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Video
21 March 2023
International Day of Forests 2023: Healthy Forests for Healthy People
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Press Release
19 March 2023
UNHCR statement on Bangladesh, Myanmar bilateral pilot project on Rohingya returns
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Speech
16 March 2023
Remarks by Noeleen Heyzer, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar at the General Assembly
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Latest
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:
Video
21 March 2023
International Day of Forests 2023: Healthy Forests for Healthy People
Conserving and sustainably using forests is one of the best ways of protecting our planet and ourselves. Healthy forests are vital for all aspects of a healthy planet, from livelihoods and nutrition to biodiversity and the environment, but they are under threat. Ten million hectares of forest were lost every year to deforestation between 2015 and 2020. Insects damage around 35 million hectares of forest annually, and fire affected approximately 98 million hectares of forest globally in 2015. It’s up to us to safeguard these precious natural resources.
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Video
08 March 2023
António Guterres (UN Secretary-General) on International Women's Day
On International Women's Day, we celebrate the achievements of women and girls across all walks of life, in all corners of the world.
But we also recognize the enormous obstacles they face — from structural injustices, marginalization, and violence, to cascading crises that affect them first and worst, to the denial of their personal autonomy and rights over their bodies and lives.
Gender-based discrimination harms everyone – women, girls, men, and boys.
International Women's Day is a call to action.
Action to stand with women who are demanding their fundamental rights at great personal cost.
Action to strengthen protection against sexual exploitation and abuse.
And action to accelerate women's full participation and leadership.
This year's theme stresses the need for technology and innovation to advance gender equality.
Technology can expand pathways to education and opportunities for women and girls.
But it can also be used to amplify abuse and hatred.
Today, women make up under a third of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and maths.
And when women are under-represented in developing new technologies, discrimination may be baked in from the start.
That is why we must close the digital divide and increase the representation of women and girls in science and technology.
Women's exclusion from the digital world has shaved an estimated $1 trillion from the GDP of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade — a loss that could grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action.
Investing in women uplifts all people, communities, and countries.
Let us work together – across governments, the private sector and civil society –to build a more inclusive, just, and prosperous world for women, girls, men, and boys everywhere.
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Press Release
14 March 2023
ILO calls on workplaces to accelerate action against violence and harassment
YANGON, Myanmar - In marking International Women’s Day today, the ILO Myanmar Liaison Officer, Donglin Li, called on employers to step up action to prevent violence and harassment in workplaces.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent military takeover in Myanmar has amplified human vulnerability and exposure to online violence and harassment, particularly against women. With a growth in the number of workers who are also teleworking from home and using digital platforms, there is an increasing risk of online violence and harassment through social media and online meeting applications.
“Today is an opportunity to remind workplaces that violence and harassment must be eliminated in all places where people work, including digital spaces. It is incumbent on employers to ensure that digital spaces are safe," said Donglin Li, ILO Myanmar Liaison Officer.
The adoption of the Violence and Harassment Convention (No 190) in 2019 marked an important milestone as it is the first international treaty to reflect a right to a world of work free from violence and harassment. The Convention recognises the changing nature of work by covering people who work from home and communications enabled by information and communication technologies.
With reference to the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190), a guide has been developed for employers focusing on general principles for the prevention and management of violence and harassment at work. It provides essential information on why employers need to take action and how to address, prevent and respond it. More information about ILO Convention 190 can be found at www.ilo.org/c190>
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent military takeover in Myanmar has amplified human vulnerability and exposure to online violence and harassment, particularly against women. With a growth in the number of workers who are also teleworking from home and using digital platforms, there is an increasing risk of online violence and harassment through social media and online meeting applications.
“Today is an opportunity to remind workplaces that violence and harassment must be eliminated in all places where people work, including digital spaces. It is incumbent on employers to ensure that digital spaces are safe," said Donglin Li, ILO Myanmar Liaison Officer.
The adoption of the Violence and Harassment Convention (No 190) in 2019 marked an important milestone as it is the first international treaty to reflect a right to a world of work free from violence and harassment. The Convention recognises the changing nature of work by covering people who work from home and communications enabled by information and communication technologies.
With reference to the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190), a guide has been developed for employers focusing on general principles for the prevention and management of violence and harassment at work. It provides essential information on why employers need to take action and how to address, prevent and respond it. More information about ILO Convention 190 can be found at www.ilo.org/c190>
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Publication
15 February 2022
The United Nations System
This chart is a reflection of the functional organization of the United Nations System and for informational purposes only. It does not include all offices or entities of the United Nations System.
