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Date: Fri, 16 Dec 1994 06:56:53 -0800
RSF: QUARTERLY DIGEST No. 9 - OCTOBER 1994
LIBERTAS NEWSLETTER (AUGUST 1994)
BYVA NEWS BULLETIN [? OCT/NOV 94]
ABSL LETTER TO AUS HR SUB-COMMITTEE
ABSL APPEAL TO MIZORAM GOVERNMENT
ADVERTISEMENT: HANDBOOK ON FACT-FINDING AND
DOCUMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
******************************************************
RSF: QUARTERLY DIGEST No. 9 - OCTOBER 1994
Worldwide Survey
Since the beginning of 1994, at least 73 journalists have been killed
and at least 140 others have been held in prison (latest figures - 30
September 1994)
Journalists in Prison
Myanmar (Burma): 7
Source: Reporters Sans Frontieres
******************************************************
LIBERTAS NEWSLETTER
AUGUST 1994
VOL 4, NO 3
by the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic
Development
63, rue de Bresoles, Montreal (Quebec), H2Y 1V7, CANADA
Tel: 1-514-283-6073 Fax: 1-514-283-3792
____________
DR. SEIN WIN
Dr Sein Win, the Prime Minister of the National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), visited Toronto,
Ottawa and Montreal from June 5-11, 1994. Established in 1990 after
the military regime refused to transfer power to the democratically
elected representatives of the people, the NCGUB has been working
ever since with the support of the Centre to focus the world?s attention
on the systematic and gross violations of human rights in Burma and
to convince the international community to isolate the military rulers
in Rangoon. Having been denied re-entry by the Thai authorities, Dr
Sein Win is currently working from the NCGUB?s information office
in Washington, DC.
The visit was organized by the Centre with several objectives in mind:
to raise awareness in Canada about the situation in Burma; to secure
the Canadian government?s ongoing commitment to the restoration of
democracy; to request humanitarian assistance for those living in the
?liberated? zones of Burma and political support for the democracy
opposition; and, to meet with the Centre?s Board of Directors in
Montreal.
While in Ottawa, Dr Sein Win met with the Deputy Prime Minister,
the Honourable Sheila Copps, leaders of the opposition parties and a
number of Parliamentarians and NGOs interested in Burma. Before
returning to Washington, Dr Sein Win received pledges of Canadian
support for the restoration of democracy in Burma.
_________________________
5 YEARS IS LONG ENOUGH!
On July 20, 1994 human rights groups around the world
commemorated the sad fifth anniversary of Aung San Suu Kyi?s house
arrest. The International Centre which has been active on the question
of democracy in Burma for the last three years underlined the occasion
by publishing an open letter signed by fourteen Nobel Peace Laureates
in several newspapers around the world.
On July 15, Mr Ed Broadbent met the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Mr Jose Ayala Lasso in New York in order to deliver
the signed copies of the Global Appeal for Democracy in Burma. The
petition has been signed by over 2,000 democratically elected
parliamentarians from 32 countries. It calls for the immediate and
unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the transition to
civilian rule and democracy in Burma. It was signed by
parliamentarians from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Botswana,
Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, England, Estonia,
Finland, Germany, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Guyana, Iceland,
India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mali, Malta, Namibia, Netherlands,
Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, St-Kitts, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad
and Tobago.
______________________________________________
AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE NOBEL LAUREATES
to the State Law and Order Restoration Council of Burma on the Fifth
Anniversary of Aung San Suu Kyi?s Arrest
For five years now Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been
held in detention without trial in violation of her fundamental rights.
As well, she has been unable to fulfil her mandate as the elected leader
of the Burmese people.
We, the undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates, on the occasion of this
sad anniversary, with to once again express our deep concern over her
arrest and the denial of her fundamental rights of free speech and
political association. We condemn the State Law and Order
Restoration Council?s (SLORC) suppression of her rights and those of
other political prisoners illegally detained in Burma.
