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HEADLINES
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AFP - Rights Groups Call for United Nations Action Over Jailed Burmese Dissidents
AFP - Fiery Archbishop Desmond Tutu still fighting for peace at 77
M&C - Myanmar junta leader Maung Aye to visit Bangladesh Tuesday
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Isles' 16-strong aid team preps for Myanmar trip
BD News - CA meets Myanmar envoy ahead of bilateral talks
Xinhua - FAO to extend cyclone aid project period for Myanmar
Daily 49er - Student makes a difference in Myanmar
The Washington Post - Backlash From Tainted Milk Scandal Spreads to Burma
Balita.org - Pimentel says ASEAN Charter should be used to end repression of Burmese people
Bkk Post - Border security ramped up after attacks
Mizzima News - Political prisoners nearly double in Burma: activists
Mizzima News - U.S. recognizes universal jurisdiction over child soldier cases
The Irrawaddy - Burma Demands Attention: General Assembly President
The Irrawaddy - Detained Activists Protest against Trial Conditions
The Irrawaddy - Forced Labor Used in Delta
DVB News - The pro-junta militia: how can they do it?

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Rights Groups Call for United Nations Action Over Jailed Burmese Dissidents
From FBIS on 2008-10-05 19:52:41 (posted on 2008-10-05 19:52:41)

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Human rights groups said Sunday that the number of dissidents in Myanmar [Burma] jails has nearly doubled to more than 2,100 over the past year and called on the United Nations to act to free the prisoners.

A report says there are now at least 2,123 political prisoners in the country -- up 78 percent on the UN's figure of 1,192 in June 2007.

"The Future in the Dark: the Massive Increase in Burma's Political Prisoners," from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and the United States Campaign for Burma (USCB), comes after UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay last week called for the release of Myanmar's political prisoners.

"By nearly doubling the number of political prisoners, the Burmese regime is directly defying the United Nations," said Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner, referring to the country by its former name.

"Yet the UN is paralysed because the Secretary General is still reluctant to call on China to work together with other members of the Security Council to secure the release of all prisoners by the end of December," the Thailand-based AAPP's Bo Kyi said.

China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, is a close ally and economic partner of Myanmar and opposes interference in its affairs.

The AAPP and the Washington-based USCB sent an open letter Sunday to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging action to secure the prisoners' release.

It called on Ban to take action during his planned December trip to Myanmar.

"It is time for Ban Ki-moon to show effective leadership and moral authority," said Aung Din, a former political prisoner and director of USCB.

The rights groups said up to 900 dissidents had been arrested during the monk-led uprising last year, which led to a crackdown by the military regime in which 31 people were killed.

On September 23 this year the regime announced an amnesty, releasing more than 9,000 prisoners ahead of elections planned for 2010 -- but only ten of them were political prisoners.

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Fiery Archbishop Desmond Tutu still fighting for peace at 77
by Fran Blandy
2008-10-05 21:51:30

CAPE TOWN (AFP) - More than a decade after Desmond Tutu helped end apartheid, he shows no signs of slowing down as he turns 77 Tuesday, and is still an outspoken advocate for justice in South Africa and around the globe.

The retired archbishop will spend his birthday with fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter in Cyprus, to encourage reunification of the divided island.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, Tutu joined negotiation efforts from the Middle East to Sudan and Kenya, while also speaking out against human rights abuses in Myanmar and Zimbabwe and in support of gay bishops.

He once called Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe a "caricature of an African dictator", sparking a war of words with Mugabe, who called Tutu an "evil little bishop".

At home, he spent the week before his birthday launching a campaign to end discrimination against the disabled, and speaking out about the political turmoil within South Africa's ruling party, which he says has left him so disillusioned that he might not vote in next year's polls.

In an interview with AFP, Tutu said that his old friend Nelson Mandela -- South Africa's first democratically elected president -- was "hurt by some of the things that happened after he stepped down".

"Some of the things that have happened have not been the kind of things we imagined happening," said Tutu.

He pointed particularly to recent statements by the leader of the youth league of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which said that it would "take up arms and kill for" party chief Jacob Zuma.

Zuma and former president Thabo Mbeki have feuded for years, culminating dramatically last month when the party chief forced Mbeki to step down as president.

"They have had some very strange leadership in the youth league," Tutu said. "It is very distressing to think that is the body that did produce some of our upstanding leaders."

"I wish they would learn to engage in discourse that is civil. My father used to say: 'Improve your argument, don't raise your voice'," he said.

Affectionately known as "The Arch", referring to his title in the church, Tutu explained why it is so important for him to give of himself to others.

"It is not because I am modest that I say I am so much aware of how much I owe to other people," Tutu said.

"I know I owe a great deal to my mother who was not very educated, and was a domestic worker ... she was such an incredible woman, very caring," he said, remembering that she always cooked more than the family needed just in case "someone may come who is hungry".

Although he played a key role pressing the white-minority government to bring about democracy, Tutu maintains he became a leader "by default" as he became the Anglican Church's first black dean of Johannesburg.

At that time, leaders like Nelson Mandela were imprisoned, and others were either exiled or dead.

Tutu opposed the apartheid government at every turn, supporting disinvestment which pressured the regime into dismantling the race-based political system.

Later he chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is widely credited with helping smooth the country's transition to democracy.

Tutu says most of his life has "been a bonus", after he survived an illness believed to be polio as a baby, and later battled tuberculosis as a teenager and prostrate cancer more recently.

