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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- September 23, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ AFP - Myanmar FM to visit Thailand
for crucial border talks
AFP - Myanmar frees 18 political
prisoners in largest single release
AFP - Myanmar opposition
leader calls for international support to push reform
AFP - Myanmar arrests nine trading
executives in crackdown
Reuters - Bangladesh seizes weapons
from Myanmar refugees
Reuters - Emerging Asia gets serious
about energy security
Dow Jones - Adidas Sweats Over Third
World Subcontractors Sweatshops
AP - Myanmar releases 18 detainees
AP - Myanmar foreign minister to
visit Bangkok
AP - Mekong countries meet to
discuss blueprint for development
Washingtonh File - Lawmakers Say Burma's Military Junta Continues to
Commit Abuses
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday September 23, 1:31 PM
Myanmar FM to visit Thailand for crucial border talks BANGKOK, Sept 23 (AFP) - Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung will travel to Thailand for crucial talks aimed at resolving a lingering border dispute between the neighbours, officials said. The talks were originally scheduled for September 6 but were postponed at short notice by Myanmar officials who cited Win Aung's busy schedule. The minister is now to meet with his Thai counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai on Wednesday after lunch with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a foreign ministry official said Monday. He will also have a royal audience with Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who has been invited to pay an official visit to Myanmar this year. The foreign ministers' talks are to focus on the reopening of border checkpoints between the two countries, which have been sealed since May 22, and on developing mechanisms to prevent future closures. Myanmar unilaterally closed the checkpoints, crippling bilateral trade, after clashes along the border erupted between the Myanmar junta and ethnic Shan rebels, which Yangon accused Thailand of assisting. The historical adversaries then exchanged official protest notes, and Myanmar barred official visits. After returning from a fence-mending trip to Yangon last month Surakiart said relations had "normalized". The princess's visit is aimed at showing Myanmar's respect for the Thai monarchy, after Thailand's hackles were raised by a series of articles in the official press that it deemed insulting to the monarchy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar frees 18 political
prisoners in largest single release
YANGON, Sept 23 (AFP) - Myanmar's military government announced Monday it had released 18 political prisoners including 10 members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). It was the largest group to be freed since batches of dissidents began being released from custody early last year, after NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi began landmark contacts with the junta. A spokesman for the regime said that the detainees, including five women, were released from various jails across the country early Monday. "They are all in good health and reunited with their respective families," he said in a statement. "The government of Myanmar will continue to release more individuals who will cause no harm to the community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and union of the nation," he added. The gesture was timed to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York which Myanmar's Foreign Minister Win Aung is attending. Prisoner releases are typically linked to important events or high-level visits to Yangon. The last batch of eight dissidents was allowed out of jail earlier this month before the arrival of a European Union mission to Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was herself freed from house arrest on May 6, has said her party's top priority is to secure the release of all the political prisoners in the country's jails. The Nobel peace laureate suggested last month that a mass release would be a precondition to her beginning a fully fledged political dialogue with the Yangon junta. Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed since the beginning of 2001, but some 1,500 are believed to be still incarcerated. Analysts say the government is wary of large releases which could spark public celebrations or protests against the regime. In a statement marking the Yangon junta's 14th anniversary, the United States last week accused Myanmar of failing to press forward with its promised national reconciliation drive. "We are disappointed that the regime has failed to follow through on steps toward national reconciliation after releasing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in May of this year," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "We encourage the regime to pursue substantive dialogue with the democratic opposition and to release all of the many remaining political prisoners unconditionally." In a videotaped address released at a summit of EU and Asian leaders Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi also appealed for international support to hasten the country's transition to democracy. "I would like to appeal to our friends all over the world to do everything they can to ensure that we progress towards democracy, by which I mean a society which guarantees our people both security and freedom," she said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar opposition leader
calls for international support to push reform
