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"Neighbor Turned Stranger": Burma Continues To Be Of Concern
Core e-Human rights feature
The political and civil affairs in Burma, named Myanmar by its present military dictatorship, continue to be an international concern as the 58th Commission on Human Rights turns its lenses on this hapless country yet once more this year. A close neighbor of Manipur, and sharing a much more common political, cultural and historical heritage than we would care to admit today, Burma is indeed a stranger now. The State Peace and Development Council military government of Myanmar (Burma) has, in the past week, removed chief of police Maj-Gen Soe Win,
Triangle Region Commander Brig-Gen Chit Than and Air Force Commander in Chief Maj-Gen Myint Swe from their positions in connection with the alleged coup plot by U Aye Zaw Win, husband of former Burmese 92 year-old strongman U Ne Win's "favorite" daughter Daw Sandar Win, and his three sons. Yet another of its many purges from the military ranks is taking place, reminding us again of the gravity of Burma's political scenario.
The members of the military junta in Burma continue to vie with each other to be at the helm of affairs as it refuses to relinquish its death grip on the country. Younger officers, disgruntled senior staff posted in remote regions and members with personal influence and connections have all attempted several times in the recent past to wrest power in Yangon. It's a game, familiar to Manipur, of who can rule the roost, have the largest pieces of the pie and corner the
"goodies".
Meanwhile, the civil society in Burma including its so-called "minority nationalities" continue to live in an unacceptable situation of grossly curtailed civil liberties and fundamental freedoms, a development process that has gone completely awry and on-going long term self-determination movements among its ethnic groups and nationalities. Fundamentally, the present human rights situation in Burma largely exists within two related and overlapping factors: long-standing insurgencies, ethnic and otherwise, and the suppression of the re-emerging democracy movement since 1988. With overwhelming evidence of serious human rights violations and abuses in Burma, the Commission established a thematic country focused rapporteur in 1999.
The first Special Rapporteur was the renowned legal expert from Mauritius, Justice Rajsoomer Lallah (who also served as a member of the Human Rights Committee) but his method of work and approach was not found acceptable by the military government and he resigned last November. The present rapporteur, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, has submitted his first report to the Commission this year. His mandate, both wide and challenging, is "to establish direct contacts with the Government and with the people of Myanmar, including political leaders deprived
of their liberty, their families and lawyers, with a view to examining the situation of human rights in Myanmar and following any progress made towards the transfer of power to a civilian government and the drafting of a new
constitution, the lifting of restrictions on personal freedoms and the restoration of human rights in Myanmar."
Pinheiro's first report is interesting from several perspectives. Firstly, it is narrow in focus; and based on information he received since he took charge and from several fact-finding missions in Burma, Singapore and Thailand late last year. He did not visit the North Eastern region of India. He visited some prisons and labor camps; interviewed political and other detainees confidentially, met a few political leaders and looked into the basic rights to health and education. Surprisingly, during his first fact-finding visit to Burma, he claims to have received very open and comprehensive cooperation from
the SPDC government. "Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), [who] assured the Special Rapporteur of the full cooperation of the SPDC and invited him to go to any place he wanted and meet anyone he wished, which he did.".
Secondly, this uncharacteristic "openness" from the dictatorship indicates a high level of sophistication in the diplomatic over-drive that the Myanmarese military government has been engaging in during the past year. The report reflects the struggle Pinheiro has in striking the "right" balance. Obviously, Pinheiro hopes to be able to continue to visit Myanmar and understandably does not want to jeopardize this opportunity by adopting too harsh a posture.
Thirdly, the report skirts around several key human rights issues while seeming to give a rather clean chit to some crucial areas of concern such as conflict and development. Pinheiro seems to have prepared his grounds for another visit rather conclusively.
