Burma's Nuclear Ambitions 'Threaten Regional Security'

Source : Irrawaddy News
Published on: Friday, June 4, 2010

The Burmese junta’s ambition to become a nuclear power is a threat to regional security, according to a documentary by the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which alleges that Naypyidaw is developing nuclear weapons and a missiles system with help from North Korea.
Quoting experts and defectors, the documentary, which was aired by Al Jazeera on Friday, said that if the junta achieves its goal, Burmese missiles could target neighboring countries, as well as threatening US military activities in the Indian Ocean.
Burmese army defector Maj Sai Thein Win, who is a missiles expert, said the junta is constructing nuclear and missiles facilities at at least two sites in Magwe and Mandalay divisions in central Burma.

“They [the junta] really want a [nuclear] bomb. That is their main objective,” said Sai Thein Win in the documentary. “They want to have rockets and nuclear warheads.”
Burma's relationship with North Korea is expected to be a hot topic at the 9th Asian Security Summit, also known as the “Shangri-La Dialogue,” which is being held on June 4-6 in Singapore. The US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is scheduled to attend the annual summit along with representatives from 26 countries, including Maj-Gen Aye Myint, the deputy defense minister of Burma. Gates is expected to raise the issue at the summit. Following the latest allegations, Gates’ press secretary said the US is closely monitoring the junta’s cooperation with Pyongyang.
“We are concerned with [Burma’s] growing military ties with the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and are following it closely to ensure that the multiple UNSCRs [UN Security Council Resolutions] are enforced,” Press Secretary Geoff Morrell reportedly told Agence France-Presse by e-mail. The Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874 ban all North Korean arms exports.
However, Burmese Minister of Science and Technology U Thaung told a US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell that while acknowledging that the Burmese government had publicly announced its agreement to comply with UN Security Council resolutions, it also has “the duty to maintain and protect national sovereignty.”
Sai Thein Win said the secret project sites for the junta’s weapons are in Myaing, a town in Magwe Division, and Pyin Oo Lwin, also known as Maymyo, which is in Mandalay Division. The projects are under the command of the Directorate of Defense Service Science and Technology Research Center, but also involves U Thaung's Ministry of Science and Technology, said Sai Thein Winn.
Bases on statements from the defector, Robert Kelley, a former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the DVB: “Our analysis leads to only one conclusion: this technology is only for nuclear weapons, and not civilian use or nuclear power.” Sai Thein Win told DVB that two companies in Singapore with German connections sold machinery to Burma’s Department of Technical and Vocational Education, which covers any missiles programs in the country.

Photos which were brought to Thailand by Sai Thein Win show German technicians working at the junta’s sites and even some officials from the Burmese embassy in Germany visiting a machinery-producing factory.
Kelley said in his analysis that although the German machinery was “very expensive and capable, they were sold without all of the accessories to make the ... parts required for many missile and nuclear applications.”

The DVB documentary adds to the growing evidence over the junta’s development of nuclear technology, in particular to a 2009 report by Australian Desmond Ball. Quoting Burmese defectors, Ball said the Burmese armed forces established a “nuclear battalion” in 2000 whose operational base includes an underground complex in the mountains southwest of Naung Laing, near Pyin Oo Lwin, where the regime is reportedly constructing a nuclear reactor.

With North Korea's aid, the reactor in Naung Laing could be completed around 2012, and Burma could develop its first deliverable nuclear weapons by 2020, he said in the report.

MALAYSIA - Rohingya refugees face challenges of inhumanity

Arakan Rohingya Refugee Committee (ARRC) in Malaysia issued the press release below on 24 May 2010, expressing concerns over the crises the Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia are facing. They are not receiving enough health care and many are passing lives in critical situation.

Letter to Chinese Premier Wen Ahead of Trip to Burma

Letter to Chinese Premier Wen Ahead of Trip to Burma
May 30, 2010

Dear Premier Wen,

In anticipation of your trip to Burma on June 2, we write to you about the human rights and political situation there. We believe that the People's Republic of China has one of the most important bilateral relations with Burma, as a significant trading, investment and diplomatic partner, and Burma's largest neighbor. Your government thus, is in an important position to propose and press for national and regional policies that can improve respect for human rights and promote political reform in Burma. Burma has rebuffed and rejected such efforts for years, including numerous United Nations mediation missions.

