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)
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
On Day of the Seafarer, IMO Emphasizes Safety and Security
Each year on June 25, the global maritime community pauses to celebrate seafarers, who deliver 90 percent of all international trade. Seafarers work around the clock in a challenging industrial environment, and they leave their families for up to a year at a time in pursuit of their career. They give up the regular working hours and amenities that their shoreside peers are used to, receiving in return a better paycheck and the opportunity to travel. Without the two million men and women who work at sea, the maritime industry would not exist, and the global economy would lose steam.
"Seafarers from across the globe provide a vital source of income to their families back home, while on long voyages at sea. Let us together salute them for their essential work and support their safety," said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a statement. "Without them, the world would not be able to transport the large quantities of commodities that societies require to survive."
Guterres also called for an end to the "grave threats" that seafarers face near the Horn of Africa, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, where hijackings and Houthi missile attacks have endangered the lives of dozens since last fall. The IMO says that four seafarers have died in Houthi strikes, and many others have been injured.
"Attacks on international shipping routes and acts of piracy are unacceptable," he said. "Ships and seafarers must not be held hostage and hijacked. Seafarers should not be collateral victims in wider geopolitical conflicts."
IMO also called for the immediate release of the crew of the car carrier Galaxy Leader, who have been held captive by Houthi forces for more than eight months.
Safety in focus
The IMO has dedicated this year's Day of the Seafarer to the theme of safety. To raise awareness, IMO has launched a social media hashtag campaign focusing on safety at sea, and seafarers are invited to share photos and tips with the tag #SafetyTipsAtSea on the social network of their preference.
The organization shared a sample tip from Filipino seafarer Yrhen Bernard Sabanal Balinis, who emphasized good communication. "Whether it be anchoring, pilot boarding, or mooring, the officers need keen situational awareness to ensure that things are running safely," advised Balinis. "But effective shipboard communication is not only limited to those. Is a crewmate feeling down, homesick, or anxious? . . . Tactful communication plays an instrumental role in seafarers' psychological safety."
Looking to the future, Rene Kofod-Olsen - CEO of the world's largest third-party shipmanager, V.Group - called for preparing seafarers for the next generation of fuels and technologies.
"We must keep developing them with an eye on what comes next. Complexity in our industry is increasing, and the challenges of decarbonization and digitalization will need more training and upskilling to manage properly," said Kofod-Olsen. "We must do this while keeping seafarer safety at the front of our minds, and be uncompromising in the standards that we set across the whole maritime value chain."
ITF Says Flag States Must Instruct Ships to Divert from Red Sea for Safety
Crewmembers of the Tutor were airlifted from their disabled ship by French and American forces (FFEAU.ALINDIEN of X)
Marking the Day of the Seafarer, the International Transport Workers’ Federation speaking on behalf of seafarers’ unions globally is urging the international community to reflect on the invaluable contribution of seafarers to the global economy. In the face of the latest escalation from the Houthis attacking ships in the Red Sea region, the ITF is saying that flag states “which are responsible for assuring a safe working environment for seafarers on their vessels, must instruct companies to divert their ships.”
The unions have repeatedly condemned the attacks and called for action. Now in a strongly worded statement, they are demanding immediate action to ensure the safety of seafarers in the Red Sea. They contend the actions, to date, have been lacking and could have prevented the unnecessary deaths of seafarers.
“While we appreciate expressions of solidarity and condemnation, words are not enough. The ITF demands urgent, concrete action to guarantee the safety and security of seafarers,” they write.
“Seafarers are not commodities but the backbone of the global supply chain. Their lives should not be risked for profit, nor should they have to perform their duties under the constant threat of violence or harm.”
The ITF reminds that four seafarers have lost their lives since the attacks started late in 2023. Three seafarers were killed in March when the True Confidence was attacked and fires began on the vessel. The remaining crew was forced to abandon ship. This month, the Houthis attacked the Tutor, and one seafarer was lost before the crew was forced to also abandon that vessel. Last weekend, there were reports that another bulker had also been abandoned marking the fourth vessel where the crews had to leave their ships after being attacked. Two ships are known to have sunk due to the attacks.
The official accounts cite one crewmember on the bulker Verbena that was severely injured and required a medical airlift by the military forces and a life-saving operation. There is no official tally, but there have been reports of lesser injuries to crewmembers in the attacks, which the Houthis assert now number over 150 vessels targeted.
On the Day of the Seafarer, the ITF is also calling for the safe return of the crews from the car carrier Galaxy Leader, which has been detained in Yemen since November 2023. The shipping company recently highlighted that the crew is not part of the conflict and should be released. The ITF also reminds that the MSC Aries is being held in Iran.
The unions are saying governments must do more while shipping companies must also demonstrate their commitment to their seafarers by diverting from the region. While saying flag states must instruct ships to divert, they said “flags of convenience” must not rely solely on the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union navies for protection.
After the attack on the Tutor, the Philippines said it would be exploring steps to further enhance the safety of seafarers. The Philippines which is a large source of crewmembers, earlier in the year ruled that its citizens could not work on cruise or passenger ships sailing in the Red Sea region. Officials said that was due to the number of crew on those ships and that they were exploring similar restrictions for their citizens after the recent Houthi escalation.
Survey: Decarbonization Adds to Seafarers' Workload, Fatigue, and Stress
Survey says decarbonization efforts are impact seafarers' well-being (file photo)
One of the themes being highlighted on this the Day of the Seafarer as declared by the International Maritime Organization are the challenges and contributions of the profession. The charitable organization ISWAN (International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network) is highlighting that the drive to decarbonization is having an overlooked yet substantial impact on the workload, fatigue, and stress levels at sea.
As governments impose regulations and companies explore ways to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, seafarers seem to be forgotten in the larger scheme of things reports the charity. Believing that there has been comparatively little focus on the impact that the rapid pace of change is having on seafarers’ well-being and job satisfaction, ISWAN undertook a survey sponsored by The Shipowners’ Club. It includes responses from 400 seafarers of 29 nationalities as well as 55 responses from shore-based staff.
