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Monday, 15 February 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY 15 FEBRUARY, 2010
UNISON APPEAL FOR UN COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON CRIMES AGAINST THE BURMESE PEOPLE

UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector trade union with 1.4 million members, has written to MPs in the UK, asking them to support an Early Day Motion* calling for a UN Commission of Inquiry to be set up into crimes committed by the Burmese Government, against its own people.

The union, a long time supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, an honorary member of UNISON, supports trade union and labour activists who are among Burma’s 2000 political prisoners.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:

“The Burmese government has no respect for democracy and basic human rights. The only way to force the dictatorship to stop committing crimes against humanity, is to impose strict economic sanctions, and for the UN to take a tougher stance.

“A Commission of Inquiry, looking into crimes the Burmese government have committed against its own people is a vital first step. UNISON is appealing to MPs to show their support for the people of Burma, and for Aung San Suu Kyi, by signing the Early Day Motion and setting up the inquiry.”

Parliament Questions

Burma: Arms Trade
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department has had discussions with the government of (a) Canada, (b) New Zealand and (c) Brazil on an arms embargo against Burma. [316244]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government maintains a dialogue with a wide range of international partners on Burma, including the governments of Canada and New Zealand. In recent weeks we have also shared details of our position on Burma with Brazil, which became a non-permanent member of the Security Council in January.

In August 2009, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and his fellow UN Security Council members underlining that no one should be selling arms to a military regime with an appalling human rights record. A global arms embargo remains a priority for this Government, and we will continue to press for progress in our bilateral contacts and in relevant multi-lateral fora.

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of arms trading with Burma, with particular reference to arms from (a) India, (b) Russia and (c) China; and what assessment he has made of the effects of such trade on the situation in Burma. [316582]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government believe that no one should be selling arms to the Burmese regime in view of their appalling human rights record and the high likelihood arms supplied will be use for internal repression. An EU arms embargo has been in place since 1996, and we are working to build support for a global arms embargo. To this end, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister wrote to the UN Secretary General and all members of the Security Council in August 2009.

Reports suggest that India, China and Russia have all supplied arms to Burma. China is believed to be the leading arms supplier and in early January 2010, media reports suggested Russia had agreed to supply $600 million of combat aircraft and arms to the Burma regime. In response to these reports, our embassy in Moscow raised our concerns with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

10 Feb 2010 : Column 979W
The ability of Burma to continue to purchase arms from a wide range of suppliers has helped to reduce their defence and security costs and modernise an army responsible for widespread and systematic human rights abuses.

Burma: Human Rights
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had in the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly on reports of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma. [316245]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government remain deeply concerned at the human rights situation in Burma and we regularly raise the issue with EU and other international partners, and in the UN's human rights bodies. At the last session of the Human Rights Council in September 2009, and at the UN General Assembly in November 2009, we helped to secure strong resolutions condemning the Burmese regime for ongoing and systematic human rights abuses. We will be looking to raise the issue again, and secure a further resolution, at the next session of the Human Rights Council in March 2010. In addition, we continue to give our full support to the efforts of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma-Thomas Ojea Quintana, who is due to visit the country soon.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had discussions with (a) his EU counterparts, (b) the United Nations Human Rights Council and (c) the United Nations General Assembly on reports of crimes against humanity in Burma. [316378]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government remain deeply concerned at the human rights situation in Burma and we regularly raise the issue with EU and other international partners, and in the UN's human rights bodies. At the last session of the Human Rights Council in September 2009, and at the UN General Assembly in November 2009, we helped to secure strong resolutions condemning the Burmese regime for ongoing and systematic human rights abuses. We will be looking to raise the issue again, and secure a further resolution, at the next session of the Human Rights Council in March 2010. In addition, we continue to give our full support to the efforts of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, Thomas Ojea Quintana, who is due to visit the country soon.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what aims and objectives he has set for the outcome of the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting on Burma. [316380]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: At the 13th session of the Human Rights Council in March 2010 we will work to secure a further, strong resolution condemning the continuing human right abuses in Burma. In our national intervention, and in the resolution text, we will seek to emphasise that the dire human rights situation, including the continued detention of 2100 political prisoners, child labour and the treatment of displaced people remain cause of significant concern. Burma's treatment of political leaders and suppression of freedom of expression undermine the credibility of elections planned for later this year.

