Human Rights and Democracy Report 2017 - Burma

The human rights situation in Burma deteriorated sharply in 2017, with the crisis in Rakhine State dominating the second half of the year. The UK continued to have serious concerns about human rights, including ethnic cleansing, restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and a lack of accountability for human rights violations and abuses. Clashes between the military and ethnic armed organisations continued in Kachin and Shan States. The authorities continued to restrict humanitarian access, and there were continued reports of human rights violations and abuses by state actors, including torture, sexual violence, and the use of civilians as human shields. There have been some positive steps: Burma ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in October and introduced minor reforms to laws regulating speech and assembly.

The situation in Rakhine State was the UK's human rights priority in Burma in 2017. In the first two months of the year, military operations continued in northern Rakhine following violence in October 2016. At the peak of military operations in January, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 22,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh in one week.

Partly in response to the situation in Rakhine State, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in March adopted a resolution, which the UK co-sponsored, extending the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Burma for a further year. In light of serious concerns about human rights violations by military and security forces, and abuses by non-state actors, the HRC established an independent international Fact Finding Mission.

Burma disassociated itself from the resolution. In December, the Burmese government denied UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee access to the country and withdrew all cooperation for the duration of her tenure. Burma also denied access to the Fact Finding Mission.

In late August, an attack by members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on police posts triggered a massively disproportionate response by the Burmese military. This was against a historical backdrop of persecution and restrictions on citizenship and movement for the Rohingya within Burma. The ensuing violence against the Rohingya, committed by the military and by ethnic Rakhine, caused more than 688,000 to flee from Burma to Bangladesh. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid

Ra'ad Al Hussein, called this "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing." The UK was the first country to respond with humanitarian support in Bangladesh, pledging £59 million to support the latest influx of refugees.

In December, the HRC held a Special Session on the situation of the human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. The UK co-sponsored a resolution condemning the "alleged systematic and gross violations of human rights and abuses" committed in Burma, in particular in Rakhine State, and called on the Government of Burma to cooperate fully with the Fact Finding Mission.

Human rights violations by state actors in Rakhine included murder, sexual violence, and systematic burning of Rohingya homes. A Médecins Sans Frontières report in mid-December estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed during the first month of violence. There were consistent reports of widespread and systematic use of sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls, including mass rape. The UK worked in Bangladesh to improve outreach and identification relating to gender-based violence, case management and support, and to ensure that reported incidents of gender-based violence were referred to appropriate medical care. For example, the UK funded the UNFPA to support counselling and psychological support, and supported the International Organization for Migration to operate five mobile medical teams and five health posts.

In January 2017, U Ko Ni, a prominent rights and democracy activist, constitutional lawyer, and legal advisor for the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was assassinated. The trial of the three suspects arrested for his murder has lasted over a year. The authorities' failure to apprehend the main suspect, a former military officer, raises questions about the state's determination to safeguard human rights defenders and prevent impunity. The British Embassy followed events closely and will continue to do so in 2018.

In February, the government signed the Paris Principles on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups. This committed Burma to the protection of children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces and groups.

In June, the military released 67 child soldiers. However, in August, the military prosecuted a former child solider who spoke publicly about his experiences. In March, the ILO discussed the labour rights situation in Burma. The Labour Ministry asked for cooperation in eliminating child labour, and met experts and employers to discuss establishing a new minimum wage.

Journalists and civil society continued to raise concerns about restrictions to freedom of expression in Burma. Activists and journalists, including those who have criticised the NLD government or the military, were arrested, imprisoned and fined under section 66(d) of the 2013 Telecommunications Act, which provides for up to three years in prison for "extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening any person using a telecommunications network." Free Expression Myanmar released a report, which stated that there had been at least 95 criminal complaints made under the Act, most of them related to defamation online since the current government took office. In August, parliament amended the Act to permit judges to release people on bail, and reduce the maximum prison sentence to two years for a range of offences under section 66. Those who oppose the law say that the amendments did little to reduce the restrictions on free expression.

In December, two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were charged under the Official Secrets Acts after being accused of accepting "important secret papers" from two police officers. This, along with other arrests, created a climate of fear and uncertainty among journalists within Burma. The UK raised concerns with the Burmese authorities about the arrests and their effect on freedom of the media. In 2017, the UK regularly pressed the Burmese authorities to grant unrestricted access to northern Rakhine State for media and international observers. Within Burma, widespread prejudicial attitudes towards the Rohingya restricted free and independent coverage of the humanitarian crisis and of human rights violations.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma, as of December, 46 political prisoners are serving sentences in prison, with 190 awaiting trial: 52 in prison and 138 on bail. Addressing this issue will require systemic reform of the police and judiciary, as well as of the legal framework underpinning such arrests and charges.

The peace process made little progress in the second half of 2017. The third national peace conference due to be held in December was postponed.

Fighting between the Burmese military and ethnic armed groups intensified in Kachin and Shan States, and, in early November, fighting also broke out in southern Chin State. Tens of thousands of civilians were internally displaced.

We welcome the progress in achieving gender parity with regard to access to basic education. However, there are significant underlying problems which limit the improvements in education for women and girls, particularly in rural areas. DFID's education programmes in Burma work to ensure equal access to a quality education for both boys and girls. In Burma DFID has allocated £37.5 million through the UK Partnership for Education.

Looking ahead to 2018, the UK stands ready to help the Government of Burma in implementing the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. The UK also welcomes the establishment of an international advisory board. Any returns of refugees to Burma must be safe, voluntary and dignified and have independent monitoring by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Humanitarian support to refugees in Bangladesh, through DFID, totalled £59 million in 2017. In 2018, we will continue funding important projects on freedom of expression and preventing sexual violence, while expanding our work to help tackle hate speech and other underlying drivers of inter-communal tensions.