Although he retired as archbishop of Cape Town in 1996, a full retirement from public life is not in the cards.

"Don't ask that question. My wife sometimes probably wants to strangle me a little bit," he said.

"I was going to, three years after officially retiring, to wind down but I am afraid ... no," he said, his voice trailing off as he shook his head.

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Myanmar junta leader Maung Aye to visit Bangladesh Tuesday
South Asia News
Monsters and Critics - Oct 6, 2008, 10:39 GMT

Dhaka - The vice-chairman of Myanmar's military junta is scheduled to make a three-day official visit to Bangladesh, a foreign ministry official said Monday.

General Maung Aye, who is also the head of the Myanmar army, will lead a 55-member delegation including seven government ministers to discuss a host of outstanding issues between the neighbour nations.

Maung Aye is scheduled to meet with the chief of Bangladesh's interim administration, Fakhruddin Ahmed, to discuss bilateral concerns, said the official.

Trade and commerce, communications and border security are among the topics of the talks. Import of Bangladesh medicines to Myanmar, construction of a Bangladesh-Myanmar road and bilateral trade fairs are also on the agenda.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Maung will also make a courtesy call on President Iajuddin Ahmed.

He will also lay a floral wreath at the National Mausoleum in Savar to show respect to the Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war heroes, visit the Military Institute of Science and Technology in Mirpur and attend a luncheon with army officers in south-eastern Rangamati hill district.

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Isles' 16-strong aid team preps for Myanmar trip
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - By Helen Altonn
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 06, 2008

The fourth Aloha Medical Mission to Burma (Myanmar) in three years -- the second this year -- is planned for Oct. 18-30 with 16 volunteer doctors and nurses.

The mission had a long, nerve-wracking wait for visas to give free care to Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis victims in July, but they were "warmly embraced" by the government and invited to return in October, said Dr. Carl Lum, team leader.

The Aloha Medical Mission volunteers treated more than 2,500 patients in July and "did the United States proud," said Nanette Bourne, an Australian lay member of the team.

"The group of American doctors and nurses ... represented the U.S. in a remarkably compassionate and professional way," said Bourne.

The 25-member Aloha group was the only American medical team permitted by the Myanmar government to treat patients in the Irrawaddy Delta, hardest hit by the May 3 cyclone, Lum said. He believes approval was given for the two-week trip because of the organization' s missions to Myanmar the past two years.

The retired Honolulu surgeon has led all the Myanmar missions, sponsored by Sitagu Sayadaw, one of Myanmar's most revered Buddhist monks. Volunteers in July included doctors and nurses from Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and California.

The next mission will be to the Sittagu Ayudana Hospital in Sagaing, where the volunteers treated patients in 2006 and 2007.

Lum said he had difficulty in the past recruiting Burmese-American anesthesiologists, but Dr. Charles Aung, who works at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, is joining the next mission. Aung, from Yangon (Rangoon), said he wanted to go in July but that the timing was wrong.

In Sagaing the team will treat people with limited access to health care, said Dr. Nicole Littenberg, an internist with the Honolulu Medical Group. "I don't think they will be quite as desperate as when we went to the delta. It was just an incredible experience last time."

Part of the Aloha team went to the farthest tip of the delta. With little medical care available in the remote area, people were elated to see the Americans, Lum said.

They worked with local doctors at the Bogalay and Kadondani hospitals, which were jammed with patients, he said. The operating room was poorly equipped and without oxygen, but Lum was able to do nine major surgeries a day under local or spinal anesthesia, he said.

An article addressed to Lum in the Burmanet News/Democratic Voice of Burma, said, "Bogalay people are very impressed about the service you and your whole team had given and the (kindness) you had shown to them. Even though they do not know your name, they knew there was a famous surgeon in the Aloha Medical Mission."

Bourne, who has relatives in Myanmar and was in the Kadondani group, said, "I found the people incredibly resilient and absolutely inspiring for them to have been able to pick up their lives after such a huge disaster."

They treated many malnourished babies and saw people suffering from goiter, she said. "There were a lot of post-traumatic stress disorders, people who hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, who lost family members and/or their homes and the ability to provide for themselves."

Former Myanmar residents Lucy Nwe, a respiratory nurse, and her husband, Myo, an emergency physician at Kuakini Medical Center, were surprised at the region's recovery, with rows of green rice paddies and people working. "I thought nothing would be there," she said.

Aloha Medical Mission volunteers pay their own expenses and take equipment and supplies wherever they go. In July that included sleeping bags, mosquito nets and food. But the owner of a two-story house in Bogalay moved his family to relatives and offered it to the group, Nwe said.

The medical volunteers traveled on an old ferry converted into a floating clinic.

In one village, Bourne, who is seeking American citizenship, said her group sat on a dirt floor and had a cup of tea in a Myanmar woman's little shop.

She refused money, saying, "Americans welcome," and gave them snacks to take with them, Bourne said. "I believe that was a very brave political statement she was making."

The fourth Aloha Medical Mission to Burma (Myanmar) in three years -- the second this year -- is planned for Oct. 18-30 with 16 volunteer doctors and nurses.

The mission had a long, nerve-wracking wait for visas to give free care to Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis victims in July, but they were "warmly embraced" by the government and invited to return in October, said Dr. Carl Lum, team leader.

The Aloha Medical Mission volunteers treated more than 2,500 patients in July and "did the United States proud," said Nanette Bourne, an Australian lay member of the team.

