of our fellow student leaders remain in jail, some facing extreme torture in the interrogation centers. Since the illegal military coup on Feb 1, Burma has been in deep political turmoil. As the military cracked down on peaceful demonstrations, over 920 people have been killed nationwide, with thousands detained and tortured. Additionally, hundreds of thousands in the ethnic areas have been displaced due to artillery attacks and air strikes. To make matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the crisis, affecting millions that are already vulnerable from the violence of the coup. Hundreds, potentially thousands, of people are dying every day as the virus ravages the country. Meanwhile, the junta - in addition to upending the pandemic control efforts and vaccine rollout plans by the previous civilian government - has been cutting off critical lifesaving resources for the people. It has militarized hospitals and healthcare facilities and continues to threaten, arrest, and kill frontline doctors and nurses, making it impossible for the healthcare sector to function adequately. The junta is also shutting down oxygen plants and hoarding oxygen for their own use, while the civilians face an oxygen shortage, failing to save their loved ones. The brutality of the Burmese military is outrageous and beyond comparison. Yet, for far too long, the international community has allowed them to enjoy impunity, even as they continue to commit mass atrocities against their own people. Many statements of "deep concern" released from various international entities not only are unsupportive but even undermine our struggles that many of our friends have sacrificed their lives for. For decades, the people of Burma have been conveying their message loud and clear that the military has no support in the country. We have written our revolution with blood and bones that the military can never, ever rule us. It is about time the international community must start listening. Hence, we, the undersigned Student Unions, urge for immediate and strong international action and demand the following: • Impose a global arms embargo on the military junta since restricting arms flows to the military is critical in ending their impunity. • Recognize and support the National Unity Government (NUG), including keeping Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun as the legitimate representative of Myanmar at the UN General Assembly in September. • Immediately dispatch humanitarian aid and COV ID-19 relief to Myanmar, channelled through cross-border mechanisms, international organisations, local CSOs, the NUG, and the Ethnic Health Organisations. • Pressure the ASEAN and neighbouring countries to take similar steps instead of relying on them to take actions on their own against the junta; ASEAN's five-point consensus has proven to be weak and futile, and thus, the larger international community needs to step up with stronger, more vigorous measures. • Sanction the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise to deplete the military of a sizable portion of its revenues, which the military has allegedly been using to procure arms and military equipment.....ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပ ဒေသအသီးသီးမှ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများမှ မြန်မာ့အရေးအတွက် ပိုမိုထိရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာအရေးယူမှုများ နှင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ ချက်ခြင်းအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် တောင်းဆိုချက် (မြန်မာဘာသာပြန်) နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝန်းမှ လက်ရှိ မိမိတို့မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်း အာဏာရှင်စနစ်တိုက်ဖျက်ရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှုများနှင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါအခြေနေများအားစပ်လျဉ်း၍ စစ်အာဏာရှင်အား ပိုမိုပြင်းထန်ထိရောက်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများကို ထပ်တိုးဆောင်ရွက်ပေးပါရန် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတဝန်းမှ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများ နှင့် ပြည်ပရောက် မြန်မာကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများ စုပေါင်း၍ ဤသဘောထားကြေငြာချက်အား ထုတ်ပြန်တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ ကျောင်းသားများ၊ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများသည် မတရားအုပ်ချုပ်မှု၊ ဖိနှိပ်မှုများကို ဆန့်ကျင်ပုန်ကုန်သည့် ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက်တော်လှန်ရေးများကို ရှေ့ဆုံးမှဦးဆောင်လှုပ်ရှားခဲ့ကြသော သမိုင်းအစဉ်အလာကြီးမားသည့် တော်လှန်ရေးအင်အားစုများဖြစ်ကြသည်။ မြန်မာ့လွတ်လပ်ရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှုမှ အစပြု၍ ဦးနေဝင်းအာဏာသိမ်းမှုကို ဆန့်ကျင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် ၁၉၆၂ ဆန္ဒပြပွဲများ၊ ဦးသန့်အရေးအခင်း၊ ရှစ်လေးလုံးအရေးတော်ပုံ၊ ၁၉၉၆ ဆန္ဒပြပွဲများ၊ ၂၀၀၇ ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး တို့အပြင် ယနေ့ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးအထိတိုင် ထောင်ပေါင်းများစွားသော ကျောင်းသားအာဇာနည်တို့သည် တော်လှန်ရေးအတွက် ၎င်းတို့၏ အသက်၊ သွေး‌၊ ချွေးတို့အားပေးဆပ်ခဲ့ပြီးကြပြီဖြစ်သည်။ ယခု ဤသဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက်အားထုတ်ပြန်သည့်အချိန်တွင် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ ရဲဘော်ရဲဘက် ကျောင်းသားခေါင်းဆောင်အချို့မှာ အကျဉ်းထောင်အသီးသီးတွင် ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းခံထားရပြီး၊ အချို့မှာ စစ်ကြောရေးစခန်းများတွင် လူမဆန်စွာ ရက်ရက်စက်စက် နှိပ်စက်မေးမြန်းခံနေရသည့် အခြေအနေရှိသည်။ စစ်အကြမ်းဖက်အုပ်စုက ပြည်သူ့အစိုးရထံမှ မတရားအာဏာသိမ်းခဲ့သည့် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ ရက်နေ့မှစ၍ မိမိတို့ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသည် နိုင်ငံရေးမတည်ငြိမ်မှုများကို ရင်ဆိုင်ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည်။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာဆန္ဒပြမှုများကို စစ်အုပ်စုမှ မတရားအကြမ်းဖက်ဖြိုခွင်းမှုများကြောင့် အပြစ်မဲ့ပြည်သူပေါင်း ၉၂၀ ကျော် သေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်ပြီး လူပေါင်းထောင်ချီ ဖမ်းဆီးအကျဉ်းချခံထားရသည်။ ထို့အပြင် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ လက်နက်ကြီးပစ်ခတ်မှု၊ လေ‌ကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှု စသည်တို့ကြောင့် တိုင်းရင်းသားဒေသများတွင်လည်း စစ်ဘေးရှောင်ပေါင်းသောင်းချီ၍ နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရသည်။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ စစ်အုပ်စု၏ မတရားအကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကြောင့် ထိခိုက်ဆုံးရှံးမှုများစွာရင်ဆိုင်နေရပြီးဖြစ်သော သန်းပေါင်းများစွာသော ပြည်သူလူထုကို ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါသည် ဆင်းရဲဒုက္ခတွင်းထဲသို့ ဆတိုးတွန်းပို့နေသည်။ နိုင်ငံတွင်းတွင် နေ့စဉ်နှင့်အမျှ ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါကြောင့် ရာထောင်ချီသေဆုံးမှုများရှိနေသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်သည် ယခင်ပြည်သူ့အစိုးရ၏ ကိုဗစ်ကာကွယ်ဆေးဖြန့်ဝေရေးအစီအစဉ်များကို ပျက်စီးစေယုံမျှမက လက်ရှိအခြေအနေတွင် ပြည်သူလူထုအရေးတကြိးလိုအပ်သော အသက်ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးအရင်းအမြစ်များကို လိုက်လံဖြတ်တောက်နေသည်။ ဆေးရုံ၊ ဆေးခန်းများအား စစ်သားများမှဝင်ရောက်စီးနင်းထားခြင်း၊ ဆရာဝန်များ နှင့် ကျန်မားရေးဝန်ထမ်းများအား ပစ်မှတ်ထားခြိမ်းခြောက်ခြင်း၊ ဖမ်းဆီးခြင်း၊ သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းတို့ကို လုပ်ဆောင်နေကြသည့်အတွက် ကျန်းမာရေးကဏ္ဍသည် ပြိုလဲပြီးအခြေအနေတစ်ရပ်တွင် ရှိနေသည်။ ထို့အပြင် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်သည် အောက်စီဂျင်စက်ရုံများ နှင့် အောက်စီဂျင်ဆိုင်ရာထောက်ပံ့ရေးပစ္စည်းများကို ပြည်သူများ မရရှိနိုင်စေရန် ပိတ်ပင်တားဆီးမှုများပြုလုပ်နေပြီး စစ်တပ်နှင့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအတွက်သာ အောက်စီဂျင်သိုလှောင်မှုများပြုလုပ်နေသည့်အတွက် ပြည်သူများစွာ အချိန်မသင့်ပဲ သေဆုံးနေကြရသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများသည် တုနှိုင်းစရာမရှိလောက်အောင်ကို လွန်စွာအကျည်းတန်လွန်းလှသည်။ သို့ပါလျက် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝန်းသည် ပြည်သူလူထုအား အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် တိုက်ခိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများ ကျူးလွန်နေခဲ့သည့် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်အား ထိရောက်သည့်အရေးယူမှုများ မပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည့်အတွက် လက်ရှိအခြေအနေတွင် စစ်အုပ်စုသည် ဘေးမဲ့ရထားသည့်အလား ထင်တိုင်းရမ်းကားနေခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ လွန်စွာမှ စိုးရိမ်ပါကြောင်းဖော်ပြထားသည့် သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက်များသည် ထိရောက်သည့်အကူအညီမဖြစ်လာသည့်အပြင် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ သွေးချင်းသူငယ်ချင်းများ အသက်ပေးပုန်ကန်နေသည့် တော်လှန်ရေးကို လျှော့တွေးသဟန်ဖြစ်နေသည်။ စစ်အုပ်စုအား နိုင်ငံတွင်း ထောက်ခံမှုမရှိကြောင်း မြန်မာပြည်သူများသည် ဆယ်စုနှစ်များစွာ ပြတ်ပြတ်သားသား အသိပေးကြွေးကြော်ခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ စစ်အုပ်စုလုံးဝအုပ်ချုပ်၍မရစေရကြောင်း ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ သွေး၊ချွေးတို့ဖြင့် တော်လှန်ရေးအတွင်း ရေးသားထားပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုက်အဝန်းအနေဖြင့် မြန်မာလူထု၏အသံအား နားထောင်လုပ်ဆောင်ချိန်တန်ပြီလည်းဖြစ်သည်။ သို့ပါ၍ ပြည်တွင်းပြည်ပ ဒေသအသီးသီးရှိ လက်မှတ်ရေးထိုးထားသော ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများသည် မြန်မာ့အရေးအတွက် ပိုမိုထိရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာအရေးယူမှုများ နှင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ ချက်ချင်းအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် အောက်ဖော်ပြပါအချက်များကို တောင်းဆိုလိုက်ပါသည်။ -အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကိုရပ်တန့်ရန်ဆောင်ရွက်ရာတွင် ၎င်းတို့ထံသို့ လက်နက်စီးဆင်းမှုများကို ဖြတ်တောက်နိုင်ရေးသည် ပဓာနကျသည့်အလျောက် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်အပေါ်တွင် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာမှ လက်နက်ပိတ်ဆို့မှုဝါဒ ချမှတ်ပေးရန်။ -အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရကို တရားဝင်အစိုးရတစ်ရပ်အဖြစ်အသိအမှတ်ပြုပြီး ပံ့ပိုးမှုများဆောင်ရွက်ရန်။ စက်တင်ဘာလတွင်ကျင်းပမည့် ကမ္ဘာ့ကုလသမဂ္ဂအထွေထွေညီလာခံ၌ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာသံအမတ်ကြီးနေရာတွင် သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းကို ဆက်လက်ခန့်ထားရန်။ -လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအထောက်အပံ့များနှင့် ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါဆိုင်ရာ ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးအကူအညီများကို နယ်စပ်ဒေသယန္တရားများ၊ နိုင်ငံတကာအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ ဒေသခံ အရပ်ဘက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရနှင့် တိုင်းရင်းသားဒေသကျန်းမာရေးအဖွဲ့အစည်းများမှ တစ်ဆင့် ချက်ချင်းအမြန်ဆုံး ဖြန့်ချိပေးရန်။ -အာဆီယံနှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အိမ်နီးချင်းနိုင်ငံများအား မြန်မာစစ်တပ်အပေါ်တွင် ထိရောက်သောအရေးယူမှုများပြုလုပ်ရေး ဖိအားပေးမှုများပြုလုပ်ရန်။ အာဆီယံ၏ ငါးချက်သဘာတူညီမှုသည် အားနည်းပြီး အချည်းနှီးသာဖြစ်ကြောင်း ပြသပြီးဖြစ်သည့်အတွက် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုက်အဝန်းအနေဖြင့် အာဆီယံကိုသာအားကိုးမနေပဲ ရှေ့တိုး၍ ပိုမိုပြင်းထန်ထိရောက်သော လုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များကို ဦးဆောင်ချမှတ်ရန်။ -မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ လက်နက်ဝယ်ရာတွင်သုံးစွဲနေသော ဝင်ငွေအရင်းအမြစ်အား ကန့်သတ်ရန်အတွက် မြန်မာ့ရေနံနှင့် သဘာဝဓါတ်ငွေ့လုပ်ငန်းအား စီးပွားရေးပိတ်ဆို့မှုစာရင်းသွင်းရန်။ ပြည်တွင်းပြည်ပကျောင်းသားမဂ္ဂအဖွဲ့များ (၁၇၈) ဖွဲ့မှ ပူးပေါင်းထုတ်ပြန်သည်။ (ပူးပေါင်းထုတ်ပြန်သောအဖွဲ့အစည်းများစာရင်းအား English Version တွင်ကြည့်ရှုပေးပါရန်)..."
