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HRW/ASIA TO ASEAN "ADDRESS ABUSES I



Subject: HRW/ASIA TO ASEAN "ADDRESS ABUSES IN BURMA, CAMBODIA" 



     EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE 00:01 GMT
     *******************************

     JULY 25, 1997
     
     For Further Information:
     Mike Jendrzejczyk, DC:     202-371-6592, ext. 113; 
             (h) 301-585-5824
     Sarah Cooke, London:       44-171-713-1995
     Susan Osnos, NY:           212-972-8400, ext. 216
     
     ASEAN URGED TO ADDRESS ABUSES IN BURMA, CAMBODIA
     
        As the foreign ministers of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian 
     Nations) move into the final day of their meeting in Kuala Lumpur, 
     Malaysia and prepare to meet with their "dialogue partners" on July 
     28-29, Human Rights Watch/Asia is calling on ASEAN to effectively 
     address the serious human rights problems in Burma and Cambodia in 
     order to promote stability in the region. "Whether it's the disastrous 
     effect on investment and development of executions and mass arrests in 
     Cambodia, or the continuing outflow of refugees sparked by gross 
     abuses in Burma, ASEAN has an inherent self-interest in becoming more 
     pro-active on behalf of human rights," said Mike Jendrzejczyk, the 
     organization's Washington Director. "Its role in Cambodia has 
     certainly been highly useful and constructive, and we hope that ASEAN 
     will also become more active on Burma." ASEAN is expected to  formally 
      admit Burma as a member of the association at its ministerial meeting 
     on July 24-25; Cambodia's ASEAN membership has been delayed, though 
     the current foreign minister, Ung Huot, is due to attend as an 
     observer.
     
        Human Rights Watch/Asia released a report, Burma/Thailand: No 
     Safety in Burma, No Sanctuary in Thailand, as the ASEAN meetings were 
     underway, charging that human rights abuses committed by the Burmese 
     military government continue to force thousands of refugees into 
     neighboring countries.  These abuses, which include killings, torture, 
     forced labor and forced relocations, have continued even in areas 
     where cease-fire agreements with rebel armies have been signed. 
     Thailand_ a leading member of ASEAN_ has borne the main burden of new 
     refugees in the past year. The report also documents violations of 
     international legal norms by the Royal Thai government, which has 
     forcibly repatriated back to Burma more than 8,500 refugees who fled a 
     military offensive against the Karen National Union in February, 1997. 
      Thai authorities also refused entry to an estimated 60,000 refugees 
     from the Shan State from March 1996 onwards.  The refugees were 
     fleeing forced relocations and other abuses by the Burmese army 
     affecting an estimated 100,000 people.  The report was based on 
     first-hand interviews conducted on the Thai-Burmese border in June 
     1997, and other documentation.
     
        As the major refugee-producing country in the region, the Burmese 
     government has been denounced in successive United Nations 
     resolutions, yet ASEAN has largely remained silent. "We hope that 
     ASEAN, having admitted Burma as a member, will establish a working 
     group to promote a peaceful end to violence and to curb repression, 
     pressing for implementation of the U.N.'s recommendations," said Mike 
     Jendrzejczyk. "It is urgent that the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on 
     Burma, Justice Rajsoomer Lallah, be given access to Burma -- including 
     ethnic minority areas -- before the next ASEAN meeting in Malaysia in 
     December 1997."  Human Rights Watch/Asia also called on the Thai 
     authorities to take steps to prevent the forcible repatriation of 
     refugees and to allow the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to carry 
     out its mandate on the Thai/Burmese border, and urged the broader 
     international community to step up concerted pressure on Rangoon to 
     respect basic human rights, including through economic measures.
     
                In Cambodia, since Second Prime Minister Hun Sen's July 5-6 
     coup, the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has carried out a 
     sustained campaign of violence and intimidation aimed at rooting out 
     the political opposition.  There have been between thirty and forty 
     deaths in detention, including six confirmed assassinations of 
     high-ranking officials from the FUNCINPEC party of First Prime 
     Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh.  The government has detained 
     hundreds of soldiers from army units commanded by pro-FUNCINPEC 
     officers, and by its own admission, subjected them to a program of 
     "reeducation."  At least thirty of these soldiers, detained at a 
     former FUNCINPEC base at Thaing Kasing, have been tortured while in 
     custody.  FUNCINPEC's entire organizational structure has been 
     shattered, with offices throughout the country looted and destroyed 
     and up to 200 local or provincial officials placed in detention.  
     Door-to-door searches for FUNCINPEC members continue, on the pretext 
     of uncovering "illegal weapons." Although Second Prime Minister Hun 
     Sen has promised to hold free and fair elections for Cambodia's 
     parliament next year, there is little reason to feel confident this 
     commitment will be fulfilled when scores of opposition 
     parliamentarians, journalists, and human rights activists_ whose 
     presence is crucial to ensuring free elections take place_ have gone 
     into hiding or fled across the border to Thailand.   
     
        Human Rights Watch/Asia called on the member countries of ASEAN to: 
     1) continue to delay Cambodia's ASEAN membership pending an end to 
     killings, arrests and harassment of opposition politicians and 
     supporters, the release of all those in custody, and steps by the 
     Royal Cambodian Government to hold accountable those responsible for 
     abuses that have occurred during and since the coup; 2) continue to 
     withhold investment in Cambodia until basic human rights and 
     conditions for internationally supervised, free and fair elections are 
     restored and elections are underway; 3) ensure the provision of 
     humanitarian parole to refugees fleeing political persecution in 
     Cambodia and facilitate the safe passage of refugees to destinations 
     outside the region.
     
        Other governments attending the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference, 
     including the United States, Australia, Canada, and Japan, should 
     closely coordinate their policies with ASEAN and announce in Kuala 
     Lumpur that they will suspend all bilateral and multilateral aid to 
     the Cambodian government pending compliance with the measures outlined 
     above, while providing direct assistance to non-governmental 
     organizations, private development  and human rights groups; instruct 
     their embassies in Cambodia to provide shelter and, on a case-by-case 
     basis, visas for victims of political persecution; expand budgetary 
     support for the Phnom Penh field office of the U.N. Centre for Human 
     Rights and local human rights groups; and demand immediate access to 
     all detainees by the U.N. Centre for Human Rights and the 
     International Committee of the Red Cross.
     
     Human Rights Watch/Asia
     Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization established in 
     1978 to monitor and promote the observance of internationally 
     recognized human rights in Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East 
     and among the signatories of the Helsinki accords.  The staff includes 
     Kenneth Roth, executive director; Cynthia Brown, program director; 
     Susan Osnos, communications director; and Wilder Tayler, general 
     counsel.  Robert L. Bernstein is the chair of the board and Adrian W. 
     DeWind is vice chair.  Its Asia division was established in 1985 to 
     monitor and promote the observance of internationally recognized human 
     rights in Asia.  Sidney Jones is the executive director; Mike 
     Jendrzejczyk is the Washington director;  Robin Munro is the Hong Kong 
     director; Patricia Gossman is the senior researcher; Jeannine Guthrie 
     is NGO liaison; Zunetta Liddell is the research associate; Mickey 
     Spiegel and Joyce Wan are research consultants; Olga Nousias and Tom 
     Kellogg are associates. Andrew J. Nathan is chair of the advisory 
     committee and Orville Schell is vice chair.
     
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