BurmaNet News, March 23, 2007

[Editor]

March 23, 2007 Issue # 3168

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Junta hijacks social group donation
Kachin News: Burmese Army collects tax forcibly from bull-carts

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Karenni rebel group, Junta begin peace talks

HEALTH / AIDS
Xinhua: Fund project to start to help Myanmar fight three diseases

REGIONAL
Pakistan Times: Pakistan and Myanmar to expand bilateral ties

INTERNATIONAL
BBC Burmese: Professor Pinheiro presents Burma report

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Lawlessness and disorder in Burma - Kyaw Zwa Moe
DVB: Burma, ILO deal to face first test - Clive Parker
Irrawaddy: Burmese migrants excluded from AIDS treatment - IRIN/Khao Lak,
Thailand

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 23, Irrawaddy
Junta hijacks social group donation - Aung Lwin Oo

A Rangoon-based social welfare organization has been effectively robbed of
donations by local Burmese authorities, according to a senior member of
the welfare group.

Kyaw Thu, a well-known actor and vice president of the Free Funeral
Services Society, said on Friday that local officials seized donations by
local residents made on Wednesday for the support of FFSS.

He said the organization was invited to receive the donations at a
religious ceremony in Rangoon, but a local official later told him not to
attend.

“I got a call when I was about to reach the ceremony, and a local official
told us not to come and receive the donation,” Kyaw Thu said. “Instead,
donors were to give the donation at our office.”

The donors never showed up, and the group was later informed that the
money had instead been given to local officials.

Kyaw Thu said local authorities have been questioning local residents in
Pathein Nyunt, on the outskirts of Rangoon, about his activities with FFSS
after an earlier donation in February.

“Just a few days after, residents were questioned about what I was doing
and whether I was trying to organize people,” Kyaw Thu said.

The FFSS, founded in January 2001, provides free funeral services for
people who can not afford burial or cremation of their family members. An
FFSS staff member said the association has provided nearly 60,000 free
funeral services since its founding.

The organization also came under fire in August last year after Kyaw Thu
and the organization’s Secretary-1 Than Myint Aung attended the 18th
anniversary commemoration of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, which was
organized by former student leaders. Since then, official media coverage
of the group and its activities has been banned.

The government-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Association, a
pseudo-social organization also announced its founding of a similar body
to FFSS late last year. Though USDA officials claimed they were not trying
to replace the funeral service, Kyaw Thu said the group has routinely
adopted their methods and activities.

“We are not engaging in politics, but are just trying to provide genuine
assistance to the needy,” Kyaw Thu said. “We don’t know what the USDA has
in mind.”

The FFSS—a non-profit, non-governmental and apolitical group—has relied on
donations from various people inside and outside Burma for its operational
costs. Some donations come from Burmese living in Japan, Taiwan, England
and the US.

The FFSS expanded its work by establishing a clinic in Rangoon in early
March, which provides free healthcare for the poor. The group says it
treats up to 100 patients each day.

____________________________________

March 22, Kachin News Group
Burmese Army collects tax forcibly from bull-carts

The Burmese Army is forcibly collecting taxes on use of bull-carts which
transport bamboo, firewood, thatch and logs of local villagers near
Myitkyina in Kachin State, northern Burma.

The Burmese Army's Infantry Battalion No. (29) is based in Pa La Na
village, Section (4), seven miles north of Myitkyina Township . Its
military gate is located at the entry and exit point of the villages
around the military base. Villagers have to cross the gate in order to go
to farms, paddy fields and the forest near N'Hkai Bum Mountain, residents
of Pa La Na said.

Each loaded bull-cart has to pay at least Kyat 1,000 to the army base
during the day time, and Kyat 3,000 to 5,000 at night, according to the
villagers around the military base.

The bull-carts are the main load carriers for the villages of Shwe Zet, Pa
La Na, Nawng Nang, Eight Mile, Ying Hkaw and Lamyang near Myitkyina and
they are being forced to pay tax to the military since 2006.

