Burma

International Peace Camp 2004

"Burma's Current Human Rights Situations" Presented by Thein Oo (Chairperson Burma Lawyers' Council)

Burma is ruled by a highly authoritarian military regime, the so-called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). On 27 May, 1990, there was a free and fair election, the first time within three decades under the military predecessors in Burma. The National League for Democracy party (NLD) won a landslide victory by winning over 80 % of parliamentary seats in the election. But the military regime refused to honour the results of the 1990 election that overwhelmingly elected the NLD, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; she herself was placed under house-arrest in 1989 to prevent her from contesting the election. Since 1995, when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was released from the first house arrest, she and NLD have consistently been calling for political dialogue with the military regime to solve Burma's problems peacefully. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrested a second time in the year 2000. She was released from house-arrest in May 2002. On 30 May, 2003, NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party members were brutally attacked by the regime and its thugs near Depayin, northern Burma. The regime's horrific attack killed scores of people, wounded many more, and resulted in the imprisonment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and many members of the NLD. The NLD party offices were shut down and political party functions banned. The Depayin attack was the start of a nationwide crackdown. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrested. The bloody Depayin incident was one of the most heinous state-managed terrorist acts and one of the most savage crimes in Burma. Evidence indicates that the attack was premeditated, with involvement of the regime. It was a crime against humanity. The regime has ignored calls for a full investigation into the murderous attack. Effective measures to bring the perpetrators to justice are still lacking. United Nations Special Rapporteur Sergio Pinheiro issued a comprehensive report to the UN Commission on Human Rights on 5 January, 2004, in which he stated that " From what he [Pinheiro] heard and saw during his mission and based on eyewitness testimonies, [he is] convinced that there is prima facie evidence that the Depayin incident could not have happened without the connivance of State agents".

International Peace Camp 2004

International condemnation of the SPDC over the Depayin incident remained high and pressure mounted on the Burmese generals. On 30 August 2003, in the wake of intensified international pressure against the Burmese military regime, the newly appointed Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt unveiled a 7-point 'road map'to democracy. According to Khin Nyunt, the SPDC road map will reconvene the stalled 1993 National Convention. The original Convention started in 1993 and was aborted in 1996. The NLD was expelled from that previous national convention when it questioned the lack of freedom of speech, freedom of debate and discussion and freedom of expression. Moreover, the military regime issued a notorious law in 1996 that whoever critized the national convention could be punished with up to twenty years imprisonment. For instance, a group of students have reportedly received sentences ranging from 7 to 17 years imprisonment for distributing leaflets criticizing the road map and the National Convention, UN special Rapporteur reported to UN Commission on Human Rights on 26 March 2004. Moreover again, the convention commission will be made up only of SPDC officials, who will completely control the agenda and procedures. The junta's hand-picked delegates are expected to approve 104 constitutional principles laid down in 1996. Those principles include setting aside 25 % of parliamentary seats for the military and total autonomy for the military. Clearly, the SPDC's version of national convention will continue to be a disaster for Burma. The military regime continues to ignore the UN resolutions adopted in previous years by the General Assembly and relevant bodies. It blatantly ignores the efforts of the United Nations Secretary General and his envoy to facilitate a national reconciliation process in Burma. Systematic violations of human rights, including arbitrary killing, rape, looting, force relocation and destruction of villagers continue, particularly in the ethnic border area where military offensives are launched against ethnic nationalities. The Burmese people continue to be held hostage under the military's corrupt, brutal, inhumane, and undemocratic policies. The regime uses rape as a tool of terror to brutalize women, especially women who belong to our ethnic nationalities. In May 2002, the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) documented that the Burmese Army use rape as a systematic weapon of war against the ethnic populations in Shan State. The report described 173 incidents of rape or sexual violence against 625 women and girls committed by soldiers from 52 military battalions between 1992 and 2001.

International Peace Camp 2004

The junta is also responsible for creating the world's largest army of child soldiers. There are over 70,000 child soldiers in the Burmese Army. The SPDC has reestablished forced conscription of the civilian population into militia units, and forced them to take part in horrible abuses. Gross human rights abuses by themilitary regime as well as decades of internal armed conflict, have caused hundreds of thousands of Burmese to flee to the neighbouring countries. A number of 150,000 Burmese live in the refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma border, about 26,000 in Bangladesh, over 1,500 in India and some are in China. There is also an estimated number of 600,000 to 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country. Many of the estimated one million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand fled their homeland for a mixture of political and economic reasons. The judiciary is not independent of the Government. The SPDC appoints justices to the Supreme Court who, in turn, appoint lower court judges with the approval of the SPDC. These courts then adjudicate cases under decrees promulgated by the SPDC that effectively have the force of law. For instance, in November 2003, a criminal court in Burma sentenced 9 persons to death for high treason only because they admitted to connections with the International Labour Organization (ILO), an activity that would not be considered a crime anywhere in the world. In conclusion, I would like to urge the Korean people and international community: -To express firm solidarity with the NLD and the people of Burma, who, despite their hardships and oppression, continue to strive for democracy. -To express deep sympathy to members and supporters of the NLD who were victims of the premeditated attack in Depayin on 30 May 2003, and help to expose the truth behind the ruthless incident through independent investigations. - To urge the SPDC (military regime) to immediately stop systematic human rights violations, release all political prisoners, seek a negotiated political settlement, and begin an inclusive nation-building process to alleviate the suffering of the people and the country.