Commission on Human Rights
57th Session

Agenda Item 17 (Human Rights Defenders)

April 19 2001

Mr. Chairman,

I am speaking on behalf of the War Resisters International.

Mr. Chairman,

In my country, Burma, people are arrested and put in jail for simply practicing their right to promote democracy and human rights. Almost all of them are tortured, punished and imprisoned under harsh conditions, conditions that anyone in the world would have never imagined in their life.

Believe it or not, Mr. Chairman,

These things are happening in Burma even after talks began between the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the military regime in early October last year.

Mr. Chairman,

I would like to draw your attention and that of the commission to the cases of two young students who tried to promote democracy and human rights.

Mr. Chairman,

Thet Win Aung was only a high school student during the 1988 democratic uprising in Burma, but this did not prevent him from becoming a prominent leader of the movement. During the wave of student protests that spread across the country, advocating an end to military rule and the realization of democracy and basic human rights, Thet Win Aung became Vice-General Secretary of an underground high school student organization, the Basic Education Student Union (BESU) in 1989. He was dismissed from school and imprisoned in September 1991 for nine months because of his activities in BESU. During this period of detention he was severely tortured. Following his release he became a leading member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, the umbrella organization for student unions in Burma. He took part in student demonstrations in December 1996 and, in 1998, helped to organize student protests against the poor quality of education and denial of human rights. Thet Win Aung was arrested in October 1998. In January 1999 he was sentenced to 52 years' imprisonment, which was increased to 59 years after further interrogation.

Thet Win Aung's severe sentence has made him somewhat of a celebrity in Burma. After the BBC radio programme broadcast his case, bribes were offered to prison guards by inmates to catch a glimpse of him. To date, this is the highest sentence given to a political prisoner in Burma.

Mr. Chairman,

Myo Min Zaw (a) Moe Hein Aung, who is a member of the All Burma Federations of Student Union (ABFSU) and the chairperson of the United Front of Youth and Students (UFYS) was sentenced to 38 years’ imprisonment because of he was a leader of a student demonstration that at Hledan Junction in Rangoon on 24 August 1998. He was denied legal counsel during his sham trial. No parole has been allowed and recently his sentence has been extended to 59 years. (According to the BJM (Burmese Jail Manual) law, all prisoners have the right to parole for one third of the given prison term)

Mr. Chairman,

May I mention, again at this 57^th session of the Commission on Human Rights, that to promote democracy and human rights in my country, Burma or Myanmar, is still the worst crime in the eyes of the military regime. An array of laws and the judicial system have been routinely abused in order to gag and detain human rights defenders. Therefore it is very surprising to hear the regime’s claims in this very hall that they are promoting human rights.

Thank you.