The history of one of the most popular Turkish delicacies – lokum, mass-produced and consumed, as one of the few sweet delights offered on the market, begins in the distant 18th century. The confectioner Haj Bekir Efendi is considered the “father” of lokum, as he began to mass-produce it and sell it in his shop. He arrived in Constantinople in 1776 and thanks to his culinary skills and talent, as well as the lokum he prepared, he was appointed chief pastry chef in the palace by the Sultan. This is the beginning of the history of the sweet treat, but do you know how it developed and what the delight is made of?
The history of lokum
Turkish Delight is one of the oldest sweets in the world, believed to be more than 500 years old, meaning it was known and prepared even before the popular confectioner started selling it in his shop and turned it into a popular Turkish sweet treat . Haj Bekir Efendi wrapped lokum in special lace handkerchiefs and turned it into a symbol of love and a way of expressing feelings, with men offering it as a gift to the lady of their heart they were courting.
The story continues precisely with the presence of the pastry chef in the palace, and the lokum itself – with its spread outside of Turkey, which happened thanks to a British traveler in the 19th century, who liked lokum so much that he took boxes of all the flavors of Turkish to his native Britain a sweet gem he discovered. The name of this sweet morsel, called lokum, has an Arabic origin – from the word luqam, which translates as “bite” and “mouth full”. Its name in various Eastern European languages comes from Ottoman Turkish – lokum.
What is Turkish delight made of?
It is a curious fact that the recipe for Turkish delight has remained almost unchanged since the day it was created. Nuts, different notes and aromas are added to it, but in its essence it remains unchanged, preserved and passed down from generation to generation.
Lokum turns culinary history with its ingredients. Until the 19th century and the advent of refined sugar in these lands and its use in the preparation of sweets, they were made with honey or dried fruit, which gave them their taste. Lokum is prepared from a mixture of sugar syrup and starchy milk. It took 5-6 hours to prepare or more precisely cook the mixture, after which the aroma was added. The mixture was then poured into large wooden proofing trays and after about five hours it was rolled up, sliced and sprinkled with nuts or powdered sugar. These are the ingredients of lokum even today, the tradition has been preserved, the recipe – too.
In Bulgaria, f.e., the focus is mainly on traditional flavors and aromas related to our country, such as Bulgarian rose, walnuts, honey, while in Turkey the variety of Turkish delights is proverbial, the most popular being fruit notes, mint, lemon, orange, as well as Turkish delights with dates, pistachios or hazelnuts.
In Turkey, Turkish delight is also widely available, wrapped with dried fruits such as apricot, as well as variants with a lot of coconut. A special type of Turkish delight is also known, with a layer of cream (buffalo milk cream) between the sweet layers and topped with coconut shavings.
Schütz’s name and date of birth were found in SS documents
Former Nazi concentration camp warden Josef Schütz, who was imprisoned at a record age of 102 and sentenced last year, has died in Germany. However, he was not in jail as he was waiting for his appeal to be heard.
Schütz himself denied to the end that he was an SS member and a camp warden.
However, in June of last year, the court sentenced him to five years in prison, accepting as proven that in 1942-1945 he served as a guard at the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin and assisted in the murder of 3,500 people.
Schütz appealed the sentence to the Federal Court of Germany.
During the Second World War, the Nazis sent more than 200,000 people to Sachsenhausen – political prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war, Jews and Roma.
Tens of thousands of them die. Some of them died of starvation and hard labor, others were killed in medical experiments, others were killed in gas chambers, and still others were simply shot.
Schütz’s name and date of birth were found in SS documents, but he still claimed that he was not an SS member and did not serve in the camp guard, but worked on a farm during the war.
“I don’t know why I’m sitting here in the dock. I have nothing to do with all this,” Schütz told the court.
However, the court concluded that Schütz did indeed serve in the concentration camp and knowingly and voluntarily participated in the mass extermination of people.
Germany has stepped up its hunt for Nazi criminals following the high-profile case of Ivan (John) Demjanjuk, who was extradited to Germany from the US and in 2011 was sentenced to five years in prison as a former warden at the Sobibor and Flossenburg concentration camps and an accomplice in the mass murders of prisoners .
Demjanjuk, who was 91 at the time of the sentencing, also did not go to jail because he appealed and died in a nursing home before the decision was made, back in 2012.
Four years after Demjanjuk’s trial, the “Auschwitz accountant” Oskar Gröning was sentenced to four years in prison. Thanks to an appeal, he also stayed out of prison until his death in 2018.
