Genocide Watch Alert: Burma/Myanmar   Genocide Watch is issuing a genocide alert on the continuing plight of the Rohingya in the Rakhine state of Western Myanmar. Myanmar, formerly Burma, is now embarking on a transition under the leadership of President Thein Sein after more than six decades of military rule. However, while the newly opened trade markets of the resource rich country have attracted scores of lucrative foreign direct investments,

US Secretary of State Kerry urges further reforms in Myanmar Mathew Lee, The Washington Post  May 22 2016  Image: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, poses with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for a photo during a meeting in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, May 22, 2016. Kerry on Sunday urged Myanmar’s new civilian-led government to complete the Southeast Asian nation’s transition to democracy by implementing

Aung San Suu Kyi Asks U.S. Not to Refer to ‘Rohingya’  RICHARD C. PADDOCK, The New York Times 6 May 2016 Image: The Rohingya, Muslims in a Buddhist land, are reviled by the majority. They have lived in Myanmar for generations but are denied many basic rights. CreditTomas Munita for The New York Times BANGKOK — Myanmar recognizes 135 ethnic groups within its borders. But the people who constitute No. 136? They are the people-who-must-not-be-named.

US defies Myanmar government request to stop using term Rohingya Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this story, The Guardian  11 May 2016   Image: US ambassador Scot Marciel in Yangon says he will continue to use the term Rohingya, despite objections from the Myanmar government. Photograph: Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images   The new ambassador of the United States to Myanmar said he would keep using the term Rohingya for the persecuted

A Fight Over Words Strains Burgeoning U.S.- Myanmar Ties Henry Johnson, Foreign Policy 10 May 2016 image:  CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images The Obama administration has heralded Aung San Suu Kyi’s success in bringing democracy to Myanmar. But a dispute over how to describe the country’s persecuted Muslim population may lowball expectations for what she can achieve. On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel said he would refer

Image: A Gathering of Bloggers – The Why About This, One United World. retrieved from www.thewhyaboutthis.com Burma/Myanmar: The first bill proposed by the incoming government of Myanmar’s new Parliament, led by the National League for Democracy, created a new position in the government for Aung San Suu Kyi, that of state counsellor. This position, one that has been compared to that of a Prime Minister, would skirt the constitutional ban

Report: Advancing Atrocities Prevention in Southeast Asia   The mission of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect is to deepen knowledge and advance policy on the Responsibility to Protect principle and mass atrocities prevention and response in the Asia Pacific region.   On 4-6 November, 9-11 November 2015, and 7-9 December 2015, the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP) and the Asia-Pacific

Image: Cultural Responses to Pain. How Is Suffering Expressed Around the World? Burma/Myanmar: The outgoing government of Myanmar lifted a curfew in Rakhine State this week, imposed in June 2012 after clashes that displaced over 140,000, mostly Rohingya.   U Htin Kyaw of the National League for Democracy was sworn in on Wednesday as the new president of Myanmar. In his speech, Mr. Htin Kyaw urged “patience in the pursuit of democracy”,

United States: Assign Tier-3 Rankings to Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia in Annual Trafficking Report Objective rankings critical to end abuses, promote progress     22 March 2106 Rohingya refugee shows receipt of money paid to a human trafficker, Malaysia (©FortifyRights, 2015) (Washington, D.C., March 22, 2016)—The U.S. Department of State should assign the governments of Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia the lowest ranking in its forthcoming

Myanmar: State Dept. Says Persecution of Muslims Does Not Rise to Genocide Reuters (as published in The New York Times) 21 March 2016 Image: YE AUNG THU / AFP/GETTY IMAGES   The State Department said on Monday that it had determined thatMyanmar was persecuting its Rohingya Muslims, but that the government’s treatment of the religious minority group did not constitute genocide. In a report to Congress seen by Reuters, the State Department

‘International Community Should Support the Ethnic People’: Former Political Prisoner – PART 2 Burma Link 3 November 2015 Copyright 2015 Burma Link Chit Min Lay was 24 years old when he was arrested at his home and taken to an interrogation centre, following his participation in the 1996 and 1998 student demonstrations. Chit Min Lay spent six months in Insein Prison waiting for a trial, every morning hoping that would be the day he’d be freed.