BurmaNet News, August 19-21, 2006

[Editor]

August 19-21, 2006 Issue # 3029


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: ICRC still kept out of Burma’s prisons
Irrawaddy: Regime ban on Rangoon church workshop

HEALTH / AIDS
Xinhua: Australia to aid Myanmar fight diseases

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: Economic interests conflict with idealism in relations with Myanmar
AFP: Myanmar warns gem sellers not to fail at auctions: report
Xinhua: Myanmar to transform public bank into export-import bank
AP: Myanmar blacklists eight companies for violating trading regulations

ASEAN
AP: ASEAN-US trade pact scaled down to overcome Myanmar sensitivities,
officials say
AP: ASEAN rushes to create European-style single market to boost economic
clout

INTERNATIONAL
Australian: Burmese boatpeople to be taken to Nauru

OPINION / OTHER
Chicago Sun Times: U.N. must add to pressure on Burma's repressive junta -
Richard S. Williamson

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 21, Irrawaddy
ICRC still kept out of Burma’s prisons - Aung Lwin Oo

While rumors have spread about the International Committee of the Red
Cross regaining access to prison inmates in Burma’s jails, the relief
agency says the organization is still waiting for word from Burmese
officials that they can conduct their visits independently.

“Except obviously the same rumor that you have heard, there has been
nothing officially transmitted to us whatsoever,” Fiona Terry,
spokesperson for the ICRC, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. She added that
the agency is still unable to carry out much of its work in other areas,
including Arakan and Shan states, as the authorities refuse to approve
travel there.

The Geneva-based ICRC’s programs in Burma came to a halt last December
when the junta-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Association
insisted on accompanying ICRC aid workers on their visits to prisons. The
relief agency suspended its routine visits because its protocols required
that such visits be independent and unsupervised.

According to the latest report released by the Thailand-based Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners-Burma in May, 128 political prisoners
have died in Burma’s prisons since 1988. Bo Kyi, AAPP joint secretary,
said the death toll among criminal offenders is also high because of the
prevalence of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other deadly transmitted
diseases among prison populations.

“I’ve never heard that medical supplies in the prisons have ever been
sufficient,” said Min Ko Naing of the 88 Generation Students group,
comprising former political prisoners. “It’s very alarming; especially if
ICRC has no access to the prisons.”

According to Bo Kyi, physical assaults and rights abuses have also
increased since the ICRC suspended their prison visits last year. “With
the absence of ICRC, many political prisoners lack any moral support,
which is what they need most,” Bo Kyi said.

ICRC has been compelled to lay off field workers and other staff members
because of difficulties in maintaining their projects, Terry said. But
while their efforts on behalf of prisoners have been curtailed, they
continue to provide vital financial and medical assistance to the families
of political prisoners.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in
Burma, reported in February that more than 1,100 political prisoners
continue to languish in Burma’s prisons.

____________________________________

August 21, Irrawaddy
Regime ban on Rangoon church workshop - Khun Sam

Burmese authorities have told a Kachin Baptist church in Rangoon it cannot
hold a planned literary workshop on August 19 because it hasn’t obtained
official permission.

Burmese authorities have told a Kachin Baptist church in Rangoon it cannot
hold a planned literary workshop on August 19 because it hasn’t obtained
official permission.

The church, run under the auspices of the Kachin Baptist Convention, has
held similar workshops annually for the past four years without having to
obtain official permission, a church pastor told The Irrawaddy. This year,
the church had been informed that it must “report or seek permission first
from the authority,”said the pastor, requesting anonymity.

 This year’s workshop was aimed at young people, and was to have been
addressed by two well-known Burmese writers, Ko Tar and Chit Oo Nyo.

The Baptist church has been under observation by the authorities, who even
check its Sunday order of service, said a staff member.

Late last year, the Burmese military government ordered The Full Gospel
Assembly, a rapidly growing church in downtown Rangoon, to cease all
activities, including its weekly services of worship.

Although the Burmese junta claims it allows freedom of worship, it has
been condemned by international Christian groups for its crackdowns on
Burmese churches. The US State Department has also accused the junta of
severe violations of religious freedom and designated Burma as a "country
of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 21, Xinhua General News Service
Australia to aid Myanmar fight diseases

Yangon: Australia has decided to offer 15 million Australian dollars (over
11 million U.S. dollars) to a new Myanmar's Three Diseases (3D) Fund to
help the country fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, sources with
the Australian Embassy here said on Monday.

