Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Activities in Myanmar Ordered to Close Down
ASIA--PACIFIC, 3 Mar 2014
Médecins Sans Frontières Holland – TRANSCEND Media Service
(Updates from Three News Sources Below)
Press Release – March 1, 2014
Yangon/New York — On February 27 [2014], Médecins Sans Frontières Holland (MSF) received a written order from the Union Government of Myanmar to cease all operations in the country, which led to a full closure of all MSF Holland clinics on February 28. This act left patients confused and desperately concerned across the whole country.
After dialogue with the Union Government in Naypyitaw on February 28, MSF has now been informed by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Home Affairs that it can resume part of the activities as covered by the organization’s original Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), on Monday, March 3. This includes HIV/AIDS and other activities in Kachin and Shan states, as well as Yangon region.
While MSF is encouraged by this and will resume these activities for now, MSF remains extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Rakhine state who currently face a humanitarian medical crisis. MSF Holland clinics in Rakhine remain closed since February 27, following a verbal communication from the Rakhine State authorities to suspend its activities.
Prior to the suspension, MSF carried out a variety of activities in nine townships across in Rakhine, treating anyone who was unable to access medical care. All MSF services are provided based on medical need only, regardless of ethnicity, religion or any other factor. MSF looks forward to continuing the dialogue with the Union Government to ensure that essential life-saving services continue to reach those that need them.
Go to Original – doctorswithoutborders.org
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March 1, 2014 – AP: Myanmar may allow MSF to work ‘anywhere except Rakhine’
YANGON: A day after Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders announced it was being expelled from Myanmar, the government says negotiations with the organization are ongoing and that the group may be allowed to resume operations everywhere but Rakhine, a state plagued by bloody bouts of sectarian violence.
After intense international pressure, presidential spokesman Ye Htut told The Associated Press on Saturday that Rakhine’s government had asked for the humanitarian group’s operations to be suspended in the state, but that its work would not be disrupted elsewhere in the country.
The aid group was told earlier this week that its license was being revoked, in part because it was hiring “Bengalis,” the name Myanmar’s government uses to refer to the long-persecuted Rohingya ethnic Muslim minority.
Some of the group’s HIV/AIDS clinics were closed Friday.
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March 1, 2014 – Democratic Voice of Burma: MSF operations set to resume, but not in Arakan
By Alex Bookbinder
Embattled aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will be allowed to resume its activities outside of Arakan State on Monday, 3 March, but its programmes in the restive region will remain suspended following an order from the government to cease operations, issued on February 27th.
MSF was forced to shut down clinics across the country on the 28th, but HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other treatment centres in Kachin State, Shan State, and Rangoon Division will re-open on Monday. MSF Holland’s operations in northern Arakan, which provide front-line health care to tens of thousands of individuals, will not resume.
Operating in Burma for the past 22 years, MSF currently provides anti-retroviral treatment to roughly 30,000 HIV/AIDS patients in the country, as well as some 3,000 tuberculosis patients, often in areas where no other treatment is available.
MSF was widely accused of unduly favouring Rohingya communities at the expense of ethnic Arakanese Buddhists in northern Arakan State, but this allegation has been refuted by the organisation, which claims its “actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality.”
The agency’s memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Health expired in January 2013, but its activities in Arakan were allowed to continue until last week. Last month, MSF staff members told Reuters they treated 22 individuals for injuries sustained in a massacre of Rohingya people in Duchira Dan [Du Char Yar Tan] village near Maungdaw, a claim that was quickly and vehemently denied by the government.
A commission of inquiry, led by the Myanmar Human Rights commission, asserted the massacre did not occur. MSF stood by its initial report.
The organisation was subsequently chastised by Ye Htut, deputy information minister and presidential spokesman, who told DVB last week that the government had “made the decision not to extend MSF’s MoU,” on the grounds that MSF’s activities were “fuelling tensions and are detrimental to the rule of law” in the area. The fact that MSF hired Rohingya as local staff, which the government refers to as “Bengalis,” was also cited as grounds for the revocation of their permission to operate.
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Feb. 28, 2014 – (Malaysia) The Star: Mercy Malaysia pulls out staff from Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine
By Rashvinjeet Singh Bedi
PETALING JAYA: Mercy Malaysia has temporarily pulled out its 20-odd local staff from Rakhine in Myanmar following heightened tension in the troubled state.
Mercy president Datuk Dr Ahmad Faisal said its operations, however, had not been compromised and was on-going.
He said the staff were now in the capital Yangon for some rest.
“Every time there is heightened tension, although it doesn’t affect us, we take precaution to slow down activities a bit,” Dr Faisal told The Star Online.
It was reported that last week, an activist from the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organisation (Mapim) and journalists were allegedly surrounded by a mob at a hotel in Sitwee, Rakhine.
They were unharmed and the journalists have returned home safely.
Dr Faisal said the situation would be assessed before any decision is made to go back, adding that the staff could return by next week if the situation was safe.
“It is better for us to take stock of the situation and if there are security concerns, we will postpone our return,” he said.
“We are in it for the long term and even if there is one or two weeks of delay, it will not really have a major impact on our programmes,” he added.
The humanitarian organisation conducts three programmes in Rakhine – a medical mobile clinic, rehabilitation and reconstruction of hospitals and distribution of non-food items.
Mercy Malaysia is one of a few international NGOs that have full access to work in Rakhine state.
They have been working in Rakhine since the post-Cyclone Narquis in 2008.
Rakhine has been troubled by sectarian violence since 2012 involving the Rohingyas.
“We strive to make sure that in a delicate situation like this that all sides and the most needy receive aid. We do not take for granted the sensitivities and animosity on the ground,” said Dr Ahmad.
He said Mercy was willing to discuss with other organisations on channelling aid through them.
It was reported on Monday that a group of ethnic Rakhine people have demanded that humanitarian organisatison, Doctors Without Borders, leave Sittwe claiming that the group was focusing on the Rohingya issue rather than the healthcare of local residents.
According to the United Nations, the Rohingyas are among the world’s most persecuted minorities.
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These news items were sent to TMS by TRANSCEND member Dr. Maung Zarni via email.
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