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National Education Association



(Press release)

NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS US SANCTIONS UPON 
MILITARY REGIME OF BURMA


Atlanta, Georgia, July 2  --- The Peace and Justice Caucus of the National Education Association 
(NEA), the largest teachers' Union in the US, organized a briefing on the "Suppression of 
Educational Freedom and Rights of the Children in Burma" at its annual convention attended by 
state and local Association leaders and elected representatives of their locals all across the US. In 
his presentation to the briefing, Dr. Thaung Htun, Representative of the National Coalition 
Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) for UN Affairs, said, "the Military regime in 
Burma believes that academic freedom poses a severe threat to its illegitimate rule and has 
persistently practiced the policy of closing down of schools and universities at the first sign of 
protests and has used the pretext of educational reform as a mean of preventing dissent and 
extending control." Dr. Htun then informed the Convention that "all the Universities have not 
been reopened yet since They were closed after the last students protests in December last year. 
Without giving any reason, all schools including primary schools have not been reopened yet even 
though June is the season of reopening schools for the new academic year and this practice has 
been seriously damaging to the education of the new generation".

With regard to the situation of Burmese Children, Dr. Htun pointed out that the "National 
Programme of Action proposed by UNICEF in 1993 has not been translated into sectoral policy 
and programs at the national and subnational level with adequate budget allocation. The disparity 
of budget allocation between the defense and social sectors has directly effected the lives of 
Burma's children. The infant motility rate has increased from 67/1,000 live births in 1989 to 
82/1,000 in 1993. Malnutrition of children under 3 accounts for 36.7%-40%. Child labor, child 
prostitution, child soldiers and refugee children in armed conflict -- all need to be urgently 
addressed."

Then, Mr. Chuck Reinhardt, a delegate from New York/ New Jersy, introduced a resolution that 
supports economic sanction upon the military regime of Burma enforced by the Clinton 
Administration. The resolution was adopted by consensus. In its rationale to the resolution, NEA 
said, "The military regime in Burma continues to violate children's rights, despite the fact that it 
has been a party to the Convention on the "Rights of the Child" since 1991. According to the 
Human Rights Watch Report, "Children's Rights and the Rule of Law", children in Burma are 
used as porters to carry supplies for the army and unpaid laborers on government construction 
projects. Many Burmese girls are trafficked into Thailand, forced to work in brothels, often in 
slave-like conditions."

END