The offer by the Australian Government Aid Program (Aus AID) came more
than a week after the British government pledged 36 million US dollars to
the 3D Fund.

The 11 million U.S. dollars' Australian donation constitutes part of a 100
million dollars' joint donor program over the next five years.

The 3D Fund was set up by a group of six donors which also comprises the
European Commission, Sweden's Sida, the Netherlands and Norway in addition
to United Kingdom Department for International Development and the Aus AID
to compensate for grants which were suspended in August 2005 by the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

The Global Fund withdrew from Myanmar, citing the reason that Myanmar
imposed travel restriction on its undertaking, impeding the delivery of
medical supplies and services.

The 3D Fund is said to be used for providing insecticide- treated nets for
malaria prevention, increasing access to TB diagnosis and treatment and
promoting condom use and expanded HIV testing.

According to diplomatic sources, more than 300,000 adults in Myanmar were
infected with HIV in 2004, accounting for 1.3 percent of the population
and 25,000 new infections are estimated each year.

The figures also show that about 97,000 new TB cases and 12,000 TB deaths
were registered annually, with malaria standing as one of the main causes
of death among children under age five in the country.

Myanmar has designated AIDS, TB and malaria as three major communicable
diseases and efforts are being made to combat the three diseases.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 19, Associated Press
Economic interests conflict with idealism in relations with Myanmar -
Aaron Clark

Bangkok: With Myanmar's sought-after energy production set to take off,
nations in both the East and West are stepping up their condemnation of
the junta-run nation but quietly doing lucrative business with the
generals.

This past week, Myanmar reported it would be upping its natural gas
exports to Thailand and could raise production from just one field by 25
percent.

"Over the long term this is going to increase," Vichitr Kuladejkhuna, an
energy analyst with DBS Vickers Securities, said Friday. "There is
significant potential for future development."

Thailand joined in the chorus of tougher criticism leveled at Myanmar when
Southeast Asian leaders and politicians gathered at regional conferences
last month.

But barely a week later, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra paid a
quiet visit to the country to meet the pariah regime's supreme leader,
Gen. Than Shwe, and asked for rights to develop its natural gas reserves.

For some this illustrates a conundrum. While the ruling military junta has
brutally repressed political dissent and keeps pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi in detention, the country also possesses an abundance of
natural resources.

"You have this political lip service to the world," said Asda Jayanama,
Thailand's former ambassador to the United Nations, speaking of the
challenge Myanmar presents to the Thai leadership.

"We're for democratization, we're going to tell Than Shwe to let Suu Kyi
out ... (but) what decides our relationship with Myanmar is our economic
interests," Asda told The Associated Press.

As the U.S. and Europe exert more pressure on the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations to reform Myanmar, also known as Burma, dignitaries took
swipes at their troubled neighbor during the organization's annual forum,
held last month in Malaysia.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar wrote in a Wall Street Journal
column during the conference that it was no longer "possible to defend"
the regime that threatens "ASEAN's credibility and image."

A statement issued by an ASEAN inter-parliamentary caucus composed of
representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and
Thailand called the regime "illegitimate" and an "embarrassment to its
neighbors."

But all the sharp rhetoric has done little to curb the business deals that
activists claim enrich and empower the generals.

Two weeks after the ASEAN conference, Malaysia's energy giant, Petroliam
Berhard (Petronas), signed a memorandum of intent to cooperate with
Myanmar on projects in the oil and gas industry, the Myanmar government
reported.

But ASEAN is not alone.

Despite sanctions by the European Union and the U.S., French and American
oil companies Total and Chevron continue to operate in Myanmar's lucrative
Yadana gas fields. Other Western nations make investment and engage in
trade with Yangon.

And earlier this year Thailand's MDX Group signed a US$6 million (euro4.7
million) contract to build a dam in Myanmar's Shan State that will supply
Thailand with electricity. The dam is one of five planned within Myanmar
along the 2,800-kilometer (1,740-mile) Salween River. Environmentalists
say the development will ravage a delicate ecosystem and activists say it
threatens the existence of numerous marginalized ethnic groups.

But Thailand claims its policy of "constructive engagement" is helping
speed Myanmar toward democratic and economic reforms by bringing it into
the international community.

