Cross border aid: A potential game changer for Myanmar?

Cross border aid: A potential game changer for Myanmar?
Displaced persons camp. Photo: Flickr

A major crisis is building for internally displaced people and threatened communities in Myanmar as a result of the junta crackdown in the wake of the 1 February coup and the lingering restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether it is the problem of basic food supplies for families hiding out in the jungle, having run away from military attacks on their village, or difficulties for people due to the slump in employment and the economy, many in Myanmar financially teeter on the edge.

It is with this in mind that calls have grown from local and foreign players to update the approach to humanitarian aid in Myanmar as the country sinks further into crisis.

POVERTY LEVELS

Alarm bells are being rung. Half of Myanmar could be living in poverty by 2022, according to a recent UN report. The report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warns that due to COVID-19 the incomes of those not involved in farming were already down 50 percent, whilst wages fell by a quarter, with a prediction that they may halve due to the impact of the on-going upheavals.

“Without functioning democratic institutions, Myanmar faces a tragic and avoidable backslide towards levels of poverty not seen in a generation,” warns UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner.

The most vulnerable at the most at risk. NGO Save the Children warns that more than 5 million children in Myanmar could require life-saving humanitarian aid to survive next year, according to an analysis of UN figures just released, equivalent to one in every three children, with access for aid agencies urgently needed.

New data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) projected that more than 14 million people in a population of 54 million in Myanmar could be in need in 2022, up from 1 million this year but with the latest assessment taking in areas previously not included.

Myanmar was among the top 10 countries listed as having the greatest need of humanitarian aid globally, just behind four countries including the crisis-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo, which is projected to have the most people in need next year at 27 million.

TRIPLE CRISIS

Formulating a robust response will be crucial for the Golden Land. Myanmar’s situation in the aftermath of the military coup can be seen as a “triple crisis” – a combination of political conflict, breakdown of the healthcare system and the economic downturn, the latter exacerbated by the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020-21.

Perspective helps. The political conflict has been going on for decades, even during the so-called hybrid quasi-civilian rule from 2011 to February 2021, which may be seen as a latent conflict period. But this has been exacerbated after the coup between the military junta on one side and the “ethnic-democratic” camps on the other. The conflict has now turned into a nationwide resistance against the military junta, with an awakening of the majority of Bamar resistance against the junta's illegally obtaining power, stripping control

from a legally-elected civilian government.

In simple terms, the military State Administration Council (SAC) is pitted against the National Unity Government (NUG) led by a majority of National League for Democracy (NLD) members.

The result is a growing crisis in which many people are under pressure and hundreds of thousands have been displaced – either fleeing into the jungles or attempting to cross borders, primarily escaping into Thailand and India.

Given these circumstances, cross-border humanitarian aid issues are of paramount importance, with serious questions as to how to practically help those in need.

THAILAND’S RED CROSS APPROACH

A number of initiatives and meetings have been held to address the needs of those dramatically affected by the Myanmar crisis.

In early November, Thailand’s Red Cross organization called on the Thai government to formalize humanitarian aid to Myanmar refugees during the 3rd Thai foreign policy webinar series on “ASEAN’s Future and Crisis in Myanmar.”

The Surin Pitsuwan Foundation, Chiang Mai University’s School of Public Policy, Thai PBS and Asia News Network, all jointly hosted the webinar.

The core message was that Thailand as a front-line state should be proactive and formalized in the process of assisting Myanmar nationals due to the country’s economic collapse and internal fighting, which was made significantly worse when the country’s government was disbanded by a coup on 1 February, according to the former editor of Myanmar Times, Kavi Chongkittavorn.

As he noted, the two countries share problems as they go hand in hand.

“The urge to provide more aid comes as numbers are continuing to grow at the Thai-Myanmar border, with some 100,000 Myanmar refugees crowding the border in need of help,” reported the Thai PBS.

The country has seen an estimated 1 million of its citizens internally displaced since the coup, in which 30 percent or more are reported as having food insecurity, pointed out the report.

Thailand’s former PM, Kasit Piromya, says the current government, headed by PM Prayuth Chan-Ocha, cannot just stand still and that borders must be reopened to support the international community. He pointed to China remaining active across its borders with Myanmar through the Kachin State, with the help of the Chinese Red Cross.

The Thai former PM said although the Thai Red Cross has been in contact with the Myanmar Red Cross, it has yet to receive official backing from the Thai government.

Independent researcher, Supalak Ganjanakhundee said Thailand has benefited for a decade from a stable and secure Myanmar. But she pointed out that the hope of the Myanmar military's becoming “considerate” has not materialized; and with the shelling of Thai soil during an attack on an armed ethnic group last May, it appears such an act of consideration may never come.

