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	Journalists’ conviction in Myanmar a message that press ‘cannot operate fearlessly’ by Michelle Bachelet UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Myanmar   Sep. 2018 (UN News)   Stressing that the legal process that led to the conviction of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar “clearly breached” international standards, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for their immediate and unconditional release.   Michelle Bachelet said that the convictions “send a message to all journalists in Myanmar that they cannot operate fearlessly, but must rather make a choice to either self-censor or risk prosecution.”   Earlier in the day, Kyaw Soe Oo (also known as Moe Aung) and Thet Oo Maung (also known as Wa Lone) were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on charges of violating, according to the High Commissioner’s Office (OHCHR), the “ill-defined” Official Secrets Act.   Ms. Bachelet said that the two journalists’ coverage of the Inn Din massacre by the military – for which the military subsequently admitted responsibility – “was clearly in the public interest as it may otherwise never have come to light.”   “I call for their conviction to be quashed and for them to be released, along with all other journalists currently in detention for their legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression,” underscored the UN human rights chief.   Ms. Bachelet assumed her functions as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 1 September. She succeeds Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, who held the position since September 2014.   UN independent human rights experts on the right to freedom of expression and on the rights situation in Myanmar denounced Mr. Oo and Mr. Maung’s convictions, calling it “a dark moment for Myanmar.”   “This is yet another clear signal of Myanmar’s distancing from international human rights law,” said David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression; and Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the country, in a joint news release issued by OHCHR.   “We regret that the court failed to recognise the importance of independent journalism, freedom of expression and the public’s right to know.”   The experts also said that they have previously expressed their grave concerns, and urged greater press freedom after the journalists’ detention.   “We urge the President to pardon the journalists, and if the case is appealed, for the court to take into account Myanmar’s human rights obligations and order their release,” they said. http://bit.ly/2wGeXO7   Sep. 2018   Myanmar: Reuters convictions a massive blow to the rule of law. (International Commission of Jurists)   The Yangon District Court’s decision today to sentence Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to seven years’ imprisonment for violating the Official Secrets Act deals a massive blow to human rights and the rule of law in Myanmar, said the ICJ.   “The Court’s decision effectively punishes these two courageous journalists for exposing human rights violations, following a grossly unfair trial,” said Frederick Rawski, Asia Pacific Director for the ICJ.   “The decision is a miscarriage of justice that inflicts needless suffering on them and their families, threatens freedom of expression, damages Myanmar’s global standing, and undermines its justice institutions all at once,” he added.   The ICJ has monitored the case since the journalists’ initial detention in December 2017.   As previously noted by the ICJ, the detention and trial has violated numerous basic fair trial guarantees.   The prosecutors had a duty to drop charges and the judge should have dismissed the case given the lack of evidence and the unlawfulness of detention because of fair trail rights violations.   “The case is emblematic of how the justice system ends up reinforcing rather than challenging military impunity,” said Rawski.   “The result undermines government claims that it can deliver accountability for human rights violations on its own, and does nothing to build trust that justice system can act independently and impartially after emerging from decades of military rule,” he added.   Members of security forces generally enjoy impunity for the perpetration of human rights violations, including for crimes under international law.   The ICJ has previously reported that victims and their families, as well as journalists, often face retaliation for publicizing human rights violations by the military.   Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in December 2017, and held incommunicado for nearly two weeks, before being charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act for allegedly possessing documents related to the operations of security forces in northern Rakhine State, during “clearance operations.”   The two reporters had been reporting on human rights violations in Rakhine State, including the killing of Rohingya by the military in Inn Dinn Village.   In a report issued just last week, the UN Independent International Fact Finding Mission found that security forces had perpetrated crimes under international law during these operations, including crimes against humanity and possibly the crime of genocide.   The detention and prosecution of anyone, including journalists, based solely on the collection and publication of evidence relevant to serious human rights violations, is a violation of international law and standards on freedom of expression, the right to participation in public affairs and on the role of human rights defenders.   Legal options remaining for the journalists include appealing of today’s decision, and requesting a Presidential amnesty.   