Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

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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 ...
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East Timor joins arms embargo call against junta

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by Mungpi
Tuesday, 13 October 2009 19:27

New Delhi (Mizzima) - President of East Timor Dr. Jose Ramos Horta on Monday called on the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo against the Burmese military regime, joining a host of countries calling for such action.

Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, in a statement on Monday said the Burmese military junta’s decision to sentence Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in August has proved its extraordinary inhumanity and intransigence.

“I deplore this decision, and call for her immediate and unconditional release,” Dr. Horta said.

Dr. Horta said the events in the past two years in Burma such as the junta’s brutal crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007, the tragedy of Cyclone Nargis, the constitutional referendum, escalating military offensive against civilians in eastern Burma, and the trial and continued imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi are all examples of the desperate political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in Burma.

“As President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, I therefore call on all members of the UN Security Council to give serious consideration to this question, and to pass a resolution imposing a total, comprehensive, mandatory arms embargo,” Dr. Harto said in the statement.

He said the deterioration in the political and humanitarian situation calls for a clear response by the international community saying, “There can be no justification for selling arms to a regime which has no external threats and uses those arms simply to suppress its owns people.”

Dr. Harto’s statement came as campaigners lobby countries to endorse a UN Security Council resolution on a global arms embargo against Burma’s military rulers.

According to Benedict Roger of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a Christian campaign group, at least 33 countries have endorsed the move so far but fear remains that China and Russia, the two veto wielding countries and close allies of the Burmese military junta, would block any attempt to push the UNSC to act.

“The biggest challenge is to persuade China and Russia not to veto a resolution imposing an arms embargo,” Rogers said.

Rogers said, although the Burmese junta might continue manufacturing their own arms, a universal arms embargo will deprive the regime of access to foreign weapons supplies and would send a very important message to the international community about the illegitimacy of the regime.

The European Union, United Kingdom, United States of American, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and East Timor have so far called for an arms embargo against the Burmese regime.

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