Slightly over half of the respondents, 53.8 percent, reported that the changes brought about by decarbonization were having a negative impact on their workload. Further, 44 percent of seafarers highlighted an increase in levels of stress, while 40 percent reported increased levels of fatigue.
The survey also revealed that a third of seafarers (32.8 percent) also have increased their fears about potential criminalization. They highlighted the complexity of current reporting regimes saying it is leading to greater risks of an inadvertent error.
Engineers are bearing the brunt of the negative impacts on their wellbeing. Over a third (34.4 percent) of engineer respondents are reporting a negative impact on their mental health, while a quarter (25.3 percent) of deck officers also cited mental health concerns. For the engineers, the workload and stress levels associated with requirements to switch frequently between different fuel types is taking a toll on their mental wellbeing. Engineers without a fixed trading pattern are reporting the worst impact.
“Only too often, seafarers tell us that they feel their well-being is overlooked in favor of commercial imperatives or regulatory requirements,” said Simon Grainge, ISWAN Chief Executive. “By engaging with their concerns about decarbonization, maritime employers have the opportunity to empower seafarers to be proponents and drivers of the journey towards zero carbon, rather than this becoming another factor that risks driving them out of the sector.”
ISWAN contends that while seafarers and shore-based staff are willing to be active contributors to the zero-carbon transition, they need to be proactively included in the efforts. For this reason, the charity put forth recommendations for maritime companies that guarantee the well-being of seafarers is elevated from the periphery to the frontline.
The recommendations include acknowledging and addressing the impact of decarbonization on workloads and factoring it into crew sizes, recognizing the psychological impacts of rapid change and technostress, and incorporating them into health and wellbeing training. They recommend fostering a culture of both physical and psychological safety for seafarers.
Indian Authorities Warn Seafarers of "Deceitful" Recruiters and Scammers
An abandoned seafarer swims back to his derelict vessel (ITF)
India's shipping ministry is warning seafarers to avoid unscrupulous operators and recruiters who abandon mariners at overseas ports. The practice of seafarer abandonment has been growing, according to the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), and the directorate's guidance is intended to help mariners secure their rights if and when their employer stops paying their wages.
As a starting point, the directorate advises new seafarers to check up on the reputation of an employer or manning agency before signing on for a position, and to carefully review the terms of their employment contract. "[The] market is flooded with various scam agents," the agency said. "New joiners have very little knowledge about the maritime industry, and they easily fall prey to agents."
If the crew does run into a problem with wage payment, the directorate advises notifying Indian authorities right away, then starting the process to get the ship's P&I insurer to cover the shipowner's debts using their MLC financial security coverage.
?If the owner or agent does not respond to inquiries about unpaid wages, and abandons the vessel to its fate, the directorate advises seafarers to get the ship arrested and sold in order to cover the owner's debts, just like an unpaid bunker broker or banker would - not as a last resort, but immediately.
"Seafarers are not paid for wages, food, accommodation, drinking water supplies, fuel for survival and medical care then seafarer should immediately approach their seafarers trade union or Indian embassy or Indian consulate or welfare organizations to arrange for a local lawyer to enforce their rights under maritime lien," the directorate advised.
The notice includes a list of legitimate maritime academies and advises new entrants in the industry to avoid uncertified, uncredentialed maritime schools, which may be fraudulent.
"This notice is seen as a beneficial step towards safeguarding the rights and well being of seafarers and ensuring the integrity of the maritime recruitment process. It will not only serve as a guide for current seafarers but will also be of great help to new seafarers who are looking to apply for recruitment in the maritime industry," said Frank Viegas, president of the Goan Seamen Association of India (GSAI).
Last month, the directorate also issued an urgent warning about another unscrupulous practice: a scam that preys on seafarers' families. The agency has received multiple reports of a fraudulent scheme that targets the family members of seafarers while they are away: the fraudsters contact the family via phone or email and say that the crewmember has been involved in illegal activity, and demand money from the family in exchange for the seafarer's "release." (In reality, the seafarer is simply away at work, and the scammer makes off with the money.) The directorate urged seafarers and their families to be sure to verify the identity of the caller, and not to transfer any money to anyone without first validating their request.
"There have been incidents involving individuals falsely claiming to be associated with seafarers onboard vessels or pretending to be as from law enforcing authorities such as Customs, State Police Departments, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Immigration Officials and Govt. officials from Ministry etc., and soliciting money from their family members under fraudulent pretences," warned Indian Deputy Director General of Shipping Capt. Daniel J Joseph. "These claims are generally false and are designed to deceive and exploit unsuspecting family members."
Maritime Charities Help Ensure Better Working Lives at Sea for Seafarers
Stella Maris CEO Tim Hill and The Seafarers' Charity Chief Executive Deborah Layde
Hundreds of thousands of seafarers and fishers in the UK and other parts of the world have benefited from practical, pastoral and spiritual support provided by global ship visiting network Stella Maris over the past 10 years, thanks to over £1 million in grant funding provided by The Seafarers’ Charity over that period. The Seafarers’ Charity’s sustained grant funding over the last ten years has enabled Stella Maris to help ensure better and safer working lives at sea for seafarers and fishers.
Through its global network of over 200 port chaplains and more than 800 volunteers, Stella Maris is present in 353 ports in 57 countries, and collectively they undertake up to 70,000 ship visits globally each year. The Stella Maris teams provide fishers and seafarers with a listening ear, practical assistance, warm clothing, reading materials, transportation into towns, faith materials, and communication tools for contacting family and friends back home.
Unrestricted core funding provided by The Seafarers’ Charity over the last decade has enabled Stella Maris to continue carrying out vital daily ship visits, offering friendship, advice and timely support to seafarers and fishers faced with challenges whilst working at sea. Some of these challenges have included: abandonment, modern slavery, non-payment of wages, hospitalisation and deaths at sea or back home.