"The group of American doctors and nurses ... represented the U.S. in a remarkably compassionate and professional way," said Bourne.

The 25-member Aloha group was the only American medical team permitted by the Myanmar government to treat patients in the Irrawaddy Delta, hardest hit by the May 3 cyclone, Lum said. He believes approval was given for the two-week trip because of the organization' s missions to Myanmar the past two years.

The retired Honolulu surgeon has led all the Myanmar missions, sponsored by Sitagu Sayadaw, one of Myanmar's most revered Buddhist monks. Volunteers in July included doctors and nurses from Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and California.

The next mission will be to the Sittagu Ayudana Hospital in Sagaing, where the volunteers treated patients in 2006 and 2007.

Lum said he had difficulty in the past recruiting Burmese-American anesthesiologists, but Dr. Charles Aung, who works at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, is joining the next mission. Aung, from Yangon (Rangoon), said he wanted to go in July but that the timing was wrong.

In Sagaing the team will treat people with limited access to health care, said Dr. Nicole Littenberg, an internist with the Honolulu Medical Group. "I don't think they will be quite as desperate as when we went to the delta. It was just an incredible experience last time."

Part of the Aloha team went to the farthest tip of the delta. With little medical care available in the remote area, people were elated to see the Americans, Lum said.

They worked with local doctors at the Bogalay and Kadondani hospitals, which were jammed with patients, he said. The operating room was poorly equipped and without oxygen, but Lum was able to do nine major surgeries a day under local or spinal anesthesia, he said.

An article addressed to Lum in the Burmanet News/Democratic Voice of Burma, said, "Bogalay people are very impressed about the service you and your whole team had given and the (kindness) you had shown to them. Even though they do not know your name, they knew there was a famous surgeon in the Aloha Medical Mission."

Bourne, who has relatives in Myanmar and was in the Kadondani group, said, "I found the people incredibly resilient and absolutely inspiring for them to have been able to pick up their lives after such a huge disaster."

They treated many malnourished babies and saw people suffering from goiter, she said. "There were a lot of post-traumatic stress disorders, people who hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, who lost family members and/or their homes and the ability to provide for themselves."

Former Myanmar residents Lucy Nwe, a respiratory nurse, and her husband, Myo, an emergency physician at Kuakini Medical Center, were surprised at the region's recovery, with rows of green rice paddies and people working. "I thought nothing would be there," she said.

Aloha Medical Mission volunteers pay their own expenses and take equipment and supplies wherever they go. In July that included sleeping bags, mosquito nets and food. But the owner of a two-story house in Bogalay moved his family to relatives and offered it to the group, Nwe said.

The medical volunteers traveled on an old ferry converted into a floating clinic.

In one village, Bourne, who is seeking American citizenship, said her group sat on a dirt floor and had a cup of tea in a Myanmar woman's little shop.

She refused money, saying, "Americans welcome," and gave them snacks to take with them, Bourne said. "I believe that was a very brave political statement she was making."

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CA meets Myanmar envoy ahead of bilateral talks
Mon, Oct 6th, 2008 9:19 pm BdST

Dhaka, Oct 6 (bdnews24.com) -- Myanmar's vice-senior General Maung Aye will arrive in Dhaka on Tuesday on a three-day visit.

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed hoped the visit of the Myanmar's second-in-command would further strengthen the relationship between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The CA said this when the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka met him at his office Monday afternoon, the CA's press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim said.

"The visit of Myanmar's vice-senior General Maung Aye will make the relationship between the two countries stronger," Fahim Munaim quoted the CA as saying.

He said the CA hoped they would have talks with the Myanmar delegation to improve communication system and leasing of land during the visit.

The Myanmar ambassador told the CA that his country had always given priority to having good relation with Bangladesh.

The CA thanked the Myanmar government for its support to Bangladesh on various national and international issues.

The Myanmar ambassador told the CA that general election in Myanmar would be held in 2010.

Myanmar's vice-senior general will lead a 55-member delegation with seven ministers and chief of air and naval forces of the country.

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FAO to extend cyclone aid project period for Myanmar
www.chinaview. cn  2008-10-05 20:34:56

YANGON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations will extend the period of its Myanmar cyclone aid project for another six months to run until next year, Flower News reported Sunday.

Some 33.5 million U.S. dollars of fund for the extended project are being sought, the FAO resident representative was quoted as saying.

The extended project is designed to benefit 50,000 lesser-land- owned and 100,000 landless storm-survived households, the sources said, adding that the fund will further help develop agriculture, livestock breeding and forestry undertakings locally until next summer.

In July this year after May storm, the FAO agreed to provide emergency relief aid supplies for an initial six-month period to storm survivors in two cyclone-hard- hit regions of Ayeyawaddy and Yangon for the resumption of their agricultural and fishery production, according to earlier local report quoting the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

The FAO also donated 600 cattle for four cyclone-hit areas of Kungyankon, Mawlamyinegyun, Ngaputaw and Phyapon to help restart agricultural cultivation there, the Livestock Breeding Department said.

The FAO-donated cattle were purchased from lesser-cyclone- hit region of Bago and cyclone-free northern region of Mandalay, it added.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -- Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago,Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.

The storm has killed 84,537 people, leaving 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured according to official death toll.

Altogether 300,000 cattle died in cyclone-hard- hit Ayeyawaddy and Yangon divisions.