She moreover floated a new diplomatic approach which she said should be enacted and termed as “complex engagement” with Myanmar. She said non-coercion, the exercise of liberal values, and open exchange in dialogue with all stakeholders would be part of such an exchange.

US-THAI CROSS BORDER INITIATIVE

On October 20, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that Thailand and the United States were considering jointly providing humanitarian aid to the Burmese people via the Thai-Myanmar border, according to the Thai foreign ministry.

Due to the 1 February military coup in Myanmar, the military junta's forces have destroyed scores of villages and homes through bombing, shelling and arson, as their clashes with rebels have increased, resulting in more than 218,000 people being displaced since then, according to the United Nations, RFA reports.

During a two-day visit to Bangkok earlier, US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet and an inter-agency delegation from Washington met with the Thai foreign minister and discussed the post-coup crisis in Myanmar, Thai foreign ministry spokesman Tanee Sankrat said at a press briefing.

“The two sides have discussed the situation in Myanmar, the handling of the matter by Thailand and ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] and the feasibility of Thai-US cooperation to provide people in Myanmar with humanitarian assistance – possibly handled via the Thai-Myanmar border,” Tanee said.

The displaced people of Myanmar lack food, drinking water, shelter and healthcare in an economy that has all but collapsed since the coup, economists, rights groups and other agencies say.

Dan Sullivan, senior advocate for human rights at Refugees International, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, that displaced persons are in “dire need of humanitarian aid.”

“There has been a tripling of those in need of aid since the coup – 1 million people to 3 million,” said Sullivan, the author of a new report by Refugees International: “Dire Consequences: Addressing the Humanitarian Fallout from Myanmar’s Coup.”

If the USA’s plan to provide aid via the Thai border – with Thailand’s cooperation – works out, “it would be very welcome,” Sullivan said. “In fact, we have been calling for cross-border aid.”

The main obstacle to getting aid into Myanmar is the military junta, Sullivan said.

“The junta has been directly blocking aid getting into certain areas; it has created bureaucratic impediments like travel authorization and visa delays at checkpoints now – all that alongside the huge spike in displaced people are the obstacles,” he said.

The benefit to working with Thailand and via its frontier with Myanmar is that there are “readily available and long-established local networks” in that area already, Sullivan said, according to the RFA report.

A senior State Department official told reporters ahead of the Chollet visit that “Burma is one of those issues where they share a border, and we want to work with Thailand in order to find a way to apply pressure on Myanmar to restore democracy there, but also look at humanitarian efforts and where we might be able to coordinate to assist the people of Myanmar.”

David Cohen, deputy director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha on November 19, reports the Bangkok Post, during which they are believed to have touched on a number of topics including the security situation in Myanmar and Thailand's provision of humanitarian aid to the country.

The top US diplomat Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia visited Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand from November 27 until December 4 after US President Joe Biden pledged a stepped-up engagement with Southeast Asia, a key battleground in his contest for influence with China, according to news reports.

Mr Kritenbrink speaking in Singapore during a virtual roundtable with the media which was organised in the middle of his four-day trip in Southeast Asia said, “All options are on the table, and I think it is our responsibility not just as the US, but as the international community, to do whatever we can to affect change and the unacceptable coup d'état and violence that has been carried out against the Burmese people," according to a Strait Times report.

On November 25, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told the House of Representatives that his November 14 recent visit to Myanmar was to oversee the delivery of humanitarian aid, according to the Bangkok Post report.

Mr Don said the visit was done for humanitarian reasons and the national interest, citing Myanmar and Thailand's shared 2,400-kilometre border.

The minister denied that the Thai government had donated COVID-19 vaccines to Myanmar. He said any such vaccine donation would have to be acknowledged by the Cabinet and vaccine manufacturers.

BOLD ACTION NEEDED

On November 10, in a 31-page report titled "Access Denied: the Myanmar Military Junta’s Deprivation of Lifesaving Aid to Karenni State," Fortify Rights group called on the governments of Thailand, India, China and Bangladesh to immediately authorize humanitarian agencies to provide cross-border aid to growing numbers of civilians in need in Myanmar.

The new report also documented the arbitrary arrests of 14 aid workers in Karenni State, creating a chilling effect among local and international humanitarian agencies, instilling well-founded fears that the junta may target them for carrying out their legitimate activities.

The ongoing attacks forced the displacement of more than 100,000 people in Karenni State and more than 223,000 nationally, according to Fortify Rights.

“ASEAN and UN member states should encourage the Government of Thailand to authorize cross-border aid delivery to civilians in need in Myanmar. Similarly, the governments of India, China, and Bangladesh should authorize cross-border aid to civilians in need in Myanmar. Humanitarian donors and donor governments should also immediately support cross-border aid operations, including those led by local civil society and community-based organizations,” the Fortify Rights report highlights as a key recommendation.