10 Feb 2010 : Column 980W
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek to secure EU targeted sanctions against the government of Burma until the human rights situation in Burma improves. [316581]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government continue to believe that targeted EU sanctions against the military regime in Burma are an important means of maintaining pressure for political reform and respect for human rights. Sanctions introduced in 1996 have been strengthened over time, notably after the Saffron Revolution in 2007, and in August 2009 in response to the guilty verdict in Aung San Suu Kyi's trial. They are now among the EU's toughest autonomous measures against any country. The UK will not support any easing of sanctions in the absence of tangible progress on the ground.

Burma: Political Prisoners
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has had discussions in the United Nations Human Rights Council on the arrest of pro-democracy activist Nyi Nyi Aung in Burma in September 2009. [316241]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We are deeply concerned at the arrest and imprisonment of Nyi Nyi Aung and are monitoring his case closely.

We continue to take every opportunity to raise the detention of Burma's 2100 political prisoners in the UN's Human Rights bodies. At the last session of the Human Rights Council in September 2009, and at the UN General Assembly in November 2009, we helped to secure strong resolutions calling for the release of all of political prisoners. We will be looking to raise the issue again, and secure a further resolution, at the next session of the Human Rights Council in March 2010.

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has made representations to the Burmese authorities on permitting the International Committee of the Red Cross to resume its inspection of prisons in Burma. [316242]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The refusal of the Burmese authorities to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) independent and unsupervised access to political prisoners remains a grave concern, particularly as the number of prisoners of conscience has doubled to over 2100 since the 'Saffron revolution' in autumn 2007. We continue to urge the military government to co-operate fully with the ICRC and allow an immediate resumption of prison visits.

The UN General Assembly highlighted their concern at the condition of prisons and urged the regime to comply with human rights law in a resolution passed in November 2009. Our Ambassador in Rangoon last raised the issue of independent prison access for the ICRC to the Burmese government in August 2009 during the last visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma. Our Ambassador regularly raises the plight of political prisoners with Burmese ministers, and we remain in close contact with the ICRC on this issue.

10 Feb 2010 : Column 981W
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received reports on the recent sentencing and imprisonment of a journalist who worked with the Democratic Voice of Burma. [316243]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We are aware that Democratic Voice of Burma journalist Ngwe Soe Lin was sentenced to 13 years in prison on 27 January 2010 by a Burmese military court for offences under the Electronic and Immigration Emergency Provisions Acts. This case follows the recent sentencing of two other journalists from the Democratic Voice of Burma to 20 and 26 years imprisonment respectively. At least 13 journalists and bloggers are currently detained in Burma, as the Burmese authorities seek to prevent the free flow of information in advance of elections planned for later this year.

The Government have consistently called on the military authorities to release all of Burma's over 2100 prisoners of conscience. Without their release, elections planned for later this year can have no international credibility.

Burma: Politics and Government
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will request the United Nations Security Council to undertake a review of the 2008 Burmese constitution together with representatives of (a) pro-democracy, (b) ethnic and (c) other groups in Burma. [316379]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: In November 2009 the UK helped to secure a UN General Assembly Resolution on the human rights situation in Burma, which called on the Burmese authorities to undertake a transparent, inclusive and comprehensive review of the Constitution while fully engaging with the democratic opposition and ethnic groups. We believe that a process of dialogue involving all actors in Burma will ensure a sustainable transition to democracy. This view is shared by other members of the EU and the United States of America.

In the UN Security Council, we regularly test the level of consensus for action on Burma, and have succeeded in securing discussion and a number of important Presidential Statements since autumn 2007. We do not judge, however, that an attempt to secure a Security Council review on the 2008 Constitution now would be successful. A resolution on Burma tabled in January 2007 was vetoed by two Permanent Members of the Council and any attempt to invalidate the Constitution will suffer the same fate.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm100210/text/100210w0003.htm#10021071000485

Ministerial Statement on Burma

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
STEPHEN SMITH
8 February 2010
Ministerial Statement on Burma

Mr Deputy Speaker.

