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the petition for Mr. Soe Myint, the Editor (Founder) of Mizzima
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--------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 25,
2003.
--------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
--------------------------------------------------------------
AP - Asian
Countries Consider Joint Plan To Combat SARS
AP - Myanmar
military says protester in British Embassy was sent by exiled
groups
AP - Government
dismisses Suu Kyi criticisms, says still open to talks
Asia Pulse - India
Says No Ban on Any Country to Bid for Oil/Gas Blocks
Reuters - Asia health
chiefs urge SARS travel bans, surveillance
Forbes - Supping With The
Devil
Asian Tribune - Chavalit to tackle drugs problem with
Burma
Bkk Post - Post
writers recognised for
tolerance
Bkk Post - PM
wants Karen people, stored logs moved
out
Bkk Post - US
senators to seek aid for displaced women, children
Bkk Post -
Kraisak urges govt to abandon project
IHT - Burma
uses rape against
minorities
--------------------------------------------------------------
Friday April 25,
8:42 PM
Asian Countries Consider Joint Plan To Combat
SARS
KUALA LUMPUR (AP)--A dozen Asian countries, including China, are
considering a joint plan to strengthen their defenses against SARS, such as
mandatory health declarations for all passengers and travel bans on anyone with
symptoms.
The plan was in a draft statement by senior health
officials from nine Southeast Asian countries, along with China, Japan and South
Korea, who met Friday in Malaysia. The draft was due to be presented to the
countries' health ministers at a meeting on Saturday.
Officials at
Friday's meeting in Kuala Lumpur were "deeply concerned that SARS has threatened
the well-being and livelihood of the people and the economic development of this
region," said a copy of the draft statement made available to The Associated
Press.
"We are of the conviction that only by strengthening our
collective efforts regionally as well as internationally (can) we confront the
challenges posed by this deadly virus," the draft said.
It said
countries that join the plan could ensure stringent passenger screening at
international departure points in each country, and enhance information-sharing
about preventative measures.
Signatory countries would also ensure
that people with symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome wouldn't be
allowed to travel, and require travelers from affected countries to fill in
health declaration forms, the draft says.
Friday's discussions
were the first in a series of meetings by officials from Asian countries and
territories hardest-hit by SARS, which has killed more than 270 people worldwide
and sickened more than 4,400, mostly in Hong Kong and mainland China.
A summit of Southeast Asian leaders and top officials from other
affected countries is scheduled for next Tuesday in Bangkok, Thailand.
The discussions were called on short notice by the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Its members are Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
Only Vietnam wasn't at Friday's meetings, which were also
attended by observers from Canada and the World Health
Organization.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Friday April 25, 8:57 PM
Myanmar military says protester in British Embassy was
sent by exiled groups
YANGON, Myanmar
(AP) _ A man who took refuge in the
British Embassy after police tried to arrest him for a political protest was
sent by Thai-based dissidents to carry out subversive acts, a Myanmar government
spokesman said Friday.
The unidentified man, in his 20s, protested
on April 4 outside the embassy in downtown Yangon with a Buddhist monk. Public
protests are virtually unheard-of in this military-ruled country.
They shouted slogans and waved a flag showing the ``fighting
peacock'' _ the symbol of the country's pro-democracy movement.
Police detained the monk, and the other man fled into the embassy.
British officials confirmed the incident, but have provided no details about the
man's situation.
A government spokesman, Brig. Gen. Than Tun, said
at a press briefing Friday that he believed the man was still inside the embassy
compound.
He claimed the man was sent ``to carry out subversive
acts within the country'' by anti-government exile groups with offices in the
Thai border town of Mae Sot.
It wasn't clear if he was implicating
a specific group. But he mentioned the NLD-Liberated Area, the exiled wing of
the legal opposition National League for Democracy party.
He also
named the All Burma Students Democratic Front and the Karen National Union, an
ethnic rebel group.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win said
his ministry and the British Embassy have been in constant contact since the
incident.
``We have informed the embassy that the man was a
terrorist who had violated the law and his presence inside the embassy compound
poses a danger to the embassy,'' Khin Maung Win said.
Myanmar
authorities suggested immediately after the incident that the two protesters
could be linked to a small bomb that killed a municipal worker and injured three
others on March 27 about two kilometers (a mile) from the embassy.