As a recent example, an Indian crew abandoned in Troon, Scotland had not received their wages for several months. The local Stella Maris chaplain, Deacon Joe O’Donnell, visited and provided them with free mobile phone SIM cards, food, clothing and transport into town. The uncertainty of having no income put them under huge mental strain, so Stella Maris offered them pastoral support and reassurance. Following this intervention, the crew were eventually paid and they were able to return home.
Grants from The Seafarers’ Charity have also supported the growth and development of Stella Maris’ activities in South Africa and Kenya during this period. In Kenya, this has enabled the growth of Stella Maris Kenya from one port chaplain and three volunteers to a team of one port chaplain, three staff members, and 30 volunteers, greatly increasing the number of ships visited and seafarers helped. The funding has also helped Stella Maris Kenya to support over 8,000 seafarers, fishers and their families through access to training, educational programmes and counselling support.
Tim Hill MBE, CEO at Stella Maris said: “None of our work is possible without that unrestricted core funding provided by The Seafarers’ Charity. Who would pay Deacon Joe’s salary, the fuel for his car, his personal protective equipment? Core funding isn’t glamorous, it’s not aligned to a specific project or deliverable, but here in the UK it is essential to enable my 22 chaplains and 80 volunteers to carry out their duties, so we are very grateful to The Seafarers’ Charity for their visionary and flexible funding approach.” He also added that “we are delighted to receive restricted funding grants that have supported our growth in Kenya and South Africa.”
Deborah Layde, Chief Executive at The Seafarers’ Charity added: “The Seafarers’ Charity is proud to support Stella Maris’ crucial role on the frontline delivering much needed welfare support to visiting seafarers. While their work in port is very visible, less visible, but just as essential, are the hidden core running costs of an organisation. Our funding of essential running costs means Stella Maris can focus on what they do best - helping seafarers. Thereby enabling them to pay their bills and deliver on their mission in the most effective and sustainable manner over the long-term. We encourage all funders and donors who want to support seafarers to consider contributing to the essential core costs of maritime welfare charities. Funding core costs may not be sexy or exciting and you can’t stick your logo on it, but it is a critical source of funding which enables a maritime charity such as Stella Maris to get on with helping seafarers to enjoy better working lives at sea.”
The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.
OOPS
Myanmar junta chief apologises after security forces shoot dead prominent Buddhist abbot
Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has made a rare apology after security forces killed the popular abbot of a Buddhist monastery in an incident the military initially blamed on opponents of its coup. — AFP pic
Wednesday, 26 Jun 2024
YANGON, June 26 — Myanmar’s junta chief has made a rare apology after security forces killed the popular abbot of a Buddhist monastery in an incident the military initially blamed on opponents of its coup.
Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa, 78, was a prominent teacher and author on Buddhism and head of a monastery that had publicly opposed the military’s 2021 coup that has plunged Myanmar into turmoil.
He was shot dead on June 19 as he travelled by car through central Mandalay region.
Junta-controlled media initially blamed opponents of its coup for the killing but the next day a senior monk who had been at the scene said security forces were responsible.
His accusation went viral on social media and the junta said it would investigate the incident.
“We are extremely heartbroken for losing Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa,” junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said in a letter that was read out at the abbot’s monastery on Monday.
“We would like to give our sincere apology for this case,” the letter said.
The car the abbot had been travelling in had no religious markings on it, according to the letter, and had not slowed down at a checkpoint, leading junta troops to open fire.
An investigation would be carried out and the junta would take “action based on the facts.”
The abbot’s funeral would take place on Thursday
The military has long sought to portray itself as a protector of Buddhist identity, the majority religion in Myanmar.
Since seizing power in 2021 it has arrested and jailed locals and foreigners accused of “harming” Buddhism in its sweeping crackdown on dissent that has seen thousands jailed or killed, according to a local monitoring group.
But the clergy have also been at the forefront of political protests.
Huge demonstrations sparked by fuel price hikes in 2007 were led by monks, and the clergy also mobilised relief efforts after 2008’s devastating Cyclone Nargis and the inaction of a former junta.
— AFP
WFP condemns looting and burning of its warehouse in Myanmar
Yangon - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the looting of food supplies and burning of its warehouse in Maungdaw in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State last Saturday.
WFP is providing emergency food support to conflict-affected populations in Myanmar and has assisted almost one million people so far this year. The seizure of food and other goods and the destruction of humanitarian facilities in Maungdaw undermines these efforts and must be stopped.
WFP calls on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to ensure that humanitarian facilities and assets are respected and protected, and safe and secure access is provided for the delivery of vital assistance to those in urgent need.
WFP staff have been unable to access the Maungdaw warehouse since late May due to increasing conflict in northern Rakhine. The warehouse was holding 1,175 metric tons of life-saving food and supplies - enough emergency food to sustain 64,000 people for one month. WFP continues to gather details of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
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Myanmar junta still able to access weapons and money overseas, says UN expert
Sanctions and other international efforts can have an impact on the military's ability to launch attacks like air strikes.
JUN 26, 2024
WASHINGTON - International efforts to isolate Myanmar’s ruling junta appear to have dented its ability to purchase new military equipment from overseas, but the military is still able to access money and weapons for its war against anti-coup forces, a UN expert said in a report published on June 26.
More than three years on, a protest movement against the coup has evolved into a full-blown civil war, with the military accused of launching air strikes on insurgents and civilians alike as it lost control of large swathes of territory.
A report by the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Mr Tom Andrews, found the value of weapons, dual-use technologies, manufacturing equipment and other materials imported by the junta amounted to US$253 million (S$343 million) in the year up to March 2024.
That was a third less than the previous year, the report said, thanks to efforts by Singapore to prevent its companies from aiding the junta.
Mr Andrews told Reuters in an interview that the progress showed that sanctions and other international efforts can have an impact on the junta’s ability to resupply, and therefore reduce the military’s ability to launch attacks like air strikes that have killed civilians in their villages.
“The very means by which they are attacking these villages are dependent upon their access to weapons and materials supplied from overseas,” he said.
