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Rights group sees "improvements"
- Subject: Rights group sees "improvements"
- From: tun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 01:13:00
Subject: Rights group sees "improvements"
Rights group sees "improvements"
Associated Press
Burma's ruling military has made "incremental improvements" in the
country's human rights, but arrests of critics, torture and unfair trials
continued last year, a human rights group said in a report received
yesterday.
The London-based Amnesty International said positive steps included the
release of some 2,000 political prisoners between April 1992 and the end
of last year and the abolition of military tribunals.
The Burmese military, which seized power after quelling a 1988
pro-democracy uprising with guns, also agreed to work with the
International Red Cross to train military officers in international
humanitarian law, Amnesty said.
"However, (Amnesty) remains concerned that a system of repression is
still in place which is being used to violate the fundamental rights of
the people" of Burma, the report said.
The Amnesty report covers events in the Southeast Asian Nation during
the second half of 1993.
It said that torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners as well
as ethnic minorities fighting the central government remained common.
The report cited repressive measures against the Karen, one of the main
minority groups., during anti-insurgency operations as well as inhuman
treatment of porters forced to work for the military.
Although it welcomed the releaser of the 2,000 political prisoners,
Amnesty said several hundred were still detained and those released are
"routinely subjected to intimidation, which takes the form of
surveillance, threats and interrogation."
Similar measures the report charged, were being used agains delegates
to the national convention to draft a constitution for the country.