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PRESS RELEASE - IMMEDIATE
FOR BURMANET
THE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK
Press Release: For immediate release
Report on 50th year of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) shows
Burma breaking every rule
Burma, an original signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) instituted fifty years ago this month, now stands as one of the most
consistent abusers of the declaration's articles. A new report by The
Burma Campaign UK illustrates the appalling record of Burma's dictatorship
judged against each UDHR article.
The report lists the first 21 articles of the UDHR which concentrate on
civil and political rights. Evidence is provided from a range of
international organisations including UN agencies, the International Labour
Organisation, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as to how the
regime perpetrates violations of the UDHR articles. The report paints a
picture of systematic and widespread abuse with large sections of the
population in forced labour, the denial of rights on racial grounds,
arbitrary arrest, torture, killing and the mass forced relocation of at
least one million people.
Forced labour, suffered by an estimated two million people, is pursued
ruthlessly. Men, women and children are used to work on construction
projects such as roads and railways. Those who are slow, unwilling or
simply unlucky suffer a range of abuses including demands for money,
physical abuse, beatings, torture, rape and murder.
Nobel Laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a recent
interview smuggled out of Burma said: "This present regime is breaking
every article of the Universal Declaration and the International Community
should take action in accordance with this knowledge."
Yvette Mahon, a Director of The Burma Campaign UK says: "On the fiftieth
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Burma's
dictatorship provides a glaring example of how far we've got to go rather
than how far we've come. For the declaration to be more than just a piece
of paper the international community needs to show this regime that it is
prepared to take action worthy of the declaration's values and vision."
Notes to editors:
The Burma Campaign UK's report on Burma's record in observing the articles
of the UDHR can be obtained by fax, mail and e-mail (6 sides in length).
For further information contact:
Yvette Mahon 0171 281 7377 (mobile) 07957 301 346
Caroline Comfort 0171 281 7377
THE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND BURMA - Compiled by Teresa
O'Shannassy
1998 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. The following are the first 21 Articles of the Declaration and an
account of Burma's record in observing these rights.
Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards
one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
International Labour Organization (ILO), 1998: "The impunity with which
government officials, in particular the military, treat the civilian
population as an unlimited pool of unpaid forced labourers and servants at
their disposal, is part of the political system built on the use of force
and intimidation to deny the people of Myanmar democracy and the rule of
law. The government, the military and the administration seem oblivious to
the human rights of the people. Their actions gravely offend human dignity
and have a debasing effect on civil society".
Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore no distinction
shall be made on the basis of the jurisdictional or international status of
the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be
independent, trust, self governing or under any other limitation of
sovereignty.
Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Senior General Than
Shwe October 1998: "Our concept of human rights is based on our own values,
traditions and cultures".
United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Burma 1998: "The structure of
power under the military regime remains autocratic and accountable only to
itself and rests on the denial and repression of most fundamental rights".
Article 3 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.
UN Special Rapporteur 1998: "Violations of human rights remain extremely
serious, including, in particular, the practice of torture, summary and
arbitrary executions, forced labour, including forced portering for the
military, abuse of women, politically motivated arrests and detention,
forced displacement, serious restrictions on the freedom of expression and
association, and the imposition of oppressive measures directed, in
particular, at ethnic and religious minority groups."
Article 4 No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.
ILO, July 1998: "There is abundant evidence...showing the pervasive use of
forced labour imposed on the civilian population of Myanmar by the
authorities and the military. The manifold exactions of forced labour often
give rise to threats to life and security and extrajudicial punishment of
those unwilling, slow or unable to comply with the demand for forced
labour; such punishment or reprisals range from demands to physical abuse,
beatings ,torture, rape and murder."
UN Special Rapporteur, 1998: "The (ILO) Commission's report relates "a
saga" of untold misery and suffering, oppression and exploitation of large
sections of the population inhabiting Myanmar by the Government, the
military and other public officers. It is a story of gross denial of human
rights to which the people of Myanmar have been subjected, particularly
since 1988, and from which they find no escape except fleeing the country".
Article 5 No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane
or degrading treatment or punishment.
