NOTE: Due to the time constraints text in brackets [ ] will not be delivered

Mr Chair,

On the question of elderly people, recognized to be a vulnerable group, ALIRAN wishes to condemn continued detention of prisoners who are aging, frail or ill. It is extremely distressing to note that in Burma, a significant number of people are doomed to spend their golden years in jail. Is this what the Burmese junta means by Myanmar culture?

Is this the reason Dr. Salai Tun Than aged 74 was recently sentenced to 7 years jail? Why award-winning journalist U Win Tin aged 72 remains behind bars, as is Nai Ngwe Thein aged 76 and Member of Parliament Saw Oo Reh, aged 73? Why are there still so many senior citizens languishing in Burmese jails? Does the Burmese regime imagine that jails are suitable as retirement villas?

While ALIRAN understands that the release of all political prisoners may cause severe culture shock to the Burmese authorities, it is perfectly reasonable to expect that those who are aged, ill or have completed their sentences should be released. ALIRAN hopes that those lucky to have exceeded the nation’s average life expectancy of 58.4 years should not be detained in the future.

Mr Chair,

On the question of Burma’s ethnic nationality groups, those of us who are fighting to restore and defend human rights understand that the mere protection of individual rights may not be sufficient to guarantee legitimate values of group identity or demands for more effective participation in the larger society.

[The creation of a subsidiary body to the UN Commission on Human Rights: the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities itself was a clear recognition of the international community on the issues concerning minorities and groups around the world.]

[Customary International Law enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations also reflects the rights of minorities: "All peoples have the right freely to determine, without external interference, their political status and to pursue their economic, social and cultural development."…. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) also recognizes certain rights in respect of persons belonging to "ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities." The 1948 Genocide Convention protects "national, ethnical, racial, or religious" groups from campaigns to destroy them, in whole or in part.]

[The protection of minorities requires the implementation of the rights to citizenship, language, education and culture.]

In this context, I would like to draw the attention to the situation of minorities known as the ethnic nationality groups in Burma.

Successive military regimes have refused to recognize the rights of ethnic nationalities in
Burma. Intolerance grew to a point where the country is in a state of civil war. Even so-called cease-fires with individual ethnic nationality factions have not led to peace agreements or cessation of human right violations.

The ethnic groups have been denied the right to learn their language in school. The principle agency in the suppression of minority language has been the army, which controls every aspect of life in Burma, including education. [Language is the fundamental part of their ethnic identity. They also believe that if their language rights are not respected they will be left without any other basic right.]

We wish to remind the Commission that most ethnic nationality groups in Burma at this time are fighting for their most essential rights – including the right to life. There is no doubt that a significant number of ethnic nationality people were included in the 114 extrajudicial killings reported by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms Asma Jahangir. This would also have been reflected in the number of women and children killed by the military.

If governments respect the human rights of minorities, there will be less interests in separatist movements. This is particularly true in the case of Burma. The violations inflicted by the military authorities feed a conflict that justifies continued military actions.

While we sincerely welcome the secret talks between the State Peace and Development Council and the National League for Democracy, our past experiences have taught us not to put too much hope in something that has not yet delivered tangible outcomes.

Therefore we would like to urge the Commission to actively ensure that these talks have a positive impact on the daily lives of the peoples of Burma. I call upon the Commission to;

1. encourage the authorities to immediately stop persecuting minorities, specifically in the areas of the Shan, the Karen, Chin and the Karenni,
2. encourage the authorities to announce a nation-wide cease-fire. This would form the first step toward genuine and lasting peace in Burma,
3. encourage the authorities to abide by its international obligations to protect the entire range of human rights of peoples in Burma, particularly those belonging to national, ethnic, religious, linguistic minorities.

Thank you.