[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Press Release HR/CN/923 Testimonie



Subject: Press Release HR/CN/923  Testimonies 


Press Release
HR/CN/923 



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ALLEGE WIDESPREAD VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS OF
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Commission on Human Rights Concludes Debate on 'Indigenous Issues' 

(Reissued as received.) 

- 8 - Press Release HR/CN/923 20 April 1999 

SOE AUNG, of Worldview International Foundation, said that to many
indigenous groups who wished to preserve their cultural identities, economic
autonomy and rights to their traditional lands, the word "development"
aroused very mixed reactions. There continued to be many destructive
so-called development projects which were a threat to local communities and
the environment. These projects were motivated by greed and by the egos of
Government or businesses, and usually caused long-term problems for the rest
of the country. 

In Burma, the military regime had drawn up cease-fire agreements with
several indigenous groups after several decades of civil war, yet the people
reacted with fear to the word "development" because the development projects
of the regime caused hardship; they were implemented through use of forced
labour, extortion and displacement. The situation of indigenous peoples in
southern Myanmar was an example. 

CUNG BIK LING, of Rural Reconstruction Nepal, said there was an urgent
crisis in Chinland, which was situated in the western part of Burma. Ever
since the Burmese Army took power in 1962, successive military regimes had
persistently carried out cultural genocide against the indigenous Chin
peoples. 

Despite the fact that the Chin community provided textbooks and teachers,
the language was taught only as an optional subject, and only up to second
grade. In fact, the Chin textbook had been banned in 1990 because one phrase
referred to the Bible. Since 1995, the regime also had banned the use of the
Chin language between teachers and students in the classroom. In court and
Government offices, only Burmese could be spoken. The Commission should
ratify the Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples immediately to
protect the existence of the Chin.