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UNHCR and Thai resettlement of refu



Subject: UNHCR and Thai resettlement of refugees - support needed

Dear friends,

The timing of the UN Special Rapporteur's 1999
Myanmar Report and the Thai government and UNHCR
moves to resettle refugees in third countries,
means that there is an opportunity and a need
for action within our own countries to gain
support for greater intakes of Burmese student
refugees. Of course, the situation in Burma
should be addressed urgently such that Burmese
refugees should be able to reenter a free Burma.
However given an increasingly grim situation
there may be some actions that we need to take
in the short term to alleviate the results of
regime brutality.

Here in Australia the situation is very poor. As
has been pointed out by other people, there is a
decline in numbers of Burmese nationals granted
settlement under Australia's Special Assistance
Category, and from our own experience, there is
a great difficulty in Burmese activists already
in Australia gaining protection visas.

We need your support in lobbying the appropriate
Ministers and government officials. Please help
out if you can by writing to, meeting with your
local MP etc to gain support for increasing
refugee settlements in Australia. There is a
list of people to write to, plus a sample letter
at the end of this email.

Kindest regards,
Susan Locke
FNLDA


Some people to write to/see are:

Australian government

	  The Hon. John Howard, M.P.
          Prime Minister of Australia
          Parliament House
          Canberra ACT 2600
          Phone: +61 2 6277 7700
          Fax: +61 2 6273 4100; +61 2 6277 7111
          Email c/-: Anthony.Benscher@xxxxxxxxxx 

          The Hon. John Anderson, M.P. 
          Deputy Prime Minister 
          House of Representatives 
          Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 
          Phone: (02) 6277 7680 
          Fax: (02) 6273 4126 
          Email: John.Anderson.MP@xxxxxxxxxx 

          The Hon. Alexander Downer, M.P.
          Minister for Foreign Affairs
          Parliament House
          Canberra ACT 2600 
          Phone: +61 2 6277 7500
          Fax: +61 2 6273 4112
          Email: A.Downer.MP@xxxxxxxxxx 

          The Hon. Philip Ruddock, M.P
          Minister for Immigration and
Multicultural Affairs
          Suite MF 40
          Parliament House
          Canberra ACT 2600
          Phone: + 61 2 6277 7860
          Fax: + 61 2 6273 4144 

          Mr Peter Nugent M.P. 
          Chairperson, Human Rights Sub
Committee 
          Joint Standing Committee, Foreign
Affairs Defence and Trade 
          The House of Representatives 
          Parliament House 
          Canberra ACT 2600 
          Email: Peter.Nugent.MP@xxxxxxxxxx 

Australian Democrats

          Senator Meg Lees 
          Parliamentary Leader 
          Senator for South Australia 
          722 Anzac Highway, 
          Glenelg SA 5045 
          Phone: (02) 6277 3991 
          Fax: (02) 6277 3996 
          Email: Senator.Lees@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

          Senator Vicki Bourne 
          Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs
          ANZ McCaughan House, 
          56-70 Phillip Street, 
          Sydney NSW 2000 
          (GPO Box 36, Sydney NSW 2001) 
          Phone: (02) 9247 3377 (Sydney) or (02)
6277 3820 (Parliament House Office) 
          Fax: (02) 9247 9681 (Sydney) or (02)
6277 3815 (Parliament House Office) 
          Email: Senator.Bourne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Australian Greens

          Senator Bob Brown 
          Australian Greens 
          Parliament House 
          Canberra ACT 
          Phone: 03 6234 1633 (Tasmania) or 1800
640 988 (Freecall from Tas) or 02 6277 3170
          (Canberra) 
          Fax : 03 6234 1577 (Tasmania) or 02
6277 3185 (Canberra) 
          Email: Senator.Brown@xxxxxxxxxx 

Australian Labor Party

          The Hon. Kim Beazley MP 
          Leader of the Opposition 
          Parliament House 
          Canberra 2600 
          Phone: (02) 6277 4022 
          Fax: (02) 6277 8495 
          Email: Kim.Beazley.MP@xxxxxxxxxx 

          The Hon. Laurie Brereton MP 
          Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs 
          Parliament House 
          Phone: (02) 6277 4717 
          Fax: (02) 6277 8502 
          Email: Laurie.Brereton.MP@xxxxxxxxxx 

Sample letter:

Dear 

I am writing to you, in the context of the
increasingly repressive situation in Burma, to
seek your support for protection of Burmese
nationals requiring protection by Australia
under its humanitarian and refugee programs. 

The situation in Burma is one in which a
desperate regime is taking extreme measures to
crush dissent. The 1999 United Nations Special
Rapporteur's Report on Myanmar to the United
Nations General Assembly notes that :

"There has been no progress in the situation of
human rights in Myanmar. If anything, the
situation is worsening. Repression of civil and
political rights continues and intensifies
whenever there is any form of public protest or
any form of public political activity.
Repressive laws are still used to prohibit and
punish any exercise of the basic rights of
freedom of thought, expression, assembly and
association, in particular in connection with
the exercise of legitimate political rights.
This regime of repression puts the right to
life, liberty and physical integrity permanently
at risk when it is not simply violated. The rule
of law cannot be said to exist and function as
the judicial system is subject to a military
regime and only serves as a handmaiden to a
policy of repression.

No effective measures have been taken to obtain
forced labour amounting to no less than a
contemporary form of slavery, in spite of freely
assumed international obligations, and the
practice still continues in the name of
tradition, or else of economic development.

In the ethnic areas, the policy of establishing
absolute political and administrative control
brings out the worst in the military, resulting
in killings, brutality, rape and other human
rights violations from which the old, women,
children and the weak are not spared."

