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Story
02 August 2022
Going local: A fresh start for displaced communities in Myanmar
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Press Release
01 August 2022
New ILO estimates show Myanmar remains deeply affected by job losses in first half of 2022
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Story
29 July 2022
Mobile-based emergency healthcare eases family worries in Myanmar
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The Sustainable Development Goals in Myanmar
The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the earth’s environment and climate, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity. These are the goals the UN is working on in Myanmar:
Press Release
24 June 2022
UNICEF statement on the death of two boys by a grenade round explosion in Magwe Region, Myanmar
The incident occurred on 19 June, when the two boys were playing with an unexploded grenade round they found in a jungle.
Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) continue to kill and maim many children in Myanmar.
At least 115 children have been killed or injured by landmines and UXO since February 2021, including 47 casualties that occurred between January and April 2022 alone.
In times of conflict, children are the most vulnerable, including from landmines and UXO. Since children are smaller than adults, they are more likely to take the full impact of the blast and are therefore more likely to suffer death or serious injury.
In Myanmar, more than one third of the reported casualties from landmines and UXO are children.
The safety and rights of children must be the primary consideration in all contexts. During the first five months of 2022, UNICEF and partners have reached 20,000 children across Myanmar with Explosive Ordnance Risk Education.
UNICEF calls on all parties to facilitate access for assistance to victims; to stop laying mines and to clear existing mines and UXO.
Story
01 August 2022
Going local: A fresh start for displaced communities in Myanmar
Ndau La Raw, 46, is all smiles as he gives a tour of his new home of wood and galvanized iron.
“Words cannot explain how happy I am. Life will be easier for me and my children from now on,” he says.
Ndau La Raw and his family moved into their house in December 2021. They were among the first to relocate to Maina Sut Chyai - a new village in Waingmaw Township - set up by internally displaced people in Myanmar’s northeastern Kachin State. Most had been trapped in displacement since 2012 due to armed conflict between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF).
In the local Kachin language, “Sut Chyai” means prosperity, a name chosen by its residents representing their hope for a better future after a decade of hardship living in a nearby camp. In 2018, camp residents seized the opportunity to start their lives anew when a landowner in the area offered to sell his land to them. Maina Sut Chyai was born after dozens of displaced families procured individual plots with their own personal savings as well as loans from relatives.
Construction work commenced soon after with the Karuna Mission Social Solidarity (KMSS), a local partner of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, constructing houses for each relocated family. To date, 33 formerly displaced families have moved to the village while an additional 65 from the camp are expected move there in the near future.
“Previously, we lived in a longhouse with 10 families and did everything there. It was hot, noisy and cramped … it was difficult for us to find privacy,” says Ndau La Raw.
Today, his family reside on two spacious plots of land measuring 6,000 square feet with three interconnected structures. The main building functions as the family’s living quarters. Two smaller ones serve as a separate kitchen and a shop where his wife sells groceries. “The shop is my favourite part. It faces the entrance of the village where I get to meet other former camp residents who are now my new neighbours,” says Ndau La Raw.
Prospects for return to their villages of origin remain slim for displaced people due to continued fighting and insecurity. Nevertheless, examples of displaced communities finding opportunities to move out of camps and into areas like Maina Sut Chyai, where they can better integrate, are increasingly common in Kachin State. Despite an escalation of armed conflict across Myanmar following the military takeover of 1 February 2021, more than 2,300 Kachin displaced people, out of a population of 95,000, have sought to rebuild their lives by relocating to 19 locations last year.
“While not without their challenges, these community-led initiatives are a crucial first step to enabling communities to build a better future for themselves after a decade of displacement,” said Andrew Mok, UNHCR’s Head of Office in Myitkyina, the state capital.
To secure a real future in Maina Sut Chyai, residents have been proactive in advocating for key infrastructure. Apart from constructing a hand pump well on their own to draw clean water, the community also sought the support of KMSS and UNHCR to install latrines. The village is also in the process of being connected to the electricity grid with electrical poles and lines gradually installed.