COPENHAGEN, Sept 22 (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi appealed for international support Sunday to hasten the country's transition to democracy, as a summit of EU and Asian leaders in Copenhagen got underway. "I would like to appeal to our friends all over the world to do everything they can to ensure that we progress towards democracy, by which I mean a society which guarantees our people both security and freedom," the veteran pro-democracy campaigner said in a video address. "From the point of view of the National League for Democracy (NLD), change could not come fast enough. If change came today, it would still be too late," she told the meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) being held in the Danish capital. "There is so much more to be done for this country than I had ever imagined," said the rights activist, freed in May after 19 months of house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi and Yangon remain at odds over key issues such as the pace of political reform and a national reconciliation dialogue. "Quick change is necessary. Speedy change is the way to resolve Burma's problems. We cannot afford infinite delay," she said. "The longer we take over the proposed changes, the more likely it is that people will lose confidence in the sincerity of those who say they do want change." Supporters of the opposition leader -- whose National League for Democracy won a sweeping 1990 election victory never recognised by the ruling military junta -- backed her calls for international pressure. "We call on the international community to apply serious and sustained economic and political pressure on the military government of Burma until it reverses its unacceptable treatment of its citizens," said a statement released by the International Burma Summit at their one day conference. Human Rights Commissioner for the Baltics, Helle Degn, reacted to the opposition leader's speech saying she wished "that the leaders participating in the ASEM summit could also hear this voice, this cry for freedom and security for Burma." "I hope that they could also see the videos which we have been confronted with today, which bear witness to the brutality (of the military regime) that is beyond understanding," said the former Danish minister for international cooperation. Since October 2000, Aung San Suu Kyi and the military regime have been engaged in talks aimed at ending years of deadlock since the junta seized power after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988. Aung San Suu Kyi said when released in May that the talks had moved past an initial confidence-building stage and would now begin to handle thorny issues. But since then there have been no concrete developments, prompting concern that the talks may have ground to a halt. Earlier this month, Aung San Suu Kyi met an EU delegation visiting Yangon to press for reform and the release of political prisoners. The European Union has been among the staunchest advocates of political reconciliation in Myanmar, which is subject to crippling sanctions by Brussels. The EU delegation said in a statement at the end of its mission that it had pressed Myanmar's rulers on political reform and expressed "continued concern at the human rights situation." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar arrests nine trading
executives in crackdown
YANGON, Sept 22 (AFP) - The heads of nine private Myanmar import/export companies have been arrested and had their assets seized in the latest crackdown on trading irregularities, business sources said Sunday. The nine companies affected -- Diamond Million, Golden Optic, Green Green One, Kyaw Myint Moe, Min Min Tun, Shwe Myet Hman, Thaung Htike, Thein Htike and Zabu Yit -- are all major trading firms, the sources said. "The nine are some of the 299 private exporting companies presently being investigated for malpractice from among 15,000 companies listed with the trade ministry," a businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP. "The nine were found to have fudged official import permits issued by the trade department worth over three million dollars." He did not identify those arrested. Some of the firms are known to be fronting for foreign companies, which are banned from conducting import and export business on their own, he said. At a trade ministry meeting Friday, authorities warned import/export businesses that severe action including seven-year jail terms would be meted out for each permit found to have been tampered with. "We do welcome the latest crackdown meant to discourage such malpractice," the businessman said, "but we can't help worry about its adverse effect on those doing business strictly within the law." Orders have been given, he said, to confiscate all commodities -- including those already in hand -- imported by those companies found to have been guilty of malpractice. The latest crackdown is seen as particularly affecting firms handling imports as they are obliged to seek out earnings accrued from exports in order to import goods, in accordance with an existing trade regulation. The rule appears to have been issued in order to keep imports limited to export earnings, but observers say this has been a key reason why malpractice and shady business deals have become rampant. "Companies like ours which are only involved in importing foreign products to feed the local market have to go around looking for so-called export dollars," the businessman said. One immediate effect of the crackdown, he explained, was that the price of such "export dollars" has been driven up dramatically by demand, to nearly 1,500 kyat to the dollar, compared with the prevailing open market exchange rate of 1,200 to the dollar. The rate has slumped alarmingly from a then-record low of 800 kyat to the dollar in April, after the junta moved to close down foreign trading firms. According to official figures, the volume of foreign trade calculated at the official rate of 6.5 kyat to the dollar for 2001-2002 is 17.13 billion kyat of exports while imports were tallied at 18.38 billion kyat. Myanmar's economy is an extremely poor state, thanks to stiff sanctions from the international community as well as mismanagement by the military government. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sunday September 22, 7:32 PM
