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AAPP Statement: Remembering Political Prisoners in Burma
Myanmar opposes investigative powers
Australia to give aid to Myanmar
UN to halt aid airlifts to cyclone-swamped Myanmar
ASEAN Turns Blind Eye to Burma Rights
US Congress approves legislation to bar Myanmar gems
Millions in Myanmar cyclone aid still to be released

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AAPP Statement: Remembering Political Prisoners in Burma
Maesot , Thailand , July 22, 2008

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners ( Burma ) (AAPP) welcomes the “Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience”, co-sponsored by 64 countries - including the United States of America , 27 members of European Union and 36 other countries - and submitted to the United Nations General Assembly to circulate among all member nations.  With this declaration, all 64 nations commit “to work for the freedom of prisoners of conscience and to make their release a key priority in their relations with other states”.[1] They also “further agree to encourage the States Members of the United Nations to affirm their commitment embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all citizens may freely express their opinions and assemble peacefully without fear of reprisal.”[2]

AAPP stands in solidarity with the many other organizations and pro-democracy activists around the world who are working for freedom, democracy and the release of prisoners of conscience. AAPP wholeheartedly welcomes the commitment of these 64 nations and encourages all other nations - especially the Burmese military regime which is holding over 2,000 political prisoners - to reaffirm their commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to adopt the Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience. Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient and the leader of Burma ’s democracy movement, said in 2002 that “until all of our political prisoners are free, none of us can say that Burma is now truly on the road towards democratic change.”

In support of the event commemorating the Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience at the United Nations on July 24, 2008, organized by the United States Mission to the United Nations and the United States Department of State and where AAPP representative Aung Din will speak on behalf of prisoners of conscience in Burma, AAPP today releases a report on the current situation of Burma’s political prisoners. Over 2,000 political prisoners - imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their political beliefs - are currently held in conditions which contravene the UN’s standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners.  They are held in cramped unsanitary conditions, given inadequate food rations, denied basic medical care, and subjected to torture.

“Without the release of all political prisoners, a peaceful transition to democracy in Burma cannot happen,” said Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner and Joint-Secretary of AAPP.  “They are elected MPs, students, monks, ethnic nationality leaders – people who represent the future of democracy in our country.  Once they are released, they must be allowed to carry out their work without fear of arrest or reprisals,” continues Bo Kyi. 

On 18 July 2008 , Ko Khin Maung Tint became the 137th political prisoner to die in Burma ’s prisons since 1988.  He was suffering from tuberculosis.  He was arrested in 1998 for his pro-democracy activities, and sentenced to 20 years for sedition under Article 124 of Burma’s Penal Code.

“Too many have already died in prison, due to torture, ill treatment, and being denied medical care.  The UN must do everything in its power to secure the immediate release of all Burma ’s political prisoners. We cannot allow them to meet the same fate,” said Bo Kyi.

Following last September’s Saffron Revolution, 196 monks are still detained.  All have been forcibly stripped of their robes and many have been tortured.  In the run-up to the May constitutional referendum, the regime arrested more than 100 people for advocating a “No” vote.  At least 70 remain in detention.  After Cyclone Nargis struck on 2/3 May, ordinary Burmese people came together to deliver aid to the victims. Many of them were harassed and approximately 20 were arrested.  To date, the authorities have not informed their families where they are being held.

# # #
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners ( Burma )
More Information:
Contact:
Bo Kyi on (+66) 81-3248935
Tate Naing on (+66) 81-2878751
Aung Din on + (1) 301-6020077

About AAPP:
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners - AAPP is dedicated to aid former Burmese  political prisoners and their families in their struggle for survival and to record the present situation of all political prisoners; to collect evidence and names of the individuals who have committed human rights violations and crimes against humanity during the years of the dictatorship. For further information about human right violations in Burma please visit our web site at www.aappb.org

[1] Declaration of Prisoners of Conscience, UN General Assembly, A/62/858, June 11, 2008
[2] Op cit.

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Myanmar opposes investigative powers
AP
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago

Myanmar's junta has indicated it will oppose any effort to give a Southeast Asian human rights body the power to monitor or investigate rights violations in the region, diplomats said Tuesday.

A high-level panel of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations started work Monday to set up the rights body. The panel will lay down the body's future makeup, role and powers, which will be presented to a summit of ASEAN leaders in December.

