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NEWS! - Myanmar Abuses Continue des
- Subject: NEWS! - Myanmar Abuses Continue des
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 20:06:00
Subject: NEWS! - Myanmar Abuses Continue despite ASEAN
Myanmar Abuses Continue despite ASEAN
Reuters
29-JUN-99
BANGKOK, June 30 (Reuters) - Amnesty International on
Wednesday accused Myanmar's ruling military of
widespread abuses against ethnic minorities -- including
killings, torture and rape -- and said its record had
worsened
since it joined ASEAN.
A report issued by the London-based human rights group
said the military had killed "dozens" of unarmed farmers
from
Karen, Karenni and Shan ethnic groups in the past year,
and
forced large numbers off their land or to do unpaid
labour for
the army.
The report said ethnic Karen refugees interviewed had
described two dozen killings of relatives and friends
between
mid-1998 and February. Shan refugees interviewed by
Amnesty in February described 20 extrajudicial executions
by the army, and
Karenni refugees several more.
Amnesty said such abuses had continued despite Myanmar's
1997 entry to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"ASEAN countries then claimed that such a move would
encourage the SPDC to improve its human rights record,"
it
said, referring to Yangon's ruling State Peace and
Development Council.
"In fact the opposite has been true," the report said.
"The SPDC has stepped up its repression of the opposition
party, the National League for Democracy, and increased
forcible relocation programmes.
"Forced labour in all seven ethnic minority areas
continues at
a high level and forced portering -- one of the harshest
forms
of forced labour -- occurs wherever there are
counter-insurgency activities," Amnesty said.
It called on ASEAN -- which groups Myanmar with Thailand,
the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia,
Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia -- to pressure Yangon at a
ministerial meeting next month.
"As ASEAN members gather in Singapore in July 1999 for
their annual Ministerial Meeting, it behoves them to come
up
with a new strategy for dealing with the SPDC's
intransigence regarding human rights," Amnesty said.
It also said China should cease arms sales to Myanmar.
In the section of the report covering Karen State, a
woman
reported finding the body of her 12-year-old niece, who
had
a gunshot entering her vagina and exiting at her chin.
It said the girl was alleged to have been raped by a
major,
then managed to escape, was recaptured, raped again, and
shot. The major paid her family a sack of rice, a measure
of
sugar, a tin of condensed milk and 100 kyat (about 30
U.S.
cents) in compensation.
Another woman described how troops beheaded her brother
after accusing him of passing information to the Karen
National Union insurgents and beating him unconscious.
In another case, the report said, a Karen widow saw her
son
shot dead by soldiers when he tried to stop them beating
her.
The Amnesty report documented killings and abuses by
ethnic insurgents against Myanmar citizens and those
considered enemies of their movements.
Amnesty said it had recent reports the KNU had killed
people, outside of combat, in both Myanmar and Thai
territory, and it had also received accounts of
ill-treatment
and torture by the KNU.
Amnesty said it was unable to confirm the reports as it
was
not allowed access to Myanmar, but believed them to be
credible.
In one incident in Shan State in late October, it said 10
ethnic Burman civilians were reported to have been killed
by
an unknown Shan armed group.
It called on all armed groups in Myanmar to "respect
minimum standards of international humanitarian law and
to
put an end to abuses such as deliberate and arbitrary
killings, torture and hostage taking."