Category Archives: Myanmar

Sexual violence is junta’s ‘modus operandi’, Myanmar activist tells UN

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People are united to end military dictatorship but international support is needed, Naw Hser Hser says

The crisis in Myanmar should be referred to the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including widespread sexual violence, an open session at the UN security council will be told.

Naw Hser Hser, the first Myanmar human rights defender to brief council members in an open session since the 2021 coup, will also call for greater action to cut crucial supplies of arms and finances to the military junta.

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Ukraine and Myanmar make 2022 most violent year in a decade for medical staff

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Report demands accountability for war crimes and singles out Russia for ‘mind-boggling’ targeting of hospitals in Ukraine

Russian attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine made 2022 the most violent year in a decade for hospitals and health workers operating in conflict zones, according to a new report by a coalition of humanitarian organisations.

With 750 reported attacks in 2022, Russia set a 10-year record, according to the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, which includes Human Rights Watch and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health.

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The Myanmar junta kills … and the rest of the world looks away

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Since the coup in 2021 the carnage has been unceasing, meanwhile Russia and China continue to send weapons

The problem is not that governments around the world are unaware of what is happening in Myanmar. It’s that they are not doing nearly enough to stop it.

Since the military seized power in a coup in early 2021, it has terrorised the country, killed, tortured and imprisoned thousands of citizens, broken countless laws, and made a mockery of the UN.

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Stateless Rohingya could soon be the ‘new Palestinians’, top UN official warns

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Special rapporteur Olivier De Shutter calls for action on neglected crisis after finding ‘absolutely terrible’ conditions on visit to Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are at risk of becoming “the new Palestinians”, according to a UN head, who said they are trapped in a protracted and increasingly neglected crisis.

Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the almost 1 million people living in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar should be given the right to work in their host country of Bangladesh, and that forcing them to rely on dwindling international support was not sustainable.

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UN denied access to Rohingya refugee camps after Cyclone Mocha

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UNHCR says Myanmar government has refused to allow it to distribute health supplies in Sittwe, where an estimated 90% of Rohingya homes have been destroyed

UN staff say they have been denied access to help thousands of Rohingya living in displacement camps in Myanmar who are in urgent need of food, medicine and shelter in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha, which struck the west of the country on Sunday.

People living in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, said they estimated that about 90% of homes of Rohingya people had been destroyed and more than 100 people killed when winds of more than 150 miles an hour hit the region. However, the refugee agency UNHCR said the Myanmar government has refused access to the camps in Sittwe, home to about 100,000 people. “As yet, UNHCR has not been granted access to carry out needs assessments.”

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Weather tracker: Cyclone Mocha batters Bangladesh and Myanmar

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Refugee camps bear brunt of deadly category-5 storm, while temperature divide is expected in North America

Cyclone Mocha brought strong winds and torrential rain to parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar on Sunday, with refugee camps bearing the brunt of the category-5 storm, leaving at least five dead and causing half a million people to be evacuated.

The region was rocked by sustained winds of more than 160mph as Mocha made landfall, whipping up gusts closer to 200mph and a storm surge of up to 4 metres. The world’s largest refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, was badly hit and more than 1,300 shelters were destroyed. Heavy rain triggered landslides and floods.

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Cyclone Mocha: three dead and 700 injured as storm pounds Myanmar

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About 1,000 people trapped by seawater rescued amid damage to homes, electricity infrastructure and mobile phone masts

Rescuers have evacuated about 1,000 people trapped by seawater 3.6 metres (12ft) deep along western Myanmar’s coast after a powerful cyclone injured hundreds and cut off communications in one of Asia’s least developed countries.

Strong winds injured more than 700 of about 20,000 people who were sheltering in sturdier buildings on the highlands of Sittwe township such as monasteries, pagodas and schools, according to a leader of the Rakhine Youths Philanthropic Association in Sittwe.

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Cyclone Mocha threatens world’s largest refugee camp on Myanmar-Bangladesh border

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Predicted to make landfall on Sunday, preparations are under way for a partial evacuation of the camp in Cox’s Bazar

Tropical cyclone Mocha intensified to become “very dangerous”, the World Meteorological Organisation has said, warning of violent winds, floods and possible landslides in Bangladesh which could hit the world’s biggest refugee camp in Cox’s bazar.

Cyclone Mocha is predicted to make landfall on Sunday near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, according to India’s meteorological office, packing winds of up to 175km/h (108mph).

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Australia rethinks ‘quiet diplomacy’ tactic as Cheng Lei marks 1,000 days in Chinese detention

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Department of Foreign Affairs introduces new measures including asking former detainees to provide views on media tactics and support after their release

The Australian government is rethinking how to help citizens embroiled in “hostage diplomacy” as it marks the 1,000th day of the journalist Cheng Lei’s detention in China.

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, called for Cheng to be reunited with her children, saying the government shared “the deep concerns of her family and friends about the ongoing delays in her case”.

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Myanmar’s military rulers release more than 2,100 political prisoners

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The prisoners are to be released the most important Buddhist holy day of the year. However, deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains in jail

Myanmar’s ruling military council has said it is releasing more than 2,100 political prisoners as a humanitarian gesture.