Burma remains one of the most repressive countries in the world, ruled by the military-controlled State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). There are strict limits on the rights to basic freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. The intelligence and security services are omnipresent. Censorship is draconian. More than 2,100 political prisoners suffer in Burma's squalid prisons. All have been sentenced after unfair trials, which often take the form of summary hearings held in the prisons themselves.

At the same time, military abuses connected to armed conflicts continue in ethnic minority areas. For many years, Human Rights Watch has documented the recruitment and deployment of child soldiers, the use of forced labor, and summary killings, rape, and other abuses against minority populations, including the Rohingya, Chin, Shan, Karen, and Karenni.

Burma has also committed widespread violations that have caused thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims to leave western Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh, and many thousands flee every year in boats to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In August 2009, more than 37,000 ethnic Kokang people fled into China's Yunnan province following fighting between the Burmese military and the ethnic militia of Shan State Special Region 1.

In addition to rampant violations of civil and political rights, corruption and mismanagement under military rule has made Burma one of the poorest countries in Asia. The government seems to care little for the basic welfare of its people: for instance, while the Burmese government received an estimated US$150 million per month in gas export revenue in 2008, its last announced annual budget to address its AIDS crisis in 2007 was a mere US$172,000.

While much of the world sees Burma's rulers as isolated, ruthless, and despised, the SPDC continues to have influential friends in the region who provide resources through the purchase of energy and other commodities, and shield Burma from concerted action at the UN, ASEAN, and other international fora on subjects like implementing effective arms embargoes or targeted sanctions.

The Chinese government routinely asserts that it follows a policy of non-interference in the "internal affairs" of sovereign states. However, the rampant rights violations ongoing inside Burma are creating severe internal pressures which could easily spill over Burma's borders and affect China's stability in terms of refugee flows, public health crises, and violence. In this regard, China's "good neighbor" policy with Burma should involve speaking frankly with the Burmese government about its human rights abuses and include recommendations and assistance to address them.

At key junctures the Chinese government has obstructed international action that could have significantly improved human rights, appearing to preference Chinese economic interests and demonstrate disregard for international law and institutions. We call on your government to play a more positive international leadership role to press for productive change in Burma. We recommend that the Chinese government's policy should, therefore, aim at addressing three important avenues of engaging with Burma: the 2010 elections, insecurity in the border areas, diplomacy, and more productive trade relations.

The 2010 Elections

Despite the frequent and longstanding calls from concerned governments and the United Nations for credible inclusive elections, the polls planned for Burma in 2010 are a blueprint for further repressive rule, social division, and potential instability in Burma-all of which has a deleterious effect on human rights. Consequently, they are unlikely to achieve your government's aspirations, and endorsing them as a forward step for Burma will not improve the situation inside the country.

The 2008 constitution contains provisions designed to ensure military dominance in any civilian administration, with a quarter of all parliamentary seats set aside for serving military officers, and reservation of key ministerial portfolios for the military.

Electoral laws limit the participation of longstanding opponents of military rule by forcing political parties, on pain of de-registration, to expel any members currently serving prison sentences. The fact that the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the political party that overwhelmingly won the last elections in 1990, demurred from contesting the elections in 2010 demonstrates how tightly controlled the process is.

Many provisions of the electoral laws fall far short of international standards for a free and fair election. The 17-member Electoral Commission, which rules on political party registration and candidates, is not independent or impartial. Nearly 40 parties have already registered and been accepted, many of them either controlled by the Burmese military, or effectively proxy parties for the government.

In China's last high-level visit to Burma, Vice President Xi Jinping in December 2009 relayed to President Than Shwe that China wanted to see "political stability, economic development and national reconciliation." These are not controversial aspirations, but Human Rights Watch firmly believes that the current direction of the electoral process will produce more division, disharmony, and uncertainty in Burma, not lead to a gradually improving process of reconciliation, peace-building and development.