Ndau La Raw remains hopeful about the future. Having taught himself carpentry skills, he hopes to set up a business making furniture. “I currently have a workshop in the camp. Once electricity becomes available in Maina Sut Chyai, I will build a new workshop on my own land and grow my business from there.”
Maina Sut Chyai’s relative proximity to Myitkyina, on the opposite bank of the Ayeyarwady River, makes it an attractive place to settle. The city is a regional centre for education, healthcare and work opportunities.
“My three kids were young when we were displaced. Two of my children attend university in Myitkyina. I hope to give them the best future so that they can take of themselves as well as me and my wife when we are old,” he says.
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Story
29 July 2022
Mobile-based emergency healthcare eases family worries in Myanmar
For many families in Myanmar, the cost of health care – if it is even available – can drain a family’s already meagre income.
Thinn Yamone, a mother of two young children aged five months and three years, used to work in a toy factory. She now depends on her husband, a mason - but as there is no demand for building jobs during the rainy season (April-October), he can only do low-paying jobs, such as cutting grass.
Some days her husband cannot work at all, as he suffers from pulmonary arterial hypertension. “We barely earn enough to live on,” said Thinn Yamone.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing crisis in the country has pushed an increasing number of families deep into poverty, particularly those living in urban areas under martial law, like North Okkalar Township in Yangon, where Thin Yamone lives.
Her family lives in a makeshift home in her aunt’s compound. They have no electricity or running water and must buy water for drinking and fetch water for washing from a monastery, a 15-minute bike ride away.
They share her aunt’s latrine. “We had plans to build a latrine of our own, but those plans have been dashed,” said Thinn Yamone.
A rapid mini-survey conducted by UNICEF in 2021 on access to basic services in the Yangon townships of Hlaing-Thar-Yar and Shwe-Pyi-Thar found the main barriers to health services included: unavailability of services (61 per cent); financial barriers (30 per cent); and concerns about safety and security in accessing services (17 per cent). [1]
[1] UNICEF survey by phone to 306 household, 31 March to 2 April 2021.
Responding to the needs identified, with generous contribution from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Swiss Natcom, UNICEF launched Bright Start in six townships in peri-urban Yangon, which are home to some of the very poorest families.
Bright Start – a joint initiative between UNICEF and a private company, Common Health Myanmar, provides innovative, mobile-based innovative primary health care services.
The scheme means that Thinn Yamone no longer has to cut back on food in order to afford to take her children to a doctor.
“Since I enrolled in the Bright Start programme, I feel reassured that I have a place to turn to if my children get sick,” said Thinn Yamone.
“It has really eased my anxieties,” said Thinn Yamone. “My doctor always explains things thoroughly and carefully. She’s patient. It helps reduce some of our worries so we can now focus on making a living.”
The scheme includes free 24/7 on-call health services with a doctor, health information delivered via voice and text messages and other channels, as well as the provision of outpatient costs and hospital cash grants for serious illnesses or accidents.
Pregnant women are entitled to free ultrasound, blood tests and tetanus shots. There is also a complaint and feedback mechanism.
Dr. Thae Myat Cho, who joined Common Health Myanmar in February 2022, says she is monitoring about 2,000 service users. “I even treated a child with scabies,” said Dr Thae Myat Cho.
“The family had been using ointments their neighbours recommended, but the scabies became infected, and the child developed a fever. I discovered the whole family had scabies. They recovered after using the antibiotics I prescribed.”
To increase digital literacy and overcome communication challenges, Bright Start provides digital support through Viber chatbots.
As of June 2022, it has provided free health care to more than 30,000 people, including more than 18,000 children under the age of five and 9,000 under the age of seven.
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Story
27 July 2022
FAO and Belgium provide emergency agricultural assistance to conflict-affected communities in Kayin and Kayah states
Humanitarian needs in Myanmar continue to rise sharply since February 2021 as a result of political and economic upheaval and increased conflict. Approximately 27 percent of the population (14.4 million people) is in need of assistance and more than 700 000 people are internally displaced.