Myanmar’s military denies accusations it has committed atrocities against civilians and says it is fighting “terrorists”.
Officials have played down the impact of sanctions and said they only delay the military’s plan to return the country to democracy.
Mr Andrews looked at purchases by entities controlled by the junta’s defence ministry, identifying US$630 million in military procurement between 2022 and 2024.
Exports from Singapore dropped from more than US$110 million in the 2022 fiscal year to just over US$10 million, the report said.
However, Myanmar’s neighbour Thailand partially filled the gap. Companies registered in Thailand transferred weapons and related materials worth US$120 million in the 2023 fiscal year, compared with US$60 million the year before, the report said.
“In a striking example, in 2023, Thailand-registered companies became the SAC’s source for spare parts for its Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters that Singapore-registered companies provided previously,” the report said, referring to the junta’s formal name, the State Administration Council.
“The SAC uses these helicopters to transport soldiers and conduct air strikes on civilian targets, such as the April 2023 attack on Pazigyi village in Sagaing region that killed approximately 170 people, including 40 children.”
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told Reuters in an interview in April that Thailand will not take sides and will address all concerns in the conflict.
The military said members of the armed resistance were killed in the Pazigyi village strike.
Rohingya ‘genocide intensifying’ as war rages in Myanmar’s Rakhine: BROUK
Warning from rights group comes as fighting between Myanmar’s military and Arakan Army traps Rohingya in the western state.
People can be seen on the Myanmar side of the border, during the continuing conflict in Rakhine State, in the Teknaf area of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on June 24, 2024 [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/ Reuters]
A United Kingdom-based rights group has called for global action over what it called an “intensifying genocide” against Myanmar’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority as fighting between the Southeast Asian country’s military and a powerful ethnic armed group escalated in the western Rakhine State.
The warning from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) on Tuesday came as the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) condemned the looting and burning of its food stores and warehouse in Maungdaw, a coastal town on Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh that is mainly home to the Rohingya and is the focus of the current hostilities between the military and the Arakan Army (AA).
The AA represents Rakhine’s Buddhist majority and is fighting for autonomy for the region.
It issued evacuation orders for Maungdaw late on June 17 ahead of a planned offensive, leaving tens of thousands of Rohingya residents of the town with “nowhere to flee”, according to the UN’s human rights chief.
The Rohingya, considered outsiders by the military as well as many of Rakhine’s Buddhist residents, have long suffered persecution in Myanmar, including a brutal military offensive that drove some 750,000 members of the community into Bangladesh in 2017.
The crackdown is now the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
BROUK, in its new report, said the 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine are facing increased persecution after fighting between the military and the AA resumed last October. The military, which seized power in a February 2021 coup, is subjecting Rohingya in areas under their control to a “slow death” by depriving them of resources indispensable for survival – including food, water, shelter, sanitation and medical care – and also forcibly recruiting members of the community, including children, and sending them to the front lines to fight against the AA, it said.
Both the military and the AA have committed war crimes against the Rohingya, BROUK said, including “murder, torture, cruel treatment, extrajudicial executions, sexual violence, rape, taking hostages, conscripting and using children, pillaging, and deliberately attacking civilians”.
“Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State face either a fast death being killed by the Myanmar military or Arakan Army, or a slow death as a result of being systematically deprived of the basic necessities of life,” said Tun Khin, president of BROUK. “We are witnessing another significant increase in violence against the Rohingya and once again the UN Security Council looks on and does nothing.”
The international community’s failure to protect the Rohingya has resulted in “hundreds, if not several thousands” of deaths in the past six months alone, BROUK said.
Global inaction
Additionally, some 200,000 Rohingya who are internally displaced are now in dire need of humanitarian aid to prevent further loss of life, the rights group said, while an additional 11,000 members of the community – about half of them children – are trapped near Rakhine’s capital, Sittwe, surrounded by landmines and unable to flee as the fighting edges closer to the city.
BROUK warned that the international community could not afford to fail the Rohingya again, saying that authorities in Myanmar had failed to act on the ICJ’s order in 2020 to avoid acts against the minority population that could constitute genocide.
The group called for an open meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the military’s “repeated breaches” of the ICJ’s orders as well as action to end what it called a “cycle of impunity” in the country, including by a referral to the International Criminal Court or the creation of an ad hoc international tribunal.
“For the past 12 years, by repeatedly failing to take action to prevent violations of international law against the Rohingya, the UN Security Council has been sending a message to authoritarian regimes worldwide that they can get away with attempting to wipe out minorities they don’t like,” Tun Khin said.
“The Rohingya genocide was not inevitable, it was allowed to happen and is still being allowed to happen,” he added.
The renewed fighting between the military and the AA has forced some 45,000 Rohingya in Maungdaw and neighbouring Buthidaung township to flee to the Bangladesh border, the UN rights office said in May. The displacement came amid reports of widespread arson of Rohingya villages in Buthidaung, with survivors accusing the AA of carrying out the attacks in retaliation for alleged Rohingya support for the military.
The UN rights office said it had also documented at least four cases of beheadings by the AA.
The WFP on Tuesday said the fighting had cut off its access to its warehouse in Maungdaw since late May.
And on Saturday, the food supplies there were looted and the building burned down, it said.
The warehouse was holding 1,175 tonnes of food and supplies – enough emergency food to sustain 64,000 people for one month.
The UN food agency did not name the perpetrators but said it was continuing to gather details of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
It added, “The WFP calls on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to ensure that humanitarian facilities and assets are respected and protected, and safe and secure access is provided for the delivery of vital assistance to those in urgent need.”
Battles, conflict complicate ethnic judicial system in Myanmar
A rise in crime in southeast Myanmar is putting stress on already struggling systems.
By Kiana Duncan for RFA 2024.06.26 Mae Sot, Thailand
Soldiers of Karen National Union (KNU) march during the 70th anniversary of Karen National Revolution Day in Kaw Thoo Lei, Kayin state, Myanmar, Jan. 31, 2019.