In awarding the Peace Prize in 1991, the Nobel Committee
commended Aung San Suu Kyi for her integrity, self-sacrifice and her
consistent and effective practice of the principals of non-violence in
the face of threats to her life and the lives of her followers. The
Committee praised her commitment to the primacy of human rights
and equality for all of Burma's peoples.
As fellow Laureates, we too endorse these principles. Several of us
were honoured last year to reaffirm our admiration for the struggle
Aung San Suu Kyi personifies, by participation in a mission to
Thailand and Geneva calling for her release. This year, we are
encouraged by the solidarity expressed by democratically elected
parliamentarians from 32 countries who have signed the Global
Parliamentary Appeal for Burma, and by the resolution adopted by the
General Assembly of the United Nations which calls for the
involvement of the Secretary General in the resolution of the crisis that
is modern Burma.
In 1988, the SLORC?s predecessors in the military government
acquiesced to the requests of the people of Burma to hold democratic
elections. As soon as our sister laureate Aung San Suu Kyi became the
leader of the National League for Democracy, she was jailed for her
political activities, eight months prior to the election. Five years have
passed. Even according to the SLORC's own draconian laws, Suu Kyi
cannot be held any longer than five years without trial. The
international community must express its outrage and demand her
immediate and unconditional release. The long and unjust
incarceration of Aung San Suu Kyi belies the SLORC?s declared
intention to allow a transition to civilian rule.
We therefore call on the State Law and Order Restoration Council to
free Aung San Suu Kyi and all the Assembly members currently
imprisoned, and to begin serious discussion with these and other
representative groups with the intention of allowing the constitutional
process leading to democracy to being anew.
As Nobel Laureates we applaud Aung San Suu Kyi?s adherence to the
principle of non-violence and human rights. We condemn the cruel
treatment she has suffered at the hands of the SLORC. She must be set
free.
* Institute for International Law, 1904
* American Friends Serive Committee, 1947
* Linus Pauling Institute, 1962
* Ms Mairead Corrigan, 1976
* Ms Betty Williams, 1976
* Mr Adolofo Perez Esquivel, 1980
* President Lech Walesa, 1983
* The Most Reverend Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1984
* International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, 1985
* Dr Elie Wiesel, 1986
* Dr Oscar Arias, 1987
* His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1989
* Mr Mikhael Gorbachev, 1990
* Ms Rigoberta Menchu, 1992
******************************************************
BYVA NEWS BULLETIN
Burma Youth Volunteer Association ( Japan )
102, Court Tangent A-II
1-12-2, Komagome, Toshima-Ku, Tokyo 170, JAPAN
Tel/Fax : (813-3916-4996)
________________________________________________________
[1 - From the cover:]
NEW! this fall on TV MYANMAR
[Photo from televised Suu Kyi/SLORC meeting]
Talk Show: ?Talking Without Saying Anything?
With special guest Daw Aung Sann Suu Kyi. Topics: the weather, her
fashion, the taste of Burmese tea.
[Same photo]
Quiz Show: ?What Did They Say??
Burmese citizens try to guess what was discussed between their elected
leader and the illegal military rulers.
[Same photo]
Ministry of Information Special: ?We Never Break the Human Rights?
Just in time for the UN General Assembly, see the soft side of dictators
Khin Nyunt and Than Shwe as they chat with their ?little sister?
[TV screen reading: CANCELLED]
* ?Human Rights?
* ?Democracy?
* ?The Truth?
S t a y T u n e d !
________________________________________________________
[2 - Flyer:]
MY BLOOD
[Photo caption: On August 13, 1994, 28-year-old Nai Kyi Aung was
shot in the chest by Thai border police after trying to stop the police
from raping two women at Old Halockhani refugee camp.]
To do business with SLORC, Burma's ruling military regime, is to
invest in human misery. Companies like Nisseki, Texaco, Total, and
Unocal profit from ruthless military dictatorship and subsidize its
human rights abuses by providing the money SLORC needs to
purchase weapons for use against its sole enemy: the Burmese people.