Bangladesh seizes weapons from Myanmar refugees COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Police in Bangladesh have confiscated nearly 160 swords and knives and two guns from Muslim refugees from neighbouring Myanmar, who have been protesting against a government repatriation plan. Police raided the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox's Bazar district on Saturday night, seized the weapons and arrested eight inmates, Cox's Bazar police officer Farid Ahmed told Reuters. Nayapara houses 9,000 of the Myanmar refugees, known as Rohingyas. Another 12,000 live in nearby Kutupalong camp. Both camps are about 450 km from Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. Some 250,000 Rohingyas crossed the Naaf river into Bangladesh from west Myanmar's Arakan province in early 1992, denouncing persecution by Myanmar's military rulers. Most were repatriated under the supervision of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees before Myanmar, which was formerly known as Burma, stopped the process more than two years ago. Officials said Bangladesh was trying to persuade Myanmar to take back the remaining refugees without delay. The refugees say they want to live permanently in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh. At least 20 people, including five police officers, were injured in Nayapara camp on September 14 during a protest by the refugees against repatriation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday September 23, 11:12 AM
Emerging Asia gets serious about energy security By Tanya Pang OSAKA, Japan, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Emerging Asia, heavily dependent on imported oil and with negligible emergency reserves, is starting to think seriously about a safety net should its Middle East supply line fail. The threat of a U.S. assault against Iraq and oil at an expensive $30 a barrel has concentrated minds among some of the Asian nations most vulnerable to a price spike. But it will be some years before the ASEAN group of 10 Southeast Asian countries, who met here this weekend with Asia's top consumers Japan, China and South Korea, have concrete measures in place to guard against an energy crisis. Dubbed ASEAN+3, the weekend gathering was the first between energy officials from the region. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. "The big issue for ASEAN is security of supply," Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro of Indonesia, Asia's only member of the OPEC oil producing cartel, said after the weekend talks. "There is growing interest in this part of the world in taking insurance against a supply disruption. There is real interest about collaborating to develop this insurance," said Robert Priddle, executive director of the International Energy Agency, manager of strategic reserves for industrialised nations. "I don't think it will happen fast, but there is real will to see it happen," Priddle told reporters at the International Energy Forum in Osaka. Asia imports 60 percent of its daily crude needs of about 20 million barrels. Most comes from the Middle East. Dependence on imports is set to increase with some forecasters predicting Asian oil demand almost doubling between 1999 and 2020 while already limited regional production declines. LITTLE PRODUCTION, NO OIL STOCKS Indonesia's 1.1 million barrels of daily crude output is expected to dry up within the next 20 years with Malaysia's domestic production due to stop before that. China became a net importer of crude in 1996 and with demand seen growing annually by three to five percent, will overtake Japan as the world's second biggest oil consumer behind the United States before the end of the decade. The IEA predicts China's net imports will reach almost 10 million barrels per day by 2030 -- more than eight percent of world demand. Japan and South Korea already import virtually all of their oil and gas requirements but, as IEA members, have ample inventories. Few other Asian governments have invested in strategic stocks, relying instead on 30 to 45 days of spare supplies at refiners and oil companies. Oil stockpiling featured high on a five-point agenda released after the ASEAN+3 talks. "As Asia is expected to account for 45 percent of world oil demand growth in 2020, developing our emergency response capacity will be critical, including developing private-sector stockpiles and creating national stockpiles," the agenda said. And not only are governments concerned about the lack of fallback supplies, Japan's top refiner, Nippon Oil Corp, urged Asia to take the lead from the West and build reserves. "This is not without tough practical challenges, but this can be overcome with cooperation. This will make a big contribution to energy security in the region," said Fumiaki Watari, president of Nippon Oil. JAPAN OFFERS ADVICE At the talks, the Philippines suggested the disused Subic Bay naval base as a possible site for oil stocks with underground storage caverns and mooring facilities able to accommodate large crude tankers, an official at Japan's trade and energy ministry (METI) told reporters. Thailand proposed building a cross-country pipeline running between one refinery on the Indian Ocean to another on the South China Sea to reduce shipping and security risks. The METI official said Japan, which has to buy virtually all its oil and gas abroad, wanted to encourage cooperation and dialogue. "Our message here is simple. Japan has been building stocks for 35 years and we are saying that we want to help and advise others. Our message is 'Please learn our lesson'," the METI official said. ASEAN+3 officials will meet for a workshop on oil stocks in Kuala Lumpur next February. Senior officials are due to review progress in July next year. The agenda also set out to create an emergency network and form a coordinated response to any energy crisis. "Almost all nations represented were supportive of the creation of an emergency network," the METI official said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday September 23, 5:28 PM
