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AI REPORT 2001: MYANMAR
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2001
Covering events from January - December 2000
MYANMAR
Union of Myanmar
Head of state and government: General
Than Shwe
Capital: Yangon
Population: 46.8 million
Official language: Burmese
Death penalty: retentionist
Hundreds of people, including more than
200 members of political
parties and young activists, were
arrested for political reasons. Ten
others were known to have been sentenced
to long terms of
imprisonment after unfair trials. At
least 1,500 political prisoners
arrested in previous years, including
more than 100 prisoners of
conscience and hundreds of possible
prisoners of conscience,
remained in prison. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and other leaders of the
National League for Democracy (NLD) were
placed under de facto
house arrest after being prevented by
the military from travelling
outside Yangon to visit other NLD
members. Prison conditions
constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment, and torture of
political prisoners was reported. The
military continued to seize
ethnic minority civilians for forced
labour duties and to kill members
of ethnic minorities during
counter-insurgency operations in the
Shan, Kayah, and Kayin states. Five
people were sentenced to
death in 2000 for drug trafficking.
Background
As in previous years, the army continued
to engage in skirmishes with the
Karen National Union (KNU), the Karenni
National Progressive Party
(KNPP), and the Shan State Army-South
(SSA-South). Sixteen cease-fire
agreements negotiated in previous years
between the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) and various
ethnic minority armed opposition
groups were maintained.
Continuing political stalemate
In spite of international and domestic
efforts, the military government of the
SPDC refused to engage in dialogue with
the NLD. In August Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders left
Yangon to visit NLD members.
They were detained on the road in Dalah
township by the military
authorities for 10 days before being
forcibly returned to Yangon. They were
then held incommunicado under house
arrest for 12 days. The NLD
headquarters in Yangon were raided and
documents reportedly confiscated.
In September, when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
and NLD Vice-chairman U Tin
Oo attempted to travel by train to
Mandalay, they were forcibly removed
from the Yangon train station. U Tin Oo
was taken to Yemon Military
Intelligence Base and detained there;
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and eight
other NLD Central Executive Committee
members were placed under
house arrest where they remained at the
end of the year. Almost 100 NLD
members were arrested in connection with
the two attempted NLD trips,
including NLD supporters who had
gathered to greet Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi at the train station.
Political prisoners
At least 1,700 people remained
imprisoned for political reasons, including
37 NLD members of parliament-elect. An
additional 45 members of
parliament-elect arrested in September
1998, 43 of them members of the
NLD, continued to be held without charge
in ''government guesthouses''.
They had been arrested in a pre-emptive
move to prevent them from
convening a parliament after the SPDC's
refusal to do so. Saw Naing
Naing, an NLD member of parliament-elect
from Pazundaung township,
Yangon, who had been released in January
1999, was rearrested in
September 2000.
Ten political prisoners were known to
have been released, including five
elderly men released after the Special
Envoy of the UN Secretary-General
for Myanmar visited the country in October.
In the run-up to the 10th anniversary in
May of the NLD election victory,
hundreds of NLD supporters were
arrested. In press conferences held in
May and July, the SPDC accused the NLD
of having links with exiled
opposition groups which it claimed were
involved in ''terrorist'' acts.
U Than Lwin, an NLD member of
parliament-elect from Constituency
2, Madaya township, Mandalay
Division, was arrested and
sentenced in May to nine years'
imprisonment for sending a letter to
the local authorities. The letter
protested against a demonstration
held against him in March, staged
by the authorities, who reportedly
forced people to attend.
In May scores of NLD members from
Taungdwingyi township,
Magwe Division, were arrested for
attending a party meeting; seven
were sentenced to eight years'
imprisonment.
U Aye Tha Aung, a prisoner of
conscience and leader of the Arakan
League for Democracy, was arrested
in April and sentenced to 21
years' imprisonment. His health
deteriorated significantly following
his arrest. He was the Secretary of
the 10-member Committee
Representing the People's
Parliament which the NLD and other
opposition parties formed in 1998,
and represented four ethnic
minority opposition parties,
including his own.
Seven Rohingyas, including
Serajudin bin Nurislam, were arrested in
June for attempting to travel to
Yangon. They were later sentenced
to between eight and 12 years'
imprisonment and were held in
Sittwe, capital of the Rakhine
State. Rohingyas, who are Muslims
living in the Rakhine State, are
forbidden from travelling outside their
home townships.
Prison conditions
The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) continued visiting
prisons, ''government guesthouses''
where members of parliament-elect
were detained, and some labour camps.
However they were not known to
have had access to Military Intelligence
Headquarters where torture was
most frequently reported. In April the
ICRC announced that it had identified
some 1,500 ''security detainees''.