http://www.icj.org/myanmar-reuters-convictions-a-massive-blow-to-the-rule-of-law/ http://www.icj.org/international-ngos-in-myanmar-call-for-un-security-council-action-on-rohingya-crisis/   Apr. 2018   UN experts call on Myanmar to drop prosecution of Reuters reporters. (UN Human Rights Council)   A Myanmar court’s decision to continue pursuing a case against two Reuters reporters gives rise to grave concern for investigative journalism and the public’s right to information in the country, UN experts have said.   “We urge the prosecution to drop the charges against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and we urge the Government to release both journalists immediately,” the experts said.   On 11 April 2018, a court in Yangon rejected a motion to dismiss the case against the two reporters. It scheduled a hearing for 20 April 2018 to hear additional prosecution witnesses.   Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reporting on the widespread assault on the Rohingya population in Rakhine State when authorities arrested them on 12 December 2017. The authorities accuse the journalists of illegally acquiring information with the intention of sharing it with foreign media. On 21 December 2017, UN experts raised concern that the charges brought against the reporters under the 1923 Official Secrets Act are tantamount to the criminalisation of journalism in Myanmar.   On 10 April 2018, seven soldiers were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area for participating in a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in a village in Rakhine State.   “The perpetrators of a massacre that was, in part, the subject of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s reporting have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. And yet these two reporters face a possible 14 years imprisonment. The absurdity of this trial and the wrongfulness of their detention and prosecution are clear,” the experts said.   “We urge the Government to ensure not only the protection and release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. We also urge the Government to ensure that investigative journalism, especially journalism relating to human rights violations and the situation in Rakhine State, is duly protected in Myanmar.”   * The Special Rapporteurs are in contact with the Myanmar authorities concerning the case.   http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-reporters-democracy/ http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/can-myanmars-rohingya-return/10894338   * Update: May 7, 2019   Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act have been released from prison after spending more than 500 days behind bars, witnesses say. The two reporters, Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a case that raised questions about Myanmar''s progress toward democracy and sparked an outcry from the international community and human rights advocates. Visit the related web page
	U.S. will be ''rogue'' state if it ditches climate accord by Mary Robinson UN Special Envoy for Climate Change   It is "unconscionable" that the United States would walk away from its climate change commitments, says Mary Robinson.   The United States would become "a kind of rogue country" if it pulls out of an international agreement to combat global warming, leaving the world more vulnerable to droughts and other climate extremes, warned Mary Robinson, UN Special Envoy for Climate Change.   "It would be a tragedy for the United States and the people of the United States if the U.S. becomes a kind of rogue country, the only country in the world that is somehow not going to go ahead with the Paris Agreement," Robinson said in an interview with news agencies.   U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a Republican, has promised to pull the United States out of that global climate accord, which was agreed last year by 193 countries and which came into effect earlier this month.   The deal aims to hold climate change to below 2 degrees Celsius of warming by moving the world economy away from fossil fuels.   The agreement provides for $100 billion a year in international funding from 2020 to help poorer countries develop cleanly and adapt to the already inevitable impacts of climate change.   Robinson, who now runs a foundation focused on seeking justice for people hit hard by climate impacts despite having contributed little to the problem, said she was confident other countries would continue their backing for the accord regardless of any action taken by the United States.   "I don''t think that the process itself will be affected if one country, however big and important that country is, decides not to go ahead," she said on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in Marrakesh.   But a pullout could mean a "huge difference" to already difficult efforts to gather enough international finance to help poorer countries develop their economies without increasing their emissions, "which is what they want to do", she said.   "The moral obligation of the United States as a big emitter, and a historically big emitter that built its whole economy on fossil fuels that are now damaging the world - it''s unconscionable the United States would walk away from it," she said of the threat to withdraw from the Paris deal.   "The impact of that will be felt by poor communities and poor countries all over the world."   As a U.N. envoy for El Nino and climate change, she said she had been in dry regions of Honduras where women told her they no longer had water as a result of worsening drought.   "I saw the pain on the faces of those women. And one of the women said to me, and I''ll never forget, ''We have no water. How do you live without water?'' I''m hearing that all over the world," she said.   She urged Americans upset about the proposed changes in U.S. policy to make their voices heard. "People in the United States have to get up and make a big noise, and business in the United States has to make a big noise about this," she said. http://www.mrfcj.org/ Visit the related web page
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