Source/publisher: Student Union Representatives Committee - SURC
2021-07-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
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Description: "၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ရက် စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးချိန်မှစပြီး တိုင်းပြည် မတည်ငြိမ်မှုနှင့် ပရမ်းပ တာ ဖြစ်နေချိန်တွင် ပြည်သူလူထုသည် မိမိတို့ဘာသာ မိမိတို့ ကာကွယ်နေရသည်။ ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ် ရောဂါသည် ပြည်သူများ နောက်ဆုံးတိုက်ပွဲဝင်နေရသည့် ရောဂါဖြစ်သည်။ “ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါ အား တုန့်ပြန်ရာတွင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထား မှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူများ ကို မည်သို့ ချိုးဖောက်နေကြောင်း” အသစ်ထုတ်ပြန်သည့် စာတန်းငယ်တွင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့သည် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ အား ထိရောက်စွာ တုန့်ပြန်မှု မရှိကြောင်းနှင့် အရေးပေါ်ကာလအတွင်း ထိရောက်စွာကု သပေးရန် ကျိန်းသေစေမည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူများကို မည်သို့ချိုး ဖောက်နေကြောင်းကို ND-Burma မှ တင်ပြထားသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များအနေဖြင့် ပြည်သူလူ ထုအား ကျန်းမာရေးအတွက် အရင်းအမြစ်နှင့် ငွေကြေးခွဲဝေပေးမည်မှာ ယုံကြည်စရာ မဟုတ်ပေ။ နေအိမ်များနှင့် လူနာများပြွတ်ကြပ်နေသည့် ဆေးရုံများတွင် သေလုမြောပါး ခံစားနေရသော ထောင်နှင့်ချီသည့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ လူနာများ၏ လိုအပ်ချက်နှင့်အညီ ကုသပေးရမည့်အစား စစ်အာဏာ ရှင်များသည် ဆရာဝန်နှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများအား ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းနေပြီး မြို့ပြနှင့် ကျေး လက်များသို့ အသက်ကယ်ပစ္စည်းများ ပေးဝေရန် ငြင်းပယ်နေသည်။ အပစ်အခတ်ရပ်စဲရေး မှာလည်း ချိုးဖောက်ခံနေရပြီး အရေးပေါ်အကူအညီများမှာလည်း စစ်အာဏာရှင် တပ်များ၏ ကြားဖြတ် လုယူခံနေရသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သည်ဆိုသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှု အခြေခံမူများကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်များ၏ အပြုအမူတို့က တိုက်ရိုက် ချိုးဖောက်နေသည်။ လူသားခြင်း စာနာထောက်ထားခြင်း၊ခွဲခြားမှု မရှိခြင်း၊ ကြားနေခြင်း၊ လွတ်လပ်ခြင်း စသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားသည့် အခြေခံမူများကို လိုက်နာစောင့်ထိန်းရန် ပျက်ကွက်ခြင်းဖြင့် လူထုအပေါ် ပျက်ကွက်နေသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များအနေဖြင့် တရားမဝင် အာဏာရရယူထားမှုကို စွန့်လွှတ်ရန် ND-Burma မှ တောင်းဆိုသည်။ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းနှင့် လူထုအတွက် ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးလိုစိတ် မရှိခြင်းတို့ ပေါင်းစပ်ထားခြင်းဖြင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့သည် ပြည့်စုံကုံလုံသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှု ဆိုင်ရာ တုန့်ပြန်ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်စွမ်းမရှိသည်ကို ပြသနေသည်။ လူ့အသက်များ ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးမှာ သေရေးရှင်ရေးတမျှ အရေးကြီးနေပေရာ ထိခိုက်နစ်နာ အလွယ်ဆုံးသူများအား ကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်ပေးရန်နှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများ ကုသရေးလုပ်ငန်းများကို လုံခြုံဘေးကင်းပြီး ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာရှိရှိ ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်ရန် နိုင်ငံတကာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းမှ အလျင်အမြန် ကြားဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်ရမည် ဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The State Administrative Council (SAC), the governing body of the military regime, has imposed a news blackout on COVID-19 deaths in the military, despite widespread infections. The infected junior personnel and their families do not receive treatment at military hospitals until their conditions are serious. Until then they are ordered to isolate in their accommodation, said military personnel. “Four cases have been found in my unit and many more are sick. [The commanders] do nothing for them. They were transferred to [military hospitals] only when they had difficulty breathing,” said a soldier from a battalion in Meiktila, Mandalay Region. “But they received no treatment at hospitals. [Doctors] only tell them to stay strong. They had to buy medicine. They were tested after two weeks and discharged if they test negative,” he said. Widespread coronavirus infections have been reported among battalions in Yangon. Personnel and their families who have fever and no sense of smell are ordered to isolate in their quarters, said a soldier assigned to help patients in a military hospital in Yangon. “There have been many infections in my unit. I am still clear but I haven’t returned to my family for more than three weeks because I am concerned about infecting them. We are sliding into chaos and I don’t want to work any longer,” he said. COVID-19 infections have also been reported among senior military leaders. Deputy Home Affairs Minister and Police Chief Lieutenant-General Than Hlaing and his wife and the wife and son of Adjutant General Lt-Gen Myo Zaw Thein are reportedly receiving treatment at military hospitals for COVID-19. Some units in Yangon, including the Yangon Command Headquarters, have reportedly been placed under lockdown. More than 300 military personnel at an ordnance factory on the banks of the Pyay in Bago Region were infected with coronavirus and nine died last week. But the military regime only registered two deaths as COVID-19 fatalities, the independent media outlet Democratic Voice of Burma was told by “People’s Soldier”, a Facebook page run by striking military personnel. Despite infections, personnel were forced to continue working at the factory, said the People’s Soldier. Soldiers are seeking help from striking officers as the regime is unable to provide proper treatment for them, said Captain Nyi Thuta, who is on strike. “Soldiers can do nothing. They are at the hands of the regime. Ordinary people can still look for oxygen but soldiers can’t go out and are helpless. They told me that they can do nothing but are waiting to be infected,” he said. Though Myanmar’s military initially revealed the infections and deaths of its personnel and their families, it is now hiding the COVID-19 death toll. In early July, coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said there was enough oxygen in Myanmar. Since then, cemeteries in Yangon have been overflowing with bodies from coronavirus deaths with most fatalities blamed on a lack of oxygen. At least 10 military personnel and their relatives have been dying per day at a military hospital in Mandalay due to a shortage of oxygen and doctors, Myanmar Now reported on Sunday, quoting a military medic at the hospital. Another military medic, Major Min Maung Maung, said: “Though they had made preparations, they can’t handle it when the pandemic broke out. I want to question what they are doing. They can neither control the virus in the military nor provide proper treatment for the people. They keep saying that they are addressing but it is untrue.” There have also been widespread infections among police amid independent media reports of around 10,000 police officers infected with coronavirus nationwide. Around 100 trainees caught COVID-19 at the training school of the Criminal Investigation Department in Yangon’s Insein Township in early July. “The military leaders have no goodwill not only to the people or lower ranks. The other ranks are becoming more aware of that. It has become more obvious during the COVID-19 outbreak that they are being ignored. It has become clearer that not only the people but also the soldiers are suffering from the bad legacy of the dictators,” said Capt. Nyi Thuta..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-07-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The deeply disturbing situation in Insein Prison once again shows the brutality and cruelty of the genocidal military junta’s regime in Myanmar. While the whole world is fighting to protect humanity from Covid-19, which has no respect for international borders, political affiliations, colour nor culture, race nor religion, yet instead the military junta in Myanmar, led by failed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, are doing just the opposite. Before it becomes too late to stop the spreading across international borders, and onto the whole world, the International Community must come together and unite to fight this uncontrolled third wave of the Covid-19 Delta Variant which is surging across the prisons - the concentration camps run by the military junta in Myanmar - and across the Nation.....အင်းစိန်ဗဟိုအကျဉ်းထောင်မှ လွန်စွာစိုးရိမ်ထိတ်လန့်ဖွယ်ရာကောင်းသော အခြေအနေများသည်၊ လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်နေသည့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိစစ်အာဏာရှင်၏အကြင်နာမဲ့ ရက်စက်မှုများကို တဖန်ပြန်လည် ပြသနေခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းလုံးသည် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အား၊ နိုင်ငံတကာ နယ်နိမိတ် စည်းများအပေါ် လေးစားမှုမရှိသော၊ နိုင်ငံရေးနှင့်ပတ်သက် ဆက်နွယ်မှုလည်းမရှိသော၊ အသားအရောင်၊ ဓလေ့ထုံးစံ၊ လူမျိုးရေး၊ဘာသာရေး စသည်တို့ကို သိရှိနားလည်ခြင်းနှင့် လေးစားမှု အလျင်းမရှိသည့် Covid-19 ရောဂါမှ ကာကွယ်နိုင်ရန်အတွက် အပြင်းအထန်တိုက်ခိုက် နေရချိန်တွင်၊ ရှုံးနိမ့်နေပြီဖြစ်သော အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ခေါင်းဆောင် မင်းအောင်လှိုင် ဦးဆောင်သည့် အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်တပ်သည် ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းလုံး၏ ဆောင်ရွက်ချက်များနှင့် ဆန့်ကျင်စွာပြုမူ လျက်ရှိသည်။ အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ နယ်နိမိတ် များမှတဆင့်၊ ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းသို့ ရောဂါကူးစက်ပြန့်နှံ့ မှုများမဖြစ်ပွားမီ ဆောလျင်စွာ အချိန်မလင့်နောက်မကျခင် တားဆီးထိန်းချုပ်ရန်လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်တပ်၏ အုပ်ချုပ်မှုအောက် ကျရောက်နေသော မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ နိုင်ငံရေး အကျဉ်းသား များထားရာ အကျဉ်းထောင်များတွင် ကူးစက်မှုနှုန်းမြင့်တက်လျက်ရှိပြီး ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းလုံး အရှိန်အဟုန်နှင့် ကူးစက်ပြန့်ပွားနေသော မထိန်းချုပ်နိုင်သေးသည့် Covid-19 Delta မျိုးကွဲ တတိယလှိုင်းကို အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းများ အနေဖြင့် အတူတကွပူးပေါင်း၍ ညီညီညွတ်ညွတ် တိုက်ထုတ်ကြရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
2021-07-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-24
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Description: "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is closely following information that has been released recently, on the current situation at various prisons in Myanmar. We are deeply concerned about the increasing impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar, including in detention centers. The ICRC is continuing its dialogue with prison authorities to resume its purely humanitarian visits and activities in places of detention, including Insein Prison, which have been on hold since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We reiterate our offer to support to address Covid-19 and health care in general in places of detention. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance. The ICRC also endeavours to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening international humanitarian law (IHL) and universal humanitarian principles..."
