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reformat of Suu Kyi's video address (r)
- Subject: reformat of Suu Kyi's video address (r)
- From: burma1un@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 13:16:00
Subject: reformat of Suu Kyi's video address to UNCHR
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
Burma UN Service Office
777 UN Plaza, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (212) 3380048
Fax: (212) 3380049
Email: burma1un@xxxxxxxxxxx
April 8, 1997
AUNG SAN SUU KYI APPEALS TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:
"OUR POLITICAL RIGHTS ARE GETTING FEWER BY THE DAY...
END THE CONSTANT VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA."
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of
the National League for Democracy in Burma, made the
following video address (which had to be smuggled out of
Burma) to the 53rd session of the United Nations Human
Rights Commission, Geneva, 8 April 1997.
1. I would like to ask your views on increasing
restrictions placed on you and your MPs.
When I talk of human rights violations in Burma, I think not
about...We can only think about which human rights are being
violated, not in terms of which rights are not being
violated. But in terms of which human rights are being
violated, I think I can say that all our rights are being
violated.
And the restrictions placed on members of the NLD
and supporters of the NLD are really excessive. It?s not
just that we are prevented from doing our political work,
the families of supporters are subjected to a lot of
economic pressure. There?s interference with their economic
activities and even with educational activities. There are
those who have been threatened that if their parents don?t
tow the line they will lose their jobs, or that they will
not be allowed to take certain examinations. Now whether
the threats will be carried out I don?t know. Threats have
been made and in some cases people have been penalized
because of their connections to members of the NLD,
supporters of the NLD.
Now at the moment a lot of our members of parliament
have been forced to resign. They have been forced to resign
because of pressure to their families. Some have refused to
resign. One of our members of parliament has been made to
leave his state home apartment where he had lived for years
because he refused to resign from the NLD.
There are at the moment a number of cases pending, a
number of trumped up cases against members of parliament
from the NLD. Now the latest case which I think was of
considerable interest because of his connections to General
Khin Nyunt was that of Doctor Than Yin who was arrested on
the grounds that he had treated patients in his consultation
room before the license had been issued property. He was
released I understand yesterday and only fined a thousand
kyats.
Now this of course is very unusual. I?ve not heard
of members of the NLD who ever got away without some sort of
prison sentence. I don?t know whether Dr. Than Yin has got
away with it because so many people have been speculating on
why he was arrested. There were those who said his arrest
indicated that Khin Nyunt?s grip on power was slipping. And
perhaps because of these comments the authorities felt that
it would be politic to let him off lightly. But if he?s let
off lightly then others in a similar situation should be let
off lightly too.
There?s a case of another NLD doctor who was, I
think, charged with culpable homicide because a patient who
was dying in any case and who he treated with an injection
to enable the patient to reach the hospital, died on the way
to hospital. I understand that they have now changed the
charge because that wouldn?t stick. When they performed the
autopsy they found that the patient hardly had any lungs
left. Almost all the whole of his lungs had been eaten away
be tuberculosis. So they could only conclude that he was
going to die anyway. But I understand that now they are
trying to change the charge and make it one similar to that
with which they charged Doctor Than Yin, giving treatment in
a consultation room without a proper license.
Now most doctors in Burma don?t have licenses for
their consultations rooms. They of course have proper
medical certificates which give them the right to practice
but the majority of doctors don?t bother about applying for
a license for the consultation room simply because the
authorities don?t bother to issue the licenses even if you
apply for one. So they use the rules and regulations.
They use the law as they like in order to restrict the NLD,
in order to stop people from working effectively for the
democracy movement.
My own road, the road to my house has been blocked
off now for three months...it started...the first time they
blocked it was in September but then that was on and off,
they would open it occasionally. Then they would block it
off again. But it?s been blocked off completely since the
3rd of December so that makes it three months now, about
three months tomorrow exactly. And this of course is meant
to stop us from carrying on our NLD activities in my home.
And every time people come to see me they have to get
permission from the authorities.
And when Burmese people come to see me they are
asked for their national registration certificate. And
sometimes they are kept waiting at the roadblock for a long
time. And as for people from abroad, especially
journalists, sometimes they are just not allowed in at all.
Although the people at the barricades were informed that so
and so would be coming, if they feel that they don?t want to
let a certain person through they don?t let that person
through. They have done this to journalists and to
diplomats as well. So this is again a form of harassment.
A way of trying to restrict the activities of the National
League for Democracy.
