The military government of Burma has forcefully rejected a
recent United Nations report, which condemned the human rights situation in the
country.
"The report is highly biased against (Burma) and as derogatory as its
previous reports," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
It said the report ignored the fact that Burma's 50 million population was
enjoying peace and better living conditions than at any other time in their
lives.
It also questioned the report's objectivity, saying it was based on
information from "elements outside the country whose objective is to tarnish the
image of (Burma)."
The UN report was drawn up by its human rights expert on Burma, Rajsoomer
Lallah.
Summary executions
Mr Lallah has not been into Burma since he was appointed in June 1996, and
the report was based on interviews with refugees and information from other
governments and organisations.
The report said that repression of civil and political rights continues,
including summary executions, the abuse of women and children by soldiers and
oppression of ethnic and religious minorities.
It also highlighted the issue of political prisoners, estimating the number
at about 800 in 1998.
It said that about one million Burmese children suffered from malnutrition,
and there was an increasing use of heroin and a worrying spread of HIV and Aids.
Bangkok Post - 2nd April, 2000.
Editorial
Evidence mounts of Burmese abuse
It is difficult to decide which is worse. On one hand, there is the deeply
disturbing, documented report by the International Labour Organisation showing
that more than 80,000 people are press-ganged into work by the military
authorities in Burma. On the other hand, there is the offhand denial by the
Rangoon junta. Authorities in Burma feel there is no reason to discuss charges
of brutality. That is at least partly because Burma has been constantly
encouraged and rewarded by so many countries during the past three years.
The ILO is finally showing some emotion in its annual report of gross civil
and human rights abuses in Burma. This year, the organisation has not even urged
Burmese authorities to stop violating workers' rights. The ILO has forwarded the
case directly to its annual conference. In June, ILO members will have to
discuss the case.
One of the possible avenues of action is for ILO members to "review" their
relations with Burma. This would mean that governments, local unions,
international organisations, NGOs and employers' associations world-wide would
slow or stop all relations with Burma.
The response, or rather the non-response to the ILO report must trouble all
people of conscience. The Burmese government and their spokesmen once again have
issued a blanket denial of the detailed charges by the ILO. All the charges are
absurd. None of them deserves a reply. Charges that Burma mistreats its workers,
exploits its villagers or press-gangs labour are "totally false."In the Burmese
view, the human rights report is more proof of prejudice, particularly Western
prejudice. But this view defies logic. Rangoon alleges that it is the victim of
malicious and libellous charges. But it can offer no reason why any government
or human rights group would make up such charges.
The unfortunate and meaningless Burmese retorts only serve to bolster the
case against the junta. Otherwise, many ask correctly, why would Burma refuse to
discuss the details in the ILO and other human rights reports?The labour case is
similar to the drug trafficking problem. If Burma is committed to fighting
narcotics peddlers, why will the junta not address specifics? Why does it do
business with drug kingpins such as Khun Sa and Lo Hsing-han? The head of the
junta, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, openly visited the drug-making headquarters opposite
Mae Hong Son.
Thailand, more than any country, helped to guide Burma into the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations.
The theory, questioned at that time, was that it was better to engage the
junta in debate. But almost three years later, it is clear that Rangoon
considers its Asean membership as a licence to cheat. The evidence is
overwhelming that serious human and civil rights violations continue to take
place in Burma.
Even the egregious security threats to the Thai people cannot justify using
violence. But it is simply not right to reward the regime of Burma for its
consistent, documented brutality against its own people. Asean should seriously
consider moving its forthcoming finance meeting out of Rangoon. It will be the
first ministerial meeting to take place in Rangoon. It should take place
somewhere else.
The people of Burma have done nothing to deserve the past 12 years of
violent treatment at the hands of the military junta. The international
community really must address the brutal military leaders in a forthright
manner.
They must tell the Burmese rulers to stop mistreating their people. Unless
Rangoon treats its own citizens in a civilised manner, the regime cannot be
welcome in the world. It would be entirely fitting if Asean would lead such a
diplomatic effort.
Bangkok Post - 2nd April, 2000.
NARCOTICS
Curfew planned to curb drug
trafficking
Border villages used as transit points
Sermsuk Kasitipradit
Acurfew could be declared for border villages in three districts swamped by
drug traffickers if the situation in the area does not improve, the Pha Mueng
Task Force commander said yesterday.
Maj-Gen Somboonkiat Sithidecha, who heads up drug suppression along the
Burmese frontier in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, said a curfew would
make the task a lot easier.
He was quite pessimistic about the drug trafficking trend in the area,
since the factories were outside the country.
The target area for a curfew would be border villages in Chiang Mai's
Chiang Dao and Chai Prakarn districts and Mae Fah Luang district of Chiang Rai.
These villages had been regularly used as transit points by traffickers bringing
illegal drugs into Thailand.
