SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN MYANMAR
STATEMENT BY JUDGE RAJSOOMER LALLAH, SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
26 OCTOBER 2000
Mr Chairman,
I must apologise for not being present in person. This is due to some unfortunate administrative misunderstanding.
Since my appointment as Special Rapporteur in mid 1996, this is the fifth occasion on which I am presenting to the General Assembly an interim report on the situation on human rights in Myanmar. The present report deals with information gathered up to the end of July this year. Between that date and the present time, there have been some developments, the most important of which I feel bound to comment upon.
Mr Chairman,
The General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was stopped along with some members of her party while on their way to attend meetings at a party branch outside Yangon. After some ten days, they were all forcibly taken back to Yangon where Daw Aung Suu Kyi was held incommunicado in her residence for some 12 days. Other leaders of her party were either detained or held incommunicado. The headquarters of the party were ransacked and locked up.
Mr Chairman,
This was not the first time on which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had been subjected to a stand off or was prevented from attending branch meetings outside Yangon. She has since this last occasion been prevented from taking the train to attend meetings of her party outside Yangon. The policy of the military authorities over the past several years still continues to privilege the repression of all political activity over the engagement in a genuine political dialogue, as evidenced in my past reports. This policy continues to be implemented, first, by the enforcement of laws, orders and administrative action designed to criminalise and sanction the exercise of normal political activity; secondly by the intimidation, harassment, detention or imprisonment of the NLD leadership and membership, and of other opposition groups; thirdly, by the severe restrictions that govern their movement outside their particular locality and, fourthly, by the large scale closure of branch offices of the party. This is a policy which inherently violates the fundamental freedoms of association, assembly and movement as well as freedom of expression, all of which have found their consecration in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as further explicated in the Covenants.
Mr Chairman,
At paragraph 19 of this report I have referred to the arrest, trial and conviction of Mr James Mawdsley. I have noted the absence of an arrest warrant, of legal representation and of time to prepare his defence, including the inordinately heavy sentence of imprisonment imposed upon him. A few weeks ago the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention came to the conclusion that Mr Mawdsley was being arbitrarily detained and called upon the Authorities to remedy the situation. This is not surprising as he was again subjected to a sentence which had already been commuted. Further, what was held against him was the handing out of pro-democracy leaflets - an act which is normal in any society and quite in accordance with international norms governing the exercise of freedom of xpression. It would appear that Mr. Mawdsley was being held in solitary confinement and had been beaten up in prison. I am happy to report that Mr. Mawdsley has now been released and sent back to his country. I am also happy to report that six elderly prisoners have been released.
Mr Chairman,
This report and my last report to the Commission on Human Rights cover the situation of human rights, in so far as it affects not only he exercise of civil and political rights but also, in a more systematic way, economic, social and cultural rights. Needless to say, precisely because of the negation of political rights, the people have no say in the economic, social and cultural policies that affect all aspects of their everyday life in the short term and also for their future survival, well being and development.
Mr Chairman,
I would like to touch upon two aspects of the lives of people in Myanmar which continue most adversely to affect their civil as much as their economic and social rights, namely, the food situation and forced labour.
Mr Chairman,
Extreme poverty and the absence of food security have been the result of a policy characteristic of the militaristic approach adopted by the Authorities. This policy is implemented by arge-scale forced relocation in the ethnic areas, accompanied as it has been, by forced labour, inhuman treatment and other much graver violations of human rights, depriving the rural population of their lands and consequently, of their means of subsistence. Forced relocation has now been going on for many years and would appear to be in furtherance of a scorched earth policy, or what is generally known as the "four cuts" strategy adopted by the military, that is to say, depriving insurgents or suspected insurgents of, firstly, food, secondly, funds and resources, thirdly, sources of intelligence and information, and, fourthly, possibilities of recruitment. All this is exacerbated by the army forcibly taking, without any payment, any rice, poultry and other farm animals to feed themselves and burning off the rest of the crops.
Mr Chairman ,
In those areas where people still do farming, the compulsory sale to the Authorities of rice is still bedevilled by the very low price and the quota fixed by the Authorities. The situation of food scarcity has been the subject of the well documented proceedings of the Tribunal on Food Security of the non-governmental Asian Commission on Human Rights which heard many witnesses. I referred to these proceedings and the conclusions reached in my last report to the Commission on Human Rights (paragraph 36 and 37 of E/CN4/2000/38).
Mr Chairman,
At paragraph 43 of my present report, I have referred to the resolution adopted in June this year by the International Labour Conference in view of Myanmar's persistent failure to comply with ILO Convention No 29, as found by the Commission of Enquiry. This resolution was scheduled to have effect from 30 November this year, unless the Governing Body of the ILO was satisfied that sufficient concrete legislative, executive and administrative measures had, in the meantime, been taken to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry and put a stop to the practice of forced labour. It is my understanding that an ILO mission has been sent to Myanmar so as to report to the Governing Body, which is scheduled to meet next month. I greatly hope that the Authorities in Myanmar have made use of the breathing space afforded to them to put an end to forced labour in their law and practice.
Mr Chairman,
In conclusion, may I say that it is my unfortunate and regrettable duty to address this Assembly year after year to report on a human right situation which shows no improvement and which discards the repeated resolutions of this Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights. It remains my firm conviction that the situation will experience a fundamental change if the Authorities begin to privilege a genuine political dialogue over military and repressive solutions to a problem which is essentially political and which is so adversely affecting not only the people of the country but also neighbouring countries in the region. Some of these countries experience serious and periodic flows of displaced persons or refugees when they are themselves facing difficult times.
Mr Chairman,
It remains my hope that the Authorities in Myanmar, after the lapse of a decade since the conduct of the last general elections, begin to respond in a positive way to the resolutions which have been repeatedly adopted by the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights.
Mr Chairman,
Thank you.
