ASEAN Archives - Page 87 of 146 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Activists find illegal logging evidence in protected area in northern Cambodia

Editor2 years ago04 mins

Forest protection activists found more than 200 fallen trees that had been illegally cut down in a vast protected area of northern Cambodia that showed signs of around-the-clock operations, transport trucks, motorcycles and armed security. Activists with the Prey Lang Community Network for Preah Vihear province traveled through the area for four days and three nights in late March. Prime Minister Hun Sen has promised publicly that he would take action to prevent illegal logging in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, which covers land in Preah Vihear, Stung Treng, Kampong Thom and Kratie provinces. He’s even blamed Cambodia’s poor in recent years for the country’s growing loss of forest cover. But activists have said that government authorities have done nothing to prevent supporters of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party from illegally exporting timber to neighboring Vietnam, a major buyer of luxury hard wood. A 2020 survey by researchers at Denmark’s University of Copenhagen showed that Cambodia had lost 26 percent of its tree cover, equivalent to about 5.7 million acres, since 2000, according to satellite imagery Moving timber day and night Activists told Radio Free Asia on Monday that logging transport trucks and motorcycles seen last month carried an identifying logo from the Phnom Penh-based Macle Logistics (Cambodia) Co., Ltd. A Prey Lang community network member, Srey They, said the perpetrators brought wood out of the forest day and night in an area where forest crimes are on the rise. Groups of between five and 10 people – some of them armed – were seen cutting and transporting timber in Preah Vihear’s Rovieng district, he told RFA. “It is very sad that the government has established the protected area, but there are still perpetrators of deforestation for companies,” Srey They said. Illegal logging continues in Cambodia because of compliant government officials, Cambodian Youth Network project coordinator Oath Latin said. “This involves corruption between the timber traders, the perpetrators and the officers who are stationed around the Prey Lang checkpoint,” he said. RFA was unable to contact the director of the Department of Environment, Song Chan Socheat, and the spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, Neth Pheaktra, on Monday, calling several times without an answer. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

New construction spotted on Myanmar island

Editor2 years ago06 mins

New satellite images show renewed construction on a Myanmar archipelago close to India’s strategic islands, raising concerns about China’s geopolitical intentions in the region, a British think tank said. In a report titled “Is Myanmar building a spy base on Great Coco Island?” the independent policy institute Chatham House analyzed a number of satellite images of Coco Islands in the Bay of Bengal, taken in January this year but only recently released by the U.S. space technology firm Maxar Technologies. The archipelago consists of two main islands, Great Coco and Little Coco, and a number of smaller islets including Jerry Island located at the southern tip of Great Coco. They are some 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands where India stations some major military facilities. A map showing the location of the Coco Islands. Credit: GoogleMaps The images “show renewed levels of construction activity on Great Coco,” Chatham House said in a new report. The most recognizable change was the lengthening of the airport runway from 1,300 meters over ten years ago to 2,300 meters. Analysts said the runway was also widened and two new hangars were added. “The width of the hangar appears to be close to 40 meters, limiting the list of aircraft it may eventually accommodate but opening the possibility for high-performance aircraft to be stationed there,” they said. This satellite image shows two aircraft hangars next to the runway at the Coco Island airport. Credit: Maxar Technologies The report’s authors spotted some new buildings to the north of the airport, a radar station and “a large pier is also visible.” In the southern part of the island, a causeway can be seen under construction, connecting the tip of the Great Coco to Jerry Island. Some land clearance is visible on the latter, they said, “indicating the future extension of Great Coco’s facilities.” China’s involvement? Chatham House’s analysis of Maxar’s imagery did not reveal any foreign military presence on Coco Islands, contrary to the rumors that China installed a signals intelligence station here in the early 1990s. The latest images however revealed that “Myanmar may soon be intending to conduct maritime surveillance operations from Great Coco Island.” “Growing evidence suggests Myanmar’s military coup has increased Beijing’s influence in the country,” the report said, pointing to China’s large investment projects in Myanmar that lead to Beijing’s increasing influence over the Tatmadaw, or the Myanmar military. “With the Coco Island developments, India may soon face a new airbase close by in a country increasingly tied to Beijing,” the analysts said, “The militarization of the Coco Islands by the Tatmadaw, combined with the wider Chinese developments occurring inland, could pose a significant security challenge to India and its navy.” Satellite image of a radar station located south of the runway on Great Coco Island, January 2023. Credit: Maxar Technologies The Coco Islands are 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) from the Strait of Malacca, through which around 40% of global trade passes. China has long been interested in securing access to this critical trade route. In 2018, China and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the so-called China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, part of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which China will help Myanmar develop major infrastructure projects including roads, railways, and seaports. There are fears it would increase Myanmar’s economic dependence on China, giving Beijing significant geopolitical leverage. Edited by Mike Firn.

