Myanmar Junta Gunships Hit School: Daily Brief

 

By Andrew Stroehlein. Contact me at DailyBriefTeam@hrw.org and Twitter @astroehlein.

Myanmar Junta attacks School with Helicopters

An attack by troops and helicopter gunships on a school in Myanmar has left at least 11 children dead, 15 missing, and a world demanding answers from the country’s military junta.

UN's children's agency Unicef, said the children had been killed by "indiscriminate fire" in the air strike on the temple school in Let Yet Kone village, Sagaing region. They also called for the immediate release of the missing 15 children.

Media reports say bodies of many children were taken away by military troops.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the attack by Myanmar’s armed forces and said that the perpetrators must be held accountable.

This latest atrocity is just one of a countless number in Myanmar since the military coup in February 2021. These include security forces’ mass killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual violence, and other abuses against protesters, journalists, health workers, and political opposition members – all amounting to crimes against humanity.

One bit of good news: Japan has finally decided to suspend its military training program for Myanmar military personnel, a move HRW has long been calling for. In announcing that it would stop accepting new officers and cadets from next year, Japan’s defense ministry cited the Myanmar junta's carrying out four death sentences in July as a major factor in its decision.

The Japanese government can do more, however. First, it should conduct an investigation into the whereabouts of its past military trainees from Myanmar and publish any findings. Japan should also coordinate with the international community and place targeted sanctions against Myanmar miltiary leaders and military-owned companies.

We’re dealing with a regime that is slaughtering kids with its helicopter gunships. These additional steps seem like the least Japan could do.

 

Promises Won’t Prevent Oil Spill in Yemen

Good intentions are nice. Cash to back them up is nicer.

It’s great that governments and businesses have pledged funds for the long-delayed salvage operation of the FSO Safer, a decaying oil supertanker moored off Yemen’s coast in the Red Sea. But they have not yet handed over the money.

The situation remains urgent, as the tanker threatens a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.

The Safer – yes, that’s really the name of the ship; I know, right? – is a ticking time bomb. Stranded and left to decay since 2015, it could break apart at any moment, spilling its 1.14 million barrels of crude oil into the sea.

That’s four times the amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989. It would devastate the population and environment in Yemen

A funding drive for the UN-coordinated salvage plan began in May, but operations cannot start until the full US$80 million is in the bank.

The pledges have come. The money has not.

 

Russia’s Sham “Referendums” in Occupied Ukraine

After its military was pushed from parts of eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin announced “referendums” on annexation in areas of Ukraine that Russia still occupies.

These political charades will have no legitimacy under international law and world leaders have rightly condemned them.

The polls will reportedly start Friday in areas under Russian control in Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.

Regardless of the outcome of this sham exercise (and what are we guessing?), the territories will legally continue to remain part of Ukraine, occupied by Russia, just as Crimea has been since 2014.

The upshot here is that Russia is bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention on occupiers’ obligations to civilians, and no referendum can simply remove those obligations or make them cease to exist.

And serious violations of those obligations are war crimes.

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Take Note

• Plastic recycling in Turkey harms health and environment (HRW)
• Revealed: the ‘shocking’ levels of toxic lead in Chicago tap water (Guardian)
• “We haven’t learned our lesson”: Victims recall martial law in the Philippines (NY Times)
• Defying Vatican, Flemish bishops allow blessing same-sex unions (Reuters)

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A Long Weekend Ahead: Send Your Ideas

Dear Readers,

As you know from my brief travelogue on Monday, I’ve been travelling for work.

Our communications team is heading for a retreat over the next few days, so there will be only an abbreviated Daily Brief on Thursday and Friday. On Monday, we’ll be off altogether.

I will be checking my email and Twitter, however, so do keep sending me your ideas and suggestions.

Since it’s our communications team retreat – our first in years, by the way – I would particularly appreciate your thoughts not just on the Daily Brief but on Human Rights Watch’s media efforts around the world.

Is our work visible in the newspapers you read? Do you hear about us on the radio and podcasts you listen to? Are our experts on your TV news? How are we doing on social media?

If you have thoughts on these things – and on this newsletter, of course – do please email me or contact me on Twitter.

Thanks!

Andrew

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