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Story
14 March 2023
Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Myanmar – A bird’s flight with a broken wing
I started writing this Op-Ed wanting to explain to the unborn generation of children why gender equality and the empowerment of women matters in Myanmar today. It is the ingrained hope of a mother wanting to pass on a better future to her child. It is also my call for action to all involved to further advance on gender equality and the empowerment of women as we are facing an erosion of many hard-earned gains in terms of gender equality.
Myanmar’s women and girls have been hit disproportionately hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 1 February 2021 coup and the pursuant security, humanitarian, and socio-economic crisis. The economic downturn has led to an increasing pay gap between women and men, and women-led businesses, which are often small and micro-enterprises or in the informal sector, have struggled more to make a recovery. Access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services has been severely diminished. While reliable figures are not available, all indicators point to an increase in various forms of sexual and gender-based violence across Myanmar, while access to response services and to justice for survivors is often minimal to non-existent.
Why does gender equality matter, will you ask? “If society is like a bird with two wings, if one is broken the bird will not be able to fly” will I answer. If women, who make 52 per cent of the population are not equally represented in decision making bodies, lack equal access to basic rights, equal employment and income opportunities, and continue to face the threat of violence in their day-to-day lives, they will not be able to fully claim and exert their rights, then society will never be able to fully thrive and to use its full socio-economic potential towards a sustainable and prosperous future. Women in Myanmar have shown tremendous resilience but continue to face unequal access to productive resources, reproductive rights and suffer violence and abuse.
The multiple crises have seen an extraordinary amount of women’s engagement socially and economically, with women playing central and life-saving roles in local and community-level pandemic and humanitarian responses, often in extreme circumstances. Previously marginalized women have begun playing increasingly visible leadership roles, and the unity within the women’s movement is at an all-time high. However, all of this has come at a high cost, with individual women leaders and women’s organisations, finding themselves under-resourced, often at a risk of depletion and over-burdening, and facing increasing threats and violence both online and in real life for their outspoken and brave leadership.
The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan reports that women have been hit disproportionately by conflict, the political and economic crisis, and their subsequent economic impacts due to social norms around work, disempowerment in the workplace and their traditional role in their households and communities. Of the 4.5 million people prioritized for life-saving humanitarian support this year, 52 per cent are women. Despite the extremely challenging circumstances, the United Nations in Myanmar together with its local partners will reach 2.3 million women and girls in humanitarian assistance covering prevention and response to gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS prevention, cash transfer and food distribution in 2023.
Undoubtedly, the multiple crises have led to an across-the-board erosion of many hard-earned gains of the past decades in terms of gender equality and women’s empowerment as the ratification of the United Nation Convention on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) or the National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women. But as dire as the situation is in Myanmar, the continued prominence of women in all aspects of social, political, and economic life give reason for hope as well.
To halt the regression of gender equality and women’s empowerment, Myanmar women and women’s rights organisation need the urgent support of the international community, including from UN agencies, to listen to their appeals and to continue advocating on their behalf. This includes adaptive and flexible support to women’s organisations providing aid to populations in need in remote areas relying on their knowledge and networks to be able to localise and deliver aid efficiently and effectively.
A bird with two equally strong and intact wings will fly high and far towards a prosperous and sustainable future. On 8 March and beyond I, on behalf of UN Women, commit to stand for gender equality in Myanmar, today and always.
This commentary by Ms. Karin Fueg was first published on March 8, 2023, on Radio Free Asia and can be viewed here.
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Story
08 March 2023
In the face of adverse food security, one woman learns to adopt a new farming practice
Women farmers in Myanmar, have an important role and contributions in country’s economic growth, good production, value chain and food system sustainability. They play a diverse role in agriculture and make enormous contributions not only cultivating crops, but also helping their families, rearing animals for food or trade and working in forestry and fisheries sectors. They are involved in a range of farming activities, including planting, harvesting, processing, and marketing of crops which are important sources of nutrition for people in the country.
Despite this, they are facing significant challenges such as limited access to land, credit, and technology and training, they have been able to achieve certain success in the agriculture sector through their hard work and innovation. The protracted crisis in Myanmar has severely negatively impacted agriculture sector in Myanmar. While food insecurity is already a problem, significant reduction of food production is anticipated due to restrictions on local travels and on private transport services hampering preparations of farm operations, procurement of seeds and other agricultural inputs, rising prices of the inputs and loss of access to export market.
The January 2023 data in Emergencies Monitoring brief produced by FAO and WFP found that households in conflict-affected areas, rural households, female-headed households, households with debt, and those vulnerable to economic shocks had the worst food security outcomes.
44 years old Daw Aye Aye Mon has three family members and lives in Letpadan Township, Bago region, and leads them in farming. The family has a few small businesses such as a grinding powder mill and a small biomass power plant, but agriculture is their main sources of income. She normally grows rice in the monsoon season and black gram in the winter season but due to the ongoing crisis, farmers like Daw Aye Aye Mon have had to think innovatively to try and increase food production.