ILO Report, 1998: "Porters who were persistently slow, or who were unable
to carry their loads because of exhaustion, sickness or injury were often
severely beaten and forced to continue, or if this was not possible they
were abandoned or killed...porters were beaten to death, had their throats
cut, were thrown from the sides of mountains, were thrown into rivers with
their hands tied behind their backs, or were burned alive."
UN Special Rapporteur, 1998: " Reports indicat(e) that torture and
ill-treatment, including beatings in prisons and interrogation centres,
continue to be a common practice...Since June 1996, several NLD members or
sympathizers have died in jail as a result of torture and poor treatment".
Article 6 Everyone has a right to recognition everywhere as a person
before the law.
Amnesty International, 1997: "Many thousands of people have been targeted
because of their ethnic origin. The Rohingyas Burmese Muslims who live in
the northern Rakhine (Arakan) state, are not acknowledged as Burmese by the
government. As a result Rohingyas do not enjoy many basic rights such as
freedom of movement within the country".
Article 7 All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal
protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and
against any incitement to such discrimination.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1998: "The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned
about the serious human rights violations..committed by the armed forces in
the ethnic minority areas. The violations include extrajudicial and
arbitrary executions (not sparing women and children), rape, torture,
inhuman treatment, forced labour and denial of freedom of movement. These
violations have been so numerous and consistent over the past years as to
suggest that they are not simply isolated or the acts of individual
misbehaviour by middle- and lower-rank officers but are rather the result
of policy at the highest level, entailing political and legal
responsibility".
Article 8 Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the
competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights
granted him by the constitution or by law.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1997: "...the absence of an independent judiciary,
coupled with a host of executive orders criminalizing far too many aspects
of normal civilian conduct that prescribe enormously disproportionate
penalties and authorize arrest and detention without judicial review or any
form of judicial authorization, leads the Special Rapporteur to conclude
that
a significant proportion of all arrests and detentions in Myanmar
are arbitrary when measured by generally accepted international standards".
Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or
exile.
Human Rights Watch, 1998: "During the last three months, more than 200
members of the National League for Democracy elected to parliament in 1990,
as well as hundreds of local NLD organizers, students and members of ethnic
groups suspected of being NLD supporters, have been arrested or detained
for peaceful political activity".
Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1998: "The latest
detentions of opposition activists in Myanmar are very worrying, indicating
that the government continues to ignore basic human rights standards and
the concern of the international community".
Article 10 Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public
hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of
his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article XIX, 1996: "Information compiled by human rights monitors on
individual cases tried by the civilian courts indicates persistent and
large scale infringement of the international norms on fair trial."
UN Special Rapporteur, 1997: "The Special Rapporteur is concerned that real
access to the justice system by...victims is virtually non existent".
Article 11 Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be
presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at
which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense. No one shall
be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which
did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at
the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than
the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1998: "Daw San San, 58 years old, was initially
detained along with seven members of Parliament from the NLD, including
Dr. Than Nyein and Dr. May Win Myint. All were initially sentenced to six
years imprisonment, but Daw San San's term of imprisonment was increased to
25 years after she refused to end her political activities."
Article 12 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with
his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour
and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against
such interference or attacks.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1997: "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's correspondence is said
to be studied, her phone reportedly tapped and her
meetings with foreigners closely monitored".
New Light of Myanmar, 1998: "It should be pointed out that Daw Suu Kyi is
just a guest of Myanmar being the wife of a British man, she has no right
to stand for election. After winning the Nobel Prize, she and her family
have become millionaires. She should not cause destruction to Myanmar to
get more prizes and cash from the West. Our Myanmar law as well as public
opinion will no longer tolerate any such traitorous acts".
Article 13 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and
residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave
any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1998: " Hundreds of thousands of persons have been
forcibly relocated without any compensation or assistance to new towns,
villages or relocation camps in which they are essentially detained.
Racially based restrictions are placed on travels inside the country and
abroad. On the matter of internal deportations and forced relocations, the
Special Rapporteur concludes that the government's policy violates freedom
of movement and residence..."
Article 14 1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution.
'A Question of Security', May 1998: "Since 1995 refugee camps and villages
on the Thai-Burma border have come under repeated attack. After fleeing
their home country in search of sanctuary refugees now find themselves
terrorised outside of it. Aggression by Burmese troops against the refugees
continues to endanger communities in Thailand and destabilize security
between the two countries."
