United Nations warned on Burma engagement
July 13, 2009 (DVB), The United Nations should be prudent in its expectations for progress in Burma or otherwise risks "misleading" the international community, said a number of prominent politically[…]
International Relations Lead Story News Sport
Leeds United’s Burma football tour causes stir over ethics, optics
The English football club Leeds United may be kicking itself this week after its boisterous announcement that it will be bringing the squad to Burma next month was met with widespread condemnation.
Rights in poorer nations must be upheld as Thai firms go abroad: activists
Thailand’s businesses and its government must do more to protect the rights of vulnerable people abroad, analysts and activists said, after a landmark case filed by Cambodian farmers in a Bangkok court against a Thai sugar firm.
Marking two years in power, Suu Kyi urges nation to stay united amid ‘challenges’
Burma’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on Sunday for her people to remain united, saying the Southeast Asian country faces “challenges” at home and abroad, as she marked two years since her party swept to power in a historic vote.
ASEAN International Relations Lead Story News
ASEAN nations launch intelligence pact to counter Islamist threat
Six Southeast Asian nations launched an intelligence pact on Thursday aimed at combating Islamist militants and improving cooperation on security threats, overcoming what analysts described as a high level of distrust.
ASEAN International Relations Lead Story News
ASEAN nations step up cooperation as Islamic State threat mounts
Southeast Asian nations plan to use spy planes and drones to stem the movement of militants across their porous borders, defence officials said at the weekend, as concerns rise over the growing clout of the Islamic State in the region.
Mekong nations warned: crack down on illegal wildlife trade
Conservationists called on the Mekong nations to follow in Vietnam’s footsteps, after Hanoi destroyed tonnes of illegal ivory over the weekend.
Mekong nations square off with narco-traffickers
The Burma-Laos border is mostly unguarded. The terrain is rugged and hostile, where the drug trade flourishes in lawless enclaves on both sides of the river.
United Wa State Army mark anniversary
Burma’s largest ethnic army celebrated their 23-year anniversary with a military parade and sporting events in the group’s northern territory
United States approves new Burma sanctions
July 24, 2009 (DVB), The US Senate has approved a one-year renewal of sanctions banning the import of Burmese goods to the US, and will now look to Congress for[…]
United States to review Burma policy
Apr 10, 2009 (DVB), The United States has announced it will review policy to Burma following a rare US official visit to the country last month and an acknowledgement by[…]
Japan offers aid and rights reminder to Mekong nations
Jan 17, 2008 (AFP), Japan on Wednesday offered fresh aid to Mekong River nations while issuing a gentle reminder on human rights as it sought to counter China’s growing influence[…]
In Bangladesh, some 60 babies a day born in Rohingya camps: UN
Around 60 babies a day are being born in vast refugee camps in Bangladesh, sheltering hundreds of thousands of mainly Rohingya Muslims who have fled Burma, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF says.
ASEAN looks to tackle organised crime
ASEAN member states met at the United Nations to set up a framework for border control cooperation as latest statistics showed that illicit trade and organised crime amounts to $100 billion in the region.
International Relations Lead Story News
UN chief taps Swiss ambassador to Germany as Burma envoy: sources
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has tapped Switzerland’s ambassador to Germany, Christine Schraner Burgener, to be his special envoy on Burma, UN sources said on Wednesday.
Burma repatriates first Rohingya refugee family: government
Burma on Saturday repatriated the first Rohingya family from nearly 700,000 refugees who have fled to Bangladesh, after months of fraught talks with Dhaka and amid the United Nations’ warnings that the country is not ready for their return.
Bangladesh, UNHCR to ink preliminary plan on Rohingya repatriation
The United Nations refugee agency is set to sign a memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh laying out a framework for the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Burma, an agency spokesman said on Wednesday.
Repatriation is a priority, minister tells Rohingya in Bangladesh
A Burmese minister told Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh on Wednesday their repatriation was a priority, during the first visit by a top Burmese official to victims of what the United Nations says was “ethnic cleansing” by the Burma Army.
Burma not ready for return of Rohingya refugees: UN official
Burma is not ready for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, said the most senior United Nations official to visit the country this year, after Burma was accused of instigating ethnic cleansing and driving nearly 700,000 Muslims to Bangladesh.
UN chief ‘shocked’ by Min Aung Hlaing’s latest comments on Rohingya
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “shock” at comments by Burma’s military chief in which he said the Rohingya minority shared nothing in common with the rest of the population and that their demand for citizenship had stoked recent violence.
International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
UN official says violence and torture continues on Rohingya
Crimes verging on genocide were being committed against the Rohingya minority in Burma, and those crimes bore “the fingerprints of the Myanmar government and of the international community,” the United Nations special adviser on the prevention of genocide said on Tuesday.
International Relations Lead Story News Rakhine
Time not right for visit, Burma tells UN Security Council
Burma told the United Nations Security Council not to visit during February this year because it was “not the right time,” Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi said on Thursday, adding that the country did not completely reject the proposed trip.
Lead Story News Refugees Rohingya
Calls for unhindered access to Rohingya camps ahead of repatriation
The United Nations on Wednesday called on Burma to give aid agencies unhindered access to camps it has built for tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees before they can return after fleeing Burmese military operations last year.
Human Rights International Relations Lead Story News
UN rights investigator calls for pressure on China, Russia over abuses in Burma
The United Nations’ independent investigator into human rights in Burma has called for international pressure on China and Russia to try to get them to oppose human rights abuses in Burma.
International Relations Lead Story News
Burma says it is still working with UN, but wants a rights investigator who is fair
Burma wants to continue working with the United Nations on human rights but its investigator must be fair, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, a day after special rapporteur Yanghee Lee was barred from visiting the country.
Arakan International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
Burmese security forces may be guilty of genocide against Rohingya, UN says
Burmese security forces may be guilty of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority, the United Nations’ top human rights official said on Tuesday, adding that more were fleeing despite an agreement between Burma and Bangladesh to send them home.
Arakan International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
UN committee calls for end to military operations in Rakhine
A United Nations General Assembly committee on Thursday called on Burma to end military operations that have “led to the systematic violation and abuse of human rights” of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.
International Relations Lead Story News Rohingya
UN Security Council urges Burma to stop excessive military force
The United Nations Security Council urges the Burmese government to “ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine State,” where violence has forced more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian nation.
International Relations Lead Story News
UN appoints interim replacement for contentious outgoing resident coordinator
The United Nations has appointed Norwegian Knut Ostby to serve as interim UN resident coordinator in Burma, replacing Renata Lok-Dessallien and serving in the role “until further notice,” according to a UN statement released Tuesday.
Aid Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Burma gives green light to resume food aid to Rakhine, says UN
Burmese authorities have agreed to allow the United Nations to resume distribution of food in northern Rakhine State which was suspended for two months, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