Agriculture is a source of livelihoods for nearly 70 percent of the population of Myanmar. The ongoing crisis is compouding the impacts of recurrent climate-induced shocks and COVID-19, posing an enormous threat to the livelihoods and food security of agriculture-dependent communities. Food production is declining, food prices are soaring, and 13.2 million people are already food insecure (compared to 2.8 million before the crisis). Moreover, according to the latest Food Security Monitoring Assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme, 16 percent of surveyed households from 14 states/regions across the country do not have sufficient food intake1. In this context, vulnerable households are increasingly resorting to negative coping mechanisms such as the distress selling of their productive assets, which erodes their capacity to manage future shocks.
Through SFERA, the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium contributed USD 500 000 to FAO to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable households. With this generous contribution, FAO will provide emergency agricultural assistance to 2 000 vulnerable households (10 000 people) in conflict-affected Kayin and Kayah states, in eastern Myanmar. The intervention will include cash-based interventions to enable food-insecure households to cover their immediate needs. Moreover, FAO will provide the beneficiaries with vegetable production packages to enable them to produce up to 500 kg of nutrient-rich vegetables (worth USD 200 on the local market). The intervention will focus on female headed households (61 percent) and will be implemented during the dry season (August 2022–May 2023).
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Story
22 July 2022
Conflict-affected adolescents change their and others’ lives in Kachin, Myanmar
Ji Taung and Htet Myat Aung, both 22, live in Kachin State, the northernmost state of Myanmar, bordering China. But their life experiences have been poles apart.
For the past 11 years, Ji Taung has lived in a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) with her parents, grandparents and six brothers and sisters. Her family, like tens of thousands of others in Kachin, were uprooted due to protracted conflict.
At first, Ji Taung found it hard to adapt to conditions in the camp. “It was suffocating - there were too many people,” she said. “I missed our own home where we raised cattle and farmed. But we adapted to our situation here.” However, the communal unisex bathrooms and the lack of educational opportunities have been much harder for Ji Taung and other girls living in the camp to adjust to.
By contrast, Htet Myat Aung has never been displaced and lives at home with his parents and two brothers in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, where his family runs a rice store. Yet in recent years, his family has been facing hardships.
“We used to make enough money before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the daily price increases and security challenges worsened our situation,” said Htet Myat Aung. Moreover, like Ji Tuang, his studies were disrupted by the current crisis.
“Most of the youths here feel lost and hopeless”
The huge rise in security incidents across conflict-affected states in Myanmar has been particularly catastrophic in Kachin State, coming on top of almost 50 years of conflict in the State that has left more than 97,000 people displaced. Girls are particularly at risk of early and forced marriages, trafficking, and gender-based violence, while boys are likely to be recruited into armed forces or fall into the hands of drug dealers.
To support adolescents in Kachin State, UNICEF and Plan International, with funds from the Government of Canada, have started a life skills training programme called Champions of Change. The programme provides adolescents and young people like Ji Taung and Htet Myat Aung with eight weeks of curated training and ‘sharing sessions’ on topics like reproductive health, gender equality, and gender-based violence, and soft skills such as confidence building.
The programme prioritises vulnerable children who cannot afford to pursue an education. Graduates of Champions of Change are given the opportunity to pursue vocational training that will prepare them to start small businesses or work in local organisations.
Ji Taung and Htet Myat Aung were trained with other Champions of Change graduates for leadership roles as facilitators in peer-to-peer knowledge sharing in their community.
Since 2021, Ji Taung has been facilitating discussions with pregnant women, mothers and young people.
Htet Myat Aung saw for the first time how his peers in the camps have been living, after he became a facilitator. “Unlike our wards, the camps are tightly packed with not much spare space. Each family gets only one room, and it must be unbearably hot in summer,” said Htet Myat Aung.
These days Htet Myat Aung visits the camps both to facilitate sessions and to meet friends that he has made there.
“I have gained the ability and courage to speak up for myself and others.”
Besides helping their peers and communities, Ji Tuang and Htet Myat Aung both say they have been empowered, too. Ji Taung recalls how she and her friends from IDP camps used to be bullied at school, and they were sometimes called ‘exiles’. “I was young and was afraid to stand up for myself,” she said.