I would like to make the point that the NLD is not
just a political party. It represents a whole democratic
movement in Burma. Because all the other parties working
for democracy have been effectively crushed. There are of
course some ethnic nationalities parties, but they are
rather small and they don?t operate on a national basis.
They only operate in their own areas. Which leaves the NLD
as the only political party that operates throughout the
country and that represents the movement for democracy. So
restricting the NLD is tantamount to crushing democracy.
I would like to remind the international community
of the fact that the general assembly resolution calls for
an early restoration of democracy to Burma, in line of
wishes of the people as expressed through the 1990 election.
Now that is a very good resolution, but it needs to be
implemented. That resolution also calls for the full and
free participation of all the Burmese people in the
political process of the country. Again that needs to be
implemented.
Our political rights are getting fewer and fewer by
the day. There are more restrictions, more repression, the
authorities seem determined to crush any kind of political
movement.
They have, as I am sure many of your will have
heard, they have built up a so-called social welfare
organisation called the Union Solidarity and Development
Association, the USDA. Which they are using, occasionally
as a political arm and occasionally as just a gang of thugs,
to harass and intimidate those who are working for
democracy.
In November it was members of the USDA who attacked
the cars in which U Kyi Maung and U Tin U and I were
travelling. So I have no inhibitions in saying that the
USDA more than occasionally performs the work of mere thugs.
Then this is not the way in which a responsible government
should behave. A responsible government does not build up a
gang of hooligans to attack those who it wishes to crush
politically.
Ours is a non-violent political movement but however
non-violent it may be, a political movement should be
allowed to demonstrate its opposition to certain government
policies if it thinks it is right to do so. And there are
many policies of the government which we are obliged to
oppose because these policies are aimed at crushing the
movement for democracy. Because we are obliged to speak up
against such government policies as are unjust and
repressive, we should not be treated like criminals.
Our people are treated worse than criminals because
the families of criminals are not penalised. If a man has
committed a crime, whether it?s murder, or robbery, or
assault, he is punished, his family members are not
punished. But in our case members, family members of the
National League for Democracy...families of the National
League for Democracy...are heavily penalised. Often very
heavily penalised.
So the present situation is such that we need
maximum attention on what is happening to the National
League for Democracy. Now this government is treating
members of the National League for Democracy because that is
an indication of the degree to which the authorities are
prepared to go to prevent democracy from taking root in
Burma. And therefore that is in direct opposition to the
spirit as well as the terms of the General Assembly
resolution.
2. Views on recent religious unrest.
As I understand it, the unrest began in Mandalay because of
the fact that there was some damage done to this very, very
famous and very, very revered image of the Bhudda, the
Mahama Yamoni image, and the monks were very angry about
this and they thought that the authorities were in some way
responsible for the...I think it was a crack which had
appeared in the image. And about the same time the problems
with the Muslim community started. And there are those who
speculate that this was intended to distract attention from
what had happened to the Mahama Yamoni image. I don?t know
how true this is, but I can say that the present problems
between the Muslim communities and the Bhuddist monks does
not do our country any good at all.
And of course the authorities, as you can imagine,
would like to blame the whole thing on the NLD. They try to
blame everything on NLD. According to the authorities, it?s
the NLD who always decides what?s happening in the country.
If we are so very powerful we might as well take over power
completely.
The present situation seems to be under control. I
think there are probably certain places in Burma where there
is a lot of tension between the Muslims and the Bhuddists.
But on the whole I think the people are quite calm, and they
do not want trouble. And I think that the community of
Bhuddist monks on the whole also are calling for restraint
and calm.
The real source, the real reason behind this, is I
think social unrest. Whenever there is communal strife
anywhere it is due to social unrest. Social unrest of
course is related to such factors as political
dissatisfaction and economic problems. So we can?t just
isolate the problems between the Bhuddist monks and the
Muslims and say, well, there is trouble there. There is
trouble throughout the country. It is just a symptom of the
general malaise that you will find in Burma today. I really
hope that the situation will be resolved soon because we
want Burma to be a country that is safe and secure for all
its citizens whatever the religion.
3. What about the situation on the Thai/Burma border at the
moment, of refugees in some cases being pushed back? Are
you aware of the situation there?
Yes, and we are very concerned about this. We really want
the international community to help the refugees as far as
possible. And we would like the Thai authorities to look on
these refugees with compassion and not to force them to
return back to their homes where there is no security.
Again, of course, the reason why there are so many
refugees is because the ceasefire between the KNU and the
military government has broken down. And this is another
indication of the unstable political situation of Burma
today. SLORC has been claiming that it has achieved
ceasefires, it has been able to bring peace to the border.