"Most of the cooperation programs we have with them go down to the grass
roots. It involves local people, it involves local well-being. I think
that would contribute not only to economic prosperity, but national
reconciliation," said Thailand's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kitti
Wasinondh.

Not so, according to the group Karen Rivers Watch, which says the Myanmar
military is currently engaged in an offensive that has already driven
thousands of ethnic Karen from their homes, in part to open up the area
for the building of the dams.

"Of all the business that is going into Burma ... the amount that goes
toward the health and education of the people is pathetic. Most of it just
goes to the military junta and helps to strengthen their military power,"
said Ka Hsaw Wa, the executive director of EarthRights International, a
nonprofit group that documents human rights and environmental abuses.

"Clearly what many governments and corporations say and what they practice
are completely different things," he added.

_____________________________________

August 20, Agence France Presse
Myanmar warns gem sellers not to fail at auctions: report

Yangon: Myanmar has urged gem sellers to help boost the military-run
country's economy by selling as many gems as possible at upcoming auctions
or face limits on their mining, state media said Sunday.

"Myanmar is rich in natural resources including precious stones,"
Brigadier General Ohn Myint, minister of mines, said in the official New
Light of Myanmar newspaper.

"So, only systematic exploration of those gems can help improve the state
economy," he told a meeting of gem dealers on Saturday in Nay Pyi Taw, the
new administrative centre that will eventually replace Yangon as the
capital.

He also urged businessmen to remember to pay taxes to the government, and
warned that those failing to sell their products may be restricted in
future mining efforts.

"The companies that fail to sell their products at the gem emporiums will
stand less chance in seeking permission to explore gem blocks," he said.

Myanmar used to hold gem and jade auctions once or twice a year, but they
have been taking place with increasing frequency, providing the
cash-strapped junta with much-needed foreign income.

Two auctions have taken place this year already, with two more planned,
one in August and one in October.

July's auction was the biggest ever, with 2,300 lots of jade being sold to
merchants including 1,450 foreigners.

Although the junta has been reluctant to say how much it earns from the
auctions, a government official previously said he hoped an auction in
March would raise 53 million euros (63 million dollars).

Myanmar is one of the world's poorest nations and is subject to US and
European economic sanctions because of human rights abuses and the house
arrest of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened by the eagerness of
neighboring China, India and Thailand to tap Myanmar's vast natural wealth
to fuel their own growing economies.

Myanmar's natural wealth includes natural gas and minerals, as well as
highly-prized teak. The wood often disappears onto the black market which
is estimated to be at least half the size of the formal economy.

_____________________________________

August 21, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to transform public bank into export-import bank

Yangon: Myanmar is seeking to transform a public bank into an
export-import bank to facilitate exporters and importers in the country in
carrying out their international trading activities, a local weekly Voice
reported Monday.

The public bank, which is being sought for such transformation, is the
Myanmar Citizen Bank, in which the Ministry of Commerce holds a stake of
55 percent, said the Voice, quoting a recent disclosure of the bank
meeting at the ministry in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw.

The Myanmar Citizen Bank stands one of the 15 private banks in the country
at present.

The ministry is also encouraging the exporters and importers in the
country to join shares of the Myanmar Citizen Bank which is being strived
to become an export financing institution for them, the report said.

There has been Myanmar Livestock Breeding and Fishery Development Bank,
Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank and Myanmar Industrial Development
Bank for respective entrepreneurs, but there are no exporters and
importers bank yet for traders engaged in international trading business,
according to traders.

At present, the state-owned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank is generally and
mainly handling foreign currency transactions along with some private
banks authorized for such transactions, while the Myanmar Investment and
Commercial Bank deals with foreign investment in the country.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar commerce authorities has urged over 10, 000
registered private trading companies in the country to function fully to
boost foreign trade.

According to official statistics, Myanmar's foreign trade hit 5.5 billion
U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2005-06, which ended in March, registering
a new record high in 17 years since 1989 when the country began to move to
the market-oriented economy.

With the total trade volume going up by over 12 percent from the previous
year's 4.9 billion dollars, the export during 2005-06 reached 3.554
billion dollars, up from 2.9 billion dollars in the previous year, while
the import was valued at 1.9 billion dollars, making not much difference
comparatively.

During the year, a trade surplus of 1.6 billion dollars was gained with
over 60 percent more than 2004-05's 954 million dollars.