Now, Ji Tuang said, “I have gained the ability and courage to speak up for myself and others.” She also found the session on gender-based violence powerful. “We have a saying here that a husband beats his wife because he loves her too much, and I learned that it is wrong and it's just domestic violence. It has stayed in my mind ever since.”
Htet Myat Aung, too, said he has personally gained from the programme. “I used to believe females were inferior to males and that they'll never become good leaders.” He admitted that hearing about gender equality “was challenging to accept at first.” But he said, “Now, I treat everyone equally with respect.”
To date, the Champions of Change programme has benefited over 1,100 adolescents and young people from Kachin State. So far, 700 people have taken part in the vocational training, and 117 of them are now working as professionals.
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Story
23 June 2022
Conflict, food insecurity and pandemic: A triangle of suffering in Myanmar
Thousands of Myanmar families share a typical plight of being stuck in a cycle of conflict, rising levels of food insecurity and protracted healthcare crisis, and many have experienced multiple displacements, leaving behind their homes, crops, and livestock. For the first time, the number of displaced men, women and children in Myanmar has exceeded one million, including 700,000 people displaced by the conflict and insecurity since the military takeover in February last year. Host communities who were already struggling to sustain their livelihoods are also supporting those that have been displaced.
The Livelihoods and Food Security Fund (LIFT), a multi-donor fund managed by UNOPS delivers relief, livelihood and resilience programming to vulnerable communities across Myanmar aiming to sustainably improve household food security and community resilience to economic and climatic shocks and stresses. Below are several examples of how LIFT/UNOPS and its partners help support vulnerable communities and households through income generation and employment creation, strengthening of food systems and nutrition support, natural resource management, and community asset creation in a challenging environment
Support for community-based health services
LIFT and partners work with local health practitioners, volunteers and ethnic health service providers to strengthen the community-based health services by providing a wide range of integrated health, WASH and essential nutrition services to more than 300,000 people including internally displaced people, the elderly, people with disabilities, migrants, pregnant and breastfeeding women and their children, and adolescent girls.
Cash-for-livelihoods support
38-year old Ma Toe Lwin (name changed) from Mawlamyinegyun has what’s called a ‘strong business intuition’. Knowing that a high fishing season is approaching, she launched a fishing net weaving and repairing business, with cash-for-livelihoods support from LIFT’s partners. Having been in the fishing business since her early 20s, Ma Toe Lwin is able to distinguish the quality of fishing nets but it was the lack of capital that didn’t allow her to stock nets for trading before the fishing season.
With cash support from LIFT, Ma Toe Lwin mobilised a group of women to produce about 100 fishing nets, in time for the upcoming fishing season so they can be sold to the fishermen. During high seasons, Ma Toe Lwin’s enterprise can employ up to 75 women allowing for a faster production chain. Proceeds from their sales are shared between the group members while a portion of earnings is saved for future investments.
Agriculture development support
“We keep using traditional growing methods and our planting has faced a lot of problems like pest infection and plant diseases. We did not know very well about the proper usage of fertilizers and pesticides, which caused us low yields”, said U Saw. Having struggled for years, U Saw sought knowledge of advanced agricultural techniques that would help him to improve his farm production and support better access to healthy food for his family.
When the LIFT-supported project reached the village, U Saw eagerly joined the training on agriculture to learn small-scale agri-business, good agricultural practices, and plant protection techniques. The practical sessions led him to explore natural composting methods, soil preparation methods and soil pH measurements. “In the past, I used to apply ready-made pesticides on my farm. So, it was costly and I also didn’t wear any protection while I was using chemical fertilizers and I often suffered from nausea and vomiting”.
Saw was convinced of the health benefits of organically grown crops, and he upgraded his farm to an organic farm. “The project supported me with a capital fund and black bamboos which are necessary in cultivating tomatoes. Tomato is the main crop I grow and I had an acre for purely organic cultivation this year. I applied all the agricultural techniques I learned from the training and the capital support of the project also helped me step up my farm. The yield this year has really increased as I expected. I am really happy that my earnings are pretty well and I can even repay all my debts,” said U Saw with a big smile on his face.