Insecurity in Border Areas

The Chinese government should recognize the genuine grievances felt by the ethnic minority populations in Burma, particularly the ethnic Kachin and Wa. The possibility of armed hostilities along the Burma-China border, after two decades of relative peace, is quite real, as are refugee flows as a result of conflict that would dwarf the incident of August 2009 in Kokang. The complete failure of the SPDC to seek genuine reconciliation and regional development in Burma has fostered this instability. China's mediating role in averting conflict is noted, but we urge your government to take a more overt and public role in supporting peace-building initiatives in Burma along with the United Nations and other concerned states.

We note China's important role in the Security Council working group on children and armed conflict and its support for UN Security Council Resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009). We draw your attention to the UN secretary-general's latest report of April 2010 that continues to list the Burmese military as a party that commits grave violations against children in war, including the continued recruitment and use of child soldiers. We also note that the UN special rapporteur for the situation of human rights in Myanmar called in his March 2010 report to the Human Rights Council for the UN to consider forming a UN commission of inquiry into allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma. We urge China to support such an inquiry in the UN General Assembly-China will not be considered a positive force in the international community if it does not actively participate in efforts to bring an end to serious violations of human rights and the laws of war during armed conflicts.

Regional Engagement and Diplomacy

On key political matters in Burma, the Chinese government does not appear to be engaged in constructive, proactive regional diplomacy, and in some instances has undermined those efforts. China has been reluctant to join in efforts by the UN Security Council to exert pressure on Burma to improve respect for human rights, even employing a veto to block a Security Council resolution on the human rights situation in Burma in January 2007.

At times, the SPDC has used diplomatic maneuvering to delay and pretend that it was engaged in serious inter-governmental discussions. China's membership in the Group of Friends of Myanmar bestows on your government a leadership role in these high-level discussions and the opportunity to push the Security Council to press the SPDC to institute genuine reforms. Unfortunately, thus far the Group of Friends has not adopted a clear line on how to engage the SPDC. Human Rights Watch believes that a more assertive grouping should be formed, to converge the views and policies of China, India, Japan, the EU and US, and ASEAN states, and gradually minimize the ability of the SPDC to play states off against each other.

Since the UN has long been the focal point for diplomacy on Burma, we urge China to support the continuation of a special envoy of the secretary-general. But it is crucial that the secretary-general and the special envoy not get diverted into the diplomatic game of considering access or high-level meetings as a sufficient sign of progress. The envoy must be an individual with the principles, skills, and backing of the international community to make an impact. China should support the appointment of a permanent replacement to former envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, who has the integrity and skills to exert pressure on the SPDC while also building a strong, clear line in Asia and the West about their approaches to Burma.

China should be concerned over increasing defense links between Burma and North Korea which undermines international peace and security. We remind you of China's obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1874 (2009) to ensure that North Korea's proliferation does not affect Burma. China has provided significant amounts of military aid to Burma since 1989. To help end the use of military weaponry in human rights violations in Burma, China should end all its arms sales and military support to the SPDC, and support such an arms embargo through the UN Security Council.

We feel it is important to note the positive developments for human rights that China has made in certain international situations: the appointment of a special ambassador for Darfur, who played an important role in urging the Sudanese government to let international peacekeepers deploy in the area, and the sanctions, albeit limited, that China agreed to support on some North Korean individuals.

China could also consider the appointment of its own special ambassador or envoy to Burma in order to deal directly with Burmese military officials and to consult with the UN special envoy and other state-designated Burma envoys such as the EU Burma envoy and the proposed United States envoy.

Trade and Investment Relations

Until a more representative government that respects basic rights is in place in Burma, Human Rights Watch urges governments and companies to refrain from any new investments in sectors of Burma's economy that substantially benefit the military or are otherwise associated with serious human rights abuses. Investments in the energy sector are particularly troubling, given the track record of serious abuses associated with previous oil and gas projects in Burma that given rise to concerns that new projects will contribute to the use of forced labor, illegal land confiscation, forced displacement, and unnecessary use of force against civilians. Moreover, the SPDC fails to use available revenue from petroleum projects in a manner to address the economic and social rights shortcomings of the population who suffer needless poverty and neglect. Although the SPDC has accrued more than US$5 billion in foreign reserves, largely derived from sales of natural gas sales through the Yadana and Yetagun projects in southern Burma, Human Rights Watch has concerns that little, if any, of these funds have been used for desperately needed health and education programs, or the reconstruction of the Irrawaddy Delta after Cyclone Nargis.

