Human Rights

8 March marked International Women's Day. The current NLD government said it is working to promote the rights of women, creating task forces to address gender-based violence and peace and security for women. At the International Women of Courage award ceremony in Washington D.C., recipient K'nyaw Paw of the Karen Women's Organization called for accountability for the human rights violations experienced by Rohingya and other ethnic women in Burma: “[In] 2017, the world watched in horror as the Burmese army unleashed unspeakable crime, and this time against the Rohingya women. Thousands of rapes have been documented from one ethnic nationality to another, and still these men run the country...It will not end until the world takes action.” RFA

Transnational Institute (TNI), a Netherlands-based think tank, accused the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) of "distorting realities of the situation on the ground" over the findings it published in its latest opium report. TNI criticized the report for misrepresenting the involvement of armed ethnic groups in the country's poppy production. The report cited one area of heavy poppy cultivation in Kachin State as under control of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) - TNI argued that two main opium-growing areas in Kachin are in Waingmaw and Tanai townships, areas under de facto Tatmadaw or government control. The Kachin Independence Organization, political wing of the KIA, denounced the UNODC findings in a 15 February open letter. UNODC regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Jeremy Douglas said the results of the report were solid. Frontier Myanmar

UK-based freedom of expression rights group, Article 19, called on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to adopt a resolution at its current session demanding the government of Burma protect freedom of expression in the country. The statement followed earlier comments made this month by Yanghee Lee, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, to the HRC that democratic space is under threat in the country. Article 19 urged the HRC to call on Burma to reform laws that criminalize dissent and free expression and to immediately release those detained under such laws. RFA

On 1 March, an appeal was filed with Burma's Supreme Court contesting the conviction of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The two reporters were convicted in an landmark case last September and sentenced to seven years imprisonment for breaking the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The pair's appeal presents evidence of a police set-up and insufficient proof of a crime. The case was widely viewed as a marker of Burma's declining press freedom. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the court ruling demostrated that Burma's courts were “failing a basic test in democracy”. Prior to their arrest, the two journalists uncovered the massacre of 10 Rohingya civilians in Inn Din, Arakan State by Burmese security forces in August 2017. Reuters

Frontier Myanmar interviewed Tanintharyi Weekly editor, Myo Aung, who was convicted on 18 February under Article 25(g) of the News Media Law and fined K500,000 (about US$326) for publishing a satirical article critical of Tenassarim Division/Tanintharyi Region Chief Minister and NLD member, Lei Lei Maw. Tenassarim Deputy Regional Director, Aye Lu - appointed by Lei Lei Maw - reportedly filed the complaint about the 20 November 2017 article. Under the News Media Law, the News Media Council can resolve disputes to avoid a trial, however the complainant did not utilize this avenue. Frontier Myanmar