More recently, however, the authorities have blamed the bomb on
the Karen National Union.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Friday April 25, 9:12 PM
Government dismisses Suu Kyi criticisms, says still open
to talks
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar's military government on Friday
dismissed harassment claims from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as
``outdated'' and unhelpful, and accused an armed ethnic opposition group of
terrorist acts.
National League for Democracy party leader Suu Kyi
has alleged that the junta obstructed and intimidated her and her supporters as
she toured the northwestern Chin State earlier this month and Rakhine state in
December.
``It should be considered if such criticism could be
beneficial. Is the NLD trying to portray the government as a villain? And if so,
such views are outdated,'' government spokesman Brig. Gen. Than Tun said.
The current group of ruling generals, who seized power in 1988,
refused to hand over power to the NLD after it won the 1990 general elections.
Instead it jailed thousands of NLD members and has put Suu Kyi under house
arrest several times.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Suu Kyi
said the junta did not appear to be serious about reconciliation talks it
started with the opposition party in October 2000, adding that the process is
sliding backward.
The government said in a press statement earlier
that it was surprised the NLD has adopted a policy of noncooperation and taken
to holding press conferences ``focusing on attacking the government for some of
the shortcomings encountered on her trip.''
Meanwhile, another
official accused the Karen National Union of carrying out terrorist attacks
under the pretext of fighting for democracy.
Brig. Gen. Kyaw Thein
described as ``cowardly acts'' the group's destruction of private and public
property, including sections of a natural gas pipeline in March and April.
``Altogether, 16 civilians were killed and 57 injured between
January and April this year by 'terrorist acts' carried out by the KNU,'' he
said at a press briefing.
But he added that ``the government has
not changed its policy with regard to peace talks and the door for peace remains
open.
``All ethnic rebels are given equal opportunities and no
special privileges can be given to any group.'' The government has made
cease-fire pacts with 17 other ethnic rebel groups since 1988.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
April 25, 5:23 PM
India
Says No Ban on Any Country to Bid for Oil/Gas
Blocks
NEW DELHI, April 25
Asia Pulse - Contrary to the wishes
of the Indian Defence Ministry to keep out from the oil sector companies from
China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and the entire Arab
world, the Indian government will not ban any country from bidding for certain
oil and gas blocks early next month.
"The terms for bidding under
the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) have enough safeguards to protect
national interests. The Defence Ministry's plea for keeping out certain
countries on security concerns, has not been accepted," highly placed government
sources said.
The Indian Defence Ministry,
during the inter-ministerial consultations to finalise oil and gas blocks to be
offered under the fourth round of NELP, had aksed for a ban on companies from
China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and the entire Arab
world from bidding for two oil and gas blocks to be offered in the Andaman
region.
"Being a signatory of the
World Trade Organisation (WTO), India cannot keep out member signatory countries
from any bidding process," sources said while pointing that a meeting of
officials of ministries of petroleum, defence, finance and law last week decided
to offer NELP blocks through open bidding.
The Defence Ministry had also
wanted Indian firms to lead the consortiums, bidding for blocks in Andaman
offshore, as majority shareholder.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
April 25, 8:28 PM
Asia health chiefs urge SARS travel
bans, surveillance
By Jalil Hamid
KUALA
LUMPUR, April 25 (Reuters) - Asian health chiefs, meeting in
Malaysia on
Friday, are proposing to conduct strict pre-travel checks on passengers at
airports and seaports in the battle against the SARS virus.
A draft statement of
proposals, likely to be issued on Saturday, also calls for travel bans on
suspected SARS sufferers and surveillance of people who have had contact with
them.
Health officials from
China and
Hong Kong -- the hardest hit by the disease that has
killed 264 people worldwide and infected some 4,600 in 25 nations -- joined
others from South
Korea,
Japan and 10
Southeast Asian states for the meeting in Kuala
Lumpur.
"Things are beginning to turn
the tide," said Mark Salter, an official with the Geneva-based World Health
Organisation, who hailed the meeting as a chance to standardise approaches to
tackling Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
He said the containment
response in some places had started to work.
In their two-day meeting, the
officials will also discuss the need for health declaration cards for East Asian
nations and possibilities for sharing laboratories to identify the virus.
