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Myanmar’s Military Regime Has Weaponized Public Health

November 6, 2021/in News

US spokesman says detention of American journalist Danny Fenster ‘unjust’

November 6, 2021/in News

A US government official claims his country is pressing the Myanmar junta over the continued detention of American journalist Danny Fenster after he was hit with a third charge this week. In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price called Fenster’s detention “a sad reminder of the continuing human rights and humanitarian crisis facing the country.” […]

Myanmar’s Military Regime Has Weaponized Public Health

November 6, 2021/in News

US spokesman says detention of American journalist Danny Fenster ‘unjust’

November 6, 2021/in News

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Myanmar’s Military Regime Has Weaponized Public Health

November 6, 2021/in News

Since the military overthrew the civilian government in Myanmar in February 2021, the situation in the country has continued to deteriorate and people live in a state of terror that deeply affects their right to health, as well as many other human rights. At the time of writing, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners rights group has reported that more than 9,800 people have been arrested and over 1,200 people killed since the first reported fatality, Mya Thwet Thwet Khine, a 19-year-old woman shot dead by a sniper at a rally near the city of Naypyitaw in February 2021.

Nine months of resistance is taking a toll on society, with many people reporting feelings of anger, anxiety and helplessness, and the young despairing over their lost future. Affected families are overwhelmed by the loss of relatives to disease and violence. Insomnia, depression and suicide are on the rise in this context of indiscriminate violent repression.

Healthcare professionals have not remained neutral. They were among the first to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), going on strike to pressure the junta to return power to the elected government for the well-being of the country and its people. The military regime responded by announcing that they would revoke permission to provide services from any health facility employing or supporting health workers involved in the CDM, and would prosecute anyone helping those on strike.

Violent repression of public health professionals involved in the anti-coup resistance movement is but one of the ways in which the junta has weaponized public health in order to crush the civilian opposition, regardless of the wider public health, human and social costs of pursuing this strategy. The military has arrested and detained doctors and nurses simply for treating civilians who had been injured in anti-coup protests.

*Yangon General Hospital staff protest against the military coup outside the emergency department on Feb. 3. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy*

In their strong condemnation of the junta’s action, the World Medical Association stated that, “the violence of the security forces is intolerable. Private clinics, medical personnel carrying out emergency treatment and ambulances have been shot at without any reason. We have reports of doctors being arrested and others fleeing from their homes to hide from the military regime.” These reports have been confirmed by the Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights Network and corroborated by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care, which now considers Myanmar one of the deadliest places on earth for healthcare workers, with 260 documented attacks this year alone, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the global total.

This has happened in the context of a catastrophic third wave of COVID-19 that peaked in July 2021, with the population and volunteer medics having to fend for themselves to find oxygen and treatment places amidst attacks. The increasing number of people arrested by the junta has worsened prison overcrowding, thus compounding the risks of transmission of COVID-19, and there is a lack of information about what treatment, if any, prisoners may have received, especially political prisoners. Released detainees told Human Rights Watch that masks were often not available and sanitary conditions were abysmal.

People stand by the side of the health professionals since they all share the same motivation of seeing the coup fail as soon as possible. Many people do not trust the military and refrain from seeking healthcare for fear of being targeted. This even when concerned that they might have been exposed to COVID-19 infection or would wish to get vaccinated.

While doctors and nurses continue to assist people outside of government structures at great risk, the junta has accused them of genocide for leaving their jobs. But who is committing atrocities? The violence of the junta has spared no-one, not even children, and during the first two months alone after the coup at least 43 were reportedly killed by regime forces. Sexual assault is also rife. In a country where the military is known to use rape as a tool of war against ethnic minorities, women who are bravely standing in the frontline of protests have been exposed to sexual violence, especially when in custody. LGBTI activists involved in the resistance movement have also suffered the same violent fate and experienced humiliation compounded by entrenched prejudice.

*Medical Professionals staged a protest against the military regime on March 13 in Yangon. / Kaung Htet*

Restoration of health and wellbeing requires a strong condemnation of the junta for the appalling violations of basic human dignity that they have committed and continue to perpetrate, of which the weaponization of health is only one tragic and inexcusable example. As global health professionals we fail our ethical imperative to do no harm if we remain passive observers of this situation.

We believe that the military junta must be denied any form of recognition and legitimacy. It is time for organizations responsible for global health governance to take a firm stand and exclude the junta from their bodies, an action that should be taken first and foremost by the WHO. We welcome the decision to exclude the junta from the recent 74^th Annual Assembly and we await more decisive and permanent actions against the military government in order for WHO to provide leadership, uphold its own principles, and realize its rights-based mandate. We echo Sarli, D’Apice and Cecchi’s call for the global health community to take a stand and support the health professionals and the people of Myanmar in their CDM because “democracy means health, and health means democracy. They are intrinsically linked, mutually becoming one precondition of the other”.

Irrawaddy News

US spokesman says detention of American journalist Danny Fenster ‘unjust’

November 6, 2021/in News

A US government official claims his country is pressing the Myanmar junta over the continued detention of American journalist Danny Fenster after he was hit with a third charge this week.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price called Fenster’s detention “a sad reminder of the continuing human rights and humanitarian crisis facing the country.”

“The profoundly unjust nature of Danny’s detention is plain for all the world to see and these charges only put a further spotlight on that,” Price told reporters.

“We’re continuing to press the Burmese regime to release Danny immediately,” he said.

On Wednesday, Fenster was denied bail and charged with allegedly breaking immigration law. He is on trial for allegedly encouraging dissent against the military and unlawful association, and faces six years in jail if convicted on both counts.

Fenster, managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, was arrested on his way to Yangon International Airport in May as he attempted to leave the country.

At his latest hearing inside Yangon’s Insein prison on Wednesday, “he was told another charge was added” for allegedly breaching immigration law, his lawyer Than Zaw Aung told AFP.

The charge carries a maximum of five years in jail, he said.

“We do not know the exact reason for adding (the) immigration charge,” he said, adding Fenster’s visa was still valid when he was detained.

The new charge came after former US diplomat and hostage negotiator Bill Richardson met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw, handing the increasingly isolated junta some rare publicity.

Both the State Department and Richardson’s organisation said he was on a private mission.

Concluding the trip, the former governor of New Mexico said in a statement he had secured the release of another prisoner, Aye Moe, who used to work for the Richardson Center on women’s empowerment.

No mention was publicly made of American journalist Fenster.

Richardson said he was looking to arrange the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines through the international Covax alliance.

“I think it will open the door to the resumption of childhood immunizations and other critical health interventions. UN agencies will be key to finalising a deal,” Richardson said.

Richardson has previously negotiated the release of prisoners and US servicemen in North Korea, Cuba, Iraq and Sudan and has recently sought to free US-affiliated inmates in Venezuela.

Fenster, 37, “is in good health physically but he’s upset because of increased charges”, Than Zaw Aung said.

He is believed to have contracted Covid-19 during his detention, family members said during a conference call with American journalists in August.

The press has also been squeezed as the junta tries to tighten control over the flow of information, throttling internet access and revoking the licences of local media outlets.

AFP/Mizzima

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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