China has major economic ties to Burma, from a growing bilateral border trade and investments in major hydroelectric and petroleum projects. Bilateral trade between Burma and China is nearly US$3 billion per year, and border trade is growing rapidly. The overall volume of trade is anticipated to increase dramatically as a result of a massive energy deal between the two countries. In addition, PetroChina, the publicly-listed arm of the majority state-owned company China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), signed a December 2008 contract to purchase the natural gas from the Shwe fields off the coast of Arakan state. More recently, CNPC has reportedly begun constructing what will ultimately be two major energy pipelines across Burma to China, in one case to transport the Shwe gas. The twin pipelines represent some of the biggest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Burma.

We are concerned about the impact on the Burmese population of these massive petroleum projects and large hydro-electric power projects that Chinese companies also are involved with in Burma. Human Rights Watch's position is that companies doing business in Burma should ensure their operations do not contribute to or benefit from human rights abuses. Since late 2007 we have called on companies to cease investments in economic sectors alleged to be associated with human rights violations in Burma. We have called on those already involved in such investments by that date to conduct thorough and independent human rights impact assessments, make the results of such assessments public, and be prepared to reconsider their investments and operations in the country based on the outcome of the assessments as well as further developments in Burma.

Helping the Burmese people is one of the most difficult and intractable problems the world has faced in recent decades. China can play a far more productive long-term role if it works with other members of the international community to foster genuine change in Burma.

We wish you a productive trip and look forward to discussing these issues with you or your staff at your convenience.



Yours sincerely,
Elaine Pearson
Acting Asia Director
Human Rights Watch

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/28/letter-chinese-premier-wen-ahead-trip-burma-0

Repressive Laws Mark Preparation for 2010 Polls

Burma: 20 Years After 1990 Elections, Democracy Still Denied
Source: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Date: 26 May 2010

Repressive Laws Mark Preparation for 2010 Polls

(New York) – On the twentieth anniversary of Burma's historic 1990 elections, the Burmese military government shows no signs of relaxing its stranglehold on power, Human Rights Watch said today.
Elections planned for 2010, the first in 20 years, appear designed to enshrine military rule with a civilian face, Human Rights Watch said.

"The 1990 elections sent a clear message to the Burmese military that the people wanted them out of power," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The generals won't make the same mistake twice. The past 20 years have been a stage-managed process to ensure the military controls the future parliament."

On May 27, 1990, surprisingly free and fair elections in Burma resulted in a resounding win for the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), which secured 60 percent of the popular vote and 80 percent of the parliamentary seats (392 out of 485). The NLD will not contest the 2010 elections because of new laws aimed to deter the opposition from running and the imprisonment of many party members, including NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Burma's military government refused to recognize the result of the 1990 elections and claimed that the vote was only to form an assembly to draft a new constitution, not for a parliament. In the ensuing months, the military government arrested and imprisoned dozens of opposition parliamentarians, while scores fled Burma to seek refuge abroad.

The government's tightly-controlled process of drafting a new constitution dragged on for 14 years. The ruling State Peace and Development Council announced its "Seven Step Road Map to Disciplined Democracy" in August 2003 as a renewed plan to complete the constitution and prepare for future elections. In many of his public speeches, the Burmese president, Senior-General Than Shwe, talked about moving the country to "discipline flourishing democracy" in which the military would have a central role.

Those who participated in the constitutional drafting process did so at great personal risk. Twelve members of parliament who won seats in 1990 remain in prison in Burma today, including 10 NLD members. Hkun Tun Oo, the leader of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and Kyaw Min (aka Marmaud Shaoshu Arnolgula Haud), an ethnic Rohingya Muslim from Arakan state, were arrested in 2005 even though both had attended the national convention and tried to work within the military government's reform process. Each was sentenced to long prison terms: Hkun Tun Oo received 93 years' imprisonment for treason, and Kyaw Min received 47 years for immigration offenses.