I wish to update the House on developments in Burma.

On 4 January, Burma’s Independence Day, Burmese Senior General Than Shwe announced that plans were under way to conduct elections in Burma this year.

Elections have long been foreshadowed under the Burmese military’s so-called ‘Roadmap to Democracy’.

If elections do take place, they will be the first in Burma in 20 years.

This year will, therefore, be an important one for Burma, and an important one for the international community’s engagement with Burma.

Australia has long been appalled both by the Burmese military’s suppression of the democratic aspirations of the Burmese people and by its disrespect for their human rights.

It is worthwhile recalling some important events in this longstanding suppression.

A military regime, in some form, has ruled Burma since 1962, nearly 50 years.

We recall the bloody put down of pro-democracy protests in 1988, just over 20 years ago.

Since 1988 Australia has had in place visa restrictions against senior members of the Burmese regime and their associates and supporters.

Following the failure to implement the outcome of the 1990 elections, in 1991 Australia introduced a ban on defence exports to Burma.

This is a ban on the export to Burma of controlled goods as listed on the Defence and Strategic Goods List.

In October 2007, financial sanctions were introduced in response to the violent crackdown on democracy protesters.

These various sanctions – travel sanctions, defence sanctions and financial sanctions – have the common purpose of exerting pressure on Burma’s military regime.

At the same time, Australia has recognised that engaging the Burmese authorities serves important national, regional and international interests.

We live in the same region. Through regional forums like the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Human Trafficking and Transnational Crime, Australia has had the opportunity to engage Burma on challenges like counter-narcotics, trafficking in people, disaster relief and pandemic disease.

As well, Australia has for many years sought to help the Burmese people through a program of humanitarian assistance targeting the most vulnerable.

This program, now worth nearly $30 million in 2009-10, assists with fighting infectious diseases such as avian influenza, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; provides food aid and agricultural expertise to alleviate rural poverty; protects displaced people; and supports children to attend and remain in primary school.

ASEAN, through its humanitarian work in Burma after Cyclone Nargis, has been vital in facilitating assistance from Australia and members of the international community to the Burmese people.

Common membership of regional organisations also allows us at Ministerial level to directly advocate democratic reform and national reconciliation – as I did when I met my counterpart Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win during the ASEAN-related meetings in Thailand in July 2009.

Mr Deputy Speaker.

On 12 August 2009 I addressed the House on Burma after Aung San Suu Kyi’s conviction on spurious charges, leading to her ongoing house arrest.

I set out then that Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence effectively removed the prospect of her participation in any proposed 2010 elections and would detract from the credibility of those elections.

Since that time, there have been a number of important developments both within Burma and in the international community’s approach to Burma.

On 17 September 2009 the Burmese authorities released 128 political prisoners in an amnesty. This was a welcome, tentative step in the right direction.

Repression however continues.

On 31 December, 15 activists were sentenced to up to 71 years imprisonment each. There regrettably remain close to 2000 political prisoners in Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

Australia again calls on Burma’s authorities to release them and allow them to participate fully and freely in the upcoming elections.

In September 2009, in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, I joined ten other Foreign Ministers and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a Ministerial-level meeting of the Secretary-General’s Group of Friends of Myanmar.

The participation in this meeting was evidence both of the international community’s desire to see progress in Burma and of its willingness to both work together and with the Secretary General towards this end.

At the meeting, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon identified three areas for future unity of purpose and action:

First, to urge Burma to work with the United Nations to ensure an inclusive process of dialogue and create the conditions for credible elections.

Second, to uphold the role of the United Nations in Burma.

And third, to signal the international community’s willingness to help the people of Burma, but noting that Burma’s military regime needed to respond to international concerns in order for this to occur.

My visit to New York for the General Assembly coincided with the announcement of the United States policy review on Burma.

The United States Administration concluded that a sanctions-only policy to isolate Burma’s military has not worked and that future US policy would combine engagement, appropriate sanctions and humanitarian assistance.