In December, the first woman accused of complicity in Nazi crimes in decades, 97-year-old Irmgard Fürchner, who served as secretary to the commandant of the Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), was sentenced to two years in prison with a suspended sentence.
The Danish government waived a law requiring all sermons to be translated into Danish
Critics have said justice takes too long, and perpetrators are not always held accountable in cases of sexual abuse and exploitation committed by UN personnel.
Appointed by the Secretary-General in 2017, Jane Connors, the UN’s first Victims’ Rights Advocate, is tasked with getting a victim-centred approach installed across the system’s more than 35 entities.
She shared with UN News her on-the-ground accounts of “extremely difficult conversations” with victims and their children, and how the UN is addressing issues from child support to DNA testing.
Jane Connors of Australia is the first Victims’ Rights Advocate for the United Nations.
UN News: How would you assess progress made to date?
Jane Connors: There has been good progress in getting people to understand from policy point of view that the victim of sexual abuse and their rights and dignity are extremely important. The challenge is to get that translated into reality on the ground.
We’ve had very good progress where we have victims’ rights advocates on the ground, in Central African Republic, DR Congo, Haiti, and South Sudan.
Sexual abuse or exploitation often results in a pregnancy, and the men almost always abandon the women because they have another family elsewhere. More reports have come forward, and more has been done in supporting victims and, in particular, pursuing paternity child support claims.
One of the big challenges is underrating the impact of sexual exploitation and the notion that there is consent. Just because you are able to use your power to exploit somebody and get them to apparently consent doesn’t mean they consent. Realizing accountability to victims should be our priority. Accountability from a victim’s perspective will be very different to what others might think.
Weaving a Way to Independence
UN News: Are States doing enough to make real progress?
Jane Connors: The paternity cases we know about pertain to personnel working in United Nations peace or special political missions, predominantly uniformed military or police. In terms of identifying the victims, the missions are a long way ahead.
I went to several countries to gain trust and urge them to use their good offices to get the men who fathered children and have been positively identified through DNA matching to do what they’re supposed to do.
It’s a joint responsibility of the Member States and the UN to make sure that the rights of children are realized. They have the right to know their father and be supported by him. It’s also the parental responsibility of the father.
UN News: Can projects supported by the UN Victims’ Assistance Fund make a real difference in the lives of victims?
Jane Connors: I think it does make a difference. Currently, we have projects in DR Congo and Liberia, we’ve had one in Haiti, and soon be in Central African Republic. We need to do much more with prevention, as prevention and response are inextricably linked; you can’t have one without the other.
You need to have the victim element to make people think about the consequences of their conduct. They victimize not only the individual, but also their community and their own family. When we’re talking about abuse, by and large, we are talking about very serious sexual misconduct with children under age 18.
I’d like to see much more focus on behaviour change. It takes a lot of work, sustained resources, and huge leadership to make something unacceptable. Remember when driving when drunk was fine, and now it is regarded as deeply unacceptable. It’s a long, long game.
UN News: Are investigations being carried out fast enough?
Jane Connors: More work needs to be done with investigators coming out of a law enforcement background. They need their minds to shift. They need to know that delay is very bad, that they need to be polite and compassionate, and they need to keep the victim informed. Giving victims information and follow up is not very good, and really has to improve.
UN Assistant Secretary-General Jane Connors concluded her five-day visit to South Sudan with a press conference in Juba, the capital, on 7 December 2017.
UN News: Are there common messages that you’re hearing from the victims?
Jane Connors: These are extremely difficult conversations. I will meet with anybody who wants to talk about this issue. I remember one country I visited some years ago where there are a lot of women with children born of sexual abuse and or exploitation, and they were very dissatisfied, had received no support, no assistance; the children were not going to school because they didn’t have money to pay for fees, and they didn’t know what was happening with the paternity claims.
One of them said, ‘People like you, we see you all the time. You come you talk to us, you go, we never hear anything’. I said to them, ‘Look, I’m not a very powerful person, but I will do what I can’.
I had some very good colleagues in the country concerned who raised about $40,000, so those children could go to school. That made an enormous difference. At the end of that year, they met with the women, who said ‘At least she did what she said she would do’.
UN News: You’ve met with victims in several countries. What is your message to them?
Jane Connors: I am amazed at their tolerance for the UN, their patience, their resilience, and I’m also extremely impressed by those who are able to move forward. In terms of ongoing projects, there have been women who have been able to move on to have businesses. This is something we do together.
