BurmaNet News: October 15 2002

[editor at burmanet.org]

October 15 2002 Issue #2105

INSIDE BURMA

Reuters: UN watchdog urges Myanmar to speed rights reforms
TV Myanmar: Burma regrets being listed by US as country of particular
concern on religion

INTERNATIONAL

Myanmar Times: Japan confident of continued support for buckwheat project
in Shan State

ON THE BORDER

BBC: Thai-Burmese border reopens
Irrawaddy: Border officially reopens

REPORTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Human Rights Watch: Burma: World’s highest number of child soldiers
Announcement: “Burma: Something Went Wrong”


___INSIDE BURMA______

Reuters
October 14 2002

UN watchdog urges Myanmar to speed rights reforms
By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Myanmar remains the target of many
credible allegations of human rights violations despite recent moves
toward democracy, a U.N. watchdog reported on Monday, urging a faster pace
of reforms for the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma.
Numerous political prisoners remain in custody, national laws often
conflict with international human rights principles and courts judge
individuals accused of political crimes with "a high degree of
arbitrariness," said Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a special investigator for the
U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
In a report to the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly, he said there was
evidence that arrests of political prisoners were diminishing, and that
the government was trying to root out and discipline officials who
tortured such prisoners.
He said he was shown documentary evidence that 3,646 police officers had
been tried and imprisoned over the past seven years for abuse of power or
misconduct including torture.
Thousands of others have been been dismissed, demoted or otherwise
punished, he said.
But "restrictions on the freedom of information, expression and the press
have yet to be fully lifted and the remaining political prisoners have yet
to be released," Pinheiro said.
"In that context, the issue of reform of the system of administration of
justice is crucial," he added.
After four decades of military rule, Myanmar is one of the poorest nations
on earth, its economy in tatters and its human rights record one of the
world's worst.
Diplomats say the country suffers from chronic bad management, and
sanctions imposed by countries including the United States and the
European Union have also taken a heavy toll.
FORCED RELOCATION
With encouragement from the United Nations, secretive reconciliation talks
began in late 2000 between Myanmar's military and the National League for
Democracy, the political party of 56-year-old democracy leader and Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Under international pressure, the government freed Suu Kyi from 19 months
of house arrest last May.
But the talks have so far yielded few concrete results beyond the release
of Suu Kyi and several hundred other party members from various jails.
Pinheiro said reports of rights violations in Myanmar were particularly
prevalent in Shan and Karan states, where the military is conducting
counterinsurgency operations and armed opposition groups are suspected of
operating from bases along the border with Thailand.
There, rural populations are forcibly relocated from suspected rebel areas
to zones under army control.
Villagers are given only a few hours or days to pack up their things and
have to start their lives from scratch once relocated, without outside
help or compensation, he said.
"They are prohibited from returning to their villages and if caught, are
shot on sight," he said.
His report said the United Nations and the international community needed
to help ease Myanmar along the path to substantive political and
constitutional reform.
As for Myanmar itself, its society "is at the threshold of great changes
and is becoming more sensitive to the moral and practical need to move at
a faster pace than heretofore towards a democratic, tolerant and peaceful
future," he said
_____

TV Myanmar
October 14 2002

BURMA REGRETS BEING LISTED BY US AS COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN ON RELIGION

It is highly regretful that the United States State Department in its
annual international religious freedom report 2002 issued on 7 October
2002 designated Myanmar Burma as a country of particular concern.

This classification does not in any war represent the true situation in
the country. It is obvious that some of the information came from
insurgent groups or opposition groups with the aim of damaging the image
of Myanmar. In Myanmar every citizen has the right to profess and practice
her or his belief. A significant characteristic of Myanmar is that all
national races have freedom of faith and the right to maintain their own
culture and tradition. All religions in the country are allowed to
establish and maintain institutions for religious or charitable purposes
as well as to acquire and hold their own property and administer it in
accordance with existing laws.