SARS has hit
Asia hard, with the
Philippines
reporting its first deaths and
Taiwan
quarantining over 1,000 doctors, nurses and patients in a hospital.
China has
reported 115 deaths as has Hong Kong.
The disease has hurt
Asia's economies, several of which have revised their
growth figures downwards, and badly affected wide swathes of their economies
from retail to airlines.
"We are deeply concerned that
SARS has threatened the well-being and livelihood of the people and economic
development of this region," said the paper, a copy of which was given to
reporters.
Delegates at the Palace of the
Golden Horses resort, in happier times host to golf giant Tiger Woods and soccer
star David Beckham, had the place almost to themselves with tourist numbers down
all across
Malaysia due to
SARS.
Officials heard country
reports from each delegation, focusing on epidemiology, public health measures,
information on cases and contacts as well as how to handle the question of
foreign workers.
The event, to involve health
ministers on Saturday, precedes a SARS summit of heads of government from the
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
Bangkok on April 29.
ASEAN groups the countries of
Brunei,
Cambodia,
Indonesia,
Laos,
Malaysia,
Myanmar, the
Philippines,
Singapore,
Thailand, and
Vietnam.
Of the ASEAN countries
affected by SARS,
Singapore has so
far borne the brunt with 19 deaths, followed by
Malaysia,
Thailand and the
Philippines,
each of which has two.
Manila
announced its fatalities on Friday, turning fears into reality for a cash-poor
country reliant on billions of dollars sent home each year by its armies of
nurses and domestic helpers working overseas, many of them in
Asia's SARS hotspots.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Business - Forbes.com
Supping With The Devil
Thu Apr
24, 5:35 PM ET
By Michael Freedman
Deep in the jungle of southern
Burma
(Myanmar) live
40,000 villagers who tend to maize and rice farms, raise livestock and fish in
the rivers. Traversing their land is a natural gas pipeline, 1 meter in diameter
and 2 meters underground. It begins 350 kilometers offshore before entering
western Burma
and extending eastward 63 kilometers toward
Thailand. The $1
billion pipe is owned by Unocal, TotalFinaElf, a Thai company and a state-owned
energy company in
Burma.
There is little dispute that
Burma's brutal
military forced villagers to work in the vicinity of the pipeline, starting at
least as early as 1995. At issue today is what role Unocal played in allowing
the abuse to take place and whether it benefited from it--even if it wasn't
directly complicit. In suits filed in
California federal and state
courts, human rights groups claim that Unocal both encouraged and gained from
the nasty regime. To get the case into a
U.S. federal
court, the groups, including the International Labor Rights Fund, invoked the
Alien Tort Claims Act, a 214-year-old law that gives
U.S. courts
jurisdiction over international acts of genocide, torture and
slavery.
The pipeline carries gas from
a 5.7-trillion-cubic-foot reserve discovered in the 1980s by the
government-owned Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise (news - web sites). The gas
company signed an agreement with the French company Total and American Unocal to
build the pipeline. Allegations of abuse were no surprise in
Burma, a
Southeast Asian land of 48 million taken over in 1962 by a socialist military
regime that quickly impoverished the nation. In 1989 the military government,
known as the State Law & Order Restoration Council, changed the nation's
name to Myanmar,
a name the U.S.
doesn't recognize, and crushed attempts at democracy. Today the government
regularly jails and tortures dissenters and uses forced labor and rape as
management tools.
Security was an immediate
concern in the pipeline area. Oil executives admit they liked having the
military around, particularly when insurgents ambushed a group of villagers in
1995. But as the project got under way, the military increased its presence, and
the companies began to hear accounts from villagers that soldiers had forced
people to work in the pipeline vicinity. Company officials say they reacted
responsibly to the reports, although they insist the abuses were unrelated to
the pipeline. As a humanitarian gesture they provided financial and other aid to
300 to 400 individuals affected, and lobbied Burmese authorities to discontinue
the practice.
Yet villagers say the forced
labor continued until 1999. In court documents one villager claimed soldiers
forced him to build a helipad used by Unocal and Total officials. Others say
they were required to serve as "pipeline porters," workers who hauled materials
and cleaned camps for soldiers guarding the pipeline. A woman claimed she was
nursing her month-old baby when a soldier kicked her and pushed them into a
fire. Soldiers then ordered her to relocate from their village. The baby died
soon after.