The new constitution was approved by a nationwide referendum in May 2008, just weeks after the devastating Cyclone Nargis, in a process marked by intimidation and irregularities.

"The military junta has tried to erase the memory of the 1990 elections by imprisoning those who won and excluding political prisoners from the process," Pearson said. "What the generals call 'disciplined democracy' is stage-managing a result and ordering the Burmese people to accept it."

Human Rights Watch urged Burma's close diplomatic and trade allies, particularly China, India, Russia, and Singapore, to exert pressure on the military government to pursue a genuinely open political reform process, and to not endorse the upcoming elections. Criticism of the electoral process has been recently voiced by the European Union Parliament in a resolution on May 19, by the United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Curt Campbell during his recent visit to Burma, and by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Human Rights Watch called upon the international community to impose more calibrated and targeted sanctions on the Burmese leadership, the military, and their close business associates as the most effective way to pressure the military government ahead of the elections.

"Only the most cynical of governments could endorse Burma's deeply flawed process," Pearson said. "On the twentieth anniversary of a crushed election, Burma's friends should insist on the immediate release of political prisoners and an inclusive and credible political process."


Background information

Five electoral laws released in March 2010 set the ground rules for the election expected in late 2010. The Political Party Registration Law (SPDC Law No.2/2010, Chapter 1. 2(I)) prohibits political parties from having members who are currently serving prison terms or detention orders. These compelled the NLD to refuse to register their party for the 2010 elections, even though the party had struggled to retain its legal status for 20 years after it won the 1990 elections.

The newly formed Electoral Commission overseeing political party registration lacks independence since it is comprised of officials close to the State Peace and Development Council. More than 37 political parties have registered to contest the elections. These include the National Unity Party, which won 21 percent of the vote in 1990, several ethnic parties such as the Pa-O National Organization and Kokang Democracy and Unity Party, and a pro-government Wunthanu (Patriotic) National League for Democracy, comprised of some former NLD members.

In late April, the Burmese prime minister, Gen. Thein Sein, and more than 20 serving senior generals with ministerial portfolios, resigned from their military posts and registered the Union Solidarity and Development Party to contest the elections. The new pro-government party mirrors the mass-based social welfare organization Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), formed by the military in 1993 and now comprising more than 24 million nominal members nationwide. Paramilitary forces part of or associated with the USDA have been used to intimidate and harass the opposition, most notably in the violent attack against Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade in Depayin in upper Burma on May 30, 2003, and during the crackdown against monks and protesters in September 2007.

There are currently more than 2,100 political prisoners in Burma, including 428 members of the NLD arrested and sentenced since 1990, 253 monks, 282 student leaders, and prominent dissidents such as Min Ko Naing, Burma's famous comedian and social activist Zargana, poets, bloggers, labor activists, and doctors. Human Rights Watch's campaign 2,100 in 2010 aims to highlight the plight of these 2,100 prisoners and press for their unconditional release ahead of the elections.

Conditions in Burmese prisons are desperate, with torture and mistreatment, poor sanitation, inadequate health care, and irregular visits and food supplies from family members. More than 120 political prisoners are in poor health. Political prisoner Ko Kyaw Soe, age 39, died on May 19, 2010, in Myingyan prison near Mandalay due to prolonged ill-treatment in custody.

To view the Human Rights Watch report, "'I Want to Help My Own People': State Control and Civil Society in Burma After Cyclone Nargis," please visit: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/04/29/i-want-help-my-own-people-0

For more information about the 2,100 in 2010 campaign, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/free-burmas-prisoners
To view the Human Rights Watch World Report 2010 Burma chapter, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87392

The state of the world’s human rights, Amnesty Internatioal 2010

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2010
The state of the world’s human rights

MYANMAR
UNION OF MYANMAR

Head of state: Senior General Than Shwe
Head of government: General Thein Sein
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice
Population: 50 million
Life expectancy: 61.2 years
Under 5-mortality (m/f): 120/102 per 1,000
Adult literacy: 89.9 per cent

Almost 2,200 political prisoners remained behind bars. Most were held in abysmal conditions and many suffered from poor physical and psychological health. The authorities arrested Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party, and sentenced her to 18 months’ further house arrest.