Thousands more remain imprisoned on charges generally involving nonviolent protests or criticism of military rule, which began when the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

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‘Endless record heat’ in Asia as highest April temperatures recorded

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Record figures for month recorded in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, China and South Asia

Asia is experiencing weeks of “endless record heat”, with sweltering temperatures causing school closures and surges in energy use.

Record April temperatures have been recorded at monitoring stations across Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, as well as in China and South Asia.

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Last images taken by Japanese journalist killed in Myanmar in 2007 released

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News outlet obtains camera of Kenji Nagai, who was reporting on Saffron Revolution when he was shot

The family of a Japanese journalist killed while reporting on Myanmar’s 2007 Saffron Revolution have released his last pictures, sharing footage from a recently obtained video camera missing since his fatal shooting 15 years ago.

The final pictures from 50-year-old Kenji Nagai during an anti-government protest were obtained by Myanmar-focused news outlet the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which returned the camera on Wednesday to Nagai’s family in Bangkok.

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Myanmar: senior election official linked to junta shot dead by resistance group

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Killing in Yangon of Sai Kyaw Thu, a former lieutenant colonel, is confirmed by guerrilla group

A top election official in Myanmar has been fatally shot in his car in Yangon, in the latest attack attributed to militants opposed to military rule.

Sai Kyaw Thu, the deputy director general of the military-appointed Union Election Commission, was shot multiple times on Saturday, according to the military’s information office, media reports and a statement of responsibility from an urban guerrilla group.

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Myanmar airstrike on civilians sparks global outcry as witnesses describe attack

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Death toll in Sagaing could reach 100 in what could be deadliest junta attack since coup in 2021

A series of deadly airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on a civilian crowd has sparked widespread condemnation, as witnesses recounted the horror of the attack that could be the junta’s deadliest since a coup two years ago.

The initial death toll stood at 53 from Tuesday’s attacks on a village ceremony in Sagaing region at which women and children were present, but later tallies reported by independent media raised it to about 100.

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Airstrikes by Burmese military kill dozens at anti-junta event

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Attack targeted opening ceremony for office set up by military’s opponents in Sagaing region of Myanmar

Myanmar’s military has killed dozens of people in airstrikes on an event organised by its domestic opponents, in what is feared to be one of the deadliest attacks since the junta seized power more than two years ago.

Local independent media reported that the attack on Tuesday morning targeted a ceremony marking the opening of an office set up by the military’s opponents in the village of Pa Zi Gyi, in Sagaing region.

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Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party dissolved

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Party refuses to comply with tough new registration law imposed by Myanmar’s military junta

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has been dissolved after it refused to comply with a tough new party registration law imposed by Myanmar’s military, according to junta-controlled media.

The military, which seized power in a coup in February 2021, set Tuesday as a deadline for political parties to re-register under the restrictive new law. It has promised to hold an election, though such a vote has been widely dismissed as lacking in any credibility.

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Myanmar is a failing state, led by a junta fuelled by Russian arms, says UN rights envoy

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Civilians are being killed by Russian weapons just like in Ukraine, says special rapporteur Tom Andrews in call for global action

Myanmar is a “failing state” and the crisis is getting exponentially worse, a UN special rapporteur for the country has warned, urging countries to adopt the same unified resolve that followed the invasion of Ukraine.

“The same types of weapons that are killing Ukrainians are killing people in Myanmar,” Tom Andrews, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the Guardian in an interview, citing the supply of Russian weapons to the junta since the coup two years ago. The junta relies heavily on aircraft from China and Russia, and has increasingly resorted to airstrikes to attempt to quell determined resistance forces.

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Huge fire at Rohingya refugee camp leaves thousands without shelter

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Fears of future blazes after health, learning and religious facilities also destroyed in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

An estimated 12,000 Rohingya have been left without shelter after a fire tore through part of a cramped refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Sunday, destroying health centres, learning facilities and mosques.

The fire broke out at Camp 11 of Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, which is home to more than 1 million Rohingya refugees, including 700,000 who fled their home country, Myanmar, after a brutal military crackdown in 2017.

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Myanmar junta extends state of emergency, delaying promised elections

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Regime chief says military will always be country’s ‘guardian’ regardless of who is in power, as streets empty on anniversary of army takeover

Myanmar’s military regime has announced an extension to its state of emergency, effectively delaying elections the junta had pledged to hold by August, as it battles anti-coup fighters across the country.

The junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, acknowledged that more than a third of townships were not under full military control, in comments reported by state media on Wednesday.

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Myanmar junta hit by western sanctions as ‘silent strikes’ mark coup anniversary

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The UK, US, Canada and Australia have announced a range of measures aimed at punishing Myanmar’s military

The UK, US and Canada have imposed fresh sanctions against Myanmar’s military, including some measures aimed at stopping the supply of aviation fuel to its air force, which is accused of indiscriminately bombing civilian areas.

The sanctions were announced two years on from the 2021 February coup, in which Myanmar’s military ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, detaining her and plunging the country into turmoil.

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