Human Rights Watch/Asia: Burma Arre

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Subject: Human Rights Watch/Asia: Burma Arrests Require Int'l Response 


     HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/ASIA 
     
     May 23, 1997
     
        BURMA: NEW ARRESTS REQUIRE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 
     
     Human Rights Watch/Asia is alarmed by the arrest of at least 100 
     members of the Burmese opposition party, the National League for 
     Democracy (NLD), over the past few days. Those arrested include 
     elected Members of Parliament and party members. Many of the arrests 
     took place in Mandalay, Sagaing, Irrawaddy divisions and the Mon state 
     as the NLD members were preparing to travel to Rangoon to attend  a 
     party congress commemorating the seventh anniversary of the May 27, 
     1990 election. The congress is due to take place at the home of the 
     General Secretary of the NLD, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The arrests come  
     only days after US President Bill Clinton issued an executive order  
     prohibiting new investment in Burma because of human rights violations 
      and less than ten days before a key meeting of the Association of 
     South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Malaysia that will decide whether 
     to admit Burma as a full member.
     
     "These most recent arrests make a mockery of any claim by Burma's  
     neighbors and allies that economic engagement will bring improvements 
     in human rights," said Human Rights Watch/Asia's executive director  
     Sidney Jones. "Members of ASEAN should press Burma to cease these 
     arrests and permit immediate access by the Special Rapporteur to 
     Burma, Judge Rajsoomer Lallah, as recommended by the United Nations 
     Commission on Human Rights in April."  Lallah has tried unsuccessfully 
     to visit the country since 1996 in order to carry out his UN mandate.
     
     Members of ASEAN have argued for "constructive engagement" and  
     vigorously opposed efforts to impose economic sanctions on the SLORC.  
     At a meeting on May 31, 1997 in Malaysia, senior ASEAN officials are 
     expected to decide the timetable for the admission of Burma, Cambodia 
     and Laos as new members.  
     
     Human Rights Watch/Asia said that ASEAN should make it clear at this 
     meeting that if such abuses continue, Burma will not be admitted to 
     the association at its ministerial meeting in Malaysia this July.  The 
     ASEAN governments, it said, should use their influence to urge  
     Rangoon to exercise restraint, to refrain from any further arrests, 
     and to allow members of the NLD to gather peacefully.  In a 
     resolution adopted unanimously by the United Nations Commission on 
     Human Rights in Geneva in April, the SLORC was urged to "release 
     immediately and unconditionally detained political leaders and all 
     political prisoners" and to "ensure full respect for human rights and 
     fundamental freedoms, including freedom of thought, opinion, 
     expression and assembly."  Three leading ASEAN nations --  Indonesia, 
     Malaysia and the Philippines --  currently serve on the Commission.
     
     Japan is in a crucial position to help end the crackdown.  Last 
     December, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto publicly criticized Burma's 
     arrest of hundreds of student activists. After the most  recent 
     arrests, Japan urged the SLORC to immediately release those detained 
     and to cease further arrests of NLD members.  While welcoming  that 
     statement, Human Rights Watch/Asia said the Japanese government should 
     consider backing up its appeal by urging Keidanren, the powerful 
     Japanese trade association, to put off plans to send a  business 
     delegation to Burma in June in light of the increased repression.  It 
     should also clearly state its opposition to any  initiative by the 
     Asian Development Bank  (ADB) to resume financial assistance to Burma, 
     suspended since 1988.  On May 11, 1997 during the ADB's annual meeting 
     in Fukuoka, Japan, the bank's president, Mr. Mitsuo Sato, hinted that 
     funding to Burma should perhaps be resumed. 
     
     The governments in the European Union (EU) should enact measures to 
     follow up the decision in March 1997 to suspend trade benefits to 
     Burma due to the massive use of forced labor on infrastructure 
     projects.  For example, the new British government,  which has already 
     condemned the arrests, could take the lead among EU governments by 
     announcing that it will impose a ban on any and all new private 
     investment in Burma by British companies. According to the  U.S. State 
     Department, Great Britain is the third largest investor in  Burma.  In 
     addition, members of parliament in EU countries should give a mandate 
     to their respective foreign ministers to take additional  steps, such 
     as an EU-wide ban on all new private investment in Burma, at the next 
     meeting of the General Affairs Council.
     
     The most recent arrests come a year after the military government 
     detained a total of 261 NLD members in order to prevent them from 
     attending a similar congress in May 1996. Since then, over 2,000 NLD 
     members and other peaceful demonstrators were arrested or  detained in 
     a series of incidents in the past year as the military attempted to 
     prevent them from exercising their rights to freedom of association, 
     expression and opinion.  In September, 1996 nearly 500 NLD members 
     were arrested as they tried to attend another party meeting,  and in 
     October and December some 700 students and their supporters took to 
     the streets to demand the right to form a union.  While most of those 
     detained were released after being detained without charge for up to 
     three weeks, dozens of key party officials, including Aung San Suu 
     Kyi's personal secretary, were given prison sentences of up to twenty 
     years with hard labor.  
     
     
     Human Rights Watch/Asia

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