[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
News and Information Dept.
All Burma Students'Democratic Organisation (ABSDO) [Austrlia]
Tel/Fax: 61+03+98132613
---------------------------------------------------------------------------