It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, March 25, 2022
MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
New EU law targets big tech companies with expansive digital antitrust law
The EU's new law will make big tech companies subject to a number of obligations and prohibitions designed to prohibit what the 27-member union considers unfair market practices or practices that create or strengthen barriers for other companies. File Photo by Patrick Seeger/EPA-EFE
March 25 (UPI) -- The European Union has passed a new law that lays out a wide range of rules that target the world's most influential technology companies, and could change the way customers shop, see ads and interact online.
Part of the motivation for the Digital Markets Act is to boost competition, open markets to new competitors and decrease the influence of a small number of tech giants.
The European Commission said the law is among the first initiatives to comprehensively regulate the power of so-called "tech gatekeeper power."
"What we want is simple: Fair markets also in digital," EC Competition Commissioner and Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said in a statement Thursday. "We are now taking a huge step forward to get there -- that markets are fair, open and contestable."
Vestager said large gatekeeper tech platforms are stifling competition and keeping consumers from the benefits of an open digital market. One way Big Tech is doing this, she says, is favoring their own products over similar products on e-commerce platforms. The EU said almost a year ago that it was investigating Google over whether the U.S. tech giant is stifling competition in the bloc by favoring its own digital advertising platform. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
"The gatekeepers will now have to comply with a well-defined set of obligations and prohibitions," Vestager added. "This regulation, together with strong competition law enforcement, will bring fairer conditions to consumers and businesses for many digital services across the EU."
The EU's new law will make big tech companies subject to a number of obligations and prohibitions designed to prohibit what the 27-member union considers unfair market practices or practices that create or strengthen barriers for other companies.
The Digital Markets Act will also create an enforcement mechanism to ensure speedy compliance.
"This agreement seals the economic leg of our ambitious reorganization of our digital space in the EU internal market," Thierry Brenton, EC commissioner for the internal market, said in a statement. "We will quickly work on designating gatekeepers based on objective criteria."
Brenton said companies will have six months to comply with the new obligations.
"Through effective enforcement, the new rules will bring increased contestability and fairer conditions for consumers and business users, which will allow for more innovation and choice in the market," he said.
Tech companies will face new antitrust legislation in the EU as early as this year
The European Union may have just handed the US and North America its latest blueprint for regulating big tech with its new Digital Markets Act (DMA) legislation.
The DMA marks a concerted effort by the EU to give both big tech and the countries it operates in, outside of the US, a fair understanding of baseline reforms to antitrust concerns.
According to the News - European Parliament, "The Digital Markets Act (DMA) will blacklist certain practices used by large platforms acting as “gatekeepers” and enable the Commission to carry out market investigations and sanction non-compliant behavior."
While the language needs to be finalized to get passed officially, the DMA is defining "gatekeepers" as businesses or firms with a minimum market capitalization of €75 billion equal to $82B and or €7.5 billion annually as well as 45 million monthly users that make use of an app or platform. By including the "or" the EU broadens the antitrust conversation to include big name players such as Facebook as well as unthought of ones such as Booking.com, according to The Verge.
Regarding the tertiary details, the DMA will be imbued with the power to fine "gatekeepers" up to 10 percent of total worldwide turnover from the preceding fiscal year and 20 percent for repeat infractions that fail to meet the following antitrust objective goals in the EU:
Interoperability. Gatekeepers should allow their platforms to work with similar services from smaller third-parties. Exactly how this will be interpreted isn’t yet clear, but it could mean letting users on large messaging platforms like WhatsApp contact users on other platforms.
The right to uninstall. Consumers are to be given more choice over software and services, particularly in mobile operating systems like iOS and Android. They should be able to uninstall any preloaded software, and be giving a choice when setting up a new device what service they want to use for applications like email and web browsing.
Data access. Businesses should be able to access data they generate for larger platforms. This would mean, for example, letting companies who sell goods on platforms like Amazon access Amazon’s analytics about their performance.