Source/publisher: International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva)
2021-07-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-24
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Description: "The people of Burma, already suffering under the hands of an oppressive military dictatorship, are now facing a third wave of COVID-19. Prior to the coup, during the first and second waves of the pandemic, volunteers, medical staff, and civilians organized under the civilian government were coordinating an effective response. Burma was one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to receive the vaccine, gaining international recognition for its pandemic prevention. On 1 February, a junta seized power, and since then, the country’s key sectors in economy, education, and health have all been deteriorating. The people of Burma face a pandemic but without adequate healthcare services. Across the country, testing facilities have been eradicated, the true number of civilians infected is impossible to calculate. Basic medicine is now in short supply, prices are soaring. The military has imposed severe restrictions on the importation of essential medicines and medical supplies. In addition, the junta has been closing hospitals and clinics, and stopping civilians from being able to purchase lifesaving oxygen. This terrorism has resulted in escalating death tolls throughout the country. Much of this is going undocumented. The junta are withholding facts and figures, covering up cases and presenting only an insignificant number of cases. From the very start of the coup, and throughout this third wave of the pandemic, the junta has been arresting, issuing arrest warrants, and conducting raids on the homes of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, who have been helping treat civilians affected by the junta’s violence. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), (67) medical professional are currently detained, and nearly (600) are evading arrest warrants. In addition, 221 medical students have been arrested this coup, including 9 currently detained. A total 7 medics have been killed by the junta since the coup. This is just the number confirmed by AAPP. Some medical professionals could not be contacted by AAPP, and their condition remains unknown. Below are some cases of medical professionals who have been affected by the junta’s terrorism: On the night of July 13, junta troops raided the home of Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet. He was beaten and arrested by the so-called police and junta soldiers. He is currently detained in the Mandalay Palace military base interrogation center, where he has been facing torture in interrogation for some time. Kyaw Kyaw Thet is also a close friend with Dr. Thiha Tin Tun, was shot dead by the junta on March 27. He also volunteered at a charity clinic and taught medical students. On July 16, Dr. Thet Htay, a well-known surgeon in Mandalay who worked at a charity clinic and in a hospital was detained, and beaten, when he was on his way back from treating a patient. Dr. Thet Htay is a doctor who has been active in treating civilians injured in the junta’s brutal crackdowns. The junta has also been taking hostage family members and friends of medical experts. On 10 June, Director of the National Immunization Program, Dr. Htar Htar Lin, was arrested together with her husband, son, her friend, and her friend’s daughter. Htar Htar Lin played a key role in the NLD government’s civilian COVID-19 vaccination program. During detention, she has become infected with COVID-19. On July 19, Martyrs’ Day, in North Dagon Township, Rangoon Division, junta forces pretending to be patients suffering with COVID-19 called up doctors known to be treating those affected by the pandemic. They then arrested these doctors and raided their clinics. The terrorist group arrested a total of 5 medical professional, they were 2 doctors giving medical advice to patients online, and 3 volunteer doctors who were going into communities to treat civilians. In addition to this, during the raid on the doctor’s offices, five 40-liter oxygen tanks, which had been donated by civilians, along with eighteen 15-liter oxygen tanks, 1 sets of oxygen equipment, medicine, and all the doctors’ PPE equipment, were stolen by the junta who claimed it was illegitimate material. Regardless of the country, civilians should be able to have access to urgent healthcare. The junta is using the COVID-19 pandemic as a weapon to further torture the people and put civilian’s lives at risk. The unlawful arrest, prosecution and torture of medical professionals are clear genocide and crimes against humanity. Targeting doctors, nurses, and medical students is a grave violation of international law. The international community has a specific responsibility to protect healthcare workers, who are being systematically detained, abducted and murdered by a terrorist group. 2016 UN Security Council passed Resolution 2286 in 2016 resolutely condemning attacks on medical personnel, hospitals, and medical supplies, maintaining “states to ensure that those responsible do not operate with impunity, and that they are brought to justice”. But international inaction, and a lack of accountability in Burma has allowed these brutal crimes to continue with impunity. Article 24 of the 1949 Geneva Convention, the pinnacle of international law states medical personnel, particularly those involved in the “transport or treatment of the wounded or sick, or in the prevention of disease… shall be respected and protected in all circumstances”. The UN General Secretary also released a statement at the outbreak of COVID-19, “it is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives”. Instead of initiating a ceasefire, the junta is methodologically using covid as a tool to inflict further violence upon civilians. The global community must adhere to these commitments made to protect the healthcare providers in Burma and no longer neglect these blatant crimes against humanity. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
2021-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Angered by doctors' support for anti-junta protests, Myanmar's military has arrested several doctors treating COVID-19 patients independently, colleagues and media said, as the health system struggles to cope with a record wave of infections. Since the military overthrew the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in February, the ensuing turmoil and protests have thrown Myanmar's COVID-19 response into chaos, as activists say scores of doctors have been arrested for their prominent role in a civil disobedience movement. Myanmar registered on Thursday over 6,000 new COVID-19 infections after reporting 286 deaths a day earlier, both record highs. Medics and funeral services say the real death toll is far higher, with crematoriums unable to keep pace. To help people who either refuse to go to a state hospital, because of opposition to the military, or find hospitals are too strapped to treat them, some doctors participating in the anti-junta campaign have offered free medical advice over the telephone, and visited the sick at home in some cases. But according to doctors and media reports in the past few weeks nine volunteer doctors offering tele-medicine and other services have been detained by the military in Myanmar's two largest cities - Yangon and Mandalay. The information team of the army-led State Administration Council issued a statement denying reports that five doctors had been arrested in Yangon, but omitted any reference to the alleged arrests in Mandalay, which included doctors active in the civil disobedience movement. All telephone calls from Reuters to a spokesman for the junta were unanswered. A doctor, who asked not to be named for fear of being targeted by the military authorities, said four of his colleagues from the "Medical Family - Mandalay group" had been arrested. They included Kyaw Kyaw Thet, who had been tutoring medical students, and senior surgeon Thet Htay, who the doctor said witnesses had seen handcuffed and bruised before being led away on July 16. Their group was set up to advise virus sufferers over the telephone how to breathe, how to use an oxygen concentrator, which medicines to buy and how to administer them. "We have been giving medical treatment to hundreds of patients per day," the doctor said, adding that many more of those patients could have died if they had not been attended to. Media reports from Yangon, which have been denied by the junta, said three doctors from a COVID-19 response group were arrested after being lured to a home by soldiers pretending to need treatment. The junta also denied Myanmar News portal reportthat security forces had arrested two doctors during a followup raid on their offices in the North Dagon district of Yangon. The National Unity Government, set up as a shadow body by army opponents, and media reports had also accused security forces of taking oxygen cylinders, protective wear and medicine for their own use during those raids. "WEAPONISING COVID" It was unclear why any of the doctors would have been detained, but the military has arrested medical staff previously for their conspicuous support for the civil disobedience movement. An activist group, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, has said hundreds of doctors who joined the anti-junta campaign have been charged with spreading false news and 73 have been arrested. The consequent shortage of staff at hospitals and clinics has added to public mistrust of the junta. A junta spokesman urged people last week to cooperate with the government in order to overcome the epidemic. And according to some doctors, the latest arrests could be an attempt to force people to rely more on the military authorities. Denying the reported arrests in Yangon, the military administration referred to information about COVID-19 patients being secretly treated and charged high prices or being directed to online cures, adding that lives were being lost unnecessarily. Yanghee Lee, a former U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar now on an advisory council, has accused the junta of "weaponising COVID-19 for its own political gain."..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-23
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Description: "At around 8 am this morning, anti-dictatorship chants were heard from inside Insein Prison, Yangon Region. The protest began in the women’s detention block annexe to Insein Prison. This block detains female prisoners arrested for pro-democracy protests and the CDM movement. The protest has now spread across the prison and some staff have joined. Currently, junta forces are storming the prison compound and confiscating all of the prison staffs’ weapons. Some of these staff have confirmed to us military vehicles have entered the prison compound. The situation COVID-19 situation has been deteriorating in the two female detention blocks, but the prison authority has only given treatment to those in special cells and prison hospital. The protest reportedly began because prisoners have not been provided with medical care, and neither have prison staff been given protection from COVID-19. These events follow an announcement by the director of Yangon Imprisonment Department they plan to release more than 1000 inmates from Insein Prison on 22 July who were incarcerated for narcotics and theft. In September 1990 dozens of political prisoners in this same Insein Prison as today staged a hunger strike to demand the military transfer power to the democratically elected National League for Democracy. In the brutal crackdown that followed, over 40 prisoners required hospitalization and six were reportedly beaten to death. Prison guards had played songs over loudspeakers from security towers to drown out the sound inside and outside the compound’s walls, of the prisoners screams, the guard’s verbal assaults, and sound of beating bodies. In response, the SLORC said “internationally-recognized batons” had been used and that only three prisoners had been “slightly injured”. AAPP has great concern the protests in Insein Prison will be viciously suppressed and there will be a massacre and rampant use of torture. Like-minded governments must apply pressure on junta officials to protect the lives of these pro-democracy supporters and secure their release from arbitrary detention. In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
2021-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "HURFOM, Mawlamyine: A new briefing paper by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), “Running Out of Air: How the Junta in Burma is Abandoning Civilians in the COVID-19 Pandemic,” finds that the Burma Army is ill-equipped to handle the response to COVID-19. Since the military seized power in a coup on 1 February, the lives of civilians have been under constant attack. Hundreds have been killed by state-sponsored forces and thousands remain imprisoned for their role in pro-democracy activities, include health care providers. With multiple crises unfolding nationwide, the junta’s poor handling of the pandemic threatens to only worsen the already dire situation in the country. In HURFOM target areas of Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region, hospitals and various health infrastructure are running out of supplies. This has crippled civilian livelihoods who are struggling to access oxygen, masks and medicine from pharmacies. With prices of material goods increasing, and the junta blocking all pathways to access life-saving support, civilians are being pushed to the brink of survival. Our findings indicate that the military is deliberating excluding the most vulnerable from access to healthcare, in order to preserve their own interests. HURFOM is greatly concerned for the people of Burma. A lack of effective coordination to secure life-saving access to personal protective equipment and medical supplies has resulted in human lives paying the cost for the junta’s negligence. Without an immediate recourse in the response plan, the situation on the ground is only likely to worsen. Health providers must be protected and civilians guaranteed pathways to accessible, affordable care. Millions are at risk, and they are running out of options. HURFOM calls for immediate, urgently needed intervention by the international community and for regional actors including the Association of South East Asian Nations. The people of Burma cannot afford to wait any longer..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland
2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