But in a closed-door session with the panel Monday, Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win said the human rights body should uphold ASEAN's bedrock policy of noninterference in each other's affairs, a diplomat present at the meeting told The Associated Press.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media.

Another diplomat who attended a separate meeting between all 10 ASEAN ministers and the panel also said Nyan Win made clear his opposition to the rights body having any monitoring authority.

Myanmar's military government, which has been strongly criticized by Western governments and even fellow ASEAN members for its dismal human rights record, has used the bloc's policy to parry any attempt by outsiders to intervene on behalf of human rights victims in the military-ruled nation.

It has already been decided that the rights body will not have the power to impose sanctions or seek prosecution of violators. But Myanmar's objections, if honored, will make the body even less effective.

A majority of other ASEAN foreign ministers, led by Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, separately told the panel that the human rights body should at least be empowered to monitor violations and offer advice to prevent such problems, said the first diplomat.

Myanmar officials were not immediately available for comment but in the past they have said the human rights body should only serve as a "consultative mechanism" and that it should not "shame and blame" any ASEAN nation.

The rights body is being set up as part of ASEAN's proposed new charter, which seeks to make the organization rule-based.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the charter will serve as a guide to the panel drafting the terms of reference for the rights body.

"They're going to follow the charter very, very closely — its principle of promoting, upholding and protecting human rights," Surin said.

The international community has condemned Myanmar's junta for its refusal to restore democracy and release pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees. ASEAN has also been criticized for not doing enough to pressure Myanmar's military leaders.

ASEAN foreign ministers, disappointed with the Myanmar junta's foot-dragging on democracy, expressed "deep disappointment" in a statement Sunday at the junta's May decision to extend Suu Kyi's detention.

ASEAN's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Australia to give aid to Myanmar
AP
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
23 July 2008

Australia announced Wednesday an extra $29 million in aid for survivors of Myanmar's May cyclone, but pressed its recalcitrant military junta to democratize quickly and respect human rights.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said he informed his Myanmar counterpart, Nyan Win, of the aid during a meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of an annual security meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its Asian and Western dialogue partners in Singapore.

Smith also called on the junta to ensure that general elections in 2010 will be free and fair and will allow the political opposition, including long detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, to participate.

"We want to see Myanmar return to respect for human rights, respect for the rule of law and we want to see democracy return to Myanmar," Smith said he told Win.

Nyan Win gave "the usual Myanmar reaction," Smith said, referring to the junta's customary explanation that it is fulfilling a promise to reform under a long announced roadmap to democracy.

Smith's remarks were the first of many expected to be unleashed against Myanmar's ruling generals by top Western diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is expected to attend Thursday's ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia's largest security gathering.

The international community has condemned Myanmar's junta for its refusal to restore democracy, a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last year and its failure to release Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and other political detainees. ASEAN, which includes Myanmar, has also been criticized for not doing enough to pressure Myanmar's military leaders.

The Senate passed an embargo late Tuesday prohibiting imports of gemstones from Myanmar. It now goes to President Bush to be signed into law.

Smith said the new financial assistance to Myanmar follows $24.27 million in aid Canberra provided shortly after the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis devastated wide swathes of the impoverished Southeast Asian country, killing more than 84,000 people.

He said he repeated to Nyan Win widespread criticism of Myanmar for its slow response to the disaster and its initial refusal to accept international aid and bar relief workers.

Myanmar eventually cooperated with ASEAN and U.N. humanitarian operations, but it remains unclear how long that cooperation will last.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Its dialogue partners include Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

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UN to halt aid airlifts to cyclone-swamped Myanmar
AFP
45 minutes ago

The United Nations is to stop flying in aid to Myanmar next month, forcing relief agencies to find another way to bring in vital supplies to cyclone survivors, its logistics head told AFP Wednesday.

The UN's World Food Programme will stop ferrying aid between Thailand's Don Muang airport and Myanmar's main city Yangon from August 10, and withdraw five helicopters from use.

Closure of the logistical operation also means WFP will no longer provide warehousing space or dozens of trucks and boats previously available to aid agencies working since Cyclone Nargis hit early May.

Aid groups will be forced to rely on their own boats and trucks to get essential supplies to the worst-hit delta region. Remaining cargo at Bangkok's Don Muang will be transported by sea.

"As of August 10th the full operation will be complete. From the beginning we were always intending to have three months of fast emergency response so we are phasing out our logistics services," WFP's Kevin Howley told AFP.

