The BurmaNet News: June 30, 1999

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: June 30, 1999
Issue #1304

HEADLINES:
==========
SCMP: BURMA GOES UNDERGROUND 
AWSJ: MUSE IS NOT MODEL 
FEER: TOP TROIKA 
ASIAWEEK: MYANMAR - KEEP ON FLYING 
WHITE HOUSE: PRESIDENT'S SPEECH TO THE ILO 
ALIN: MERCENARY LABOUR UNIONS OF IMPERIALISM 
AI: RELEASE OF THREE MAJOR REPORTS 
NATION: EU GRANTS $4.7M AID FOR BURMESE REFUGEES 
STAR: MALAYSIA, YANGON TO INCREASE COOPERATION 
ICHRDD: 1999 JOHN HUMPHREY FREEDOM AWARD 
****************************************************************

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: BURMA GOES UNDERGROUND 
25 June, 1999 by William Barnes 

A Japanese businessman was shocked recently to be turned away from the
impressive new Sedona Hotel overlooking Rangoon's Inya lake. 

"Full," the demure receptionist said. 

How could a hotel be full when the huge marbled entry hall echoed only to
the sound of waiters and security guards and barely a single light broke
the darkness of the hotel tower outside? 

The answer was that, apart from a couple of floors, most of the rooms had
been mothballed. 

The scene inside the hotel serves as a metaphor for the general condition
of the country's economy. 

But if Rangoon is suffering, how devastated is the rest of the country?
After all, Burma's capital was the prime beneficiary -- along with Mandalay
-- of a surge of investment in the first half of the 1990s. 

The World Bank last year said that, without significant policy adjustments,
the medium-term outlook was "grim". 

It predicted gross domestic product growth would slow from 6.4 per cent in
1996-97 to 3 per cent this year and 2.5 per cent by 2001-02. 

This gloomy scenario is now unfolding: even the habitually optimistic
regime admitted growth last year was only 5.6 per cent. 

Expert observers usually knock at least a couple of percentage points off
the official figure. The Economist Intelligence Unit said GDP growth dipped
to 0.6 per cent last year. 

Last month, Economics Minister Brigadier-General David Able blamed the
Asian crash for a 60 per cent drop in direct investment from neighbours
last year. 

In truth the economy was in deep trouble well before Thailand's mid-1997
currency slump triggered the Asian crisis. 

The mini-boom which followed tentative reforms in the early 1990s had
already stalled by early 1996 -- as the International Monetary Fund noted
-- by the failure to deliver further reforms. 

Foreign businesses, attracted by promises of minimal red tape, low
corruption and cheap labour to a country which appeared ripe for rapid
development, were irritated four years ago by trade and aid blocks from
Western politicians. 

Investors only discovered the debilitating reality in the second half of
the decade: rampant corruption, a bureaucracy paralysed by fear and a
regime with an almost pathological desire to retain control of virtually
all economic activity. 

The foreign business community may have halved in the past 12 months. One
would-be textile manufacturer found that even US$8 a month wage rates could
not keep him afloat: "I waited two years for a decision -- that's long
enough." 


The regime's delight at winning membership of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations nearly two years ago was heightened by the expectation it
would smooth the inflow of investment. 

Disappointment was inevitable: since 1989 only about $2 billion of the more
than $7 billion in investment commitments have actually been dispersed. And
$800 million of that $2 billion is linked to the country's only
mega-project: the Yadana gas pipeline built by France's Total to bring
offshore gas to Thailand. 

The Burmese Government now spends precious foreign currency on attending
myriad Asean meetings, yet it does not appear prepared to make the sort of
changes that the IMF thought were essential. 

The IMF prescribed scrapping the ludicrously overvalued official exchange
rate, which values the "official" kyat at 50 times its open market rate. 

The fund also called for the freeing up of local markets, tax reform,
monetary reform and spending curbs. The military may spend half the
national budget on itself if off-budget items are included. 