Ever since the Infantry Battalion (29) was established in Pa La Na in
early 2006, forced labour, land confiscation and military taxation has
steadily increased in Pa La Na and the surrounding villages, said locals.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 23, Irrawaddy
Karenni rebel group, Junta begin peace talks - Khun Sam

Representatives from the Karenni National Progressive Party and Burma’s
ruling junta met on Friday for ceasefire negotiations in the border town
of Tachilek in eastern Shan State, across the border from the northern
Thai city of Mae Sai.

KNPP General Secretary Rimond Htoo led a four-member delegation to discuss
the terms of a proposed ceasefire with Col Myat Win of Burma’s
intelligence body, Military Affairs Security, and four other government
officials.

“The main theme was to designate the employment of the military from both
sides,” Khu Oo Reh, vice general secretary of the KNPP told The Irrawaddy.
“Our aims are allow our citizens to live peacefully, to stop fighting and
to secure a long-term ceasefire agreement. From these talks, we hope for a
genuine solution to our country’s political problems,” he added.

The KNPP signed a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s ruling junta in 1995,
but the truce was broken three months later when Burmese soldiers were
deployed within the rebel group’s territory.

There have been several failed attempts since then to resume ceasefire
talks. The last was in late 2004, but junta representatives ended the
negotiations after the ouster of Prime Minister and head of Burma’s
military intelligence Gen Khin Nyunt in October of that year.

The KNPP is said to be focusing on the original terms of the 1995
agreement, but critics within the group fear the junta simply wants to
persuade the Karenni opposition to enter its “Exchange Arms for Peace”
program, which aims to disarm all militant ethnic groups and secure their
participation in the currently adjourned National Convention—tasked with
drafting a new constitution.

Khu Oo Reh said the duration and success of the current talks would depend
on how the junta responds to his group’s demands.

Another rebel ethnic group, the Chin National Front, began ceasefire
negotiations in mid-March with Burmese officials, but no agreement has yet
been reached.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

March 23, Xinhua General News Service
Fund project to start to help Myanmar fight three diseases

A five-year Three-Disease (3-D) Fund project to fight HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis (TB) and malaria will start on April 1 in Myanmar, the
local-language Myanmar Times reported Friday.

The entire 3-D fund project, worth about 100 million US dollars, will be
funded by a group of six donors -- the European Commission, Sweden's Sida,
the Netherlands, United Kingdom's Department for International
Development, Norway and Australia's Aus AID. It will be implemented under
the guidance of the Work Coordination Committee headed by Myanmar Health
Minister Dr. Kyaw Myint, the report said.

The 3-D fund was developed in 2006 to compensate for grants which were
suspended in August 2005 by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

A recent workshop involving Myanmar, the World Health Organization (WHO)
and UNAIDS has stated that 338,911 people were estimated to be living with
HIV/AIDS in Myanmar in 2004, and HIV prevalence in the country has reduced
from 1.5 percent in 2000 to 1.3 percent in 2005.

It is estimated that about 100,000 new TB patients develop annually in
Myanmar and about half of them are infectious cases, according to the
Myanmar health ministry.

Meanwhile, the trend of malaria morbidity and mortality has also been
decreasing in the country, with malaria morbidity per 1, 000 population
reducing from 24.5 in 1988-89 to 9.3 in 2005-06, while the mortality down
from 10.4 to 3.1 correspondingly, said the ministry.

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

____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 23, Pakistan Times
Pakistan and Myanmar to expand bilateral ties - Maria A Khan

Pakistan and Myanmar on Thursday expressed the resolve to further expand
and strengthen bilateral ties.

This was discussed at a meeting held between Senior Federal Minister and
Minister for Defence Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Minister of State for Defence Ch.
Ali Asjad Malhi, and Ambassador of Myanmar to Pakistan Tin Oo, who called
on the Ministers, at the Ministry of Defence Rawalpindi.

Both sides underlined the need for enhanced cooperation in the spheres of
trade, economy, tourism and other areas of bilateral interest.

The meeting agreed that there existed tremendous scope of cooperation
between Pakistan and Myanmar and it was imperative to explore further
avenues of cooperation for the mutual benefits of the two countries.

The Ministers briefed the ambassador about the potential of the defence
Industry of Pakistan.