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Student makes a difference in Myanmar
Daily 49er - Regine Tamba Richards
Published: Sunday, October 5, 2008

Ten years after having moved to the United States, Cal State Long Beach student and scholarship recipient Sundie Zin, originally from Myanmar, returned to her home country to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated much of the Irrawady Delta and Yangon on May 2, 2008.

Two months after Nargis hit Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, Zin visited her home country to see how she could help. Tonight, she will present an exhibit to thank those who supported or donated to help fund her trip and to inform others on the situation in Myanmar.

“I wanted to help in any way possible,” Zin said.

Hours into her arrival on July 16, Zin was on her way to visit the villages devastated by Cyclone Nargis, where an estimated 250,000 people died or disappeared.

Zin, a senior interior architectural design major, is set to start another fundraiser for another trip to Myanmar in December.

“I started fundraising on my own,” Zin said.

She gathered about $2,000 from friends and family for the first trip.

Through the Myanmar community, Zin heard of Dolly Lay who was putting up a show for fundraising purposes to help the cyclone victims.

Zin told her she wanted to be part of it, and helped Lay sell tickets for the show.

While fundraising for her trip, Zin met people from the non-profit organization, Giving Children Hope, and they supplied her with water purification tablets and Benadryl. But she couldn’t take much of it, for fear of being questioned by the authorities upon arrival.

Zin and Lay stayed in Myanmar for 12 days, but the trip wasn’t easy.

Aside from witnessing the vast devastation, Zin and Lay were interrogated and questioned by government officials at each checkpoint.
And even though they wore traditional clothing and spoke the language, their journey was a dangerous one. But Zin said she didn’t have time to get scared.

From the capital Yangon, it took Zin and Lay five hours by car and an additional hour and a half by boat to reach the delta areas hit by Cyclone Nargis.

Their first stop was the village of Bogalay.

“I wasn’t expecting to see that. It was sad and depressing. People were living in poverty,” Zin said.

Cyclone Nargis deprived the population from clean water and food, and now thanks to the rain, rainwater was being collected for drinking purposes.

Zin and Lay spoke to as many people as they could, gathering information about the population’s needs. They went to temples and gave money to orphans who are now being cared for by the temple’s monks.

“There’s so much more that needs to be done,” Zin said.

Zin and Lay then left for their second delta village, Tatar Chaung, where they had to spend the night and rent a car for the day.

They met with the town mayor of the delta village and learned that the village was in the process of getting a temple and a school built.

Zin chose six families to aid, and used the money she raised to buy them land so houses can be built for them. Each piece of land cost between $200 and $250, and even though the homes will be small and basic, Zin explained, it will provide a roof over their heads.

Zin also gave medicine and money to victims and toys to children. She brought clothes from the United States, some of which were her own and also some she had gathered from family and friends.

For her second trip to Myanmar, Zin will once more count on contributions from friends and family.

Her situation is different this time around, though. She has been named the recipient of the Richard and Johanna Baker scholarship from the college of the arts, in the amount of $3,200. Zin was given $1,600 this semester, which helped her pay for airfare. The rest will be given to her during the spring semester.

“I’m hoping my second trip will be better,” Zin said.

When she goes back, Zin wants to help them build the school and donate books to the children. Zin also hopes to buy 20 more homes.

Zin has two reasons for returning in December. She first wants to see the six homes, for which she had bought land, built. She also wants to donate more money that would mostly go toward education.

Her second reason is for her senior thesis design project, which she is doing on Myanmar.

Dorothy Ottolia, chair of the design department at CSULB, has encouraged Zin to do a gallery show. The show will exhibit photographs, the history of Myanmar, a devastation wall dedicated to the Cyclone and its victims, and a slide show about Zin and Lay’s trip to Myanmar.

The event, at which food will be offered, is from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Design Gallery on campus, room 102.

The gallery will be open to the public interested in seeing the photographs, until Thursday Oct. 9.

“I want this to be a long-term commitment,” Zin said.

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Backlash From Tainted Milk Scandal Spreads to Burma
The Washington Post - By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 6, 2008; 9:23 AM

TOKYO, Oct. 6 -- Thanks to tainted milk, China's product-safety reputation is plumbing new depths. Even Burma -- where one of the world's most repressive and isolated military governments relies on trade with China -- has now warned its people to steer clear of all Chinese dairy products.

The generals who run Burma are sealed off from much of the world by economic sanctions, following a bloody military assault last year on Buddhist monks and democracy protesters. They increasingly depend on China for everything from military hardware to consumer goods.

Still, the Burmese government has publicized its destruction of 16 tons of Chinese baby food tainted with melamine, the industrial chemical that was mixed with milk products, leading in China to the deaths of four infants, the sickening more than 54,000 babies and a Chinese government crackdown on 22 dairy companies.

"Authorities concerned have urged the people not to consume milk and dairy products," the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday in Rangoon, the Burmese capital.

The anomaly of consumer protection in Burma points to the scale and severity of China's global public-relations disaster in the wake of what appears to have been a long-standing, industrial-scale scheme to adulterate infant formula and other milk products.

Dairy operators add melamine to milk products to increase its protein levels -- and their profits. The chemical often causes kidney stones when consumed by babies in infant formula.

A global backlash to the milk scandal continues to burp up melamine-tainted foods, from "Chocolate Pillows" sweets in Osaka, Japan, to a milkshake in Austria to White Rabbit Creamy Candies in West Hartford, Conn.

