(Irrawaddy)
The Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) is attending a Nov 18-26 meeting of the Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to discuss the Burmese military government's alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and other human rights abuses.
BLC General Secretary Aung Htoo, who is based in exile, has been attending the meetings in the Netherlands as an NGO delegate from Burma for the first time.
According to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) web site, the grouping will discuss "ICC Campaigns in Asia: Prospects and Challenges in Afghanistan, Burma and Indonesia" on Nov. 25.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Thein Oo, the chairman of the BLC, said, “We intend to cooperate with International Criminal Court and to create a network to take more action against the Burmese military junta. Moreover, we intend to share our experience of the junta’s abuses and crimes, and discuss how we can cooperate to establish a regional network.”
He added: “We expect the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) to cooperate among state parties and put more pressure on the Burmese junta through the UN and the ICC. We especially want to lobby harder because representatives of China and other world powers will be attending."
The CICC is a network of over 2,500 nongovernment organizations which work closely with the ICC.
“Actually, we all need to practice alternative approaches to the Burmese military junta and pave ways for preventive actions,” Thein Oo said.
The director of Thailand-based rights group Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, Aung Myo Min, told The Irrawaddy on Monday: “It’s very hard to put the issue of the Burmese junta's crimes against humanity to the ICC because Burma is not yet a signatory to the ICC. But, the UN Security Council can take the junta to task about its deplorable humna rights record. The Burmese regime has commited many crimes such as the conscription of child soldiers and the systematic rape of ethnic women which should be put before the ICC.”
The Burmese military authorities issued Order 1/2009 in April, blacklisting the BLC as an unlawful association. This order came alongside a campaign of defamation in the Burmese state-run press, which denounced the BLC as an “enemy of the state,” and accusing BLC members, in particular those working with the ICC, of “violating the rule of law of Burma.”
The ICC was established in 2002 as a permanent international tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ICC has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes which have been committed or are being committed if a given state’s judicial system is unable or unwilling to investigate and take legal action to ensure justice.
In July, the CICC called on the Security Council to press for the surrender and trial of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and others wanted for serious crimes committed in Darfur.
(Irrawaddy)
During the recent summit meeting in Thailand of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) we witnessed the usual handshakes and smiles on the summit podium.
However, behind this front of unity, some civil society groups in the region were shunned, while cronies of the Asean governments and Burma’s repressive regime, were invited to attend an interface meeting between government officials and other civil society groups.
Despite this shocking compromise, some officials claimed the summit was a success.
The sad fact is that Asean remains a club where bureaucrats, politicians and generals who commit crimes against humanity have little respect for their own citizens. To be blunt, Asean leaders remain ignorant about Burma, if not ill-informed.
Recently, we heard a wishful and naïve comment from Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, who was dubbed a shining star when he became Thai foreign minister in 1997.
Surin told the Voice of America that Washington's willingness to talk with the Burmese junta opened a “new ball game” for the region. Countries in Southeast Asia were looking forward to seeing adjustments from both sides, he said.
“This is a new opportunity. And, all of us in Asean, every member state, recognizes this new opportunity," Surin said. "I think Myanmar [Burma] itself recognizes that this is a golden opportunity for engagement, for interaction, for dialogue, which is well and good. And, I think it's going to be good for the region.”
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Asean was pleased that the United States, which maintains strict sanctions against Burma, was now following its lead in trying to engage the junta.
“The one thing we all agreed on is that we welcome signs of further engagement in response to some developments in Burma. Asean has always argued that engagement is the right approach,” Abhisit said.
We all cautiously welcomed the Washington’s new approach to Burma. However, many remained skeptical whether the regime will make any major concession.
In reality, Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, who is now in Burma meeting regime officials and opposition leaders, cautioned that it will be a step-by-step process and that engagement with Burma will be long and painful.
Let’s make it crystal clear once and for all that Asean’s past and present engagement policy with the brutal regime in Burma has gone nowhere. So it is not worth taking credit. Instead, Asean should look at itself in the mirror.
Asean’s engagement policy with Burma is rather one of appeasement and economic engagement, exploiting Burma’s natural resources.
In return, the regime leaders, who have killed thousands of innocent people and Buddhist monks and keep politicians and activists in jails, conveniently hide behind the Asean shield.
At last month’s Asean summit, many media observers and journalists thought that the grouping has allowed the regime to walk away scot-free.
Abhisit denied that the group had softened its stance on Burma, having previously issued direct appeals for the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.
“It is not true,” he said. “It was discussed. Everybody agrees that we should help Burma move forward in completing their roadmap so that it will lead to democracy.”
Abhisit’s statement again showed Asean’s wishful thinking on the regime’s intentions and its “road map.” It is the constitution that Asean leaders and US leaders should question, because the document only prolongs military rule in Burma. It is a death sentence for many Burmese and ethnic nationalities.