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Description: "A severe Covid-19 wave is devastating Myanmar -- a country already on its knees following February's military coup -- with people queuing for hours for oxygen in major cities and the seriously ill dying at home because they are too scared to visit understaffed, ill-equipped hospitals. Images from the biggest city, Yangon, show families of the sick waiting at oxygen plants in the hopes of refilling tanks, crematoriums packed with mourners and coffins, and funeral workers and volunteers in white hazmat suits working non-stop at cemeteries to bury rows of shrouded bodies. During months of bloody political turmoil, Myanmar's security forces have killed more than 900 people, including shooting protesters dead in the streets, and laid siege to entire villages. Thousands have been detained in the ongoing crackdown, with widespread reports of torture. Civil society has been eroded and the already-vulnerable health care system has collapsed. Doctors and other health workers, many of whom went on strike to protest the coup, have been forced into hiding to escape attacks and arrest from junta forces. As Myanmar now faces its worst Covid-19 outbreak, doctors and volunteers who spoke to CNN accuse the military of using the pandemic as a weapon against the people. They said the military has restricted critical oxygen sales to the public and refused sick patients at military-run hospitals. Covid-19 outbreaks have also reached prisons, including the main jail, Insein, housing anti-coup protesters. Terrified residents are choosing to self-treat at home, doctors say. When they do go to hospital they are often turned away as the facilities are running out of oxygen, treatments and beds, and there's not enough staff to treat patients, they said. eople wait to fill up empty oxygen canisters outside a factory in Mandalay on July 13. On Wednesday, the military-controlled health ministry reported 6,093 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total confirmed to 246,663. There were also 247 reported fatalities, with the confirmed death toll from Covid-19 5,814. But doctors and volunteer groups say those numbers are woefully under-reported. A once-promising vaccine program has crumbled under junta rule, and minimal testing, a lack of official data, and widespread public distrust of the military means no one has a clear idea of the extent of the crisis. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," said one doctor who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals. "We are seeing patients deteriorating and people dying everyday." Joy Singhal, head of the Myanmar delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the "rapid rise of Covid-19 in Myanmar is deeply concerning and in recent days around a third of people tested are positive." "This rise of cases has placed the entire health system under huge strain," he said. "We urgently need greater levels of testing, contact tracing and vaccinations in all areas of the country." In the absence of a functioning medical system or official national Covid-19 plan, and with a public distrustful of anything linked to the military junta, a network of underground doctors and volunteer groups are trying to plug the gaps. Desperate search for oxygen Every day, desperate family members scour Facebook groups and encrypted apps searching for oxygen supplies for their loved ones. The words "urgent," "emergency" and "please help me" repeated in a constant flow of desperate messages. "My grandpa is very low in oxygen. Please help him. Is there any place where he can get oxygen?" asks one worried user on a Facebook group helping those in need of oxygen. Others offer tanks after their loved ones have died. Snowy, 25, is part of a group of 12 in Yangon who try and deliver oxygen tanks and other supplies to those posting on social media. Each day she contacts private oxygen suppliers and delivers tanks to those in need. But the supply is never enough. "They say, 'save us, save us.' But how can I save them? I'm not a doctor. I can only give them access to oxygen when I can get it. There are some people who die because we couldn't get the oxygen in time," she said. Snowy requested to use a pseudonym to protect her safety. It's not just oxygen in short supply. Snowy said she tries to source oximeters -- devices used to test oxygen levels -- oxygen concentrators, flow meters, ventilators and other equipment but they are expensive and scarce. The military junta said it banned some private oxygen plants from selling to the general public to stop citizens from hoarding, according to Reuters. Charities have also been prevented from procuring oxygen by the military, according to several doctors and volunteers CNN spoke to. Volunteers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) pray in front of bodies of people who died from Covid-19 during their funeral at a cemetery in Mandalay on July 14. "My friend, whose mother was low on oxygen levels, he queued and the military soldiers arrived with more than 50 tanks in their trucks and they sent everyone back out and filled their tanks first," said Snowy. CNN cannot independently verify the details of the accounts. In state media, the military at first denied there was a lack of oxygen, blaming shortages on "unscrupulous persons" spreading rumors. "We have enough oxygen," coup leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar. "Some try to do negative activities while gaining political profits. They buy the oxygen cylinder and spread the rumor that the country does not have oxygen anymore." In recent days, however, the military-controlled health ministry said it was ramping up its coronavirus response. State media has been full of stories of oxygen deliveries to hospitals across the country, the building of Covid-19 centers and oxygen plants and more treatments being made available for coronavirus patients. But residents say the situation on the ground is different. Kyaw Naing, not his real name, said nine members of his family in Yangon have contracted Covid-19. He said it's almost impossible to get oxygen or be admitted to a hospital. "We saw notices being put up saying that now they (the military) will stop giving oxygen supplies to members of the public, because the notices say they are not being stocked for use in private hospitals," Kyaw Naing said. "On the one hand, they're saying they are using this oxygen for private, public hospitals. At the same time, these public hospitals are not accepting or not admitting Covid-19 patients." CNN was unable to reach the military and military-run health ministry for comment on the outbreak and the state of oxygen supplies. Underground doctors treat patients The regime has also called on doctors, nurses, and other experts to volunteer at public hospitals and Covid-19 centers "due to a lack of manpower." But doctors say the military cannot guarantee their safety and they fear arrest and possible torture. Doctors were key drivers of the initial protest movement, and many have been arrested by the junta for their involvement. "There have been 240 documented cases of attacks on health care facilities and health care professionals. As of last week, you have over 500 outstanding arrest warrants for doctors and nurses," said Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar. "You can't attack Covid-19 and attack doctors and nurses and clinics at the same time. That is exactly what is making a bad situation exponentially worse in Myanmar." Doctors forced to go into hiding to evade arrest have set up underground networks of clinics and tele-consulation services. Each day they answer hundreds of requests from sick patients, on apps, social media, and video platforms -- however they can reach the people. "We are treating at least 150 people per day. More than half of those patients complain of fever, anosmia (lack of smell) and Covid-like symptoms," said the doctor, who did not want to be identified. "Half of patients are severe cases." People wearing face masks wait while caskets with bodies are queued outside a crematorium at the Yay Way cemetery in Yangon, Myanmar, on July 14. The doctor, who was an orthopedic surgeon before the coup, said his tele-consultation group EZ Care treated more than 1,000 patients in the past month. "Yesterday, two patients died when we were doing the consultation because there was a lack of oxygen," he said. "Without oxygen we can do nothing." Another young doctor in Yangon said six of her patients died in one day last week; the youngest was 49. She said she visits the very sick at home but feels helpless in the face of the growing crisis. "I saw a patient at his home and it's heartbreaking to see him struggling to breathe. It's like he was drowning in water but he is actually drowning in air. He didn't get oxygen in his lungs and blood. After the visit I got a phone call from his family and they said he had gone," she said. The young doctor, who also didn't want to be named for safety reasons, said people are in a state of panic. "There is a shortage of medicine and proper care, people are very panicked as they don't know where to go or how to get treatment, so they just buy every medicine that says on online 'this one is for Covid'," she said. She works all day and night, answering frantic messages on encrypted apps or giving consultations via video, but she said those at home don't have the necessary medical knowledge to treat their loved ones. "They don't know how to handle oxygen concentrators, cylinders, how to assemble the lines from the concentrator to the patient, or how much oxygen to give to the patient," she said. The doctor, who said she was a medic during the protests and helped demonstrators who had been shot, said the military has failed the people. "We have lost so many lives here who aren't supposed to die this way. Some were shot, some were tortured to death, some died because they didn't get proper treatment, some died because they didn't get enough oxygen. These are not reasons why people should die in 2021, in the 21st century," she said. What is causing the rise in cases? The latest outbreak is believed to have started about a month ago in western Chin state, which borders India, and comes as the Delta variant is hitting countries across Southeast Asia. The doctors CNN spoke to said while there were medical staff shortages and testing was lacking, previous coronavirus waves in Myanmar were brought under control. Before the coup, Myanmar was one of the first countries in the region to procure vaccines and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi had planned to launch a nationwide vaccine program in April. After the military takeover, Covid-19 testing, prevention measures and the vaccine program collapsed in the chaos of the upheaval. Several prominent medics involved in Myanmar's pandemic response were arrested, including the former head of its vaccination campaign, Htar Htar Lin, and the head of emergency medicine at Yangon's University of Medicine, who managed previous Covid-19 responses, Maw Maw Oo. In recent days, the military-controlled health ministry said it is aiming to get 50% of Myanmar's 55 million population vaccinated this year, according to state media. A man uses his mobile phone in front of empty oxygen canisters, which people are waiting to fill up, outside a factory in Mandalay, on July 13. "More than 1.6 million people have been vaccinated, and vaccines are constantly being imported to ensure that 100% of the population is fully vaccinated. About 750,000 vaccines from China will arrive on July 22, and more will arrive on July 23 and 24. In addition, plans are underway to receive more vaccines in the first week of August," a statement said. But even if those doses are procured, residents say there is deep distrust in the regime to give them a lifesaving shot, when it continues to kill and detain its citizens. Concerns are also growing for the fate of the people if the situation is left unmanaged. "It staggers the imagination as to what will be happening just really over the next few days, this thing is out of control," said UN special rapporteur Andrews. "This is a complete catastrophe. The entire health care system is in shambles. The number of people being infected is just going through the roof, and no one trusts this junta to provide them with information or health care or vaccines that they need to confront this pandemic." Snowy, the volunteer, continues to go out every day in Yangon to try and procure oxygen for the sick and desperate. She lives with her mother and grandmother but isolates when she returns home. She said she recently started to feel ill. "I hope it's not Covid," she said..."
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Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Part 1: Situation Overview: As COVID-19 devastates Burma, health workers and first responders are responding with strength and resilience: Burma is facing a public health crisis. The virus is sweeping the nation with over 200,000 cases and nearly 5000 deaths as Myanmar’s health sector struggles to keep up. To make matters worse, people falling sick do not have adequate access to life saving supplies, like personal protective equipment (PPE), oxygen, or vaccines. At this moment, there is no clear plan established by the junta to control the rising cases and treat patients effectively. Quite the contrary, hospitals and health care infrastructure are struggling to cope with the influx of patients. The situation is dire. Civilians suffering from the economic and social impacts of the military coup, are now facing the worst outbreak the country has seen yet. The first COVID-19 case in Burma was recorded on 23 March 2020. In the months that followed, various committees were established to coordinate a response to the pandemic. The government proposed short sighted policies to tackle the virus, but local humanitarian responders were not consulted. The National League for Democracy (NLD) was attempting to move forward with solutions to mitigate the impacts of the virus, but when the military took over, these plans were shattered. By January 2021, the NLD purchased 30 million doses of Covishield/AstraZeneca. These vaccine doses were to be delivered in batches along with the 1.5 million doses of the vaccine gifted by the Indian government.1 However, not long after securing the vaccines, Burma descended into chaos on February 1. The NLD’s plan to curb the spread of the virus was effectively dead on arrival in the wake of the coup. In the months that followed, COVID-19 cases remained relatively low. But in recent weeks, cases have skyrocketed.2 Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights suggests this is partly due to a lack of testing that took place before the coup.3 Now, thousands are dying from COVID-19 nationwide as a third wave has spread to nearly 90% of townships throughout Burma.4 The outbreak is without a doubt, the worst the country has experienced and comes as multiple crises are threatening civilian safety, including internal conflict and adjusting to post-coup authoritarian norms. Against the backdrop of a wave of deadly cases, the junta is committing extreme acts of warfare on medical officers and their supplies. Junta soldiers have been seen forcibly dispersing civilians for merely queuing up for oxygen.5 The military has also turned their weapons on Burma’s health workers for their role in actively condemning the military’s violence since February. According to the United Nations, the junta has attacked at least 158 medical personnel, killing over 60 people and injuring dozens more.6 Security forces have also arrested and charged more than 139 doctors, and seized over 50 health facilities.7 The junta have continued to exercise their power to prioritize their needs and well-being over civilians. Military leaders and soldiers were among the first to be vaccinated in the country, and are in the position to decide who is vaccinated, if at all. As the crisis becomes more severe, civilians are losing trust in health systems under the military.8 Meanwhile, tens of thousands are being displaced as internal conflict in Burma’s ethnic states continue to ravage communities. Further, the junta’s lack of compassion is a troubling indicator of what’s to come in the coming months. The junta has undermined all efforts to respond to the humanitarian disasters unfolding in the country – of which are not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences of their incompetence and inaction will be long-lasting, particularly on those least prepared to make a strong comeback alongside a crippling economy..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Foundation of Monland
2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Deadly third wave of COVID-19 is sweeping the nation