Advertising transparency. If a company buys adverts on Facebook, for example, they should be given the tools to independently verify the reach of their ads. Companies will also be barred from “combining personal data for targeted advertising” without explicit consent.
An end to self-preferencing. Companies can’t use their platforms to put their products first. This means Google, for example, can’t put its shopping service at the top of its search results unless there is some sort of competitive tender for that spot.
App store requirements. The commission says platform owners can no longer require app developers to “use certain services (e.g. payment systems or identity providers) in order to be listed in app stores.”
In reaction to the news of the DMA, both Google and Apple, prime targets of many of the antitrust stipulations, have issued their "concern" for the ruling, in the following responses:
We remain concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users while others will prohibit us from charging for intellectual property in which we invest a great deal. - Apple
"While we support many of the DMA's ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability, we're worried that some of these rules could reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans. - Google
As Reuters notes, both Apple and Google have been lobbying against the passing of the DMA for some time now.
Despite the DMA being in the works for quite some time and deriving many of its tentpole objectives from real-world legislative battles in the EU, it remains early days for tech companies to digest the broad implications.
EU Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager seems optimistic about it officially passing and being implemented as early as October of 2022, which could give some "gatekeepers" as little as three months afterwards to make the necessary interoperability changes suggested by the DMA
CYBERWAR
Google: North Korean hackers targeted U.S. media, IT, crypto firms
North Korean hackers recently targeted U.S. media, IT and crypto firms in a coordinated attack,
Google said. File Photo by SP-Photo/Shutterstock
March 25 (UPI) -- Google recently discovered coordinated attacks by North Korean government-backed hackers against U.S.-based organizations in the news media, IT, fintech and cryptocurrency industries, the company's cybersecurity unit said.
Two separate North Korean groups exploited a vulnerability in the web browser Chrome in an effort to remotely install malware, Google's Threat Analysis Group said in a blog post Thursday.
The earliest evidence of the exploit was on Jan. 4 and a patch was issued on Feb. 14, Google said.
One campaign by the hackers targeted over 250 individuals in 10 different companies by posing as recruiters with fake job offers from Disney, Google and Oracle.
Google said it suspected the two groups worked for the same entity but had different missions and used different techniques. The company said it notified all the targets of the attacks.
The report came days after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said North Korean hackers are working with Russian cybercriminals.
"North Korea's cyber capabilities have been manifest in the world and they work with all kinds of cybercriminals around the world, including Russian cybercriminals," Sullivan said Tuesday at a press conference.
He was responding to a question about a report from Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs last week that drew a connection between the two countries' cybercrime operations.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday warned American companies to be on heightened alert for cyberattacks by Russia in response to the heavy sanctions that have been imposed since its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian officials charged in years-old energy sector hacks
FILE - Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco speaks to The Associated Press during an interview at the Department of Justice in Washington, Nov. 2, 2021. The Justice Department says four Russian government officials have been charged in hacks that targeted the global energy industry and thousands of computers around the world between 2012 and 2018. “Russian state-sponsored hackers pose a serious and persistent threat to critical infrastructure both in the United States and around the world,” Monaco said in a statement. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Four Russian officials, including hackers with a government intelligence agency, have been charged with the malicious hacking of critical infrastructure around the globe including the U.S. energy and aviation sectors between 2012 and 2018, the U.S. Justice Department and British Foreign Office announced.
Among the thousands of computers targeted in some 135 countries were machines at a Kansas nuclear power plant — whose business network was compromised — and at a Saudi petro-chemical plant in 2017 where the hackers overrode safety controls, officials said Thursday.
Though the intrusions date back years, the indictments were unsealed as the FBI has raised fresh alarms about efforts by Russian hackers to scan the networks of U.S. energy firms for vulnerabilities that could be exploited during Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Foreign Office suggested in an announcement on its website that the timing — exposing “the global scope” of hacking by the KGB’s successor spy agency — was directly related to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “unprovoked and illegal war in Ukraine.”