Well, obviously this is not so.
Ceasefires do not mean peace, they do not mean
long-term peace at all. Ceasefires simply mean that you
stop shooting at each other for a certain length of time.
You still keep your guns at the ready. Which means that you
can start shooting any time you think that it?s no longer
either wise or possible to continue with the ceasefire.
We are very concerned about the situation of our
ethnic nationalities. Of course people know about these
refugees but we understand that on this side of the border
there are many, many villages of Karens and other ethnic
nationalities where the people are subjected to a lot of
persecution, repression, forced porterage, torture, and I am
told even summary execution.
So the situation is not good. With regard to the
refugees we really hope that the UNHCR will be allowed to
help them. And that the international community will
provide them with as much support as possible.
4. What is your assessment of the current situation of
human rights abuses in Burma?
Bad! As I said earlier, one does not think in terms of
which human rights have been violated, one thinks in terms
of which human rights have not been violated. And one
sometimes comes to the conclusion that are no rights which
have not been violated.
Forced labour is a daily business. And children are
made to provide forced labour because often the parents
can?t take time off to go and work on these forced labour
projects. The economic situation is bad. The standards of
living of a lot of people have fallen. And there is a
struggle in order to be able to eat two full meals a day.
So if the parents have to go and work on forced labour
projects where they are not paid it means that the family
cannot eat for the day. Consequently they sent children out
to work on the project while the parents go out to earn
money.
And of course there are always children on
construction sites. Now that is not forced labour but that
again is due to economic pressure. In a number of families
they cannot make ends meet unless the children work as well.
You can find this if you study the records of UNICEF
with regard to children in primary schools. The dropout
rate of children in primary schools has been rising...This
is primarily due to the poverty of family -- either they
cannot afford to send the children to school because they
cannot clothe them properly or they cannot give all these...
Well, education is supposed to be free but actually
you are made to contribute to this event and that event and
this bit of school equipment and that bit of school
furniture and so on. So because they cannot afford to pay
these charges or because they need the children to help them
earn more money for the family, parents take their children
away before they complete primary school and therefore the
dropout is rising. So child rights in Burma is an issue
which needs to be addressed very urgently.
5. In terms of the current situation, how do you see the
international communities obligations at this time?
The main obligation of the international community is to do
every thing it can to implement the terms of the General
Assembly resolution. As I said earlier it is a good
resolution but it shouldn?t just remain on paper, it needs
to be implemented. And since it was passed unanimously I
think the international community does have an obligation to
try to implement its terms. To take it seriously, not just
to regard it as a piece of paper.
I would like to call for a strong resolution on the
human rights situation in Burma. As I said earlier there
are hardly any human rights which have not been violated by
this military regime. And we need strong action from the
international community to put an end to these constant
violations of our basic human rights.
We would like the human rights resolution to address
very particularly, the question of political rights. As
well as the right of people to be free from such pressures
as forced labour, forced relocation. And we would also like
the resolution to address the question of the refugees. I
think these are the three main points that we would like
addressed.
That political rights should be enjoyed by all of
use and particularly by members of the National League for
Democracy not because this is my party but because, as I
have already said, it represents the movement for democracy
in Burma. And therefore protecting the political rights of
the National League for Democracy is part of the process of
helping to implement the terms of the general assembly
resolution on Burma.
And we would really like the question of forced
labour and forced relocation to be addressed very seriously,
because that disrupts the lives of families. It causes ill
health, it also...it even causes death in some cases.
And of course the refugee problem. The refugee
problem ultimately is an offshoot of the political problem.
If there was political stability in Burma, if there were a
democratic system that allowed people to express their
hopes, their fears, their aspirations, their difficulties,
their resentments -- through a legal channel -- there would
not be all this problem of refugees. There would not be
this problem of insurgencies.
People take to arms because they feel there is no
other way in which they can resolve their problems. If
there were a system which allowed them to solve their
problems politically rather than militarily, I think you
will find that peace will come back to Burma. And therefore
the refugee problem would disappear. Not overnight, but it
will certainly disappear once there is a new kind of
political system and political atmosphere in the country.
Which is why I put the political rights of the
National League for Democracy and other working for
democracy in Burma as the most important item on the agency
for the Human Rights Commission. We would also like to make
sure that the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations
Secretary General is allowed to come to Burma to find out
what is going on. To meet the political opposition and hear
from them exactly how they are subjected to persecution and
we think that the idea of having a group of people to
monitor the human rights situation in Burma from a suitable
location is an excellent one, and I hope that this will be
taken up by the United Nations.