“I have the right” | Victims of Sexual Abuse & Exploitation| United Nations
How the UN helps victims and addresses sexual abuse and exploitationcommitted by its personnel
Office of the Victims’ Rights Advocate: Working with all UN entities so victims get the assistance and support they need, the Office also collaborates with Member States and civil society to build support networks. Actions include conducting country visits and outreach, mapping services available to victims, and producing annual reports.
Victims’ Assistance Fund: Established in 2016, it relies on Member State contributions and funds withheld from troop or police contributing countries in substantiated cases of sexual abuse or exploitation. The project-based fund provides livelihood support to women, and, in cases of children born of sexual abuse and exploitation, psychological, educational and nutritional support.
System-wide training module: Launched in January, the 2.5-hour module for all UN staff and related personnel provides a clear understanding of victims’ rights, what a victim-centred approach means, and their responsibilities in responding as soon as they become aware of an allegation.
DNA-collection: Through a partnership between South Africa and the UN, DNA is collected from every soldier before deployment to the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
Not only Russian citizens disagreeing about Russia’s war on Ukraine or asking Putin to stop the war are sentenced to heavy prison terms. Jehovah’s Witnesses whose organization was banned by the Supreme Court in 2017 are arrested and sentenced to huge prison terms for merely practicing their faith in private. Moreover, SOVA CENTER, one of the main sources of information about human rights and religious freedom in Russia, is about to be liquidated. On 27 April 2023 Judge Vyacheslav Polyga of the Moscow City Court considered the request filed by Russia’s Ministry of Justice to liquidate the Regional Public Association “Sova” and decided to approve it. The source of the documented cases hereafter is SOVA CENTER, a non-faith-based NGO.
A Jehovah’s Witness sentenced to eight years in prison in Vladivostok
On 27 April 2023, the Pervorechensky District Court of Vladivostok sentenced Jehovah’s Witness Dmitry Barmakin to eight years in a general regime colony with an additional restriction of liberty for one year. He was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization).
The criminal case against Dmitry Barmakin was initiated on 27 July 2018. On the next day he was detained together with his wife Elena and then arrested. In June 2019, the case was sent to court, and in October Barmakin was released from the pre-trial detention center, with a preventive measure in the form of a ban on certain activities. The investigation claimed that from 15 October 2017 to 28 July 2018, Barmakin was the driving force of the local religious organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Vladivostok.
In Akhtubinsk, three Jehovah’s Witnesses sentenced to seven years in prison each
On 17 April 2023, the Akhtuba District Court of the Astrakhan Region sentenced Jehovah’s Witnesses Rinat Kiramov, Sergei Korolev and Sergei Kosyanenko, accused of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and financing of extremism (Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code). Each of them was sentenced to seven years in prison to be served in a general regime colony. In addition, the court imposed additional penalties on them: a three-year ban on activities related to the management and participation in public organizations, as well as restriction of liberty for one year.
According to the investigation, from July 2017 to November 2021, the accused continued to organize meetings, knowing about the national ban on the organization’s activities. The investigation claimed that they also promoted the benefits of their religious teachings, distributed literature recognized as extremist, recruited local residents and “collected money under the guise of donations, and “for the purpose of conspiracy” used videoconferencing for communication.
Korolev, Kosyanenko and Kiramov were arrested on 9 November 2021 in Akhtubinsk and Znamensk, Astrakhan region.
In the Kemerovo region, a Jehovah’s Witness was sentenced to six years in prison
On 31 March 2023, the Belovsky City Court of the Kemerovo region sentenced Jehovah’s Witness Sergei Ananin, accused under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization). He was sentenced to six years in a general regime colony. He was taken into custody in the courtroom.
During the debate of the parties on 21 March, the public prosecutor asked to sentence Ananin to eight years in prison.
According to the investigation, the accused held online gatherings from July 2017 to June 2020 to study materials sent from the “central office” of the organization and special literature “propaganda”, although their religious organization had been banned across the whole country.
The criminal case was initiated in February 2021.