Additionally, multiple U.S. federal agencies on Thursday published a joint advisory on the hacking campaign, alerting energy executives to take steps to protect their systems from Russian operatives.
“The DOJ is firing warning shots at people who run Russia’s cyberattack capability,” tweeted threat intelligence analyst John Hultquist at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant.
“Russian state-sponsored hackers pose a serious and persistent threat to critical infrastructure both in the United States and around the world,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “Although the criminal charges unsealed today reflect past activity, they make crystal clear the urgent ongoing need for American businesses to harden their defenses and remain vigilant.”
None of the four defendants is in custody, though a Justice Department official who briefed reporters said officials deemed it better to make the investigation public rather than wait for the “distant possibility” of arrests. The State Department on Thursday announced rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the “identification or location” of any of the four defendants.
The indicted Russians include an employee at a Russian military research institute accused of working with co-conspirators in 2017 to hack the systems of a foreign refinery and to install malicious software, twice resulting in emergency shutdowns of operations. The British Foreign Office identified the target as Saudi and said the military research institute was being sanctioned. The so-called “Triton” case — affecting the Petro Rabigh complex on the Red Sea — has been well-documented by cybersecurity researchers as one of the most dangerous on record. The malware was designed with a goal of inflicting physical damage by disabling a safety shutdown function that would normally stop a refinery from “catastrophic failure,” a Justice Department official said.
The employee, Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, also tried to break into the computers of an unidentified U.S. company that operates multiple oil refineries, according to an indictment that was filed in June 2021 and was unsealed Thursday.
The three other defendants are alleged hackers with Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB — which conducts domestic intelligence and counterintelligence — and members of a hacking unit known to cybersecurity researchers as Dragonfly.
The hackers are accused of installing malware into legitimate software updates on more than 17,000 devices in the U.S. and other countries. Their supply chain attacks between 2012 and 2014 targeted oil and gas firms, nuclear power plants and utility and power transmission companies, prosecutors said.
The goal, according to the indictment, was to “establish and maintain surreptitious unauthorized access to networks, computers, and devices of companies and other entities in the energy sector.” That access would enable the Russian government to alter and damage systems if it wanted to, the indictment said.
A second phase of the attack, officials said, involved spear-phishing attacks targeting more than 500 U.S. and international companies, as well as U.S. government agencies including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The hackers also successfully compromised the business network — though not the control systems — of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation in Burlington, Kansas, which operates a nuclear power plant.
The British Foreign Office said the FSB hackers had also targeted U.K. energy companies and stolen data from the U.S. aviation sector and other key U.S. targets.
Russians charged in U.S. for 'historic' hacking rampage against systems worldwide U.S. and British officials said that the four Russians were responsible for targeting systems in more than 100 countries over a six-year period, including energy and aviation sectors of the United States. Photo courtesy Federal Bureau of Investigation
March 25 (UPI) -- U.S. and British officials have accused four Russian officials -- including hackers with a Moscow intelligence agency -- with various cybercrimes committed over a period of several years against more than 100 countries, including the United States.
The U.S. Justice Department and British Foreign Office announced the cybercrimes on Thursday. They say the Russian officials worked with the Kremlin to conduct cyber intrusions between 2012 and 2018 that targeted the global energy sector in about 135 countries.
The department said the attacks came as part of two separate conspiracies targeting "thousands of computers, at hundreds of companies and organizations" over the six-year period.
The charges are part of two separate indictments last summer and unsealed on Thursday.
One of the Russians identified in the indictment is Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, an employee of a Russian defense research institute. Prosecutors say that he and three co-conspirators caused two separate emergency shutdowns at a foreign refinery by hacking the system and installing malware.
The attacks also included breaches at a nuclear power plant in Kansas and a chemical plant in Saudi Arabia.
"In some cases, the spearphishing attacks were successful, including in the compromise of the business network of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation in Burlington, Kan., which operates a nuclear power plant," the Justice Department said in a statement.