Article 15 1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Human Rights Watch, 1997: "Rohingyas in Burma continue to be non citizens
under the prevailing law, which was designed to exclude them as an ethnic
group and make naturalization virtually impossible. Deprivation of
citizenship has resulted in deprivation of fundamental rights [and] the
withholding of citizenship has become a mechanism for discrimination and
persecution on the basis of ethnicity".
Article 16 1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to
race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and found a family.
They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and its
dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free
and full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group
unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
The state-controlled press in Burma regularly attacks Aung San Suu Kyi's
choice of husband, British academic Michael Aris. Official articles refer
to
her disparagingly as "the wife of a white" or "Bogadaw" - the wife of a
British colonialist: "Aung San Suu Kyi, alias Mrs Michael Villancourt Aris,
who is a foreigner with pretensions to being a citizen, is blatantly
causing trouble. It is no wonder with her reliance on the West, she is now
engaged in subversive acts to undermine the sovereignty of Myanmar and hand
the country's independence over to the West bloc."
Burma's regime has also attempted to ensure Aung San Suu Kyi 's exclusion
from presidency of any future Government by insisting that any
head of State cannot be married to a foreigner.
Article 17 1. Everyone has the right to own property as well as in
association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
property.
ILO Report, 1998: "...land on which cultivation projects were implemented
was confiscated from villagers without compensation...in the extreme case,
harvested crops were simply seized by the military; poultry, livestock and
other items were similarly seized."
Amnesty International, 1997: "When SLORC troops enter villages...they steal
livestock, rice, money and personal belongings. They also confiscate land
for railway lines, roads, and farms without compensating the owners.
Houses, rice barns, mosques and other structures have been burned by
Burmese soldiers as they pass through villages on patrols."
Article 18 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief,
and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or
private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship
and observance.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1997: "If not arrested, NLD leaders and members are
subjected to intense and systematic harassment....they are constantly
intimidated and their freedom of thought and expression are repeatedly
restricted".
Human Rights Watch, World Report 1998: " In Arakan state, refugees of the
Rohingya Muslim minority returning from Bangladesh reported continued
persecution by the Burmese military because of their race and religion.
Article 19 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through
any media and regardless of frontiers.
SLORC Order 5/96: "Anyone who is convicted of...instigating, protesting,
saying [things] or writing and distributing materials to disrupt and
deteriorate the stability of the state, community peace and tranquillity,
and the prevalence of law and order...shall be sentenced to a...maximum of
20 years in jail and may be subjected to fines."
Open Society Institute, 1998: "Under the 1996 Computer Science Development
Law' unlicensed possession of a fax machine or modem is punishable by 15
years in jail."
UN Special Rapporteur, October 1998: "..political parties in opposition
continue to be subject to intense and constant monitoring by the regime,
aimed at restricting their activities and prohibiting members of political
parties from leaving their localities."
In April 1998, Daw San San was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. She was
arrested on 28 October 1997 after she had conducted an interview with the
British Broadcasting Corporation on 26 June 1997, in which she had been
critical of the military regime.
Article 20 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
and association.
2. No one shall be compelled to belong to an
association.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1998: "NLD leaders cannot assemble in a group,
cannot freely discuss, and cannot publish or distribute printed or video
material. In this situation it is difficult to assume that open discussion
and free exchanges of views and opinions can possibly take place in
Myanmar,
unless they are in support of the military regime."
UN Special Rapporteur, 1997: "The Special Rapporteur has received reports
that most members of the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA)
have joined the organization against their will. Civil servants are said to
have had their names automatically registered on USDA rosters.."
Burmanet 1998: "The USDA is a mass organisation founded by the
SLORC...Civil and students are often forced to join, or their names are
simply added to the USDA membership rosters without even asking them."
Article 21 1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government
of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public
service in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the
authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and
genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall
be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
UN Special Rapporteur, 1998: "..the absence of respect for the rights
pertaining to democratic governance, as exemplified by the absence of
meaningful measures towards the establishment of a democratic order, is at
the root of all the major human rights violations in Myanmar. It is most
unlikely that these violations will cease as long as the democratic process
initiated by the general elections of 1990 is not re established."