Description: "United Nations member states should immediately form an Emergency Coalition to provide humanitarian aid and coordinate a mass-vaccination campaign in Myanmar to contain the spread of COVID-19, said Fortify Rights today. Donor governments and international agencies should ensure the localization of aid to relevant humanitarian actors and avoid legitimizing the military junta. “COVID is killing untold numbers of people throughout the country,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “The junta is responsible for this crisis, which poses serious threats to the entire region and beyond. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing must step down and return the country to civilian rule before more lives are lost.” Since the military seized power in an attempted coup d’état on February 1, its forces have arbitrarily arrested, beat, and killed medical professionals and destroyed medical supplies and facilities, leaving Myanmar’s healthcare system in disarray as COVID-19 spreads throughout the country. Oxygen and medical supplies in Myanmar are scarce, hospitals and medical facilities are unable to treat a rising volume of patients, and bodies of those who have succumbed to the COVID-19 virus are reportedly piling up at morgues and crematoriums. Fortify Rights documented the looting and destruction of medical supplies and equipment by junta security forces. For instance, a medical doctor described how Myanmar Army soldiers and police destroyed medical equipment at a clinic in Mandalay on two consecutive days in March: “They destroyed the blood pressure manometer, the sphygmomanometer, some of the oxygen measurement SpO2, and some medication they threw and some they took with them,” he said. “They robbed some of the medication.” The World Health Organization (WHO) reports more than 260 attacks “on health care” in Myanmar since the coup, including attacks impacting medical facilities, patients, transport vehicles, medical personnel, and medical supplies. These attacks have severely limited COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccination. Doctors and medical professionals in Myanmar founded the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) on February 2, refusing to work under the military junta, making them a target of the junta and forcing many into hiding. “The military is arresting every government service employee, especially the doctors,” an emergency physician who is now in hiding told Fortify Rights. “I did the CDM. So, they want me.” According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), junta forces have arrested more than 5,315 men, women, and children, including 66 medical personnel since February 1. Another 571 medical professionals including doctors, nurses, and medics are reportedly evading arrest warrants and are in hiding, according to AAPP Political prisoners are also among those dying from COVID-19. On July 20, veteran politician and spokesperson for the National League for Democracy Party, Nyan Win, 79, died from the virus, according to media reports citing his lawyer. Other political prisoners in Myanmar are also reportedly showing symptoms of COVID-19, including Myanmar nationals as well as Australian economist Sean Turnell and American journalist Danny Fenster, both of whom face trumped-up charges related to the coup. Political prisoners nationwide in Myanmar are at grave risk due to COVID-19 and other ill-treatment by the junta, and they should be released immediately, Fortify Rights said. According to the WHO, Myanmar has 240,570 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5,567 recorded deaths from the virus as of July 20. Fortify Rights believes the actual number of new infections and deaths from the disease are much higher than reported, based on communications with medical professionals and others in Myanmar. The Acting WHO Representative to Myanmar told Fortify Rights that COVID-19 cases might be underreported due to limited testing capabilities, adding that efforts were underway to “re-operationalize testing and surveillance activities.” “The test-positivity rate reported is as high as 35 percent as of July 12, 2021,” the Acting WHO Representative to Myanmar told Fortify Rights. “Because the data is limited, we cannot confirm how these figures reflect the real situation, but it reflects a rapidly increasing number of infections in the country.” A test-positivity rate of five percent is considered dangerous and “too high,” according to faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The WHO representative stressed that an effective response to the pandemic must include ensuring severe patients can “easily access COVID-19 treatment centers and hospitals.” It must also guarantee no limitation of lifesaving materials in treatment centers and hospitals and an adequate healthcare workforce capable of providing care and expert clinical management. Due to a lack of healthcare workers, lifesaving materials, and safe access to hospitals and healthcare facilities, many COVID-19 patients in Myanmar are self-treating themselves at home. “Although I am infected with COVID and feel some tightness of chest, [I] don’t have time to rest,” a Myanmar doctor-in-hiding and founding member of the CDM told Fortify Rights on July 19. He explained how he is treating home-based COVID patients by phone. “The situation is very bad here.” On July 12, the junta’s Deputy Minister of Information, Major General Zaw Min Tun, admitted to placing restrictions on civilian access to much-needed oxygen supplies, telling journalists in Naypyidaw: “The reason we put these restrictions in place is, firstly, because we discovered scams on the internet. Some people are committing fraud, pretending to provide services refilling oxygen supplies, and we received complaint letters.” Myanmar’s population exceeds 54 million. According to the junta-led Global New Light of Myanmar, an estimated 1.6 million people have been vaccinated to date. A medical professional in Myanmar, unnamed here for security purposes, told Fortify Rights that some in the country, including himself, received a first vaccination shot before the coup. Due mainly to the junta’s ongoing attack against the people, he and others have not received a second shot, leaving them less protected from infection, to say nothing of the unvaccinated masses. On July 20, the junta-led Global New Light of Myanmar reported that the Ministry of Health and Sports would vaccinate 50 percent of Myanmar’s population against COVID-19 this year. On July 7, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called for the formation of an “Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar” to stop what he described as the military junta’s “reign of terror” in the country. On July 14, Andrews reiterated his call for the formation of the coalition to coordinate urgent international help to address the “perfect storm” of factors fueling the COVID-19 crisis. On July 18, the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar—comprising elected members of parliament, leaders of anti-coup protests, and ethnic nationalities—requested the U.N. Secretary-General and the international community to urgently provide “humanitarian assistance and emergency support to the people of Myanmar” as the country grapples with a deadly third wave of COVID-19. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which Myanmar is a State Party, the right to health requires States to ensure the “prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases” and to ensure “medical service and medical attention in the event of sickness.” The right to health also requires that health services, facilities, and goods are adequately available and accessible on a non-discriminatory basis. Furthermore, the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights clarified on November 27, 2020, that “States have a duty of international cooperation and assistance to ensure universal equitable access to [COVID-19] vaccines wherever needed.” Under the ICESCR, “States must strengthen their international cooperation to guarantee, as soon as possible, universal and equitable access to vaccines for COVD-19 globally, including for the populations of the least developed countries.” “The junta has thwarted all basic factors necessary for an effective response to the COVID crisis, including access to hospitals, lifesaving materials, and sufficient healthcare staff to attend to patients,” said Matthew Smith. “The world is failing the people of Myanmar, and more lives will be lost if governments do not coordinate urgently.”..."
Source/publisher: "Fortify Rights"
2021-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "ဝမ်းနည်းကြောင်းသဝဏ်လွှာ ===================== ဇူလိုင်လ ၂၁ ရက် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်။ ------------------------------------------ ပြည်ထောင်စုဥပဒေအထောက်အကူပေးရေးအဖွဲ့ ဥက္ကဌ ၊ အမျိုးသားဒီမိုကရေစီအဖွဲ့ချုပ် ဗဟိုအလုပ်အမှုဆောင်အဖွဲ့ အတွင်းရေးမှူးအဖွဲ့ဝင် ဦးဉာဏ်ဝင်းသည် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက် နေ့တွင် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ မတရားဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းခြင်းကို ခံခဲ့ရပြီး အင်းစိန်ထောင်အတွင်း COVID-19 ရောဂါပိုးကူးစက်ခြင်းကိုခံခဲ့ ရပါသည်။ အင်းစိန်ထောင်မှတဆင့် ရန်ကုန်ပြည်သူ့ဆေးရုံကြီးသို့ ပို့ဆောင်ဆေးကုသမှုခံယူစဉ် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဇူလိုင်လ ၂၀ ရက်နေ့ နံနက် ၉ နာရီ ၁၀ မိနစ် အချိန်တွင် ကွယ်လွန်အနိစ္စရောက်သွားကြောင်း ကြားသိရ ပါသည်။ ယုံကြည်ချက်ကြောင့်အကျဉ်းကျခံရသည့် နိုင်ငံရေးအကျဉ်းသားများကို လုံလောက်သည့် ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုပေးရန် ပျက်ကွက်သည့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတွင် တာဝန်အပြည့်ရှိသည့် အပြင် အဆိုပါကိစ္စရပ်များအတွက် တာဝန်အပြည့်ယူရမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သိစေအပ်သည်။ ကွယ်လွန်အနစ္စရောက်သွားသော ဦးဉာဏ်ဝင်း၏မိသားစုနှင့် ထပ်တူဝမ်းနည်းကြေကွဲရပါ ကြောင်းနှင့် မပြီးဆုံးသေးသော စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကျဆုံးရေးနှင့် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု တည်ဆောက်ရေးအတွက် ဆက်လက်တိုက်ပွဲဝင်သွားမည်ဟု ကတိပြုပါကြောင်း သဝဏ်လွှာပေးပို့အပ် ပါသည်။ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
2021-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-21
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Description: "For a week, 21-year-old student Phoe Thar has been out by dawn to gather oxygen cylinders from the homes of coronavirus sufferers in Myanmar's second city of Mandalay. He and fellow volunteers line the tanks up outside charities for filling and returning, trying to save lives in a country whose health system has largely collapsed since a Feb. 1 coup and which now faces its worst surge of COVID-19 infections. Funded by donors on social media, Phoe Thar and his team are part of a growing grassroots effort that bypasses the authorities and echoes the way Myanmar's people responded to crises during previous decades of army rule. "Since the number of people who need oxygen tanks is massive, it's a huge challenge for us," Phoe Thar told Reuters by phone from Mandalay. Health ministry figures showed deaths from COVID-19 stood at 231 on Sunday from a record 233 on Saturday, but medics and funeral services say the real toll is much higher, and crematoriums are overloaded. The total official death toll has risen 50% already this month to 5,000 with the spread of the Delta variant that has also surged elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Reuters was unable to reach the health ministry or a junta spokesman for comment on the outbreak and public response. Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing appealed for volunteers and for national cooperation at a meeting on the coronavirus emergency in comments broadcast on state television on Sunday. "Some people do not dare to volunteer because of intimidation. Some people want to join but they have different reasons and difficulties," he said. "As I said before, I welcome them. Cooperation is required." The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said producing more oxygen was a priority. The junta's critics say lives have been lost because of restrictions it has imposed on some private oxygen suppliers in the name of stopping hoarding. A health system that was already among the region's weakest foundered after the coup as many health workers joined a Civil Disobdedience Movement to oppose the junta. COVID-19 vaccination, testing and prevention measures all stalled. 'THE HOSPITALS CAN'T DO ANYTHING' One underground doctor who recently volunteered help on social media said he was inundated with hundreds of requests. When he made house calls he found almost all the sick had coronavirus symptoms and most had low oxygen levels. "The situation is severe," said the doctor, who works under the name Pa Gyi. "The hospitals can't do anything for them... I can't just sit and watch as the patients are getting helpless." He contrasted the situation with that during two previous waves of the coronavirus that were largely brought under control by the government of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now deposed and on trial on an array of charges. Suu Kyi's government had the advantage of volunteers who manned quarantine and testing centres and helped to take some of the weight at public hospitals. But far fewer are coming forward to help a military government that still faces daily protests against its seizure of power after alleging fraud in an election landslide by Suu Kyi's party last year. Most of the volunteers in Mandalay from the first and second waves of coronavirus infections had disappeared, said Phoe Thar. Instead, groups like his are organising by themselves, resembling the way Myanmar's people often helped each other during disasters in the past - notably after a limited response by a previous junta to the devastating Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Groups of friends in the main city, Yangon, told Reuters they were clubbing together to try to import oxygen cylinders from neighbouring Thailand. Residents of the town of Kawlin in the western Sagaing Region are trying to raise at least $30,000 to import their own oxygen generator from China. "Now we are suffering the third wave of COVID. We don't know how many more waves there we will be," one of the organisers told Reuters by phone, declining to be named for fear of reprisals. "We now have to act as though we don't have any government."..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-07-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-18
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Description: "Statement on COVID-19 response: We are deeply concerned that there have been many weaknesses in the way the military regime is handling the fresh wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar and by the resultant health crisis Myanmar people are facing. Far from enjoying their right to health, Myanmar people who are now going through the third wave of the pandemic, are seeing their health entitlements being denied by the regime. The Right to Health is normally measured by five elements as follows: Non-discrimination: health facilities, goods and services must be accessible to all, without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds. However, currently in Myanmar, military personnel and their families are enjoying privileges over ordinary citizens who need urgent protection. Instead of a systematic COVID-19 vaccination program by determining priority population groups, those from the military circle are being prioritized. And the military is keeping healthcare facilities including COVID-19 care centers and oxygen plants for itself, violating the fundamental right of every human being to equally enjoy healthcare. Availability: there must be sufficient quantity of functioning public health and health care facilities, goods and services for all. Due to weaknesses in preparation, people especially the grassroots are finding it extremely difficult to have access to basic requirements like facial masks and oxygen. What’s worse, the military regime is intentionally restricting the people’s access to necessary healthcare products and using those products for themselves, seriously affecting their availability. Accessibility: Health facilities, goods and services have to be accessible to everyone. The military regime is however controlling the import of healthcare products needed to prevent coronavirus, restricting the accessibility of health services. Acceptability: all health programs must be based on the people and serve the people. Confiscation of oxygen and other relief supplies provided by donors and disruption of their assistance breaches acceptability. Quality: health care services must be of good quality. As a result of inadequate preparation, COVID-19 centers run by the regime are ill-equipped and have failed to provide reliable information. The quality of healthcare services delivered by the regime is obviously concerning. Those acts show the regime’s lack of political will and its intent to take political advantage of the COVID-19 third wave to weaken the nationwide anti-regime movement. The regime is deliberately creating panic among the people by refusing them necessary healthcare services, in what appears to be retaliation against public opposition to it. Such acts only deepen public health crisis and are blatant violations of the right to health. It is the regime’s another crime against humanity affecting entire Myanmar people. We sternly warn the regime to immediately stop disrupting the organizations providing healthcare assistance, and keep aid channels open so that medical aid reaches the regions and people in need..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights
