Category: World

The Thai army in March destroyed a footbridge used by refugees fleeing attacks in eastern Myanmar, a human rights group alleged this week, but the military claimed Wednesday that it had dismantled the structure to stop cross-border crime. On Tuesday, Fortify Rights released video footage that shows uniformed soldiers dismantling the small footbridge made of bamboo over the Wa Le (also known as the Waw Lay) River, a tributary of the Moei River, at the Thai-Myanmar frontier. The makeshift walkway connected Thailand’s Tak Province with Myanmar’s Karen State, where the junta’s forces have allegedly killed civilians in recent months amid nationwide post-coup turmoil. In a statement, the Bangkok-based group called on the Thai government “to investigate the recent destruction by its soldiers of a makeshift cross-border footbridge used by refugees fleeing deadly attacks in eastern Myanmar.” Thai authorities should also “ensure any investigation into the situation on the border is aimed at protecting refugee rights, not further violating them,” said Amy Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights. “Arbitrary arrests and the destruction of this footbridge demand urgent attention.” The group confirmed that the video was filmed two months ago, adding it had obtained the 16-minute clip filed from the Myanmar side of the border and uploaded a shorter clip to YouTube. In the video, people speaking a Karen language and a crying infant child can be heard off-camera. In another clip from the video, a soldier asks, “What are you filming, [Expletive]. You want to die?” The exact date and time for when the footage was filmed were on file with Fortify Rights, the group said.  “Sources familiar with the bridge and the area told Fortify Rights that Myanmar refugees, especially children and older people, used the bridge to flee violence and persecution and that informal humanitarian workers used it to transport lifesaving aid from Thailand to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar,” it said. On Wednesday, the Thai army’s regional command, the 3rd Army Area, responded to the allegations made by Fortify Rights and the video, which the group had circulated through social media. “The video clip depicting Thai soldiers breaking off a cross-border bamboo bridge was taken before the fighting inside of Myanmar flared up, and the bridge was illegal,” the army’s regional command said in a statement. “The bridge demolition has nothing to do with the migration of displaced persons … it was conducted following an order by the Tak border authorities to prevent illegal groups from doing their criminal activities,” the statement said, without saying what these criminal activities were. The statement claimed that the bamboo bridge had been illegally constructed and was destroyed before fighting with Karen rebels flared. “At that time, there was no fighting between Myanmar soldiers and ethnic minority force, and there were no displaced people,” it said. Long frontier Thailand shares a long history and 2,400-km (1,500-mile) border with Myanmar. The military said Thailand was delivering humanitarian aid to more than 1,500 Myanmar displaced people in four camps in Um Phang district. The Karen have been crossing the border since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup when Burmese Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing toppled the country’s democratically elected government, threw its civilian leaders in jail, and then turned military forces and police on his own people who have been protesting the junta’s actions. The Myanmar military has launched attacks throughout the country, including regions along the Thai frontier. Government security forces have killed at least 1,821 civilians – many of them pro-democracy protesters – throughout Myanmar since the coup happened, according to a tally compiled by the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Across the border, Thai authorities have been accused of forcing thousands of refugees to return to Myanmar after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha ordered them to prevent “illegal immigration.” Additional video Fortify Rights said it obtained other video footage from Jan. 25, before the Thai soldiers allegedly destroyed the footbridge. The video shows at least 45 people, including women and children using the footbridge or lining up to cross the river. The group also alleged that Thai authorities had arbitrarily arrested and extorted refugees in the border town of Mae Sot. Fortify Rights described how refugees were forced to pay officials to avoid being arrested. “Since February 2022, Fortify Rights interviewed 15 Myanmar refugees on the Thailand-Myanmar border, including seven women, as well as three U.N. officials and four humanitarian aid workers in Thailand,” the statement said. “[F]irsthand testimonies collected by Fortify Rights reveal how Thai authorities have arbitrarily arrested, detained, and allegedly extorted money from Myanmar refugees within the last year.” It also noted that on April 8, the Associated Press reported that “police cards” were sold in Mae Sot through middlemen for an average monthly cost of 350 baht (U.S. $10). The refugees made the purchases under the belief the cards would “help them avoid arrest.” “The Thai government should create a formal nationwide system to issue identification cards to refugees that provide genuine protection,” Smith said in the release. “Such a process would help prevent extortion and other abuses and provide critical information on new arrivals to Thailand.” On Wednesday, Thai government authorities did not immediately respond to BenarNews’ request for comment – but Thai police announced last month that they would investigate the scheme. Activists’ concerns Activists, meanwhile, said Thailand should treat the refugees with respect. The Thai military should be more responsible for the refugees, said the person who coordinates the Burma Concern Project at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand. “I feel bad that the military is giving a terrible reason like this. We have seen this happen again and again,” said Thanawat, who goes by one name. “Even though we see some attempt to aid the refugees, behind the scenes, they are also pushing them back the refugees by not welcoming them like this.” According to another activist, the Thai government did not implement United Nations-supported procedures to deal with the refugees. “They have always let the security agencies take care of the refugees…

