The former British ambassador to Myanmar has been detained within the Southeast Asian nation, its authorities has confirmed, because the UK proclaims new sanctions.
Vicky Bowman and her husband had been arrested for violations of the nation’s Immigration act, in response to an announcement from Myanmar’s Ministry of Information.
She and her husband, Htein Lin, a Burmese artist and former political prisoner, had been held on Wednesday, it’s understood.
The information emerged shortly earlier than an announcement about recent UK sanctions focusing on the Myanmar regime.
The arrest reportedly befell in Yangon, previously often known as Rangoon, the biggest metropolis in Myanmar, which was often known as Burma.
Myanmar Now, a web based information service, cited sources near Ms Bowman’s household as saying she and her husband had been taken by safety forces whereas they had been briefly staying in Yangon. She had been dwelling for years in Kalaw township in Shan state in jap Myanmar, the report mentioned.
Ms Bowman runs the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), which is headquartered in Yangon, in response to its web site.
Myanmar’s Immigration Act is drafted in a method that may enable the authorities an excuse for holding overseas guests for violating the phrases of their visas.
A Foreign Office spokesperson, mirroring an announcement from the UK’s Myanmar embassy, mentioned: “We are concerned by the arrest of a British woman in Myanmar. We are in contact with the local authorities and are providing consular assistance.”
Myanmar has been struggling a interval of political and financial chaos since the army overthrew an elected authorities in early 2021.
The sanctions come on the day when lots of of 1000’s of Rohingya refugees are marking the fifth anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh, after, in late 2017, Myanmar’s army launched a crackdown following a insurgent assault.
The UK mentioned it might:
• Take recent motion towards the Myanmar Armed Forces
• Impose new sanctions towards military-linked corporations to focus on the army’s entry to arms and income
• And verify its intention to intervene in The Gambia v Myanmar International Court of Justice Case to help worldwide justice efforts
In November 2019, Gambia – with the backing of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – took a case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, alleging Myanmar’s atrocities towards the ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State constituted a breach of the UN conference on genocide. The case is ongoing.
British minister for Asia Amanda Milling mentioned in an announcement: “We continue to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people and condemn the Myanmar Armed Forces’ horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing.”
Burma Campaign UK, which launched a drive for the British authorities to affix the Gambia v Myanmar case nearly three years in the past, mentioned it was delighted by the sanctions announcement.
Executive director Anna Roberts mentioned: “For decades the Burmese military have been allowed to violate international law without consequences, encouraging them to commit genocide and attempt another coup.”
Who is Vicky Bowman?
Ms Bowman was the British ambassador to Myanmar between 2002 and 2006 and has greater than three many years’ expertise within the nation.
A profile on the web site of the Institute for Human Rights and Business says she has been the director of Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) since July 2013.
Before that, it says, she labored at Rio Tinto and held a collection of senior roles within the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
She was additionally the second secretary within the UK’s Myanmar embassy from 1990-1993 and speaks Burmese.
According to the web site of the MCRB, it “aims to provide a trusted, impartial forum for dialogue, seminars, and briefings to relevant parties as well as access to international expertise and tools”.
It receives funding from the governments of the UK, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, and Denmark.
Source: information.sky.com”