Junta raids kill 2, force 5,000 to flee Sagaing region villages

Editor2 years ago02 mins

Two people have been killed and around 5,000 have abandoned their homes as junta troops raided two villages in Tigyaing township, in Myanmar’s northern Sagaing region, residents told RFA. Locals said that a junta column with more than 70 troops fired heavy artillery and entered Nyaung Pin Thar village on March 30. A 20-year-old woman named Zar Chi Win was killed by a shell. “Zar Chi Win was hit by the junta’s heavy artillery shell and died on March 30, while she was trying to escape,” said a resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “The shell landed in the vicinity of Nyaung Pin Thar village.” Another column with more than 70 troops raided nearby Sit Tan village killing 30-year-old Than Pe Lay as he tried to escape, the local told RFA. “Than Pe Lay was shot dead by a column that entered Sit Tan village on April 2, while he was trying to escape near the village monastery,” he said. On the evening of April 3, the column that entered Nyaung Pin Thar village and the column that entered Sit Tan village combined and left the township.Calls to the military junta spokesman for Sagaing region, Aye Hlaing, went unanswered. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, between Feb. 1, 2021, when the military seized power in a coup, and April 3, 2023, a total of 3,206 people, including pro-democracy activists, were killed by the junta. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Since coup, nearly 450 civilians killed in Myanmar’s eastern Kayah state

Editor2 years ago05 mins

Civilians are being killed at an alarming rate in Myanmar’s civil war, dying in airstrikes, artillery shelling and while being held in detention, data released from an armed ethnic group fighting the junta showed. In the eastern state of Kayah, which borders northern Thailand, some 447 civilians have been killed since the military took control of the country in a coup two years ago, according to the Progressive Karenni People’s Force. About two-third of them were killed after being captured by troops, while the rest died while feeling conflict, said an official with the group who spoke to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity citing security concerns. “The reason why civilians were killed is because they were hit by the junta’s … artillery fire,” he said. “Another reason is the military junta’s airstrikes targeting civilians.” “Some were killed by the military forces after they arrested them, and others died because of insufficient medicine to cure them,” he said. Across the country, some 3,206 civilians have been killed by the junta during the same period, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Fighting has been fierce in the region since the February 2021 coup. The Burmese army has clashed with the ethnic Karenni Army and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force as many as 650 times, he said. War crimes Junta forces have increasingly ignored the rules of war and committed atrocities that amount to war crimes, said Banyar, director of the Karenni Human Rights Organization. “We are witnessing the military council openly committing war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said. “The civilian death rate has increased because the junta is committing crimes against innocent civilians instead of protecting them.” Volunteers in Loikaw, Kayah state, prepare the funeral for civilians killed by Myanmar junta troops, Jan. 27, 2022. Credit: KNDF/B11 Banyar noted that there have been some cases where the anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitary group has killed civilians it accused of acting as informers for the military. The Progressive Karenni People’s Force said it is compiling a list of rights violations committed by the military and will submit it to international rights groups as part of a bid to hold the junta accountable. In addition to civilian deaths, the group said that at least 252 resistance fighters and 1,883 junta soldiers had been killed during the battles, although RFA could not independently confirm the claim. Calls by RFA to Aung Win Oo, the junta’s social affairs minister and Kayah state spokesman, went unanswered Monday. Just last Monday, on Armed Forces Day, junta chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing vowed to “crush” ethnic armed groups supporting the People’s Defense Forces and the shadow National Unity Government. Meanwhile the fighting has driven around 200,000 refugees from their homes in Kayah state since the coup, the Karenni Human Rights Organization said. The displaced are facing food shortages, and that in some cases, camps don’t have access to clean water, leading to diarrhea and other water-borne viruses, said Phu Maw, a volunteer providing medical assistance to refugees in Kayah state. Most of the refugees are suffering from mental health issues, she said. Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Josh Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Hun Sen’s eldest son tops Cambodian ruling party’s candidate list ahead of July vote