The envoy highly appreciated the remarkable progress made by Pakistan in
the social and economic sectors.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 23, BBC Burmese
Professor Pinheiro presents Burma report

During the Human Rights Council debate on Burma today at the UN Human
Rights Council in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur for Burma, Professor
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro says civilians are targeted by the junta's soldiers
in ongoing operations in eastern Burma.

He also called for the release of all political prisoners including Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi as releasing them is fundamental to any political
transition.

He warned that discussing on Burma affairs alone will not solve the
problems but taking immediate action is urgent.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

March 23, Irrawaddy
Lawlessness and disorder in Burma - Kyaw Zwa Moe

A man in Rangoon quarreled with his wife. Local authorities arrived and
took the man into custody. The following morning, he was dead.

This may sound hard to believe, but it happened last Sunday in Rangoon’s
North Okkalapa Township.

Naing Oo was arrested by authorities —including members of the Union
Solidarity and Development Association—last Sunday after the 36-year-old
manual laborer argued with his wife in their home on the outskirts of the
former capital.

The next morning, Naing Oo’s body was discovered by his brother, Min San,
in a Ward Peace and Development Council office. His body and face had
sustained serious injuries. In answer to Min San’s question about what had
happened, the authorities answered: “He died of a cold.”

The bloody wounds notwithstanding, Min San had seen no sign of illness in
his brother the previous day. But further inquiry was impossible. The rest
of Naing Oo’s family was barred from seeing the body, and the USDA quickly
arranged for its cremation.

And the story ends here, after a man is murdered in custody and his family
are denied both an investigation and a trial.

Burma’s ruling junta is notorious enough for its brutal behavior since
1988, when government soldiers gunned down thousands of pro-democracy
protesters on the streets of Rangoon. Since that time, Burmese have lived
in terror of the country’s military intelligence apparatus, which operates
outside the law and can detain, interrogate, torture and imprison anyone
it chooses for any reason it chooses—particularly those suspected of
anti-government activities.

The fear of Burma’s internal intelligence agency eased somewhat after the
ouster of former Prime Minister and military intelligence chief Gen Khin
Nyunt. But that fear is returning with the rise of government-backed
civilian organizations.

In recent years, the ruling junta has empowered local authorities and
civilian groups, such as Ward or Township Peace and Development Councils,
the USDA, the paramilitary group Pyithu Sawn Arr Shin and the Auxiliary
Fire Brigade. Members of the USDA and Pyithu Swan Arr Shin are believed to
have been involved in the attack on Suu Kyi and her entourage four years
ago in Depayin in Upper Burma.

Such groups operate with impunity, which suggests that they have been
empowered by the government to do the dirty work of the military regime.

Naing Oo’s death illustrates the absence of the rule of law and a
legitimate justice system in Burma. His fate haunts many in the country,
who fear that their security—and their very lives—are always at stake,
whether they commit a crime or not.

Unfortunately, Naing Oo’s story is not unique. In March 2006, 40-year-old
Thet Naing Oo was handcuffed and beaten to death in Rangoon after
quarreling with local authorities, including members of the Auxiliary Fire
Brigade.

Less than a year earlier, human rights activist Aung Hlaing Win, a member
of the National League for Democracy, died in custody during interrogation
by authorities. Neither case was investigated. No one was held responsible
for the murders.

Such incidents by government-backed organizations suggest that their
operational goals include spreading lawlessness and fear among Burmese,
especially political activists.

The attack on Suu Kyi in 2003—in which dozens of her supporters were
killed—shows that no one is beyond their reach.

And for all the junta’s talk about a modern, developed and
discipline-flourishing democracy, the people of Rangoon know they live
their lives at the whim and fancy of government-sponsored thugs.

____________________________________

March 23, Democratic Voice of Burma
Analysis - Burma, ILO deal to face first test - Clive Parker

A month after Burma and the International Labour Organization signed an
agreement to address forced labour, the junta’s claimed commitment to
fixing the problem is about to come under the microscope.

On Wednesday or Thursday next week, the ILO Governing Body will hear
evidence from its representative in Rangoon, Richard Horsey, on whether
Burma is taking its new commitment seriously. And for once, there may be
at least some encouraging news.

Documents to be examined during the meeting say that just before the
supplementary agreement was signed at the end of February, a detailed
allegation of forced labour was brought to Horsey’s attention. It adds
that “some positive steps have already been taken by the authorities
towards the resolution of that case.”