The scandal has touched some of the world's largest food companies, with Nestle, Cadbury, Mars and Kraft Foods recalling products or suspending sales. Imports of Chinese dairy products have been halted from Brunei to Burundi, Cambodia to Russia.

"China is overwhelming other countries with its ability to produce things at a cheaper price," said Yoko Tomiyama, head of the Consumers Union of Japan, where paranoia about Chinese food products is now ubiquitous. "As long as this globalized consumer system prevails, there will always be the next melamine."

Over the weekend, China announced the arrest of six more people suspected of producing and selling melamine. They were detained in northern China, where the country's milk industry in based.

Trying to contain damage from the scandal, China announced Sunday that no traces of melamine were found in a large test of milk products sold across the country. Chinese newspapers reported Monday that the tests were conducted in 27 cities on more than 600 batches of milk and that they found no melamine.

It was the second time in a week that the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has said that tests have found no contamination.

The stock price of three of China's largest dairy companies rose Monday in trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai, after government tests cleared some of their products of contamination.

Complaints by parents about sick children first surfaced last December in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province. Doctors there also issued warnings.

But the scandal did not become public until Sept. 11, when a journalist posted an item on a Chinese social Web site about the sick children. It mentioned Sanlu Dairy Co., a 50-year-old firm that health officials say covered up the complaints of worried parents.

Hundreds of police have since conducted raids on pastures, breeding farms and milk-purchasing stations in the Shijiazhuang area.

The agriculture ministry said over the weekend that it was trying to help dairy farmers whose businesses have been ruined by collapsing demand for milk. In a statement posted on its Web site, the ministry said:

"On the one hand, we must crack down on illegal behavior, but on the other hand, we must protect the interests of the dairy sector."

Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.

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Pimentel says ASEAN Charter should be used to end repression of Burmese people
Balita.org - October 6, 2008 11:53 pm by pna

MANILA, Oct. 6 — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. (PDP-Laban) on Monday said the Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should be used as an effective mechanism for restoring democracy, peace and reconciliation in Myanmar where the civil liberties of the Burmese people continue to be ruthlessly
suppressed under the iron rule of a well-entrenched military junta.

While expressing his inclination to support the ratification of the ASEAN Charter which is now being debated in the Senate, Pimentel voiced reservation over the apparent lack of provisions in the covenant to compel member-states to adhere to fundamental principle of respect for human rights.

He lamented that Myanmar has been remiss in complying with its commitment as an ASEAN member-state to take concrete steps towards the restoration of democracy and the holding of free elections in that country.

He said the ruling junta has conveniently reneged on such commitment in the absence of any sanctions from the ASEAN due to its policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of member-states.

Pimentel asked whether the regional grouping is following a correct and credible policy by not sanctioning Myanmar considering that "in this time an age, human rights are no longer the concern of particular countries because these are rights that transcend boundaries of nations."

"If we adopt the ASEAN Charter as proposed, what is going to happen to our stand that all countries in ASEAN must recognize and protect human rights and no member-state can avail of the excuse that this is interference in our national affairs?" he said.

Pimentel said that a provision in the ASEAN Charter mandating the creation of a human rights body appears to be a laudable step.

But he noted that the nature and functions of that proposed body still have to be fleshed out after the Charter comes into force.

Obviously, he said, the usual diplomatic way the Philippines and other ASEAN members of appealing to Myanmar's military rulers to stop violating human rights and to release opposition leaders from detention has not worked.

Pimentel said Myanmar was already on the way to democracy when it held free elections in l990 where majority of the seats in the National Assembly were won by the National League for Democracy under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the military nullified the election results, dissolved the Parliament without any excuse and arrested and imprisoned Aung San and several other opposition leaders.

Pimentel said Aung San remains under house arrest up to this day because the ruling junta would always extend her detention.

He said the ruling junta mounted a crackdown on dissenters in the wake of the massive street protests in September last year, led by Buddhist monks, resulting in the arrest of thousands and massacre of a huge number of so-called enemies of the regime. Scores of people remain unaccounted for, the likely victims of enforced disappearances.

Pimentel said that only last week, it was reported that more than 9,000 political prisoners were released upon the ruling junta's order.

But a subsequent report said many of them were rearrested for their continuing peaceful opposition to the regime.

Pimentel said the ruling junta's claim that it is taking steps to return to democracy by formulating a new Constitution is contradicted by complaints from Burmese opposition leaders that no free public discussion of this fundamental law were allowed by the junta.

He said the major tribal groups were also excluded from the consultation process before the Constitution was ratified. (PNA)

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Border security ramped up after attacks
Bangkok Post - Monday October 06, 2008
Web www.bangkokpost. com
BURMESE CONFLICTS
ASSAWIN PINIJWONG

TAK : Thai soldiers have tightened security along the border after Burmese troops opened fire on Karen rebels in areas opposite Umphang and Phop Phra districts yesterday.

A total of 500 soldiers from the joint units of the Burmese government and the junta-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) attacked Karen National Union (KNU) strongholds in Ban Borae village, opposite Umphang district's tambon Mokro, and Valeki military camp, opposite Phop Phra district's Ban Padi village.

The two sides exchanged fire, although no casualties were reported.

Fighting between the DKBA and KNU in July prompted an evacuation of about 100 residents in Ban Padi village.