Since September 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) together with its partner have been implementing a pilot project in three townships of Ayeyarwady, Yangon and Bago Regions to promote double monsoon rice (DMR) cropping system in lowland areas to boost rice production for social and economic wellbeing as well as considering it as a coping mechanism for any possible disaster in the future. The project helps rice producers to establish DMR, introduce suitable varieties, provide farm inputs and agricultural techniques, linkage with possible inputs and outputs markets, technical service providers and financial institutions.
What is double monsoon rice?
Normally, most of the farmers grow only medium or long-term rice variety in a monsoon season. Double Monsoon Rice (DMR) is a technique in which farmers can grow two paddy crops in a monsoon season; immediately growing the second crop once the first crop is harvested.
Prior to the project, Daw Aye Aye Mon had already thought of this idea but was lacking the technique and resources to get the short-term rice variety for the first and the second crop. In early 2022, when FAO project started implementation in her village and introduced the DMR project, Daw Aye Aye Mon enthusiastically participated in pilot demonstration of the DMR cropping in two acres of her farmland. Additionally, she received farm inputs from the project such as qualified seeds and fertilizers, operation costs which includes all machinery costs and labour costs.
While many other farmers are reluctant to participate in the pilot demonstration, for Daw Aye Aye Mon, the DMR pilot project came at the right time. The progressive farmer saw the potential of this technique and how it would be beneficial for her farmland.
“I was very interested to involve myself in the double monsoon rice cultivation and to understand the practice of this new system as I foresee this providing more income for my family”
Daw Aye Aye Mon has shown innovation in adopting other new farming practices that would help her to increase yields and improve food security. Although she was also burdened with domestic responsibilities and managing her livelihood activities in her daily life, she has demonstrated adaptability by learning new techniques and approaches to farming. She has been able to adapt to changing environmental conditions and market demands by switching crops and implementing new technologies.
“Being a housewife, a mother, a farmer and a businesswoman at the same time is not easy. Division of roles and shared responsibilities is the key for enabling an equitable environment”, said Daw Aye Aye Mon.
Women farmers in Myanmar like Daw Aye Aye Mon are important for promoting sustainable agriculture practices. They are often more knowledgeable about traditional farming practices and have a deep understanding of the local environment. They play a key role in promoting sustainable farming practices that help to protect the soil, water, and biodiversity.
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Story
17 February 2023
Quarter of residents in Yangon's poorest areas often go without income
This is forcing people to adopt coping strategies that threaten their health and wellbeing, including cutting down on how much they eat and consuming less nutritious food, selling assets, such as vehicles, and forgoing medical treatment.
These insights come from a survey of 3,000 people in Yangon, two-thirds of which are from eight townships where a new joint initiative between UNDP, UN Women and UN-Habitat will work to improve the wellbeing of the most economically marginalized. The report found people living in these eight areas are worse on every economic and social indicator when compared to the rest of Yangon.
The collapse of the economy in 2021 and only very modest growth last year has had a devastating impact on Yangon's urban poor. Foreign investors pulling out of Myanmar, leading to the closure of businesses and factories, has severely reduced both working hours and employment opportunities, while rising food and fuel prices have further squeezed people's spending.
Coping strategies in Myanmar as incomes fall
With incomes reduced, 27.5 percent of respondents to the survey from the eight urban resilience project townships reported that in the last 12 months there was a time when someone in their household could not eat nutritious food due to lack of money and more than a third (35.7 percent) said they were eating less.
With the public healthcare system weakened, the survey found that people are now reliant on more expensive private hospitals and clinics to meet their medical needs. Yet, with incomes squeezed, many people in Yangon are simply forgoing healthcare. Over a quarter of all respondents (26.6 percent) said they or their family often or sometimes go without treatment or medication, and three-quarters said it is the higher charges that makes accessing healthcare more difficult.
More than two-fifths (43.4 percent) of respondents from the eight townships reported selling assets in the last 12 months. When these assets are used to generate income, such as vehicles, it can make it even more difficult to earn money and recover.
One of the most extreme coping mechanisms was how families interrupted their children's education in order to work, cited by a quarter of households in the eight surveyed townships who had reported taking their children out of school since March 2020. These lost years of education will impact their ability to seek better employment in adulthood.
"Urban poverty in Yangon has dramatically escalated, and at the heart of this is a loss of jobs and reduced incomes. Supporting people to earn more money through stable employment is a long-term and sustainable way to improve people's health and wellbeing," said Titon Mitra, Resident Representative at UNDP Myanmar.
How can we help Yangon's urban poor?