Gladkikh is charged with one count of conspiracy to cause damage to an energy facility.
The other three were identified as Pavel Aleksandrovich Akulov, Mikhail Mikhailovich Gavrilov and Marat Valeryevich Tyukov. Authorities said they undertook years-long efforts to target and compromise computer systems of energy companies around the world. Those three are suspected hackers with Moscow's Federal Security Service.
None of the four have been arrested, officials said.
"After establishing an illegal foothold in a particular network, the conspirators typically used that foothold to penetrate further into the network by obtaining access to other computers and networks at the victim entity," the department added.
Akulov, Gavrilov and Tyukov are charged with conspiracy to cause damage to an energy facility and conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse and wire fraud.
Akulov and Gavrilov are also charged with substantive counts of wire fraud and computer fraud related to unlawfully obtaining information from computers and causing damage to systems. The pair were also charged with three counts of aggravated identity theft.
The British Foreign Office said that the charges are directly related to Russian President Vladimir Putin's "unprovoked and illegal war in Ukraine," which is now in its second month.
"The U.K., together with the U.S. and other allies, has exposed historic malign cyber activity of Russia's Federal Security Service," the foreign office said.
The Federal Security Service is Moscow's successor spy agency to the Soviet-era KGB.
Authorities said the cybercrimes include "substantial scanning and probing of networks in the American aviation sector, and exfiltration of data in aviation and other key U.S. targets."
"We are sending a clear message to the Kremlin by sanctioning those who target people, businesses and infrastructure," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. "We will not tolerate it."
SPIRIT ANIMALS Pale raccoon siblings move to Denver Zoo after being found inside a wall By Wade Sheridan
March 25 (UPI) -- The Denver Zoo is welcoming two pale, raccoon siblings who were rescued after being found inside the wall of a home.
The raccoons, named Cashew and Pecan, suffer from leucism, which makes them unlikely to survive in the wild. Leucism is an abnormal condition that causes partial pigment loss.
Cashew and Pecan were treated at the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Animal Hospital and put in quarantine before they entered their new habitat at the zoo. The pair are located at the Harmony Hill section of the zoo, which highlights how humans can better co-exist with wildlife.
The Denver Zoo's animal care staff have already started working with the siblings and uploaded a video of Cashew and Pecan exploring their new home on Twitter.
Pecan, who has darker fur than his sister, is described as outgoing and confident. Cashew is described as being selective about the food she eats and is always on the lookout for treats given by the zoo staff.
Denver Zoo's Curator of Carnivores Rebecca McCloskey defended the decision to add two raccoons to the zoo.
"Harmony Hill is a place where we share the story about living with wildlife. Raccoons are an excellent example of a species we can teach our guests live alongside, so they were a natural fit for the space. Because of their light coloring, these two would not survive in the wild, so we're giving them a safe place to call home. And our visitors will learn a lot from these two, like how raccoons contribute to the ecosystem, and how we can live in harmony with wildlife," McCloskey said.
For a third week in a row, the Iran-backed Houthis attacked an Aramco oil storage facility in the port city of Jeddah and other energy facilities in the kingdom.
Footage of the attacks shared on social media show a section of the Aramco oil facility in Jeddah set ablaze. Others show the aftermath of a strike against a water facility in Najran.
Following the assaults, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sare’e acknowledged the third “Siege Breaking” operation was launched against various targets inside Saudi Arabia using drones, ballistic and winged missiles.
“In response to the continuation of the unjust siege on our country and our people, and the inauguration of the eighth year of steadfastness the Yemeni armed forces carried out the third Siege Breaking operation with batches of ballistic & Winged missiles and drones,” Sare’e tweeted.
A statement by the official spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition, Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, stated that the Aramco attack in Jeddah was likely conducted by the Houthis and noted the goal of the assault was to “undermine energy security” of the global economy.
