Ethnic minorities must not be left out of reforms

Thousands of ethnic Kachin refugees are being pushed back to a conflict zone in Myanmar’s far north by local authorities in southern China and there is a growing concern that these displaced people will get caught up in grave danger – as fighting between Myanmar government forces and Kachin rebels has yet to subside.

International organisations, such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the refugees could be exposed to risk from armed hostilities, abuses from government forces and lack of aid. 

At least 1,000 Kachin refugees had been pushed back into Myanmar since August 19. HRW said it has learned that China plans to deport another 4,000 more refugees. 

“China is flouting its international legal obligations by forcibly returning Kachin refugees to an active conflict zone rife with Burmese army abuses,” said Bill Frelick, director of the refugee program at Human Rights Watch. “China should urgently change course and provide temporary protection for the refugees in Yunnan Province.”

The Kachin refugees had been living in a dozen makeshift camps in China since June 2011. They were told about a year later by authorities in Yunnan province that they were no longer welcome in China. 

Moreover, the Chinese government has denied United Nations and international humanitarian agencies much-needed access to these refugees, HRW said. As well, the area to which they have and will be returned are currently isolated from the UN agencies because the Myanmar government has blocked humanitarian access to the area. 

In this day and age, the international norm is that countries should not force refugees back to where they came from, especially if the area is a conflict zone. 

Wartime abuses in Myanmar such as forced labour, killings, rape, and torture are all too common. Talk of bringing political leaders to account for these atrocities has halted now that Burma appears to be on a course of political reform, which some argue is irreversible. Others have their doubts, citing the lack of institutional capacity and infrastructure to carry out these stated political reforms. 

Conflict aside, the Myanmar government must stay the course with this so-called political reform that comes with a degree of responsibility, which includes abiding by international humanitarian norms. 

“Adding thousands more Kachin to the camps in Burma will only compound the crisis for internally displaced people in Kachin State,” Frelick said. “President Thein Sein urgently needs to let the aid agencies reach everyone who needs their help.”

Hostilities broke out between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar government in June 2011, effectively ending a 17-year ceasefire, as well as displacing more than 75,000 Kachin. Battles have erupted around an area near a Chinese-built hydropower dam in Kachin State. The area has strategic value to both sides. 

Approval for construction of the dam was made without local consultation, and thus contributed to heightened mistrust and hostilities between Nay Pyi Taw and the Kachin. The KIA opposed the dam because of its massive impact on their local environment and culture. 

But this was just one catalyst for the conflict. Both sides had been at odds for some months because the KIA refusal to transform itself into a Border Guard Force that would put them under direct command of the Burmese (Myanmar) military. Basically, it would be end to their existence as a movement. 

The same demand was made to groups such as the United Wa State Army but the Burmese eventually backed off and focused instead on the Kachin, but not before eliminating a number of small ethnic armies, including those who had signed ceasefire agreements with the Burmese government two decades ago.

In this respect, the refugee crisis, as well as the conflict with the Kachin and others, has much to do with unsettled ethnic minority issues. Myanmar’s ongoing political reform should not be something exclusively for the Burmese majority – these changes should be extended to the ethnic nationalities as well. 

Reforms to date may have satisfied, to some extent, demands of the international community and Burmese opposition party, namely the National League for Democracy. And they may be good for the foreign groups eyeing Myanmar’s natural resources. 

But for it to work and survive at the national level a political settlement must also be reached with all the minorities, especially those who the Myanmarese are unable to defeat, or has yet to defeat, militarily.