International Human Rights Day
“Let the next international human rights day be one in which the people of Myanmar see the victory of Spring Revolution and the full realization of human rights in a new federal democratic Myanmar.”
The passing of International Human Rights Day on 10 December, 2021, only saw the worsening of the human rights situation, giving the people of Myanmar no reprieve from the ongoing horrific violence committed by the military junta. The façade of democracy collapsed in the wake of the attempted coup d’etat and led to ferocious conflict, humanitarian crisis and COVID-19 catastrophe caused by the junta which has left the people of Myanmar with deep scars. Yet, the Spring Revolution has endured this onslaught and persists after over 10 months since the attempted coup, through silent strikes and other ingenious forms of political defiance.
Over the past few weeks, the junta has been intensifying indiscriminate attacks on civilians and ruthlessly killing people at will. They sadistically killed 11 people, burning them alive in Don Taw, Sagaing Region including four youth, one as young as 14 years old. On 7 December, the military junta went through Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township, indiscriminately shooting at civilians, murdering a five-year-old girl. This was the same township where six-year-old girl, Khin Myo Chit, was shot dead by military personnel in her father’s lap in their home in March. The number of children killed by the military junta since the attempted coup is at least 100. While the UN Secretary General expressed his deep concern and strong condemnations in response to the Don Taw Massacre, it falls well short of the action that is urgently needed to save the people on the ground. As these atrocities are mounting, continuous pressure and increasing actions are needed – not the same statements that expect different outcomes.
On 10 December, silent strikes took place nationwide in a mass display of unity in complete defiance against the military junta. This mass silence campaign urged the people of Myanmar to stay home and refuse to go to work. Photos and videos flooded social media of scenes of deserted streets, malls, shops and markets nationwide. Military junta forces were traveling around threatening shopkeepers to open or face fines or prison, but the people refused, at great risk to their personal safety. This strike came after renewed fury among the public in the aftermath of the Don Taw Massacre and after junta personnel killed five people and injured eight people by ramming a military vehicle into a crowd of peaceful protesters in Yangon on 5 December.
The people of Myanmar have forged a strong, decentralized and grassroots revolution against the tyrannical military junta, unifying people of diverse backgrounds, including religious, ethnic, women and LGBTQI groups, striving for a genuine federal democracy that realizes human rights, justice and equality. The international community must listen to the voices of the people of Myanmar, their calls for support in defeating the illegal murderous junta. In a recent statement, 255 Myanmar civil society organizations called on UN Agencies, Funds, Programmes and Other Entities to cease all forms of cooperation that lends legitimacy to the military junta, including signing memorandums of understanding (MoU). “Partnering with the junta through an MoU compromises the UN’s ability to promote and protect human rights by emboldening the junta to continue its grave human rights violations and giving it leverage to advance its craven political and military goals,” said the groups.
In another statement, 116 Mandalay civil society organizations have blacklisted any INGOs and NGOs that cooperate, sign MoUs or operate under the directives of the terrorist military junta. “As the terrorist military council is the root cause of the humanitarian crisis, who are inhumanely and indiscriminately killing people and blocking humanitarian aid, there can be no effective assistance for the people of Myanmar,” said the groups. The groups called on INGOs and NGOs to adhere to the principle of ‘Do No Harm’ and human rights standards, which would preclude them from working with the junta.
Businesses must also ensure they comply with their international obligation to uphold human rights in their engagement in Myanmar. Last week, the US District Court overturned a decision by the Magistrates’ Court which compelled Facebook to disclose data and communications in the leadup to, and during, the Rohingya genocide that would aid in the Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Deplorably, Facebook appealed the decision on 22 September, 2021 by the Magistrates Court, persisting in withholding information that would assist in international justice and accountability efforts, not only at the ICJ but potentially with other international accountability mechanisms. Rohingya, frustrated with the roadblocks towards achieving international accountability, are valiantly forging their own path. In a separate court filing, over 10,000 Rohingya have lodged a class-action suit against Facebook, alleging they were negligent when Facebook failed to stop the spread of hate speech on their platform and their algorithm amplified and inflamed vitriol against Rohingya and Muslims, seeking 150 billion USD in compensation.