2021-07-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "National Unity Government: Ministry of Human Rights Statement on Covid-19 Response - ကိုဗစ်တတိယလှိုင်းတုန့်ပြန်လုပ်ဆောင်နေမှုနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေငြာချက်..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights
2021-07-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-14
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Description: "Myanmar junta troops destroyed supplies of rice and medicine intended for over 3,000 internally displaced people (IDP’s) in Pekon, southern Shan State, who were forced to flee their homes after intense fighting broke out between regime forces and civilian resistance fighters last month. More than 100,000 villagers from over 150 villages and downtown areas in Pekon and Demoso, Hpruso and Loikaw townships in Kayah State have now been displaced for weeks. Locals told The Irrawaddy that on June 8 junta forces burned 80 bags of rice, three barrels of cooking oil, dried food, medicine and two vehicles being stored at Loi Ying village in Pekon Township. The vehicles were an ambulance from the Mobye (Moebyel) free funeral services association and a private car. “Junta forces and people defense forces (PDF) were involved in heavy fighting on June 7. On that day we gathered food supplies for the refugees in the village. As the PDF members withdrew, we were left with the food. But we were forced to flee when the military entered the village. They torched everything on June 8,” said one local. “Medicines to treat diarrhea were among the items burned. Currently, over 3,000 IDP’s are sharing what little rice they have. They fled from their homes due to the fighting that followed the PDF’s seizure of Mobye police station,” he added. Loi Ying village, which is home to ethnic Kayan people, is located over 15 miles from Pekon town. The whole village fled the fighting, which began in Kayah State’s Demoso Township, which borders Pekon. Villagers have sought shelter at monasteries, churches and nearby villages by displaying white flags. But their temporary shelters have been attacked by the military regime’s artillery, with junta forces accusing the PDF of taking cover in them. An artillery attack on a church in Kayan Thar Yar village on May 24 killed four civilians sheltering there, prompting residents to flee into nearby forests and hills. The IDPs are reportedly sheltering at ten different locations and are living on the support provided by local civil society groups. But many places lack adequate supplies of food, medicine and clean drinking water. Fighting halted on Thursday and Friday, but locals are still fleeing whenever they see soldiers entering their villages, according to a spokesperson for the IDPs management committee in Pekin Kaw Khu in Loikaw Township. He said they could not buy petrol, while donated food supplies are being held up by military checkpoints and the closure of the road linking Aung Pan and Taunggyi in Shan State. Junta forces have set up checkpoints along the transport routes within Kayah State, blocking local transport. All vehicles travelling between Kayah State and Pekon and from Taunggyi are also being inspected. Pekin Kaw Khu IDP camp is currently hosting more than 1,500 people and they only have food for one week. “If they continue blocking the road, all the IDP’s could face going hungry,” added the spokesperson. He urged that food, medicine and materials for shelters should be allowed past the checkpoints. Myanmar regime troops are trying to eliminate the local PDF force. For about a week, they have cut off electricity, internet and cell phone access in areas where they suspect the PDF to be operating. Junta troops have been accused of targeting civilians as well as the PDF. A total of 131 locals have been detained since March 10, according to the Progressive Karenni People Force. Seven of those were arrested while on their way to the IDP camps..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-06-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-11
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Sub-title: Children in Myanmar urgently need support now
Description: "The crisis following the military takeover on 1 February this year is having a catastrophic toll on the physical and mental wellbeing of children in Myanmar. Children are being killed, wounded, detained and exposed to tear gas and stun grenades and are witnessing terrifying scenes of violence. In some areas, thousands of people have been displaced, cutting children off from their relatives, friends, communities and their traditional means of support. Even before the current crisis, children in Myanmar were experiencing huge challenges due to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict in several parts of the country. Over one million people, including an estimated 450,000 children, were already affected by Myanmar’s conflict and vulnerable to gender-based violence, exploitation, abuse, detention, family separation, displacement and trafficking,[1] and about 34 per cent of the country’s 17 million children lived below the poverty line. In addition, almost 33 per cent of the population living just above the poverty line were in a state of extreme vulnerability and are now at great risk of falling back into poverty due to economic disruptions resulting from the current crisis[2]......A generation in peril: The compounding impacts of the current crisis threaten the lives and wellbeing of millions of children, putting an entire generation in peril. The ongoing loss of access to key services, combined with economic contraction, will push many more into poverty, potentially creating an entire generation of children and young people who will suffer profound physical, psychological, educational and economic impacts from this crisis and be denied a healthy, prosperous future. Hard-won gains in the area of child rights are now being wiped out, threatening children’s lives, wellbeing and prosperity. This represents a serious failure by duty bearers to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of children, as required by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Myanmar is a State Party, and the Myanmar Child Rights Law, issued in 2019.....UNICEF’s response: UNICEF is committed to children in Myanmar, to upholding children’s rights and to providing the services critical for children’s survival and wellbeing. UNICEF is adapting the way it works and taking advantage of its extensive and diverse network of partners, including national and international non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and private sector partners, striving to ensure continuity of access to critical services at scale. Drawing on its 70 years of experience in Myanmar, delivering for children including in times of conflict and crisis, UNICEF is able to continue to reach children in need even in the most challenging situations. UNICEF brings strong capacity to mobilize and deliver at scale, coordinating the efforts of multiple partners to achieve coherent approaches that span across the country. In addition to its coordinating role, UNICEF brings strong capacities in direct implementation of programming and efficient and cost-effective procurement and transport of commodities and supply. As always, UNICEF’s focus is particularly on reaching the most vulnerable children including the poorest children, children with disabilities, children living in camps for displaced people, migrant and refugee children and those in hard-to-reach areas, now including areas of key cities, including Yangon and Mandalay, which are under martial law.....Keeping children safe: Before the current crisis, it was already a major challenge to keep children safe from violence, abuse and exploitation in Myanmar. Between January and September 2020, 49 children were killed and 134 maimed as a direct result of conflict. During the current crisis, many more children have been killed, seriously injured, arbitrarily detained without access to legal counsel or forced to flee their houses and communities. On top of the loss of innocent lives, the daily exposure to scenes of horrific violence will have long-lasting impacts on children’s mental and emotional well-being.....How UNICEF is responding: Working with legal aid providers, UNICEF supports children and young people’s access to justice across the country. UNICEF has supported children and young people in contact with the law to access quality legal aid, including legal advice, legal consultation, and legal representation. Since February 1, UNICEF has supported 62 children and 176 young people to access quality legal aid. Working with partners, UNICEF is establishing a nationwide toll-free justice hotline, expanding on already existing helpline numbers operated by several partners to ensure children and young people have timely access to quality legal advice. We are also producing informational materials for children and young people to know about their rights when dealing with the law enforcement and how to access free legal assistance in both English and Myanmar languages. Materials are being disseminated widely in collaboration with Child Protection Working Group (CPWG) members. UNICEF is working with national organizations to support a nationwide mental health and psychosocial support helpline, ensuring children are able to access counselling and mental health support in several local languages. UNICEF also support referrals of child survivors of abuse and violence to mental health experts for individual counselling and therapy sessions. UNICEF is currently working on setting up psychosocial peer-support groups for adolescents and young people. UNICEF is supporting efforts to monitor and report grave child rights violations and reporting these violations to United Nations and other bodies that pursue justice.....Keeping children out of extreme poverty: A UNICEF study carried out before the military takeover estimated that COVID-19 could push a further one third of children into poverty on top of the almost one third of children already living in poor households. The current crisis has the potential to force millions more children into poverty, denying them the ability to access basic services, depriving them of opportunities to fulfil their potential, and putting them at even greater risk of abuse and exploitation.....How UNICEF is responding: UNICEF has established mechanisms to monitor how the current crisis is impacting children, particularly children in families which have lost their income, whose caregivers are detained and those who are unable to access learning or healthcare. Data and evidence generated through this monitoring work will inform UNICEF’s efforts to protect children from the worst impacts of poverty. UNICEF is coordinating with relevant partners to design, establish and roll out a national child cash grant scheme, through which families with children between the ages of 2-5 and children aged under 5 with disabilities will receive unconditional cash grants, which can be used to supplement family incomes and pay for access to key services. UNICEF is working with Common Health, a private company, to roll out mobile-based health micro-insurance, ensuring that all children in Myanmar under the age of 6 have are covered by health insurance and are able to access health care.....Keeping children learning: COVID-19 had already disrupted the learning of almost 12 million children and young people. With the ongoing closure of schools due to COVID-19 preventive measures, children are still being denied access to learning, destroying their aspirations and hopes for a better future. Many will never be able to catch up or get another chance.....How UNICEF is responding: UNICEF is working with national and international NGOs to scale up home-based learning using high quality educational materials. We are supporting young children’s readiness for learning and language development by training civil society organization partners, including ethnic language teachers, and developing and printing storybooks in ethnic languages. UNICEF is working with national and international NGOs to provide alternative learning opportunities for primary and middle-school-age children. Support includes providing learning materials and assisting children with learning and language development, while also offering mental health and psychosocial support. We are working with national and international NGOs to deliver non-formal education for children who were out of the formal education system even prior to the COVID pandemic.....Keeping children healthy: Since the military takeover, health workers have experienced threats, intimidation and violence, putting them in danger and further increasing their reluctance to provide services. With health services seriously disrupted, children are missing out: almost 1 million children are missing out on routine immunization; almost 5 million children are missing out on vitamin A supplementation, putting them at risk of infections and blindness. There is a risk that the spread of COVID-19 will accelerate. In addition, access to water, sanitation and hygiene services are facing disruptions due to limited availability of supplies, disruption of transportation and banking channels. Across the country, more than three million children lack access to a safe water supply at home, threatening a large-scale outbreak of diarrhoea which could be fatal, particularly for children under the age of 5.....How UNICEF is responding: UNICEF is working with partners to support emergency care through supply of first aid kits and essential medicines for children most in need of medical care While routine immunization has been suspended in the largest part of the country, in Non-Government Controlled areas UNICEF is working with partners to carry out routine vaccinations to prevent vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks, such as measles, diphtheria and polio. We are developing smartphone apps to train health workers on provision of trauma and emergency care for women and children. UNICEF is providing pregnant women, new mothers, newborns, children and adolescents with healthcare services and procuring essential medicines and supplies to save lives and treat diseases. We are working with partners and the private sector to coordinate and explore options for delivery of clean drinking water to vulnerable households in urban areas. We are also coordinating with communities in Shan and Magway to deliver supplies for community managed water supply.....Keeping children nourished: Before the current crisis, many children in Myanmar were already experiencing malnutrition, with almost 30 per cent pre-school children experiencing stunting (being too short for their age), 7 percent of pre-school children (In Rakhine 14 percent) experiencing wasting (being seriously low for their height) and 57 percent pregnant women experiencing anaemia. Loss of access to water, sanitation and hygiene services, which can lead to diarrhoeal disease, will further exacerbate the situation. The situation is particularly severe for young children under the age of 2, who are at risk of death or irreversible physical and cognitive delays if they suffer undernutrition for an extended period. The impacts – for the children, their families, communities and the country as a whole – may be devastating.....How UNICEF is responding: In Kachin, Rakhine and northern Shan states, UNICEF is working with partners to screen and treat children with severe acute malnutrition. We are providing lifesaving micro-nutrient supplements to children and pregnant women. UNICEF is working with local NGOs to provide mothers advice on infant and young child feeding. In all these efforts, UNICEF and its partners are determined not to let down the children of Myanmar at this critical time, when their lives, wellbeing and future are at stake..."
