THE OTHER MINORITY STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE IN MYANMAR

▶ Government blocks aid to largely Christian Kachin people, report says

Criticism of Myanmar’s treatment of minorities intensified on Thursday, with a report documenting how the government blocks aid from reaching Kachin civilians displaced by civil war in the country’s far north.

The report, compiled by watchdog Fortify Rights over five years, was released three days after the UN Human Rights Council accused Myanmar military leaders of genocide against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State last year. The fact-finding mission also accused Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi of contributing “to the commission of atrocity crimes” through her government’s complicity in abuses.

Ms Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s military leaders are also complicit in war crimes in Kachin State, said Fortify Rights, which argues that they should also be referred to the International Criminal Court for wilfully impeding relief supplies.

Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, has been fighting an asymmetric war against the Kachin Independence Army since the disintegration of a 17year ceasefire in 2011.

The violence has destroyed villages and displaced more than 100,000 largely Christian Kachin people, who fled the threat of murder, rape and torture at the hands of Tatmadaw troops. The situation in the 140 makeshift forest camps where they sought refuge is perpetually dire, as “the government has imposed restrictions on access to food, health care, shelter, water and sanitation”, the report said.

“They block everything,” a displaced civilian, 60, told the authors. “All trucks trying to cross into KIA-controlled areas are blocked.”

Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Myanmar, told that international aid organisations “face increasing difficulties in getting government travel authorisations to address humanitarian needs”.

“For government-controlled areas, most travel authorisations are granted only for the main towns. This prevents humanitarian staff from having access to most of the displaced people, who are located outside the main town centres.”

At different points of the year, these restrictions leave the displaced exposed to heavy rain, scorching heat or bitter cold.

“We are talking about men, women, children, disabled people and the elderly, who don’t have access to the level of health care, education and other essential services that you and I take for granted,” Mr Peron said.

“They are paying the human cost of conflict.”

According to David Baulk, a Fortify Rights researcher and the report’s primary author, decisions on travel authorisation for aid agencies are made by the Tatmadaw and upheld by Myanmar’s civilian government.

“We feel that the military and the civilian government are reading from the same page, and we’re very disappointed to see that,” Mr Baulk said.

Myanmar’s policies are convenient for neighbouring China, which discourages aid organisations near the border.

“China made their position particularly explicit that humanitarian aid organisations should not be provided access to displaced populations on the Myanmar-China border, equating these organisations with western powers – namely the United States government,” the report said.

With international organisations unable to reach displaced populations, Kachin groups have resorted to clandestine humanitarian missions. Ordering goods from Chinese vendors just across the border, they sometimes have to pay up to triple the market rate.

“Sometimes, we ask local churches to deliver, because other organisations are not allowed to go,” said Khon Ja, an activist with the Kachin Peace Network, which helps to co-ordinate aid deliveries. “Sometimes, we need to co-ordinate with good people from the government or the Tatmadaw.”

Mr Baulk said simplifying travel authorisation would be an “easy win” for Myanmar authorities. But the government and Tatmadaw have shown no interest in improving the lives of displaced Kachin.

“They don’t see them as a population of people that requires support and assistance from a government that should be protecting them. They see them as a thorn in their side,” he said.

Ms Ja sees Myanmar’s aid policy as even more nefarious.

“They are using a modified Four Cuts strategy,” she said, referring to a form of scorchedearth campaign in which civilians are killed and entire villages destroyed, leading to mass displacement, that Myanmar has used since the 1960s.

Matthew Smith, Fortify Rights chief executive, said: “Kachin civil society has long exposed how the military’s crimes are part of a long-standing campaign against ethnic communities. The international community should redouble support for Myanmar’s human-rights defenders and break the cycle.”