Furthermore, the government is rendering necessary assistance and
protection to ensure religious freedom in the nation. The main religions
in the country are Buddhism, Christianity , Islam, Hinduism, and Animism.
Although Theravada Buddhism is the religion of majority in Myanmar, the
government is providing and assisting the work of other religions as well.

There is no forced conversion by the government in favour of one religion
over another, nor is there discrimination or persecution for religious
reasons.

The leaders of the country have always attended the most significant
religious celebrations of major religions in the country, reflecting
religious harmony in the nation.

Therefore, the allegations contained in the US State Department report are
groundless and they must be considered as being politically motivated and
represent an attempt to exert pressure and interfere in the internal
affairs of the country.

____INTERNATIONAL_______

Myanmar Times
October 14-20 2002

JAPAN CONFIDENT OF CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR BUCKWHEAT PROJECT IN SHAN STATE

A senior Japanese official said last week he was confident of his
government's continued support for the buckwheat project in Shan State
where the cereal is being grown as an opium substitute crop. "I am
confident that the Japanese government will give support as long as I
continue this project," a senior adviser to Japan's ruling Liberal
Democratic Party, Mr Tomomitsu Iwakura, told Myanmar Times.

However, Mr Iwakura predicted that the amount of aid for the project would
be affected by Tokyo's decision to reduce overseas development assistance
because of the economic situation in Japan. He was speaking in a telephone
interview ahead of a 20-day visit to the Kokang regions of Shan State to
meet farmers and inspect the buckwheat crop, which will begin being
harvested later this month. Mr Iwakura said he was optimistic about this
year's harvest, which will continue until January. "I want to talk with
the farmers to know their problems and make solutions if I can and report
back to my government and the Myanmar Burma side about the situation,"
said Mr Iwakura, who has visited Myanmar more than 30 times since the
project began in 1998. During his visit, Mr Iwakura is due to discuss the
project with Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council, and
with the ministers for Home Affairs and for the Progress of Border Areas
and National Races and Development Affairs. "The project has faced many
difficulties and sometimes the problems are not easy to solve," said Mr
Iwakura. He said consideration was being given to transporting the
buckwheat to Japan through China, rather than by ship via Singapore, which
took about four weeks and exposed the buckwheat to hot weather which
affected its quality.

"The cargo must arrive in Japan in good condition as restaurants in Japan
will not accept buckwheat noodles if the quality is not good," Mr Iwakura
said. Transporting the buckwheat by road to Kunming and then by train to
the northern port of Tianjin where it would be transferred to ships bound
for Japan would take about three weeks. On crop yields, Mr Iwakura said
the project average was about 200 kilograms a hectare. Farmers in Japan
could produce an average of one tonne a hectare. Mr Iwakura said it was
important that farmers on the project received an adequate income so they
would not revert to growing opium.

More than 4000 acres were planted last year, up from 200 acres when the
project began six years ago. Japan consumes 120,000 tonnes of buckwheat a
year but can produce only 25,000 tonnes. Since the project began, Myanmar
has exported a total of 126 tonnes of buckwheat to Japan, at prices
ranging from 250 US dollars to 300 dollars a tonne. The project was
initiated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in cooperation
with the government and the United Nations Development Programme as part
of an effort to eliminate opium poppy cultivation in northeastern Myanmar.

__ON THE BORDER_____

British Broadcasting Corporation
October 15 2002

Thai-Burmese border reopens

Burma has reopened its border with Thailand after a diplomatic row sparked
a five-month closure which crippled regional trade.
The two countries announced the border would be unlocked last week after a
thaw in relations that included a visit to Bangkok by Burma's foreign
minister.
Crowds of people gathered to cross the border on Tuesday morning as
Burmese soldiers removed the wire barricades blocking the Thailand-Myanmar
Friendship Bridge - one of the countries' major checkpoints.
Burma closed its border with Thailand on 22 May after the Thai army fired
shells into Burma during a battle between the Burmese army and ethnic Shan
rebels.
Thailand said its forces opened fire only when the fighting spilled over
the border, but Burma accused them of trying to aid the rebels.
Tensions eased
"The reopening of the border checkpoints illustrates that the close
relationship between the two countries has returned," Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters.
Boomthiem Chokewattana, head of the customs office at Mae Sot - one of the
main border crossings - said the border closure had lost Thailand about 5
billion baht ($113.7 million) in trade.
Another product of the porous 1,800-km (1,125-mile) border is drug running.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said after his talks with his
Burmese counterpart Win Aung two weeks ago that they two sides had
discussed co-operating in the fight against illegal drugs.
__________

Irrawaddy
October 15 2002

Border Official Reopens
By Aung Su Shi

October 15, 2002—After nearly five months of locked gates and locked
horns, the Thai-Burmese border reopened this morning to a warm gathering
of officials from both countries.
District chiefs, heads of immigration and customs departments and other
officials from both sides met and shook hands at the middle of the
Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge that links Myawaddy and Mae Sot. The barbed
wire barricade was removed at 6:30am today. The Mae Sai-Tachilek and
Ranong-Kawthaung border checkpoints also reopened this morning.
Smiles broke out on both sides of the border as Myawaddy provincial chief
and Thai-Burma Border Committee (TBC) Chairman, Lt-Col Kyaw Zay Ya, met
with Col Jirasuk Chomprasom, the Thai TBC Chairman and commander of Task
Force 23.
"Our officials at the district chief office are ready to help both Thais
and foreigners who want to go to Myawaddy. The office opened at 7am to
issue border passes for Thai tourists going to Burma," said Mae Sot
District Chief Sarmart Loifar.
Mae Sot customs chief, Boontian Chokewiwat, explained that anybody wishing
to export or import goods would now able to contact the checkpoint or the
customs house directly for official clearance for their goods.
The border closure spelled heavy financial losses for the Thai side.
"In the five months the border remained closed, Mae Sot checkpoint has
lost 2.1 billion baht on import and export taxes. The total losses for all
checkpoints equals about five billion baht," Boontian said.
Thai and Burmese living in border towns also expect better economic times
ahead.
"We have wanted to export and import legally," said a Burmese merchant.
"And now we can."
A Myawaddy man who crossed into Mae Sot this morning explained: "I am
happy for everybody. Since the border closure local jobs have been
difficult to come by. Many of our livelihoods depend on visitors from
Thailand."
Thai merchants are also happy that their goods can now pass freely across
the border, but a shopkeeper in Mae Sot expressed reservations. "It will
not have any effect on local shopkeepers. The reopening of the border
serves the interests of exporters who are not from Mae Sot."
Since the border closed on May 22, the Burmese currency, the kyat, has
plummeted in value and showed signs of sliding even further today, despite
the reopening.
"Two days ago, 100 kyat was equal to 4.2 baht," said a currency exchanger
in Mae Sot. "Today, 100 kyat is only 3.8 baht."

__REPORTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS___

Human Rights Watch
October 15 2002

Burma: World's Highest Number of Child Soldiers
New Report Details Widespread Forced Recruitment

(New York, October 16, 2002) Burma has the largest number of child
soldiers in the world and the number is growing, Human Rights Watch said
in an extensive new report released today. The overwhelming majority of
Burma's child soldiers are found in the national army, which forcibly
recruits children as young as 11, although armed opposition groups use
child soldiers as well.
"Burma has a poor human rights record, but its record on child soldiers is
the worst in the world," said Jo Becker, advocacy director of the
Children's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.
Burma's army has doubled in size since 1988, and with an estimated 350,000
soldiers is now one of the largest armies in Southeast Asia. According to
the accounts of former soldiers interviewed by Human Rights Watch, 20
percent or more of its active duty soldiers may be children under the age
of 18.
The 220-page report, "My Gun was as Tall as Me: Child Soldiers in Burma,"
is the most comprehensive study of child soldiers in Burma to date.
Drawing on interviews with more than three dozen current and former child
soldiers, the report examines child recruitment by 19 different armed
opposition groups in addition to Burma's national army.
Recruiters for Burma's army frequently apprehend boys at train and bus
stations, markets and other public places, threatening them with jail if
they refuse to join the army. The boys are given no opportunity to contact
their families, and are sent to camps where they undergo weapons training,
are routinely beaten, and brutally punished if they try to escape. Human
Rights Watch received several accounts of boys who were beaten to death
after trying to run away.
Once deployed, boys as young as 12 engage in combat against opposition
groups, and are forced to commit human rights abuses against civilians,
including rounding up villagers for forced labor, burning villages, and
carrying out executions. Human Rights Watch interviewed two boys, ages 13
and 15 at the time, who belonged to units that massacred a group of 15
women and children in Shan State in early 2001.
"Burma's army preys on children, using threats, intimidation and often
violence to force young boys to become soldiers," said Becker. "To be a
boy in Burma today means facing the constant risk of being picked up off
the street, forced to commit atrocities against villagers, and never
seeing your family again."
Human Rights Watch noted that there is no way to precisely estimate the
number of children in Burma's army, but it appears that the vast majority
of new recruits are forcibly conscripted, and there may be as many as
70,000 soldiers under the age of 18.
Children are also present in Burma's myriad armed opposition groups,
although child recruitment is generally decreasing as many opposition
groups have shrunk in size and resources in recent years. The United Wa
State Army, the largest of the opposition forces, forcibly conscripts
children and has the largest number of child soldiers of the opposition
groups. The Kachin Independence Army also forcibly recruits children, and
according to witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, is the only
armed group in Burma to recruit girls. Other opposition forces, including
the Shan State Army (South), Karen National Liberation Army and the
Karenni Army, have stated policies against recruiting children under the
age of 18, but appear to accept children who actively seek to join their
forces. Although many armed opposition groups have ceasefire agreements
with the government, children in opposition forces may also participate in
combat, sometimes with little training.
"The international community has increasingly recognized the use of child
soldiers as unacceptable," said Becker. "Burma's armed forces and groups
must immediately stop recruiting children, and demobilize all children in
their ranks."
International law prohibits government forces or armed groups from
recruiting children under the age of fifteen. Such recruitment has been
recognized as a war crime under the statute for the International Criminal
Court. In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an optional
protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that raised the
minimum age for participation in armed conflict to 18, and prohibits all
forced recruitment of children below age 18. Burma is a party to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, but has not yet signed and ratified
the optional protocol.
The International Labour Organization convention on the worst forms of
child labor, adopted in 1999, also recognizes the forced recruitment of
children under age 18 for use in armed conflict as one of the worst forms
of child labor.
Human Rights Watch called on Burma's army and all armed opposition groups
to immediately end all recruitment of children under the age of 18, and to
demobilize all children currently serving as soldiers. It urged the
government and armed groups to cooperate with international agencies such
as UNICEF to reunify former child soldiers with their families and
facilitate their rehabilitation and social reintegration.
Human Rights Watch also appealed to other governments to strongly condemn
the recruitment and use of child soldiers by the Burma government and
other armed groups, and to use diplomatic and other appropriate means to
end the use of child soldiers in Burma.
Around the world, an estimated 300,000 children under the age of 18 are
currently participating in armed conflicts in approximately 30 countries.

[Ed. Note: to read this report, please visit the following link:
http://hrw.org/reports/2002/burma/]
______

"Burma: Something Went Wrong"
Oct. 18th- Nov. 30th
Reception for the Artist: Friday Oct. 18th 6-8pm.
Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 West 22ed Street 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10011

2002 Whitney Biennial artist, Chan Chao will be showing his Burmese
portraits at Yancey Richardson Gallery.  The portraits were made at the
border area of Burma form 1996 to 1998 and they include members of NLD
(LA), KNU, CNF, students and refugees.  The exhibition consists of  twelve
prints that are large scale and life size.  It is the hope [of the artist]
that when the viewer stand in the gallery, they are standing with the
people in the photographs.