Since then, Horsey’s Rangoon office is understood to have become
increasingly busy as it receives further allegations of forced labour that
will be revealed just prior to next week’s discussion. This will be the
first test of the 12-month agreement signed between both sides.

The Governing Body will reassess the situation, in light of the new deal,
having in the past four months prepared a possible legal assault on the
junta at both the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the
International Criminal Court in Rome should it fail to abide by its new
obligations.

Since the last Governing Body meeting in Geneva last November, the ILO has
briefed the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on the Burma situation and
made relevant documents available to him. Simultaneously, the ILO prepared
two questions to put to The Hague court “at a later date, taking into
account the implementation of the supplementary understanding”—in other
words, if Burma fails to abide by its obligations.

The two questions ask whether complainants of forced labour should be free
of harassment and even prosecution by the authorities and that their
allegations should be “objectively examined by the authorities with the
view to the prosecution” of the perpetrators under Burma’s Forced Labour
Convention commitments.

Clearly the threat of posing such a question is something the junta wants
to avoid at all costs given the very high stakes. A verdict against the
government—an unprecedented scenario in the history of the ILO—would not
only be highly embarrassing, but could also lead the way to possible
economic sanctions, among other measures.

Even more worrying for the government is the fact that the ILO is also
considering to ask the ICJ whether such a deliberation would be binding.
This is highly significant. A binding decision by The Hague Court can be
enforceable by the UN Security Council and having just escaped a US-led
initiative from the UN’s most powerful body, the junta is unlikely to want
to face its 15 members again.

This potent array of deterrents by the ILO against a repeatedly
intransigent Burmese government has already produced results in getting an
agreement in the first place. But whether a further cranking up of this
threat can finally get the Burmese government to prosecute perpetrators of
forced labour throughout the country, most of which are officials and
members of the military, is about to be tested.

In addition, there are other indicators that are likely to come into play.
The Governing Body will be told next week that the ILO office in Rangoon
needs additional capacity given “the number and nature of the complaints
already received,” namely more staff, and has already sought additional
funding. Will the government, given its reluctance in the past, allow this
to happen?

This is a key test, but any question of Burma showing a real desire to
stamp out forced labour by signing the Abolition of Forced Labour
Convention does not look promising. The government will only consider
signing the convention “once a new constitution has been drawn up and new
labour legislation in conformity with it has been adopted,” the ILO has
said in the ‘General Survey on Forced Labour Conventions’, 2007 available
on its new Rangoon office website.

Serial rights violators including Zimbabwe, Turkmenistan and Equatorial
Guinea are among the 167 countries that have already ratified the measure.
Burma has not and does not plan to do so for some time.

The assertion made by the Burmese mission to the UN in Geneva in February
that the supplemental agreement with the ILO “is a clear reflection of
[Burma]'s commitment to eradicate forced labour . . . [and] manifests
[Burma]'s willingness to fully cooperate with the international community
on this issue” is clearly then complete nonsense.

Any improvements achieved in the past months have been made as a result of
the ILO flexing its increasingly large muscles. Whether the Burmese
government clears the first and subsequent hurdles will have little to do
with its desire to eradicate forced labour and everything to do with how
scared it has become of the ILO.

____________________________________

March 23, Irrawaddy
Burmese migrants excluded from AIDS treatment - IRIN/Khao Lak, Thailand

Zaw, 30, from Rangoon, the former capital of Burma, came to Thailand eight
years ago in search of job opportunities unavailable in his impoverished
homeland.

He found work on construction sites and, more recently, in a sawmill in
Khao Lak, a beautiful coastal area where new hotels have been springing up
in response to Thailand's booming tourist industry.

While being treated for tuberculosis around a year ago, Zaw learned he was
HIV positive. After losing his appetite and becoming increasingly sick and
weak, he began taking life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs provided by the
charity Medicins Sans Frontiers in November 2006.

Although still frail and battling multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, Zaw's
strength is returning and he is now able to work two or three days a week.
Small bags of pills attached to a home-made calendar hanging on the wall
of his room in the workers' barracks at the sawmill remind him to take his
ARV medication every day.