“Blocking aid and targeting humanitarian workers in the context of armed conflict are war crimes,” Ismail Wolff, regional director of Fortify Rights, said in a statement on November 10, according to a UCA News report.

“The Myanmar junta poses a threat to regional peace and security. UN and ASEAN member states should urgently support emergency cross-border aid for the displaced and ensure accountability for the junta’s heinous crimes.”

ENGAGEMENT

Aid is needed but care needs to be taken in terms of the strategies used.

International humanitarian action for Myanmar, including the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations, is a minimum response to the crisis, not a solution, and must not be leveraged by the illegal junta to reach a default political settlement, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) in a statement, on November 12.

“The United Nations (UN) Security Council issued a statement on Myanmar (November 10) calling for full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to people in need and the full protection, safety and security of humanitarian and medical personnel. The Council also called for greater international support to ensure delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations.”

“International donors including ASEAN, the EU, the UK, the US and UN agencies must partner with local actors and direct humanitarian aid through cross-border channels. A people-to-people approach of leveraging existing community networks is fast, adaptive and built on trust. This is essential, as the Myanmar military has a history of exploiting humanitarian crises of its own making for political gain. That was the case in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, on the back of which the military misled the international community into accepting its handling of the crisis giving it legitimacy for its continued control of the country. It must not be allowed to happen again,” the statement says.

On November 26, the SAC-M in a statement writes: “People throughout Myanmar are facing starvation. The world can either watch on or resolve the military junta-made crisis by formally recognising and engaging with the legitimate representatives of the Myanmar people – the National Unity Government (NUG).”

Across Myanmar the military junta has blocked access roads, cutting off community food and medical supplies, burning food stores and killing livestock. Repeated military offensives have prevented farmers in the north-west and east from planting and harvesting their yearly rice crops which are the main source of local food supply. People throughout the country are facing starvation as a result.

“Instead of wringing our hands wondering what to do, the international community can and must work formally with the NUG and get assistance across borders into the country and to the people who need it,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “There are trusted local humanitarian and medical networks including ethnic service providers, community-based and civil society organisations that are already helping people. They need to be supported and empowered.”

HURDLES

All this is easier said than done. A core issue to keep in mind is neither the junta nor the NUG is officially recognized, which at least on an official level might appear to pose hurdles for aid donors.

Even China and Russia have proved reluctant to show their official standing, though they are prominent as junta supporters.

In short, the UN and international community don't need to pay much attention to asking permission of the contesting political entities, the SAC and NUG. But as the latter openly has already asked for cross-border support, in practical terms only the former need to be either ignored or politely asked for cooperation in undertaking humanitarian aid across the borders.

The Myanmar junta will likely focus on its interests.

Thus, cross-border activities by international organizations don't need to ask for approval from either SAC or NUG. It should be conducted through the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). In other words, the two said groups, the EAOs and the CSOs from the Tanintharyi Region, Mon, Karen, Karenni and Shan states that share borders with Thailand will be implementing partners. A people-oriented approach to cross-border humanitarian aid will be crucial.

In fact, there is already an organization called Ethnic Health Committee (EHC) to undertake such a task. It is the main alliance of ethnic health organizations which are directly delivering health care in the Mon, Karen, Karenni, and Shan Ethnic Armed Organization administrative regions along the Thai-Burma border, as well as in Kachin State and Chin State border areas.

Likewise, Bangladesh and India in the west and northwest, and China and Laos in the northeast and east should be considered in terms of delivery of cross-border aid. While India and Bangladesh may be less problematic, China is said to be already interacting in the Kachin and Shan states through its own Red Cross

in cross-border undertakings regarding COVID-19 control and prevention. Laos may also come into consideration but the Thai cross-border undertaking may be able to cover the eastern Shan State areas.

LESSEN THE BURDEN

An effective people-to-people approach to deliver aid and communicate with the people and organizations in need will lessen the burden on neighbouring countries and Myanmar itself, reducing the pressure exerted and the complications of illegal mass migration.

Without a robust effective programme or approach, Myanmar will sink deeper into the mire and poverty and starvation will further push the country into an ungovernable failed state.

Cross-border humanitarian aid may be the best approach in attempting to help the people of Myanmar.

Given the voiced concerns of ASEAN and the USA when it comes to attending to the humanitarian needs of the Myanmar people, time is of the essence.

Diplomatic visits and online webinars only go so far. For the millions of people in Myanmar living on the edge – whether IDPs in the jungles or hills or the poverty-stricken in the towns - action now needs to be taken.