A court in Moscow sentenced five Jehovah’s Witnesses
On 31 March 2023, the Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow issued a verdict in the case of five Jehovah’s Witnesses. Yuri Chernyshev, Ivan Tchaikovsky, Vitaly Komarov and Sergei Shatalov, were accused under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization) The court sentenced them to six years and three months in a general regime colony with a three-year ban on the management and participation in public organizations. As an additional punishment, the court sentenced them to one year of restriction of liberty. Vardan Zakaryan was found guilty by the court for violating Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (involvement in the activities of an extremist organization) and was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
According to the investigation, the accused organized the work of the Management Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia banned in 2017. They shared religious literature promoting the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses with other people and “recruited” new participants from among residents of Moscow.
A Jehovah’s Witness sentenced to six and a half years in Khabarovsk
On 27 March 2023, the Soviet-Havan City Court of the Khabarovsk Territory issued a verdict in the case of Jehovah’s Witness Alexei Ukhov, sentencing him to six and a half years in a penal colony under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization).
Ukhov was arrested and detained on 22 October 2020 after a series of searches of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Soviet Harbor. On 9 July 2021, he was released from the pre-trial detention center on recognizance not to leave. His case went to court on 2 August 2021.
Six years in prison for a Jehovah’s Witness in Krasnoyarsk
On 17 March 2023, the Sosnovoborsk City Court of Krasnoyarsk Krai found Jehovah’s Witness Yuri Yakovlev guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced him to six years in prison in a general regime colony.
According to the investigation, Yakovlev organized online gatherings of the banned organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was engaged in “pastoral work” and led “preaching activities”.
Yakovlev was arrested on 28 March 2022 for his involvement in the activities of an extremist organization due to the fact that in April 2017 the Supreme Court of Russia banned the Management Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia and 395 local religious organizations said to be “extremist.”
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) sounded the alarm after 36,000 people of Haitian origin were deported during the first three months of the year, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Some 90 per cent were deported from the Dominican Republic.
The experts expressed concern over collective expulsions which did not take into consideration individual circumstances and needs.
They also highlighted alleged human rights violations and abuses against Haitians on the move along migration routes, at borders and in detention centres in the Americas region, “as a result of strict migration control, the militarization of borders, systematic immigration detention policies and the obstacles to international protection” in some countries.
Such obstacles exposed these vulnerable migrants to “killings, disappearances, acts of sexual and gender-based violence, and trafficking by criminal networks”, the Committee warned.
Demanding protection for Haitian refugees
Caribbean countries, such as the Bahamas as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands, have announced measures against undocumented Haitian migrants. The United States in January also made public new border policies to permit fast-tracked expulsions to Mexico of Haitian migrants and others, crossing the southern border of the US without documentation.
Considering the desperate situation in Haiti, which does not currently allow for the safe and dignified return of Haitians to the country, as pointed out by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Committee called for an end to the collective expulsions of Haitians on the move.
It also said assessments of each individual case needed to be carried out, to identify protection needs in accordance with international refugee and human rights law, with particular attention to the most vulnerable groups.
Combatting racism and xenophobia
The independent human rights experts requested States parties in the Americas to investigate all allegations of excessive use of force, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and racial profiling against Haitians.
They also demanded protection of refugees against other allegations of human rights violations and abuses committed by both State and non-state actors; including at borders, migrant detention centres and along migration routes, to punish those responsible and to provide rehabilitation and reparations to victims or their families.
The experts also called for measures to prevent and combat xenophobic and racist violence and incitement to racial hatred against people of Haitian origin, and to publicly condemn racist hate speech, including those uttered by public figures and politicians.
Independent human rights experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva. They are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
The most expensive private collection and the most expensive work of art of the 20th century were sold
The past year 2022 will go down in history as one of the most profitable for the art market. The most impressive commercial achievement through it is undoubtedly the sale of the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for a record 1.62 billion dollars. The art collection of Allen, who died in 2018, was sold at a two-day Christie’s auction in November, with five works fetching more than $100 million each. These were Georges Seurat’s Models, Ensemble (Small Canvas) ($149.2 million), Paul Cézanne’s Mount Saint-Victoire ($137.7 million), Vincent van Gogh’s Cypress Orchard ( 117.1 million), “Maternity II” by Paul Gauguin (105.7 million) and “Birch Forest” by Gustav Klimt (104.5 million).
That evening, an absolute record for an art auction was also set – more than 1.5 billion US dollars. A day later, on November 10, the second part of Allen’s collection was sold for “just” 116 million. In total, the collection included 155 masterpieces spanning 500 years of art history – from Sandro Botticelli to David Hockney. According to Christie’s executive director Guillaume Ceruti, “100 percent of them” have found a new owner. The company, controlled by French billionaire Francois Pinault’s Artemis holding company, announced that all proceeds from the sale would be donated to charity.