Remarkably, the IMF found "the authorities agreed with the basic
assumptions and policy conclusions", but said they could not be addressed
without international support. That is debatable: the only time the
military has made reforms was in response to mass protests. 

Between 1982 and 1988, official development assistance averaged $342
million a year before the military massacred pro-democracy demonstrators. 

It gets only a small fraction of this now, mostly as "humanitarian" aid
from Japan. 

Inflation is raging as the government spins the printing presses to cover
its spending; independent observation of consumer markets in Rangoon and
Mandalay shows prices have climbed nearly 80 per cent in the past 12
months, while even officials claim the level is about 50 per cent. 

The kyat has fallen to about a third of the open-market value it had two
years ago. Foreign reserves are believed to be less than $100 million, or a
few weeks of exports. 

The regime has responded by surreal import controls, restrictions of the
repatriation of hard currency, taxes on some exports and attempts at barter
trade. 

There is a deafening silence about when work will start on a steelworks
plant which Italian company Danielli has promised to build. 

The important domestic arm of the Yadana gas field project -- involving a
fertiliser and power plant -- has stalled. 

Thai firms signed the most commitments in 1996-97 worth $614 million, yet
only the new Mandalay airport might be completed. 

Yet the big puzzle -- a favourite topic of conversation in Rangoon -- is
why things are not worse. 

The raw official numbers suggest a disaster of African dimensions and yet
some families are clearly wealthy, as the large number of expensive
all-terrain vehicles around town testifies. 

The only possible explanation is the underground economy may be larger than
commonly supposed. 

One foreign banker reckons perhaps only a 10th of economic activity shows
up in official figures. 

The United States embassy claimed in 1997 that the early 1990s boom had
been fuelled by remittances from workers overseas and laundered profits
from the huge Golden Triangle drugs trade. 


But this is a big, fecund land: the 20 families that grew fat in the era
of former dictator Ne Win have been joined by a host of newcomers,
including returning expatriates and ethnic Indians and Chinese. 

They quietly deal in fishing, timber, pulses, import-export and a little
manufacturing, hoping not to attract the attention of the cash-strapped
regime. 

One long-time resident said: "These people are keeping the economy going.
They are the reason why the economy hasn't crashed." 

****************************************************************

ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL: MUSE IS NOT MODEL
26 June, 1999 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Your June 15 front-page article "What Recession? Town in Myanmar Finds Muse
in Commerce" about a booming frontier town at the Sino-Burma border
confirms what many Burmese fear: the virtual colonization of their country
by their big neighbor up north. On the surface the article reads like a
free-market success story. The details, however, showing China's
overwhelming influence and virtual monopoly of this tiny Burmese town, are
more chilling.

A young Rangoonite makes three times a civil servant's monthly pay in one
day. Muse's electricity comes from China, as do the day-laborers building a
huge commercial complex -- for Chinese merchants. The toll road concession
belongs to a company founded by a convicted drug lord. You tell us that the
"bar, brothels and nightclubs" are all in Ruili, a few minutes walk over
the China border. You don't say, but we can assume, that the brothels are
staffed by desperately poor young ethnic Burmese girls and service Burmese
truck drivers.

Finally, no mention is made of this frontier town as an AIDS laboratory.
Burma's HIV infection-growth rate is as out of control as Central Africa's,
and the fastest spread of the disease is from border towns like Muse,
helped by new highways and fast money. You also do not mention the
resentment felt in many Burmese hearts when they see such "booms" propelled
by non-Burmese. It's not only Muse -- some people call Mandalay a suburb of
Yunnan.