Statistics also show that, in 2004-05, the private sector accounted for
more than 85 percent in its exports and more than 80 percent of the gross
domestic product which grew to 12.2 percent in the year from 12 percent in
the previous year.

____________________________________

August 20, Associated Press
Myanmar blacklists eight companies for violating trading regulations

Yangon: The Myanmar government has blacklisted eight private companies
including a well-known Indian pharmaceutical company for breaching trading
regulations, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The companies, including Fair Deal Company LTD of India and Myanmar
wood-based exporter New Kachin Company Ltd., had their licenses revoked
Aug. 1 for failing to properly report to the government, the Myanmar Times
said.

The Ministry of Commerce occasionally cancels registration of companies
for breaching trading regulations, failing to provide quarterly or annual
reports or giving false details such as providing false addresses, the
paper said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

August 19, Associated Press
ASEAN-US trade pact scaled down to overcome Myanmar sensitivities,
officials say - Eileen Ng

Kuala Lumpur: The United States will sign a pact with Southeast Asia next
week to boost trade and investment, but the plan has been scaled down
because of Myanmar, whose poor human rights record has hindered trade
relations, officials said Saturday.

The pact, to be signed by U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and trade
ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at a meeting in
Malaysia, will be called a trade and investment facilitation arrangement,
which is less formal than an agreement, ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng
Yong said.

Ong, however, downplayed the significance of the wording, saying it was a
"flexible arrangement" to overcome potential U.S. congressional
opposition. Washington, which imposes sanctions on Myanmar, does not
require congressional approval for an informal arrangement.

U.S. officials proposed the arrangement last month as a way to enable all
10 ASEAN members, including Myanmar, to come on board and pave the way for
deeper U.S. business dealings with the region, Ong told The Associated
Press.

"Many people in Washington want to jam U.S. ties with ASEAN because of
Myanmar," Ong said. "It's basically a tactical move to expedite the
process. We don't need to quibble too much about these words."

"As far as ASEAN is concerned, this is to our advantage," he added. "The
loaf may not be as big as we wanted but it's still a loaf of bread."

"Whether it is an arrangement or agreement, (it) is a good step forward"
to an eventual free trade agreement, which is still far away, Ong added.

Myanmar, which joined ASEAN in 1997, has become a source of embarrassment
to the bloc due to its failure to fulfill promises to restore democracy
and free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

U.S. officials holding preparatory meetings in Malaysia declined to comment.

"What you call it doesn't matter. They have problems with Myanmar. ...
Having an arrangement gets over that political sensitivity," Malaysian
Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said late Friday.

The U.S., ASEAN's No.1 trading partner, has previously signed TIFA pacts
with Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as a free trade
agreement with Singapore.

Officials say growing momentum for economic integration in East Asia
involving China has forced the U.S. to consider stronger ties with ASEAN,
which is spearheading the process. Washington recently said it will
appoint an ambassador for ASEAN affairs.

"It is a benevolent defense of U.S. strategic presence in ASEAN, which is
potentially beneficial for us," said Philippines senior official Ramon
Vicente Kabigting.

He said the TIFA would bring in new U.S. funds for capacity building
projects and spur investor confidence.

However, Ong noted Washington isn't likely to ease pressure on ASEAN,
which has a policy of not interfering in other members' domestic affairs,
to take tougher action to push Myanmar's military junta toward political
reforms.

"Myanmar is still a big issue to America and its Congress ... it doesn't
mean we are going to be easier off. Now they can put this (TIFA) in front
of us and ask us to do more," he said.

____________________________________

August 20, Associated Press
ASEAN rushes to create European-style single market to boost economic
clout - Eileen Ng

Kuala Lumpur: Southeast Asian ministers hope to fast-track plans to create
a European-style single market by 2015 in talks in Malaysia this week, as
the region struggles to strengthen its economic muscle to counter
competition from rising giants China and India.

During a five-day meeting starting Monday, ministers from the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, also plan to sign a pact to
facilitate trade and investment with the United States a step short of a
free trade agreement but signaling stronger linkages with its No.1 trading
partner, officials say.

The ASEAN ministers will meet counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea,
India, Australia and New Zealand to narrow differences in free trade
negotiations, and seek especially to revive stalled talks with India.