Editor2 years ago08 mins

Long tapped as his father’s successor to lead Cambodia, Hun Manet has been put at the top of the list of 12 parliamentary candidates for the Phnom Penh constituency in the July 23 general elections. Before he runs, Hun Manet, 45, the eldest son of Hun Sen, who has ruled since 1985, is expected to resign from the military – per election rules – where he is deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. Hun Manet posted a short video clip to his Facebook page on Monday, saying that Cambodia would remain independent and strengthen ties with all countries around the world – not just China. “Cambodia’s policy today is not being so close to China and not being so close to anyone,” he said. “It stands neutral, but we encourage and are determined to boost up close relationships with all the nations. “That is our correct policy. We get closer to China, the United States and Japan and we get closer to all other nations,” he said. “That’s what we want.” Hun Manet has had extensive experience overseas. A graduate of the elite United States Military Academy at West Point, he holds a masters in economics from New York University and another graduate degree from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaking at a hospital inauguration on Monday, says he will continue to hunt and eliminate opposition groups out of the political arena to protect peace and the constitutional monarchy. Credit: Hun Sen Facebook ‘I have to protect my power’ Speaking at the inauguration of a hospital on Monday, Hun Sen used harsh language to respond to recent criticisms of his leadership and his son. The prime minister seemed to target a Buddhist monk now living in exile in Massachusetts who recently criticized Hun Manet for not being qualified to lead the country. In comments posted on Facebook on Sunday, the Venerable Buth Buntenh also said that if Hun Manet became prime minister, he would only do his father’s bidding. “The black guy, who lives in the U.S. – people would know when I call him the black guy,” Hun Sen said while not using Buth Buntenh’s name. “Last night, he said that Hun Sen fears losing power. What you said is right, the contemptible black guy. I have to protect my power because your people always attempt to kill me, why not let me protect it?” Hun Sen also said he would continue to hunt and eliminate opposition groups – who he accused of committing treason – out of the political arena to protect peace and the constitutional monarchy. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reviews an honor guard with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on March 27, 2023. Credit: Cambodia’s government cabinet/Handout via Reuters Warning to foreign embassies He also cautioned “Cambodia’s foreign friends” who support opposition party groups and politicians. “You have to choose between an individual group that breaks the laws and the government,” he said at the hospital inauguration in Tbong Khmum province. “Please choose one. If you need those who were penalized by law, please do so, and you can then break diplomatic relations from Cambodia.” The ruling CPP and Hun Sen have been working to silence and intimidate opposition figures ahead of the July general elections through a series of arrests and lawsuits. In the most high-profile example, opposition party leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years for treason last month in a court decision that was widely condemned as politically motivated. The charges against Kem Sokha related partly to a video recorded in 2013 in which he discusses a strategy to win power with the help of U.S. experts. The United States Embassy has rejected any suggestion that Washington was trying to interfere in Cambodian politics. Hun Sen also mentioned last week’s visit to Phnom Penh of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. “He declared that the powerful countries should stop interfering into the affairs of other countries,” Hun Sen said. “I fully support him. I’ve got another good counterpart in ASEAN.” Political analyst Kim Sok said Hun Sen’s language on Monday was “undiplomatic.” Foreign embassies in Phnom Penh – such as the United States – are working to cooperate with Cambodia based on a 1991 multinational agreement that formally ended decades of war in the country and paved the way for parliamentary democracy, he said. “They just monitor the situation to see if Cambodia walks in the path of democracy and multi-liberal pluralism, which is enshrined in the Paris Peace Agreements,” he said. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