“A fire erupted in (2) tanks in the oil facility; the fire was controlled, and no injuries or loss of life were recorded. This hostile escalation targets oil facilities, and aims to undermine energy security and the backbone of global economy. These hostile attacks had no impact or repercussions in any way, shape or form on public life in Jeddah City,” al-Malki stated.
Friday’s strikes are a part of a broad and extensive operation primarily targeting Saudi oil facilities. Houthi statements have blamed Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen, specifically the prohibition of fuel imports as the reason for launching operations against the kingdom. [See FDD’s Long War Journal: Houthis Renew Attacks Against Saudi Arabia.]
However, this is likely a superficial explanation of the reason behind the assaults. Iran stands to benefit from soaring oil prices, primarily caused by last month’s Russian invasion of Ukraine. And as the Houthi’s main backer, it’s plausible Iran instructed its proxy to step-up attacks against Saudi oil refineries in order to cripple production, thus maintaining global oil prices at a high level to use as leverage while it negotiates a renewed nuclear deal with the United States.
Iran has long been suspected of using its proxies as a cover to launch assaults against Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The recurrent attacks against energy facilities over the years including those in recent weeks appears to be straining the Saudi’s ability to keep up with the production of oil. A recent statement published by the Saudi’s Foreign Ministry signaled that continued Houthi strikes against its oil refineries will limit the production of oil to the global market.
While the Aramco facility in Jeddah continues to burn late into the evening, Iran has sent a clear message to Saudi Arabia and the United States who orchestrated the attacks.
Joe Truzman is a contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.
Saudi Aramco oil facility burns after attack by Yemen Houthi rebels
Yemen's Houthi rebels say they carried out several attacks on Friday, the largest being on an oil storage and shipping facility in Jiddah. Sunday's F1 Grand Prix there will go ahead as scheduled, say organizers.
The attack on an Aramco oil storage and shipping facility filled the skies over Jiddah black with soot
Yemen's Houthi rebels on Friday attacked several targets in Saudi Arabia, including a Saudi Aramco oil storage and shipping facility in the coastal city of Jiddah.
"We did several attacks with drones and ballistic missiles," including an "Aramco installation in Jiddah [and] vital installations in Riyadh," the rebels said in a statement.
Saudi Arabian state television told viewers that a "hostile operation" had targeted the Jiddah facility.
The US State Department condemned the attacks as "unacceptable," saying Washington would continue to help Saudi Arabia bolster its defenses.
Saudi-led coalition begins military operation
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen launched a military operation on Saturday to stop the attacks, according to Saudi state media.
The coalition said it was carrying out airstrikes in the Houthi-controlled Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah It said it aims to "protect global energy sources and ensure supply chains." The operation would continue until it achieves its goals, it said.
While the operation was in its early stages, the coalition said Houthis should bear the consequences of their "hostile behavior."
Earlier, the coalition was quoted as saying it would "directly deal with sources of threat", urging civilians to stay away from any oil site or the Hodeidah facility.
Attacks target main Formula 1 sponsor at hometown race
The Red Sea city of Jiddah is also the site of Sunday's Formula One Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia. The country's Corniche Circuit is located just 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the storage facility.
The attacks occurred during a training session for the race, even causing reigning champion Max Verstappen to radio in to his crew: "I can smell burning ... is it my car?"
After a short delay in which race organizers conferred, training resumed.
"We are aware of the attack on the Aramco distribution station in Jiddah earlier this afternoon," said race promoter Saudi Motorsport Company in a statement. "Race organizers remain in direct contact with the Saudi security authorities, as well as F1 and [governing body] FIA to ensure all necessary security and safety measures continue to be implemented. The race weekend schedule will continue as planned."
The statement said organizers looked forward to welcoming fans for a weekend of "premium racing and entertainment."
McLaren Team Principle Andreas Seidl said participants had to trust organizers. Still, he added, "it is a very unsettling situation for all of us."
F1 CEO Domenicali (r) defended his organization's business relations with with
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Formula 1 sells presence as shining light on unpleasant issues
Formula 1 is no stranger to controversy and has often been criticized for working with authoritarian governments.