Ann Wang/Reuters
Myanmar’s ethnic minority insurgent groups are grappling with a growing problem as they take over larger areas from junta forces in a surge of fighting since a 2021 coup: how to maintain law and order with few resources and while under constant threat of attack.
The Karen National Union, or KNU, controlling areas of Kayin state, is among the groups dealing with rising violent crime rates, especially offenses against minors, while struggling to maintain governance amid battles with junta forces.
“When there is conflict, there is not a normal situation. Whoever commits crimes like this, they have a lot of chances to flee,” said KNU spokesperson Saw Taw Nee, highlighting the difficulties in prosecuting offenders amid the chaos of war.
Soldiers of Karen National Union (KNU) march during the 70th anniversary of Karen National Revolution Day in Kaw Thoo Lei, Kayin state, Myanmar, Jan. 31, 2019. (Ann Wang/Reuters)
The conflict has displaced more than 229,000 people in Kayin state alone, according to the U.N. and amidst the turmoil, the KNU’s justice system has been pushed to its limits, resulting in controversial measures to combat heinous crimes.
Saw Taw Nee confirmed that “two or three” death sentences had been carried out in recent years, but declined to comment further, citing a lack of knowledge on the details. The KNU’s Department of Judiciary did not respond to requests for comment from Radio Free Asia.
In January 2024, a 60-year-old man was sentenced to death for raping two 12-year-old girls. This followed a 2022 case where two men received death sentences for the rape and murder of sisters aged 9 and 12.
These cases underscore the KNU’s resort to capital punishment, despite criticism from human rights organizations.
“As a human rights organization, we utterly condemn capital punishment in all circumstances,” said Saw Nanda Hsue of the Karen Human Rights Group. However, he acknowledged the complex reality in the “absence of proper mechanisms to hold civilian perpetrators accountable.”
The challenges faced by the KNU are not unique. Other political organizations opposing military rule and trying to administer civilian populations, such as the United League of Arakan and the Karenni Interim Executive Council, struggle with similar issues.
A source asking to be cited as an observer of the Arakan Army insurgent force, part of the United League of Arakan political group, told RFA that the group did not have enough lawyers or judges, and “very inadequate” infrastructure and facilities while prisons are at a constant risk of being attacked by junta troops.
“As [they gain] more controlled area and more population, the ULA will definitely face an increase in all types of cases,” the source said in a statement. “In some areas, gender-based violence and sexual assault cases might be more heard [in the] public domain.”
He told RFA he was not aware of any recent executions under the United League of Arakan.
Huge caseload
Similarly, the Karenni Interim Executive Council in Kayah state has begun training police forces to handle an increase in looting of homes abandoned because of the conflict, and petty crimes, as well as security for civilians, said John Quinley, director of Fortify Rights. Quinley interviewed members of the police force, who told him about the shortage of both facilities and personnel.
“They said, ‘you know, it’s really difficult. We have airstrikes and artillery fire in this area almost on a daily basis. But we’re also trying to get these guys that are trying to steal goods from houses,’” he said.
“Even the amount of judges that you have is fairly limited and their caseloads are really high, and so you just have a lot of petty crime, you have also other cases that are related to prisoners of war or related to crimes that maybe the resistance forces committed that need to go through the courts, so it’s just really quite a big caseload.”
A soldier of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) raises Karen’s national flag after burning Myanmar’s national flag at a Myanmar military base at Thingyan Nyi Naung village in Myanmar, April 15, 2024. (Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)
Ethnic minority political groups and their armies are increasingly taking over areas that have been devastated by the battles in which control over them was won.
“If you’re dealing with towns and villages that have been bombed out ... the courthouse is gone, the jails are gone, what they use for detention, and then once the sentences have been issued, prisons just simply aren’t available,” said Jonathan Liljeblad, an associate professor at Australian National University’s College of Law.
The United League of Arakan’s handling of more than 4,000 cases in recent years may soon be dwarfed by the growing caseloads across all areas controlled by ethnic minority organizations potentially leading to a bigger crisis in their makeshift justice systems.
“There’s a lot of challenges, like how to maintain the rule of law in our territory, especially prisons and the capacity of our people,” said the KNU’s Saw Taw Nee.
“We are still in a struggling time for our rights and liberties, so we could not focus on the specific issues like that,” he said in reference to the death penalty.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
Kiwifruit’s 100-year odyssey from China to New Zealand
When shopping in Chinese supermarkets, it is easy to find domestically produced Chinese kiwifruit, often called mihoutao by locals, and New Zealand’s brand — Zespri kiwifruit. They have a similar oval, brown shape and a refreshing sweet and tangy taste, making them a welcome delicacy pleasing to Chinese consumers’ refined palates.
However, many people are unaware that New Zealand kiwifruit originates from China. Over a hundred years ago, the fruit embarked on an adventurous journey across the Pacific from China to New Zealand. Its cultivation and development in New Zealand have since become a testament to the enduring bond and friendship between these two nations.
CROSS-PACIFIC ODYSSEY
The earliest record of the fruit can be traced back to 2,800 years ago, when the fruit was depicted in the “Shijing,” or the “Book of Odes,” the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry dating from the 11th to 7th centuries B.C. Its original name in Chinese, mihoutao or macaque fruit, refers to the monkey’s liking for it, according to the 16th-century Chinese medical encyclopedia, the “Compendium of Materia Medica.”
Its seeds were first introduced to New Zealand in the early 20th century by Isabel Fraser, a teacher from Whanganui on the North Island, who had visited her sister in China and brought back the seeds. The seeds were planted by a local farmer and the vines first fruited in 1910. People thought the fruit had a gooseberry flavor and began to call it the “Chinese gooseberry.”
The Chinese gooseberry’s rebranding didn’t happen until New Zealand’s merchants began to promote overseas market demand for the fruit in the 1950s. They decided to name the fuzzy, brown fruit after the country’s furry, brown, flightless national bird — the kiwi. In 1997, the Zespri kiwifruit brand was unveiled by the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board as part of a new global marketing strategy.