Adidas Sweats Over Third World Subcontractors Sweatshops By Victoria Knight OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)-- The working conditions were terrible. More than 3,000 women toiled for up to 70 hours a week in a stifling hot factory without access to cool, clean drinking water. They risked being fired, or even prosecuted, for joining unions. And they were paid a mere EUR2 a day. When activists uncovered that Adidas Salomon AG (G.ADS) was buying sweatshirts produced in these conditions from the PT Dada factory in Indonesia, the German company responded. It forced the Indonesian factory's management to install watercoolers, reinstate fired union activists, and stop humiliating punishments. "High profile retailers know they must act because consumers want this issue addressed," says Scott Nova, executive director of the Washington-based Worker Rights Consortium. Human rights campaigners such as him are successfully stepping up pressure on European companies to improve working conditions in poor developing countries. Some, like Adidas, are trying to cooperate but others are resisting and Third World governments aren't doing much to help. And even the most receptive multinational companies find that their best efforts aren't enough to satisfy many critics. Until recently, European textile companies escaped censure. Anti-sweatshop campaigners such as the Fair Labor Association were born on U.S. campuses. Activists focused their energies attacking Nike Inc. (NKE) and other U.S. companies. In the past few years, however, the issue has crossed the Atlantic. Human rights leaders, trade unions, and religious groups have formed a loose alliance called the Clean Clothes Campaign and have begun attacking Adidas, Hennes & Mauritz AB (S.HEM), Benetton Group SpA (BNG) and other European companies who buy textiles everywhere from Indonesia to India, Mauritius to Moldova. Governments around the globe provide only limited guidance. Both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN's International Labor Organization sets out minimal standards, banning child and forced labor for example. But both companies and campaigners complain that many Third World governments don't enforce ILO rules. And the OECD guidelines aren't binding on companies. As a result, campaigners prefer to pressure companies through damning exposes. They fed information to journalists about Benetton subcontractors who they claimed were using child labor. The Italian garment maker denied the charges. In Adidas's case, activists leaked news about its Indonesian subcontractors to German television stations. The German company hired a former Save the Children Campaigner to run its subcontracting program, joined the Fair Labor Association and began pressuring its suppliers. It commissioned a study of incomes and living costs in Indonesia and when the results are released in the second half of 2003, Adidas has promised to use them to set workers' future pay levels. For companies that cooperate with activists, the payoff is a potentially powerful marketing tool. Fair Labor Association members can sew the Fair Labor Association 'FLA' label into their clothing. Cooperation also serves a defensive purpose. In the U.S., Nike went through a painful consumer boycott during the mid 1990s and European companies fear similar actions might cross the Atlantic unless they act. And yet, the activists continue to tussle with textile makers, even with the good student Adidas. One major issue concerns monitoring. Who should check that companies live up to commitments? In April this year, the German company agreed to let independent monitors conduct unannounced inspections at factories and do follow-ups at those plants that don't make the grade. Many activists still don't think this is enough. They criticize the Fair Labor Association because it doesn't have any trade union members on its governing board. Campaigners also test company claims. Last year, the Clean Clothes Campaign attacked Holland's largest retailer Vendex KBB NV (N.VDX), saying some of its Indian and Sri Lankan subcontractors force workers to stay on the job for up to 90 hours a week for only EUR40 a month. "Vendex's current code of conduct and monitoring system are ineffective," the organization said. Vendex says it is in talks with Dutch activists to tighten its monitoring. It's Hema subsidiary also is considering independent checks of its subcontractors. "We do our best to ensure that all our suppliers are treating their workers correctly, but there's always a possibility that an NGO finds a situation," says Bonnie Linthorst, a Vendex spokeswoman. She can't confirm or deny the chargers against Indian and Sri Lankan subcontractors, saying the factories involved weren't named in the report. Trade unions and human rights activists are also targeting Pinault-Printemps-Redoute SA (F.PPR), the French retail conglomerate that owns Gucci and a string of other luxury high street brands. The campaigners allege that Pinault's La Redoute