One damning piece of evidence
against the companies comes from a cable from the
U.S. embassy in
Rangoon, describing a conversation
between a State Department official and Joel Robinson, a Unocal manager.
According to the account, Robinson acknowledged that Unocal hired the military
as security and met directly with the soldiers to inform them of its activities
so the area could be secured.
Unocal and Total disavow the
account. They say they did not contract with the military and communicated with
it only through the Burmese gas company. The forced labor involved other
projects in the region and had nothing to do with Unocal or Total. "It never
happened in relation to the pipeline," says M. Randy Oppenheimer, a Unocal
lawyer. "Nobody asked or coerced anyone to do any work for the
pipeline."
In June a California Superior
Court judge ruled Unocal could be "vicariously liable" for abuses committed by
the Burmese military, which means the company could be liable for the
government's actions even if it did not participate in them. In March a state
appeals court cleared the way for a trial in
California.
Last September a federal court
ruled Unocal could be liable for abuses if it "aided and abetted" them. The
meaning of those words will be crucial. But the court found there was enough
evidence that Unocal knew about and benefited from forced labor to go forward,
noting in particular that the company held daily meetings to show the military
where to provide security and build infrastructure, despite the knowledge it
would probably use forced labor to do so. "The evidence also supports the
conclusion that Unocal gave 'encouragement' to the
Myanmar military
in subjecting plaintiffs to murder, rape and torture," the court noted. A
hearing reviewing this decision will be heard in June.
The oil companies point out,
and villagers agree, that life has improved significantly since the completion
of the pipeline in 1998. In a nation with a per capita gross domestic product of
$100, Unocal and Total contributed $10 million in goods and services to the
40,000 people in the pipeline area. Health care workers have given 400,000 free
consultations and vaccinations since 1997. Infant mortality has plummeted. "Now
there's not much communication with the army," observed one village woman. "They
seldom come."
The Unocal case may one day
land in the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites). But it already serves as a
sharp warning to
U.S. companies
doing business overseas. Two dozen similar cases have been filed against other
U.S. companies.
For instance: Plaintiffs in a
Florida federal court allege that
Fresh Del Monte Produce hired security forces in
Guatemala that
tortured and kidnapped labor organizers. The company did not return calls.
Some lawyers are pushing the
law to an extreme, arguing that companies that do business in certain countries
are liable for abuses--simply for having invested there. Suits are pending
against Ford and Citigroup for doing business in apartheid-era
South Africa,
even if they neither participated in nor directly benefited from the
government's abuses. Citi's offense? It made loans to
South
Africa.
These suits may be doing no
favors for the Third World if they chase away
multinationals and the jobs and capital they bring. The suits may also interfere
with U.S.
foreign policy. Last year the U.S. State Department intervened in a Tort Claims
Act suit seeking damages from ExxonMobil for work in
Indonesia,
warning the suit could imperil counter-terrorism initiatives. But the plaintiffs
seem to have the upper hand legally. "Right now," says
Brooklyn
Law
School professor Anthony Sebok, "the
law does have the extraordinary reach its most radical proponents say it
does."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-04-25
Chavalit to tackle drugs problem with
Burma
Bangkok,
April 25: Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has been assigned to hold
talks on illicit drugs with Burmese leader Than Shwe on the sidelines of the
Asean Sars Summit in Bangkok, a
senior official said yesterday.
"Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra has instructed Chavalit to try and seek Burmese cooperation to stop
drug smuggling along the northern borders," Narcotics Control Board official
Chidchai Vanasatidya said.
Anti-drug officials have been
tipped off that huge supplies of methamphetamine pills are stashed in
Burma ready to
enter the country when the government ends its war on drugs, Chidchai
said.
However, he dismissed
speculation that the Thai military might crack down on illegal drug production
plants run by the Wa in
Burma.
The government plans to assist
Burma in
promoting a crop-substitution programme for minority groups in a joint bid to
eradicate illegal drug production, he said.
He also refused to comment on
news reports about the involvement of politicians in the illegal drug
trade.
Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra said that critics of the anti-drug campaign should have evidence to
back up allegations regarding the involvement of politicians in the drug trade.