The border districts are located opposite an area inside Burma totally
controlled by the United Wa State Army, internationally regarded as the biggest
drug trafficking organisation and Southeast Asia's leading producer of heroin
reaching the United States. Most methamphetamines coming into Thailand are
believed to originate in this area.
"In the present situation we are able to control it, but if the situation
gets worse then a curfew could be inevitable," Maj-Gen Somboonkiat, the 1st
Cavalry Division commander, said. All options had to be considered before a
final decision was made.
He admitted a curfew would certainly affect the lives of people in the
area.
The National Narcotics Operation Centre has warned that about 600 million
methamphetamine pills could flood Thailand this year from factories in Burma run
by the UWSA, whose sole income is derived from drug trafficking.
Maj-Gen Somboonkiat said the UWSA used drug money to build Mong Yawn town,
opposite Thailand's Ban Santondu, in Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district. The Wa town
has undergone a vast transformation in the past two years for the purpose of
accommodating 100,000-150,000 ethnic Wa.
About 50,000 Wa are being relocated from northeastern Shan State near the
Chinese border to the town.
Maj-Gen Somboonkiat said this massive relocation to the border area could
make the methamphetamine plague even worse.
It was completely impossible to root out the problem since the production
factories were across the border and beyond the task force's jurisdiction.
He insisted the task force had a good relationship with Burmese military
posted along the border area.
The Pha Mueng Task Force had stepped up border patrols, resulting in
clashes with armed guards protecting drug caravans, he said.
"They try not to confront us so as to avoid casualties. Since we increased
our patrolling they have reduced the size of methamphetamine shipments per trip
across the border." Even so, only about 30% was being intercepted.
Maj-Gen Somboonkiat was hopeful a special administrative centre to be
created in the upper north area under direct supervision of the Internal
Security Operations Command (Isoc) would result in a more unified campaign
against trafficking.
Four northern provinces which adjoin Burma-Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong
Son and Tak-will be under the special centre to be headed by Third Army
commander Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuengwong, the Isoc chief in the North.
Under the Isoc structure, the four provincial governors will come under the
direct supervision of the 3rd Army.
National Security Centre chief Kachadpai Buruspat said the mix of illegal
logging, ethnic minorities and drug trafficking was getting worse and threatened
national security
The Nation - 2nd April, 2000.
Curfew ordered at refugee camps
MAE Hong Son's governor yesterday ordered a curfew at four camps holding
more than 30,000 Burmese refugees following intelligence reports of possible
cross-border attacks during the dry season.
Governor Poj Utana said the curfew was necessary because the camps were
vulnerable to cross-border raids by foreign armed groups. The shelters were
located only five to eight kilometres from the border, which made them easy
targets for night raids.
The four camps were Ban Nai Soi-Bang Tractor in Muang district, Ban Mae
Surin in Khunyuom district, Ban Tasala-Mae Kong Ka in Mae Sariang district, and
Ban Mae Lamaluang in Sop Moei district.
Poj said the refugees would not be allowed to leave the camps between dusk
and dawn. The majority of the 32,000 people in the camps were mostly ethnic
Karenni and Karen who have fled fighting between the Burmese military and
dissident minority groups.
Thailand, which shares thousands of kilometres of common border with Burma,
has had to bear the brunt of the latter's civil war by sheltering more than
100,000 refugees.
Poj said there had been cases when foreign militants secretly slipped into
Thailand and attempted to burn down camps along the border, especially in April.
A string of camps close to the porous border have been prime targets for
the military regime in Rangoon, which claims they have provided sanctuary for
Karen and Karenni guerrillas.
As part of its strategy to end ethnic resistance to its rule, Rangoon has
been using the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) to carry out
harassment and intimidation campaigns against refugees living on Thai soil.
A few years ago DKBA insurgents razed Ban Huay Kalok in Tak province and
forced Thai authorities to relocate the refugees to Ban Umpium, which is further
from the border. Other camps have been under constant threat of surprise
attacks, especially the largest, Ban Mae La in Tak.
There had also been a report that the Burmese military has stationed 30
speedboats along its side of the Salween River and that these could be used for
sabotage operations on Thai soil.
However, the commander of Border Patrol Police Unit 33, Pol Col Prasartporn
Bundet, said the curfew was imposed to try to curb foreign groups, both armed
and unarmed, from conducting political activities in Thailand during the dry
season.
There was the possibility, he said, that these groups might smuggle arms
into the camps to be used later when fighting erupts. The authorities recently
confiscated a large cache of explosives hidden inside a camp in Mae Hong Son.
The curfew was also aimed at preventing drug dealers from using the camps
as transit points for amphetamine trafficking. The money earned from selling the
pills could be used to buy weapons, he said.
BY DAMNOEN TUAMJOAK and
CHAIYAKORN BAI-NGERN
The Nation