The previous record for a private collection, set just a few months earlier, belonged to Harry and Linda Macklowe’s collection, sold off after their divorce. Her works, offered at two Sotheby’s auctions – in May this year and in November 2021 – collected 922.2 million US dollars. At the May auction, 30 works from their collection fetched US$246.1 million in just 90 minutes. Among the Macklow family’s possessions sold were the paintings “Untitled” by Mark Rothko, “Seascape” by Gerhard Richter, “Self-Portrait” by Andy Warhol, “The Nose” by Alberto Giacometti, “Number 17, 1951” by Jackson Pollock.
A record was also set on May 9 this year at Christie’s with the portrait of the film icon Marilyn Monroe Shot Sage Blue Marilyn by Andy Warhol. It fetched US$195 million, making it the highest-priced work of art of the 20th century at auction. Until now, this record was held by “Untitled” by Jean-Michel Basquiat. The 1982 painting of a skull-like face was bought in 2017 for US$110.5 million.
Warhol’s most expensive work to date was Silver Car Crash (double disaster), which depicts a car accident. The painting was sold for 105 million in 2013. As for the portrait of Marilyn, it was owned by the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation of Zurich, which announced its intention to use all proceeds from the auction for charitable purposes.
These impressive sales contributed to auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s announcing record receipts for 2022 of US$8.4 billion and US$8 billion, respectively.
As reported by SOVA Center, the remaining most active human rights NGO in Russia, the Russian oppressive fist is now falling on them.
We reproduce here the statement of SOVA:
On April 27, 2023 Judge Vyacheslav Polyga of the Moscow City Court considered the request filed by Russia’s Ministry of Justice to liquidate the Regional Public Association “Sova” and decided to approve the request.
Our petition requesting postponement of the proceedings until the Gagarinskiy District Court considers the counterclaim of SOVA Center against the Moscow Department of the Ministry of Justice was not granted. The formal reason for the liquidation of SOVA was the organization of and participation in events outside its region of registration (Moscow).
The court did not agree with the arguments of the defense that participation in events outside Moscow is not a violation of the law. The court also disagreed with the claim that even if such participation was considered a violation, it certainly should not be considered intentional and gross, and therefore the liquidation of the Center was a disproportionate measure.
We certainly do not agree with the decision of the Moscow City Court and will appeal. SOVA Center will continue to operate until the liquidation order comes into force.
A 63-year-old Russian Orthodox Christian has become the first person to be sentenced to prison for expressing his opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine in religious terms. Mikhail Simonov is accused of spreading “false information” about the Russian armed forces based on “political hatred” over two social media posts in which he condemned the Russian attacks on Kiev and Mariupol.
In March 2022, he wrote on a social network: “We kill children and women, and we sing songs on the First TV channel. We, Russia, have become godless! Forgive us, Lord!”. It was this publication that became the basis of his accusation.
On March 30, 2023, a Moscow court sentenced Mikhail Simonov to seven years in prison, followed by a four-year internet ban. He has been in pre-trial prison No. 5 in Moscow since November 2022. Before the court, M. Simonov asked to be placed under house arrest due to poor health – hypertonic crises, headaches and loss of consciousness, coronary heart disease. His defense request was denied and he remains in pre-trial detention in Moscow pending a possible appeal.
Mihail Simonov is charged under Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code, which Vladimir Putin signed in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russians who oppose the war, including a small number who do so on religious grounds or express their opposition in religious terms, are also prosecuted under Art. 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code on “Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”
Two more people – both Orthodox Christians – are on trial for their religious opposition to Russia’s war on Ukraine. One is Fr. Ioan Kurmoyarov, who has been in pre-trial detention since June 2022 because of a video in which he says that there is no holy war in Orthodoxy, and only peacemakers will go to heaven. He was detained on a tip-off by the Anti-Sectarian Service of the Western Vicariate of the Moscow City Diocese. His trial is scheduled for April 25. The second case is against the music teacher Anna Chagina, an Orthodox Christian, because on March 22, 2022, she silently held a poster with a quote from the Gospel: “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:9). The case against her is being heard in the court in Tomsk.
Dozens of civilians across the country were killed and injured, and homes and other vital infrastructure, destroyed.
More than 20 people were killed in the small central city of Uman alone, when their apartment building collapsed after it was hit, according to international media reports.