The Jiddah attacks are part of a larger seven-year war in Yemen. The conflict between the Iran-backed Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition is the source of one of the world's largest current humanitarian crises.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the country's internationally recognized government after rebels took the capital Sanaa in 2014.
Conflict since coup pushes Myanmar’s displaced to nearly 900,000
Aid workers say refugees are facing critical food shortages due to blocked supply routes.
By RFA’s Myanmar Service 2022.03.25
Refugees in Kayah state's Demawso township, Jan. 12, 2022.
Widespread conflict since the military took control of Myanmar has increased the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to nearly 900,000, according to the United Nations, and aid workers say that worsening food shortages are pushing the country ever closer to the brink of a humanitarian disaster.
Earlier this week, the U.N. Humanitarian Office said that 519,900 people had been displaced by clashes between the military and anti-junta forces throughout the country of 54 million since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, bringing the total of IDPs in Myanmar to 890,300.
The estimate of IDPs, which adds to the 370,400 people who had already fled conflict zones in Myanmar prior to the coup, came as a rights group called on foreign governments to take stronger action against the military’s widespread abuses in the lead up to Armed Forces Day celebrations planned by the junta for the weekend.
The agency said that civilians are suffering the consequences of escalated fighting in northwestern Myanmar’s Magway and Sagaing regions and the southeastern states of Kayah and Kayin, while aid groups have been hampered by tight security. The four areas are centers of fierce resistance to junta rule and have seen some of the worst violence since the coup.
An aid worker who spoke to RFA’s Myanmar service on condition of anonymity said refugees in the isolated Kayah townships of Demawso and Phruso have only poor-quality rice to eat each day because roadblocks erected amid the clashes had led to food shortages.
“The situation in Phruso is particularly bad. There’s been a severe food shortage there for a long time because they don’t have rice fields in the area and no rice can be transported there,” the worker said. “Even if you have money, you can’t buy rice anywhere.”
The worker added that those who have sought shelter in makeshift camps are also suffering from shortages of drinking water and medicine.
In Sagaing region, where the military is engaged in a scorched earth campaign, junta troops have attacked villages, setting some on fire and forcing residents to flee.
A resident of Shar Lwin village in Sagaing’s Khin Oo township, where 63 houses were recently destroyed by arson during a military raid, said inhabitants are too frightened to return to the area and are facing a water shortage while in hiding.
“Many villagers are in trouble. We are hiding in the forest and … as summer approaches, the major problem is water scarcity,” he said.
“There are health problems due to the change in climate. Not just our village, but all the villages in the area are suffering. I’m praying for a quick end to these troubles.”
In Khin Oo’s Kala Lu and Shar Lwin villages alone, troops set fire to at least 327 homes during the month of March, displacing an estimated 2,500 people.
In Southern Chin state’s Kanpetlet township, a week of intense fighting between the military and the anti-junta Kanpetlet Chin Defense Force (CDF) from March 10-17, forced more than 1,000 people from 10 villages to flee to the jungles, residents said — most of them with only the clothes on their backs.
“Fighting has been going on for some time between the junta and the CDF and the military fired heavy weapons randomly into the area several times,” said one of the township’s residents, who also declined to be named.
“All the elderly, children and disabled are now hiding in the forests and mountains. When fighting broke out, people were not prepared, so they had to flee to safety in a rush with nothing they needed. Everyone is having a hard time without any food.”
Kayah war refugees in Southern Shan State's Naungdaw township, Jan. 30, 2022. Credit: Khu San OoSupply routes blocked
An official with the Chin Affairs Federation, who asked to be identified only as Mary, said the junta is actively blocking supplies to the area, exacerbating food shortages.
“People in the country are now living in fear. As soon as the soldiers enter a village, their priority is to destroy rice mills, if there are any. They always burn the rice mills first and then the barns,” she said.
“This is their strategy. When they cut off the food supplies, it becomes very difficult for people to survive. That’s the main problem facing IDPs in the country.”