Fighting intensified between the army and an aligned ethnic minority Karen armed group, and armed opposition group the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). This was accompanied by serious human rights violations and led to thousands seeking refuge in neighbouring Thailand. The authorities continued to target ethnic minority activists involved in various forms of resistance to government policies, practices, and projects.

Background
In August, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was permitted to meet a US Senator, and in October met with her government liaison officer for the first time since January 2008. In November, she met a high-level mission from the US.

In April, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, the military government) proposed that the ethnic minority armed groups that had agreed ceasefires with the government become border guard forces under SPDC command. This was in preparation for national elections in 2010

– the first since 1990 – but negotiations and fighting with such armed groups followed throughout the year. By the end of the year only nine groups agreed to the proposal, most citing a feared loss of territory or control as reasons for their refusal. Relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction in the wake of the 2008 Cyclone Nargis continued, while serious food shortages struck Chin and Rakhine States. Myanmar began building a fence on the border with Bangladesh, which increased tensions between the two countries. The international community raised concerns that the Myanmar government may be seeking nuclear capability.

Political prisoners
Although in February and September the government released more than 13,000 prisoners, there were only 158 known political prisoners among them, including five prisoners of conscience, Ma Khin Khin Leh, U Saw Naing Naing, U Soe Han, Ko Aung Tun, and Khaing Kaung San. These individuals had all been imprisoned for approximately 10 years. At least 50 people were arrested between the September releases and the end of the year and almost 2,200 political prisoners remained.

_ In January, a court sentenced Bo Min Yu Ko (Phyo Gyi), a member of the All Burma Federation of Students Union, to 104 years in prison under various charges including six counts under the Immigration Act.

_ In May, after an unidentified American man entered the property of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the authorities arrested her for violating the conditions of the house arrest she had been under since 2003. After a partly closed trial in Yangon’s Insein prison, she was sentenced to three years of hard labour, immediately reduced to an additional 18 months of house arrest.

_ In September, the authorities detained Kyaw Zaw Lwin (Nyi Nyi Aung), a man from Myanmar with US citizenship, when he arrived in Myanmar to visit his family – four members of which are prisoners of conscience. While in custody, security officers tortured Kyaw Zaw Lwin and denied him medical treatment. In October, he was tried on charges of fraud and forgery. The authorities publicly stated that Kyaw Zaw Lwin could be sentenced to death if convicted.

Prison conditions
The authorities continued to send and hold political prisoners in prisons far away from their families and friends, despite telling the UN Human Rights Council in March that prisoners receive visits and necessary health treatments. At least 220 political prisoners had been moved to remote prisons since November 2008, making it extremely difficult for families to provide essential assistance. Conditions in prisons continued to be extremely poor, including inadequate food, water and medical care. Authorities frequently kept political prisoners in solitary confinement.

_ In March, Hla Myo Naung, an activist imprisoned nearly 1,500km from his home, was in danger of completely losing his eyesight. He had already gone blind in one eye after being denied specialist medical treatment.

_ Beginning in March, Ko Htay Kywe, a student leader held more than 1,100km from his family, was held incommunicado and in solitary confinement. Prison authorities threatened other prisoners with severe punishment if they spoke to him.

_ In March, Su Su Nway, an NLD campaigner, was hospitalized in a prison over 1,000km from her home. Prison authorities gave her mental health medication which caused her condition to worsen. She was kept in solitary confinement on an intermittent basis as punishment for various offences and denied family visits.

_ In May, Zarganar, a comedian and activist held over 1,400km from his home, was in urgent need of medical attention for various health problems, including an enlarged heart. He lost consciousness in April and was only taken to the hospital 10 days later. Following a visit to Myitkyina prison on 7 December, Zarganar’s sisterin-law confirmed that he was suffering from the skin disease pruritus.