Maureen Aung-Thwin
Director
Burma Project, Open Society Institute
New York 

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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: TOP TROIKA 
1 July, 1999 

A new centre of power seems to be emerging within Burma's ruling junta,
well placed sources in Rangoon say. It consists of two secretaries of the
ruling 19-member State Peace and Development Council, Lt.Gen. Khin Nyunt
and Lt.Gen. Win Myint, and Lt.Gen. Tin Hla, who is minister for military
affairs. Khin Nyunt heads Burma's military intelligence service, and Tin
Hla led the troops that crushed the 1988 pro democracy uprising. Win Myint
led the new military division set up to maintain security in Rangoon. Khin
Nyunt is the de facto head of the troika; Tin Hla oversees economic matters
and Win Myint handles the armed forces. Of other council members, only its
chairman, Gen. Than Shwe, vicechairman Gen. Maung Aye and its third
secretary Lt.Gen. Tin Oo, are considered influential. 

****************************************************************


ASIAWEEK: MYANMAR - KEEP ON FLYING 
2 July, 1999 

To the surprise of many, cash-strapped Myanmar Airways International (MAI)
is still flying, even though the budding five- month relationship it had
with Taiwan's EVA airlines ended on Feb. 1. And while two "Pay up or return
the aircraft" deadlines have passed for the two Boeing 737s MAI leases from
Malaysia Airlines, the arrangement has been extended until Dec. 31. 

In addition to the EVA deal, potential partnerships with Air France and a
private Thai airline have fallen through. MAI, which near the end of last
year ended its relationship with its former backer Highsonic Enterprises of
Singapore, wants to keep a majority 51% stake with any other partners it
might attract. 

On top of that, the government has laid down strict foreign exchange rules
governing any deal. All this turns off prospective partners, though the EVA
deal looked viable until Beijing apparently expressed its displeasure, and
the generals dare not risk upsetting their main ally. For now, MAI is going
it alone by focusing on its profitable Yangon-Bangkok route and waiting for
its ship to come in.

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WHITE HOUSE: PRESIDENT'S SPEECH TO THE ILO 
16 June, 1999 

Office of the Press Secretary (Geneva, Switzerland)

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION CONFERENCE

United Nations Building, Geneva, Switzerland

[Excerpts]

[ ... ]

It is indeed an honor for me to be the first American President to speak
before the ILO in Geneva.  It is long overdue.  There is no organization
that has worked harder to bring people together around fundamental human
aspirations, and no organization whose mission is more vital for today and
tomorrow.

[ ... ]

For half a century, the ILO has waged a struggle of rising prosperity and
widening freedom, from the shipyards of Poland to the diamond mines of
South Africa.  Today, as the Director General said, you remain the only
organization to bring together governments, labor unions and business, to
try to unite people in common cause -- the dignity of work, the belief that
honest labor, fairly compensated, gives meaning and structure to our lives;
the ability of every family and all children to rise as far as their
talents will take them.

In a world too often divided, this organization has been a powerful force
for unity, justice, equality and shared prosperity.  For all that, I thank
you.  Now, at the edge of a new century, at the dawn of the Information
Age, the ILO and its vision are more vital than ever -- for the world is
becoming a much smaller and much, much more interdependent place.  Most
nations are linked to the new dynamic, idea-driven, technology-powered,
highly competitive international economy.

[ ... ]

Yet, as important as our efforts to strengthen safety nets and relieve debt
burdens are, for citizens throughout the world to feel that they truly have
a hand in shaping their future they must know the dignity and respect of
basic rights in the workplace.

You have taken a vital step toward lifting the lives of working people by
adopting the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work last
year.  The document is a blueprint for the global economy that honors our
values -- the dignity of work, an end to discrimination, an end to forced
labor, freedom of association, the right of people to organize and bargain
in a civil and peaceful way.  These are not just labor rights, they're
human rights.  They are a charter for a truly modern economy.  We must make
them an everyday reality all across the world.


We advance these rights first by standing up to those who abuse them.
Today, one member nation, Burma, stands in defiance of the ILO's most
fundamental values and most serious findings.  The Director General has
just reported to us that the flagrant violation of human rights persists,
and I urge the ILO governing body to take definite steps.  For Burma is out
of step with the standards of the world community and the aspirations of
its people.  Until people have the right to shape their destiny we must
stand by them and keep up the pressure for change.