New Zealand growers spent many years to develop the first commercial variety of kiwi fruit. Selected by New Zealand horticulturalist Hayward Wright in 1928, the green-flesh variety is renowned for its delightful blend of sweet and tangy flavors and remains a household staple worldwide.
Later, it was brought back to China, “laying the foundation for the Chinese kiwifruit industry,” said Ivan Kinsella, head of corporate affairs China at Zespri International.
The gold flesh variety became famous in the last 15 years, followed by the ruby red variety in the last couple of years, he said. “China already accounts for about 50 percent of our total exports of the new red kiwifruit,” Kinsella said.
CHINESE MARKET
“The Chinese market is really important,” Kinsella told Xinhua in a recent interview. “China is by far the largest country market (of Zespri),” he said, noting that China’s imports account for approximately 27 percent of Zespri’s total exports, which should be around 200,000 tons this year.
“This year we will have probably around 23 chartered reefers, or refrigerated vessels, that are 100 percent with Zespri fruit coming directly from New Zealand to China,” he said. Without stopping, it takes about 12 days for the fruit to arrive in the best condition at a number of Chinese ports, including Shanghai, Taizhou and Dongguan, he added.
With the steady growth of kiwifruit exports to China, Zespri will continue the expansion and consolidation of its supply chain throughout China, Kinsella said. “That’s a major focus for us.”
Currently, the company has established an offline presence in over 60 cities in China and plans to double the number to 120 over the next five years as economic and trade relations between the two countries continue to flourish, he said.
China’s ever-improving customs clearance process allows kiwifruit to enter the Chinese market more quickly. For example, at the Shanghai Nangang port, where Zespri’s freighters frequently dock, Yangshan customs provides convenient clearance measures through advance declaration and other initiatives. Customs officers work around the clock to supervise the unloading and storage of goods, ensuring seamless clearance.
“We already have very rapid clearance of our fruit,” said Kinsella. With the implementation of a quarantine protocol between the two countries last year, the clearance rate has been accelerated even more, he added, noting “the big majority of the kiwifruit that arrives actually clears customs the same day.”
“So that’s been very successful, and a great outcome from the various free trade agreements that we have established,” he said.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest free trade deal comprising 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, entered into force on Jan. 1, 2022.
This monumental agreement not only underscores the importance of regional economic integration but also highlights the growing interconnectedness of markets. Such developments create a favorable condition for the ongoing cooperation and mutual benefits seen in the kiwifruit trade between China and New Zealand.
STRENGTHENED COOPERATION
Today, China is the world’s largest grower of kiwifruit, while New Zealand is the world’s largest exporter of kiwifruit. Experts believe that research and innovation in the kiwifruit industry offer immense potential for the two countries to cooperate and better meet the needs for high-quality kiwifruit among Chinese consumers.
In his recent official visit to New Zealand, Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited the China-New Zealand Belt-and-Road Joint Laboratory on Kiwifruit in Auckland. He said that the laboratories in China and New Zealand complement each other’s strengths and collaborate effectively. Through the empowerment of science and technology, the laboratories provide support for the further improvement and upgrading of the kiwifruit industry in both countries, and add momentum to the development of the kiwifruit industry in the Belt and Road countries.
In 2014, the China-New Zealand Kiwifruit Joint Lab was unveiled. In 2020, the lab was included in the list of Belt and Road joint laboratories by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
The lab established an international cooperation and exchange platform for Chinese and New Zealand scientists, said Li Mingzhang, former Chinese director of the joint lab.
It has facilitated extensive collaboration in kiwifruit germplasm resource development and utilization, industry standardization, food safety and talent cultivation, exploring a path of international cooperation in science and technology and innovation, said Li, who is also a senior researcher at the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Natural Resource Sciences.
Researchers from China’s Sichuan province have also independently cultivated a commercially viable red-flesh kiwifruit variety called “Hongyang” after years of efforts, Li said. “Currently, the new variety we developed has obtained variety protection rights in 14 countries and the European Union, and has been authorized for cultivation on more than 3,500 hectares of farmland in countries such as Italy and Chile.”
“China has got some fantastic varieties of kiwifruit, particularly the green kiwifruit. They’re a little bit sweeter than the New Zealand ones. The red varieties, like Hongyang from Sichuan, are also very tasty,” Kinsella said.
The two countries’ kiwifruit industries “are very complementary,” he said, as New Zealand kiwifruit began arriving in China at the end of March, filling a gap in the market when Chinese kiwifruit is not available.
China produces more than 2 million tons of kiwifruit annually. In comparison, New Zealand’s production is much smaller, estimated at around 700,000 tons this year, said Kinsella. “Despite our smaller industry size, New Zealand has made significant strides in developing the international market.”
Expressing hope to provide consumers with a year-round supply of kiwifruit, Kinsella said Zespri is actively exploring the cultivation of kiwifruit in China to leverage the New Zealand growing season in the Southern Hemisphere and the Chinese growing season in the Northern Hemisphere to better serve the Chinese market.
WORKERS CAPITAL
Norwegian fund blacklists Caterpillar over concerns about its role in Israeli operations in Gaza Norway’s largest pension fund said today it had divested from US industrial group Caterpillar because of the risk its equipment was being used by the Israeli army in Gaza. — AFP pic
Wednesday, 26 Jun 2024
OSLO, June 26 — Norway’s largest pension fund said today it had divested from US industrial group Caterpillar because of the risk its equipment was being used by the Israeli army in Gaza.
“For a long time, Caterpillar has supplied bulldozers and other equipment that has been used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure to clear the way for Israeli settlements,” Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP, said in a statement.
“It has also been alleged that the company’s equipment is being used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in connection with its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7 last year,” she added.
Because of this, there is a “risk that the US company may be contributing to human rights abuses and violation of international law in the West Bank and Gaza,” KLP said.
The fund said that since Caterpillar “cannot provide us with assurances that it is doing anything in this regard, we have decided to exclude the company from investment.” KLP — not to be confused with Norway’s massive sovereign wealth fund — said that earlier this month it owned Caterpillar stock valued at 728 million kroner (RM323.3 million), which it had now divested.