"Please identify the culprits. With evidence, every drug suspect will be
arrested and brought to justice," he said.
Interior Minister Wan Muhamad
Noor Matha said law enforcement authorities had no evidence to link any
lawmakers to the illegal drug trade.
"I don't think allegations
should be made without evidence. Speculation only leads to confusion,
jeopardising drug suppression efforts," he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok
Post - Friday 25 April
2003
JOURNALISM
PRIZE
Post writers recognised for
tolerance
Articles
on Karen, logging win awards
Bangkok Post writer Sanitsuda
Ekachai has won the inaugural IFJ Journalism for Tolerance Prize in
Southeast Asia for a series of articles about ethnic
Karen people's fight for their rights.
The prize, supported by the
International Federation of Journalism and European Commission, is given to
journalists whose work helps promote tolerance, combat racism and contributes to
an understanding of cultural, religious and ethnic differences.
The announcement was made this
week in Bali.
The series, ``Searching for a
State'', was chosen from more than 100 entries in the print and online category.
The judges said the series was moving, well-researched and well
assembled.
``It suggests that there are
more similarities in the region than commonly thought in the way governments are
treating minority groups.''
Ms Sanitsuda is an assistant
editor at the Bangkok Post. Her coverage of social justice and development
issues has won her awards here and internationally.
Another Bangkok Post writer,
Supara Janchitfah, was a finalist for her article, ``Falling Trees Have Long
Shadows'' about how local government protects illegal logging activities at the
expense of local villagers who work to preserve the environment.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Friday 25 April 2003
PM
wants Karen people, stored logs moved out
Talk of missing teak
`premature', he says
Yuwadee Tunyasiri
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has ordered the
relocation of Karen refugees from Salween forest in Mae Hong Son along with
thousands of seized teak logs stored there, to prevent further illegal timber
felling.
On Tuesday, cabinet appointed Deputy Prime Minister Suvit
Khunkitti to chair a panel to investigate the fate of about 5,000 teak logs
confiscated and left in the jungle after the 1997 Salween logging
scandal.
On the same day, Mr Thaksin said he wanted the remaining
logs stored in one place for display so the people could see the result of
forest destruction.
A total of 33,884 logs were seized in the
Salween national park and wildlife sanctuary in 1997-2002.
Of them,
15,485 logs were sold by the Forestry Department to the Forest Industry
Organisation in 1997 and about 13,200 logs were kept in the provincial forestry
office's storage sites. That left more than 5,000 logs unaccounted
for.
The prime minister said Karen refugees must be moved out of
Salween forest where the impounded logs remained, since these people had poached
logs in the past.
Agencies must find a new home for these refugees.
There was no need to wait for consent from the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, as Thailand was an independent state.
He would ask
the Suvit-led team, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, Agriculture
Ministry, military and police to count the remaining logs in Salween forest and
have them hauled out.
``There is no need for arguments now about
whether some logs are missing. When they are moved out, we can check if they are
all there. The missing logs can be tracked down,'' Mr Thaksin
said.
Political parties had tried to reap benefits from the seized
logs in the Salween forest by claiming the logs were from Burma even though they
were felled in Thailand.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Friday 25 April 2003
US
senators to seek aid for displaced women, children
Supamart Kasem
Members of a
US senate committee are worried about the risk of Burmese displaced people and
refugees in Thailand falling victims to human trafficking
gangs.
They plan to ask Washington to help with education and
training for displaced women and children living in Thailand.
Seven
members of the US Senate foreign relations committee, led by Frank Januzi,
visited Umpium and Mae La refugee camps in Phop Phra and Tha Song Yang districts
on Wednesday.
Mr Januzi said members had heard reports that many
Burmese displaced women and children had been exploited by human traffickers.
They were victims of poverty and poor education, he
said.
Mr Januzi said he was hopeful Washington would start funding
education and occupational training at camps for these people next year.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Friday 25 April
2003
Kraisak urges govt to abandon project
Forest at
risk as local residents `get no say'
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
The Senate foreign affairs panel has criticised the
government for pressing ahead with its plan to build a hydro-powered dam on the
Thai-Burmese border.
Chairman Kraisak Choonhavan said the panel
disagreed with the government's decision to go ahead with construction of the
Salween dam, a joint Thai-Burmese project, for fear it would cause damage to the
country in the long term.