[ ... ]

****************************************************************

MYANMAR ALIN: MERCENARY LABOR UNIONS OF IMPERIALISM 
8 June, 1999 by Maung Karlu 

[First of two parts. Myanmar Alin is a state-run newspaper in Rangoon.
Translated from Burmese, abridged.]

Apho: Maung Karlu, two days ago the ASEAN labor ministers meeting was
successfully held in Yangon. Days before that meeting, those sewer gas
plants made in the USA and Britain...

Karlu: Do you mean the VOA of the United States and the BBC of Britain?

Apho: Of course. Every day, day and night, these malicious radio stations,
which cannot bear to see unity, stability, peace, and progress in our
country, only broadcast what amounts to sewer gas. That is why I call them
the sewer gas plants. Quoting the Amnesty International, these stations
spitefully said the ASEAN Labor Ministers Meeting should not be held in
Myanmar.

Karlu: That Amnesty International has its offices in London and is financed
and supported by the CIA of the United States. It is just a jack-in-the-box
organization that pops up and makes noises every time Western
neo-colonialists press the button. Apho, can you believe neither that
organization nor the human rights groups are saying a word about the acts
of destruction and murder committed by the United States and the NATO in
their air war against Yugoslavia.

Apho: We have known the true features of these organizations for a long
time. For instance, these organizations clamor about human rights
violations, forced labor, and the lack of democracy in countries that
refuse to be influenced by, and have therefore become the targets of, the
Western bloc. These organizations simply bark when instigated to do so. The
Amnesty International protested the holding of the ASEAN labor ministers
meeting because it said people are being forced to work unjustly in Myanmar.

Karlu: There were also protests and boycotts from the West when the
Interpol held its fourth conference on heroin eradication in Myanmar. World
nations already understand that the Western bloc says something when it
agrees and something else when it does not. But, despite the protests the
Interpol heroin conference as well as the ASEAN labor ministers meeting
were held very successfully in Yangon.

Apho: These so-called international organizations are formed with funds
from the Western bloc and they interfere in the internal affairs of the
other countries. In addition, Western bloc lackeys are placed within the UN
Human Rights Commission and the International Labor Organization, and under
the cover of these institutions, they accuse different countries of using
forced labor and violating human rights. This is obviously known to you too.


Karlu: That VOA .... I mean the sewer gas plant made in the USA, reported
that the International Labor Organization, ILO, submitted a paper about
forced labor in Myanmar and that that paper was prepared after ILO
officials met and interviewed 250 opposition members in exile.

Apho: But isn't the ILO under the United Nations, and our Myanmar a legal
member of the United Nations? The Government of Myanmar is recognized by
the world, the United Nations, and even the spiteful Western bloc nations.
Even then, they believe those exiles that have been outlawed for violating
the laws and the sovereignty of Myanmar. Whatever these exiles say are
taken as truth and a government with legal standing gets blamed because of
their statements. What a mess it can turn out to be.

Karlu: No one in Myanmar is interested in human rights that they are
talking about. Everyone is striving to build a free, peaceful, and
developed nation where each person can enjoy a higher standard of living.
Apho, all Myanmar citizens can see that the whole Union, including the
border areas, is developing in all sectors and they are contented, happy
and enjoying the fruits of development. Merit-making ceremonies are being
held in every village, town and region and the Myanmar people are leading a
blissful life. Just look at the recent installation of the new finial
ornament on the Shwedagon Pagoda, Apho. The Myanmar people were very happy
and they were eager to make donations.

Apho: I agree. An event like that was hidden from the world by their
propaganda media but when it comes to something unappealing, they would
repeat it time and again like playing an old record. It only shows their
class and stature.

Karlu: Recently, there have been reports about the labor movement in the
Western bloc. Labor organizations are holding one event after another and
recently there was something about the formation of the so-called
organization or a union of free labor. Accusations were made about the
unfair labor practices in Myanmar.

