Feature Image: U Pyae Sone Win Maung, WHO Driver, The Irrawaddy
On April 20, a World Health Organization vehicle holding coronavirus test samples came under gunfire in Minbya Township, Arakan State, killing the driver and leaving one government official seriously injured. The driver, Pyae Sone Win Maung, was carrying swabs from patients to be tested for coronavirus during a pandemic that has killed five and infected 119 in Burma. Clashes with the Arakan Army, as initiated by the Burma Army, have continued through the pandemic. The Burma Army’s rejection of the Arakan Army’s calls for ceasefires during COVID-19 is causing violence and conflict throughout a time where aid is crucial to the thousands of vulnerable internally displaced peoples across the nation. The attack and death of the WHO driver spark a greater debate regarding the Burmese government’s history of refusing to allow humanitarian aid or relief to ethnic civilians displaced by war.
After the extensive and violent military crackdown carried out against the Rohingya in Arakan State during August 2017, Burma blocked all United Nations aid agencies from delivering water, food, and medicine to the displaced civilians and Rohingya in northern Arakan State. The UN World Food Program reported that it was forced to suspend distributions to other parts of Arakan state, leaving 250,000 without a reliable food source. Additionally, sixteen non-UN organizations were restricted from accessing the conflict area while Burmese authorities denied organizational staff access by intentionally holding up visa approvals. When questioned by the UN as to why aid could not be delivered, the Burma Army stated that the “security situation and government field-visit restrictions rendered us unable to distribute assistance.”
Failing to reflect on the lack of aid presented to the Rohingya during a dire situation, the Burmese government blocked aid to civilians in Kachin State after fighting re-ignited in August 2018. Advocacy group Fortify Rights published a report on Burma’s “willful deprivation of humanitarian aid” to displaced civilians in Kachin state, stating that only five percent of aid workers who submitted applications to work in government-controlled areas were accepted. As noted by Fortify Rights, many of the civilians were facing avoidable struggles such as starvation or lack of healthcare that could have been solved with the allowance of humanitarian aid in the region.
The death of the WHO driver is only the most recent example in a long history of aid blockage – humanitarian aid has been consistently stymied through every government leader, dating back to the military junta through today with Aung San Suu Kyi. Many rights groups have highlighted the fact that Burma’s actions violate both domestic and international law, and could ultimately amount to war crimes. The Burmese government needs to begin granting access to humanitarian aid organizations to enter the state. To forward this process, the Burma Army must accept the UN’s and several civil society organizations’ calls for ceasefires to ensure that the same violence that killed the WHO driver no longer ensues. As stated by Pado Saw Tar Do Hume, general secretary of the Karen National Union, a ceasefire is necessary for humanitarian organizations to conduct education and prevention campaigns for Burma’s over 240,000 internally displaced peoples. The nation should additionally go beyond these efforts and allow UN rapporteurs and UN investigators into the state to ensure timely and unrestricted flow of aid as well as accountability for Burma’s actions.
The Burmese government needs to do everything in its power to halt the avoidable death and suffering of its civilians by finally allowing streamlined and consistent aid entrance into the country.
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