The traditional farmer who used the chemical fertilizers in the past is now stepping up as a leading farmer in the area who shares with his peers on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) that he received from the training. “We need to protect our land and environment by reducing the usage of chemicals so we are introducing organic farming step by step”, a proud and dedicated farmer U Saw said.
Support and assistance for internally displaced persons
For Khine Mar, it has been a hard year. His family had to flee their home village to conflict and insecurity, leaving behind their rice fields and belongings. Khine Mar managed to secure a part-time job as a health assistant at the Camp Management Centre while also performing his parental duties such as helping his children with their studies and managing all the house chores with extreme devotion.
But as the COVID-19 crisis deepened, Khine Mar lost all sources of income. “It has not been easy for us since the pandemic hit. Some organizations provided us with assistance such as food and essentials, but travel and access restrictions made such support irregular”, he said.
So he sought domestic work around his neighbourhood but there was little demand. He thought he had left such uncertainty behind when he fled his home village. Khine Mar was among other residents of the camp to receive a cash transfer of 65,000 MMK, provided by LIFT through its partners as a means to help IDPs cover their most basic food needs or purchase other basic items and services to protect themselves from COVID-19 and its socio-economic impacts.
“It’s the first time I receive such significant support and it was timely and helpful”, said Khine Mar of the cash transfer.
He used part of the payment to buy food for his children and is cooking more nutritious meals for his children. By scaling up multi-purpose cash transfer assistance, food assistance in kind and vouchers, cash/food for work schemes, psychosocial support and counselling services for trauma and gender-based violence, LIFT and partners have reached over 131,000 vulnerable people with social protection programmes in 2021 alone.
Supporting small-scale community enterprises
“We all joined a dry fish (snakehead fish) production training and learned how to cut fish by removing skin and bones and preserve it without using chemicals. We sell our product locally and online, and then share the profit while keeping 5 per cent of earnings in our group’s saving fund,” said Daw Myint.
It takes the group seven to ten days for a full production cycle - from purchasing raw fish to selling the ready product. Each member’s profit is sufficient to cover their household expenses such as food, education and healthcare while savings are planned for investing into other businesses. “Dried fish production is a seasonal business, and we are thinking of launching some farming enterprises too”, concluded Daw Myint.
Relief & Resilience response across Myanmar, including people living with disabilities
In 2021, 30 of LIFT’s partners from different thematics and geographic regions utilized $11.6 million USD for Relief & Resilience response to reach about 900,000 vulnerable people including internally displaced persons and people living with disabilities in different states and regions of Myanmar with multi-sectoral emergency aid. It is the hand-in-hand collaboration with partners that enabled LIFT-funded support to help restore and boost resilient livelihoods while strengthening the food security of vulnerable groups.
Nutrition and WASH awareness
In Kachin and Northern Shan, over 12,000 women from the most vulnerable households have been part of LIFT-funded nutrition-sensitive activities which included nutrition and WASH awareness, training in home gardening and in-kind support (food and WASH items).
Improving working conditions for women garment factory workers
Everyday, hundreds of unskilled women come from rural areas to cities to work in one of over 400 garment factories. Working in a garment factory is often the only possibility for young women from rural areas to earn money and become economically independent, and the income they generate is also used to support the families they’ve left behind. However, working in a garment factory also poses several challenges for these young women: while trying to navigate life in a new city without their family, friends and support network, the women also face harsh working conditions in the factory every day. In an effort to improve working conditions for women workers at garment factories, LIFT’s partners initiated a pilot to collaborate with a factory to upgrade its infrastructure by building or renovating canteens, toilets and healthcare facilities as well as installing cooling systems to provide some basic comfort and amenities as well as to create a space where the women are able to interact with each other. Though at its very early stage, the pilot has already proved success as workers appreciated improvements and it resulted in higher productivity and higher incomes.
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Press Release
01 August 2022
New ILO estimates show Myanmar remains deeply affected by job losses in first half of 2022
The ILO estimates that 1.1 million fewer women and men are employed compared to 2020, which indicates a small recovery in jobs in the first half of 2022. However, employment remains well below 2020 levels while the quality of jobs is deteriorating. Women are also more affected than men overall.
