10.30 am Friday 13 March, Burma’s Human Rights Day
Speakers:
Mr. Moe Zaw Oo, former political prisoner
Ms. Su Mon Aye, former political prisoner
Mr. Soe Aung, campaign spokesperson
Others to be confirmed http://www.fbppn.net/
In a major victory for the Burma Campaign UK’s Insurance Campaign, QBE Insurance has announced it has cancelled insurance it provided to Burma and is to cease providing insurance to companies operating in the country. QBE is the largest managing agent at Lloyd’s of London and describes itself as “Australia’s largest international general insurance and reinsurance group”.
In a statement to the Burma Campaign UK, Frank O’Halloran, QBE’s Chief Executive said: “QBE has reviewed its various portfolios around the world and has cancelled the few incidental Burmese exposures on multinational insurance policies which could have a direct or indirect benefit for the current ruling party in Burma… QBE does not provide insurance for any business owned in Burma.” [View the statement in full below]
“Foreign insurers provide a financial lifeline to Burma’s brutal regime. They insure the projects that make the regime billions of dollars a year. These billions don’t help the people of Burma, they entrench military rule and fund campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Eastern Burma” said Johnny Chatterton, Campaigns Officer at the Burma Campaign UK. “QBE’s welcome decision shames insurers like Catlin and Atrium that continue to help fund the Burmese regime.”
The role of QBE in the Burmese insurance market was highlighted in the Burma Campaign UK report, “Insuring Repression” published in July 2008. QBE was added to the “Insurance Dirty List” after an investigation by The Burma Campaign UK discovered company documents detailing two correspondent offices in Burma. The report shamed 12 companies that provide insurance to companies in Burma and highlighted how some of the world’s insurance giants have, after pressure from Burma Campaign UK, taken the decision not to provide insurance to companies in Burma. This includes AIG, ALLIANZ, Aon, AVIVA, AXA, ING, Munich Re, SCOR, Swiss Re and Willis.
Insuring Repression
Exposing how the insurance industry supports Burma’s dictators
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/insurance.php
QBE’s statement in full:
“QBE has always had a policy that the company does not fund the current ruling party in Burma. To provide further certainty that the policy is being adhered to, QBE has reviewed its various portfolios around the world and has cancelled the few incidental Burmese exposures on multinational insurance policies which could have a direct or indirect benefit for the current ruling party in Burma. QBE does not have an office, an agent or any employees in Burma and does not provide insurance for any business owned in Burma.”
Frank O’Halloran
, Chief Executive Officer
, QBE Insurance Group Limited
QBE states it is the largest managing agent at Lloyd’s on its website: “QBE Underwriting Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of QBE Insurance Group and is the largest managing agent operating within the Lloyd’s insurance market, with £1.12bn of capacity under management for 2008”. Source: http://www.qbeeurope.com/lloyds/index.htm
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php
Congratulation Burma UK
Burma Campaign UK welcomes decision
In a statement to the Burma Campaign UK, Frank O’Halloran, QBE’s chief executive, said: “QBE has always had a policy that the company does not fund the current ruling party in Burma. To provide further certainty that the policy is being adhered to, QBE has reviewed its various portfolios around the world and has cancelled the few incidental Burmese exposures on multinational insurance policies which could have a direct or indirect benefit for the current ruling party in Burma.
QBE does not have an office, an agent or any employees in Burma and does not provide insurance for any business owned in Burma.”
Johnny Chatterton, campaigns officer at the Burma Campaign UK, said: “Foreign insurers provide a financial lifeline to Burma’s brutal regime. They insure the projects that make the regime billions of dollars a year. These billions don’t help the people of Burma, they entrench military rule and fund campaigns of ethnic cleansing in Eastern Burma.
“QBE’s welcome decision shames insurers like Catlin and Atrium that continue to help fund the Burmese regime.”
The role of QBE in the Burmese insurance market was highlighted in the Burma Campaign UK report, “Insuring Repression” published in July 2008.
QBE was added to the “Insurance Dirty List” after an investigation by The Burma Campaign UK discovered company documents detailing two correspondent offices in Burma.