Myanmar’s junta on Tuesday poured cold water on calls from Malaysia for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks with the National Unity Government (NUG), calling the parallel, civilian administration that opposes military rule “terrorists groups.” Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah last month revealed he’d had contact in mid-February with the shadow government, the first ASEAN country to acknowledge such an interaction. He was responding to calls from ASEAN lawmakers urging the bloc to “immediately and publicly meet with the NUG.” More than a week later the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar quoted the junta’s foreign ministry as saying it “protests and rejects” the Malaysian foreign minister’s remarks, because “they could abet terrorism and violence in the country, hampering the Myanmar Government’s anti-terrorism efforts and infringe international agreements related to combatting terrorism.” The junta, which overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, has branded opponents of military rule as terrorists. The military regime has jailed Aung San Suu Kyi among thousands of political prisoners and killed 1,800 people, mostly anti-coup protesters. “The Ministry cautions the government officials and parliamentarians of Malaysia against making contacts or communicating as well as providing support and assistance to those terrorist groups and their representatives in future,” the junta ministry statement said. Last October, Saifuddin, Malaysia’s outspoken foreign minister had said he would open talks with the NUG if the junta kept stonewalling in cooperating with ASEAN’s conflict resolution efforts. The rebuff to Malaysia came a day after Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry said Prime Minister Hun Sen had urged the Myanmar junta to allow ASEAN’s special envoy to visit and meet deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In a video conference Sunday, Hun Sen called on Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to allow the meetings and take other steps to implement a five-point agreement the junta leader reached between ASEAN’s foreign ministers in April 2021. Cambodia is the current rotating chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Hun Sen visited Myanmar in January and met Min Aung Hlaing and urged steps to resolve the political crisis sparked by his coup. Hun Sen requested “further cooperation in facilitating the second visit to Myanmar by the ASEAN Chair’s Special Envoy special chairs envoy, possibly at the end of May,” the ministry said. “He reemphasized the importance of access for the Special Envoy to meet all parties concerned in Myanmar, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint, for creating (a) conducive environment to start an inclusive political dialogue,” the ministry said. Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint are in detention and undergoing trial in military courts for what supporters say are politically motivated charges. The Cambodian statement said Min Aung Hlaing had “pledged to facilitate meetings with other parties concerned.” Asked by RFA about Hun Sen’s appeal, junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun did not give a definite answer about the envoy meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, instead focusing on peace talks and meetings with leaders of ethnic groups with longstanding conflicts with the army that pre-date the coup and have little bearing on the current crisis. The previous visit in March to Myanmar by the ASEAN envoy, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, “discussed mainly him meeting with the relevant ethnic armed groups on his next visit,” the spokesman said. Little meaningful progress has been made on the five-point agreement, which included an end to violence, the provision of humanitarian assistance, an ASEAN envoy’s appointment, all-party dialogue, and mediation by the envoy. Kyaw Htwe, a senior member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, said the ASEAN envoy was not likely to meet the 76-year-old Nobel laureate. “In the current situation, based on the violence they have meted out on the country, I don’t think the military will have the guts to allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint to meet with the ASEAN special envoy,” he told RFA. But political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe said Min Aung Hlaing might try to “find a way out” of its isolation by granting assess to the detained leader. “He might give the envoy a chance because of the current domestic crisis and his political dilemma, especially when the people and the world are all against him,” he told RFA. Bo Hla Tint, the NUG’s special representative to ASEAN, urged all diplomatic partners to reconsider their approach and talk to the civilian leaders. “We urge the United States and the European Union and the world community to work for a more pragmatic solution through direct coordination with NUG, a nationally recognized government,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “It is clear that efforts to find a solution centered on the ASEAN Five-Point Agreement cannot get any results.” Myanmar will be on the agenda of a May 12-13 summit between the U.S. and leaders of ASEAN, where the White House is keen to advance its vision of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific and discuss efforts to counter Chinese influence. Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