Apho: Why are you surprised about that? You may have read an article
explaining about the two con artists who, using the names of different
organizations, published and distributed falsified papers during the 1988
incident. The two had rubber seals of about 20 organizations. They issued
statements in the name of four or five organizations every day, sold the
statements for about 50 kyat each to copier stores, which in turn sold each
statement for about 5 kyat to the public. Unruly people would buy the
statements like hot cakes and post them at street corners. I was told that
even the embassies bought those statements. The two would laugh about how
the BBC and the VOA would broadcast some of their statements in the
evening. The two were supposed to have enjoyed good food and drinks in the
evening from the money they made selling these statements. It is the same
now too. Many organizations are being formed to issue statements and make
accusations. This is what the Western bloc has been doing.

Karlu: Apho, the Western neocolonialist clique cares very little about the
workers. This is a fact. Whenever there is a dispute between employers and
workers, they make the workers suffer. But, now that they need to use the
labor movement in their dirty scheme, they are forming sham labor
organizations.


[Part 2 tomorrow.]

****************************************************************

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: RELEASE OF THREE MAJOR REPORTS 
30 June, 1999 

Myanmar: Military keeps ethnic minorities "like chickens in a basket"

In three major reports released today, Amnesty International details how
the Burmese military has  killed dozens of unarmed farmers from the Karen,
Karenni, and Shan ethnic groups.

Over 100 refugees interviewed by Amnesty International in Thailand
described how their friends and relatives had been shot by the tatmadaw, or
Burmese army. The vast majority had been forced to do unpaid labour, and to
leave their traditional lands in a tatmadaw campaign to break up alleged
links with armed ethnic minority groups fighting for autonomy or
independence in the Karen, Karenni, and Shan States.

"It is civilians, not armed insurgents, who have suffered the vast majority
of casualties in these conflicts," Amnesty International said. "Forced
relocation ruins ethnic minorities' traditional ways of life and condemns
them to a life on the run, in refugee camps, or as forced labourers."

"The Burmese army has devastated the lives of thousands of Shan, Karen and
Karenni people by targeting them simply because of their ethnicity or
perceived political beliefs. Many have been killed, others tortured, and
thousands have fled to neighbouring countries."

The military have forced thousands of civilians, including children, to
work on massive building projects.  An estimated 10 per cent of the
workforce at a Buddhist temple in Khunhing in the Shan State are children.
Civilians are also frequently beaten while doing forced portering duties --
carrying equipment for Burmese troops on patrol.

In 1996, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, Myanmar's military
government), began a massive civilian relocation program in the Kayah
(Karenni) and Shan States in eastern Myanmar. Some 300,000 Shan and over
20,000 Karenni villagers were forced from their village homes into
designated relocation sites where the military kept them, in the words of
one former resident, "like chickens in a basket".

Forced to live in life-threatening conditions, without safe drinking water,
food and medical care, hundreds of people have since reportedly died from
treatable diseases. Thousands have fled to Thailand, and still others are
hiding in the forest. Most of the refugees interviewed by Amnesty
International had been forced by the military to work without pay and fled
because this made it impossible for them to work to support themselves.

Similar tales emerged in interviews with Karen refugees from the Kayin
State, who had fled to Thailand in late 1998 and early 1999 in the face of
village burnings, constant demands for forced labour, looting of food and
supplies, torture and killings by the military. Many had feared being shot
on sight because they occupied "black areas", where the armed opposition
was allegedly active. All of these people were farmers who usually grew
small plots of rice on a semi-subsistence level.

Thousands of Karen villagers have also been forced off their land, unable
to farm and provide for their families.  Dozens of Karen civilians have
been killed by the tatmadaw, because they hid in the forest, could not
perform their duties as porters, or were suspected of supporting armed
opposition groups.  In November 1998 one Karen widow saw her son shot dead
in front of her when he tried to prevent Burmese troops from beating her.	