MY SWEAT
[Photo caption: SLORC uses slave labor for so-called development
projects inside Burma. This man in chains was forced to help build a
road.]
Nisseki, Texaco, Total and Unocal will use the Nat Ei Taung pipeline
to transport oil and natural gas from the Martaban Gulf through
southeast Burma and into Thailand. SLORC troops have forced
thousands of Burmese citizens, some in chains, to build this pipeline
which they neither want nor will benefit from.
MY TEARS
[Photo caption: Persecuted by the Burmese army on one side of the
border and by the Thai army on the other, Mon refugees, like this girl,
live with constant fear and want. Isn?t her childhood worth more than
company profits or our convenience?]
Nisseki, Texaco, Total and Unocal are SLORC's allies in its war
against ethnic minorities and pro-democracy groups on the Thai
border. The July 1994 attack on the Mon people at Halockhani refugee
camps, for example, aimed to force the leaders into accepting a cease-
fire on Rangoon?s terms while crushing resistance to pipeline
construction.
FLOW THROUGH THE
N A T E I T A U N G P I P E L I N E
WHEN YOUR MONEY FLOWS TO
Nippon Oil TEXACO INC UNOCAL CORP Tour
TOTAL
The Burmese people have virtually no rights as citizens or consumers.
They depend on you, their friends in the free world, to help them
secure the freedom that you enjoy. We urge you to exercise your rights
on their behalf by (1) boycotting Nisseki, Texaco, Total, and Unocal,
and (2) sending their CEOs? a letter (see example). Please include a
pinch of sand and remind them that:
DRILLING = killing IN BURMA
For more information contact:
Burmese Relief Center-Japan All Burma Students? Democratic
Front
266-27 Ozuku-cho P.O. Box 1352 GPO
Kashihara-shu, Nara-ken 634 Bangkok 10500, THAILAND
JAPAN
Tel: +81 (7442) 2-8236 Fax: +81 (2\7442) 4-6254
________________________________________________________
[3 - Sample letters to:]
Serge Tchuruk, CEO Y. Takeuchi, Chairman R.J. Stegemeier,
CEO
Tour TOTAL Nippon Oil UNOCAL CORP
24 Cours Michelet 1-3-12, Nishi-Shimbashi 1201 West 5th
St.
La Defense 10 Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105 Los Angeles, CA
90061
92800 Puteaux JAPAN USA
FRANCE
Date:
Dear Mr ,
In Burma, your company is directly benefiting from the military
junta?s use of slave labor, forced relocations and other blatant human
rights abuses. Tens of thousands of local civilians are being exploited
and forced labor without pay, under armed guard, to clear the route for
the pipeline you are a partner to. It is a disgrace and shame for
[company?s name] to profit from such injustices.
You will have noticed the pinch of sand I?ve put in this envelope. I
want you to remember the Burmese forced to toil clearing forests,
leveling the land and breaking rocks under extremes of weather,
without adequate food, water or medical care. Their hands are dirtied
for [company?s name]?s profit. This injustice must stop.
I urge you to withdraw all [company?s name] operations from Burma
right away. Wait to do business there until after democracy is restored.
Your withdrawal will hasten that day!
Your immediate response to this pressing issue will be appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
_______________________________________________________
[4 - Letter:]
Dear President Carter,
On behalf of Burma Youth Volunteer Association ( Japan ) ,
congratulations on your successful diplomacy in Haiti. We applaud
you for negotiating a peaceful transition from dictatorship to
democracy, thereby sparing Haiti?s long-suffering people from further
bloodshed.
your efforts in Haiti have raised our hopes that peace may soon come
to our country. As you know, we Burmese also suffer under a
murderous military dictatorship, and we have endured its abuses for
far longer. like their Haitian counterparts, Burma's dictators cling to
power despite being rejected by citizens in free elections and being
condemned by the international community for their continuing
human rights abuses. Like Haiti before your intervention, Burma is in
a stalemate. Cease-fires between SLORC and various ethnic groups
have ended the fighting without achieving genuine peace.
