Summary: "For more than two decades, Burma?s military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has demonstrated scant respect for the fundamental human rights of the Burmese people. Widespread and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law continue throughout the country, especially in ethnic minority areas along Burma?s borders. The 2008 Constitution and an election scheduled for this year will likely do little to alter the military?s continued political dominance, albeit in ostensibly civilian guise, and a repressive state apparatus that will not change significantly. The culture of impunity in Burma for government officials and military personnel for serious abuses is supported by a judicial system that is neither impartial nor independent. There has been little if any accountability for serious crimes committed by government security forces, including routine use of forced labor, sexual violence against women and girls, recruitment and use of child soldiers, extrajudicial killings of civilians in conflict areas and other violations of international humanitarian law. Some non-state armed groups have also been implicated in serious abuses, including forced labor and the use of child soldiers. There are systematic restrictions on basic freedoms in Burma, including on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. For example, despite Burma having ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 87 on freedom of association, the SPDC continues to refuse to register independent trade unions in the country. The government of Burma currently incarcerates more than 2,100 political prisoners including political activists, journalists, trade unionists and labor rights advocates, artists and vocal opponents of the SPDC. Many of these prisoners have received harsh sentences - including up to 65 years in prison - on trumped up criminal charges that seek to curtail peaceful political dissent and free expression. Conditions in Burmese prisons do not meet international standards: prisoners are not given adequate health care, face routine ill-treatment and at times torture, and may be transferred to remote facilities in the hinterlands that make visits by family members and UN officials difficult. The government has not granted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to Burmese prisons in accordance with the ICRC?s standard procedures since 2006."