AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ON BURMA

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Wednesday, June 30, 1999 Published at 12:36 GMT 13:36 UK 


             World: Asia-Pacific

             Burma denies ethnic
             repression 

             Protests against the Burmese Government continue outside its
borders


             The Burmese military government has rejected
             accusations by the human rights organisation, Amnesty
             International, of systematic repression of certain ethnic
             minorities. 

             A government statement said Amnesty's research was
             flawed, and was based on the evidence of those who
             sympathised with what it called terrorist groups. 

             The government also denied that the Burmese military
             was involved in forcing people to work and in relocating
             people from ethnic minorities. 

             In a damning report, Amnesty accused Burmese
             soldiers of killing dozens of unarmed civilians from the
             Karen, Karenni and Shan ethnic groups, which are
             fighting for greater autonomy. 

             It accused authorities of forcing hundreds to work as
             unpaid labourers and that the situation has deteriorated
             since Burma's admission to the Asean regional grouping
             in 1997. 

             Amnesty's research is based on interviews conducted in
             Thailand earlier in 1999 with refugees who said they had
             personally witnessed Burmese solders kill dozens of
             people, mainly unarmed farmers. 

             Civilian suffering 

             According to Amnesty, most interviewees said they had
             been used as unpaid labour by the military, and had
             been forced to relocate from their traditional lands. 

             Most of the human rights abuses reported by Amnesty
             result from Burmese army operations, but Amnesty says
             civilians, and not insurgents, have suffered most. 

             Burma rejects this accusation, saying that villagers are
             relocated to protect them from armed insurgents. 

             Burma now accuses Amnesty of participating in a smear
             campaign mounted by what it calls ethnic terrorists. 

             The human rights group has called on the Burmese
             Government to investigate reports of torture, forced
             labour and extrajudicial killings and bring those

             responsible to justice. 

             Civilians 'killed' 

             Hopes that the admission of Burma to Asean would
             encourage the government to improve its human rights
             record have proved false, and Amnesty called on Asean
             to come up with a new strategy to deal with the
             Burmese authorities. 

             Amnesty also reported evidence of the torture and
             extrajudicial killing of unarmed civilians by ethnic
             insurgents on Burmese and Thai territory. 

             The BBC's Clare Doyle says these human rights abuses
             have been widely documented in the past by various
             international agencies. 

             Earlier this month, the International Labour Organisation
             (ILO) barred Burma from all its activities because of its
             record on forced labour.