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AP/AFP_9.3.96: U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORT
Subject: AP/AFP_9.3.96: U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR PUBLISHED HIS REPORT
ASIA: BURMA BARS UN HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATE FROM ITS JAILS
BURMA RIGHTS UN
GENEVA, March 9 AFP - Burma barred UN human rights official Yozo
Yokata from visiting its jails, despite repeated requests, but he
was still able to gather numerous accounts of torture and
mistreatment from witnesses, according to his latest report
published today.
Yokata, special rapporteur for Burma of the UN Human Rights
Commission, said he was refused permission to visit the Insein and
Myitkyina jails last October, although he had been previously able
to inspect them.
However, he quoted former inmates as describing such tortures as
being put in leg irons and beaten with canes until the prisoner
lost consciousness. Prisoners were denied adequate food and health
care, were housed in insanitary and degrading conditions and
subjected to cruelty.
Yokata singled out the treatment of Saw Naing Naing, Monya Tin
Shwe, U Win Tin, Myo Myint Nyein and Myint Aung, all members of the
opposition National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi,
apparently in retaliation for smuggling out letters to the UN
official.
"According to the information received, prison officials forced
the five prisoners to sleep on concrete floors without mats or
blankets in ... small cells where military dogs are normally kept,"
Yokata's report said.
The rapporteur said he had informed the Rangoon authorities that
he should have free access to letters and other documents, and that
punishment for collaboration with him was in contravention of Human
Rights Commission policy.
Yokata said reliable sources had told him prisoners were often
forced to sleep on cold cement and many suffered from sickness and
serious disease. U Ein Tin, for example, was said to suffer from
inflammation of the spine.
Cells were often overcrowded and prisoners had inadequate
hygiene and medical care, the report said. He quoted a former woman
inmate of Insein as saying that between 1989 and 1992 up to 250
women were held in a room measuring 20 metres by 13 metres.
At least 30 children were with their mothers and many new-born
infants died because of inadequate food.
Bribery and corruption was a serious problem, with food and
medicines brought by families of prisoners being confiscated,
Yokata said.
He expressed continuing concern at hundreds of cases of
prisoners being forced to work under harsh conditions on
construction sites, including a railway.
The authorities had then gone back on promises to release them
at the end of their stint, Yokata said.
Torture remained widespread, he alleged, including beatings,
shackling, near suffocation, burning, stabbing, rubbing of salt and
chemicals into open wounds, rape of women, mutilation and threats
of death.
While welcoming the release in particular of Aung San Suu Kyi
from house arrest, Yokata said hundreds of people were still
detained for political activities.
He concluded that conditions in prison were still far short of
international standards, while evidence indicated that forced
labour, forced portering, torture and arbitrary killings remained
widespread.
On a more positive note, he had observed signs of relaxation of
tension in normal daily life, many consumer goods available and
improved infrastructure.
"However, just as last year, he was informed that only a small
portion of the population was enjoying an improved lifestyle and
the majority who were poor were suffering from the high prices of
basic necessities such as rice or mdecine," the report said.
AFP lw
ASIA: U.S. RIGHTS REPORT CITES SEVERE RESTRICTIONS IN BURMA
BURMA RIGHTS
BANGKOK, March 7 AP - Burma's citizens remained last year under
the "sometimes brutal dictates" of a military government that
systematically denies basic human rights, a US government report
says.
The US State Department report, seen in Bangkok today, made
special mention of forced labor and restrictions on freedom of
speech and assembly.
It cited last year's release from house arrest of Aung San Suu
Kyi as a "potentially significant move on the political front." Suu
Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent promotion of
democracy. It also conceded "the appearance of greater normalcy
fostered by increased economic activity."
But, it said, the military "had yet to make a fundamental break
with its past behavior and demonstrate a willingness to cede its
hold on absolute power."
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy easily won a 1990
general election, but the military refused to allow the elected
candidates to take office.
The report said Burma's people "continued to live subject at any
time and without appeal to the arbitrary and sometimes brutal
dictates of the military."
The assessment for Burma came in a report on human rights around
the world, used by the US Congress in considering foreign aid.
Burma has had strained relations with the United States since
the military seized power in 1988 after violently suppressing
pro-democracy demonstrations. Washington has not stationed an
ambassador in Rangoon for several years.
On forced labor, the report said, "The use of porters by the
army _ with attendant mistreatment, illness and even death for
those compelled to serve _ remained a standard practice."
It said that "as many as several thousand civilians were
believed to have been coerced into working as porters in jungle
areas or in or near combat zones" in the army's fight against
ethnic guerrillas.
"According to reliable reports, military sweeps for porters or
demands for porter 'taxes' -
cash payment instead of porter duties - reached as far as Rangoon
and other urban areas in central Burma," it added.
"The military continued to force ordinary Burmese on a massive
scale (including women and children) to "contribute' their labor,
often under harsh working conditions, on construction projects
around the country," said the report.
The report said that "severe restrictions on freedom of speech
and the press persisted throughout 1995.
The report also criticized judicial procedures, detention
conditions and lack of rights for labor organizing.
Particularly sharp criticism was reserved for the convention
drafting guidelines for a new constitution.
The report accused the military of stage-managing the
convention's proceedings and ignoring even minor opposing
viewpoints.
AP msk