More than 4,000 villagers forced to flee fighting in Sagaing region

Editor2 years ago03 mins

More than 4,000 residents have been forced out of their homes in six Sagaing region villages due to fighting between the army and local defense forces. The battle broke out Sunday near Pale township’s Hnaw Kan village. Junta troops entered the village on Monday and burned down houses, a resident told RFA on condition of anonymity. “People are fleeing and only seven houses are left in Hnaw Kan village,” the villager said. Hnaw Kan village had more than 200 houses before the attack, residents said. It’s not known which battalion torched the village, but locals said it was an army column with 200 soldiers reinforced by the Pyu Saw Htee militia. They said the troops are now stationed in Pale township’s Min Taing Pin village. The junta has not issued a statement on the incident and calls to Sagaing region junta spokesperson Aye Hlaing went unanswered. In the past the junta’s top spokesperson, Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun said soldiers do not burn civilian homes. Junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing also denied his troops had burned villages, during a meeting with U.N. Special Envoy for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, in August last year. According to independent research group Data for Myanmar, as of March 19, a total of 2,656 houses were destroyed by fire in Pale township, Sagaing region over the more than two years since the military coup. Sagaing region has been hardest hit by junta slash and burn tactics of all the states and regions in Myanmar. Almost 4,400 civilian houses were burned down across the country in March alone, including more than 3,000 houses in Sagaing region, the shadow National Unity Government announced on April 1.

Former prisoner of conscience harassed by Vietnamese police after release

Editor2 years ago07 mins

Vietnamese police have been harassing a former prisoner of conscience released from jail in December 2022 after serving most of a five-year sentence on charges of distributing materials against the state and participating in protests against the government. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, 55, told Radio Free Asia on Friday, that the harassment began after she attended the appeals trial of activists Nguyen Thai Hung and his spouse, Vu Thi Kim Hoang, at the People’s Court in the southern province of Dong Nai on March 29. Authorities asked her to leave the courtroom. On Friday, Dinh Quan district police summoned her and warned her not to attend other trials. They also said policemen would check on her often. “Recently, the police have watched me very closely,” Suong told Radio Free Asia after she met with police. “They came to see me right after I returned home [from the trial]. They said I was not allowed to do this.” At the end of the meeting, a police officer told her: “I’ll visit you every couple of days.” Suong said she did not remember the officer’s name because he was not wearing a name badge. When RFA contacted Dinh Quan district police to verify the information, a staffer asked for the name of the officer for verification. Suong, who said her health has been deteriorating since her release, was convicted in May 2019 under Article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code. The article, which criminalizes “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items” against the state. Violators can be sentenced to from five to 20 years in prison. Suong was freed last Dec. 13 in poor health, 10 months before her jail term ended. Health issues while detained While in prison, Suong had several physical ailments, including liver and kidney swelling, elevated liver enzymes, a bacterial infection in her stomach and thyroid issues. The only treatment she received was the medicine that prison officials gave to all inmates to treat various diseases. “When I took them, my condition got worse,” Suong said. “I remember one time I could not speak because my body was swollen from top to toe, including my mouth and tongue.” Suong said she believes her health deteriorated because she had been subjected to forced labor at Dong Nai police’s B5 temporary detention facility where she was held during the investigation period, and later at An Phuoc Prison, where she was held after an appeals trial. She produced votive paper offerings without protective gear. Suong also said she had not been paid for her labor, though Vietnamese law stipulates that inmates should receive some compensation for labor they perform in jail. While she was at the temporary detention facility from October 2018 to early December 2019, Suong’s family had to bribe staffers so they could get supplies to her, though she never received them after the payments were made, she said. When Suong had a medical check after she was released, her doctor said she was very weak and it would be difficult for her to improve her physical condition because she took too much pain reliever in previous years. RFA could not reach officials at Dong Nai police or An Phuoc Prison for comment. Arrested and charged in 2018 Suong was arrested along with activist Vu Thi Dung in October 2018, and they were both brought to court in the same case for using different Facebook accounts to watch videos and read articles containing anti-state content. They both allegedly called for protests against draft laws on the creation of new special economic zones and cybersecurity, and were said to have incited locals people to take to the streets. The indictment also said that Dung had produced anti-state leaflets and asked Suong to distribute them at four different places in Dinh Quan town of Dong Nai province. Dung was sentenced to six years in prison and will complete her jail term this month. Suong received the Tran Van Ba Award for 2021-2022 along with four other Vietnamese activists — Nguyen Thuy Hanh, Huynh Thuc Vy, Vo An Don and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hanh. Named for a Vietnamese dissident and freedom fighter executed in 1985 on charges of treason and intent to overthrow the government, the award is given annually to Vietnamese in Vietnam in recognition of their courageous action for freedom, democracy, justice and independence for their country. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