WFP's logistics hub has brought 169 aid flights into Yangon since the cyclone hit, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing, and ferried a total of nearly 8,000 metric tonnes of aid to needy survivors.

The UN's humanitarian chief, John Holmes, currently touring the delta, said the aid response was still in its relief phase.

"Significant progress has been made since I was last here. However, it is also clear that there are many relief needs still to address," he said in a statement.

"We must focus now on reaching the most vulnerable communities in remote areas, especially along the southern coast of the delta," he added.

Aid agencies told AFP they were ready to cope without WFP's help.

"There's still a big need just to deliver food, never mind everything else. But I'm not sure that the closure of the airbridge is necessarily contradictory to that," Guy Cave of Save the Children told AFP.

"We are bringing in things by sea now and with a bit of planning, we can get it in in time."

"Helicopters are extremely expensive so you need to use them when time is of the essence," Julia Newton-Howes, CEO of aid agency Care Australia, told AFP.

"Now distribution points have been set up right across the delta down to the small areas. Systems to cope have been put in place, so it seems like a sensible strategy."

Holmes will fly to Myanmar's capital, Nay Pyi Taw, on Thursday to meet Myanmar's ruling generals, who drew worldwide condemnation after the cyclone for blocking entry to many foreign aid workers and relief shipments, relenting only after a personal visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Monday released a report saying rebuilding Myanmar's cyclone-ravaged south and bringing aid to millions of survivors would cost one billion dollars over the next three years.

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ASEAN Turns Blind Eye to Burma Rights
Time
By HANNAH BEECH/BANGKOKTue Jul 22, 7:45 AM ET

A new charter for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was signed on July 21 with much flourish and a promise to "strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms." An admirable undertaking, except that the person formally ratifying the charter was Nyan Win, the Foreign Minister of Burma, a country with one of the world's most appalling human-rights records. Indeed, Burma's signing of the document during this year's ASEAN ministerial meeting in Singapore threatens to render meaningless the lofty humanitarian goals set by the organization's 10 member nations.

Burma's economy limps along with help from its regional neighbors, including ASEAN members such as Thailand and Singapore as well as non-members India and China. Critics of ASEAN say the forum has not done enough to pressure Burma to end human-rights abuses. Although Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines indicated earlier that they might delay their own ratifications of the charter until Burma cleans up its human-rights record, they have been less publicly forceful in their demands since then. While the U.S. and the European Union have tightened sanctions against Burma's ruling military junta since it violently crushed monk-led protests last year, ASEAN has continued with a "constructive engagement" approach that it hopes will, through dialogue and investment, convince Burma's leaders to treat its people more kindly.

So far, the approach has failed. Since Burma's junta took over the country, also known as Myanmar, in 1962, its people have gone from some of the richest in Asia to among its poorest. An election won by the opposition was duly ignored. Political prisoners crowd jails. The most recent example of the generals' callousness came in May when Cyclone Nargis devastated the country's Irrawaddy Delta, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing and causing $4 billion in damage, according to an international assessment released on July 21. Yet instead of promptly accepting offers of help from around the world, the regime spent weeks refusing visas to foreign aid workers and setting up roadblocks to stop international agencies from delivering relief supplies. Even today, after Burma promised in an ASEAN-brokered deal to stop impeding foreign aid groups, non-Burmese still have to apply for special permits from the country's Ministry of Defense to visit the delta.

So for ASEAN's nine other members not to at least arch an eyebrow when Burma signed the charter is nothing short of willful ignorance. Yes, ASEAN did speak forcefully on July 20 when Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo said the bloc's members felt "deep disappointment" that Burma in May prolonged the detention of opposition figurehead and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. But any mention of that negative emotion was excised from the formal communiquÉ issued by ASEAN the following day. And an initial flurry of excitement caused by Yeo when he said that his Burmese counterpart had told him Suu Kyi might possibly be released in six months' time turned out to be a misunderstanding. A clarification was quickly issued in which the Burmese government was quoted as saying the earliest Suu Kyi might be freed would be after May 2009.