Targeting ethnic minorities
The government continued to target ethnic minority activists for their work on political, environmental, and/or religious issues, and for their real or imputed support of ethnic political and armed groups.

_ In January, the authorities arrested, beat, and imprisoned at least 19 Rakhine men and women for possessing documents on human rights and democracy and for forming a political organization. They were sentenced to prison terms of between five and seven years.

_ In January, soldiers beat a Shan woman several times after accusing her of giving rice to Shan insurgents and acting as a guide for them.

_ In February, police arrested two local Kachin youths for surfing banned websites on Myanmar.

_ In March and early April, authorities increased their surveillance of the ceasefire group the New Mon State Party (NMSP), throughout Mon State, questioning them regularly about contacting the media.

_ In June, authorities in Rakhine State arrested Soe Soe on charges of contacting opposition groups in exile, and sentenced her to six years’ imprisonment. In Rakhine State, systematic persecution of ethnic minority Rohingyas continued unabated, causing thousands to flee to Bangladesh, Thailand or Malaysia, often on boats.

In January, the Myanmar navy intercepted one such boat that had recently left Myanmar, and held the 78 Rohingyas on board for six days and beat them severely, before sending them back out to sea. In April, at the regional meetings of the Bali Process, the government publicly refused to recognize Rohingyas either as an existing ethnic minority or as citizens of Myanmar.

Cyclone Nargis-related arrests and imprisonment
At least 29 people who had assisted in private relief work after Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar in May 2008 remained in prison for activity deemed political by the authorities. At least 18 of them were sentenced to between 10 and 35 years in prison.

_ In October, the authorities arrested at least 10 people for accepting relief donations from abroad. At least seven were members of the local Lin Let Kye (“Shining Star”) organization, devoted to relief and social activism.

Armed conflict and displacement
The Myanmar army continued to attack various ethnic minority armed groups, often targeting civilians and causing large-scale displacement. In June, attacks by the army and the government-supported Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) internally displaced thousands of ethnic minority Karen civilians and caused 4,800 refugees to flee to Thailand. The DKBA forcibly recruited people during the offensive for both portering and military service, destroyed abandoned villages, and planted land mines in the wake of the exodus.

In August, the most intensive attacks in 10 years against the armed opposition Shan State Army-South and Shan civilians forced more than 10,000 people to relocate; most were internally displaced. The attacks were characterized by extrajudicial executions and sexual abuse. Also in August, the army attacked the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, causing more than 30,000 mostly ethnic minority Kokang to flee into China, almost all of whom subsequently returned to Myanmar. Internal displacement increased to over 500,000 people.

Development-related violations
The army committed human rights violations in connection with official development projects, including forced labour, killings, beatings, land confiscation, forced farming, restrictions on movement, and confiscation of property. Battalions providing security for the Yadana, Yetagun and Kanbauk-Myiang Kalay natural gas pipelines in Tanintharyi Division and Kayin State forced civilians to work on barracks, roads and sentry huts.

Authorities also confiscated land without compensation in relation to the Shwe gas project in Rakhine State, and targeted villagers suspected of opposing or questioning the project. Authorities arrested, detained and interrogated local villagers, forcing some to flee the area.

Child soldiers
The Burmese army and government-backed militias continued to systematically recruit, use and imprison child soldiers, both directly and through recruiting agents. Several ethnic minority armed groups also continued recruiting children. The government failed to align its action plan against the recruitment and use of child soldiers with international standards, despite a verbal commitment in September 2007 to do so in the “near future”. The government took no steps towards developing a formal disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme that would ensure that all child soldiers are released and returned to their families.

The ILO continued to receive and address reports of child soldier recruitment by officials. By the end of the year, the ILO had received 131 complaints concerning under-age recruitment since February 2007. Fifty-nine children had been discharged from the military. The authorities continued to maintain that children only join the military voluntarily, and typically punished perpetrators of under-age recruitment with only a reprimand. The authorities also released from prison and discharged three of four known child soldiers who had been sentenced and imprisoned for desertion.
International scrutiny
In January and February, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser visited Myanmar and briefed the UN Security Council the following month. In February, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar visited the country, and presented a report in March to the UN Human Rights Council.