The widespread human rights violations in Myanmar's ethnic minority states
have a negative impact on neighbouring countries, particularly Thailand,
Bangladesh, and India, which have all been affected by large refugee flows.
Incursions by SPDC troops and various armed opposition groups into Thai
territory has resulted in several Thai nationals being killed during the
last four years.

These issues have become particularly acute since Myanmar's admission to
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July 1997. ASEAN
countries then claimed that such a move would encourage the SPDC to improve
its human rights record.

In fact, the opposite has been true. The SPDC has stepped up its repression
of the opposition party the National League for Democracy and increased
forcible relocation programs. Forced labour in all seven ethnic minority
states continues at a high level, and forced portering -- one of the
harshest forms of forced labour -- occurs wherever there are
counter-insurgency activities. 

"As ASEAN members gather in Singapore in July 1999 for their annual
Ministerial Meeting, it behooves them to come up with a new strategy for
dealing with the SPDC's intransigence regarding human rights," Amnesty
International said. 

The organization is also urging the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which deals
with Asian security issues and will meet at the same time, to address this
security issue. In particular, China should end its substantial arms
transfers to the SPDC. 
  
Amnesty International is urging the SPDC to investigate all reports of
torture, ill-treatment and extrajudicial executions and bring those found
responsible to justice. All military units should immediately receive clear
orders to stop these practices and to use force and firearms only when
strictly necessary to protect life.

Myanmar has ratified the International Labour Organization Convention No 29
and the SPDC should therefore take immediate measures to end ill-treatment
and torture in the context of forced labour and portering, and to abolish
forced portering. The SPDC should also abide by the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, which prohibits the economic exploitation of children.

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THE NATION: EU GRANTS $4.7M AID FOR BURMESE REFUGEES 
29 June, 1999 

AFP

The European Union said yesterday it had approved 4.5 million euros (US$4.7
million) in aid for refugees from Burma living in camps along the Thai border.

The funding, which will be channeled through non-government organisations,
will provide food, medicine and basic sanitation to an estimated 110,000
refugees living in the camps, a statement issued here said.

The EU praised Thailand for what it called its "important role" in
sheltering refugees, and said the aid was consistent with Europe's status
as the "world's primary source of humanitarian assistance".

Thailand's government has in the past been criticised for making the
criteria for people requesting refugee status too harsh. Many of the
refugees fled across the border in fear of ethnic strife or political
persecution from Burma's military government.


The majority are ethnic Karen villagers.

A team from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently
launched a census to get a better idea of the number of refugees, their
ages, origins and reasons for fleeing their homes.

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THE STAR (MALAYSIA): MALAYSIA, YANGON TO INCREASE COOPERATION 
22 June, 1999 

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia and Myanmar have agreed to increase co-operation in
sea and air transportation, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik
said.

Dr Ling said Myanmar Five Star Shipping Line had started a Yangon Port to
Klang Port route.

He said the company also transported containers between the countries.

"We will increase cooperation with Myanmar," he said yesterday after a
Myanmar delegation, headed by Minister in the Office of State Peace and
Development Council Brig-Gen D.O. Abel, paid a courtesy call on him.

The delegation also included Myanmar Transport Minister Major-Gen Hla Myint
and Myanmar Ambassador to Malaysia U Saw Tun.

Dr Ling said they also discussed aviation ties, adding that Malaysia
Airlines had agreed to extend the lease of two of its planes to Myanmar Air.

The lease, which ended on March 31, would continue until the end of the year.

****************************************************************

INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT: BURMESE
ACTIVISTS WIN 1999 JOHN HUMPHREY FREEDOM AWARD 
22 June, 1999 

Montreal: Burmese activist Dr. Cynthia Maung and prisoner of conscience,
Min Ko Naing, have won the 1999 John Humphrey Freedom Award of the
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, for their
efforts to empower the people of Burma.