sourced some of its products from Myanmar, formerly Burma, a country with a record of using forced labor. "We made the decision not to import goods from Burma" and "we don't run sweatshops," counters Thomas Kamm, a Pinault spokesman. Once problems are identified, most campaigners and companies agree that it is better to work with suppliers than desert them. Adidas has cancelled contracts in a few cases in China after discovering factories that employed children and using forced prison labor. But aside from such outright violations, the company presses management to make improvements. Otherwise, it fears workers will suffer the most, losing their only source of income. "Only if there's no cooperation will we terminate contracts," says William Andersen, Adidas's Director of Social and Environmental Affairs for Asia. Dealing with subcontractors in the developing world requires coalition building. When the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee complained about conditions for workers making footballs at a factory in mainland China, Adidas started pressuring the factory's management to increase pay, reduce working hours and improve safety. But Adidas's leverage is limited. It accounts for only 10% of annual production. So it has asked other major buyers to make similar demands. Negotiations on the issue continue. Simple economics will always continue to push multinationals to search out low cost production centers. Developing countries are desperate for their investment. But since consumers insist on safeguards, expect much more sweating in coming years over Third World sweatshops. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar releases 18
detainees
Mon Sep 23, 4:07 AM ET BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military government said Monday it freed 18 political prisoners, including 10 members of the opposition National League for Democracy party, the latest group of dissidents released since the start of national reconciliation talks two years ago. A government statement said authorities "will continue to release more individuals who will cause no harm to the community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and unity of the nation." The junta is believed to hold up to 1,500 political prisoners, including several hundred members of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won a 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power. Instead of convening parliament, the military cracked down, harassing and arresting many members of the opposition. The statement said five of those freed were women, four of them NLD members. The detainees were released from various correctional facilities, and "all are in good health and reunited with their respective families," it said. The release of political prisoners has been a major demand of the National League for Democracy. Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel peace laureate, has been holding political reconciliation talks with the government since October 2000. More than 300 of her party's members have been freed since the closed-door talks began, but apart from those prisoner releases, little else has resulted from the reconciliation talks. Suu Kyi herself was freed from 19 months of house arrest in May. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar foreign minister to
visit Bangkok
Mon Sep 23, 6:03 AM ET BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's foreign minister will visit Thailand on Tuesday for talks aimed at improving relations that have reached an all-time low, with the two countries' borders closed for the past four months. Foreign Minister Win Aung will spend two days in Bangkok and meet Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Wednesday, a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Win Aung will also hold talks with his Thai counterpart, Surakiart Sathirathai. A Myanmar Foreign Ministry official said Win Aung will arrive in Bangkok from Singapore on Tuesday and return to Yangon on Wednesday. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity. Relations plummeted after the Thai army fired artillery shells into Myanmar during a battle between the Myanmar army and ethnic Shan rebels in May. Thailand said it opened fire after the fighting spilled into northern Thailand, but Myanmar accused Thailand of firing the shells to help the rebels. In retaliation, Myanmar closed its border crossings, banned the import of Thai goods, prohibited visits by officials and criticized Thailand's revered monarchy in state-owned media. Win Aung had been expected to travel to Thailand in the first week of September for talks with Surakiart, but the trip was postponed. Surakiart met with Myanmar junta leaders in Yangon on Aug. 6-7. Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has been invited to pay an official visit to Myanmar this year. The proposed trip is seen as an attempt by Myanmar to show that it respects the Thai monarchy despite the critical articles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mekong countries meet to
discuss blueprint for development
