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

1,000 Palaung remain displaced due to conflict, pipeline

-
Wednesday, 07 November 2012 15:01 Mizzima News

Some 2,000 ethnic Palaung villagers have been displaced from their homes in northern Shan State since March 2011, and some 1,000 still remain in makeshift camps, according to a report by the Palaung Women’s Organization (PWO).

The report, released on November 7, accuses the Burmese army of a range of gross human rights violations committed against Palaung civilians, including forced portering, looting, torture, killing and sexual violence, as it launches offensives against local ethnic armies.

“Burmese troops have been launching offensives to crush the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Shan State Army – North (SSA-N) to secure control of strategic trading and investment areas on the Chinese border, particularly the route of China’s trans-Burma oil and gas pipelines,” the PWO report said.

The renewed military activity has forced many Palaung villagers to flee their homes. Many have taken refuge in three relief camps set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs) while others have crossed the border into China.

PWO noted that many of those who have become IDPs over the past 18 or 19 months are women as most of their menfolk had already fled to avoid military conscription.

“The ratio of women to men of working age in the IDP camps is 4:1,” the report stated. “Women, including pregnant mothers, had to walk up to a week through the jungle to reach the camps, carrying their children and possessions, and avoiding Burmese army patrols and landmines. Elderly people were left behind.”

The PWO said it interviewed 15 women who were pregnant when they fled their homes. One undertook a three-day journey barefoot while another, a 17-year-old, had a miscarriage when she arrived at the IDP settlement.

PWO said that little aid has filtered into the camps, which are located in remote, mountainous areas. A lack of fresh water and medicines is also a concern.

The Palaung IDPs have for the most part relied on the generosity of local villagers. Some have begun planting corn and rice, but there is little wage labor in these isolated areas, the report said.

“The main diet of the IDPs is rice and corn, supplemented with bamboo shoots or other wild vegetables collected from the forests. Even salt is a luxury,” the report added.

Meanwhile, another Palaung NGO, the Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization (TSYO), released a report on November 7 titled “Pipeline Nightmare,” which explained that, in addition to the military conflict in the region, the gravity of the situation is exacerbated by the construction of the China-backed Shwe Gas pipeline.

The report said that the pipeline project, which cuts through the heart of Palaung territory, has brought increased military presence, resulting in forced labor and human rights abuses. The TSYO accuses the Burmese army of colluding with the pipeline investors to confiscate local residents’ land as they prepare a path for the oil and gas pipelines.

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