Many observers fear the Myanmar crisis has been overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and does not get the attention on the world stage that it deserves.
It was partly with this sentiment in mind that the Faculty of Law in Chiang Mai University held a seminar entitled “Unpredictable Myanmar” on 7 October that allowed several experts to voice their opinions on the state of the Golden Land following the 1 February 2021 military coup.
The key subject areas covered were human rights, natural resource management and ethnic communities, and the constitution and democracy.
The first to speak was Pornsuk Koetsawang who is a director of the Friends Without Borders Foundation.
“Before the February 2021 coup, Myanmar still didn’t have peace. There were problems about the Rohingya and ethnic groups around the border. But this coup is different from others because the Myanmar military uses violence to oppress people by using indiscriminate attacks. They don’t separate who is armed or not. They destroy hospitals and religious buildings. They block many roads to let people starve. We have to rethink, is this a war crime or not?” she said.
“This is a collapsed rule of law. It is not only a security problem in Myanmar but also in Thailand. We have to see that the crisis in Myanmar is also ours (Thailand’s) because having a relationship with the military doesn't help people's lives get better.
“When it comes to dealing with displaced people, the Thai government has no policy. If they cross into our country, it will be the (Thai) soldiers’ responsibility. The Thai government will quickly move them back to their country.
“The way that the Thai government treats the crisis of human rights in Myanmar is (on a superficial level). It does not help the refugee problem disappear or any border problems. The humanitarian assistance has to be sneaky, and it cannot help completely.”
Next speaker was Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, director of The Regional Center for Social Science, who said the Myanmar military uses the law and the courts to oppress Myanmar people, pushing the country into a state of emergency.
“The situation in Myanmar now isn’t temporary. It will cause an effect long term and into the future. It has damaged the justice and healthcare systems.
“The Thai government should reconsider their foreign policy, how many chances we lose, and what is the effect of this crisis on the country of Thailand. It has to reconsider humanitarian assistance and border policy, allowing refugees to stay in Thailand with a status.”
Sanhawan Srisod, a counselor with the International Commission of Jurists, said she wished to raise six unpredictable things that happen in the law system and law enforcement which aren't relevant to international law.
“One is the declaration of a State of Emergency. Most Thai people are familiar with this situation. First the military takes over a government by using martial law then it will use the declaration of the state of emergency for all power control. This situation isn’t relevant with international law at all because if any government wants to declare a state of emergency, the situation in that country has an effect on the self-preservation of that nation. An effect must be severe and horrible. While in Myanmar, it was just an abnormal election as the military said, it is still not relevant to international law. And after declaring a state of emergency, the military is not responsible for that.
“Secondly, an amendment to the law by the State Administration Council (SAC), which was appointed by the military junta. The SAC will give legitimacy to support a military crime such as to amend a privacy law which allows police to search people with no bench warrant, and that's why more people get arrested.
She gave examples of amendments to the penal code by the SAC, including Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, which prohibits causing fear, spreading false news and agitating crimes against a government employee, with imprisonment for a term of up to three years. Section 124(c) of the Penal Code, sabotages or hinders the performance of the Defense Services of the Union or Law, with imprisonment for a term of up to 20 years. Section 124(d) of the Penal Code, disrupts or hinders Defence Services personnel and Government employees, with imprisonment for a term of up to seven years. These sections cannot be bailable and an arrest can be made without a warrant.
“The problem is that the language or words in the law are not clearly expressed and is vague. The concept of the word in the penal code can be interpreted as officials want. This isn’t relevant to international law.
"Thirdly, in Thailand, there is a violation of international law by using military courts to judge civilians, in in Myanmar as well. The lawyer cannot provide legal advice or argue on behalf of their clients. The judges aren't free from political considerations because they are under army command.
“Normally, people can watch and listen in court but in prison courts, they cannot. The evidence cannot access the trial procedure. It isn’t relevant to international law that court trials have to be transparent. Those prison courts, they even have a death sentence.
Many months ago, they sentenced four political prisoners. Before receiving a death sentence, prosecution is in a trial by a military court. No one can access the trial procedure. It's a closed trial. Those courts also have sentence death row of 100 prisoners including children. According to international law, it clearly doesn’t support the death penalty, particularly children.
