The U.S. Department of State has cited three East Asian nations –– Burma, North Korea and Laos –– for failing to make a significant effort to combat trafficking in persons, according to an annual report released June 5, 2006.  In the department's 295page Trafficking in Persons Report for 2006, the three are among 12 countries ranked in the lowest of four categories. The categories, which comprise three tiers, were determined on the basis of government action to combat trafficking, prosecute offenders and assist victims.

Dr. Salai Than Tun's Civil Disobedience campaign.

Students  have been the fighters for independence and for freedom and democracy. This activism inevitably brings students into a headlong confrontation with authorities. Even one-time student leaders when they came to power had brutally cracked down on student movements. But students have been carrying this 'spirit of the fighting peacock' and handing it over to the coming generations.

The Irrawaddy

The moment he entered the room, the skinny, undernourished-looking young man came quickly to the point. “I have seen your photo in our office,” he announced. This was not to be taken lightly, and I laughed uneasily as I motioned him to take a seat, because it was not a casual remark about any celebrity status I had acquired. The man was from Burma’s feared military intelligence agency.

Special Sitting to examine developments concerning the question of the observance by the Government of Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)

Hkun Oo Kya, elder brother of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) leader Hkun Tun Oo, both of whom were detained and sentenced to long term imprisonments, was transferred from Kyaukme in northern Shan State to Mandalay early in May, according to sources close to the family...

Unlike the Military Regime we have no mechanical arms or ammunition, therefore the only means in defence of our freedom and our rights are through our “pens”.  During the last four decades we knocked consistently at closed and barred doors. I hope this time you will not dismiss our letter which echoes the voice of the peoples inside the Shan State and Global Shan Community in exile.

Dire humanitarian conditions in Burma require an increase in aid from the United States and other donors, Refugees International concluded in a new report. Ending the Waiting Game: Strategies for Responding to Internally Displaced People in Burma argues that the crisis in Burma has reached a point where displaced people and other vulnerable populations simply cannot wait any longer for outside assistance, including health services, education, food production and building the capacity of civil society organizations in the country. U.S. sanctions against Burma’s military regime currently prevent the provision of significant humanitarian aid.

According to new data in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic the AIDS epidemic appears to be slowing down globally, but new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. The report also shows that important progress has been made in country AIDS responses, including increases in funding and access to treatment, and decreases in HIV prevalence among young people in some countries over the past five years. However AIDS remains an exceptional threat. The response is diverse with some countries doing well on treatment but poorly on HIV prevention efforts and vice-versa. The report indicates that a number of significant challenges remain. Among these are the need for improved planning, sustained leadership and reliable long-term funding for the AIDS response.

1. UN RIGHTS EXPERT CALLS FOR RELEASE OF DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI, URGES INQUIRY INTO MOUNTING NUMBER OF DEATHS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN MYANMAR

On 27 May, the current term of detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi finally comes to an end. Detained for 10 of the last 16 years without charge or trial, the General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate has been held in isolation for the past three years. I encourage the Government to release her unconditionally and to free all remaining political prisoners.

2. PRESS CONFERENCE ON MYANMAR BY Under-Secretary-General FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS

Following the first high-level talks between the United Nations and Myanmar in more than two years, the United Nations was in a better position to allow that country to move in the direction of an all-inclusive democracy, sustainable development, full respect for human rights and national reconciliation, Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today.

Over 1,100 political prisoners were arrested or remained imprisoned. They included hundreds of prisoners of conscience, held for peaceful political opposition activities. At least 250 political prisoners were released. The army continued to commit serious human rights violations, including forced labour, against ethnic minority civilians during counter-insurgency activities. The International Labour Organization (ILO), other UN agencies and international aid organizations faced increasing restrictions on their ability to assist vulnerable populations.