On Saturday, the 907th battalion of the DKBA attacked Mae Klong Khee village in tambon Mokro in Umphang district.

The house, belonging to Mokro kamnan Boonlert Duanmaeklong, was bombarded by fire from heavy weaponry. Mr Boonlert, acting on a tip-off, fled his home before the attack.

Thai soldiers have told villagers in tambon Mokro to be on alert and not to leave home at night.

Col Padung Yingpaiboonsuk, task force commander from the 4th Infantry Regiment, has lodged a protest with the Thailand-Burma Border Township Committee (TBC) in Naypyidaw about Friday's attack.

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Political prisoners nearly double in Burma: activists
Mizzima News - by Solomon
Monday, 06 October 2008 23:01

New Delhi - Two human rights groups say the number of political prisoners in Burma has nearly doubled to over 2,000 in the past year and have urged the United Nations to pressure the ruling junta for their release.

In a new report entitled 'The Future in the Dark', the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) and the Washington-based United States Campaign for Burma (USCB) say prisons in Burma now hold 2,123 political prisoners, compared with 1,192 in June 2007.

The two groups, in a joint letter, urged the UN Secretary General and other members of the Security Council to pressure the Burmese military government to release all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 19 years.

Despite resolutions and statements passed by various UN mechanisms, including the General Assembly, Human Rights Council and Security Council, calling for the release of political prisoners and improved human rights conditions, the ruling junta has continued to escalate its campaign of arrests and detentions directed at political activists since last year's Saffron Revolution.

The increase in the number of political prisoners proves the junta's defiance of the United Nations and the international community, as well as the wishes of its own people, the joint statement argues.

"This is a clear indication that the military junta continues forcing the entire population and country to live under permanent military dictatorship, " the two groups postulate, urging the UN Secretary General to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma before or during his anticipated visit to the country in December.

The Burmese government, on September 23, released 9,002 prisoners. But according to the two groups only 10 political prisoners were included in those released. Additionally, Win Htein, a senior assistant to detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, though initially released on September 23, was re-arrested the following day.

The report, released on Monday, also said the UN, which has adopted successive resolutions since 1991 on Burma, has failed to force the junta to implement reforms and pressed the world body to take sterner action against Burma's ruling junta.

Tate Naing, Secretary of the AAPP-B, said "We want all members of the UN to come together and take stronger action against the Burmese junta."

However, the Burmese junta has repeatedly denied having any political prisoners in jails across the country, instead stipulating that everyone detained, including Burmese democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, is held for violating existing laws of the country.

But former UN human rights envoy to Burma Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, said the junta shot dead at least 31 people and arrested thousands of activists during in the suppression of last September's mass protests.

"Within the past year, human rights abuses have escalated and the junta has arrested at least 700 to 900 political activists since the crackdown," said Tate Naing.

The two groups say that with the increasing number of political prisoners, the UN, in order to save the people of Burma from the junta's plan to legitimize its rule through a sham constitution and election, should take a stronger stand.

"We strongly urge the United Nations to stand for the people of Burma by taking effective measures without further delay," the two rights groups put forth.

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U.S. recognizes universal jurisdiction over child soldier cases
Mizzima News - Monday, 06 October 2008 17:18

United States President George Bush, on Friday, signed into law a bill which empowers United States courts to prosecute members of any nationality for their role in the recruitment of child soldiers anywhere in the world.

The legislation makes anyone present in the United States who has been involved in the conscription of children under the age of 15 into the armed forces of any country or group liable to federal prosecution within the United States judicial system.

According to Human Rights Watch, Burma may have more child soldiers than any other country, with estimates running as high as 70,000 – a vast majority of whom serve in Burma's state army.

Passage of the Child Soldiers Accountability Act will ensure, according to Senator Patrick Leahy, "that those who commit human rights violations cannot come to this country [United States] as a sanctuary from prosecution"

Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, greeted the Senate's passage of the bill with the words: "During the last five years, America's reputation has suffered tremendously. Some of our ability to lead on human rights issues has been needlessly and carelessly squandered…We should do everything we can to stop this offense [recruitment of child soldiers] to human rights and human dignity."

Human Rights Watch's (HRW) Jo Becker added, "This new law is a breakthrough because it no longer leaves the prosecution of child recruiters to international tribunals and the national courts of conflict-affected countries."

HRW, along with other international rights groups such as Amnesty International, has long been a vocal advocate in insisting that states maintain a moral obligation to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity in accordance with a principle of "universal jurisdiction. "

Employment of child soldiers was first recognized as a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in 1998. The authority of the ICC is supplemented by several individual countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada and Belgium, which also maintain laws permitting domestic courts to prosecute persons charged with war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.

Yet an idea of "universal jurisdiction" remains a highly divisive subject on the international stage.

Initially coming to prominence on the international stage with the Nuremburg Tribunal regarding Nazi atrocities during World War II, the concept of "universal jurisdiction" postulates that all states have an obligation in bringing justice to the perpetrators of particular crimes of international concern, regardless of where the crime was committed or the nationalities of those involved.

However several countries, including China, have objected to "universal jurisdiction" on the basis that such a doctrine directly interferes with the right and concept of state sovereignty.

To some degree reflecting states' concerns over forfeiting national sovereignty, the Rome Statute of the ICC – dealing with the prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity – remains unratified by numerous influential countries, including the United States, Burma, Russia, India and China.