The Award will be presented in Montreal on December 10, 1999 at the end of
a three-day long World Conference on Civil Society to be held at the
Sheraton Centre. The Award, which includes a $25,000 grant and a speaking
tour of Canada, is named in honour of John Peters Humphrey, the Canadian
who prepared the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Dr. Cynthia Maung is a 39-year old physician from the Karen ethnic minority
in Burma who for the past ten years has been living in the refugee camps
along the border of Burma and Thailand. She is known widely as "Dr.
Cynthia." Thousands of refugees seek the solace and safety of her clinic,
where she not only heals the wounded but also maintains a sense of
community and keeps alive the hope for a life of freedom.

Min Ko Naing is a legendary figure of the democratic movement in Burma.
During the 1988 nation-wide democratic uprising in Burma, his statements,
speeches and poems aroused the democratic aspirations of the people. His
name speaks of courage, commitment and hope. Viewed as a threat by the
State Law and Order Restoration Council, Min Ko Naing was arrested in 1989
and sentenced to 20 years in prison. His last known contact with the
international community was in 1995, when the UN Special Rapporteur on
Burma was permitted to visit him in detention.

"Dr. Cynthia Maung and Min Ko Naing inspire all those who struggle for
peace and justice in Burma," said Warren Allmand, President of the
International Centre, upon announcing the decision of the international jury.


"We hope that this Award will help provide some measure of protection to
Dr. Cynthia Maung and Min Ko Naing and further expose the brutal
dictatorship in Burma," explained David Matas, a Winnipeg lawyer, who
chaired the meeting of the international jury held last week to consider
over 50 nominations from around the world.

The winners were selected by an international jury composed of five members
of the International Centre's Board of Directors: Kamal Hossain - Chair of
the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and United Nations' Special
Rapporteur on Afghanistan; Kathleen Mahoney - Professor of Law at the
University of Calgary in Alberta and Chairperson of the International
Centre's Board of Directors; David Matas - Lawyer practicing in Winnipeg,
Manitoba and former President of the Canadian Council of Refugees; Cecilia
Medina - Professor of Law at the Universidad de Chile and President of the
UN Human Rights Committee; and Willy Munyoki Mutunga - Lawyer, Executive
Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Co-Chair of the Citizens
Coalition for Constitutional Change.

Dr. Cynthia Maung was nominated by Inter Pares and Canadian Friends of
Burma. Min Ko Naing was nominated by the Institute for Asian Democracy and
the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB).

Burma's democratic uprising in 8/8/88 was brutally crushed by the military
government-later renamed the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
which wrested power from the democratically-elected National League for
Democracy and its leader, Nobel Peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite
its severe repression of human rights, Burma was admitted as a full member
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Canada, and a number
of other countries, have imposed economic sanctions on Burma. Last week,
the International Labour Organization adopted a resolution, by an
overwhelming majority of its members, virtually expelling Burma from the
ILO. The resolution bans the regime from receiving aid or attending ILO
meetings until it halts its egregious and widespread use of forced labour.

Previous John Humphrey Award winners are Palden Gyatso of Tibet (1998);
Father Javier Giraldo and the Comision Intercongregacional de Justicia y
Paz of Colombia (1997); women's rights activist and lawyer Sultana Kamal of
Bangladesh (1996); Bishop Carlos F. X. Belo of East Timor (1995); the
Campaign for Democracy of Nigeria and the Egyptian Organization for Human
Rights (1994), the Plateforme des organismes haitiens de defense des droits
humains (1993); and the Instituto de Defensa Legal of Peru (1992).

The International Centre is an independent Canadian organization with an
international mandate. It works with citizens' groups and governments in
Canada and abroad to promote human rights and democratic development
through advocacy and institutional capacity building. It focuses on four
themes: democratic development and justice, women's rights, indigenous
peoples' rights, and globalization and human rights, and works in 12 core
countries, including Burma. The International Centre provides support to
the Burmese government in exile, the National Coalition Government of Burma
(NCGUB).


For more information: Augie van Biljouw or Particia Poirier at (514)
283-6073.

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