US Secretary of State Clinton said that any debate that pits sanctions against engagement created a false choice, and that the international community would need to employ both of these tools.

Australia has welcomed this approach, as has the international community generally.

As to developments within Burma, on 25 September 2009 Aung San Suu Kyi wrote to Senior General Than Shwe offering to work with the Burmese authorities on the withdrawal of international sanctions, and asking to meet representatives of the European Union, the United States and Australia.

The fact that Australia was one of these three was significant and reflects the longstanding interest Australians have in Burma.

The authorities agreed to this request.

On 9 October 2009 Australia’s Chargé d’Affaires, together with the UK Ambassador and the US Chargé d’Affaires, met Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon.

The meeting was the first opportunity for a substantive discussion between an Australian representative and Aung San Suu Kyi since February 2003.

Australia’s Chargé conveyed a message from the Prime Minister which expressed the support of the Australian Government and the people of Australia for Aung San Suu Kyi and her struggle for democracy in Burma.

This was warmly welcomed by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Australia welcomed the subsequent visit to Burma in early November by United States Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and the meetings he held with the Burmese authorities, with Aung San Suu Kyi and with representatives of a number of ethnic minorities.

Aung San Suu Kyi wrote further to Senior General Than Shwe on 11 November 2009 requesting contact with her party’s Central Executive Committee.

In response to her request, she was permitted to meet three of the Central Executive Committee’s elders, including Chairman U Aung Shwe, on 16 December 2009.

Australia hopes that a meeting with the full Executive will take place soon.

This is the first substantial contact which Aung San Suu Kyi has had with the leadership of the National League for Democracy since 2007, and is warmly welcomed by the Australian Government as essential to democratic and political progress in Burma.

Australia hopes these initial engagements between Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese authorities and the international community are the beginning of a process of genuine dialogue.

Elections

Mr Deputy Speaker.

The Burmese authorities have embarked on the so-called “Roadmap to Democracy”, a strictly controlled process of potential political change.

It was a matter of great regret that they pushed ahead with a constitutional referendum, the fourth step in their Roadmap, in the midst of the disaster of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

That referendum was a regrettable sham.

Not surprisingly, political parties in Burma, including the National League for Democracy, and parties representing ethnic groups, are carefully considering whether to participate in the 2010 elections.

Burma’s authorities have an opportunity to engage the people, to ensure the full and free participation in the elections of the Burmese opposition, nascent political parties, and ethnic groups.

For Burma’s longer-term stability and security, the coming political process needs to address the concerns of the country’s diverse ethnic minority groups.

While, of course, given the history of these matters, there are long standing reservations, Australia will not pre-judge the process and the outcome of these elections.

Australia urges Burma’s authorities to seize this opportunity to genuinely move their country forward.

Development Assistance

Mr Deputy Speaker.

Australia has long provided humanitarian assistance to Burma.

In the 2009-10 Budget, the Government allocated nearly $30 million in humanitarian assistance, a significant increase in base funding over the previous year.

This will help address the pressing needs of the Burmese people.

Half of Burma’s almost 50 million people live in extreme poverty.

Child mortality rates are among the highest in the world.

Decades of military rule have eroded civil society and civilian institutions.

Skills have been lost and infrastructure has deteriorated.

At some stage into the future, Burma will have a civilian Government, which will face great challenges.

At some stage into the future, the regional and international community will be asked to help in the rebuilding of Burma’s economic and social structures.

Australia’s view therefore is that the international community help prepare Burma for the future.

Burma’s capacity cannot be allowed to completely atrophy to the ultimate disadvantage and cost of its people.

The international community needs to start the rebuilding now.

This is not a reward for Burma’s military, but a recognition of the immense task faced by current and future generations of Burmese.

At around $4 per head per annum, international aid to Burma is less than a tenth of that received by Cambodia and a sixteenth of that received by Laos.

Australia will accordingly increase its assistance to Burma over the next three years to around $50 million annually, a 67 per cent increase.

Alleviating humanitarian needs will remain an important goal and focus of this expenditure.