“It is just inexcusable that in places like Uman, far from the frontline, civilians were killed while sleeping at their homes. This must stop,” Mr. Hollingworth wrote on Twitter.
Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also took to the platform to denounce the bloodshed.
“At least three children were reportedly killed in an attack on Uman, Ukraine today, including two 10-year-old children and a toddler. A three-year old was reportedly killed in Dnipro. War is the worst enemy of children. The violence must stop,” she tweeted.
Not a target
In New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric noted that deadly attacks were also reported in Donetsk city, capital of the eastern region of the same name, and currently under Russian control.
Authorities there said several civilians were killed and injured when a bus and hospital in the city centre were struck.
“It is an important reminder that civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected under international humanitarian law and they must never be targeted, wherever those facilities may be,” Mr. Dujarric said.
Delivering critical supplies
As a result of the increased fighting and violence, humanitarian needs are deepening in Ukraine, and the UN and partners are trying to provide as much assistance as possible.
“Since January, we have organized almost 40 humanitarian convoys to areas as close as a couple of hundred meters from the frontlines,” he said.
On Friday, humanitarians delivered six truckloads of critical supplies to the 3,000 people remaining in communities around Lyman, in the Donetsk region, which included medical supplies and enough food to last for three months.
Earlier this week, they reached the city of Orikhiv, located just 10 kilometers from the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, and delivered water, hygiene and shelter kits for some 1,600 civilians, mostly older people.
Mr. Dujarric told journalists that these residents have been sheltering in basements to keep safe from shelling, and lack access to markets, electricity, piped water and gas, which is make life more difficult.
“The international community’s response to the crisis in Myanmar is failing, and that failure has contributed to a lethal downward spiral that is devastating the lives of millions of people,” Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said at the end of a 10-day official visit to Japan.
Referring to the worsening situation in the country, he said Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who has led the junta since the February 2021 coup, had responded to widespread opposition to their rule with “barbarism and oppression” against the people of Myanmar.
“Arbitrary detention, torture and systematic attacks on villages have become hallmarks of the junta,” he said. “The military is repeatedly attacking civilian populations throughout the country and has quite literally made war on the Myanmar people.”
Japan’s leadership will be “vital” in recalibrating a failing international response to the crisis, he said, calling on Tokyo to work with regional and global allies to weaken the capacity of Myanmar’s military junta to attack its citizens.
‘This is an emergency’
The Special Rapporteur also raised alarms about an impending humanitarian disaster in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. Without immediate additional funding, a decision to cut food rations by an additional 20 per cent will be made in the coming weeks, reducing daily food rations to 27 cents per person. The cuts would also potentially eliminate food rations completely for hundreds of thousands.
“This is an emergency,” he warned, adding that he had visited Japan based on his belief Tokyo has an “essential” role to play in resolving the crisis. “Further cuts will leave the Rohingya, already victims of genocidal attacks in Myanmar, at risk of starvation and drive thousands into boats and dangerous land routes in utter desperation.”
Impose sanctions
As such, he called on the Government of Japan and all Member States to immediately increase humanitarian contributions, including by redirecting funds from development programmes in Myanmar. He also urged Japan to impose targeted economic sanctions on the Myanmar military and its key sources of funding, just as it is doing in response to the crisis in Ukraine.
“Economic sanctions that deprive the junta of the resources required to operate its war-making machinery would weaken the capacity of the junta to attack its people,” the Special Rapporteur said.
Renounce ‘fraudulent’ elections
In addition, he urged Japan to terminate a Ministry of Defence training programme for military personnel from Myanmar, referencing credible reports linking previous trainees to military units that have committed atrocities against civilians.
He also called on the Government of Japan to clearly and consistently renounce the junta’s plan to stage fraudulent national elections as a means of legitimizing itself.
“It is not possible to hold a genuine election when opposition leaders are arrested, detained, tortured and executed, when key political parties have been dissolved, when it is illegal to criticize the junta, and when journalists are imprisoned for doing their job,” he said.
The upcoming Group of Seven (G7) Summit of leading economies in Hiroshima presents an opportunity for Japan to shine a light on the situation in Myanmar before the world, he said, urging the Prime Minister to ensure that the crisis is high on the agenda and that a strong, unified message and action emerges.
Unsplash/Harish Shivaraman
The Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, Myanmar.
Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteurs and other rights experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, are mandated to monitor and report on thematic issues or country situations, are not UN staff, and do not receive a salary for their work.