The fund has around US$90 billion under management.
In April 2021, KLP excluded companies linked to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including telecom equipment giant Motorola.
The Gaza Health ministry says at least 37,658 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive following Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Gunmen also took 251 people hostage in the attack, 116 of whom remain captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Israel. The army says 42 of those are dead. — AFP
South Korean authorities order battery maker to halt operations after deadly blaze
Emergency personnel work at the site of a deadly fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell, in Hwaseong, South Korea, June 24, 2024. PHOTO: Reuters
PUBLISHED ONJUNE 26, 2024
SEOUL — The South Korean authorities on June 26 ordered a lithium battery maker to halt factory operations indefinitely after a fire killed 23 people and said three company officials were under investigation on suspicion of having violated industrial safety laws.
The fire at unlisted battery maker Aricell on June 24 was one of the deadliest industrial accidents in recent years. Each year, dozens of workers in South Korea lose their lives on the job despite tougher laws and other efforts to improve safety.
The company, located in Hwaseong, an industrial hub south-west of Seoul, was ordered to shut down its only factory for inspections, Labour Ministry official Min Gil-soo told a briefing.
The names and titles of the Aricell officials under investigation were not disclosed. Violations of the 2022 industrial safety code can result in jail terms for fatal accidents.
A firefighter works at the site of a deadly fire at a lithium battery factory owned by South Korean battery maker Aricell, in Hwaseong, South Korea, June 24, 2024. PHOTO: Reuters
Aricell chief executive Park Soon-kwan apologised on June 25 for the fire but said the company had complied with all safety regulations and training requirements.
The factory, which had 35,000 lithium batteries stored at the time of the fire, was quickly engulfed and the spread of toxic smoke likely left workers unconscious within seconds, fire officials have said.
Only three of the dead — who were South Korean men — have been identified. The others, including 17 Chinese people, have yet to be identified due to the severity of damage to the bodies.
Investigators have begun a probe to determine the cause of the blaze amid questions about Aricell's hiring of foreign workers on a temporary basis and whether they received adequate safety training.
Established in 2020, Aricell has 48 full-time employees and makes lithium primary batteries for sensors and radio communication devices.
Its parent company, S-Connect, supplies lithium-ion battery parts to Samsung SDI, one of the country's major secondary battery makers.
UN Warns Of Overdose Deaths After Afghan Opium Production Plummets
The Taliban-ordered crash in opium production in Afghanistan, long the world’s dominant supplier, could drive up overdose deaths as heroin users switch to synthetic opioids already proving deadly in Europe, a U.N. report said on Wednesday.
The cultivation of opium, from which heroin is made, fell by 95% in Afghanistan last year after the Taliban banned the production of narcotics in 2022. Although opium production in Myanmar increased by 36% last year, it still fell globally by 75%, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual World Drug Report published on Wednesday.
“The result of a prolonged shortage of Afghan opiates could have multiple consequences in Afghanistan and in countries of transit and destination for Afghan opiates. The purity of heroin on the market is expected to decline,” the UNODC said.
Preliminary field observations indicate a possible slight increase in Afghan opium cultivation this year but it is unlikely to return to pre-ban levels, the UNODC said.
While there were “no real shortages” in the main destination markets for Afghan opiates such as Europe, the Middle East and South Asia were reported until early 2024, that could change if future harvests remain small, it added.
“Demand for opiate treatment services, including for methadone, buprenorphine, and slow-release morphine treatment, may rise, but if these services are insufficient, heroin users may switch to other opioids,” the report said, outlining the potential impact of reduced opiate supply.
“Such a switch may pose significant risks to health and lead to an increase in overdoses, especially if the alternative opioids include highly potent substances such as some fentanyl analogues or nitazenes that have already emerged in some European countries in recent years,” it added.
Overdose deaths from nitazenes, a type of synthetic opioid more potent than fentanyl, have been reported in Ireland, Britain, Estonia and Latvia, UNODC research chief Angela Me told reporters.
Typically a heroin user will buy what they think is heroin but it will have been cut with far cheaper and more potent nitazenes, Me said. The drug is then detected when tests are performed after the overdose death.
The sprawling report also said cocaine supply hit a record high in 2022, the latest year for which data is available. While consumption in the United States appeared to fall, wastewater tests showed consumption increasing in Europe.
Reuters
Did a US State Department official say Israel has the right to attack civilians?
Verdict: Misleading
Illustration by Paul Nelson/RFA; Images by Adobe Stock, AFP
A claim emerged in social media posts that U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated at a June 6 press conference that Israel “has a right” to target civilians, citing a short clip as evidence.
But the claim is misleading. Miller did mention such words, but it was later corrected by the State Department. The full context of the response makes it clear that Miller was referring to Hamas fighters when he mentioned civilians.
The claim was shared on the Weibo account of the Russian state-owned video news agency Ruptly on June 7.
“#US State Department said Israel has a right to attack civilians#,” the claim reads in part.
The post was shared alongside a 21-second clip that shows what appears to be Miller at a press briefing.
In the video, Miller can be heard saying: “Israel has a right to try and target those civilians but they also have the obligation to minimize civilian harm and take every step possible to minimize civilian harm.”
Several Weibo accounts reposted claims that a State Department spokesperson said Israel had the right to target civilians. (Screenshot/Weibo)
But the claim is misleading.
A keyword search found a full transcript of Miller’s statement published on the website of the State Department on June 6.
“Israel has a right to try and target those civilians[1] but they also have the obligation to minimize civilian harm and take every step possible to minimize civilian harm,” the transcript reads in part.
Miller’s statement was made as part of a longer response to a question about a recent Israeli strike against a school purportedly housing Hamas fighters in Gaza that reportedly resulted in the deaths of 14 children.
A review of the full context of the response shows that Miller meant to refer to Hamas fighters when he said “target those civilians”.