AAPPB
The report, entitled Eight Seconds of Silence: The Death of Democracy Activists Behind Bars, notes that all the deaths were a result of torture or ill-treatment, and comes at a time when deaths of democracy activists behind bars have been increasing significantly. In 2005 and early 2006 alone, ten activists have died from torture and ill-treatment while in custody.

by Sai Merng Mai

On 21st May 2006 we celebrate the 48th anniversary of Shan Revolution day, although some people call it Shan Resistance Day. This is the day that the armed struggle for independence and peace in Shan State had its beginning. I believe it is worth while to look at why Saw Yanda took up arms against Rangoon and see if either side have learnt any lessons.

Demonstrations are to be staged outside Myanmar embassies in 12 countries next week to protest the ruling regime's crackdown on the Karen ethnic group and call for action from the UN, activists announced on Saturday.

On May 2, 2006, U Myint Than, 59, who was arrested in February 2005, died after suffering chest pains and a stroke at Thandwe General Hospital. He is the third political prisoner to die in a Burmese prison during 2006, and the tenth to have died since early 2005.

To the Burmese, who love a puppet play, they are like three characters in a drama: the evil king, the fallen prince and the fair prisoner. But to appalled spectators in foreign embassies in Rangoon, the play has taken a sudden turn for the tragic. The king is Than Shwe, the senior general in Burma, who has adorned himself with regal trappings, switched his junta to one-man rule and ordered the Government to move to a new city whose name, Nay Pyi Daw, means "royal capital".

When Gandhi set out on a 241mile walk to pick up salt from the sea shore, he didn’t actually want the salt.  He wanted to demonstrate the futility and stupidity of a law that gave a monopoly of salt making to the British crown, who also made a hefty tax from salt.  Moreover, Gandhi felt that this obnoxious law could provide a focus for the start of the civil disobedience movement as part of the independence movement.

Taisamyone
I read my e-mails today and found the usual 100+ messages from pro-democracy groups around the world.  Here is a selection of statements and news items for just one day.  Every day is the same.  The world shouts loudly at the regime - are they deaf?  No, just belligerent bullies who don't want to change from their road to hell.  The people are still demanding freedom and democracy.

Feraya Nangmone

The recent news articles reveal that the SPDC will stop at nothing to torture and kill Shan people.  As the result of the war the SPDC waged against the Shan State Army, the Shan civilians are undergoing inhumane war crimes perpetrated by the SPDC toward them.

The SPDC has accused the Shan State Army of being terrorists.  The SSA are not terrorists, they are fighting for justice, autonomy and human rights for the Shans.  They are doing the best they can to protect the innocent Shan villagers, from the brutal and inhumane acts of crimes perpetrated toward them by the Burmese Army.

Photo Essay

Taisamyone

Corruption is a worldwide issue and hits the poorest countries hardest. Burma gets to be near the bottom in poor poverty and corruption. Transparency International (TI – see footnote) have over the last few years prepared annual reports that indicate a comparative score called the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Their report for 2005 indicates that Burma is fourth from bottom in a league table of 159 countries (Ref 1), with a CPI of 1.8 out of 10 – indicating a severe corruption problem.

The paranoiac type of ruler may be defined as one who uses every means to keep danger away from his own person. Instead of challenging and confronting it and abiding the issue of a fight which might go against him, he seeks by circumspection and cunning to block its approach to him. He creates empty space all round him which he can survey, and he observes and assesses every sign of approaching danger. He does this on all sides, for he knows that he is dealing with many who may simultaneously advance against him, and this keeps awake in him the fear of being surrounded. Danger is everywhere, not only in front of him; it threatens especially from behind, where he might not notice it quickly enough. He has eyes all around him and not the slightest sound must escape his attention, for it might conceal a hostile intent.

The whole of Myanmar government, every single official in Burma, especially the top military officers are guilty of corruption. Without corruption they will not be able to hold on to their jobs. The system is such that junior officers are supposed to take bribes/squeeze out cash from businesses and from ordinary people to feed their seniors. Their families do the same, abusing their positions and contacts. This is nothing unusual in Burma, especially since 1962, and has been getting steadily worse. There is even a saying which goes; "Eat as much as possible while one is in position, because one never knows how long this will last”.