We have learned that the ten member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN, reached an agreement on 30th July, 2007, to set up a regional human rights commission in order to deal with and solve human rights issues in the region. We, the members of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), (AAPPB), recognize that such an agreement to set up a regional human rights commission will bring good opportunities to monitor human rights violations and abuses, and support this agreement as a positive prospect for people in Burma. This agreement is sorely needed as human rights abuses continue unchecked throughout Burma.

If a constitutional government doesn't work in Shan State, it won't in the rest of Burma, as the country is ethnically diverse with Shan State being its most diverse region, according to an American academic during a review of its first draft constitution last Sunday, 29 July. "Shan State may be the most important (non-Burman) state in the whole union," commented Dr. David Williams of the University of Indiana during his one-day meeting with Shan State Constitution Drafting Commission appointed by a constitutional conference in 2000. "The drafting of its charter therefore must be the hardest."

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) units on the Thai-Burma have been placed on high alert since 17 July, when they were reportedly ordered by the Burma Army to withdraw from their mountain bases, but the Burma Army has on the whole been quiet in contrast, according to Shan and Thai sources. "No sign of impending offensive on the Wa positions is seen," said a senior security officer. "Maybe the whole purpose of the exercise by the Burmese (Army) is only to sound out the Wa."

When news broke of an American diplomat meeting three ministers representing the Burmese junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), in Beijing , some were surprised, some were critical and some met the revelation with suspicion. This author and his colleagues wrote a paper in January 2006 suggesting American policy makers take a different route, because the route taken by Americans of shouting rhetoric and isolating the Burmese junta just falls into the hands of the military dictators and leads nowhere.

The United Wa State Army (UWSA), despite pressure by the Burma Army to vacate their mountain bases on the Thai-Burma border, has resolved to hang tough, according to sources who were informed of the recent biannual meeting held in Panghsang, 19-22 July.

The KIO’s 19 points proposal is a bold initiative and a breath of fresh air within Burma’s political arena, given that the Constitutional Convention, which has been being stage-managed, prescribed and manipulated by the SPDC all these years.

The state and federal constitutions being drafted by the Opposition can serve as provisional charters when freedom returns to Burma, according to an American legal expert. Dr David Williams of the University of Indiana was making his comment during the opening ceremony of the 6th State Constitutions Seminar held on the Thai-Burma border last week, two days ahead of the military-organized National Convention near Rangoon on 18 July. It was the first time all the 7 non-Burman state constitution drafting committees had met together to find ways how they could work in harmony with each other and with the future federal government.

Four drug enforcement officers went missing on Sunday, 22 July, after a gun battle with an unidentified armed group, according to reports coming from the Thai-Burma border. Remains of one, wearing a life jacket, was found floating down the Mekong near Chiangsaen, southwest of Maesai, and was later handed over to the Burmese authorities in Tachilek, opposite Maesai. The four had apparently run into a trap sprung by the group when they had commandeered a boat to a location north of Mongphong, 40 km east of Tachilek. Sources said 7 armed men dressed in camouflage had opened fire upon them on their arrival.

Units of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) along the Thai-Burma border have been given instructions by the Burma Army to return to their original areas on the Sino-Burma border, according to Shan and Thai sources. "The deadline is 31 July," said Col Yawdserk, leader of the Shan State Army (SSA) South. "Most of the small outposts have been evacuated as a result. But the Wa have so far refused to budge from strongholds like Loi Htwe (Doi Thway in Thai) along the border."

The breakaway faction of the Shan State Nationalities People’s Liberation Organisation has reportedly entered talks with the Shan State Army-South over the possibility of joining forces. The small 100-man SSNPLO splinter group fled Shan State and the remainder of their rebel outfit last month as they feared disarmament at the hands of the Burmese military. The group later arrived in Karenni territory and said they wanted to continue their armed fight against the Burmese military. SSNPLO secretary major Thurien said that talks with the SSA-S over joining forces were already underway.

As Congress debates extending political and economic sanctions against Burma's military regime, a new report from the University of California, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University documents how decades of repressive rule, civil war and poor governance in the Southeast Asian country have contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases there. Extreme travel restrictions imposed by the Burmese government have forced Médecins San Frontières (Doctors without Borders) in France and the multinational Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria to pull out of the country, and have severely curtailed the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Scheduled for five days from the 16th to 20th July, 2007, the 6th Seminar on State Constitutions, attended by representatives from the seven major ethnic nationalities groups of Burma, the Arakan, the Chin, the Kachin, the Karen, the Karenni, the Mon, and the Shan, gets kicked off at the Thai-burma border area. This State Constitution Seminar was initially born out of the joint effort made by the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the United Nationalities League for Democracy (UNLD-LA) under the title of Supporting Committee for State Constitution (SCSC) in 2001. Now, following the emergence of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), a council trying to unite the whole ethnic groups of Burma under one umbrella, this ongoing state Constitution Seminar is organized under the Constitutional Affairs Committee (CAC), of the ENC.

The proposed transfer to Burma of a military helicopter containing components and technology from as many as six European Union countries threatens to undermine an EU arms embargo on Myanmar, according to a new report issued today. 'Indian Helicopters for Myanmar: Making a Mockery of the EU Arms Embargo?', a report by European and international NGOs cites credible sources who say that the Indian government is planning to transfer the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) to Myanmar. It reveals how the Indian-manufactured helicopter would not be operational without vital components from EU Member States and highlights the urgent need for stricter EU arms controls.