This is a country where all political parties, except the National Unity Party (NUP), widely recognized as close to SPDC, need prior permission from the SPDC to open party offices. Whereas the NUP is allowed to publish party materials, the NLD and other parties cannot operate photocopiers, mimeographs or fax machines, requiring government license. Heavy official pressures on party members and organizers were made to resign their membership and on landlords to refuse to rent office premises to political parties. Top NLD officials are subject to systematic surveillance by military intelligence personnel.
More than half a dozen laws control freedom of expression. Thousands languish in prison for peaceful verbal expression of views, for peaceful demonstrations or in activities of political parties, for writing on human rights or political issues in the country, or for reading or possessing written materials deemed illegal. Many student leaders of the 1988 demonstrations and the 1996 and 1998 protests are still in prison or exile. All domestic print and electronic media are State-controlled. Foreign correspondents are imposed severe restriction with their operation, even denying permission to have photocopiers.
After his visits to Lashio prison, Mandalay prison and Hton-Bo male labor camp, he concentrated on describing the sanitary and administrative conditions, which the report euphemistically claims are in a situation of "incremental"
improvement. This is despite reports that physical ill treatment in pre-trial detention by military intelligence appears to be endemic. The political prisoners do not benefit from remission entitlements, do not have access to recreation facilities, receive less medical attention and rely on medical supplies from their families, have limitations on family visits. There is a high
mortality rate among labor camp inmates, mainly due to physical exhaustion and inadequate medical care.
The report, in a limited and tentative way, identifies the existence of the chronic ethnic and religious tensions and violence in the north-western State of Rakhine and the restriction on the right to worship on the Christian minorities, particularly in Chin state as a matter of concern.
After 1988 all civilian universities, except universities for distance learning and foreign languages, and many colleges began to be closed down. By 1999 they had been shut for up to eight years. Since 1999, some have been re-opened. But public spending on higher learning has declined from 0.25 percent of GDP in 1994/95 to 0.17 percent in 1999/2000, which is extremely low by international standards, especially given the seriousness of the challenge of reforming higher
education. The HIV/AIDS infection rate in Myanmar is estimated at about 2 percent, second highest in the region. Almost 1 in every 100 persons may be in danger. However, public spending on health care was a dismal 0.17 percent GDP in 1999/2000.
Lastly, Pinheiro may have fallen into a clever trap whereby he is forced to make recommendations that call for more international spending and assistance in humanitarian aid to a country where no transparency in governance exists, accountability to civil society institutions and organizations is non-existent, and democratic principles are thrown to the winds. His reports that the "ceasefire" arrangements between the military regime and some armed groups have
led to a transformation of the countryside into peaceful development zones with positive achievements in infrastructure development, trade and large-scale agricultural production sounds rather dubious and misleading. This is hard to believe and obviously glosses over the hard issues of conflict and development in ethnic minority territories.
The contradictions in the report are easy to see as it also acknowledges that poor, defenseless population are victimized in areas of armed conflict, particularly in eastern Kayin and Kayah States, southern Shan State, northern Sagaing Division, and Rakhine and Chin States, Such violence, largely arbitrary, summary and indiscriminate, has resulted in large internal displacements and exoduses of refugees across borders. An estimate 400,000 refugees are currently living in neighboring countries. The SPDC do not authorize any independent monitoring or assistance to IDPs, and figures within the country are anybody's guess.
The report gives very little attention to the situation of women in Burma or the issue of violence against women. Rather, it relies on a circumspect assessment made by a State organ, the Myanmar National Committee for Women's Affairs (MNCWA) while skirting this important issue citing lack of information. In the end, the Special Rapporteur's first report comes across as a very watered down and narrow assessment of the situation in Burma. The Commission's intentions to engage the military regime in an ongoing dialogue may have been served and the dictators will indeed be satisfied with this report and prospect of more foreign aid to maintain a largely status quo situation. In this mutually congratulatory mood surfeit with falsities, everybody seems to have forgotten the people of Burma, and their long standing, almost hopeless, suffering.
(Courtesy:
The Imphal Free Press) |
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