Myanmar Archives

‘We’re Dying Here’: SOS Issued for Rohingya Refugees Desperately Adrift at Sea

27Dec

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Human Rights, Myanmar

‘We’re Dying Here’: SOS Issued for Rohingya Refugees Desperately Adrift at Sea

Rohingya refugees sit on a wooden boat as Indonesian officials conduct evacuation at the Krueng Geukueh port in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, Indonesia, Dec. 31, 2021. (Photo: Fachrul Reza/Xinhua via Getty Images) "These are human beings—men, women, and children," said one U.N. expert. "We need to see the states in the region help save lives and not let people die." BRETT WILKINS A United Nations refugee advocate on Friday joined human rights defenders in imploring South and Southeast Asian nations to rescue nearly 200 Rohingya refugees "on the verge of perishing" after drifting on the Andaman Sea for weeks—an ordeal that's already reportedly claimed around 20 lives aboard the vessel. The refugees—who are fleeing ethnic cleansing and other severe state repression in thei...

International Accountability: Myanmar, the ICJ and the Genocide Question

24Jul

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Myanmar

International Accountability: Myanmar, the ICJ and the Genocide Question

BY BINOY KAMPMARK Myanmar security forces member near burnt down houses. Photograph Source: Steve Sandford (VOA) – Public Domain The indomitable spirit of Raphael Lemkin, bibliophile, assiduous documenter of humanity’s dark deeds and inexecrable conduct, is bound to be an unsettled one. This brilliant, committed and peculiarly dedicated creature took years to come up with what would, in time, become a word so horrifying as to transfix judges of international law. The amalgam word of genocide stalks the conscience of state leaders, commanders and politicians, an insidious reminder of the inner prejudice that becomes a murderous plan, a design, a means of ridding one of enemies and counterparts. Given the nature of international institutions, often weak and onerousl...

Myanmar’s junta takes stand against UN rights report, calls it ‘incitement to violence’

26Oct

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Myanmar

Myanmar’s junta takes stand against UN rights report, calls it ‘incitement to violence’

Commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces Min Aung Hlaing attends the IX Moscow Conference on International Security on June 23, 2021. (File photo by AP) Myanmar’s junta has censured a recent UN human rights report on the country as an “incitement to violence,” saying the United Nations exploits human rights for intervention in country's internal affairs. In a statement on Sunday, the junta-appointed Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the report would “only lead to further division among [the] nation and incitement to internal violence.” The UN uses human rights “as a political tool to intervene in the internal affairs of Myanmar,” the ministry added. On Friday, UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Tom Andrews warned of a greater human rights catastrophe in Myanmar amid repor...

17Apr

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Myanmar

Vijay Prashad explains Myanmar coup

ANYA PARAMPIL Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Vijay Prashad, historian and Chief Correspondent for Globetrotter, about the military’s recent takeover in Myanmar. https://youtu.be/2jnwgwD7LnY https://www.youtube.com/embed/2jnwgwD7LnY?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

‘Kill Me Instead’: Despite Nun’s Pleas, Military Junta Shoots Pro-Democracy Protesters in Myanmar

7Apr

By SHOAHNo Comments

Myanmar

‘Kill Me Instead’: Despite Nun’s Pleas, Military Junta Shoots Pro-Democracy Protesters in Myanmar

"We heard loud gunshots, and saw that a young kid's head had exploded, and there was a river of blood on the street," said Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng. "We need to value life. It made me feel so sad."byKenny Stancil, staff writer "I knelt down… begging them not to shoot and torture the children, but to shoot me and kill me instead," Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng said of her attempt to dissuade police officers in Myitkyina, Myanmar from shooting people at a pro-democracy demonstration on March 8, 2021. (Photo: Twitter screengrab via Reuters) Kneeling before a group of police officers in a northern Myanmar city on Monday, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng courageously begged the forces of the country's new military junta to refrain from shooting pro-democracy activists—a plea that w...

23Jan

By SHOAHNo Comments

China, Myanmar

Impacts of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC). Ease or Exacerbate China-India Rivalry?

By Andrew Korybko Global Research, The eventual completion of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) will either ease or exacerbate the Sino-Indo economic rivalry of the past few years depending on how New Delhi responds to Beijing’s latest trans-regional integration initiative, but whatever it decides to do, it’s clear that CMEC is destined to be a real game-changer one way or the other. President Xi’s visit to Myanmar last weekend was marked by the clinching of 33 agreements that are in one way or another connected with the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC). This latest trans-regional integration project of China’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) aims to pioneer a CPEC-like connectivity corridor to the Afro-Asian (“Indian”) Ocean that...

15Dec

By SHOAHNo Comments

Myanmar

Myanmar Rohingya: Aung San Suu Kyi cuts a haunted figure in court

By Nick Beake BBC Myanmar correspondent Media captionAung San Suu Kyi: "Our greatest challenge is to address the roots of distrust and fear, prejudice and hate" The spectacle of Aung San Suu Kyi, a once-persecuted Nobel peace laureate now defending her country against allegations of genocide over its treatment of the Rohingya minority, has been one of bewildering irony. In the years after she was released from house arrest in 2010, princes, presidents and prime ministers welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi with open arms into their own opulent homes. The feel-good factor of rubbing shoulders with someone who had dedicated much of her adult life to the pursuit of democracy was irresistible. Then, the grandeur of the Peace Palace in The Hague - a marble-floored monument to global harmony ...

3Dec

By SHOAHNo Comments

Myanmar

Going to the ICJ: Myanmar, Genocide and Aung San Suu Kyi’s Gamble

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark Leaders currently in office rarely make an appearance before either the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court. International law remains affixed to the notion that heads-of-state are, at least for the duration of their time in office, safe from prosecution. Matters change once the time in office expires. Be that as it may, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, with an ever dwindling number of peace prizes and awards to her name for questionable responses to the plight of the Rohingya Muslim minority, has a plan. She intends to personally plead the case of her country against charges of genocide being made in the International Court of Justice. As the Ministry of the Interior has claimed, the...

31Aug

By SHOAHNo Comments

Far East, Myanmar

UN Report on Myanmar Ignores Western Imperial High Crimes

NOVANEWS By Stephen Lendman Global Research Note to readers: please click the share buttons above A UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission accused Myanmar’s military and security forces of genocide and war crimes against Royinghas and other ethnic minorities – calling their actions “the gravest crimes under international law.” According to former Indonesian attorney general mission chair Marzuki Darusman, Myanmar’s military committed “shocking human rights violations,” showing “flagrant disregard for lives,” displaying “extreme levels of brutality.” Its military shows “contempt for human life, dignity and freedom – for international law in general.” “The Rohingya are in a continuing situation of severe systemic and institutionalized oppression from birth to death.” Offe...

16Aug

By SHOAHNo Comments

China, Myanmar

Militants Threaten China’s OBOR Initiative in Myanmar

NOVANEWS By Tony Cartalucci Militants in northern Myanmar have once again put China’s One Belt, One Road initiative on hold. It should come as no surprise that Anglo-American history played a direct role in their creation, and currently fund and back networks supporting them. The BBC has mounted a recent propaganda campaign aimed at once again placing pressure on Myanmar’s military, within a wider effort to drive a wedge between Myanmar and China. Amid an already ongoing and deceptive narrative surrounding the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar’s southwest state of Rakhine, attention is now being focused on the nation’s northern state of Kachin. Nick Beake of the BBC produced a narrative aimed at intentionally preying on the emotions of viewers. The report revolved around alleged har...