The 39-year-old bloc has begun liberalizing trade in goods since 1993. It
aims to fuse into a single market and production base by 2020 to allow
free flow of goods as well as services and investment across the region.

However, some members want the ASEAN Economic Community, or AEC, to be
realized by 2015 to ensure the region stays competitive. The AEC does not
include a single currency system.

"We need to muster political will to create the AEC by 2015, instead of
2020," ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong told The Associated Press.

"Competition is for real now. More and more attractive investment
locations are coming up, not only in China and India but elsewhere in the
world," he said. "If we want to be in the marathon race, we cannot stop
for too long and say time out, we need a massage on our feeble legs. We've
got to keep on pushing."

Barriers in ASEAN to the flow of goods and services and restrictive
business practices still hinder growth in the region, which has a market
of more than 530 million people, but accounts for only 6 percent of world
exports, officials said.

The bloc groups Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said ASEAN ministers would identify
ways to accelerate the AEC to 2015, including removing non-tariff barriers
and quickening the pace of service sector liberalization.

"It's more important for us to make ASEAN a seamless production and export
base in terms of policy and administration. Otherwise, ASEAN will continue
to be fragmented," she said.

Speeding up regional integration takes on a renewed urgency as ASEAN
struggles to be in the driver's seat of East Asian integration.

Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai will call
for a massive pan-Asian free trade area involving ASEAN, Australia, China,
South Korea, India, Japan and New Zealand at the meeting this week.

He is expected to offer a $100 million fund to promote the proposed zone,
which has a combined population of 3.1 billion people and a gross domestic
product of almost $10 trillion, Japanese officials told national news
agency Bernama over the weekend.

The goal, however, is difficult to achieve because of the region's many
rivalries.

ASEAN ministers plan to seal a Trade and Investment Facilitation
Arrangement with the United States that will bring in new funds for
regional projects and spur investor confidence, officials said.

Myanmar's poor human rights record has previously hindered ASEAN's trade
ties with Washington, which imposes sanctions on Yangon.

Ong said the pact is being called an arrangement, rather than a more
formal agreement, to overcome sensitivities toward Myanmar and allow
Washington to sign it without congressional approval.

"It's basically a tactical move to expedite the process. The loaf may not
be as big as we wanted but it's still a loaf of bread ... it is a good
step forward," Ong said.

ASEAN ministers will also consider a revised free-trade offer submitted by
India on Friday to cut tariffs on 94.6 percent of ASEAN's exports
including sensitive agricultural products such as palm oil, tea and pepper
compared with only 69 percent previously.

India also whittled down the list of items it wants excluded from a
proposed free trade agreement from about 850 to 560, covering 5.4 percent
of ASEAN's exports.

Malaysia's Rafidah, however, has rejected the offer while other ASEAN
officials said they need to study it further. Ong urged the bloc to
compromise.

"It's not exactly something which all of us are excited about but we
should be a good sport and meet them halfway," he said. "FTA with India
and FTA with China are the key, the weight we need for our economic
expansion."

China and ASEAN have agreed to create no-tariff zone by 2010 in their
combined market of 2 billion people.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 21, The Australian
Burmese boatpeople to be taken to Nauru - David King

At least two of the eight Burmese boatpeople who arrived on Ashmore Reef
last week have claimed refugee status and the other six are expected to
make similar claims.

The eight men, held in detention on Christmas Island, are scheduled to be
sent to Nauru after identity interviews and medical checks are completed.

Two of the men have contacted immigration lawyers in Melbourne by fax
seeking assistance with asylum claims.

David Manne, principal solicitor at the Melbourne-based Refugee and
Immigration Legal Centre, said the other six were likely to do the same.

''They are claiming refugee status,'' he said. ''There's a very strong
likelihood that they are genuine refugees.''

Mr Manne said he had written to the Immigration Department and urged the
minister, Amanda Vanstone, to show some ''humanity and common sense'' and
prevent the men being sent to Nauru for processing.

A department spokesman confirmed that the eight men claimed to be from
Burma but would not say whether they had claimed asylum in Australia.

The men were first seen by the Australian Customs Service at Ashmore Reef,
610km north of Broome, on Sunday, August 13.

They were taken aboard patrol boat HMAS Albany and transferred to frigate
HMAS Darwin for transportation to Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean,
where they have been held since Friday afternoon.