She added that it was impossible to provide adequate assistance to refugees because of blocked food supply routes.
Ko Banyar, the director of the Karenni Human Rights Group, which helps refugees in Kayah state, called on the junta to reopen supply routes to alleviate hunger in the region.
“Food embargoes should never be imposed on IDPs emerging from conflict zones, regardless of the political situation,” he said. “The blockades must be reopened so that international aid can flow freely. These [IDPs] are the people of Myanmar, not enemies of the state.”
Ko Banyar also urged the U.N. to hold talks with the junta to ensure that refugees receive the help they desperately need.
The U.N. Humanitarian Office said staff have assisted refugees in northern Shan State but warned that the number of IDPs has increased drastically, as fighting intensified between the military and ethnic armed groups.
Last week, the agency said in a statement that despite an influx of humanitarian aid for 6.2 million non-IDPs in need of assistance, Myanmar has yet to receive funding for key sectors.
Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing presides over an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2021. Reuters
Marking Armed Forces Day
Also on Friday, New York-based Human Rights Watch called on concerned governments to strengthen economic sanctions against junta members and other senior military officers, as well as military-owned conglomerates, as it highlighted the military’s atrocities ahead of Armed Forces Day, observed in Myanmar on March 27.
The group also called for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a global arms embargo against Myanmar and refer the country situation to The Hague-based International Criminal Court over atrocities targeting civilians since the coup.
“Governments joining Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day celebrations are celebrating the military’s brutal suppression of its own people,” said Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Governments should instead participate by enacting targeted sanctions against the generals and military businesses.”
On March 27, 2021, Myanmar security forces killed as many as 163 anti-coup protesters in deadly crackdowns in what is thought to be the bloodiest day of violence since military takeover.
Since the coup, security forces have killed people more than 1,700 civilians and arrested more than 9,900, according to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
On Thursday, a joint report by Fortify Rights and the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School identified 61 senior military and police officials who ordered abuses or are otherwise directly implicated in what it designated crimes against humanity in the first six months after the coup.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Biden administration had imposed sanctions on five Myanmar nationals and five entities in response to the junta’s crackdown on civilians.
In a statement that highlighted the deadly violence in Myanmar on Armed Forces Day last year, Blinken said that the sanctions were levelled by the administration “to show our strong support for the people of [Myanmar], and to promote accountability in connection with the coup and the violence perpetrated by the regime.”
Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
‘Crimes against humanity’ after Myanmar coup warrant ICC referral, new report finds
An in-depth legal analysis of the events recommends the junta be tried in an international court.
By Joshua Lipes 2022.03.24
Family members of a protester killed during a crackdown by security forces on demonstrations against the military coup escort their body outside a morgue as mourners hold up the three finger salute at Thingangyun Hospital in Yangon, March 15, 2021.
AFP
In the six months after seizing power in a coup, Myanmar’s military regime committed widespread and systematic crimes against humanity, according to a damning new report that identified dozens of junta officials it said should be investigated for their alleged roles in the atrocities.
The 193-page report, entitled "Nowhere is Safe" and published Wednesday by the Southeast Asian rights group Fortify Rights and the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School, draws on more than 120 testimonies and leaked documents to detail how the junta murdered, imprisoned, tortured, disappeared, forcibly displaced, and persecuted civilians for months following its Feb. 1, 2021 putsch.
The report provides some of the most in-depth legal analysis of the atrocities in the aftermath of the coup to date and asserts that they meet the standard required by The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant. It comes a week after a U.N. report concluded that the Myanmar army was responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Thejuntahas yet to respond, but has previously dismissed such accusations as foreign interference based on falsehoods.
In a statement accompanying its release, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews said that Fortify Rights and the Schell Center had compiled key evidence that could one day be used to deliver justice to the junta’s victims.
