The Diplomat
The Ciudadanos’ Parliamentary Group in the Congress has asked the Government about the funding provided by Spain to the Myanmar Police, currently involved in a “harsh repression” against its citizens after the coup d’état of last February 1.
The parliamentary question, presented last April 26, recalls that the coup d’état against the “young Burmese democracy” “set alarm bells ringing all over the world” and resulted in the arrest of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party and in the dismissal of ministers and deputies, who were replaced by “new appointments led by the military leadership”. In addition, charges were brought against Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders, “in a clear attempt to continuously displace them from power”.
Likewise, it continues, the citizen protests organized in the country to express rejection of the coup d’état have been “repressed with increasing virulence in recent days” and with “absolutely disproportionate repression by the army and the country’s police”. “Last March 3, 38 people were killed in what marked the bloodiest day of repression, and there are already more than 1,200 people arrested for their participation in the mobilizations”, denounces Ciudadanos.
According to the orange formation, “Spain is directly involved in this situation, since it actively participated in the training of the Myanmar Police”. According to information from the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP) in 2017, “Spain had contributed 30 million euros to the MYPOL project for police reform in Myanmar”. Moreover, the FIIAPP was the agency in charge of managing this project, which also received funding from the European Union. The objective, according to FIIAPP itself, was “to contribute to a more preventive, balanced and professional approach by Myanmar law enforcement, based on international best practices and respect for human rights”.
“The reality, however, is that the Myanmar Police is currently committing serious acts of violent repression against peaceful demonstrators, shooting directly at unarmed citizens without violent attitudes, including youth and adolescents”, warned Ciudadanos, which stated that “there are significant doubts that the MYPOL project has had satisfactory results in transforming Myanmar’s policing model and bringing it closer to international best practices and in respect for human rights”.
For this reason, Ciudadanos asks the Government if it has conducted “any evaluation study on the results of the MYPOL project coordinated by the FIIAPP in Myanmar”, and if it can guarantee that “none of the procedures and training resources included in the MYPOL project managed by the FIAAPP have contributed to the violent repressive acts of the security forces of that country already denounced”. Likewise, the orange formation asks the Executive to inform it of the measures that will be taken “to ensure an evaluation of the results of the programs financed by the FIIAPP and any other development cooperation agency”.