The new UNDP Urban Resilience Project will aim to improve people's income and employment opportunities, with a focus on vocational training for young people, support to micro and small enterprises, and improved access to healthcare services and clean drinking water.
Pilot activities in Yangon's Hlaingtharya township over the last year saw significant success. Together with the Step-in Step-up Academy (SISU), UNDP supported 400 students to complete vocational training programmes in areas such as hospitality, healthcare and office work. All the students who graduated have now secured full-time employment.
"To work in hospitality has always been my career goal. But the biggest challenge for me is that I do not have any related work experience, nor do I have any qualifications or connections in this field. And I cannot afford to attend the training, not even some short courses. I have been so lost and hopeless," said Yan Naing Tun, 24-year-old current SISU student.
"Now, I have a lot of plans for my career and the future. I would like to use half of my salary to support my family as there are six of us. My two youngest siblings really could use that money to help with their education."
The project also builds upon our UN partner agencies' work in urban Yangon. UN-Habitat has been increasing the availability and quantity of water through improving drainage and wastewater management. UN Women, meanwhile, has been connecting marginalized women with basic services and offering coaching to improve their access to income.
The Urban Resilience Project will reach more than 450,000 people in 2023, helping to reduce their reliance on humanitarian assistance. It is part of a wider UNDP response in Myanmar that has supported one million people across 11 states and regions, and aims to reach seven million by the end of 2024.
All UNDP's activities are impartial, neutral and independent, and delivered directly to communities.
Read the Helping Communities Weather the Socio-economic Downturn: Building Urban Resilience report in full.
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Story
02 January 2023
A breath of hope for Rohingya women in Myanmar’s Rakhine state
Rakhine State, Myanmar – Daw Mya Mya Aye, 60, could not hide her joy as she joined fellow villagers in sharing how the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) breathed hope into their vulnerable families.
Speaking at the launch of this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November in Matkalar village in Rakhine state, Daw Mya Mya Aye and her fellow beneficiaries explained how through the assistance from CERF they are now slowly rebuilding their lives after the COVID-19 pandemic and the escalation of the armed conflict following the military takeover in February 2021.
“I am happy that the programme gave my life back,” said Daw Mya Mya Aye, a single mother of two. “I received business training, cash, 17 piglets and stock feed to revive my pig business, which had collapsed. The training has improved my pig rearing skills, and the animals are healthier than my previous stock.”
After the armed conflict intensified, risks of gender-based violence increased, including child, forced and early marriages, and human trafficking. Daw Mya Mya Aye said she had seriously considered leaving her country out of desperation. “But I decided to stay here because I could not bear the thought of staying in a refugee camp with my small children.” The military takeover has seen more than 1.4 million people, 200,000 in Rakhine state alone, internally displaced in Myanmar, while more than 950,000 have sought refuge in nearby Bangladesh, Thailand and India.
However, after some weeks of sleepless nights pondering her next move to survive the effects of the conflict, she said a representative of one local women-led organization informed her about a new programme that intended to support vulnerable women. “That was my turning point.”
It is the plight of many women such as Daw Mya Mya Aye that required UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to join hands in the CERF-funded global multi-country programme to provide essential services to gender-based violence survivors and enhance their protection from exploitation and abuse. The programme also aimed to help women build back their small businesses for economic independence.
The initiative targets 7,192 women and girls in Rakhine and Kachin states, focusing particularly on survivors of, or those at risk of, gender-based violence.
Through this joint programme, UNFPA is also improving communities’ access to quality and comprehensive prevention and response services for gender-based violence. On the other hand, UN Women is complementing these efforts through provision of cash, business trainings and livelihood support to prevent women from opting for negative coping mechanisms such as selling family livelihood assets, exhausting savings for children’s education and other necessities, transactional sex and forced and child marriages. Support will ensure that women do not respond to difficulties using strategies that may provide a temporary means of survival, but seriously undermine their long-term wellbeing.
The cutting edge of this programme is that UN Women and UNFPA are not working alone. To further promote the localization agenda and expand the reach and access of services, the programme is partnering with 15 local women-led organizations and women’s rights organizations. This partnership is facilitating the capacity development of the women’s organizations for better engagement in humanitarian action, for them to promote reporting of gender-based violence incidents and increase accessibility of essential services such as mental health and psychosocial support and legal aid for delivery of justice.
Working in the camps for internally displaced persons and resettlement sites, the women’s organizations are engaging with various groups of people including community and religious leaders, men and boys to raise awareness on the negative effects of GBV and to improve local capacities to influence behaviour change and address social norms and gender stereotypes that fuel gender-based violence. In Rakhine state, where Daw Mya Mya Aye stays with her family, the programme is supporting 227 women, including 50 female-headed households.
The women were provided with business trainings to help improve their livestock production capacity for economic resilience, as well as in-kind support, namely piglets, chicks, stock feed and cash.