The news of the boat people's arrival became public last Monday, the day
John Howard chose to scrap new migration laws. The proposed laws would
have excised the Australian mainland for immigration purposes.

Because the men arrived on Ashmore Reef, which has already been excised
from Australia's migration zone, they have no entitlement to be brought to
Australia for processing.

They have no access to the Australian court system to argue their claims
or contest the rulings of the Immigration Department.

The department spokesman said the veracity of the men's claims would be
investigated while they were held in Nauru.

Mr Manne said he was concerned that the circumstances of the men's
confinement could hamper their attempts to communicate with lawyers.

''We ask that no steps be taken to remove them to Nauru until they have
been afforded a full opportunity to make a plea ... to the Minister of
Immigration,'' he said. ''The Minister has a personal discretion to allow
these people to remain in Australia and to apply under Australian law for
protection.''

He said the Burmese men should be afforded the same rights as the Papuans
or Vietnamese asylum-seekers who made it to the Australian mainland. 'It's
absolutely crucial that these people be given a fair go, so that they can
actually speak with us properly about the issues,'' Mr Manne said.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 19, Chicago Sun Times
U.N. must add to pressure on Burma's repressive junta - Richard S. Williamson

Something important happened last month in Kuala Lumpur. Finally, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations took a stand for human rights. For
the first time, at its annual meeting, ASEAN expressed concerns over
Burma's lack of democratic reform and called for the release of political
prisoners.

Pascal Khoo Thwe is a Burmese human rights activist now living in exile in
England. He has written a powerful memoir, From the Land of Green Ghosts,
that documents the brutality inflicted by Burma's repressive regime.

In his memoir, Thwe writes about his fiancee, Moe. She was a freedom
advocate in the city of Mandalay. She was arrested and tortured. Moe
received a savage beating and gang rape. She was told, "This is what you
get if you ask for democracy."

Following her release, Thwe tried to nurse Moe back to health. Two weeks
later she disappeared. Her body was never found. Eventually Moe's mother
was told that she had died "from natural causes" in prison. Tragically, in
Burma such incidents continue to be all too common.

In 1988, a military junta crushed a pro-democracy movement in Burma and
seized power. Under international pressure, the regime called elections in
1990. But when the National League of Democracy won the vote, opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest and the election
nullified.

As Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch said earlier this year, "The
situation in Burma is as bleak today as at any point in [its] sad recent
history. The Burmese government's repression, paranoia and mismanagement
continue to cause misery and suffering inside Burma and pose a growing
threat to the stability and well-being of Burma's neighbors."

Burma's military government is one of the most repressive in the world. It
severely restricts basic rights and freedoms. It continues to ban
opposition political activity and to persecute democracy and human rights
activists. It has more than 1,100 political prisoners. It recruits child
soldiers and commits extrajudicial executions, rape of women and girls,
torture and forced relocation.

The military government has devastated ethnic minority areas. While
forcibly relocating minority ethnic groups, it has destroyed 3,000
villages. More than 2 million people have fled to Thailand and other
neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands are now internally displaced,
living in desperate conditions. And Burma's military government has cut
off assistance to those internally displaced people.

For years, the United States unsuccessfully has sought to condemn Burma's
activities at the U.N. Commission for Human Rights. Despite its record of
abuse, however, Burma has escaped rebuke.

But last month when the ASEAN nations gathered in Malaysia for their
annual meetings, an important step was taken. The association has
committed itself to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. As
Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar wrote, ''There is genuine
concern among the majority of ASEAN members that [Burma] is putting into
question ASEAN's credibility and image.'' So the ASEAN nations finally
criticized Burma.

It now is important to build international pressure on Burma's military
junta to ease its repressive grip and restore respect for human rights.

Vaclav Havel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu commissioned a recent report that
calls for ''an urgent, new and multilateral diplomatic initiative" on
Burma's human rights crisis and U.N. Security Council action.

Recent reforms of the U.N. human rights machinery were only partial and
raise questions about the capacity of the international community to deal
with human rights abuses. The Security Council taking robust action on
Burma would be a positive response to such skepticism. More important, it
would provide support and hope to the Burmese people who have suffered
long enough.

The matter deserves attention. A first step has been taken. Our common
humanity should require the U.N. now to increase the pressure for human
rights in Burma.

Richard S. Williamson is a Chicago lawyer and former U.S. ambassador at
the United Nations.