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Mizzima: Burma: A Test Case for Can



Burma: A Test Case for Canada's Foreign Policy
(Human Security)

By: Kanbawza Win

Winnipeg, Canada; December 21, 2000
Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com)

As a signatory to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and
leading participant of furthering the Convention's commitments, Canada
has just taken the initiative of hosting the International Conference on
War-Affected Children in Winnipeg-the first international gathering of
its kind. This is part of Canada's Foreign Policy on Human Security,
which she has chosen to promote the safety of the people by protecting
them from threats of violence.

This Human Security constitutes a major shift in international
relations, which have long term emphasis on the security of the state.
Human Security encompasses a spectrum of approaches to the problem of
violent conflicts from preventive initiatives and people centered
conflict resolution to peace-building activities. Canada has identified
five foreign policy themes for advancing it.

First is the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict and among them
are the War- Affected Children. The past decade saw the killing of over
two million children and six million permanently disabled, one million
orphaned and 20 million displaced, not to mention the psychological
scars caused by the trauma and abduction, sexual assault and brutal
murder of family members. Burma is just one of the countries that stands
out prominently in using child soldiers and civilian porters. That is
why her representative did not show up at the Winnipeg Conference when
over 136 countries were represented. Will the protocol be able to stop
the Burmese junta from compulsory recruitment of child soldiers? The
other aspect of the Burmese army is the widespread use of anti-personnel
landmines, a direct impact on human security. Burma is not among the 100
countries that have signed the Ottawa Convention.

Second is Conflict Prevention, which is concerned with strengthening the
capacity of the international community to prevent or resolve conflict
and build local indigenous capacity to manage conflict without violence.
Thousands of political prisoners including the Burmese Nobel laureate
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is just a test case. Cheap, easy to use and readily
transported small arms are flowing from China and the rest of ASEAN
countries into Burma to bolster the regime in its suppression of
pro-democracy and autonomy seeking forces. How will Canada contribute to
the peace-building efforts in this part of the world when the
neighboring countries are directly or indirectly helping the Junta?

Third, Governance and Accountability means fostering improved
accountability of public and private sector institutions in terms of
established norms of democracy and human rights. The Burmese Junta came
to power with the gun, is accountable to no one except to its whims and
fancies, and it abhors democracy. It interpreted human rights as a
sinister plot of Western Imperialism to impose their value on them.
Their governance is such that it has not only dragged the nation to
being the least developed country but has frightened away the foreign
investors. With what barometer are we going to measure its governance
and accountability? As in any conflict it has embarked on ethnic
cleansing and for the last decade the world has been watching helplessly
of this worst crime of humanity. Moreover, it has demonstrated the lack
of legitimacy and effectiveness of the international system. Canada's
promotion of the International Criminal Court is still in its infancy
and still needed a lot of teeth.

Fourth, Public Safety is related to building international expertise,
capacities and instruments to counter the growing threats posed by the
rise of transnational organized crime. The classic example is the
narcotic trade. Burma, which produces about 25,000 tons of opium
annually, which refined into Heroin No 4 is exported. Sixty percent of
it finds their way to North America. The network of narcotics drugs has
become more sophisticated and increasingly diversified into areas of
crime that threatened the safety of the people. Hongkong, Singapore,
Malaysia and Thai banks in cooperation with the multilateral oil
companies such as American UNOCAL and the French TOTAL are laundering
millions of narco dollars. Small arms manufactured by Singapore and
Pakistan are in abundant supply that is easily handled by the children.

Trafficking of women is another factor, which causes the spread of HIV
and AIDS. In Thailand alone there are over 50,000 Burmese sex workers.
The fight against organized crime becomes one of the main factors in
human security. How will this correlate with the Burmese scene is still
yet to be seen.

The final, Peace Support Operations is relative to building UN
capacities and addressing the demanding and increasingly complex
requirements for deployment of skilled personnel. The changing nature of
conflict and the new focus on ensuring protection for the people has
forced these missions to evolved into broad, multi-disciplinary peace
supported operations. Of late, peace keeping operations have become the
principal tool that responded to grave threats as in Kosovo, Bosnia,
Sudan, Colombia, Sierra Leone and so on. Will Burma be short-listed?
This may be the only language, which the ruling generals understands now
that logic has gone out of their mind. But still in this case the
support of China and India together with ASEAN and Japan will play a
crucial role of whether this option is viable.

If the Canadian Foreign policy of Human Security can solve the complex
problem of Burma, one is quite sure that Canada, true to its reputation,
can take the lead in solving major international conflicts and save the
human tragedy.

________________________________________________________________________

Prof. Kanbawza Win is one of the six persons chosen by the world NGO to
speak at the Ministerial Conference on War Affected Children in
Winnipeg. He will submit his report to the UN at New York in Sept. 2001.