Human Rights Watch report says at least 20 killed in Burma crackdown

At least 20 people were killed during a crackdown on protestors by the military junta in Burma, twice as many as the government reported, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today, according to Agence France-Presse.

“The crackdown in Burma is far from over,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Harsh repression continues, and the government is still lying about the extent of the deaths and detentions.”

The group claimed that the actual death toll is probably much higher and said that hundreds of activists remain imprisoned. HRW said its assessment was based on interviews with more than 100 witnesses, but added that it could not establish a definitive death toll because it could not gather any information from outside Yangon.

HRW has accused the government of lying about the number of deaths and people in jail.

“It’s time for the world to impose a UN arms embargo and financial sanctions, to hurt Burma’s leaders until they make real changes,” said Adams. “Countries like China, India and Thailand have the responsibility to take action to help hold the generals accountable and to end this long nightmare of military repression.”

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Viet Nam rejects moves by Western nations to place sanctions on Burma

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet on Wednesday expressed opposition to efforts by Western countries to punish Burma through economic sanctions, saying Viet Nam remembered the pain economic sanctions brought, Agence France-Presse reported today.

“Vietnam experienced war and was slapped with economic sanctions,” Triet said.

“We fully understand the agony people that felt at the time,” he said. “Therefore, we will not support economic sanctions on Myanmar, which are merely a means of making people suffer.”

The United States and European Union have placed sanctions on Burma due to its crackdown on protestors and activists. Countries in Asia, however, have preferred to focus on engaging the military junta, although Japan has cancelled nearly 5 million dollars in aid to the country.

Both Ibrahim Gambari, United Nations special envoy on Myanmar, and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fakuda have asked Viet Nam to support U.N. efforts to resolve the crisis in Burma, with Gambari saying Viet Nam is among the states closest to Myanmar’s regime.

Triet explained that Viet Nam is concerned with the situation in Burma. “We want to try hard to resolve the issue smoothly through cooperation among Vietnam, ASEAN and the United Nations,” he said.

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Burma arrests human rights activist as U.N. envoy meets with junta

Labor rights activist Su Su Nway was arrested on Tuesday as United Nations rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met with members of the military junta, Agence France-Presse reported.

“She was arrested this afternoon while she was trying to put some anti-government pamphlets in place,” a source with knowledge of the matter who did not wish to be identified, told AFP.

Nway has been in hiding since August, when she led a protest against over escalating fuel prices.

Pinheiro is making his first trip to Burma in four years to investigate the death toll from the suppression of protests, as well as other human rights abuses. His visit comes after U.M. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s visit, and U.N. statements that the junta is willing to engage in discussions with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar analyst based in Thailand said the international pressure and scrutiny, as well as protests and sanctions, “have played a major role in forcing the military to express that they will come to the table.”

Pinheiro also plans to investigate claims of human rights abuses against ethnic minorities.

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ASEAN charter drafted that would protect human rights

Southeast Asian leaders are expected to sign a landmark charter that would promote human rights and democracy in the region, although it is uncertain how members such as Myanmar (Burma) will be brought into line, Agence France-Presse reported today.

The charter would commit Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members “to strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Although ASEAN was founded 40 years ago as an anti-communist bloc, the charter would be the first time its codes and principles were codified.

The charter maintains, however, the principle of non-interference into internal affairs of its member states. The draft also does not mention the possibility of expulsion or suspension as punishment for ASEAN members in breach of the charter.

“The content of the charter is likely to be impressive, especially because ASEAN's international legitimacy and reputation are very important,” said Hiro Katsumata of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “But this does not mean that some of the provisions of the charter will be implemented, especially in relation to human rights and democracy in Myanmar.”

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Burma reject U.N. offer to mediate talks

According to Burma’s state media, the country’s ruling generals will not participate in the United Nations’ plan for three-way talks that include pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, BBC News reported today.

