Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

-
Image
Mizzima Mizzima, one of Myanmar ’s most prominent news outlets and a press freedom advocate, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative ( JTI ) certification from global audit firm Bureau Veritas , JTI says in a press statement 5 January.  Operating in clandestine mode within Myanmar and supported by an exiled team, Mizzima strives to fulfil its role as reliable source of news and information for the Myanmar public. “Your Journalism Trust Initiative certification affirms what audiences already know: that principled, transparent journalism matters. Congratulations on this achievement and on your continued contribution to informing citizens about Myanmar,” says Benjamin Sabbah , director of Journalism Trust Initiative “Myanmar’s ongoing conflict has created an intensely contested media landscape, where mis- and disinformation are increasingly deployed to reinforce state propaganda and the prevailing “official” narrative. Although Mizzima is already regarded as one of the most trusted ...
Post a Comment

Australian fashion group halts trade with Burma

-
by Salai Pi Pi
Monday, 12 October 2009 19:50

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Australia’s Speciality Fashion Group, which owns fashion brands including Millers, Katies and four others has announced a halt to trading with companies in Burma given its appalling human right records.

Speciality Fashion Group was among eight firms named last month in a report by the Burma Campaign Australia, which says the companies are providing millions of dollars to the military regime that rules the Southeast Asian nation.

Zetty Brake, spokesperson for Burma Campaign Australia on Monday told Mizzima that they were notified by the Speciality Fashion Group in early October that it had decided not to continue sourcing products from Burma and stop dealing with companies that are trading in Burma.

“We made a group decision to cease trading with Burma due to the continued repression of the Burmese people and the ongoing presence of military rule,” Howard Herman, Secretary of Speciality Fashion Group, said in a statement released through the BCA.

Speciality Fashion Group owns popular fashion brands such as Millers, Crossroads, Katies, Autograph, City Chic and Queenspark and has 843 stores across Australia with annual sales of up to US $560.6 million.

Zetty said the Speciality Fashion Group mainly imports women’s dresses from Burma.

The BCA last month compiled a report listing the names of Australian companies including Jetstar airline and Twinza Oil Company that have business interests in Burma and urged them to stop trading saying the revenue props up the Burmese military regime.

Zetty said, investments by Australian companies is estimated to fund around US $ 2.8 billion annually to the Burmese regime in revenue, which enables the regime to fund 727 soldiers each year.

While welcoming the Australian fashion group’s decision to stop trading with Burma, BCA called on other Australian Companies to stop investments.

“We support the withdrawal from Burma and encourage all other Australian companies to take responsibility for their involvement in Burma and helping the Burmese military,” Zetty told Mizzima on Monday.

Despite Speciality Fashion Group shedding its business deals in Burma, Zetty said, seven other Australian companies are still investing and doing business in the country.

The BCA in its report last month said, Australian companies such as Andaman Teak Supplies Pty Ltd, Chevron, Gecko’s Adventure, Jetstar, Lonely Planet, Millers, Sri Asia Tourism and Twinza Oil have business interests in Burma and are propping up the military junta.

In September the Campaign urged Jetstar airlines, which has a partnership with Burma’s state-owned Myanmar Airways International (MAI), which operates four flights per week from Singapore to Rangoon, to withdraw from Burma.

The BCA said Jetstar airline’s tax payment to the department of civil aviation under the Burmese Ministry of Transport is estimated to be over US $ 170,000 per year.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

World's longest internet shutdown ends in parts of Myanmar

-
Image
Rakhine people travel by motorcycle in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Western Myanmar, 02 February 2021. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA By AFP The world's longest internet shutdown -- affecting more than a million people for 19 months in one of Myanmar's ethnic conflict zones -- has come to an end, according to a mobile operator based in the region. The internet in parts of Myanmar's troubled northern states of Rakhine and Chin was suspended in June 2019 following "emergency" orders issued by the telecoms department under Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Following Monday's military coup, mobile operator Telenor Group confirmed it had reinstated full services in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin states on Wednesday. "Telenor Group and Telenor Myanmar have been advocating for the restoration of services and emphasised that freedom of expression through access to telecoms services should be maintained for humanitarian purposes," the company said in a stateme...
Read more

First ministerial meeting held

-
Image
Mizzima Myanmar held the first meeting among newly appointed ministers after a recent major cabinet reshuffle by the military in capital city of Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday morning, according to a release from the Military True News Information Team Xinhua reported. The Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, acting President U Myint Swe and nine newly appointed union ministers were present at the meeting held at the Presidential Palace, the release said. Min Aung Hlaing unveiled plans to include reopening religious buildings and pagodas, resuming domestic travel and hotel businesses as well as industries in line with COVID-19 rules and regulations, and revitalizing the country's economy.
Read more

Indonesia detains British woman on terror suspect list

-
Image
File photo of Indonesian police personnel standing guard. (Photo: AFP) AFP Indonesia has detained a British woman named on a list of global terror suspects and plans to deport her for visa violations, authorities told AFP Tuesday. Tazneen Miriam Sailar -- a Manchester-born convert to Islam married to an Indonesian jihadist who was killed in Syria -- is not charged with terror offences. But she and her late husband are on an Indonesian police list of suspected extremists that includes several foreigners notorious in the West. Sailar, 47, and her 10-year-old Indonesia-born son, were being held in Jakarta after being picked up last year without documents allowing her to remain in the Southeast Asian nation, her lawyer Farid Ghozali said. "She was put (in detention) while awaiting her return, which will be facilitated by the British embassy," Indonesian immigration directorate spokesman Ahmad Nursaleh told AFP. The embassy declined to comment, and it was unclear when...
Read more