Junta jets bomb village in western Myanmar, killing 10

Editor2 years ago010 mins

Two Myanmar military jets bombed a village in western Myanmar on Thursday where there was no fighting, killing at least 10 people and injuring 20 others, according to ethnic rebels and residents. The seemingly unprovoked attack on Khuabung village in Thantlang township in Chin state, near the Indian border, is the military’s latest use of air power in its sprawling offensive against anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitaries and ethnic armies. It’s a tactic that has become increasingly common as the country’s armed resistance makes greater gains. Such attacks are typically undertaken by the military to support troops fighting anti-junta forces with devastating effect. Chin National Front spokesman Salai Htet Ni told RFA Burmese that the strike by the two jets was unprovoked and clearly targeted a civilian population. However, Thantlang is one of several townships under martial law that the junta has targeted with multiple airstrikes since the start of the year. “They attacked this morning [at around 10:00 a.m.] without any battles happening,” Salai Htet Ni said. “They dropped bombs into a civilian village.” At least 10 residents were killed and 20 injured, he said. The airstrike set many of the village’s houses on fire, residents said. Khuabung, around 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the seat of Thantlang township, is home to more than 230 people living in 53 households. Increasing airstrikes According to the Chin Human Rights Organization, the military launched at least 53 airstrikes, dropping more than 140 bombs, on the townships of Mindat, Hakha, Matupi and Thantlang in the first two months of 2023 alone. The strikes killed five members of the Chin National Front and three members of local anti-junta People’s Defense Force, and also injured six civilians. In addition to the strike on Khuabung village on Thursday, the military also used Mi-35 aircraft to bomb areas it suspected were occupied by local PDF groups, the Chin National Front said. The military has yet to issue any statement regarding the bombing of Khuabung and attempts by RFA to reach Thant Zin, the junta’s spokesperson for Chin state, went unanswered on Thursday. A report issued by the U.N. human rights agency earlier this month said that junta airstrikes in Myanmar had more than doubled from 125 in 2021 to 301 in 2022. The report followed a joint statement on March 1 by Amnesty International, Global Witness, and Burma Campaign (U.K.) urging governments to sanction companies that sell jet fuel to the junta to limit the country’s air force. While international sanctions have limited the air force to some extent, former military officials in Myanmar have said they will never be fully effective while powerful countries, such as Russia and China, are backing the junta. Deaths and displacements in Shan state News of the airstrikes on Thantlang came as RFA learned that at least 33 civilians were killed and more than 5,000 displaced from southern Shan state’s