The acting interim UN Women representative in Myanmar, Karin Fueg, emphasized the importance of investing in multi-sectoral gender-based violence services and livelihood opportunities that can strengthen the protection of women and girls in conflict. She said expanding activities that can create opportunities for people to challenge gender norms and address unequal power relations between women and men can help prevent gender-based violence.
Humanitarian actors, she said, should work as a collective and put survivors and women and girls at risk of gender-based violence at the centre of protection efforts, while ensuring that life-saving services are delivered in a timely manner through different mechanisms, such as partnering with local women’s civil society organizations to ease access.
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Story
28 December 2022
Empowering Displaced Communities in Myanmar’s Northeast
Since February 2021, the humanitarian situation in Myanmar has deteriorated with the United Nations estimating that 1.5 million people displaced as of December 2022. Across the country, civilians are being displaced due to armed conflict. Many of them are also unable to move to safer locations due to insecurity.
In Myanmar’s northeastern Kachin and northern Shan States, over 121,000 people remain displaced. While the number of people forced to flee in these areas have increased since February 2021, the vast majority have lived in displacement for several years as the result of protracted conflict.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, remains committed to supporting displaced people across Myanmar. With the financial support of the European Union, UNHCR provides a comprehensive range of programmes in the country’s northeast, from life-saving assistance to resilience-building projects among displaced and conflict-affected communities. This is done through community-based protection activities, camp coordination and management and support (CCCM), and shelter and non-food items assistance, as well as support for initial returns and relocation that pave the way for longer term solutions. Through building resilience and cohesion, UNHCR works towards lasting solutions so that men, women, boys and girls of all ages, background and abilities have a safe place to call home and build a better future.
In Kachin and northern Shan States, camps and sites for internally displaced people are often set up on a spontaneous basis. Host communities are typically the first responders and take the lead in supporting the displaced. By accommodating the displaced and extending goodwill to support them, these host communities provide an essential lifeline to those fleeing armed conflict.
UNHCR’s approach is to complement the extensive support provided by host communities. At this host community in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, UNHCR and partners supported a recently displaced community by providing them with zinc sheets so that IDPs are able to construct their own makeshift shelters.
When displacement occurs, those who flee often carry little possessions with them. Across Myanmar, core relief items, consisting of basic household items such as mosquito nets, kitchen sets, jerry cans, clothing items, sleeping mats, blankets and solar lights, are prepositioned like this one in Lashio, northern Shan State. When the need arises, these items are handed over to emergency teams on the ground so that they can quickly reach displaced populations.
Udi Doi Ra, 56, and her family of nine were displaced in 2011 when armed conflict forced them to flee their village and seek safety elsewhere. Prospects for return to their village remain slim due to continued fighting and insecurity. Despite challenges, displaced people like them remain resilient and find ways to continue living their lives while hoping to return to their homes one day.
Displaced people have the right to adequate shelter so that they can live in dignity. In situations where people are displaced for six months or longer, UNHCR provides targeted shelter support. At this camp for displaced people in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State, new homes are constructed for families to better protect them from the elements, provide space to live and store belongings as well as privacy, comfort and emotional security. Solar street lights are also installed to illuminate pathways and provide a sense of security.
Ah Chi Mee, 38, a camp committee member, observes the construction of new shelters for her community. Grateful for a roof over her head, she helps to organize basic services within her community. Many facilities, like water pumps, are communal and require care and maintenance.
Daily life in a camp for internally displaced people in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State. A woman is preparing food to feed her pigs. While humanitarian assistance remains important, especially for newly displaced families, there are others who are rebuilding their lives and seeking to achieve a greater degree of self-reliance, including through small plot farming and by rearing chickens and pigs.
To support his family, he runs a small provision shop selling basic supplies in the camp and also takes on odd jobs outside for additional income. Employment has, however, been harder to come by due to ongoing conflict and economic hardships facing Myanmar.
A woman holds a solar lamp provided by UNHCR inside her home in Namtu Township, northern Shan State. Many camps in northeastern Myanmar are not connected to the electrical grid. Solar lamps give residents a few additional hours in the evening to carry out family tasks, including household chores, studying at home, charging phones and accessing washrooms safely at night.
Lum Zawng lives at a camp for internally displaced people in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State. Together with other volunteers from his community, he assists with shelter support when repairs or rehabilitation are needed. Such self-help groups form the backbone of community resilience in many camps.
Life must go on. Marip Kai serves lunch to volunteers next to her shelter in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State which is being repaired. The temporary shelter she lives in require maintenance following several years of use.
To help ensure displaced people continue to live in dignity, UNHCR works with partners to carry out shelter maintenance. These can range from simple repair work such as changing of door locks and repairing damaged windows, to more comprehensive renovation work, which includes a complete change and replacement of walls and roofs.
