AP/AFP_9.3.96: U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORT

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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