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) _ Officials from six Asian nations that share the Mekong River met Monday with foreign aid donors to discuss a 10-year plan for developing the area along the river's path. The Greater Mekong Subregion, or GMS, is home to 250 million people from Myanmar _ also known as Burma _ Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and China's Yunnan province. The plan, launched a decade ago, seeks to promote regional prosperity through increased road, telecommunications and power links, and cooperation in trade, human resources development and tourism. However, downstream countries such as Cambodia have raised concerns over major development projects in upstream countries, especially dam projects in China which they fear will disrupt the Mekong's flow. In her opening speech, Zhang Yuejiao, deputy director-general of the Asian Development Bank's Mekong Department, said further cooperation among the six countries and development partners will ``ensure the successful implementation and realization of shared goals and vision.'' During the three-day meeting, ministerial officials from the six countries plan to discuss initial steps toward their goals, said Zhang, the meeting's co-chairman. According to the Asian Development Bank, the Mekong subregion's overall annual gross domestic product is approximately dlrs 190 billion, although countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are among Asia's poorest. Officials will finalize a draft of a joint declaration to be issued during the Nov. 3 summit of leaders of the six nations, she said. Cambodia will host the GMS Summit just ahead of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Washington File
20 September 2002 Lawmakers Say Burma's Military Junta Continues to Commit Abuses (Urge end to military rule and restoration of democracy) (660) By Steve La Rocque Washington File Staff Writer Washington - In a series of speeches in the House of Representatives September 18, a group of lawmakers sharply criticized Burma's ruling military junta for continuing to suppress democracy and commit human rights abuses in its country. "Today, September 18th, marks the 14-year anniversary of the Burmese military regime's bloody takeover of Burma, after gunning down an estimated 10,000 non-violent demonstrators throughout the country," said Representative Tom Lantos (Democrat of California), the ranking minority member on the House International Relations Committee. "Since that awful day, the Burmese people, led by the courageous 1991Nobel Peace Prize recipient Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, have against great odds never given up their hope, their belief, and their struggle for the kind of freedom we have enjoyed in this country," Lantos said, who is also the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. "This struggle was enshrined into political reality when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy won a democratic election in 1990 with 82 percent of the seats in parliament -- a landslide election the regime has never recognized," said Lantos. "We absolutely must lend our vocal public support to the Burmese people's struggle for freedom," he continued. "It is time the United States and the international community see through the regime's smoke and mirrors and again move to increase concrete political and economic pressure," Lantos added. "On September 18, 1988, the military forced its rule on the people of Burma, a rule that has been dominated by severe violence and oppression including rape, the enslavement of children, attacks on ethnic minorities, imprisonment and torture of democratic political opposition groups, and the destruction of homes and villages," Representative Joseph Pitts (Republican of Pennsylvania) said. Pitts, who serves on the House International Relations Subcommittees on International Operations and Human Rights, is also the founder and chairman of the Religious Prisoners Congressional Task Force, and a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. "The people of Burma have struggled to survive under this brutal regime. On this day of tragic remembrance, the United States and the entire international community must come together to support and assist the Karen, Karenni, Chin, Shan and other people of Burma," Pitts said. Rangoon's military rulers, he went on, do not limit their attacks to ethnic minorities, "but also brutally oppresses religious minorities." The Burmese military, Pitts said, "invades villages, divides families through forced relocation, and uses rape and murder to subjugate the people." Representative Benjamin Gilman (Republican of New York) said he urged Congress to "continue to pressure the regime until the aspirations of the Burmese people are fulfilled." The chairman emeritus of the House International Relations Committee reminded his colleagues that in Burma, "a parliamentary chamber has not been filled with an electorate." "If we turn our backs on Burma, if we don't speak out, and act, in support of those who chose democracy, we will be undermining all duly elected public officials, including ourselves," the New York Republican added. Representative Gary Ackerman (Democrat of New York) backed Gilman, urging that Burma's military regime "be put on notice" that the United States would not forget September 18th, and that many lawmakers in Congress were "growing weary of the constant stalling and delaying of a full-scale political dialogue" in Burma. Representative Lane Evans (Democrat of Illinois) focused on the military regime's rejection of "core labor rights including prohibitions on child labor, forced labor, and freedom of association." Evans said the military uses a "system of sweatshops" to produce textiles for western markets. "Even under strict quotas, Burmese textile exports have exploded into the U.S. market creating a direct source of hard currency for the military dictatorship," Evans said. "Textile exports are the life support for the Burmese regime and we need a complete ban on Burmese exports until we see freedom and an end to slavery," the Illinois Democrat said. He added that now was not the time to relax sanctions, but instead, time to "tighten the noose on one of the world's worst totalitarian governments." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:http://usinfo.state.gov) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |