03/15/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09763

HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA

The U.S. State Department's latest human rights report documents the Burmese military regime's continuing repression of the Burmese people. In 1990, the generals in Rangoon refused to accept elections in which an overwhelming majority of the people voted for an end to military rule. Since then, the regime has more than doubled the size of the military and created a pervasive security apparatus that has committed numerous violations of human rights.

There are credible reports, particularly in Karen [kah-rin], Karenni [kah-rin-ee], Shan [shahn], Rohinga [roh-hin-gah], and other ethnic minority areas, that security forces committed murder and rape during 2001. There were disappearances, and security agents tortured, beat, and otherwise abused prisoners and detainees. Prison conditions remain life-threatening.

Burmese citizens continue to be subject to arbitrary detention for expressing dissenting political views. Some restrictions on the activities of the National League for Democracy were eased last year and some two-hundred political prisoners were released. But the Burmese military regime still holds more than one-thousand, five-hundred political prisoners, including twenty members of parliament elected in 1990. Many political prisoners are serving arbitrarily extended sentences.

Freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and association are severely restricted in Burma. All religious organizations, like all private organizations of any kind, must register with the government. All are spied upon by security agents.

Many Burmese citizens have been imprisoned for criticizing the military regime. The regime controls all daily newspapers and domestic radio and television facilities. Privately-owned publications are censored. Citizens must register all computers, software, and associated devices or face imprisonment.

Forced labor is widespread in Burma. Citizens are routinely forced to work on construction or maintenance projects. Ethnic minorities, forced to act as porters for the military, are subject to rape and other brutal treatment.

The abuse that makes all other abuses possible in Burma is the regime's denial of the people’s right to change their government. The U.S. supports Burma's democracy movement and urges the military regime to end its repression.