In the first half of 2022, labour productivity contracted a further 2 per cent, adding to an 8 per cent contraction in 2021, reversing the strong gains that had been made in years prior to the military takeover.
Labour conditions are deteriorating for many workers with serious violations of labour rights as referred to in decisions of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, ILO Governing Body and in the International Labour Conference Resolution of 2021.
The situation has taken a toll on enterprises and workers in key sectors. In the garment industry, evidence points to an increase in casual or daily labour, irregular working hours and workers receiving lower pay. ILO research also shows that more widely, entitlements such as severance pay when workers’ jobs are terminated are also often not granted.
“Eighteen months on from the military takeover, the employment situation in Myanmar remains very difficult. While there are limited signs of job growth, the ongoing erosion of labour conditions and the decrease in job quality is deeply concerning,” said Mr. Donglin Li, ILO Myanmar Liaison Officer.
Further details can be found here.
Further details can be found here.
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Press Release
28 July 2022
Security Council press statement on the situation in Myanmar
The members of the Security Council also recalled the ASEAN Chair’s Statement of 25 July 2022, which expressed ASEAN’s denunciation and strong disappointment at the execution despite the appeals of the ASEAN Chair and some ASEAN member states for the sentences to be reconsidered. They noted ASEAN’s view that implementation of the death sentences was highly reprehensible and presented a gross lack of will to support the efforts of the ASEAN Chair in expediting progress on the implementation of the Five Point Consensus. They noted ASEAN’s call for utmost restraint, patience and efforts to avoid escalating the situation, and for all parties concerned to desist from taking actions that would only further aggravate the crisis.
The members of the Security Council reiterated their strong support to ASEAN and the efforts of the ASEAN Chair and echoed ASEAN’s call for concrete actions to effectively and fully implement the Five Point Consensus. They underlined the important role of the United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, and encouraged close coordination with the ASEAN Special Envoy to ensure synergy.
The members of the Security Council called for the pursuance of dialogue with all parties concerned and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar. They also called for an immediate cessation of all forms of violence, including attacks on infrastructure, health and education facilities, for full respect for human rights and the rule of law, and for full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need. They reiterated their full support for Myanmar’s democratic transition and their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Myanmar.
The members of the Security Council reiterated their strong support to ASEAN and the efforts of the ASEAN Chair and echoed ASEAN’s call for concrete actions to effectively and fully implement the Five Point Consensus. They underlined the important role of the United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, and encouraged close coordination with the ASEAN Special Envoy to ensure synergy.
The members of the Security Council called for the pursuance of dialogue with all parties concerned and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar. They also called for an immediate cessation of all forms of violence, including attacks on infrastructure, health and education facilities, for full respect for human rights and the rule of law, and for full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need. They reiterated their full support for Myanmar’s democratic transition and their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Myanmar.
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Press Release
26 July 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY: UN Special Envoy Heyzer calls for inclusive engagement and innovative solutions for Rohingya during mission to Malaysia
Special Envoy Heyzer had very productive discussions with His Excellency Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the Foreign Minister on the situation in Myanmar. The Special Envoy echoed the United Nations Secretary-General’s strong condemnation of the executions of pro-democracy leaders by the military as a blatant violation to the right to life, liberty and security of person. The discussions touched on the setback of the executions on ASEAN’s efforts, including the Five-Point Consensus, and also focused on concrete areas of cooperation with the United Nations Special Envoy, as requested by the ASEAN Heads of State and Foreign Ministers. Moving forward, the urgency for inclusive engagement was stressed.
During her meeting with the Foreign Minister, the Special Envoy focused on education to prevent a “lost generation” of Rohingya refugees and other displaced persons from Myanmar and the importance of legal employment and protection for Myanmar migrant workers and refugees in Malaysia.
Nearly five years after the mass forced displacement of Rohingya and other communities from Rakhine State in Myanmar, the Special Envoy highlighted the need for innovative thinking to break the impasse and strengthen support for the Rohingya and host communities from countries in the region and across the international community. She stressed that ultimately it was Myanmar’s responsibility to address underlying issues affecting the Rohingya and establish durable solutions for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of all refugees and forcibly displaced persons.