“Published just days prior to the first anniversary of the Armed Forces Day Massacre, this report provides the international community a better understanding of the junta’s crimes, the individuals responsible, and their battalions’ locations in relation to attacks,” said Andrews, Robina Senior Fellow at the Schell Center, and author of the foreword to the report.
“This pivotal report on the junta’s horrendous crimes can help guide efforts to ensure accountability,” he added, calling on United Nations member states to “ensure accountability for these ongoing atrocities.”
On March 27, 2021, Myanmar's security forces killed more than 100 pro-democracy protesters in the bloodiest day since the coup, as the junta staged a show of might on its annual Armed Forces Day. In the nearly 14 months since seizing power, authorities have killed at least 1,700 civilians and arrested more than 9,870 – mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights organization based in Thailand.
Officials identified
In their report, Fortify Rights and the Schell Center identified 61 senior military and police officials they said are potentially liable for crimes against humanity, including junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Deputy Commander in Chief Vice Senior General Soe Win, and the Joint Chief of Staff General Mya Tun Oo. The men are also responsible for what the U.S. Biden administration on Monday determined to be genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya in Rakhine state in 2016 and 2017.
Other military and police suspects identified in the report are 19 Regional Commanders of the Police Force, 13 Regional Commanders from the military, and 27 other senior officials from the junta.
Only 20 of the 61 officials have been sanctioned by at least one government, according to Fortify Rights and the Schell Center.
“All individuals responsible for these crimes should be sanctioned and prosecuted,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights and co-author of the report.
“Governments should revamp and calibrate their foreign policies to support the people of Myanmar in ending the military’s attack. Governments should acknowledge the [shadow] National Unity Government of Myanmar, end weapons transfers to the military, and create conditions to ensure international jurisdiction over these crimes.”
The report also provides new details of the junta’s chain of command during the crackdown, including Min Aung Hlaing’s establishment of a “Special Command” in Naypyidaw, led by four senior generals, that had sole authority to deploy and command troops in civilian areas.
Active-duty military personnel critical of junta rule helped Fortify Rights and the Schell Center to establish the locations of 1,040 military units nationwide in their report, which could be used by prosecutors and policymakers geo-locate alleged perpetrators vis-a-vis crime scenes throughout the country.
In addition to collecting testimonies, Fortify Rights collected 1,153 data points of open-source information about specific incidents of human rights violations uploaded by Myanmar citizens.
A policeman points his weapon at people amid a crackdown on anti-junta protesters in Shan state's Taunggyi city, Feb. 28, 2021. Credit: AFP
Call for global response
In its examination of the evidence, the Schell Center found that from February to July 2021, forces under the junta’s command conducted “a widespread and systematic attack directed against a civilian population with knowledge of the broader attack.” Based on its findings, “there are reasonable grounds to believe that the junta committed crimes against humanity” as defined by the Rome Statute, the international treaty that led to the establishment of the ICC.
Among 28 recommendations made in their report, Fortify Rights and the Schell Center called on governments to ensure international justice for past and ongoing atrocity crimes Myanmar and to push the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation there to the ICC.
The report also urged U.N. Security Council member states to support a resolution to impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmar military – a recommendation U.N. Special Rapporteur Andrews made to the council in a report last month, saying that weapons purchased by the junta are almost certainly being used to kill innocent people.
Additionally, the report said governments should impose targeted sanctions against military-owned enterprises and block the junta’s access to natural gas revenues and access to financial services.
“The Myanmar military poses a threat to international peace and security,” said Roger Polack, Schell Center Visiting Human Rights Fellow and co-author of the report.
“The Security Council must live up to its mandate to respond to such threats—and must discharge its responsibility to protect—by putting forward a resolution that imposes the recommendations in this report.”
Polack said that absent action by the council, its member states should coordinate a similar response.
“Without a concerted effort to stop ongoing atrocities and to hold the junta accountable for the crimes it has committed to date, the junta will undoubtedly continue to persecute its opponents, murder civilians, and devastate the social, health, and economic well-being of Myanmar,” he said.