In an article addressed to U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari, Burmese Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said: “We will welcome positive co-ordination and co-operation for Myanmar [Burma] affairs, but will never accept any interference that may harm our sovereignty.” The article goes on to say that if Burma’s issues are brought to the U.N. Security Council, the country “will have no other way but to face and endure.”

The military junta said Wednesday that they had released all but 91 people who were detained after the protests in September; however, human rights groups believe at least 600 are still in jail.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has expressed concern over the lack of progress being made in Burma.

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Human Rights Watch says Burma using child soldiers

According to a report released by Human Rights Watch, children as young as 10 are being forcibly recruited into Burma’s army, Agence France-Presse reported today.

The children are bought and sold by military recruiters, who receive incentives from the military junta, which is suffering from a high desertion rate and lack of volunteers, HRW said.

“The government’s senior generals tolerate the blatant recruitment of children and fail to punish perpetrators,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. “In this environment, army recruiters traffic children at will.”

Although the regime has created a committee to prevent the recruitment of children, Becker says that the committee is a “sham” and spends most of its time denouncing reports of child soldiers.

Desperate to meet quotas, recruiters target children in public places and threaten them if they refuse to join. In some cases, the children are beaten until they agree, the report says. Former child soldier, Maung Zaw Oo, said that the recruiters “filled the forms and asked my age, and when I said 16, I was slapped and he said, ‘You are 18. Answer 18.’”

According to the report, child soldiers are used in other non-state armed groups as well, but in smaller numbers.

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Seventy protestors freed in Burma

At least 70 people arrested by the military junta after protests in Burma have been released, a party spokesman said Friday, according to The Associated Press. Fifty of the 70 were members of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.

The detainees were released from the infamous Insein Prison in Yangon on Thursday, said Nyan Win, the spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party. At least 250 members of the party are still being held, he added.

The move to release detainees came after Suu Kyi met with a top-government official on Thursday. The meeting is part of a U.N. attempt to promote reconciliation between the junta and the democracy party. U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari said the meeting was a good beginning, but more talks will be needed in order to produce results. Western diplomats and residents are skeptical, believing the government’s move was intended to ease international pressure on the junta rather than produce results.

“[Suu Kyi’s] very conscious of the difficulties her people are experiencing,” Gambari said. “Her concern is to put an end to the violence and that prisoners are released.”

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U.N. human rights expert granted permission to visit Burma after 4 years of refusals

The military junta in Burma will allow United Nations human rights expert Paolo Sergio Pinheiro to visit the country after four years of persistent requests, BBC News reported Monday.

Pinhiero said the invitation is “an important sign that the government wants to engage again in constructive dialogue with the UN and the Human Rights Council.”

The U.N. received a written invitation from Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win indicating that Pinheiro could arrive before mid-November. This is significant due to the fact that a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is set to begin on November 17. ASEAN has been highly critical of the situation in Burma, and the BBC’s U.N. correspondent reports that cooperation with the U.N. “could take the sting out of further criticism.”

Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, says it is necessary to unearth the scale of the junta’s crackdown.

“We have to find out what has happened to these people who demonstrated,” Arbour said. “Where are they? How many – credibly – have been killed? How many are still detained [and] under what conditions?”

The U.N.’s special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is also hoping to return to the country soon.

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Congressional Human Rights Caucus holds briefing on situation in Burma

The Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC) on Wednesday held a special briefing on the situation in Burma. The witnesses present were: Bo Hla-Tint of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, Than Lwin Htun, the Burmese Service Chief for Voice of America, T. Kumar, Amnesty International’s advocacy director for Asia, and Jennifer Quigley of the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

CHRC Director Hans Hogrefe provided introductory remarks, saying that Burma’s military crackdown on the “utterly and totally peaceful demonstrations” is “totally intolerable to the world community.” On the surface, the situation in Burma seems relatively calm, Hogrefe said, however, the military junta still roams the streets, and has imposed a “silence of the grave.”