Prince Bhisatej Rajani has been instrumental in implementing His Majesty the King's highly recognised project to bring peace and prosperity to the northern hillltribes, who now cultivate fruits and flowers instead of a global menace His Serene Highness Prince Bhisatej Rajani has devoted many years of his life to developing prosperity and security for the Kingdom, whether by joining the underground "Free Thai" resistance movement during the Second World War or helping the hilltribes to improve their lives. The latter contributed a great deal to the eradication of the opium poppy in northern Thailand, where the hilltribes now grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Than Htay, 50, a Burmese political asylum seeker fears he will be deported. His application to stay in Australia has been rejected seven times by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Than Htay came to Sydney in 1996.  As a young man in Burma he was an active member of the Student Union. The union supports democratic leader and Noble Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 11 of the last 17years, most recently since 2003.

A number of groups that have ceasefire agreements with Pyinmana (Naypyidaw) remain discreet about their post-National Convention plans, as the last session of the constitutional meeting to be held on 18 July draws near, reports Chai Sayam from the border: "Knowing the media would not keep quiet about what they have learned, the leaders are really careful about what they say," said a source close to one of the ceasefire groups in northern Shan State. "They may therefore be saying things completely different from what's in their minds."

Reports of a Thai cement firm proposing to open the border for hauling lignite from neighboring Burma through its operating area have deeply upset the Shan State Army (SSA) South of Col Yawdserk, according to sources from the border: The unidentified company had recently approached border authorities in Mae Fa Luang district, Chiangrai province, to broach on the subject of building a road from Yawngkha aka Nayao in Burma's Monghsat township. The village and its surrounding area is said to have a rich deposit of lignite coal.

Why is Burma a land of contrasts? The people are innocent and peace-loving but the SPDC being itself a de facto military government is illegitimate and prone to evil deeds, refusing to conform to international moral standards. It has the most disastrous administration in the world with perpetual abuse of human rights such as the use of prisoners as human mine detectors, the use of child soldiers in its undisciplined army, use of force to convert Christians to Buddhism after a failed effort to make Buddhism the state religion. Burma inherited "divide and rule" policy from its former colonial masters-the British (annexation of Burma from 1886 to 1947) and another wicked inheritance from their former military masters-use of torture from the Japanese. For half a century, the Burmese military use strong arm techniques to intimidate, torture, internment, kidnapping, with systematic torching of villages especially in ethnic areas. This is consistent with Ne Win's scorched earth policy. His hunger for power is such that he was heard to utter these words, "I will rule a desolate land even if there are no human beings on it.

The written constitution of a nation-state is a document that is often indicative of the past struggles and reactive concerns of the people who are choosing to enact a new improved system, as is clearly the case with the current drafting of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Union of Burma. The Federal Constitution Drafting and Coordinating Committee (FCDCC) is a group supported by the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), regarded as the largest state-based alliance in Burma. The drafters have one eye boldly fixed ahead toward a goal of national reconciliation and establishment of democracy in Burma, and the other focused on the unforgotten principles of the 1947 Panglong Agreement, and on the past and present failings that have left Burma in a state of civil war and turmoil for fifty years.

Thirteen years after a ceasefire with the Burmese military junta, the Shan Nationalities People's Liberation Organization terminated the agreement over mounting pressure from the regime to lay down arms, threatening the outfit's very existence. Fifty five members of the SNPLO led by the National Convention delegate Colonel Ti Saung moved to a location close to the Thai-Burma border opposite Mae Hong Song, in northern Thailand today after traveling for over two weeks from their former bases in Southern Shan State.

In democratic nations over the world the parliaments and governments instruct their country’s armed forces very carefully. The main task for the forces is to defend the nation and protect the population. Also by request from the UN, EU and NATO governments agree to send out units to other countries for peacekeeping or humanitarian operations. But in Burma it is very different!

Prior to the press conference to be held on the border today by leaders of the faction from the Shan State Nationalities People's Organization (SNPLO), anti-Rangoon Shan State Army (SSA) leader Col Yawdserk has assured his warm welcome to the group. The 100-plus strong group led by Ti Hsawng and majors Thurein and Aung Kyaw, who broke away from the Hkun Chit Maung led faction that has chosen to remain within "the legal fold" of Burma's military regime, has taken refuge with the Karenni National Progressive Party(KNPP), one of SSA's closest allies. "The SNPLO's operational area is closer to the KNPP's than ours," Yawdserk explained. "We are deeply appreciative of the warm reception given to the group."

Few know where he is, but nobody can forget aging drug lord Khun Sa Nobody lives here any more, but the building is alive with portraits of its old master— taking a nap under a tree, his M-16 at the ready, riding his handsome horse, testing a weapon, smoking a cigar while deep in thought. In the corner of one photo of its subject in a neat military uniform, a pistol in his belt, is an inscription: “King of the Highlands.”

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, has strongly denounced violations of international humanitarian law committed against civilians and detainees by the government of Myanmar and demanded that the government take urgent action to end these violations and prevent them from recurring.

The Falstad resolution is the product of a two day conference in Ekne, Norway that took place at the Falstad Center for Human Rights on June 21 to 22, 2007. The conference was organized by Partners Relief & Development and hosted by the Falstad Center for Human Rights with support from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and the Free Word Institute of Norway. Delegates from Burma included current political leaders, Human rights and aid organizations, and grass roots activists.