townships of Pinlaung, Pekon and Mobye during the first three months of the year alone. Yin Lianghan, a spokesperson for the Shan Human Rights Foundation, said his organization had compiled the statistics after interviewing Buddhist monks displaced by the violence, as well as aid workers in the region. “These people have been severely displaced because of the junta’s heavy artillery shelling and a massacre in the Nam Neint village,” he said, referring to an incident on March 11, in which junta troops killed 21 civilians, including three monks, in a dawn raid on a monastery in Pinlaung before setting fire to the village. “The main reason why they have become refugees is because of the junta’s extrajudicial killing of innocent civilians,” he said. Residents who fled villages in southern Shan state, Myanmar, are seen in the town of Pinlaung, Sunday, March 26, 2023. Credit: Comet social group Junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun has told pro-junta media that the Karenni National Defense Army committed the massacre in Nem Neint village, but the KNDF claims that it was the handiwork of the military. According to Shan Human Rights Foundation, at least two children were among those killed by the military shelling in Pinlaung and Mobye townships since the start of the year.. Tensions rising Khun Bwe Hone, the information officer for the ethnic Pa’O National Defense Force, told RFA that the deaths and displacements occurred amid rising tensions between the military and the ethnic Karrenni Nationalities Defense Force in the three townships, as the junta is preparing a major offensive in the area. “The junta is reinforcing its troops,” he said, noting that most villagers have already left the area in anticipation of the fighting. “Our defense forces have warned them to flee to safety. That’s why they left. This battle is likely to be drawn out because we are determined to fight against the military dictatorship … to the end and the enemy is going to do what it has set out to do, too.” A woman who fled fighting in the area told RFA on condition of anonymity that civilians are pouring into the seat of Pinlaung township from nearby villages to take refuge in camps for the displaced. A monastery and residential homes burn in Nam Neint village, Pinlaung township on March 11, 2023, following a raid by Myanmar junta forces. Credit: Inn Sar Kuu The exact number of refugees is unknown, said aid worker Khun Kyaw Shwe. While the refugees are receiving assistance from social support groups and area residents, they are in “desperate need of medicine,” as well as food and access to clean water, he said. “At the moment, local medical teams are taking care of them with what little medicine they have,” Khun Kyaw Shwe told RFA. “The demand for medicine is quite severe. The refugee camps are dealing with outbreaks of malaria, influenza and respiratory infections.” Only around 20 days of food stores remain for the camps in Pinlaung, he said, urging international donors to help fill the gaps. RFA was unable to reach Khun Thein Maung, the junta’s…

