Re-Prioritizing: More Than a Glance at Burma
by Noelle Esquire
Irremediable: that which is incapable of being remedied or solved. And
so it seems far east in the country of Burma/Myanmar, whose military
regime has restricted the human rights and freedoms of its citizens
for years. Exemplified by its persecution of ethnic minorities and political
dissidents, exploitation of child soldiers, and failure to live up to
its promises for political reform and national reconciliation, the authoritarian
military government of Burma/Myanmar, the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), has aggravated the human rights crisis that has developed
within and spread beyond its borders.
One of the most significant proponents of the human rights violations in Burma/Myanmar is the SPDC’s constraint on its citizens’ freedom of expression. In 2002, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that approximately 3,500 people were being held as “security detainees” in Burma/Myanmar, and at least 1,300 of these were believed to be political prisoners. The government continues to arbitrarily arrest its citizens for simply exercising their freedoms of opinion and expression, which apparently ceases to exist as soon as someone criticizes the military regime.
Beginning with British colonial rule back in 1886, students in Burma/Myanmar would strike and riot, representing not only educational demands, but the needs and voices of the entire community, and would generally garner positive results. However, with the institution of an authoritarian military government, student protests were put to an end by gunfire and violence, where police would beat rioters to death, and the army would open fire indiscriminately on strikers, killing hundreds of people. While students are no longer being slaughtered in the streets today, this is largely due to the fear instilled in students of the repercussions from a peaceful protest, not because of any sudden kindness bestowed by the forces of the regime.
Such violence and brutality is also extended toward ethnic minorities in the country, in the form of rape, torture, executions, forced labor and the forced relocation of entire villages. Most of these ethnic groups do not accept Burma/Myanmar as a political entity, and therefore the only way the government sees to enforce their policy is through the use of force and submission. According to Human Rights Watch, the largest human rights organization in the United States, Burma/Myanmar has the second largest and most chronic refugee problem in Asia. Over two million people have fled to Thailand, with 145,000 living in refugee camps. The Thai government is establishing increasingly harsh policies against refugees from Burma/Myanmar, and those that do make it in face extremely poor working conditions, being used for cheap labor.
Despite the SPDC’s ban of forced labor with its ratification of Order No. 1/99 back in 2000, government-organized forced labor continues to brew within its borders, primarily for military activities, like the construction of military bases or forced conscription into the military – children as well as adults. In fact, Burma/Myanmar has more child soldiers than any other country in the world, which comprises about a quarter of the 300,000 children estimated to be participating in military conflicts throughout the world. There are approximately 350,000 soldiers in Burma/Myanmar’s national army, and Human Rights Watch found that as many as seventy thousand children were serving in it in 2002.
So what is to be done? While Burma/Myanmar remains one of the most repressive countries in Asia, the United Nations has found it difficult to make any significant headway, as the country expresses hostility towards outside scrutiny. The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy, Rizali Ismail, and Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma/Myanmar, have been unable to negotiate with the SPDC on opening up its political process or improving its human rights situation. In fact, both Rizali and Pinheiro are no longer allowed to enter the country. Furthermore, while the UN is urging the Security Council to address the human rights crisis in Burma/Myanmar, various countries on the Security Council, including China, Russia, and the Philippines, oppose the move because it would jeopardize their political, economic and military ties with the country.
Yet is this really a time where personal agenda should override dire necessity? Not only are the people of Burma/Myanmar victim to political and ethnic persecution by their government, but also to diplomatic and humanitarian retreat. For example, in August 2005, the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria terminated its services in the country in response to the government imposing new restrictions. And while the human rights crisis in Burma/Myanmar may seem irremediable, it is with such awareness that international powers like the UN Security Council must intervene, instead of giving up.