Conditions in most prisons were
extremely poor, owing to lack of
adequate food, water, sanitation, and
medical care. Myingyan Prison in
Mandalay Division and Tharawaddy
Prison in Bago Division were known to be
particularly harsh.
Daw San San Nweh, prisoner of
conscience and well-known writer,
suffered from high blood pressure,
arthritic rheumatism and kidney
problems, but did not receive
appropriate medical treatment. Poor
prison conditions in Myanmar's
largest facility, Insein Prison, further
exacerbated her health problems.
Torture/ill-treatment
Torture and ill-treatment of political
prisoners continued to be reported.
Methods of torture included severe
beatings and kicks with boots; an iron
bar being rolled repeatedly up and down
the shins until the skin peeled off;
near-suffocation; and ''the airplane'',
where prisoners are suspended from
the ceiling, spun around and beaten.
A Karenni Christian farmer from
Loikaw township, Kayah State,
reported that he was arrested by
the army and accused of working
with the KNPP after a battle
between the two forces in February. He
was beaten with rifle butts,
punched in the face and kicked in the
head so severely that his hearing
was permanently damaged. He
was then forced to accompany troops
as a guide for one week
during which time he was beaten
every day with sticks and tied with
a rope.
Forced labour
The army continued to seize ethnic
minority civilians from the Shan, Karen
and Karenni ethnic minorities for forced
labour. They were made to work on
infrastructure projects and to carry
equipment for patrolling troops. Forced
labour of criminal prisoners in labour
camps, who were made to break
rocks or to work as porters for the
army, was also reported.
A Shan woman from Laikha township,
Shan State, reported that in
February she had regularly been
forced to cut bamboo, build fences,
and maintain military camps and roads.
Extrajudicial executions
Extrajudicial executions of ethnic
minority civilians taking no active part in
the hostilities continued to be
reported. In Kunhing township, Shan State,
more than 100 Shan and hill tribe people
were believed to have been killed
in January, February and May. The
SSA-South was reportedly active in
Kunhing township.
International responses
The SPDC presented its initial report to
the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against
Women. The Committee expressed
concern about, among other things,
violations against ethnic minority
women and the plight of women in custody.
At the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) Conference in June, the ILO
gave the SPDC until 30 November to enact
''concrete and detailed
measures'' to comply with ILO Convention
No. 29 on forced labour, to which
Myanmar became a party in 1955. If the
SPDC was found not to comply,
the ILO recommended, among other things,
that ILO members should
review ''the[ir] relations... to ensure
that [the SPDC] cannot take advantage
of such relations to perpetuate or
extend the system''. In November the
ILO's governing body met and decided
that sufficient concrete measures
had not been taken by the SPDC to comply
with Convention No. 29 and
therefore it upheld the ILO measures
adopted in June.
In April the UN Commission on Human
Rights adopted by consensus its
ninth resolution extending the mandate
of the UN Special Rapporteur on
Myanmar for another year and deploring
''the continuing pattern of gross
and systematic violations of human
rights in Myanmar''. A strongly worded
resolution was also adopted by consensus
at the UN General Assembly in
December. In April the UN
Secretary-General appointed a new Special
Envoy for Myanmar, whose mandate is to
ensure implementation of the
1999 General Assembly Resolution on
Myanmar. He visited the country in
June and July, and again in October,
when he met with General Than Shwe
and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In November
the UN Special Rapporteur on
Myanmar resigned; during his four-year
tenure he had never been permitted
by the SPDC to enter the country.
In May the USA renewed limited economic
sanctions. In April the European
Union (EU) strengthened its Common
Position to include freezing the funds
of SPDC members and other government
officials in EU countries; this was
renewed in October. The SPDC postponed
an EU troika visit which was to
have taken place in October, but the
meeting between the EU and the
Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN), which the SPDC
attended, took place in Laos in December.
AI country reports
Unsung heroines: Women of Myanmar
(AI Index: ASA 16/004/2000)
Myanmar: Exodus from the Shan State
(AI Index: ASA 16/011/2000)
The institution of torture in
Myanmar (AI Index: ASA 16/024/2000)
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<br>
<b>AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2001<br>
</b>Covering events from January - December 2000<br><br>
<b>MYANMAR<br><br>
</b>
Union of Myanmar<br>
Head of state and government: General Than Shwe<br>
Capital: Yangon <br>
Population: 46.8 million<br>
Official language: Burmese<br>
Death penalty: retentionist<br><br>
Hundreds of people, including more than 200 members of political<br>
parties and young activists, were arrested for political reasons.