Much more is needed for repair and maintenance of shelters in many of the IDP camps around Myanmar, especially as communities remain displaced, and new displacement puts greater pressure on limited funding resources.
Community empowerment is a key tenet of UNHCR’s assistance to displaced people in northeastern Myanmar. Displaced people are actively involved in service projects to support their communities. While humanitarian agencies like UNHCR provide basic support such as small grants and materials, communities have organized themselves to identify and prioritize projects based on their own needs.
Community volunteers at a camp in Kachin State come together to help reconstruct a community hall, a venue frequently utilized for meetings and other communal events. The initiative was kickstarted by the members of the Kachin IDP Youth Committee, consisting of youth volunteers from different camps in Myitkyina and Waingmaw Townships. UNHCR trained the committee in 2022 as part of efforts to include youths in community leadership and decision-making processes within camps.
Thomas, 22, gives a tour to show infrastructural improvements initiated by youths at a camp in Myitkyina, Kachin State. Rather than making referrals to camp management agencies, youths have been trained to use their local knowledge to improve the camp environment in a cost-effective way through small grants disbursed by UNHCR.
An active member of the Kachin IDP Youth Committee, Thomas is proud of the improvements made to the camp which he has lived in for over a decade. “We discuss ideas and share knowledge with each other to help develop ourselves and our community,” he says.
Community members from Sen Ja village in Namtu Township, northern Shan State, pose for a photograph in front of a newly completed community hall. The building was constructed as part of efforts to promote social cohesion between displaced families and their host community. Seng Ja, a largely Christian community, is home to some 500 families, of which a minority are Buddhist and internally displaced.
Mindful of the needs of the displaced families, community leaders approached UNHCR and a local partner to request for a hall to be built so that there could be an inclusive space for the community to hold meetings. By accommodating the displaced and extending goodwill to them, host communities like Seng Ja provide an essential lifeline to those seeking safety.
Ndau La Raw, 46, poses in front of a small grocery shop adjacent to his new home in Maina Sut Chyai - a new village in Waingmaw Township - set up by internally displaced people in Kachin State. To help them restart their lives, UNHCR constructed houses for each relocated family. 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 across Kachin State.
A child pumps water out of a hand pipe installed by community members of Maina Sut Chyai, a new village set up by internally displaced people in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State. To secure a real future for the village, residents have also been proactive in advocating for assistance with key infrastructure. Apart from constructing shelters and a community hall, UNHCR and its partners are also assisting the community to install latrines.
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Press Release
20 March 2023
UNHCR statement on Bangladesh, Myanmar bilateral pilot project on Rohingya returns
UNHCR’s position on returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar remains unchanged. In UNHCR’s assessment, conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are currently not conducive to the sustainable return of Rohingya refugees. At the same time, we reiterate that every refugee has a right to return to their home country based on an informed choice, but that no refugee should be forced to do so. Bangladesh has consistently reaffirmed its commitment to voluntary and sustainable repatriation since the onset of the current crisis.
In support of efforts to preserve the right to return, UNHCR considers consultation of and dialogue with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by all parties in relation to the conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as important to enable refugees to make an informed choice about return and build confidence amongst the community. This is particularly important as many refugees have reiterated that they do hope to go home to Myanmar as soon as conditions allow.
Following the events of August 2017, UNHCR has also consistently encouraged Myanmar to expeditiously verify the previous residence in Myanmar of refugees in Bangladesh, as part of efforts to lift any administrative obstacles to return when the refugees decide to do so.
UNHCR therefore supports efforts that could lead to the verification of all refugees and pave the way for eventual return. This most recently included providing logistical support to members of the Myanmar delegation to cross into Bangladesh for the technical verification process.
UNHCR will continue to work with Bangladesh and Myanmar to ensure that Rohingya refugees maintain the right to return when they choose to do so, based on a fully informed and voluntary decision. UNHCR will also support efforts to create conditions that would be conducive to the sustainable return of Rohingya refugees in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
In Bangladesh, UNHCR will continue to support building the skills and capacities of refugees to facilitate their eventual return and sustainable reintegration in Myanmar. The 2023 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis in Bangladesh was recently launched and UNHCR calls upon the international community’s continued robust support for this appeal which is currently 10 per cent funded.
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Press Release
03 March 2023
Military’s ‘four cuts’ doctrine drives perpetual human rights crisis in Myanmar, says UN report
“Two years after the military launched a coup, the generals have embarked on a scorched earth policy in an attempt to stamp out opposition,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said.