The son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen defended press freedom at an event marking World Press Freedom Day in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, ignoring his father’s crackdown on journalists who have criticized his government. Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, an army commander expected eventually to succeed his long-ruling father, glossed over increasing restrictions on press freedom and civil rights in the country Hun Sen has ruled since 1985. “As Prime Minister Hun Sen stated in his statement, the royal government is committed to protect freedom of expression, press freedom and promote cooperation between the government and press institutions that is vital for the country’s development,” Hun Manet, 42, said as his father’s representative at the event, which was attended by more than 100 journalists, Cambodian news outlet VOD reported. World Press Freedom Day was created by UNESCO in 1991 to highlight the importance a free press plays in society. This year’s theme, “Journalism Under Digital Siege,” is designed to spotlight how developments in monitoring and surveillance technologies affect journalism and freedom of expression. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based group, ranked Cambodia 142 out of 180 countries and territories in its 2022 World Press Freedom Index released Tuesday. “Worried by the possibility that he might have to give up power after more than 30 years in office, Hun Sen went after the press mercilessly ahead of parliamentary elections in July 2018,” RSF said. “Radio stations and newspapers were silenced, newsrooms purged, journalists prosecuted — leaving the independent media sector devastated. Since then, the few attempts to bring independent journalism back to life have drawn the wrath of ruling circles,” the annual report said. But in his speech, Hun Manet insisted that his father’s government views the press as an ally in creating a better-functioning society. The government has prioritized its policy on the press to allow its participation in fighting corruption and promoting democracy and respect for human rights to create a just society, peace and development, Hun Manet said. “Of course, we have criticisms against the government that we’ve restricted press freedom,” he said. “The allegation is groundless and doesn’t reflect the truth. Cambodia has a pluralistic government that respects freedom of expression and freedom of the press.” Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said at the event that the government was disappointed with reports criticizing the government. He claimed that NGOs that are not registered as news organizations produce the negative reports based on the wishes of their donors. But he didn’t provide evidence to support the claim. Government pressure Sun Narin, Voice of America’s reporter in Cambodia, told RFA on Tuesday that Hun Manet did not take questions at the event. He also said the press cannot write what they want, even though freedom of expression is enshrined in the country’s constitution. “There are pressures from the government,” Sun Narin said. “I have observed that [journalists] are afraid of the government.” He said that he and other journalists are advocating for a law that would make the government more transparent. “We don’t have documents now,” he said. “It is difficult to get statistics. It is hard to find information.” Hun Manet’s speech came a day after two dozen organizations, press associations, journalists and NGOs held a conference in Phnom Penh to discuss the deteriorating situation of press freedom in Cambodia. Nop Vy, executive director of the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, said the government must ensure that Cambodians get the information they need to make informed decisions in the country’s local elections on June 5. “Receiving information is essential and getting real information is even more important to make improvements to the quality of life and to the democratic process that ensures the participation of the people,” he said. “As Cambodia prepares for next month’s elections and the 2023 elections, the government should ensure that information flows to every citizen, and all the harassment against journalists must not continue.” In Cambodia, journalists still face persecution, intimidation, violence, arrests and pretrial detention for their work, Nop Vy said. Free press advocates want Cambodia’s government to end impunity for crimes against journalists, including physical assaults and murder, by bringing the perpetrators and accomplices to justice. They also want the country’s Information Ministry to reissue revoked media licenses and to expedite the passage of a Right to Information Act, they said. Meas Sophorn, secretary of state and Information Ministry spokesman, said the government was committed to ensuring further protections for respecting freedoms of the press and expression. Translated by Samean Yun and Sok Ry Sum for RFA’s Khmer Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.