Countries ask UN court to issue opinion on responsibility for climate change

Editor2 years ago09 mins

Should governments be sued for the consequences of human-driven climate change? That, in essence, was the question hatched by law students from Pacific island countries in 2019. Four years later, in what could prove to be a landmark decision, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday asked the U.N.’s judicial arm, the International Court of Justice, to give an opinion on states’ legal obligations to combat climate change. The ICJ’s view, though nonbinding, would “carry enormous legal weight and moral authority,” Vanuatu Prime Minister Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau said in a speech before the ICJ resolution championed by his country was adopted. More than two thirds of countries had signed up as sponsors of the resolution. “We believe the clarity it will bring can greatly benefit our efforts to address the climate crisis and could further bolster global and multilateral cooperation and state conduct in addressing climate change,” Kalsakau said. Pacific island nations such as Vanuatu are among the countries most vulnerable to the extreme weather and sea-level rise that is projected to occur this century as a result of higher average global temperatures. Low-lying atoll nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati are particularly at risk. At a conference in Fiji last year, officials from 15 low-lying Pacific island nations agreed that climate change was their “single greatest existential threat.” More than 130 nations sponsored the U.N. resolution with several including Indonesia, a major polluter, joining in at the last minute. The world’s two largest carbon polluters, the United States and China – rival superpowers that are vying for influence among Pacific island nations and pouring aid money to states in the vast oceanic region – were not among the sponsors. The resolution asks the international court to issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of governments to protect the “climate system” and the environment from global warming, which is driven by human activity. It also wants the court to offer an opinion on what legal consequences stem from those obligations, for countries that cause significant harm to the climate and environment, particularly in relation to small island states. An opinion from the International Court of Justice could add weight to the arguments for developed nations to take more action to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and for compensation for countries worst affected by a warmer climate. It could also be incorporated into national laws or influence courts when they consider lawsuits related to climate change. “If and when given, such an opinion would assist the General Assembly, the U.N. and member states to take the bolder and stronger climate action that our world so desperately needs,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said. The latest yearly report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released earlier this week, said greenhouse gasses released by fossil fuels and other human activity had “unequivocally caused global warming.” The average temperature between 2011-2020 was 1.1 degrees Centigrade higher than 1850-1900. It said the increase in average surface temperature was already contributing to climate and weather extremes around the globe such as heatwaves and droughts and the intensity of rains and tropical cyclones. The internationally agreed goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 C is still achievable though time is running out, the report said. Roemoni Tubivuna and his grandson Roemoni Tubivuna Jr., 10, prepare for a fishing outing at Veivatuloa village, Fiji, July 16, 2022. Leaders of 15 low-lying Pacific island nations declared climate change their “single greatest existential threat” at a mid-July summit in Fiji’s capital, Suva. Facing some of the most direct effects of climate change, they want developed nations, who contributed the most to global warming, not only to curb their emissions but to pay for the steps that islanders must take to protect their people from rising sea levels. Credit: Loren Elliott/Reuters Kalsakau and Guterres, in their speeches to the General Assembly on Wednesday, acknowledged the law students who provided much of the initial impetus for the effort to seek the ICJ opinion. “We are just ecstatic that the world has listened to the Pacific youth and has chosen to take action. From what started in a Pacific classroom four years ago,” Cynthia Houniuhi, one of the students and now president of the group, said in a statement. A decade earlier, the Pacific island nation of Palau had indicated it would ask the General Assembly to seek an ICJ advisory opinion but its initiative didn’t advance. The 27 students, from numerous Pacific island countries, were studying law at the University of South Pacific campus in Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, when they developed the idea, according to Lavetanalagi Seru, regional policy coordinator at the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network based in Suva, Fiji. They formed a civil society organization, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, whose main goal was to convince governments to seek the advisory opinion, based around a question that would develop new international law combining climate change and legal obligations stemming from environmental treaties and basic human rights. The effort reflected frustration that the pledges made by countries to reduce emissions that cause higher global temperatures were “utterly insufficient,” according to the group’s campaign materials. Seru said it would likely take two to three years for the world court, based in The Hague, to issue an opinion. “It’s not really to push the blame,” he told BenarNews, “but to strengthen the understanding of what exactly is the role of states to protect the rights of current and future generations and what is the basic minimum that countries must do in order to protect those rights.” BenarNews, an online news service affiliated with Radio Free Asia (RFA), produced this report.