Of the 108 countries that have acceded to the terms of the Statute, a mere nine are from Asia, with Cambodia the only ASEAN member to do so.

Burma's ruling military junta has repeatedly denied that it actively recruits child soldiers, claiming to have prosecuted dozens of persons found to be illegally involved in such an undertaking and returning over 200 children to their respective parents between the years of 2002 to 2007.

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Burma Demands Attention: General Assembly President
The Irrawaddy - By LALIT K JHA / UNITED NATIONS
Monday, October 6, 2008

UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said Burma “is certainly one of the areas of our world that demands our attention and our solidarity."

Brockmann made his remarks during a briefing at the conclusion of the general debate of the UN General Assembly. He said his "solidarity with the people of Myanmar" remains, in response to a question on Burma.

Since he assumed the presidency of the General Assembly this session, Brockmann so far has maintained a silence on Burma, making no comments regarding violation of human rights, restoration of democracy or continued arrests of political activists in Burma.

When asked specifically what his plans were for Burma as the General Assembly president, he said: "We do not come here with a pre-conceived plan, or with the idea that the president of the General Assembly is going to solve all conflicts and they are going to have to accept my preconceived recipes for peace."

However, Brockmann, who is never shy of reflecting his anti-US agenda at the UN, said he is working on the Burma issue by getting the best and most reliable information from various sources.

"My job as president is to work with the General Assembly members, to gather [them] and come at some viable way of helping our brothers and sisters in Myanmar in whatever the difficulties are," he said.

"It is premature to tell you what exactly what those steps would be," he said. Discussions are currently in an initial, consultative phase that allows member states to gather objective information on the situation, he said.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called for the release of Burma's political prisoners including detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We believe that there are still 2,000 political prisoners in Myanmar," said Pilly on Thursday during her first press conference since taking office. "We are asking the authorities in Rangoon to free them."

The high commissioner also called the detention of Suu Kyi "completely illegal, even in respect of the country's law."

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Detained Activists Protest against Trial Conditions
The Irrawaddy - By MIN LWIN
Monday, October 6, 2008

Detained members of the 88 Generation Students Group will refuse to cooperate with the court at their trial unless family members are allowed to attend, their lawyers have announced.

Aung Tun, brother of activist Ko Ko Gyi, said the authorities had informed families of the accused on Friday that they would not be allowed to attend court hearings in Insein Prison.

Family members were admitted to a previous hearing in early September. Aung Tun said it wasn’t known why they were being excluded from the next sessions of the Rangoon East district court.

The authorities have also changed the days for family visits, and refused Htay Htay Kyi, the sister of detained political and labor activist Su Su Nway, permission to visit her.

Tate Naing, secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP)—said family members of detained political activists have the right to attend court hearings.

Prominent leaders of the 88 Generation Students group were arrested in August 2007, at the start of demonstrations leading up to September’s uprising. They included Min Ko
Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Win Aung, Min Zeya, Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy) and Mya Aye. They had led a march on August 19 protesting against sharp increases in the prices of fuel and other commodities.

Many former student leaders are serving long prison terms—some have been in prison for more than 15 years.

On Monday, activist Soe Myint Hein was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment. A woman activist, Khin Aye, and other two others received sentences of two years and six months.

Two Burmese human rights groups released a report on Monday saying the number of political prisoners in Burma had nearly doubled in little more than one year.

A UN report in June 2007 gave the number of political prisoners as 1,192 political prisoners in Burma. The number now was at least 2,123, said a report issued jointly by the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) and the United States Campaign for Burma, based in Washington, DC.

The report accused the Burmese military government of defying a UN Security Council demand in October 2007 for the release of all political prisoners, including the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi.

“By nearly doubling the number of political prisoners, the Burmese regime is directly defying the UN, including the UN Security Council,” said Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner and co-founder of the AAPP.

The AAPP and USCB sent an open letter to the UN Secretary-General calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

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Forced Labor Used in Delta
The Irrawaddy - By KYI WAI
Monday, October 6, 2008

LAPUTTA — Burmese military authorities have conscripted cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy delta to construct a road in exchange for international aid, according to villagers.

Local sources said people have been conscripted to work by military officers with Light Infantry Division No 66. An order was received in 17 villages in the Pyinsalu Village Tract, located in the coastal area of Laputta Township, saying one person from each family would be required to work on the construction of the Laputta-Thingangyi- Pyinsalu road.

Ma Nwe, who is four months pregnant and lives in Wabokhone village, told The Irrawaddy that she was conscripted to work on the road project, and her husband was conscripted to work on a government building in the city of Pyinsalu.

She said they had no choice but to do as ordered. "So I came here,” she said. “I can't refuse their order."

The village headman of Khonegyi village said he knew of 50 people were who sent to construction sites in Pyinsalu. The laborers have worked since September 16, he said, and no one knows how long the construction projects will continue.

According to villagers, the army said the workers will receive aid from INGOs and the government. Sources said the aid included a basic family water kit from UNICEF, "dignity kits" of clothes and personal hygiene items from the United Nations Population Fund, rice, food, and medicine.

In the areas of Laputta, regime-friendly companies such as Ayear Shwe Wah, Max Myanmar and Wah Wah Win have involved construction projects in Laputta Township, according to sources.

Ayer Shwe Wah was established by Aung Thet Mann, the son of junta member Gen Thura Shwe Mann, who has been accused of using his position to win contracts for construction work in the capital, Naypyidaw.