“Tragically, regional and global efforts for peace and restraint have largely fallen on deaf ears. The military, emboldened by continuous and absolute impunity, has consistently shown disregard for international obligations and principles. Urgent, concrete action is needed to end this festering catastrophe.”
The report echoed calls by the Security Council and ASEAN for, among other things, an immediate halt to the violence, the release of all those arbitrarily detained, accountability, and unhindered humanitarian access.
The report documents a litany of human rights abuses from 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023, accompanied by a sharp rise in violence especially in the north-western and south-eastern parts of Myanmar.
It cites credible sources as having verified the deaths of at least 2,940, and 17,572 arrests by the military and its affiliates since the coup. Nearly 80 percent of the country’s 330 townships have been impacted by armed clashes.
The military employs its so-called four-cuts approach - including through indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery shelling, razing villages to displace civilian populations, and denial of humanitarian access - to cut off non-State organized armed groups and other anti-military armed elements from access to food, finances, intelligence and recruits.
Among the numerous incidents of airstrikes, on 16 September - in Let Yet Kone village, Tabayin Township, Sagaing - four helicopters opened fire on a school killing at least six children and injuring nine others. After some 60 soldiers deployed from helicopters to the ground, they reportedly raided the village, executing a school technician and five villagers before arresting wounded children and teachers.
In another incident, on 20 October, an airstrike against a newly opened hospital in Man Yu Gyi village, Banmauk Township, Sagaing, killed one woman and injured five others. A source reported that the hospital had been inaugurated a day earlier and victims were all volunteers at the facility.
One of the most frequently used tactics by the military is the systematic and widespread burning of villages and dwellings. Consistent with their modus operandi documented over decades, including in Kachin in 2011 and Rakhine in 2017, UN reports indicated that nearly 39,000 houses nationwide have been burnt or destroyed in military operations since February 2022, representing a more than 1,000-fold increase compared to 2021.
Sagaing was the most affected region, accounting for over 25,500 homes. In an incident on 1 May 2022 in Ah Shey See, Kale Township, Sagaing, satellite images suggest the burning of almost the entire village with 621 structures destroyed. Satellite imagery coupled with interview reports suggest that between 16 and 28 September in Taze Township, Sagaing, the military destroyed 458 houses and damaged another 319 across eight villages during a series of raids and attacks.
The military’s mismanagement of the economy has provoked an economic crisis for much of the population, resulting in the doubling of poverty rates compared to March 2020. Nearly half of the population now lives in poverty, and rural populations are reported to be at risk of starvation as the military imposes further restrictions on access to areas affected by violence and conflict. Compounding the situation, main supply routes and waterways across the country have been blocked, preventing humanitarian actors from reaching 17.6 million people in need.
“The military has also adopted rules, including martial law, intended to target anti-coup opposition and severely restrict the civic space that had significantly contributed to Myanmar’s democratic transition,” Türk said.
“Across Myanmar, people are continuously exposed to violations and crimes, including killings, enforced disappearances, displacement, torture, arbitrary arrests, and sexual violence. There are reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias continue to be responsible for most violations, some of which may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes,” the UN Human Rights Chief said.
To read the full report, click here.
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Press Release
23 February 2023
OIC ASG for Political Affairs and UN Special Envoy on Myanmar discuss the possibility of holding joint international conference to upscale education for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the region, reinforcing calls for urgent international support
The ASG appreciated the UN Special Envoy’s practical approach at a time when concrete solutions were urgently needed and assured her of full cooperation and support from the OIC General Secretariat. He reaffirmed OIC’s firm support for the Rohingya and called for the international community to take more responsibility to ensure the protection of basic rights, including the right to full citizenship, and to create conducive conditions for their voluntary, safe and dignified return. He expressed great concern about the deteriorating security, human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar and its adverse consequences for the Rohingya.
The ASG underscored that the Rohingya issue has been a constant item on the agenda of OIC with full Member State support and further apprised about the status of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case filed by The Gambia, on behalf of OIC, against Myanmar.
The UN Special Envoy highlighted while it has been more than five years since the forced mass exodus from Rakhine State, the Rohingya continue to suffer desperate hardship, including in the recent announcement of ration cuts for Rohingya refugees resulting from a severe funding shortfall amid competing world crises.
The UN Special Envoy underlined that violence and constant fear from an uncertain future because of the lack of progress on addressing the root causes of marginalization has led Rohingya refugees to undertake dangerous sea journeys, with the past year being one of the deadliest. She highlighted interviews conducted with mothers, young women and youth from rescued boats all pointed to a single message: they want a future and education. In this context, she reinforced education is a powerful tool to transform lives, avoid a “lost generation” and enable the Rohingya to become leaders and contributors upon their return to Myanmar.