“Fourthly, lawyer’s issues. Many lawyers tried to help prisoners with legal assistance but they ended up detained and threatened, especially political prisoners. There were reports that these lawyers took pictures without permission and searches were made of their private information. Some were arrested while they were litigating at court. There are 46 lawyers in prison now. After the coup in February 2021, the lawyers’ council wasn't appointed by an elected government but appointed by the military. There is the same problem in Thailand.
“Fifthly, torture and abuse. There are many reports about torture from an interrogation centre in Myanmar, which similar to (a facility in) the southern region in Thailand. Places of detention have very poor conditions, overcrowded, less sleeping space and not enough food. These Inappropriate conditions violate international law.
“Sixthly, children. Myanmar and Thailand are similar with regard to this issue. In the demonstrations for democracy, both countries had many children involved, which led to many children being arrested. After they were arrested, many reported said there were a lot of abuses. Children were forced to be detained with adults, whereas international law stresses that children have to be separated from adults. Many children were threatened, tortured and subjected to sexual assaults. At the point of release, children were threatened to sign confessions.”
The fourth speaker was Kwanchanok Kittiwanit who serves at the Faculty of Humanities with the department of history. She said that border areas are economic zones where people of different languages and cultures help each other. When a refugee is displaced for security reason, which Thailand didn’t sign under the refugee convention, the Thai government thinks it does not need to be responsible to take care of the refugee and that refugees do not have rights to go out of the camp.
"I think Thailand needs a temporary stay policy before sending refugees back to their country or third country. Many Thai policies don't have sympathy and don't understand diversity. Basically, people who are displaced, they have conflict with Myanmar.
Thailand needs to plan the right situation assessment. For example, send them back when the situation is safe for their life and property. Importantly we have to ask for their consent. Children who grow up in camps should receive education. The Thai government must develop their potential in the camp."
Kwanchanok Kittiwanit said the information about the conflicts with ethnic groups or the military must be collected in a database. This will help the CSOs or international organizations understand the basic information.
The last speaker in the seminar was Thomas H. Andrews, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights in Myanmar.
“Two weeks ago, I told the Human Rights Council that the (Myanmar) military burned down 28,000 households but the number now is over 30,000. The economy, healthcare, and the education system have collapsed,” Mr Andrews said.
“I can confidently predict that with each of the international responses to this crisis that the international community will continue to fail the people of Myanmar. The reason for that failure is a lack of political will and leadership.
“And if you want to understand what political will looks like in the UN, compare the difference between the UN’s response to the crisis in Myanmar and the UN’s response to the crisis in Ukraine.
“In four days, the UN acted over the war in Ukraine but for Myanmar a year and eight months or more have passed.
“Unlike the crisis in Ukraine, the Myanmar crisis has seen no security councils or solutions and no emergency session of the UN, no targeting of Myanmar’ military assets, no sessions against Myanmar financial institutions, no freezing of Myanmar assets, except by the US, no mobilizing of a multinational sanctions and no freezing of businesses that are involved with the military.
“What should the international community do if we were to accept our moral and legal obligations? First of all, I believe the multinationals are responsible under the military, and they need to be sanctioned by cutting off their access to money, to weapons and legitimacy. This can help the military not violate the human rights of the people in Myanmar. Second is to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, including the crisis of people initially running for their lives over the Myanmar borders, and there is more and more of this because of this crisis.
“There are two reasons why you should not be indifferent if your neighborhood is on fire. One because you have moral obligations to help them and secondly, if your neighbour’s house burns down, then very soon your house will be on fire. So, they have a moral imperative and also a self-interest imperative that works in this crisis.
“What is the best way to take these actions? First of all, UN security councils will pass the resolutions which establish targeted economic sanctions against the military. The UN has to make an international agreement not to send weapons to Myanmar and UNSC has to send this war crime to an international criminal court.
“Diplomatic pressure is very necessary. Many countries should stand against the Myanmar military, use more sanctions, launch a statement together and help the people’s voices to be heard. Some countries are unwilling (and), they give legitimacy to the Myanmar military.
“Now the reaction of the international community is like short-term solutions without hitting the nail on the head. Many weeks ago, there had an airstrike on schoolchildren. Some countries launched sanctions, some just condemned. I think it is disconnected because of the lack of political will and leadership. If they have them, they should analyze what is the weakness of the Myanmar military, what is the best way to prevent the military from violating human rights, then operate it immediately. All of the international community should sanction the military, block their international banking and confiscate their assets in any country,” Mr Andrews added.
