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Rights group urges ASEAN to abandon



Subject: Rights group urges ASEAN to abandon Burma policy

Rights group urges ASEAN to abandon Burma policy
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    By Ruben Alabastro

    MANILA, July 10 (Reuter) - A human rights group urged
southeast Asian nations on Wednesday to abandon their policy of
non-interference in Burma and to ban aid and investment to force
its military rulers to yield power.
    In a report after a 16-day mission to Burma, the group also
called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to
back an arms embargo against Rangoon and freeze its application
for membership in the seven-member organisation.
    The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development released
its report in Manila at the launching of a campaign to bring the
ruling Burmese State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)
to heel, members said.
    "At the end of the year, we hope ASEAN will reconsider its
policy of 'constructive engagement' and SLORC will be weakened
 ...to pave the way for (a shift) from military to democratic
rule," Filipino mission member Evelyn Serrano told a news
conference.
    The Thai-based forum visited Burma from May 1 to 17 and its
report was based on interviews with opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, other dissidents and unnamed officials, the report
said.
    Failure of SLORC to enter into a meaningful dialogue with
Suu Kyi and leaders of Burma's ethnic groups "is an indication
of the failure of the ASEAN's 'constructive engagement' policy",
the mission said in its report.
    ASEAN members have refused to take part in sanctions against
Burma, preferring to bring about change through a peaceful
process of what they call "constructive engagement".
    ASEAN is composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the
Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam.
    The report urged them to stop investing in Burma until there
was improvement in the human rights situation and freeze action
on its application for ASEAN membership. It also called for a
moratorium on any new bilateral aid or multilateral funding.
    It denounced "summary killings, arbitrary arrest and
detention, torture, disappearances, massacres, rape, forced
labour, forced porterage and massive forced relocation...alleged
to be committed in many parts of the country".
    "Serious cases of torture were reported to the mission," it
said. "These allegedly include beatings...shackling,
suffocation, stabbing, rubbing salt and chemicals to open
wounds, food and sleep deprivation, applying electric shocks to
genitals, cigarette burns, solitary confinement, threats to life
and other psychological forms of torture."
    The report said the mission failed to meet any torture
victims to verify the allegations.
    Besides Serrano, the mission included Filipino college
professor Cynthia Nolasco, Thai professor Gothom Arya and the
forum's secretary-general, Somchai Homlaor, a Thai lawyer.
    It said the mission received reports of tens of thousands of
people being forced to work on infrastructure projects.
    "Often deprived of food and medical care, many die due to
illnesses...many try to escape the beatings and other forms of
cruel treatment and are killed in the process," the report said.
    As part of their campaign, Forum members said they were
starting a campaign to collect signatures for letters to ASEAN
heads of state calling on them to urge Rangoon to negotiate with
Suu Kyi and pave the way for democratic rule.
    Boycotts of foreign companies doing business in Burma will
be part of the campaign, they said.
 REUTER
0726 100796 GMT