Police prohibit Sittwe-based charity from collecting donations for IDPs

20 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
20 August 2022, Sittwe 

Police have barred the Metta Yaungchi Foundation, a charitable organisation in Sittwe, from collecting donations to provide emergency support for displaced people who have fled their homes due to fighting in Arakan State over recent weeks. 

Police officers from the Arakan State capital’s No. 1 police station prohibited philanthropists from the charity from collecting cash donations in the neighbourhoods of Sittwe on Saturday afternoon and forced them to sign a pledge not to collect any more donations. 

“The police barred us from collecting cash donations and took us to the police station,” Ko Kyauk Chai, an official from the charity, told DMG. “Police told us that we will be arrested if we collect cash donations in the future. The also told us that we must submit a letter to the concerned department seeking permission to collect cash donations.” 

Though members of the charity were required to sign a pledge not to collect any more donations, they have vowed to raise funds for the IDPs via social media. 

“It will take about a week to submit the approval letter to the relevant department. We’ll no longer submit a permission letter to the relevant department because the IDPs are facing food shortages and emergencies,” Ko Kyauk Chai said. 

More than 1,500 residents of six villages in Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township fled to safer locations after the Myanmar military clashed with the Arakan Army (AA) on August 13. 

Preventing the charitable organisation from collecting donations for displaced people is a violation of human rights, said writer Wai Hun Aung, who is helping Arakanese IDPs. 

“I see the action as very wrong. Blocking the collection of donations for the displaced people violates human rights. This should not happen at all,” he said. 

DMG attempted to contact Police Captain Hsan Kyaw Tun, head of Sittwe’s No.1 police station, to seek comment on the matter, but he could not be reached.

The Metta Yaungchi Foundation was established as a charitable organisation in March 2021.