Insurers that have already stopped writing business in burma include AIG, Allianz, Aon, Aviva, Axa, ING, Munich Re, SCOR, Swiss Re and Willis.
http://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=13&storycode=377300&c=1
‘Sorry,’ I was told, ‘but there are no Rohingya here.’ I was mystified. From everything that I had heard about this persecuted Muslim minority, the Rohingya come from western Burma’s isolated Arakan State. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, who speak a dialect similar to that of Bengalis from neighboring Bangladesh, have fled the brutality of Burma’s military regime by escaping their Buddhist-majority homeland for lives as illegal immigrants .continue
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1883976,00.html?xid=rss-world
YANGON, March 10 (Xinhua) — A Tripartite Core Group (TCG) involving Myanmar, ASEAN and the United Nations is preparing for the second round of Post-Nargis periodic review and social impacts monitoring study, the local Weekly Eleven reported Tuesday.
The second round review will be conducted in July this year, the report said, adding that more round of review will be further made.
The first round of the review was carried out during last year and the report was issued on Dec. 19.
Meanwhile, The mandate of the TCG was extended for another one year until July 2010 which was agreed by foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The extension given to the TCG reflects ASEAN’s confidence that the mechanism is working efficiently in facilitating distribution and utilization of assistance from the international community to support the Myanmar government’s relief and recovery efforts, a recent release of the TCG group said.
The extension of the mandate will allow the TCG to put in place coordination and funding mechanisms and to monitor the first-year implementation of the Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan (PONREPP), it said.
The medium-term recovery needs identified in the plan amounts to USD 691 million over the next three years. The need for continued support from the international community was highlighted during the PONREPP launch on 9 February 2009 in Bangkok where several donors urged the extension of the TCG as a basis for providing continued funding, it also said.
The results on the ground, which have been achieved during the past 10 months since Nargis struck, prove that the assistance is reaching the people and that the joint humanitarian response at large has been successful, the release underlined, saying that at the same time, challenges remain and the affected population will need continued support as outlined in the three-year recovery plan.
With the extension of the TCG, the UN in Myanmar appeals to theinternational donor community to continue supporting the affected people, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Bishow Parajuli said.
The TCG, comprising high-level representatives from the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN, was set up on May 30, 2008 after storm.
The deadly cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states — Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago,Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3 last year, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructure damage.
The storm has killed 84,537 people and left 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured, according to official death toll.
တပ္မေတာ္ႏွင့္ျပည္သူကုိ ေသြးခြဲေနသူ မိစွာၦတစ္ဦး continue
20 Reported Dead in Naypyidaw Funfair Disaster
Twenty people are reported to have died when a Ferris wheel collapsed at a funfair during a festival marking the consecration of a replica Shwedagon Pagoda in Naypyidaw, Burma’s new capital.
The disaster has so far been unreported in Burma’s official press. A Rangoon source said on his return from the Naypyidaw festival that it occurred last Wednesday, on the eve of the festival.
While ignoring news of the funfair disaster, the official press gave blanket coverage to the attendance at the festival of junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and members of his family.
The regime daily The New Light of Myanmar reported that Than Shwe and his family donated a Buddha tooth relic to be placed inside the pagoda, which is known as the Uppatasanti, or “Peace Pagoda.” The relic came from China, the newspaper said.
The consecration of the pagoda was marked by ceremonies hoisting its htidaw (sacred umbrella) and seinbudaw (diamond bud).
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15274
Burmese junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe, his wife Kyaing Kyaing and members of their family led ceremonies marking the consecration in Naypyidaw of a replica of Rangoon’s famous Shwedagon Pagoda.
The Naypyidaw pagoda, visible from every road leading into Burma’s new capital, is 99 m high, less than one meter lower than the original. Like the Rangoon pagoda, it is covered in gold foil, and its consecration was completed by hoisting its htidaw (sacred umbrella) and placing a huge seinbudaw, or diamond bud, at its apex. continue
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15275
democracy for burma 
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