But the Government has decided that Australia’s program will also include capacity building elements, addressing the long-term challenges facing the Burmese people.

This will involve carefully targeted interaction in areas of great need like health, education and agriculture.

Our assistance will continue to be delivered in partnership with international organisations, such as UN agencies, ASEAN, other donor nations and non-government organisations.

We will expand existing initiatives in basic health care, including child and maternal health. We will work to improve the delivery of basic health services by equipping health clinics, training nurses, health care staff and administrators and providing better community health education and information.

At the village level, we will assist primary health care workers, including midwives, with critical training and medical supplies to help arrest the decline in health outcomes for vulnerable and isolated people.

We will continue to support the delivery of vital treatment, prevention and screening services for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, including through the Three Diseases Fund supported by Australia, the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The Fund aims to reduce these three diseases in Burma.

We will also address critical water, sanitation and hygiene needs through:

1. the construction and rehabilitation of ponds and wells;
2. building latrines for community schools and rural health centres; and
3. working to provide equitable access to clean water.

In 2008-09 Australia’s assistance contributed to the basic education of over 400,000 children in Burma. We will increase our support to enable more poor and disadvantaged children to go to primary school.

Australian assistance will improve teaching and mentoring skills, both in the classroom and at home. Working closely with United Nations agencies, Non Government Organisations (NGOs) and other donors, we will support training programs for early childhood development workers, primary teachers and township education officials.

We will also continue to support vulnerable communities in the Irrawaddy Delta to restore their crop and fishing businesses, and in other areas of protracted need such as northern Rakhine State where the situation of the Rohingyas is very dire.

Australia will provide $20 million over the next four years to assist poor communities in Burma to:

1. improve access to credit, seeds, and tools;
2. provide training in small enterprise;
3. help farmers diversify their production and gain access to markets.

I have also asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and AusAID to explore a scholarship scheme for Burma.

Australia will liaise with partners such as the European Union, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States, all of whom have scholarship schemes for Burma, to learn from their experience.

It is proposed that a new scholarship scheme will target Burmese with the potential to build civil society and improve service delivery, including in health, education and agriculture.

As a start, 10 postgraduate scholarships and short term professional development placements will be made available, beginning in 2010-11.

We will work with the UN to carefully identify suitable candidates.

This assistance will be in addition to Australia’s significant contribution for relief and recovery efforts following Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

Australia’s post-Nargis assistance continues to be delivered through effective and trusted aid partners such as the United Nations and Australian NGOs and includes:

1. agricultural inputs to help farmers restore their crops and livestock;
2. helping fishermen by providing nets and repairing boats;
3. repairing over 1,200 damaged schools and providing books and materials for over 360,000 children;
4. reducing disease risk by constructing 50,000 latrines and providing one million mosquito nets; and
5. supplies and shelter for vulnerable communities.

Burma is a difficult operating environment, but the collective experience in Burma over many years shows we can deliver assistance effectively to improve the lives of ordinary Burmese without benefiting the military authorities.

Sanctions

Mr Deputy Speaker.

Australia urges Burma’s military to respond positively to Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent offer to work towards the lifting of international sanctions.

Such a positive response would help make meaningful progress towards democratic reform, respect for human rights, and national dialogue and reconciliation.

Until we see significant change from Burma’s authorities, the Australian Government will maintain a policy of targeted financial sanctions.

We agree with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s observation that to lift sanctions now would send the wrong signal.

However, an expansion of sanctions at this time would send a confusing signal.

In view of the nascent discussions between the authorities and Aung San Suu Kyi, I have decided that sanctions should not be expanded at this time.

As a result, the sanctions list I announced in October 2008 will remain in operation for the present.

Diplomacy

Mr Speaker.

I earlier referred to my discussions on Burma in New York in September 2009.

These discussions again revealed the region’s and the international community’s great frustration with the Burmese authorities’ treatment of the political opposition, their self-imposed isolation, and the circumstances of the Burmese people.

My discussions also revealed that the international community is increasingly prepared to draw on a wide range of diplomatic tools, including both sanctions and engagement, to press for change in Burma.