Also in February, the Thai Foreign Minister conducted informal talks with the Karen National Union (KNU) with the permission of the Myanmar government. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees visited Myanmar in March. In both April and June, meetings of the Bali process, aimed at deterring human trafficking and smuggling and preventing illegal migration in Asia and the Pacific, were held and the situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar was discussed.

Following the arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in May, the UN Security Council issued a press statement expressing concern and calling for the release of all political prisoners. ASEAN, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar also issued statements on her arrest. The EU tightened its economic sanctions against Myanmar.

In June, the UN Secretary-General visited Myanmar. The UN Representative for Children and
Armed Conflict visited Myanmar in July. In August, the UN discussed with the government the development of a joint action plan to address children in armed conflict under Security Council Resolutions 1612 and 1882. In October, the UN Security Council Working Group issued its conclusions on Children and Armed Conflict in Myanmar in accordance with the resolutions. In December, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

After extending its list of individuals and business networks subjected to targeted financial sanctions in January, and announcing in February that it would conduct a review of its policy on Myanmar, in September the USA concluded that it would maintain its economic sanctions but begin dialogue with the Myanmar government. In August, a US Senator visited Myanmar. In November the US government sent a high-level mission.

Death penalty
In October, a court in Laogai, Shan State, sentenced at least one child soldier to death for killing a person who may also have been a child soldier.

Amnesty International reports
_ Open letter to the governments of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand on the plight of the Rohingyas (ASA 01/001/2009)
_ Myanmar: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s new sentence “shameful”, 11 August 2009

http://thereport.amnesty.org/sites/default/files/AIR2010_AZ_EN.pdf

Push for UN meet to solve Rohingya issue

Source: The Daily Independent (Bangladesh)June 02, 2010
Published: 02 June 2010

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been urged to convene a meeting of the Security Council to resolve the Rohingya refugee issue permanently.

The suggestion came at a discussion on 'Rohingya problems: Ways to Resolve it' organized by the Centre for Education and Advocacy at the national press club yesterday.

Participants alleged that some non-government organisations (NGOs) and donor agencies don't want to resolve the Rohingya issue permanently for mysterious reasons. Had they been sincere this problem would have been solved long ago, they observed.

Taking part in the discussion, food and disaster management minister Dr MA Razzque said the Rohingya problem had now turned into an international issue.

"The government has been holding bilateral discussions with the Myanmar government to resolve the problem. If bilateral discussions yield no result, the issue will be placed before the international community," he said.

He called for quick and permanent settlement of the decades-old Rohingya problem which is putting extra burden on Bangladesh's limited resources and causing various social problems. Despite being a poor country, Bangladesh gave shelter to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on humanitarian ground, he said adding, "a section of foreign media is publishing wrong information on this issue".

He expressed his concern that unregistered Rohingyas were moving to different areas of the country. When the initiative for their registration was taken, a huge number of Rohingyas started entering the country, he added.

The minister said the UNHCR should take initiative immediately for a permanent settlement of this issue.

Chief information commissioner Md Zamir suggested that the UNHCR could set up camps near the border within Myanmar for giving shelter to the Rohingya refugees.A discussion between the development partners and the Muslim countries can be arranged on the Rohingya issue to persuade the UN to put pressure on Myanmar for its permanent settlement immediately, he noted.

About 28,000 registered refugees living in two camps and nearly 400,000 unregistered of them living outside the camps have been putting a heavy burden on Bangladesh's economy besides creating many social, environmental and law and order problems, speakers said.

The continuous flow of the refugees from Myanmar has been causing massive damage to the country's scarce land, forests and other resources. Their illegal activities have led to the deterioration of law and order situation in Cox's Bazar, according to them.Among others, CPB leader Ruhin Hossain Prince, journalists Farid Hossain, Jaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, representatives from the Muslim Aid and UNHCR also took part in the discussion.

Gellary

Photo gallary related to the Rohingya and its land