Source/publisher: UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar)
2021-04-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-11
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Description: Executive Summary: "This report reveals that the health of populations in conflict-affected areas of eastern Burma, particularly women and children, is amongst the worst in the world, a result of official disinvestment in health, protracted conflict and the abuse of civilians..."Diagnosis: Critical" demonstrates that a vast area of eastern Burma remains in a chronic health emergency, a continuing legacy of longstanding official disinvestment in health, coupled with protracted civil war and the abuse of civilians. This has left ethnic rural populations in the east with 41.2% of children under five acutely malnourished. 60.0% of deaths in children under the age of 5 are from preventable and treatable diseases, including acute respiratory infection, malaria, and diarrhea. These losses of life would be even greater if it were not for local community-based health organizations, which provide the only available preventive and curative care in these conflict-affected areas. The report summarizes the results of a large scale population-based health and human rights survey which covered 21 townships and 5,754 households in conflict-affected zones of eastern Burma. The survey was jointly conducted by the Burma Medical Association, National Health and Education Committee, Back Pack Health Worker Team and ethnic health organizations serving the Karen, Karenni, Mon, Shan, and Palaung communities. These areas have been burdened by decades of civil conflict and attendant human rights abuses against the indigenous populations. Eastern Burma demographics are characterized by high birth rates, high death rates and the significant absence of men under the age of 45, patterns more comparable to recent war zones such as Sierra Leone than to Burma?s national demographics. Health indicators for these communities, particularly for women and children, are worse than Burma?s official national figures, which are already amongst the worst in the world. Child mortality rates are nearly twice as high in eastern Burma and the maternal mortality ratio is triple the official national figure. While violence is endemic in these conflict zones, direct losses of life from violence account for only 2.3% of deaths. The indirect health impacts of the conflict are much graver, with preventable losses of life accounting for 59.1% of all deaths and malaria alone accounting for 24.7%. At the time of the survey, one in 14 women was infected with Pf malaria, amongst the highest rates of infection in the world. This reality casts serious doubts over official claims of progress towards reaching the country?s Millennium Development Goals related to the health of women, children, and infectious diseases, particularly malaria. The survey findings also reveal widespread human rights abuses against ethnic civilians. Among surveyed households, 30.6% had experienced human rights violations in the prior year, including forced labor, forced displacement, and the destruction and seizure of food. The frequency and pattern with which these abuses occur against indigenous peoples provide further evidence of the need for a Commission of Inquiry into Crimes against Humanity. The upcoming election will do little to alleviate the situation, as the military forces responsible for these abuses will continue to operate outside civilian control according to the new constitution. The findings also indicate that these abuses are linked to adverse population-level health outcomes, particularly for the most vulnerable members of the community—mothers and children. Survey results reveal that members of households who suffer from human rights violations have worse health outcomes, as summarized in the table above. Children in households that were internally displaced in the prior year were 3.3 times more likely to suffer from moderate or severe acute malnutrition. The odds of dying before age one was increased 2.5 times among infants from households in which at least one person was forced to provide labor. The ongoing widespread human rights abuses committed against ethnic civilians and the blockade of international humanitarian access to rural conflict-affected areas of eastern Burma by the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), mean that premature death and disability, particularly as a result of treatable and preventable diseases like malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections, will continue. This will not only further devastate the health of communities of eastern Burma but also poses a direct health security threat to Burma?s neighbors, especially Thailand, where the highest rates of malaria occur on the Burma border. Multi-drug resistant malaria, extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis and other infectious diseases are growing concerns. The spread of malaria resistant to artemisinin, the most important anti-malarial drug, would be a regional and global disaster. In the absence of state-supported health infrastructure, local community-based organizations are working to improve access to health services in their own communities. These programs currently have a target population of over 376,000 people in eastern Burma and in 2009 treated nearly 40,000 cases of malaria and have vastly increased access to key maternal and child health interventions. However, they continue to be constrained by a lack of resources and ongoing human rights abuses by the Burmese military regime against civilians. In order to fully address the urgent health needs of eastern Burma, the underlying abuses fueling the health crisis need to end."
Source/publisher: The Burma Medical Association, National Health and Education Committee, Back Pack Health Worker Team
2010-10-19
Date of entry/update: 2011-09-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese, English, Thai
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Size: 5.32 MB
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Description: This link leads to a document containing the Table of Contents of the report, with links to the English, Burmese and Thai versions... Executive Summary: "Disinvestment in health, coupled with widespread poverty, corruption, and the dearth of skilled personnel have resulted in the collapse of Burma?s health system. Today, Burma?s health indicators by official figures are among the worst in the region. However, information collected by the Back Pack Health Workers Team (BPHWT) on the eastern frontiers of the country, facing decades of civil war and widespread human rights abuses, indicate a far greater public health catastrophe in areas where official figures are not collected. In these eastern areas of Burma, standard public health indicators such as population pyramids, infant mortality rates, child mortality rates, and maternal mortality ratios more closely resemble other countries facing widespread humanitarian disasters, such as Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Angola, and Cambodia shortly after the ouster of the Khmer Rouge. The most common cause of death continues to be malaria, with over 12% of the population at any given time infected with Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous form of malaria. One out of every twelve women in this area may lose her life around the time of childbirth, deaths that are largely preventable. Malnutrition is unacceptably common, with over 15% of children at any time with evidence of at least mild malnutrition, rates far higher than their counterparts who have fled to refugee camps in Thailand. Knowledge of sanitation and safe drinking water use remains low. Human rights violations are very common in this population. Within the year prior, almost a third of households had suffered from forced labor, almost 10% forced displacement, and a quarter had had their food confiscated or destroyed. Approximately one out of every fifty households had suffered violence at the hands of soldiers, and one out of 140 households had a member injured by a landmine within the prior year alone. There also appear to be some regional variations in the patterns of human rights abuses. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in areas most solidly controlled by the SPDC and its allies, such as Karenni State and Pa?an District, faced more forced labor while those living in more contested areas, such as Nyaunglebin and Toungoo Districts, faced more forced relocation. Most other areas fall in between these two extremes. However, such patterns should be interpreted with caution, given that the BPHW survey was not designed to or powered to reliably detect these differences. Using epidemiologic tools, several human rights abuses were found to be closely tied to adverse health outcomes. Families forced to flee within the preceding twelve months were 2.4 times more likely to have a child (under age 5) die than those who had not been forcibly displaced. Households forced to flee also were 3.1 times as likely to have malnourished children compared to those in more stable situations. Food destruction and theft were also very closely tied to several adverse health consequences. Families which had suffered this abuse in the preceding twelve months were almost 50% more likely to suffer a death in the household. These households also were 4.6 times as likely to have a member suffer from a landmine injury, and 1.7 times as likely to have an adult member suffer from malaria, both likely tied to the need to forage in the jungle. Children of these households were 4.4 times as likely to suffer from malnutrition compared to households whose food supply had not been compromised. For the most common abuse, forced labor, families that had suffered from this within the past year were 60% more likely to have a member suffer from diarrhea (within the two weeks prior to the survey), and more than twice as likely to have a member suffer from night blindness (a measure of vitamin A deficiency and thus malnutrition) compared to families free from this abuse. Not only are many abuses linked statistically from field observations to adverse health consequences, they are yet another obstacle to accessing health care services already out of reach for the majority of IDP populations in the eastern conflict zones of Burma. This is especially clear with women?s reproductive health: forced displacement within the past year was associated with a 6.1 fold lower use of contraception. Given the high fertility rate of this population and the high prevalence of conditions such as malaria and malnutrition, the lack of access often is fatal, as reflected by the high maternal mortality ratio—as many as one in 12 women will die from pregnancy-related complications. This report is the first to measure basic public health indicators and quantify the extent of human rights abuses at the population level amongst IDP communities living in the eastern conflict zones of Burma. These results indicate that the poor health status of these IDP communities is intricately and inexorably linked to the human rights context in which health outcomes are observed. Without addressing factors which drive ill health and excess morbidity and mortality in these populations, such as widespread human rights abuses and inability to access healthcare services, a long-term, sustainable improvement in the public health of these areas cannot occur..."
Source/publisher: Back Pack Health Worker Team
2006-09-07
Date of entry/update: 2010-12-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese, Thai
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Description: Lack of medical care in Myanmar prisons. Amnesty International is concerned about the poor health of many prisoners of conscience in Myanmar, resulting from torture and conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. These include lack of proper medical care and sanitation, extremely poor diet, and prolonged solitary confinement or overcrowding. In the last ten years dozens of political prisoners have died in custody as a consequence. Amnesty International is in particular concerned for the health of political prisoners U Tin Htun, U Ohn Kyaw, U Tun Aung Kyaw alias Thakhin Mipwar, Zaw Maung Maung Win and Nay Tinn Myint who all require urgent medical attention. Keywords: lack of medical care / prisoners of conscience
Source/publisher: Amnesty Internattional
2000-05-05
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Spanish
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Description: Draft Resolutions Introduced on Refugee Issues, Torture, Migrants, Human Rights Conventions, Israeli Children NEW YORK, 12 November (UN Headquarters) -- The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) focused on the human rights situations in Myanmar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Iraq and in the Palestinian territories. It also considered the right to health, as Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights presented their reports today. Special Rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said his November visit to Myanmar had revealed significant setbacks in the human rights situation there. Interviews with victims and eyewitnesses showed that the incident in Depayin, in May 2003, could not have happened without the connivance of State agents. Calling for the immediate release of all those detained or in house arrest, he said discussion with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had made clear that she would not accept freedom for herself until all those arrested had been released.
Source/publisher: United Nations Information Service
2003-11-13
Date of entry/update: 2010-11-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "For the people of Burma, 2008 has been another difficult year. The difficulties related to lack of healthcare facilities continued, while other factors relating to poverty remained key influences on the health of the nation. The enduring story from Burma from 2008 was the humanitarian consequences of Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which hit the country on 2-3 May 2008. However, even at the beginning of the year, there were worrying reports and statistics emerging from Burma regarding the health status of the population. In January 2008, the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) released figures which showed Burma had the second highest child mortality rate in the world, with between 270 and 400 children dying on a daily basis, many from preventable causes. By year end, the combination of the estimated 130,000 deaths due to Cyclone Nargis and the increasing HIV/AIDS crisis lead Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to describe the current situation in Burma as ?critical”, and also contributed to Burma being included in MSF?s list of the ten worse humanitarian situations in the world. While it has been estimated that approximately half of Burma's annual budgetary allocation goes towards military expenditure, less than half a percent of Burma?s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is allocated to healthcare. Burma?s per capita spending on healthcare has been reported to be "the lowest in the world". As a direct result, deaths arising from easily preventable and readily treatable diseases are common. Burma also has the second highest child mortality rate in all of Asia, with ten percent of children dying before their fifth birthday; only Afghanistan?s child mortality rate is higher. While the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military regime makes little to no effort to actively promote good health or to provide adequate healthcare, in some areas it actively prevents the population?s access to healthcare through restrictions on movement and other human rights abuses. For example, in August 2008, it was reported that medical students were to be forced to take an exam on the current political situation in the country before being allowed to take up medical placements in hospitals. Presumably, those students who failed to toe the SPDC line would not have been permitted to commence their placements. Although this was denied by the SPDC, it was confirmed by lecturers at Rangoon?s Medical Institute..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Docmentation Unit (HRDU)
2009-11-23
Date of entry/update: 2009-12-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 717.01 KB
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Description: "...On January 28, 1994 SLORC planes passed over the headquarters area of the New Mon State Party and sprayed a yellow powder which covered everything. The New Mon State Party says this has happened before, but the effects are not clear, no proper analysis has ever been done, and no one is quite sure what the SLORC is spraying. Now in the past 8 months in Karen areas hundreds of people have died of a disease like cholera or shigella, which has broken out in two different areas - only days after SLORC planes flew over the areas and dropped mysterious "radiosonde" electronic weather devices. [For details, see "Is the SLORC Using Bacteriological Warfare?", KHRG 15/3/94]. Nothing is certain, but more evidence is forthcoming. What is the SLORC doing? At least one of the Karen disease areas, in Thaton District, is the same area where SLORC?s notorious 99 Division has been unsuccessfully using terror for the past 2 years to drive the entire civilian population either into camps or out of the area. The disease is now helping that to happen. For the moment, the situation still presents more questions than answers, such as if there is no connection between the air drops and the disease, then why is the SLORC dropping strange devices in an area which they do not even control? If no one else can answer these questions, then the SLORC should - and it may be up to foreign governments to make them do so..." "...The UNHCR has always refused to acknowledge the existence of ethnic refugees from Burma in Thailand for its own political reasons. In the crisis the refugees are now facing, as one diplomat in Bangkok put it, "The UNHCR is going to need a lot of pushing to do anything. They?ve got a sweet deal with SLORC on the Bangladesh border, and they don?t want to mess that up by doing anything for refugees on this side." Who is the UNHCR supposed to be working for, refugees or SLORC? Their absolute refusal to do anything at all to prevent a possible mass forced repatriation and the resulting human disaster is nothing short of criminal. If Commissioner Sadako Ogata, once a UN Special Rapporteur on Burma herself, doesn?t care about the lives of 100,000 refugees from Burma in Thailand, then she should be sacked and replaced with someone who does. Unfortunately, she would have to be sacked by the UN Secretary-General, the very same Boutros Boutros-Ghali who was told to intervene in Burma by the General Assembly almost 5 months ago and hasn?t even uttered a word about Burma since. If the UN High Commissioner for Refugees isn?t answerable to refugees and the UN Secretary-General isn?t answerable to the United Nations, then their job descriptions are sorely in need of an overhaul..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Right Group (KHRG )
1994-04-16
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "In Pa?an District of central Karen State, Burmese authorities impose strict controls on the movements and activities of all villagers while also taking their land, money and livestock, using them as forced labour, and forcing them to join state paramilitary organisations. Muslims are being forcibly evicted from their villages into relocation camps to make way for new SPDC army camps. Simultaneously the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) acts on behalf of the SPDC in many areas, extending the regime?s control in return for impunity to exploit and extort from the civilian population. The double burden of forced labour, extortion, restrictions and forced conscription imposed by two sets of authorities takes a heavy toll on the villagers, yet in a cruel irony they are also being forced to give money and unpaid child labour to prepare New Year festivities where the DKBA plays host to foreigners and Rangoon movie stars..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2006-F12)
2006-12-22
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Villagers in northern Pa?an District of central Karen State say their livelihoods are under serious threat due to exploitation by SPDC military authorities and by their Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) allies who rule as an SPDC proxy army in much of the region. Villages in the vicinity of the DKBA headquarters are forced to give much of their time and resources to support the headquarters complex, while villages directly under SPDC control face rape, arbitrary detention and threats to keep them compliant with SPDC demands. The SPDC plans to expand Dta Greh (a.k.a. Pain Kyone) village into a town in order to strengthen its administrative control over the area, and is confiscating about half of the village?s productive land without compensation to build infrastructure which includes offices, army camps and a hydroelectric power dam - destroying the livelihoods of close to 100 farming families. Local villagers, who are already struggling to survive under the weight of existing demands, fear further forced labour and extortion as the project continues."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2006-02-11
Date of entry/update: 2006-02-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: I. Executive Summary; II. Introduction; III. Thailand: Background. IV. Burma: Background. V. Project Methodology; VI. Findings: Hill Tribe Women and Girls in Thailand; Burmese Migrant Women and Girls in Thailand; VII. Law and Policy ?€? Thailand; VIII. Applicable International Human Rights Law; IX. Law and Policy ?€? United States X. Conclusion and Expanded Recommendations..."This study was designed to provide critical insight and remedial recommendations on the manner in which human rights violations committed against Burmese migrant and hill tribe women and girls in Thailand render them vulnerable to trafficking,2 unsafe migration, exploitative labor, and sexual exploitation and, consequently, through these additional violations, to HIV/AIDS. This report describes the policy failures of the government of Thailand, despite a program widely hailed as a model of HIV prevention for the region. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) findings show that the Thai government?s abdication of responsibility for uncorrupted and nondiscriminatory law enforcement and human rights protection has permitted ongoing violations of human rights, including those by authorities themselves, which have caused great harm to Burmese and hill tribe women and girls..."