Interview: Indonesian special office to ‘steer ASEAN’s efforts’ on Myanmar

Editor2 years ago015 mins

U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet recently returned from a trip to Southeast Asia with stops that included Bangkok and Jakarta. During his visit to Indonesia, Chollet spoke with officials about their country’s role as this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, and the establishment of a special office within its foreign ministry to focus on the political crisis in fellow bloc member Myanmar. At the end of January, Chollet described Washington’s goal as being to “foster conditions that end the current crisis” in Myanmar and return the country to “the path of inclusive, representative multiparty democracy.” Amid frustration over the lack of progress in Myanmar and ASEAN’s handling of the crisis, Chollet claimed that sanctions leveled against the junta for its violent repression of the opposition “have had some effect,” reducing its sources of funding. But he acknowledged that more needs to be done, including ending the “steady pipeline of arms” that continues to enter the country and which the junta has used against its people. Chollet sat down with RFA Burmese’s Ye Kaung Myint Maung on Monday to discuss how the United States is working to achieve its goal in Myanmar both unilaterally and through cooperation with partners in the region. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. RFA Burmese: What can you tell me about your trip to Southeast Asia last week? Chollet: I was able to talk to our partners in Indonesia about their ASEAN chair year and some of their aspirations for that year. They have established a special office inside the foreign ministry to focus on the crisis in Myanmar and help steer ASEAN’s efforts when it comes to addressing the crisis in Myanmar. They have named a very senior diplomat to lead that office. Someone who is very well known to us here in the United States … I had a chance to speak with him as well as Foreign Minister [Retno] Marsudi about the situation in Myanmar. And some of their thinking about how they’re going to try to achieve some results. So we talked about all sorts of issues related to the crisis, whether it’s our work to help provide humanitarian assistance to the refugees in and across the border from Myanmar into Thailand to ways that we’re going to work together with ASEAN to try to continue to pressure the junta, to further isolate them and to do what we can to support the democratic opposition inside Myanmar. RFA Burmese: So what would be the [role] of that office in Indonesia? Chollet: They are looking to help coordinate efforts on behalf of Indonesia for ASEAN in this chair year and it’s including trying to lead the diplomatic efforts that ASEAN is undertaking and implement the five point consensus [agreed to in April 2021 at an emergency meeting to end violence in Myanmar], to setting up a process to provide greater humanitarian assistance through the [ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance] into Myanmar, to coming up with a work plan for how to use the coming year with key leadership meetings with ministers meetings and, of course, eventually with the summit later this year to try to get some important decisions made through ASEAN about Myanmar – all in the service of trying to implement the five point consensus. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, shown in this file photo, spoke with US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet about the situation in Myanmar. Indonesia is the current chair of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Credit: Associated Press RFA Burmese: What updates do you have on U.S. assistance for the people of Myanmar as mandated by the Burma Act? Chollet: We are working every day to implement the measures of the Burma Act. And we are one of the largest, if not the largest, donor of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar. We work intensively through our embassy in [Yangon] to provide humanitarian assistance and also to provide non-lethal assistance to the pro-democratic opposition and help them on everything from planning to budgeting to administration, particularly in areas which are now about 50% of the country that fall outside the [junta’s] control. So we find it very important that we have this support, bipartisan support, on Capitol Hill and are regularly in touch with our Congress on the way forward in implementing the Burma Act. RFA Burmese: The establishment of the special office – do you think it’s significant and why? Chollet: Previous chairs of ASEAN, Brunei and Cambodia, [have acted as] foreign ministers and special envoys … They were worried about managing the ASEAN agenda across the board. They have to participate in many meetings all around the world, in addition to their ASEAN duties and in addition to their concerns about Myanmar. So I think it makes a lot of sense to have this special office. It’s ensuring that there is high-level focused attention on the situation inside Myanmar. And they’re good partners of the United States. Russian and Chinese influence RFA Burmese: You said, during your trip, that Russian arms support for the junta is destabilizing the entire region. So what can you tell me about what the U.S. is doing to counter that Russian support? Chollet: We are making very clear to all of our partners that that support is unacceptable. We are also trying to make it harder for the junta to get the resources to acquire weapons that are fueling its war machine. Just last week, on Friday, when I returned from the trip, the United States announced another round of sanctions against several individuals and entities inside Myanmar that are associated with its acquisition of arms and particularly air power. Because what we’re seeing is the junta is increasingly using air power to go after the opposition because they’re finding that they’re less successful when they’re using ground forces. Myanmar junta leader Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing sits in the cockpit of a newly acquired Russian SU-30 SME…

Category: ASEAN