Myanmar: A new human rights problem

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Subject: Myanmar: A new human rights problem for ASEAN 


	 Myanmar: A new human rights problem for ASEAN 
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AI INDEX: ASA 16/22/97
22 JULY 1997

Myanmar: A new human rights problem for ASEAN

As ASEAN members admit Myanmar into the regional grouping, they must accept
 responsibility
for the protection of human rights there, Amnesty International said today.

     In a report issued on the eve of the ASEAN ceremony, the organization
details atrocities
committed by the Burmese army against ethnic minority groups in eastern
Myanmar -- including
killings and beatings of forcibly seized porters and using death threats to
 relocate entire villages.

     "The Burmese army regularly kills and tortures civilians and the SLORC
 government
coerces women, children and the elderly to build roads, railways and dams
in slavery-like
conditions," Amnesty International said.

     "The high level of  human rights violations and political instability
in Myanmar is having
a major regional impact on its new ASEAN partners -- for example, more than
 200,000 refugees
have fled into neighbouring countries."

     "ASEAN claims that constructive engagement with SLORC will lead to
improvements in
human rights in Myanmar. With Myanmar's admission to ASEAN, that approach
is now going to
be put to the test."

     Amnesty International called on ASEAN governments to put the human
rights situation in
Myanmar on the agenda at all regional meetings and to ask for regular
reports from the SLORC,
to pressure the government to allow entry to the UN Special Rapporteur for
Human Rights in
Myanmar, and to ensure that any ASEAN investment in Myanmar does not lead
to further human
rights violations -- in particular investments in projects using forced
labour.

     In extensive interviews with refugees living along the Thai-Burmese
border, Amnesty
International has documented testimonies of the tatmadaw (Burmese army)
killing and torturing
men it has kidnapped and forced to work as porters if they do not perform
their duties
'satisfactorily', and the shooting of villagers who are alleged to have
supported armed opposition
groups.

     Cases include Pa Nya Paw, who was arrested in April 1997 by the army.
During
interrogation, he was allegedly punched, kicked until his limbs were
broken, smothered with
plastic and had boiling water poured over him until he died from his
injuries.  Hla Du was seized
from his village with nine other men and forced to carry ammunition and
food supplies.
According to a fellow villager, he was beaten, had his eyes gouged out,
limbs broken and then
was stabbed to death.


     As part of its counter-insurgency campaign against armed ethnic
minority opposition
groups in the Kayin (Karen), Kayah (Karenni) and Shan States in eastern
Myanmar, the tatmadaw
has forcibly relocated entire villages in ethnic minority areas using death
 threats and harassment.
Since 1984, the army has forcibly relocated tens of thousands -- the most
recent relocations
resulted in at least 16,000 Shan refugees fleeing to Thailand in April and
May 1997.

     In March 1997, the army arrived in a Gyadown township village in Kayin
 State, and told
the 300 Muslim families: "you have 50 minutes to leave this town. You have
no place in this
country. If you don't leave within 50 minutes we will shoot you".

     The report also documents the widespread use of forced labour
throughout the country.
Hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens have been forced to work on
projects including
building roads, railways, dams and military structures for up to 12 hours a
 day. Most of the
refugees in neighbouring countries interviewed by Amnesty International had
 been forced to
work by the army.

     Amnesty International has published information about 16 work sites
around the country
including Ye-Thawair Railway in Tanintharyi Division, the forced building
of a Buddhist Temple
in Gout Kyi township, Kayin State, prison work camps in the Mon State and
the forced building
of army barracks in Shadaw and Ywa Thit relocations sites in Kayah State.

(Amnesty Inernational, 22 July 1997)

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