While the international community continues to debate the merits of
economic sanctions versus so-called ?constructive engagement?
enough foreign exchange trickles into Burma to sustain the junta but
not enough to lift ordinary citizens out of poverty. Our elected leaders,
most of whom are either in prison or in exile, hold the moral high
ground but lack the finances and publicity to organize effective
international pressure against SLORC. And SLORC, no matter how
much money it makes nor how many guns it acquires, can never win
the hearts and minds of the Burmese people, which are set on
democracy.
In short, we need you, President Carter, to break this stalemate. Your
involvement would focus world attention on our seemingly forgotten
country. Your peacemaking missions, from Camp David to Port-au-
Prince, together with your efforts at eliminating poverty in your own
country, prove your integrity and your commitment to ordinary people
everywhere. We trust you, and we ask you to use your influence and
talents to benefit the Burmese people.
Thank you, Mr President, for your consideration. We are anxiously
awaiting your reply.
Sincerely,
[sgd]
Khin Maung Zaw
( Chairman )
******************************************************
ALL BURMA STUDENTS LEAGUE (ABSL)
Headquarters, PO Box 4-12, Sansennai PO,
Phayathai, Bangkok 10400, THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +66 (2) 375-9055
________________________________________________________
Attention: Margaret Swierimga, Human Rights Sub-Committee, Joint
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade,
Parliament of Australia
THE SITUATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY
THE SLORC IN BURMA.
In Burma, the first military coup staged by General Ne Win in 1958
paved the way for the second coup in March 1962. This episode finally
led to the depletion of the country and the serious human suffering of
the entire people of Burma. The third military coup which was the
most brutal and bloody of all the coups in Burma by Ne Win was led
by his disciple General Saw Maung, on September 18, 1988. We had
understood the 18th September coup not as a coup but rather as a
transfer of power from the Burma Socialist Programme Party to the
armed forces, with only some slight changes in personnel and names.
After savagely suppressing the pro-democracy movement in 1988, Gen
Saw Maung?s new junta, the so-called State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), is still violating human rights as
lawlessly; arresting, torturing, killing, raping, catching as porters and
burning the villages of the people, in the cities and elsewhere in
Burma.
About 2,500 political prisoners were imprisoned and tortured in Insein
Jail, Tharyawadi Jail, Theyat Jail, Mandalay Jail, Moulmein Jail,
Toungoo Jail, Myit Kyina Jail, Bassein Jail and Mergue, Tavoy Jail by
SLORC. 20 concentration camps have been operating for torture-
interrogation to the political prisoners by the Military Intelligence
(MI) in Burma, as the list below of political prisoners who were killed
from persecution by the Military Intelligence in jails shows.
1. A Shin Zawtikah Shwe Phone Pwint monastery
2. U Khin Maung (a) Bo Sat Yaung
3. U Khing Maung Myint Chairman of People Progressive
Party
4. U Soe Win NLD Party
5. U Maung Ko NLD Party
6. U Ba Thaw (a) Maung Thaw Ka NLD Party
7. U Nyo Win Elected representative (Kha Yan
constituency)
8. U Tin Maung Win
9. U Thar Tun Arakanese League for Democracy
Party
10. Mahn Dawait Karen National League
11. Ko Than Win NLD Ma-U Bin Township
12. Mahamad Aris NLD Maung Daw Township
13. Ko Inn Ko Chairman Worker College
Students Union
14. Ko Kyaw Myo Thant NLD Party
15. Ko Soe Htay
16. U Sein Win (a) Win Zaw
17. Ko Kyaw Win
18. U Davit
19. U Aye Lwin
20. Ko Kyaw Soe
21. Ko Zaw Win Tun
22. Ko Ne Win Aung
23. Ko Harnit
24. Ko Aung Moe
The political prisoners lost their rights in jails. There were no
newspapers, radio, copy books or pens and no chance to meet their
families. In July 1994, when Ohn Gyaw, foreign minister of SLORC,
was shamelessly claiming that there were no human rights violations
by the SLORC to the ASEAN meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, the
SLORC's armed regiment no. 62 overran the Mon refugee camp in the
Three Pagoda Pass area on the Thai-Burmese border.