The Special Envoy reinforced the current situation is unsustainable and called for greater urgency and responsibility-sharing, recognizing Bangladesh’s immense generosity in shouldering a disproportionate responsibility. While the conflict and instability make achieving conditions for safe and voluntary return difficult, there are clear areas now where meaningful progress can be made. In this regard, the ASG expressed his appreciation for her ideas and initiatives aimed at improving the conditions of the Rohingya refugees, indicating that consultations will be held with OIC Member States on this matter.
Both sides renewed their commitment to remain constructively engaged on the issue of the Rohingya.
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Press Release
31 January 2023
MEDIA ADVISORY: As Myanmar crisis enters third year, Special Envoy Heyzer urgently calls for international unity on humanitarian aid, stance on elections and civilian protection
Over the past two years, the military’s disruption of Myanmar’s democratic transition has inflicted enormous damage on the country and people, and led to a multidimensional crisis spanning severe humanitarian, human rights and socio-economic consequences with serious regional ramifications. As of the end of last year, 15.2 million people were food insecure, more than 1.5 million internally displaced and an estimated 34,000 civilian structures had been destroyed since the military takeover. The Rohingya people in refugee camps and those remaining in the country, as well as other marginalized communities, are at heightened risk with 2022 marking one of the deadliest years for people forced to undertake perilous sea journeys.
The Special Envoy renewed the United Nations’ solidarity with the people of Myanmar and the need for protection of all communities, which the United Nations Secretary-General reinforced in his recent statement. She reiterated the Secretary-General’s concern regarding the military’s stated intention to hold elections, which threatens to worsen the violence and instability in the absence of inclusive political dialogue and conditions that permit citizens to freely exercise their political rights without fear or intimidation.
The Special Envoy urgently calls for greater unity and commitment among the international community in three key areas:
First, the international community, and particularly donors and Myanmar’s neighbours, must come together with humanitarian actors including local humanitarian networks to scale up urgently needed assistance to all those in need without discrimination and through all available channels. A commitment to increase levels of cross-border aid, along with more flexible banking and reporting rules, will facilitate humanitarian support to people most in need.
Second, the international community must forge a stronger unified position regarding the military’s potential elections which will fuel greater violence, prolong the conflict and make the return to democracy and stability more difficult.
Third, the international community must implement measures to increase protection for civilians inside Myanmar as well as for Myanmar refugees in the wider region. Such measures could include an on-the-ground monitoring mechanism as part of the implementation of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and its commitment to stop the violence in Myanmar, and regional frameworks for the protection of refugees and forcibly displaced people.
“It is inconceivable any form of peaceful and democratic transition can be initiated by those perpetrating harm on their own citizens,” Special Envoy Heyzer said. “The violence has to stop, including the aerial bombings and burning of civilian infrastructure along with military’s ongoing arrests of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists.”
Guided by her ongoing consultations with women and youth, ethnic, political and community leaders, and refugee representatives, the Special Envoy is focusing on the following four areas: an Inclusive Humanitarian Forum; upscaling access to education for Rohingya refugees and host communities; regional frameworks for the protection of refugees and forcibly displaced people; and advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda in Myanmar.
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Press Release
31 January 2023
Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General - on Myanmar
The Secretary-General welcomes the 21 December 2022 adoption of Security Council Resolution 2669 (2022) as an important step and underlines the urgency for strengthened international unity. As called for by the Security Council, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy will coordinate closely with the new Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair to engage intensively with all relevant parties in Myanmar to achieve an end to the violence and to support a return to democracy.
The Secretary-General is concerned by the military’s stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying aerial bombardment and burning of civilian houses, along with ongoing arrests, intimidation and harassment of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists. Without conditions that permit the people of Myanmar to freely exercise their political rights, the proposed polls risk exacerbating instability.
The United Nations is committed to staying in Myanmar and addressing the multiple vulnerabilities arising from the military’s actions since February 2021. This requires full and unhindered access to all affected communities as well as prioritizing the safety and security of the United Nations agencies and its partners. The Secretary-General renews his call for neighboring countries and other Member States to urge the military leadership to respect the will and needs of the people of Myanmar and adhere to democratic norms.
The Secretary-General is concerned by the military’s stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying aerial bombardment and burning of civilian houses, along with ongoing arrests, intimidation and harassment of political leaders, civil society actors and journalists. Without conditions that permit the people of Myanmar to freely exercise their political rights, the proposed polls risk exacerbating instability.
The United Nations is committed to staying in Myanmar and addressing the multiple vulnerabilities arising from the military’s actions since February 2021. This requires full and unhindered access to all affected communities as well as prioritizing the safety and security of the United Nations agencies and its partners. The Secretary-General renews his call for neighboring countries and other Member States to urge the military leadership to respect the will and needs of the people of Myanmar and adhere to democratic norms.
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