Creator/author: Karen Leiter, Ingrid Tamm, Chris Beyrer, Moh Wit, Vincent Iacopino, . Holly Burkhalter, Chen Reis.
Source/publisher: Physicians for Human Rights
2004-07-14
Date of entry/update: 2004-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: This article appeared in Burma - Women?s Voices for Change, Thanakha Team, Bangkok, published by ALTSEAN in 2002... "...Unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are problems that many Burmese women face with little support and a poverty of health resources. Of course it is difficult to quantify such statements in light of the limited sharing of information that occurs between the Burman military government and the rest of the world. One informed source, Dr Ba Thike (1997), a doctor working in Burma, reported that in the 1980s abortion complications accounted for twenty percent of total hospital admissions and that for every three women admitted to give birth, one was admitted for abortion complications...The records at the Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand, a health service that offers reproductive health services to women coming from Burma as day visitors or as longer-term migrant workers, reflects a crisis in women�s health. In 2001, the Mae Tao Clinic documented 185 abortion complication cases (Out Patients Department) and 231 cases that needed to be admitted into the In-patients Department with complications such as sepsis, dehydration, haemorrhage and shock from abortions and miscarriage..."
Creator/author: Suzanne Belton (Ma Suu San)
Source/publisher: Burma - Women
2002-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2004-06-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Size: 24.33 KB
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Description: "This article is intended to give health workers an introduction into the individual implications of pregnancy loss as well as local issues on the Thai-Burma border and broader South-east Asian regional issues. I want to focus on the gender and social features rather than pure biomedical information, although this is of course highly important but is covered in other parts of this magazine. I will talk about some women�s stories that were collected in 2002 to outline typical cases, the reasons why the woman chose to end the pregnancy and impact on women�s lives. I will also present some findings from a medical records review conducted with the Mae Tao Clinic and discuss some findings from research in the international arena. So should we care about post abortion care? I hope to show that we should, as not only can it be a life threatening event for the woman but it reflects certain aspects about the communities we live in, social conditions, legal and religious norms, how we value human rights and the status of women..."
Creator/author: Suzanne Belton
Source/publisher: Health Messenger
2002-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2004-06-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : htm
Size: 60.24 KB
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Description: "In Thailand's Tak province there are 60,520 registered migrant workers and an estimated 150,000 unregistered migrant workers from Burma. Fleeing the social and political problems engulfing Burma, they are mostly employed in farming, garment making, domestic service, sex and construction industries. There is also a significant number of Burmese living in camps. Despite Thailand�s developed public health system and infrastructure, Burmese women face language and cultural barriers and marginal legal status as refugees in Thailand, as well as a lack of access to culturally appropriate and qualified reproductive health information and services..."
Creator/author: Suzanne Belton, Cynthia Maung
Source/publisher: Forced Migration Review No. 19
2004-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2004-06-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: With a Pilot Study on the Right to Health in Constitution. A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master's in Law (LL.M) Table of Contents: Chapter I: Introduction... Chapter II: Malaria As Public Health Problem Globally and in Burma: 2.2 Malaria as a Global Public Health Problem; 2.2.1Basic Description of Malaria as a Disease; 2.3 The Global Disease Burden of Malaria; 2.3.1 Epidemiological Data; 2.3.2 Economic Cost of Malaria; 2.3.3 The Causal Factors Behind Malaria's Global Disease Burden; 2.3.3.1Health System Failure; 2.3.3.2 Drug Resistance; 2.3.3.3 Population Movement; 2.3.3.4 Deteriorating; 2.3.3.5 Poverty; 2.3.3.6 Environmental Degradation 2.4 Malaria as a Public Health Problem in Burma 2.4.1 The Burden of Malaria in Burma; 2.4.2 Causal Factors Behind Burma's Growing Malaria Problem; 2.4.2.1 Political Instability and Oppression; 2.4.2.2 Failure of the Burmese Public Health and Healthcare System; 2.4.2.3 Environmental Degradation Along Burma Frontier... Chapter III: Law, Public Health and Malaria in Burma: 3.2 Law and Public Health; 3.2.1 Public Health as a Government Responsibility; 3.2.2 Law as Critical to the Public Health Endeavor; 3.3 Gostin's Definition and Theory of Public Health; 3.3.1 Gostin's Definition of Public Health Law 3.3.2 Gostin's Theory of Public Health Law; 3.3.2.1 The Government; 3.2.2 Populations; 3.3.2.3 Relationships; 3.3.2.4 Services; 3.3.2.5 Coercion; 3.4 Law, Public Health, and Malaria Control in Burma; 3.4.1Burma and the Rule of Law; 3.4.2 Burmese Definition of Public Health Law; 3.4.2.1 Government; 3.4.2.2 Populations; 3.4.2.3 Relationships; 3.4.2.4 Services; 3.4.2.5 Coercion; 3.5 Lessons Learned from Applying Gostin's Theory of Public Health Law to Malaria Control in Burma... Chapter IV: Current Malaria Governance Initiatives: From the Global to the Local: 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Initiatives on Global Health Governance for Malaria; 4.2.1 What is �Global Health Governance'? 4.2.2 Global Malaria Initiatives; 4.2.2.1 WHO's Roll Back Malaria; 4.2.2.2 Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) on Malaria Drug and Vaccine Developmen;t 4.2.2.3 The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; 4.3 Global Malaria Initiatives and National Malaria Governance in Burma; 4.3.1 Burma and the Roll Back Malaria Campaign; 4.3.2 Burma and the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) on Malaria Drug and Vaccine Development; 4.3.3 Burma and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; 4.4 Conclusion... Chapter V: The Need for The Right to Health: Burma New Constitution: 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 The Right to Health in International Law; 5.3 The Right to Health in Constitutional Law; 5.3.1 Why the Right to Health in Constitutional Law? 5.3.2 The Right to Health in the South African Constitution; 5.3.2.1 Soobramoney v. Minister of Health, KwaZulu-Natal; 5.3.2.2 Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), et al (Applicants) v. Minister of Health, et al (Respondents); 5.4 Building the Right to Health into the New Burmese Constitution; 5.4.1 Why Analyze the Draft Constitution?; 5.4.2 Analysis of the Lack of Specific Public Health Provisions in the Draft Constitution; 5.4.3 A Potential Right to Health Provision for the New Burmese Constitution; 5.5 Conclusion; Chapter VI: Conclusion...BIBLIOGRAPHY... APPENDICIES: A. Soobramoney v Minister of Health (Kwazulu-Natal) in Constitutional Court of South Africa, CCT32/97 (27 November 1997) http://www.concourt.gov.za/date1997.html; B. Minister of Health v Treatment Action Campaign in Constitutional Court of South Africa, CCT8/02 (5 July 2002) http://www.concourt.gov.za/date2002.html; C. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa: Chapter II, Bill of Rights; D. The Draft Constitution of the (Future) Federal Union of Burma Drafted by National Council of the Union of Burma: Chapter II, Basis Rights; E. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)... CV.
Creator/author: Amaya
Source/publisher: Indiana University School of Law Graduate Legal Studies Department
2002-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2004-02-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Burma has one of the poorest health records and lowest standards of living in the developing world. Health and education are given incredibly low priorities in the national budget, and lip-service to these issues often takes the place of substantial reforms or programs. The root causes of problems in these arenas, such as the affects of landmines and forced labor on health and the effect of school closings and censorship on education, are not dealt with in meaningful ways because of political considerations. Low salaries and lack of transparent and effective supervision has made it easy for corruption to flourish among medical personnel and educators. Patients more often than not have to pay a bribe to be seen by a doctor, get a bed in a hospital or receive essential medicine. Primary school students can pay to receive better grades or get private tutoring from their teachers. Higher education in Burma is particularly substandard with students, during those times that the universities are actually open, being given rush degrees in order to prevent any political opposition to the military regime from springing up on college campuses. The political situation in Burma has a direct impact on the poor quality of education and healthcare available to the general public. The level of access a person has to health and education infrastructure depends on economic level, geographical location and individual, family or ethnic group relations with the military regime. For example, a Burmese military officer and his family living in Rangoon have access to education and medical treatment that are unavailable to a family that is part of an ethnic and religious minority group living in a conflict area on the border. As yet, the military regime has been unwilling to address these inequalities to ensure that all people living in Burma, regardless of their ethnic group, religion, political affiliation, economic status or geographical location have access to adequate health care and education. (For more information about the health and education situations of specific populations such as refugees, women, children, political prisoners and IDPs, please see appropriate chapters)..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Documentation Unit, NCGUB
2003-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-11-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : htm
Size: 70.47 KB
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Description: HIV/AIDS infection has reached epidemic proportions in Burma today and reports by UN agencies as well as independent health professionals unanimously confirm this fact. Estimates suggest at least five percent of the population is infected. The alarming situation has become a national emergency that affects all groups, including non-Burman ethnic nationalities and the military. . . .
Creator/author: Dr. Thaung Htun, Director, Burma UN Service Office, New York
Source/publisher: NCGUB
2001-06-25
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Japanese
Format : pdf
Size: 38.8 KB
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Description: "...Burma has one of the poorest health records and lowest standards of living in the developing world. The desire of the military government to hold on to power at any cost has meant that human rights, including the rights to health and education, are given scant attention in comparison to political and security issues. Health and education are given incredibly low priorities in the national budget, and lip-service to these issues often take the place of substantial reforms or programs. Because of political considerations the root causes of problems in these arenas, such as the affects of landmines and forced labor on health and the effect of school closings and censorship on education, are not dealt with in meaningful ways..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Documentation Unit, NCGUB
2001-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : htm htm
Size: 116.76 KB 6.04 KB
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Description: "...Burma has one of the poorest health records and lowest standards of living in the developing world. Health and education are given incredibly low priorities in the national budget, and lip-service to these issues often take the place of substantial reforms or programs. Because of political considerations the root causes of problems in these arenas, such as the affects of landmines and forced labor on health and the effect of school closings and censorship on education, are not dealt with in meaningful ways. Low salaries and lack of transparent and effective supervision has made it easy for corruption to flourish among medical personnel and educators. Patients more often than not have to pay a bribe to be seen by a doctor, get a bed in a hospital, or receive essential medicine. Primary school students can pay to receive better grades or get private tutoring from their teachers. Higher education in Burma is particularly substandard with students, during those times that the universities are actually open, being given rush degrees in order to prevent any political opposition to the military regime to spring up on college campuses..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Documentation Unit, NCGUB
2002-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : htm
Size: 70.47 KB
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