"I feel so relieved that I am getting treated," he said. "I feel that I
will get better and I am confident about the future."

Zaw's story is far from common. Thailand has won accolades for its
commitment to providing ARV drugs to all Thai citizens who need them, but
the policy does not extend to the Burmese migrant workers who play a
crucial role in the economy.

An estimated two million people have fled poverty, lack of opportunity and
oppression in military-ruled Burma to work on Thai construction sites,
fishing boats, farms, factories and in kitchens, often taking dirty,
dangerous or dull jobs that Thais are unwilling to do. They are highly
vulnerable to exploitation, frequently paid less than the legal minimum
wage and live in constant fear of deportation or abuse by Thais harboring
deep-rooted prejudices against migrants from Burma.

The Thai government began registering the Burmese migrant workers several
years ago, granting them access to public health services in an effort to
improve their legal status.

So far only about half those believed to be working in Thailand have come
forward for registration; the rest are thought to be deterred by their
employers' refusal to formally sponsor them, the cost involved, or fears
that the authorities in Burma would learn of their flight to Thailand and
punish their families.

Although those who are registered have the right to access public
healthcare, ARV drugs are not part of the package: only pregnant women
receive the drugs necessary to prevent transmission of the virus to their
babies.

The Thai authorities argue that workers from Burma are simply too
transient to start a course of treatment that must be monitored and taken
regularly to avoid drug resistance; health activists counter that the
migrants are often no more mobile than many working-class Thais who do
seasonal work.

"They [Thai authorities] say that they cannot follow up, that they
[migrants] move often, change their names and the area where they live,"
said Suksri Saneha, coordinator of an MSF project in Khao Lak.

According to Saneha, local health workers frequently urged migrant workers
found to be infected with HIV, whether registered or not, to return to
Burma; advice that few heeded, given the lack of jobs or basic medical
care in their home communities.

It is impossible to say how many Burmese migrant workers are living with
HIV in Thailand, but Burma has one of South-East Asia's most serious AIDS
epidemics. UNAIDS estimates adult HIV prevalence at between 1.3 and 2
percent, with up to 570,000 people infected in a population of 47.3
million, and treatment largely unavailable.

Migrant workers are constantly fearful of arrest and deportation by Thai
police, who often pay little attention to whether they are registered, and
are unwilling or unable to organize themselves into social support groups
or press for access to ARV treatment.

Prejudice against people from Burma has also impeded prevention efforts.
In the coastal areas of southern Thailand, where tens of thousands of
migrants work on construction sites and in the fishing industry, MSF
wanted to use local community radio to broadcast Burmese-language programs
about how HIV is transmitted and how to protect against it. Local
authorities refused, saying broadcasting programs in a foreign language
constituted a "national security threat".

Saneha, a Thai national, said she sometimes encountered outright hostility
in her efforts to address the problem of HIV among the workers from Burma.
"They say, 'why do you care for migrants? Why not care for Thai people?'
They don't think it's a disease that can spread from Burmese to Thais that
has to be controlled."

Efforts by MSF and groups representing the Burmese workers to provide them
with ARV treatment have met resistance, not only from Thai authorities but
also from the migrants themselves, many of whom are poorly educated about
the disease.

"They have a very low knowledge about antiretroviral," said Saneha. "They
want to go for the traditional drugs or to see the magic doctor. They
don't believe in ARVs."

With the assistance of a Burmese translator, MSF has nevertheless begun
providing ARV drugs to a few willing migrant workers in the Khao Lak area.
Part of MSF's strategy is to encourage Thai health workers to view Burmese
migrant workers the same as other HIV patients, and treatment is being
delivered at the local hospital.

However, progress has been painfully slow. The MSF team is monitoring
around 70 HIV-positive Burmese, about half of whom would benefit from
starting treatment. Only two have begun taking ARVs so far, and two others
died after starting treatment too late.

According to Saneha, the perception of many patients "is that they will
die anyway - they have no example of somebody who takes ARVS and gets
stronger and lives", but she believed this attitude would eventually
change as treatment reached more Burmese workers, and gave others hope.

The Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) is a news service that
forms part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA). But this report does not necessarily reflect the views of the
United Nations.