Neither Australia nor the international community should however have any illusions that progress in Burma will be quick or easy.

Australia will continue to work closely with ASEAN and its member countries, including by continuing to support ASEAN’s much-needed humanitarian efforts in Burma.

We will cooperate closely with the United States as it pursues greater engagement with Burma, and with other major donors like the United Kingdom, to ensure our combined assistance does the greatest amount of good for the Burmese people.

We will also continue to support the work of the United Nations and the Secretary General.

We endorse UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for the international community to support UN efforts to promote respect for human rights, inclusive political dialogue and development in Burma.

Australia strongly supported the role of Ibrahim Gambari as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Burma. His term concluded at the beginning of this year, and we look forward to working closely with his successor.

Conclusion

Mr Deputy Speaker.

Australia and the international community stand ready to assist Burma.

But it is not a one way street.

Australia urges the Burmese authorities to respond in good faith both to international engagement and to Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent approach to it on sanctions and on dialogue.

In moving towards dialogue and genuine national reconciliation, Burma’s authorities can end their isolation.

Australia has always considered the Burmese people our friends.

When Cyclone Nargis struck, Australia responded generously, despite our political differences with the Burmese authorities.

That was the right decision then, and it is the right decision now, together with the international community, to do more for the long-term future of Burma’s people.
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Asean MPs requests Thailand to halt plans to return Burma asylum seekers

February 11 2010

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) is gravely concerned for the well being of unregistered Karen refugees currently residing in displacement sites in Tha Song Yang District, Tak. Announcements last month from the Thai government relating to the planned forced repatriation of the refugees beginning in February 2010 have caused renewed concern for their safety. AIPMC welcomes the Thai government’s decision to halt the repatriation of the estimated 3,000 refugees until their safety can be assured. AIPMC furthermore calls on the Thai government to make public and implement a clear policy regarding refugees fleeing from conflict zones across the border in Myanmar. Province

The flow of refugees from Myanmar’s Karen has been increasing since June 2009 when renewed fighting between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), supported by the SPDC, put villagers in danger, causing them to flee across the border. These refugees have temporarily been permitted to reside in Thailand under the care of the Thai Military. State

Despite the victory of the DKBA, the situation in Karen remains unstable and unsafe for villagers. The area from which the refugees fled is heavily landmined and numerous injuries and deaths among people returning to their villages have been reported by organizations working in the areas concerned and with the refugees. State

Though the precariousness of the situation in Karen State is well known, a group of 13 refugees from Nong Bua, mostly women and children, and a group of 26 families from Usu Tha were recently repatriated to Myanmar. These refugees were sent back without witnesses or evidence to certify that their return was voluntary. Additionally, reports have surfaced of the Thai military using threats and coercion to force refugees’ return to Myanmar.

This use of threats and coercion to pressure refugees into returning to an area that is clearly not safe is unacceptable. AIPMC urges the Thai government to fully investigate these charges and to closely monitor the situation of the refugees currently under the care of the Thai Military. Furthermore, AIPMC calls on the Thai government to cooperate with UNHCR and other appropriate agencies to allow for the registration and proper care of the refugees until it is safe for them to return home.

The flow of refugees fleeing the dangerous and repressive situation in Myanmar is not a new problem. Widespread human rights violations and armed offensives by Myanmar’s military government against its own citizens have caused massive refugees flows in the region for many years. The underlying source of the refugee problem is the continued violence and oppression perpetrated by Myanmar’s government. To permanently end the flow of refugees from Myanmar a concerted effort to end human rights abuses and begin a dialogue of national reconciliation is necessary.

AIPMC requests ASEAN to use its Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to investigate all claims of human rights abuses in Myanmar. Furthermore, the Commission should seek to ensure that Myanmar is held accountable for its past abuses and prevented from committing further violence against its citizens. Additionally, AIPMC urges ASEAN to develop and implement a regional policy concerning the member states’ responsibilities regarding refugees.

Finally, AIPMC calls on the government of Myanmar to begin the process of national reconciliation through genuine dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy and ethnic nationalities. As a first step in this process AIPMC urges the government of Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners currently in detention.