Over and above, according to the SLORC's regional development
programme, the people of Burma were used as porters, including
female porters and hard labour for old people, children and pregnant
women at Lwai-Kaw Aung Ban, Pakhoutku-kalay, Nyaung Shwe-
Nampsam and the Ye-Tavoy railway construction, where the young
women were raped, beaten, tortured and under duress worked by the
army of SLORC. Also there were many hard labourers killed by
torture, serious malaria, diarrhoea, dysentery and jaundice.
In Tamue Township, Chin State, thousands of houses were forcibly
moved into the thick jungle by the SLORC's valley development, to a
place where there was no clean water so that many people are still
suffering from serious malaria; thus it seems to be a construction for a
concentration camp and not as a new village. However, the entire
people of Burma have become slaves to the military junta, the ruling
so-called SLORC.
We, the All Burma Students League, willingly suggest the
international community to protest the SLORC and to sentence the
sanction for the SLORC.
Central Committee
ABSL
________________________________________________________
APPEAL TO MIZORAM GOVERNMENT
and
CONCERNED AUTHORITIES OF INDIA
Date: Sept 29, 1994
Firstly, We, the All Burma Students League, would like to explain
about what is called ongoing repatriation of foreign national from
Mizoram State which closely situates to Burma and is sharing a long
common border.
Among the foreigners residing in the said state, there are economically
displaced Burmese nationals who comprise both highlanders, most of
them belong to the Chin tribe and even some belonging to Mizo of
local Mizoram State, and pure Burman who hail from the plain area,
in the heart of Burma. Most Burmans live by handicraft work such as
the hand-loom, which can be called a small domestic industry making
shawls, cloth and so on in the said state.
Besides there are some Burmese students, political activists and
members of parliament who were elected in the May 1990 election,
who are currently taking refuge in the said state since 1988 after the
military brutally cracked down on peaceful demonstrators during
nation-wide anti-government strike, known as 8888.
The highlanders, as they are so close to each other across the modern
man-made boundary, are not much different from each other in
identification -- the man-made boundary demarcation seems to them
as more ideal -- and some other similarities between them and the
original inhabitants of Mizoram State, who have been trafficking back
and forth in the said region, which is in fact so ancient even long
before the statehood of Mizoram came into being.
And the pure Burman who came up to the said state in quest of jobs in
1985 were initially very few, one or two, and began living by their own
inherited profession which is handicrafts. In fact, these pure Burmans
were compelled to leave the heart and soul of their native place which
is the center of Burma, known as plain land, by the cruelty of the
military who are dacoit in actuality. These handicraft professionals
were in an intolerably bad state for their survival under the military-
dominated government in Burma. These people were even not
permitted to full and free confession of their handicraft for their own
living which is apparently honest business that will never do harm to
state mechanisms. Such inhuman practices of the government forced
them to leave their motherland and come across into Mizoram where
they survive by their hand-loom work; some of them are from
Mandalay, Monywa, Shwe Bo, others from Kalay or Sai Gaing
Division which is sharing a border with Mizoram State.
As it is widely known that Burma which was once a most-prosperous
country in South-East Asia, is now in a state of unfortunate under the
ruling military junta which keeps oppressing its own citizens. The
illegal detention of innocent people under their military [illegible]
The reign of former Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and the
present ruling military junta let Burma go onto the list of Least
Developed Country status according to the United Nations Annual
Report.