With all these abhorrent acts of violence committed by the Myanmar military, the international community must not become complacent and must implement stronger and immediate actions against the military junta. This attempted coup does not exist inside a vacuum but forms part of the continuation of decades and decades of horrific human rights violations and atrocity crimes committed by the same military – which has been able to enjoy blanket impunity and never been brought to justice. Let the next international human rights day be one in which the people of Myanmar see the victory of Spring Revolution and the full realization of human rights in a new federal democratic Myanmar.
To achieve this, exceptional measures must be taken by the international community. The US, UK and Canada imposing new targeted sanctions on 10 December against the junta show further concrete coordinated action that are wholeheartedly welcome, but further and stronger actions must be taken. The US government must compel Facebook to disclose information to assist in securing justice and accountability for Rohingya and other Muslims. The US Congress must pass the Burma Act 2021 to further restrict the junta’s ability to financially fuel their terror campaign against the people of Myanmar and to provide essential humanitarian aid. ASEAN, another key player, must commit to supporting the people’s resistance on the ground and must work with the National Unity Government. ASEAN must not weaken their stance against the junta and not allow Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen to act alone, further damaging its credibility, as Cambodia takes the ASEAN’s Chair for 2022. Hun Sen should cancel his scheduled visit to Myanmar, as the military junta has made no attempts to end it’s brutal campaign of terror. The UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, that endorsed the role of ASEAN in the Myanmar crisis, must ensure Cambodia complies with its international obligation and not lend any legitimacy to the Myanmar junta.
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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
By 116 Mandalay-based Civil Society Organizations Network
By 116 Mandalay-based Civil Society Organizations Network
By 255 Civil Society Organizations
By 255 Civil Society Organizations
Joint Statement: Rohingya Denounces ARSA
By 22 Rohingya Organizations
Burma Campaign UK Welcomes New UK, US and Canadian Sanctions on Burmese Military
By Burma Campaign UK
Two Myanmar journalists injured, arrested while covering anti-military protest
By Committee to Protect Journalists
Chinland Joint Defense Committee ၏ သတိပေးထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
By Chinland Joint Defense Committee
ချောင်းဦးမြို့နယ်ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့ ၏ ပြည်သူသို့ အသိပေးတင်ပြခြင်း
By Chaung U People’s Defence Force
တိုက်ပွဲသတင်း(၁၆/၂၀၂၁) ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာခြင်း
By Chaung U People’s Defence Force
U.N. Security Council: Take Urgent Action Against Myanmar Military Junta
By Fortify Rights
Canada gravely concerned over Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint convictions
By Government of Canada
Canada imposes additional sanctions on entities affiliated with Myanmar military regime
By Government of Canada
Press statement on new lawsuit against Facebook
By Global Witness
By Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi Sentenced
By Human Rights Watch
Myanmar: Two reporters attacked while covering anti-regime protest
By International Federation of Journalists
KHRG: Statement on Human Rights Day, 2021
By Karen Human Rights Group
By National Unity Government
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ကျန်းမာရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်အမှတ် (၁၄/၂၀၂၁)
By National Unity Government (Ministry of Health)
By National Unity Government (Ministry of Planning, Finance and Investment)
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ပြည်ထောင်စုဝန်ကြီးချုပ်ရုံး ကြေညာချက်အမှတ် (၅/၂၀၂၁)
By National Unity Government (Office of the Prime Minister of the Union)
“Theatre of the absurd”: UN human rights expert denounces Suu Kyi sentence
By Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
By Progressive Voice, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights and Global Justice Center
By Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
On the Conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi
By United States Department of State
The United States Promotes Accountability for Human Rights Violations and Abuses
By United States Department of State
New UK sanctions target human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar and Pakistan
By United Kingdom (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
Security Council Press Statement on Myanmar
By United Nations
Reports
By Human Rights Foundation of Monland
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”
