Help our local partners realise their vision of hope for their communities
6 February 2017
News from HART
- The HART Prize for Human Rights is still open for entries, click here for information
Burma
- Ko Ni, an advisor to leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was assassinated on Sunday, leading to thousands coming to the streets to mourn his death. Later this week, Burmese police arrested two men, Aung Win Zaw, who allegedly hired Kyi Lin, who was also arrested, to carry out the attack. The investigation and questioning continues.
- The UN is to administer a $5.5 million deforestation plan to halt the current rates, Myanmar has the third-highest deforestation rate in the world
- The construction of a border fence between Burma and India is set to split hundreds of communities in half, especially effecting the ethnic Naga communities of North-Western Burma
- The Karen National Union (KNU) is ready to submit its policy recommendations on federalism at the upcoming Panglong Peace Conference, after holding its own national-level dialogue.
- Bangladesh is determined to relocate the displaced Rohingya Muslims, fleeing violence in Burma, to Thengar Char, an island human rights groups have called uninhabitable.
- Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has sent off a ship carrying over 2300 tons of emergency supplies to Arakan State, to help stop the suffering of the Rohingya people. Razak has also called for ASEAN to investigate the alleged atrocities committed against the Rohingya, breaking the group’s long standing tradition of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs
Nigeria
- Earlier this week, Boko Haram ambushed motorists in Borno State, leaving several dead
- A girl of just 10 set off a suicide jacket outside a IDP Camp in Borno State, killing only herself, as another attack aimed at a mosque killed 2, only 2 weeks after another failed attempt to attack the same IDP Camp
- Northern governors have decided to start to register nomadic Fulani herdsman, claiming that most are from other countries. The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) slammed the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) their proposal, saying these same set of people have been identified as aliens and threats to Nigeria’s internal security.
- Nigeria and the Republic of Chad are actively seeking $50 billion in aid for the recharging and refilling of Lake Chad, which has shrunk to 10% of its original size
- With calls from leading Christians to take up arms against the Fulani, and the ongoing violence, warnings have been made that Civil War may break out
- At least 6 people have been killed and over 80 houses burned in fresh conflicts Taraba State between Mumuye farmers and Fulani communities
- A top UN official has warned Europe cannot afford to ignore the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria any longer, with the nation already accounting for the third most migrants that crossed the Mediterranean in 2016
South Sudan
- A Kenyan High Court has blocked the attempt of the Kenyan government to deport South Sudanese dissidents Dong Samuel and Aggrey Idri back to South Sudan in fear that they would be exposed to torture if returned to their homeland
- The South Sudanese government has rejected plans to set up a hybrid transitional court, arguing it would ‘undermine peace’ in the country
- Morocco and South Sudan have signed nine agreement to improve relations, including one that commits Morocco to help in the construction of a new South Sudanese Capital, Ramchiel
Sudan
- Sudanese citizens have been barred from entering the US for the next 90 days, only a few weeks after Obama lifted years long sanctions and beginning a process of cooperation between the two nations
- Reports of an outbreak of deadly and acute watery diarrhoea in Eastern Sudanese states is actually a new spread of Cholera, according to a UK based epidemiology specialist
Uganda
- At least 14 people have been killed after a commuter taxi collided with a lorry head-on. Statistics from the World Health Organistion (WHO) show that Uganda has one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world
- Uganda received nearly 25,000 South Sudanese refugees in the last week of January alone, with an average of 3,468 a day, Uganda now hosts nearly 7000,000