Ten<br>
others were known to have been sentenced to long terms of<br>
imprisonment after unfair trials. At least 1,500 political
prisoners<br>
arrested in previous years, including more than 100 prisoners of<br>
conscience and hundreds of possible prisoners of conscience,<br>
remained in prison. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the<br>
National League for Democracy (NLD) were placed under de facto<br>
house arrest after being prevented by the military from travelling<br>
outside Yangon to visit other NLD members. Prison conditions<br>
constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and torture of<br>
political prisoners was reported. The military continued to seize<br>
ethnic minority civilians for forced labour duties and to kill
members<br>
of ethnic minorities during counter-insurgency operations in the<br>
Shan, Kayah, and Kayin states. Five people were sentenced to<br>
death in 2000 for drug trafficking.<br><br>
<b> Background<br>
</b>
As in previous years, the army continued to engage in skirmishes with
the<br>
Karen National Union (KNU), the Karenni National Progressive Party<br>
(KNPP), and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South). Sixteen
cease-fire<br>
agreements negotiated in previous years between the State Peace and<br>
Development Council (SPDC) and various ethnic minority armed
opposition<br>
groups were maintained.<br><br>
<b> Continuing political stalemate<br>
</b>
In spite of international and domestic efforts, the military government
of the<br>
SPDC refused to engage in dialogue with the NLD. In August Daw Aung<br>
San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders left Yangon to visit NLD members.<br>
They were detained on the road in Dalah township by the military<br>
authorities for 10 days before being forcibly returned to Yangon. They
were<br>
then held incommunicado under house arrest for 12 days. The NLD<br>
headquarters in Yangon were raided and documents reportedly
confiscated.<br>
In September, when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD Vice-chairman U Tin<br>
Oo attempted to travel by train to Mandalay, they were forcibly
removed<br>
from the Yangon train station. U Tin Oo was taken to Yemon Military<br>
Intelligence Base and detained there; Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and
eight<br>
other NLD Central Executive Committee members were placed under<br>
house arrest where they remained at the end of the year. Almost 100
NLD<br>
members were arrested in connection with the two attempted NLD
trips,<br>
including NLD supporters who had gathered to greet Daw Aung San Suu<br>
Kyi at the train station.<br><br>
<b>Political prisoners<br>
</b>
At least 1,700 people remained imprisoned for political reasons,
including<br>
37 NLD members of parliament-elect. An additional 45 members of<br>
parliament-elect arrested in September 1998, 43 of them members of
the<br>
NLD, continued to be held without charge in ''government
guesthouses''.<br>
They had been arrested in a pre-emptive move to prevent them from<br>
convening a parliament after the SPDC's refusal to do so. Saw Naing<br>
Naing, an NLD member of parliament-elect from Pazundaung township,<br>
Yangon, who had been released in January 1999, was rearrested in<br>
September 2000.<br><br>
Ten political prisoners were known to have been released, including
five<br>
elderly men released after the Special Envoy of the UN
Secretary-General<br>
for Myanmar visited the country in October.<br><br>
In the run-up to the 10th anniversary in May of the NLD election
victory,<br>
hundreds of NLD supporters were arrested. In press conferences held
in<br>
May and July, the SPDC accused the NLD of having links with exiled<br>
opposition groups which it claimed were involved in ''terrorist''
acts.<br><br>
U Than Lwin, an NLD member of parliament-elect from Constituency<br>
2, Madaya township, Mandalay Division, was arrested and<br>
sentenced in May to nine years' imprisonment for sending a letter
to<br>
the local authorities. The letter protested against a demonstration<br>
held against him in March, staged by the authorities, who
reportedly<br>
forced people to attend.<br>
In May scores of NLD members from Taungdwingyi township,<br>
Magwe Division, were arrested for attending a party meeting; seven<br>
were sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.<br>
U Aye Tha Aung, a prisoner of conscience and leader of the Arakan<br>
League for Democracy, was arrested in April and sentenced to 21<br>
years' imprisonment. His health deteriorated significantly
following<br>
his arrest. He was the Secretary of the 10-member Committee<br>
Representing the People's Parliament which the NLD and other<br>
opposition parties formed in 1998, and represented four ethnic<br>
minority opposition parties, including his own.<br>
Seven Rohingyas, including Serajudin bin Nurislam, were arrested in<br>
June for attempting to travel to Yangon. They were later sentenced<br>
to between eight and 12 years' imprisonment and were held in<br>
Sittwe, capital of the Rakhine State. Rohingyas, who are Muslims<br>
living in the Rakhine State, are forbidden from travelling outside
their<br>
home townships.<br><br>
<br>
<b>Prison conditions<br>
</b>
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued
visiting<br>
prisons, ''government guesthouses'' where members of
parliament-elect<br>
were detained, and some labour camps. However they were not known
