[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Burma News Update No. 78



Burma Project
Open Society Institute

Burma News Update No. 78
03 March 1999



Longstanding Severe Repression
   
The U.S. State Department's annual global human rights report,
released on 26 February, offers a grim picture of ongoing human rights
abuses in Burma. In an analysis of over 9,000 words, the department
details the "longstanding severe repression" imposed by the country's
army junta. "Control is buttressed by arbitrary restrictions on
citizens' contacts with foreigners, surveillance of government employees
and private citizens, harassment of political activists, intimidation,
arrest, detention, and physical abuse," the report stated, adding,
"Citizens continued to live subject at any time and without appeal to
the arbitrary and sometimes brutal dictates of the military
dictatorship. ... There continue to be credible reports, particularly in
ethnic minority-dominated areas, that soldiers committed serious human
rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and rape. ... Arbitrary
arrests and detentions for expression of dissenting political views
continued with increasing frequency in an effort to intimidate the
populace into submission in the face of deepening economic and political
instability. More than 1,000 political prisoners remained in government
custody, including the approximately 200 parliamentarians elected in
1990 detained since September...."

U.S. Department of State, 26 February
<http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1998_hrp_report/burma.html>




Burma Drug Links

Burma joined Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as the only two countries not
certified as cooperating in the global war on drug production and
trafficking after an annual U.S. Government review. U.S. drug policy
director Barry R. McCaffrey, said that both countries "must do more to
confront powerful criminal elements ... who increasingly threaten
communities everywhere with crime, violence, corruption, addiction and
disease." [Burma is the world's largest opium producer and heroin
exporter, and is an increasingly major producer of illegal
amphetamines-Ed.]

"Washington Post," 27 February



Interpol "Naive to Trust Junta"

An international heroin conference sponsored by Interpol in Burma's
capital, Rangoon, deeply split the international community, offering
what diplomats called a propaganda platform for the army junta in the
world's largest heroin producer. Critics said Interpol was "naive to
trust" the military's regime's claims of drug eradication programs. The
U.S. and most European nations boycotted the conference.

Bangkok, "South China Morning Post," 27 February



EU Says No to Burma

A meeting between the European Union and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) scheduled for 30 March in Berlin will likely be
canceled over the EU's refusal to accept high level Burmese
participation. The EU has banned visas for senior members of Burma's
military regime because of its human rights violations. ASEAN has stated
that all its members must be welcomed or the meeting cannot go ahead.
[InterPress Service added from Chaing Mai on 23 February that the recent
release of two well-known political prisoners by Burma's junta "is
little more than a public relations gambit," and that diplomats says
real dialogue with pro-democracy groups is necessary.]

"Business Times" (Singapore) 26 February



Asia Society Rejects Protests
   
A luxury tour to Burma sponsored by the New York City-based Asia Society
is underway despite fierce protests by Burmese pro-democracy activists.
The Asia Society advertised that it will receive "privileged access to
special sites" in the tightly-controlled military dictatorship. A
spokesman for Burma's government in exile warned the Asia Society
president and tour leader Nicholas Platt that "as you are fully
aware..." the "roads you will travel on, hotels you will sleep in and
waterways you will float down are the product of brutal forced labour,
not the result of any substantive progress." An October 1998 U.S.
Department of Labor report said "credible allegations that forced labor
was used during the recent rapid development of tourism infrastructure."

Bangkok, "South China Morning Post," 25 February



Refugees to Move
   
The Thai Government plans to relocate about 20,000 Karen refugees
from vulnerable camps near the Burmese frontier. The Karen fled attacks
by Burma's military regime in what they describe as a ethnic cleansing
campaign. Several Karen refugee camps have been attacked and destroyed
by Burmese-based militia and Burmese troops, camp residents say.

Bangkok, "Nation," 28 February