In June, London-based Amnesty International said the military regime has forced cyclone survivors to do menial labor in exchange for food, and authorities in several cyclone-hit areas continue to divert international aid to be used for regime-friendly projects, or to be sold in black markets.

Meanwhile, the United Nations' flash fundraising appeal for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis remains 50 percent unfunded, according to a statement issued by the Tripartite Core Group, which has coordinated relief efforts since June and is comprised of representatives from the military government, UN agencies and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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The pro-junta militia: how can they do it?
Gemma Dursley

Oct 6, 2008 (DVB)–One of the more distinctive aspects of recent repression in Burma has been the involvement of apparently non-state agents – ‘patriotic citizens’ in the words of the SPDC.

Forming the shadowy, unofficial group known as Swan Arr Shin, these people were active during last September’s crushing of the Saffron Revolution and continue to put in uninvited appearances at events on Burma’s political calendar. They often make ‘citizens’ arrests’ on activists, have been implicated in numerous violent assaults, and engage in routine neighbourhood and activist surveillance.

This is worrying. If political change is certain because, as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi says, “all the military have are guns”, then it is disconcerting to think that the military might also have hearts and minds of some ordinary people. Soldiers follow orders of whoever is in government, but the ‘masters of force’ are tools of this administration only, and they stand and fall with it.

Many are drawn from the 23 million strong Union Solidarity and Development Association. The techniques the junta has used to build membership are well known: membership is mandatory for teachers and civil servants (and their families), it brings particular benefits such as educational opportunities, and human rights violations fall disproportionately on non-USDA members.

A large number of USDA members have also been tricked into joining. But it is hard to believe people can be fooled into beating monks or peaceful activists, or organising such violence. Many, perhaps most, of the USDA membership is indifferent to the SPDC’s ambition to crush the pro-democracy movement. But some actively engage in it. Why?

Selective incentives

Unsurprisingly, money is a significant factor. Many SAS are mobilised as and when needed by ward and township USDA or SPDC officials, and are paid a daily allowance for their work. To this they are usually quite indifferent. There is also a ‘hardcore’ SAS who have received training in riot control and surveillance techniques and who, according to Human Rights Watch, receive a small monthly salary and food allowance in addition to any daily ‘work’ they might do.

Many individuals within the core of the SAS group are already on the margins of society – ex-convicts, alcoholics, persons of ill-repute – and, with such low community standing, find no benefits to investing in being a ‘good person’. There is little for them to lose by participating in violence.

Organising violence demands more intelligence and strategic acumen. Individuals possessing this are unlikely to be interested in small cash sums and might be slightly more ‘respectable’ than hardcore SAS. Consequently, they probably look more to the long-term. Not by chance they find this within the USDA, which provides them with many lucrative corruption opportunities, as reported by DVB for many years. Their position within the USDA, and all the violent responsibilities that comes with it, becomes their career.

Team spirit

It is not completely correct, however, to see the average violence worker in Burma as a sociopath out solely for himself (they are mostly men). It is in the militia member’s interest to work for the good of the group: the more effectively the group works, the bigger or more secure are the individual benefits. Consequently, there is a ‘norm of contribution’ within the group.

Usually, such a collective norm gives rise to a free rider problem. People do nothing, as they can – hopefully – enjoy a common good without expending any effort. However, because the core of the pro-junta militia is a relatively tight-knit, closed structure, each person’s decision affects the other. Everybody has an interest in seeing the group norm enforced so group members ‘do their bit’, and encourage and support each other. The rational thing to do, in this instance, is not to free ride – it is to contribute and uphold the group norm.

This is one reason why those SAS mobilised for the day, simply to make up the numbers, are disinterested, unenthusiastic and quite often ashamed. Among the hardcore of SAS and USDA members, however, there is a real interest in collective action. They police one another’s contribution and encourage each other to go beyond the call of duty.
The response of the Sangha to pro-junta militia activity has been an overturning of the alms bowl, while much of the public shun militia members in daily life. However, this means that active members of SAS and USDA become even more independent of the wider community, strengthening the militia structure as recruits rely on themselves.

Compare this to the communities the SAS terrorise. Within relatively open social structures – indeed, they are far more open now than in the past – individuals opposing political violence cannot depend on the support of others. Here, it is rational to free ride.

A collective identity

Organisations are powerful shapers of individual behaviour. With their own conventions, procedures and rituals they are more than just a collection of individuals. Certain behaviour within the organisation is appropriate, whilst other behaviour is frowned upon. The pro-junta militia is an organisation with expectations and obligations like any other, and its core members usually act according to their given role.

Not only do people come to willingly perform their duties but also, even if they have joined for their own selfish needs, come to feel that group objectives are important to them. It is natural for people to perceive events like their associates perceive them, and this blurring of the military and the public means that recruits are increasingly likely to identify the pro-democracy movement as an enemy.

Consequently, the Orwellian propaganda which seems so absurd to the average citizen can easily strike a chord with the active militia member, helping to keep the group unified. This is exacerbated by the lack of free media to challenge such points of view and, again, the group’s ostracism by the wider public. Combined with their unique material benefits, this exclusion only serves to increase the arrogance of the militia.

It is not enough to say that people participate in militia activity for cash. Only by appreciating the range of techniques that the SPDC have used to assemble and maintain their militia can activists find a strategy to defeat it.

This is the second in a serious of articles by Gemma Dursley for DVB on Burma’s collective action problem.

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