The Burmese government reports that only 10 people have died because of the crackdown, however, Quigley said that she is able to confirm that more than 200 have been killed, with another 2,000 arrested. Moreover, she said that at least 50 monasteries have been left empty, and monks are being imprisoned inside other monasteries, where if left for too long, they will die from starvation. She also mentioned that there have been unconfirmed reports of corpses being dumped in the jungle, and that the military has begun using a crematorium outside of Rangoon to destroy bodies.

The current protests reflect those that occurred in 1988, however, Hla-Tint said that these are fundamentally different. He said the Burmese are willing to sacrifice their lives, not because this is something they want, but because there is no other choice. Similarly, Quigley added, “the people of Burma have proven with their blood that they are ready for democracy.”

A major focus of the discussion was on what the international community should do concerning Burma. Kumar gave a stark view of the reality of the situation, saying that if nothing is done, “this will repeat itself.” Neighboring countries, such as China and India, have caused problems in the past by refusing to speak out against Burma, allowing the military junta to feel comfortable killing and abusing the Burmese people. The panel agreed that it is important for the U.N. Security Council to be united on this issue and take strong action immediately. As Lwin Htun said: “The Burmese Foreign Minister’s speech to the United Nations confirmed that Burma will not heed the international community and will continue to seek its own path, no matter what.”

The United States has a major role to play in resolving the situation in Burma, the witnesses said. According to Kumar, the U.S. “is not doing what they are supposed to be [doing].” He also said that the U.S. needs to push China to do the right thing by not vetoing resolutions going to the U.N. Security Council. He believes Burma should be seen as a test case. “The danger we are facing,” Kumar said, is that “if we cannot make a change here, we will not make change anywhere.”

U.N. rights council holds emergency session to examine Burma

Louise Arbour, United Nations high commissioner for human rights, speaking at an emergency U.N. session today, said that Burma (officially Myanmar) must be held responsible for its “shocking response” to peaceful protests, The Associated Press reported.

“The peaceful protests that we have witnessed in recent weeks and the shocking response by the authorities are only the most recent manifestations of the repression of fundamental rights and freedoms that have taken place for almost 20 years in Myanmar,” Arbour told the U.N. Human Rights council.

According to the Burmese government, only 10 people were killed during the demonstrations, however, dissident groups say that as many as 200 people have died, and 6,000 more have been detained.

A diplomat from Burma, Nyunt Swe, believes that Western countries are behind the protests. “The government has firm evidence that these protests were being helped both financially and materially by internal and external anti-government elements,” Swe said. “The protests are the long-awaited chance for some Western countries to initiate an action to intervene in the country.”

The emergency session was convened at the request of 18 European and other member states, with 37 observers, including the United States. The EU has crafted a resolution, which, if passed, would urge the government of Burma “to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” as well as “bring to justice perpetrators of human rights violations, including for the recent violations of the rights of peaceful protestors.”

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Protests continue in Burma despite government threats

Buddhist monks in Burma (officially Myanmar) re-launched their protests today despite government orders to stay out of politics, The Canadian Press reported.

About 4,000 monks gathered at Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda for the eighth day of peaceful protests.

“The protest is not merely for the well being of people but also for monks struggling for democracy and for people to have an opportunity to determine their own future,” one monk told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals from officials. “People do not tolerate the military government any longer.”
On Monday, the protests in Yangon reached 100,000, making it the largest protest since the pro-democracy march in 1988. Protests in Myanmar began on August 19 against current economic conditions. The monks, however, took charge last week, and with the public joining the protests, there is a demand for national reconciliation and freedom for political prisoners, as well as adequate food, shelter and clothing.

The government of Myanmar has been cautious when dealing with the monks, not wanting to provoke the public. The White House has also threatened Myanmar with more sanctions, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated that he hoped the government would “seize this opportunity” to include all opposition groups in the political process.

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