The State Department noted in an annotation, indicated by the number 1 in the quote above, that Miller’s phrase “target those civilians” was specifically referring to “Hamas fighters”.
The State Department annotated the transcript of its June 6 press conference to indicate that Miller was referring to Hamas militant fighters and not civilians. (Screenshot/U.S. Department State Department website)
A State Department spokesperson told AFCL: “Our State Department spokesperson clearly meant to say “Hamas”, and it was officially noted in the briefing transcript.”
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
SAY NO TO GENDER APARTHEID STATE
Doha meeting aims to integrate Afghanistan into international community: DiCarlo
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, has outlined the objectives of the upcoming Doha meeting on Afghanistan, describing it as a step towards integrating the country into the international community while ensuring it meets its global obligations.
The meeting, hosted by the UN, is scheduled for next week in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
In her statement, DiCarlo said that the participants will discuss the various challenges facing the Afghan people, their neighbors, the region, and the broader international community.
“The Doha discussions are part of a process; they are not a one-off,” DiCarlo emphasized. “The ultimate objective of this process is an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, fully integrated into the international community, and meeting its international obligations, including on human rights, particularly those of women and girls.”
This meeting follows UN-led initiatives from May 2023 and February 2024. Representatives from approximately 30 countries and international institutions have been invited to participate, according to a UN statement.
DiCarlo further explained that the meeting would also explore “avenues for further principled engagement with the de facto authorities for the benefit of all Afghans.”
For the first time in the three rounds of meetings, the Taliban has announced its participation.
However, many human rights defenders and women’s rights organizations have criticized the Taliban’s inclusion, arguing that it grants undue concessions to the group.
AMERIKA IS MIGRANT LABOUR
Andres Oppenheimer: Biden-Trump debate on immigration is pointless: U.S. jobs will keep luring immigrants| Opinion
Andres Oppenheimer Wed, June 26, 2024
President Joe Biden and Republican hopeful Donald Trump are likely to spend much of their time during their first debate Thursday sparring over immigration, but allow me to suggest that - as a new study shows - much of that discussion will be pointless.
First, despite constant claims by Trump that there is an “invasion” of undocumented migrants who are allegedly “poisoning the blood” of this country, the number of illegal crossings has gone down by 40 percent during the first four months of this year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures.
Granted, crossings of undocumented migrants reached a record high in 2023, but they have gone down dramatically since. And illegal crossings may go down further after Biden’s June 4 announcement of an asylum ban that will severely limit the number of people who can seek asylum in the United States every month.
Immigration still ranks high in polls about Americans’ top priority issues for the November elections, but it’s mostly because Trump and Fox News, among other right-wing media, are getting high ratings stoking fears about migrants.
Second, according to a new study by Brown University immigration expert Dany Bahar, it doesn’t really matter what Biden or Trump do to stop people at the border because they will keep coming anyway as long as there is a demand for jobs in the U.S.
In his study for the Center for Global Development, a Washington D.C. think tank, Bahar examined the number of migrant border crossings over the past 25 years and found that “people come whenever there are jobs to be filled in the American economy,” regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power.
As long as Americans don’t want to work as janitors, maids, or gardeners, foreigners from poorer countries will keep coming to fill those jobs, he said. “The so-called ‘border crisis’ will fix on its own, naturally, as the labor markets cool off,” Bahar told me.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are nearly 9 million job openings in the country but only 6.4 million unemployed workers. Florida, for instance, has now only 53 available workers for every 100 open jobs, the Chamber of Commerce figures show.
Third, the solution to unauthorized migration may not lie at the U.S. border, but much farther south, in Mexico or Central America.
U.S. taxpayers are already paying for deportation flights from the United States. It would cost less to send these flights from Panama than from New York.
More than 500,000 migrants crossed the Darien jungle on Panama’s border with Colombia last year on their way to Mexico and the U.S. border, Mulino said. “Today, the U.S. border is not in Texas, but in Darien,” he told me, referring to the migrants’ route.
Fourth, as America’s population keeps aging, it will need more, not fewer, immigrants. Without immigrants, there will be increasingly fewer workers paying taxes to cover retirees’ social security.
All of this brings me back to my main point: there are many falsehoods surrounding the so-called “immigration crisis,” including Trump’s false claim that undocumented migrants are bringing crime to this country. Studies show that migrants work hard, lie low, and commit fewer violent crimes than U.S.-born Americans.
So don’t fall for Trump’s demagoguery about hordes of violent criminals allegedly “invading” this country. No border walls nor mass deportations will fix this problem as long as there are jobs to be filled in America, and desperate people wanting to flee their countries.
The solution lies, like it always has, in bipartisan immigration reform to fix a broken system, and in forging closer economic ties with America’s southern neighbors to help lift their people out of poverty.
Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show on Sundays at 9 p.m. E.T. on CNN en Español. Blog: andresoppenheimer.com
Trump suggests having migrants fight for entertainment
Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News Mon, June 24, 2024
While President Joe Biden is preparing for his Thursday night debate with Trump, the Republican candidate for president has been on the campaign trail claiming he proposed a “migrant fight league” to UFC President Dana White.
“You’re going to go and start a new migrant fight league, migrants, only migrants,” Trump recounted saying to White while speaking at a Christian conference in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. “At the end of the year, the champion migrant is going to fight your champion. And I hate to tell you Dana, I think the migrant might win. That’s how tough they are.”
The crowd cheered as Trump — who has a history of demonizing immigrants — told supporters White didn’t care for that plan.
“It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had,” the 78-year-old Queens native joked.
Trump launched his first presidential run in 2015 by characterizing people coming into the U.S. through the southern border as drug dealing criminals and “rapists.”
During an interview last year, Trump denied knowing his sentiments echoed verbiage used by German dictator Adolf Hitler leading up to the Holocaust.
Immigration reform is shaping up to becoming one of the key issues of November’s presidential election. The Biden White House issued an executive order meant to moderate crossings at the nation’s southern border at the start of the month. Trump has consistently called for a wall to be built along that divide.