Of course, ASEAN's kid-gloves approach toward Burma isn't unique. Another item on the agenda at this year's meeting? A treaty of amity and cooperation with none other than North Korea. After buddying up to Burma for so long, ASEAN, it seems, isn't too picky about its friends. View this article on Time.com

Related articles on Time.com:

• Burma's Faceless Leaders
• The UN Envoy Trying to Save Burma
• Burma's Military Solution
• Laura Bush's Burmese Crusade
• Burma Reels as Storm Toll Rises

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US Congress approves legislation to bar Myanmar gems
AFP
by P. Parameswaran1 hour, 50 minutes ago

The US Congress on Tuesday sent legislation to President George W. Bush seeking to block import of gems from Myanmar, in a move to deprive its ruling junta of hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue.

The Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act, passed by the Senate Tuesday and by the House of Representatives last week, will keep the gems, including jade and rubies, from entering US markets via third-party countries.

Despite a longstanding ban on all Myanmar imports, gems from the impoverished country have entered the United States via third nations such as Thailand, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, rights groups have said.

The gems trade is one of the most lucrative sources of profit for the military rulers, accused of blatant human rights abuses and stifling democratic opposition.

"This is bipartisan legislation that is now on its way to the president for his signature," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell after the bill was unanimously approved.

"By focusing the sanctions on the (military rulers), this bill sends a clear message to the junta that the United States stands squarely with the freedom-loving people of Burma," McConnell said, using Myanmar's former name.

The bill also makes the generals and their families ineligible for visas to the United States and enhances existing financial sanctions against the regime.

They include new reporting requirements which will provide greater transparency about the junta in terms of their financial holdings, information about countries that provide military aid to the regime and background on Myanmar's timber trade, McConnell said.

"We cannot allow this regime to prosper financially while they continue to violate the human rights of their own people," said Howard Berman, Democratic chairman of the House foreign affairs committee.

"This bill hits the Burmese leaders where it hurts -- in the wallet. It's our hope that these sanctions will push other countries to examine their own financial dealings with Burma," Berman said.

The Jewelers of America, representing more than 11,000 jewelry stores nationwide, supports the ban on gem imports, and major retailers such as Tiffany's and Bulgari have voluntarily implemented a ban.

The European Union and Canada have similarly banned the import of Myanmar gems.

"The 'blood' color of rubies not only brings (Senior General) Than Shwe's military regime 300 million dollars per year, it signifies all the blood lost by innocent civilians in our struggle for human rights," said Aung Din, a former political prisoner and co-founder of the US Campaign for Burma.

"We want to thank the United States Congress for taking strong and meaningful action."

An earlier version of the legislation was introduced last fall by human rights advocate Tom Lantos, a senior lawmaker who died of cancer in February, in response to the junta's deadly crackdown of peaceful protests.

But Congress began to consider it in the aftermath of a cyclone that ravaged the country earlier this year, when the junta blocked entry to many foreign aid workers and relief shipments, relenting only after a personal visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The disaster left at least 138,000 missing or dead.

The new legislation also urged US energy giant Chevron to consider divesting from a lucrative gas project if the junta did not embrace reforms.

Lawmakers had dropped a plan to impose sanctions that would have pressured Chevron to pull out from the Yadana gas project after the company argued that other firms from nations such as China and India could easily take over its stake if divested.

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Millions in Myanmar cyclone aid still to be released
AFP
Tue Jul 22, 9:20 PM ET

More than 5.8 million dollars in emergency aid for victims of Myanmar's cyclone Nargis is still to be released by donor countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

WHO has reviewed emergency aid following May's devastating storm and now puts the amount needed at more than 12.8 million dollars.

Donor countries -- including Australia, Britain, Denmark, Italy, Monaco, Norway, Romania and the United States have already released seven million dollars for the aid effort, a WHO spokesperson told journalists.

Australia has committed an extra 30 million dollars (29 million US) to Myanmar cyclone relief, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Wednesday.

The pledge almost doubles the funds Australia has provided since Cyclone Nargis slammed into the southeast Asian nation in early May, leaving about 138,000 people dead or missing.

"This assistance will help those in greatest need, in particular women, children and the displaced," Smith said in a statement.

In total, aid to Nargis victims and reconstruction will cost a billion dollars, WHO and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said on Monday.

It is estimated that a little over a billion dollars is needed over the next three years with priorities including food, agriculture, and housing as well as assistance to restore livelihoods, they said in a statement.

Myanmar's ruling generals attracted worldwide condemnation after the cyclone for blocking entry to many foreign aid workers and relief shipments, relenting only after a personal visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The disaster left at least 138,000 missing or dead.

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