There is a danger that should the international
community continue with its softly, softly
approach to the State Peace and Development
Council that unlawfully rules Burma, that
incidents of the type exemplified by the Myanmar
Embassy siege in Bangkok will be repeated as
Burmese exiles and activists see that the only
way for change to occur may be to take up arms. 

A report from the London Sunday Times of October
31, 1999 states:

" .. a growing mood of desperation among exiled
democracy activists is driving young men to join
a new group dedicated to armed struggle against
the military rulers of Rangoon. Its members have
decided that time has run out for the policy of
peaceful resistance advocated by Aung San Suu
Kyi, Burma's elected leader, who continues to
live under virtual house arrest in the country's
capital. Only force of arms, they believe, will
succeed in driving out the country's repressive
and brutal regime. "It has been 11 years of
frustration since the military coup, and
non-violence has achieved nothing," said one
activist last week. "We respect Aung San Suu Kyi
but now it is time for us to fight."

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National
League for Democracy, the lawful government of
Burma unable to take up its rightful position,
is a firm and unwavering advocate of peaceful
and non violent strategies for the restoration
of democracy in Burma. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and
the NLD needs the support of the international
community to effect meaningful, peaceful change
in Burma. We have seen the results of non
intervention in East Timor. We do not want Burma
to be the next country in our region to be
forced into war because of a lack of strong
international condemnation and action against an
unlawful regime. There is already evidence of
dissent within the Burmese military that
indicates that the brutality of the regime is
leading to splits within the regime:

" Nine military officers as well as two rank and
file soldiers were reportedly arrested on 27
August 1999 in Papun township, Karen State, for
allegedly circulating pro-democracy pamphlets,
posters and stickers and trying to organize
fellow military personnel to participate in the
pro-democracy movement led by the NLD. They are
reportedly being detained and interrogated by
military intelligence. The names of those
arrested, as received by the Special Rapporteur,
are of the following individuals: Lt. Kyaw
Thura; Lt. Maung Aung; Lt. Aung Htay Lwin; Lt.
Okkar Myint; Lt. Myint Zaw; Lt. Kyaw Zaya; Lt.
Than Win; 2nd Corporal Sein Thaung; 2nd Corporal
Myint Kyu." (UN Special Rapporteur Report to the
1999 UN General Assembly on Myanmar)

We have immediate concerns regarding the
situation of refugees from Burma, given the
flight from Burma as the regime intensifies its
brutal repression of Burmese people.

Accordingly, we seek your support in increasing
the number of Burmese refugees permitted to
settle in Australia under the range of
humanitarian programs administered by the
Department of Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs.

The UN Special Rapporteur verifies the existence
of severe repression of dissent, and reports:

"The Special Rapporteur has also received
information about several students arrested in
the fall of last year for their participation in
demonstrations to recover their civil and
political rights. As the Special Rapporteur had
occasion to point out, numerous Executive Orders
criminalize many aspects of normal civilian
conduct, prescribe grossly disproportionate
penalties, and authorize arrest and detention
without judicial supervision or review. This
inevitably leads to the conclusion that a
significant number of all arrests and detentions
are arbitrary when measured by international
standards".

In relation to the current situation regarding
Burmese nationals who oppose the SPDC rule of
Burma, and who are seeking permission to stay in
Australia, we are extremely concerned that
denial of their applications to stay in
Australia will result in detention without the
protection of law upon their deportation to
Burma. Detention for political prisoners
invariably means imprisonment under the most
inhumane conditions with torture, solitary
confinement, beatings and lack of adequate food
and health services the common practice.

Members of the Refugee Review Tribunal have
recognised (for example RRT Reference: N97/19303
(30 March 1999)) that there is surveillance of
Burmese nationals within Australia citing the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's
Myanmar Country Profile of 1996: 

"Political Opposition in Australia
The Myanmar authorities do seek to monitor the
activities of Myanmar opposition abroad, and are
generally aware of what happens within the
Myanmar opposition community in Australia. If
over a period of several anti-SLORC
demonstrations particular individuals appeared
again and again - and were identified as being
active opposition leaders - they would probably
face questioning and surveillance if they were
to return to Myanmar."

Given the intensification of repression of
political dissent since 1996 we are extremely
concerned for the safety of activist Burmese
nationals in Australia denied protection visas.
We have members who within the laws of Australia
demonstrate for the restoration of democracy in
Australia and support the struggle for human
rights. We are concerned for the safety of those
of our members seeking protection visas should
their applications be denied and they be
required to return to Burma. 

We urgently seek your support in recommending
that the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade's Myanmar Country Profile be updated to
reflect the latest UN Report as above, and in
ensuring that Refugee Review Tribunal members
are made aware of the extreme danger that
Burmese activists face in Burma. Your
humanitarian response to the plight of the East
Timorese and the Kosavars was one which showed 
Australia to be capable of sacrifice for the
sake of the human rights struggle of other
peoples. We ask for the same concern and
compassion to be shown towards Burmese
nationals.

We also ask that such compassion be extended to
Burmese nationals currently in refugee camps in
Thailand. As you will no doubt be aware,
Thailand is urgently seeking the cooperation of
the international community in bearing its share
of the refugee crisis.  The United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has reassured
Thailand that it will help expedite the
relocation of Burmese students to third
countries willing to take them. We understand
that the UNHCR will open registration early this
month in order to identify those refugees who
want to be resettled. 

Again we seek your support in approving an
increase in the number of Burmese nationals
entering Australia under the Refugee and
Humanitarian Program categories, including
Special Assistance Category for Burmese in
Thailand, Refugee, and Women at Risk programs.

We seek your urgent attention to this matter
given the situation both in Burma and Thailand
and look forward to hearing from you at your
earliest convenience.