The Special Envoy recognized Malaysia’s major role within ASEAN, as a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and in the Vice Presidency of the 77th Session of the General Assembly. Ahead of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in early August, the Special Envoy also acknowledges the important role of the ASEAN Secretary-General as part of the regional bloc’s commitment on Rakhine. She called for ASEAN Foreign Ministers to keep the Rohingya issue high on the ASEAN agenda and to support the implementation of the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State.
Ahead of her visit to Bangladesh in late August, the Special Envoy also highlighted the important cooperation with His Excellency Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh A. K. Abdul Momen, reflected in his recent visits to Cambodia as chair of ASEAN as well as to Indonesia. Special Envoy Heyzer acknowledged the challenges faced by host countries compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and global economic conditions, with Bangladesh as host of 1.2 million refugees bearing a disproportionate burden that the international community regionally and abroad has a responsibility to help to alleviate, including through support for quality and inclusive education for refugees and host communities.
“As the UN Secretary-General has said, education is a pre-eminent public good,” Special Envoy Heyzer said. Quality and inclusive education, including vocational training and lifelong learning, has the potential to transform people’s lives and lifelong opportunities as well as to enable them to build societies to become more just, peaceful and prosperous for all.
Ahead of the Transforming Education Summit in New York on 19 September 2022, the Special Envoy emphasized that education was a fundamental right of Rohingya people with long-term ramifications for the region. “As I discussed recently with Permanent Representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Contact Group on the Rohingya crisis and highlighted in my briefing to the General Assembly on 13 June, we need swift measures to prevent a lost generation by providing Rohingya and others education opportunities, including abroad,” she said.
In line with her role to maintain communication and engage intensively with all relevant parties in Myanmar, the Special Envoy continues to consult directly with affected Rohingya communities and their representatives. She is engaging with a wide range of diverse groups currently residing in Malaysia who had been forcibly displaced from Myanmar to hear their perspectives and ways forward to improve the situation. Recognizing women’s crucial role in communities and the gendered dimension of the conflict, Special Envoy Heyzer is encouraged by the resilience of women leaders in her engagement to ensure that Myanmar-led solutions include women’s voices and concerns.
Amid halting progress over the past five years, the desperate situation continues to drive Rohingya people to undertake perilous sea and land journeys, including refugees and people still facing hardship in Rakhine State, despite some community efforts to build social cohesion. There is an urgent need for innovative strategies and concrete pathways aligned with the needs and will of the Rohingya people. The region and the world must renew solidarity to ensure that the Rohingya remain high on the ASEAN and international agenda, provide support for host communities, and continue to work towards durable solutions based on voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation.
“We must not allow the Rohingya people’s sense of being forgotten and abandoned to take root,” Special Envoy Heyzer said. “Their right to live in dignity as human beings must be supported and safeguarded by all, including the international community.”
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Press Release
25 July 2022
Myanmar: Bachelet condemns executions, calls for release of all political prisoners
“I am dismayed that despite appeals from across the world, the military conducted these executions with no regard for human rights,” Bachelet said. “This cruel and regressive step is an extension of the military’s ongoing repressive campaign against its own people.
“These executions – the first in Myanmar in decades - are cruel violations of the rights to life, liberty and security of a person, and fair trial guarantees. For the military to widen its killing will only deepen its entanglement in the crisis it has itself created.”
The High Commissioner called for the immediate release of all political prisoners and others arbitrarily detained, and urged the country to reinstate its de-facto moratorium on the use of the death penalty, as a step towards eventual abolition.
On 25 July, Myanmar state media reported that the military had executed four people including former National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw, democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, popularly known as Ko Jimmy. Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw were the other two men executed.
Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zaya Thaw were arrested on 23 October and 18 November 2021 respectively. Ko Jimmy was subsequently charged with sedition. Both Phyo Zayar Thaw and Ko Jimmy were also charged under the Counter Terrorism Law and sentenced to death by a military tribunal on 21 January 2022. Their subsequent appeals were denied. Hla Myo Aung, and Aung Thura Zaw were convicted on murder charges. Their appeals were also denied.