In order to keep its credibility and stance, Asean should spell out its own stand on Burma.
It is important that Asean should make clear to Burmese leaders that it will join the US’s financial and targeted sanctions against the regime leaders and their cronies if they fail to take meaningful steps.
Surin Pitsuwan and Asean have a golden opportunity in view of the approaching summit meeting in Singapore between Asean and the US, to be attended by US President Barack Obama.
Asean must take a stand and be firm on Burma, demonstrating that the regional grouping’s credibility and reputation are at stake because of the brutal nature of the Burmese regime.
Surin and Asean leaders should come out and challenge the regime to free political prisoners and Suu Kyi and make meaningful political progress towards national reconciliation. The Burmese junta should be told that the new ball game is based on reward and punishment.
(Irrawaddy, November 4, 2009)
Forty-one people, including journalists, artists and relief workers, have been arrested by the Burmese authorities in Rangoon in October and are being held in unknown locations, according to the rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners—Burma.
Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Thailand-based group, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday, "We got confirmation that 41 people were arrested on October, but we don’t know all of them or where they have been taken. We don’t even know the reason they were arrested. We also have information that there are more people in hiding."
The detainees include Khant Min Htet, a writer; Paing Soe Oo, a freelance journalist; Thant Zin Soe, and Nyi Nyi Tun, editors; Min Satta, a songwriter; and Nyi Paing, a singer, according to the AAPP.
The families of the detained are trying to locate their loved ones.
The mother of a detainee, Khant Min Htet, said, "They took my son two weeks ago, and I don’t have any information about where he is. I’m really worried because he was sick a lot when he was at home."
She said when the authorities took her son from her house, they told her he would be questioned, and then released.
Bo Kyi said, "They (Burmese authorities) don’t treat people accordingly to the rule of law when they are arrested. They don’t inform the detainees’ families. They take them to some interrogation camp where they beat and torture them in order to get the confession they want."
According to AAPP, 2,119 political prisoners are being held in prisons across the country.
Meanwhile, Ni Mo Hlaing, a member of the National League for Democracy, has been hospitalized in Thayet Prison, according to her family.
Ni Mo Hlaing’s sister told The Irrawaddy that Ni Mo Hlaing is very ill, and she is not eating properly.
Her sister said they cried together when she visited her last month. "Her face is very pale. She is skinny and has lost weight," she said.
Ni Mo Hlaing was arrested in 2008 following the demonstrations and was sentenced to 7 and one-half years in prison.
According to the AAPP, 138 political prisoners have died in Burmese prisons since 1988 and at least 115 are currently in poor health.
US Willing to Improve Ties with Burma. RANGOON (Irrawaddy) Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said he explained Washington's new policy, which reverses the Bush administration's isolation of Burma, in favor of dialogue with a country that has been ruled by the military since 1962. The goals of the new policy are "strong support for human rights, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners and the promotion of democratic reform," Campbell said in a statement at the end of his two-day visit. Campbell and his deputy, Scot Marciel, are the highest-level Americans to visit Burma, also known as Myanmar, since 1995. Earlier Wednesday, Campbell, the top State Department official for East Asia, greeted Suu Kyi with a handshake after she was driven to his lakeside hotel in Rangoon where they met privately for two hours. The content of the talks was not immediately known. Suu Kyi, 64, has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years. Dressed in a pink traditional Burmese jacket, she was upbeat as she emerged from the hotel. "Hello to you all," she said to photographers before getting into the car that whisked her back to her tightly guarded home. Burma's junta has praised the new US policy, but shown no sign it intends to release Suu Kyi or initiate democratic and electoral reforms demanded by Suu Kyi's party ahead of elections planned for next year. But the military government has made some gestures, such as loosening the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest and allowing her more meeting with visitors such as Campbell, in hopes that the US will ease political and economic sanctions. Campbell said he told junta officials that the US "is prepared to take steps to improve the relationship but that process must be based on reciprocal and concrete efforts by the Burmese government." Campbell was continuing talks he began in September in New York with senior Burmese officials, which were the first such high-level contact in nearly a decade. He met Wednesday morning with Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein in Naypyidaw. Campbell said he emphasized that Burma "should abide by UN resolutions with regards to proliferation." He did not elaborate, but was apparently referring to arms purchases from North Korea. There is also some speculation, though no evidence has been made public, that Burma is seeking to develop nuclear weapons with North Korea's help. On Wednesday, state television, which on Tuesday ignored the Americans' visit, broadcast footage of Campbell's meetings with both Suu Kyi and the prime minister.
— The US wants better relations with military-ruled Burma if it makes concrete steps toward democracy, a senior American diplomat said Wednesday after holding the highest-level talks with the junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 14 years.