Half the project cost of 200 billion baht
would be borne by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand. The Burmese
government will pay for the rest.
The panel fears the project would
lead to increased forest poaching at Salween national park and along the
Thai-Burmese border since forestry officials have no control over logging
concessions in the area.
The Salween dam project showed the
government had no sincere intention of protecting the country's last teak
forest, Mr Kraisak said.
He added that the project also violated
the rights of local residents as the government had never asked them whether or
not they wanted a dam in the area.
The panel urged the government
to cancel its contract with Burma. Energy Minister Prommin Lertsuridej is due to
discuss construction plans with Burmese government representatives on
Tuesday.
``It's not too late yet for the government to reconsider
the pros and cons of the project,'' said Mr Kraisak. ``It would bring more
damage than benefits to the country in the long run.''
The panel
and representatives of NGOs opposing the dam would travel to Tak province on
Sunday to have a first-hand look at the site.
They would also talk
to local people to find out what problems could arise from the dam
construction.
--------------------------------------------------------------
International Herald Tribune
Burma
uses rape against minorities
Veronika Martin and Betsy Apple
IHT Friday, April 25, 2003
Terrorizing
refugees
BANGKOK The Burmese army is using rape as a weapon
of war against women from Burma's numerous ethnic minorities. Recent
international attention on rape by the army has focused on abuses against Shan
women. But following a research mission to the Thai-Burmese border, Refugees
International confirmed that rape is widespread, affecting women from numerous
ethnic groups.
.
A report by Refugees International, "No Safe Place,"
documents 43 rapes among women from the Karen, Karenni, Mon, Tavoyan and Shan
minorities. Because Burmese battalions are stationed for long periods near
villages - often using the population for forced labor - women victims were able
to provide the battalion number of the rapist in three-quarters of the
cases.
.
Nearly 20 percent of the rapes were committed on military bases.
In nearly one-third of the cases, higher-ranking officers committed the rapes,
and in only two cases were any punishments given. Each was extremely
weak.
.
Rape in Burma is part of a pattern of abuses designed to control
and terrorize ethnic populations. It is committed with impunity. The lack of
punishment for perpetrators leads to the conclusion that the system for
protecting civilians in the ethnic minority areas of Burma is deeply flawed,
which in turn suggests that rape is systematic.
.
Because international
criminal tribunals have deemed systematic rape a war crime, the generals guilty
of condoning rape have violated international law. Further, by failing to
protect women and girls, the ruling Burmese generals are violating the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, both of which Burma has ratified.
.
We heard
harrowing stories directly from rape victims or from witnesses. Burmese girls
and women are especially vulnerable while fleeing their villages to seek refuge
in Thailand.
.
Thay Yu, one such refugee, hid in the forest when a group
of Burmese soldiers caught another family traveling with her. Thay Yu said that
she heard screams as the soldiers killed an infant with a swift blow to the back
of the neck. A 6-year-old girl ran and hid in a tree. Before the soldiers shot
and killed the husband, they forced him to stand and watch while they raped his
wife and killed her by stabbing her with a bamboo stick through her vagina and
abdomen.
.
After the soldiers left, Thay Yu and her family buried the
husband, wife and baby, then brought the 6-year-old daughter to
Thailand.
.
Such events are not rare. Of women interviewed by Refugees
International, 75 percent reported knowing someone who had been raped by the
Burmese military. All of them knew of rapes occurring in their home area.
Fifteen percent had either experienced an attempted rape or been witnesses to
rape or compelling physical evidence of a rape.
.
Burma's ruling State
Peace and Development Council has dismissed the rape report as "too ridiculous"
and accused Refugees International of "sowing the seeds of mistrust" among
Burma's ethnic groups.
.
Instead of dismissing carefully gathered
evidence, the council should allow the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an unfettered, countrywide
investigation of army rape involving ethnic minorities. Perpetrators should be
punished to the full extent of Burma's civil and military laws.
.
The
Burmese army should also halt the military build-up in ethnic areas that is
linked to the rape of ethnic women.
.
Veronika Martin is an advocate for
Refugees International, a humanitarian advocacy group based in Washington. Betsy
Apple is a human rights lawyer.
--------------------------------------------------------------
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