to<br>
have had access to Military Intelligence Headquarters where torture
was<br>
most frequently reported. In April the ICRC announced that it had
identified<br>
some 1,500 ''security detainees''. Conditions in most prisons were<br>
extremely poor, owing to lack of adequate food, water, sanitation,
and<br>
medical care. Myingyan Prison in Mandalay Division and Tharawaddy<br>
Prison in Bago Division were known to be particularly harsh.<br><br>
Daw San San Nweh, prisoner of conscience and well-known writer,<br>
suffered from high blood pressure, arthritic rheumatism and kidney<br>
problems, but did not receive appropriate medical treatment. Poor<br>
prison conditions in Myanmar's largest facility, Insein Prison,
further<br>
exacerbated her health problems.<br><br>
<br>
<b> Torture/ill-treatment<br>
</b>
Torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners continued to be
reported.<br>
Methods of torture included severe beatings and kicks with boots; an
iron<br>
bar being rolled repeatedly up and down the shins until the skin peeled
off;<br>
near-suffocation; and ''the airplane'', where prisoners are suspended
from<br>
the ceiling, spun around and beaten.<br><br>
A Karenni Christian farmer from Loikaw township, Kayah State,<br>
reported that he was arrested by the army and accused of working<br>
with the KNPP after a battle between the two forces in February. He<br>
was beaten with rifle butts, punched in the face and kicked in the<br>
head so severely that his hearing was permanently damaged. He<br>
was then forced to accompany troops as a guide for one week<br>
during which time he was beaten every day with sticks and tied with<br>
a rope.<br><br>
<br>
<b> Forced labour<br>
</b>
The army continued to seize ethnic minority civilians from the Shan,
Karen<br>
and Karenni ethnic minorities for forced labour. They were made to work
on<br>
infrastructure projects and to carry equipment for patrolling troops.
Forced<br>
labour of criminal prisoners in labour camps, who were made to
break<br>
rocks or to work as porters for the army, was also reported.<br><br>
A Shan woman from Laikha township, Shan State, reported that in<br>
February she had regularly been forced to cut bamboo, build fences,<br>
and maintain military camps and roads.<br><br>
<br>
<b>Extrajudicial executions<br>
</b>
Extrajudicial executions of ethnic minority civilians taking no active
part in<br>
the hostilities continued to be reported. In Kunhing township, Shan
State,<br>
more than 100 Shan and hill tribe people were believed to have been
killed<br>
in January, February and May. The SSA-South was reportedly active
in<br>
Kunhing township.<br><br>
<b> International responses<br>
</b>
The SPDC presented its initial report to the UN Committee on the<br>
Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Committee
expressed<br>
concern about, among other things, violations against ethnic
minority<br>
women and the plight of women in custody.<br><br>
At the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conference in June, the
ILO<br>
gave the SPDC until 30 November to enact ''concrete and detailed<br>
measures'' to comply with ILO Convention No. 29 on forced labour, to
which<br>
Myanmar became a party in 1955. If the SPDC was found not to
comply,<br>
the ILO recommended, among other things, that ILO members should<br>
review ''the[ir] relations... to ensure that [the SPDC] cannot take
advantage<br>
of such relations to perpetuate or extend the system''. In November
the<br>
ILO's governing body met and decided that sufficient concrete
measures<br>
had not been taken by the SPDC to comply with Convention No. 29 and<br>
therefore it upheld the ILO measures adopted in June.<br><br>
In April the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted by consensus its<br>
ninth resolution extending the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur
on<br>
Myanmar for another year and deploring ''the continuing pattern of
gross<br>
and systematic violations of human rights in Myanmar''. A strongly
worded<br>
resolution was also adopted by consensus at the UN General Assembly
in<br>
December. In April the UN Secretary-General appointed a new Special<br>
Envoy for Myanmar, whose mandate is to ensure implementation of the<br>
1999 General Assembly Resolution on Myanmar. He visited the country
in<br>
June and July, and again in October, when he met with General Than
Shwe<br>
and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In November the UN Special Rapporteur on<br>
Myanmar resigned; during his four-year tenure he had never been
permitted<br>
by the SPDC to enter the country.<br><br>
In May the USA renewed limited economic sanctions. In April the
European<br>
Union (EU) strengthened its Common Position to include freezing the
funds<br>
of SPDC members and other government officials in EU countries; this
was<br>
renewed in October. The SPDC postponed an EU troika visit which was
to<br>
have taken place in October, but the meeting between the EU and the<br>
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which the SPDC<br>
attended, took place in Laos in December.<br><br>
AI country reports<br>
Unsung heroines: Women of Myanmar (AI Index: ASA 16/004/2000)<br>
Myanmar: Exodus from the Shan State (AI Index: ASA 16/011/2000)<br>
The institution of torture in Myanmar (AI Index: ASA 16/024/2000)<br>
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