Meanwhile powerful military leaders are running the country under
their self-centered Business Programme which is called an ?Economic
Development Programme? according to the junta. Unfortunately under
the pursuit of the said programme, inflation which was recorded in the
last three decades or so as the even highest and worst, unacceptable
forced labour for the construction of military bases and strategic routes
leading up to the Indian border, and other economic and social turmoil
are approvable reasons for these Burmese nationals that ?their
returning back to Burma is Self-suicidal task?.
But it is certain that Burmese people are never happy by their sheer
instinct to other foreign lands where they even could not communicate
with local people due to barriers of language and some other
understandable reasons. It is very sure that they will definitely go back
to the heart of their own land when democracy is restored to Burma.
And also these people are not interested at all to interfere in any aspect
of the life of local Mizos people. Besides, they who are originally
Buddhist by religion have never disturbed the sentiments of those
Mizo who are Christian. Even some of the Burmese nationals were
willingly converted to Christianity! And also, outnumbered by the
Burmese nationals over the population of local Mizos will never be
possible since intermarriage has never taken place so far. Furthermore,
these people are economically weak since all of them belong to the
working section, and are not potential enough to become even owners
of hand-looms!
In the case of Burmese students and political activists who are
temporarily taking refuge in the state, it is not at all safe for their lives
in the hands of the military rulers of present Burma in case the forced
repatriation takes place on them.
But unfortunately these Burmese nationals are reportedly being
repatriated against their will back to Burma where the military junta is
not allowing them to come back to Burma.
Now these people are in trouble along the Indo-Burmese border where
the dreaded wild malaria is taking one life after another; where there
is no accessibility even by the International Red Cross to rush to their
aid.
The prevailing circumstances as stated above require us to request the
concerned authorities of India and the Mizoram government to stop
repatriating Burmese nationals against their will from Mizoram State.
We, the All Burma Students League, humbly request the international
community to extend their necessary humanitarian assistance to these
people until normalcy is restored in Burma.
Central Committee
ABSL
******************************************************
ADVERTISEMENT: HANDBOOK ON FACT-FINDING AND
DOCUMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia)
have just published a Handbook on Fact-Finding and Documentation
of Human Rights Violations. This Handbook is designed for local
human rights organisations and human rights advocates engaged in
fact-finding and documentation of human rights violations, and is the
result of a workshop on the subject held in Chiangmai, Thailand (1-6
October 1993). The purposes of the workshop was to provide a forum
for those engaged in fact-finding and documentation on human rights
violations and to share their knowledge and experience to develop a
handbook on the subject for use by human rights activists.
The Handbook provides basic information and practical suggestions to
enable human rights organisations engaged in fact-finding and
documentation on human rights violations to systemize their work. It
is a modest attempt to identify some of the basic elements involved in
the collection and documentation of information and human rights
violations. This Handbook should be helpful to human rights
organisations undertaking systematic fact-finding and documentation
of human rights violations and thereby helping strengthen their role in
the protection of human rights.
The Handbook covers the following topics:
-Purpose, methods and basic elements of fact-finding.
-Sources of information, level of proof and reliability of information
collected.
-Problems involved in fact-finding and strategies usually used by
groups to solve them.
-How to plan and conduct interviews.
-Special situations and special methods in fact-finding.
-Writing and dissemination of reports.
-Basic data on documentation of information (including Standard
Formats and tools for storage and retrieval).
The Handbook is not an exhaustive manual and may not cover types of
situations in which fact-finding is undertaken, but each human rights
organisation can adapt the Handbook to suit the situation in which
they are working.
The Handbook on Fact-Finding and Documentation of Human Rights
Violations is prepared by D.J. Ravindran, Manuel Guzman and Babes
Ignacio. It is available for US$ 5 (mailing costs included) form:
Forum-Asia, c/o the Union for Civil Liberty
109 Suthisarnwinichai Road, Samsannok,
Huaykwang, Bangkok 10310, THAILAND
Tel: +66 (2) 275-4231 Fax: +66 (2) 275-4230