In Myanmar, such cases are being heard by military courts behind closed doors. Since the military coup on 1 February 2021, 117 people, including two children, have been sentenced to death including 41 sentenced in absentia. Over 11,500 people remain in detention for opposing the military’s seizure of power.
“Most concerningly, over 30 percent of over 2,100 people killed since February 2021 have died in military custody – most as a result of ill-treatment,” said Bachelet.
On 3 June, UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed concern at the military’s decision to go ahead with executions and reiterated his calls for the respect of people’s rights to freedom of opinion and expression. Bachelet echoed his call for the military to “drop all charges against those arrested on charges related to the exercise of their fundamental freedoms and rights” and the immediate release of all political prisoners in Myanmar.
“The military seems unconcerned with ending this crisis or reducing violence in accordance with its international obligations, let alone any willingness to respect due process, justice or rule of law,” Bachelet said.
The High Commissioner reiterated her call to Myanmar’s neighbours and to the wider international community to hold the military accountable to its commitments under international law, as well as further to ASEAN’s “Five-Point Consensus”.
ENDS
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Press Release
14 June 2022
ILO Myanmar calls for more action to end child labour
Yangon (ILO News) - In line with the Durban Call to Action adopted last month, ILO Myanmar expresses its continued commitment to make decent work a reality for adults and youth above the minimum age for work.
Almost one in ten of Myanmar’s 12 million children between the age of 5 and 17 are engaged in child labour, often exposed to hazards and risks. The compounded impact of the military takeover and persistent armed conflicts on top of the COVID-19 pandemic had led to an estimated 1.6 million jobs lost in Myanmar in 2021, heightening the risk of families resorting to child labour.
According to a recent report by the ILO, it is estimated that the incidence of child labour in countries affected by armed conflict was 77 per cent higher than the global average, and the incidence of hazardous work was 50 per cent higher. This suggests that the current context in Myanmar will exacerbate child labour.
“The unstable political landscape and deteriorating economic situation in Myanmar have forced more and more families into poverty. In times of crisis, concerted efforts among all stakeholders are needed more than ever before to increase social protections to prevent and protect children from child labour in all forms,” said Mr Donglin Li, ILO Myanmar Liaison Officer/Representative. ILO action in Myanmar Drawing on this year’s World Day Against Child Labour theme, “Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour”, ILO Myanmar will engage with civil society, development partners and social partners in training and awareness-raising activities through its e-learning programme and interventions.
Some of the actions include panel discussions, community based events, awareness-raising videos, a drawing contest and a photo exhibition “Burning Hands ” (Institut Français de Birmanie), which will take place throughout June to August. More details will be announced via the ILO Myanmar Facebook page .
Almost one in ten of Myanmar’s 12 million children between the age of 5 and 17 are engaged in child labour, often exposed to hazards and risks. The compounded impact of the military takeover and persistent armed conflicts on top of the COVID-19 pandemic had led to an estimated 1.6 million jobs lost in Myanmar in 2021, heightening the risk of families resorting to child labour.
According to a recent report by the ILO, it is estimated that the incidence of child labour in countries affected by armed conflict was 77 per cent higher than the global average, and the incidence of hazardous work was 50 per cent higher. This suggests that the current context in Myanmar will exacerbate child labour.
“The unstable political landscape and deteriorating economic situation in Myanmar have forced more and more families into poverty. In times of crisis, concerted efforts among all stakeholders are needed more than ever before to increase social protections to prevent and protect children from child labour in all forms,” said Mr Donglin Li, ILO Myanmar Liaison Officer/Representative. ILO action in Myanmar Drawing on this year’s World Day Against Child Labour theme, “Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour”, ILO Myanmar will engage with civil society, development partners and social partners in training and awareness-raising activities through its e-learning programme and interventions.
Some of the actions include panel discussions, community based events, awareness-raising videos, a drawing contest and a photo exhibition “Burning Hands ” (Institut Français de Birmanie), which will take place throughout June to August. More details will be announced via the ILO Myanmar Facebook page .
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