crimes against humanity in burma

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Crimes Against Humanity in Burma

Release to Public

25 April 2009

Definition of Crimes Against Humanity

The definition of crimes against humanity under customary international law is contained in Article 7(1) of

the Rome Statute :

“Crimes against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or

systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

1. Murder;

2. Extermination;3. Enslavement;

4. Deportation or forcible transfer of population;5. Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of

international law;6. Torture;7. Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other

form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;8. Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic,

cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognizedas impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph orany crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;

9. Enforce disappearance of persons;10. The crime of apartheid;

11. Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury tobody or to mental or physical health.

Note the distinction in the definitional language between the definition of genocide as contained in theGenocide Convention versus the definition of crimes against humanity as recognized under customary

international law and contained in the Rome Statute. The definition of genocide in the Genocide Conventionrequires the “intent to destroy in whole or in part ” of which intent can be difficult to prove duringcontemporary acts of genocide and especially those acts stemming from conflict situations. In addition, the

Genocide Convention only lists four possible identifiable groups for destruction in order for mass atrocitiesto amount to genocide; “a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group”. This means that other groups

targeted for destruction or mass violence, no matter how severe, such as groups targeted based on politicalbeliefs, economic or social class, or sex does not amount to genocide. This is where much of the debateamong experts on whether contemporary atrocities being committed on a mass scale equals genocide

derives.

However, in addition to those groups also listed in the definition of genocide as contained in the GenocideConvention, the definition of crimes against humanity as contained in the Rome Statute encompasses otheradditional groups that are not accounted for in the Genocide Convention; “political, … cultural, … gender”.



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On this point, it is crucial to note another key distinction between the definition of ge nocide contained in theGenocide Convention versus the definition of crimes against humanity as contained in the Rome Statute.

Crimes of humanity as contained in the Rome Statute do not require an “intent to destroy a group in wholeor in part” by the perpetrators, but instead require that such atrocities detailed in the definition such as

murder, extermination and so on, are committed as part of a “widespread or systematic attack directed

against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack ”; whereby “knowledge of the attack’ refers tothe knowledge of the perpetrators or supporters of the attack, or of those in power situations who have

acquiesced to the attack, upon any civilian population. survivorsrightsinternational.org

1. 88 Generation Students Group

The group says that although Burma was freed from colonialism in 1948, the Burmese people have notenjoyed any true freedom since the military coup in 1962. It initiated the campaign on 4 January 2007,

Independence Day, by calling on Burmese to write letters describing their dissatisfaction with the politicaland social situation in the country.“Wake up, all countrymen and women. Supreme power comes from us. We ourselves will build our new

country with our own hands. We must raise our dignity ourselves. This New Year is the new year for all of us.” Burmese New Year, 17 April 2007

According to a list of victims compiled by the 88 Generation Students group, SPDC security forces killed138 demonstrators. Burma Bulletin, October 2007

2. Amnesty International (AI)Says Amnesty International, “Torture has become an institution in Burma.” February 2004

Amnesty International wrote Friday to Burmese authorities with a briefing paper outlining “grave andongoing human rights violations” committed since the start of the clampdown, which sparked international

outrage. 9 November 2007

Amnesty International declared the regime’s ongoing campaign of terror in Eastern Burma constituted a

crime against humanity in their report: “Crimes against humanity in eastern Burma.” AP, 4 June 2008

An onslaught by Burmese troops in the eastern part of the military-ruled country, running for three yearsnow, is laying the junta open to charge of ‘crimes against humanity’. This new charge adds to a growing listof human rights violations that the South-east Asian nation’s ruling military regime is being slammed for,

including the use of rape as a weapon of war in military campaigns in areas that are home to the country’sethnic minorities. Eyewitness accounts from civilians fleeing the territory under attack reveal a grim picture

of the ‘tatmadaw’, as the Burmese military is called, targeting unarmed men, women and children in a‘widespread and systematic way,’ say human rights and humanitarian groups. “Burma’s troops are overtly

targeting civilians; they are actively avoiding KNU military installations. That is why we are describing theattacks as crimes against humanity,” says Benjamin Zawacki, South-east Asia researcher for AmnestyInternational (AI), the global rights lobby. “The violations are widespread and systematic.” “This campaign

started in November 2005 and has escalated. They did not even stop during the annual monsoon period fromMay to October, which was not the case before,” he explained during an IPS interview. 10 November 2008

3. Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Burma



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Meanwhile, several prominent exiled Burmese groups and international bodies lined up to condemn theBurmese junta. The words “crimes against humanity” were never far from their lips. Bo Kyi, the joint-

secretary of a Burmese human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said theBurmese military regime knew that a massive number of people had died in the wake of the cyclone. The

Irrawaddy, 2 June 2008

There are 2,131 political prisoners in Burma, including 15 members of Parliament, 229 students, 220

monks, 47 members of the movement “88 Generation Students,” and 456 representatives of the NLD. From

August 21, 2007 - the beginning of the “saffron revolution” promoted by the Burmese monks - until March12, 2009, the military has arrested 1,055 protest participants, including 147 monks; another 110 are on trialat the moment, 446 have been sentenced to prison, and there are 19 detained in the labor camps.speroforum.com, 18 March 2009

Bo Kyi, the joint secretary of a Burmese human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political

Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), said, “For prisoners, medical care and food and water quality in Burma’s prisonsare the main challenges. Many political prisoners, including some prominent activists, are in poor health.”According to the AAPP, 138 political prisoners have died in Burmese prisons since 1988 and at least 115

are currently in poor health. The Irrawaddy, 24 March 2009

Bo Kyi said the UN and other international organizations needed to back up their calls for the release of political prisoners with action. “International organizations, including the UN, need to take effectivemeasures,” he said. “We are very concerned about the health of political prisoners because they do not have

medical doctors and hospital care. They should be transferred to prisons located near their families andrelatives. If a prisoner is denied medical treatment, that’s murder.” Convicted political activists are

commonly incarcerated in prisons far from their homes, a form of also punishing their families, who haveheavy financial and personal hardships in visiting and keeping in touch with their loved ones. According tohuman rights groups, the Burmese junta allows political prisoners to meet family members once every four

weeks. The Irrawaddy, 24 April 2009

4. Burma DigestGenocide in Burma

In the case of Burma, although it ratified the Convention in 1956, the current military regime has adoptedGenocide as a terror against the ethnic national groups of Karen, Karenni and Shan people, etc. and the

evidences were well-documented in the resources of Rogers, Benedict (2004) “A Land Without Evil:Stopping the Genocide of Burma’s Karen People”; Horton, Guy (2005) “ Dying Alive: A legal Assessmentof the Human Rights Violations in Burma”; Rummel, R. (2001) “Saving Lives, Enriching Life” Pg.18-22;

and so on.As the ‘Genocide Acts’ of Burmese military regime were obvious, Baroness Cox, Chief Executive of

Humanitarian Aids Relief Thrust (HART) and a deputy speaker of the British House of Lords, who hasvisited the regions of Karenni, Shan and Karen people many times, called on the international community to

investigate claims of genocide and crimes against humanity.In his work of “A Desperate situation: Genocide in Burma”, Browning also mentioned that the torching of villages, destruction of food stores and crops, theft of livestock and property, extra-judicial killings and rape

were every day occurrences affecting hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. (Browning, C. (2002),Australia Karen Youth Project, Vol. 1, Issue 2, September 2005)Moreover, Guy Horton’s claimed for the usage of the concept ‘genocide’ in relation to Burma rests on the

1948 Genocide Convention, ratified by Burma in 1956 as “According to the convention, the genocide isdescribed as ‘deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical



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destruction in whole or in part’. There are over a million people internally displaced in Burma and morethan 2,500 villages in eastern Burma have been destroyed since 1996.” (Horton, 2005)

Furthermore, according to the Muslim aid report of “Rohingya faces genocide in Burma”, it was mentionedas “Extermination and genocide increased, and within nearly 4 decades about half (1.5 million) of total

Rohingya population had been forced to flee their homeland and those remaining in the country are countingtheir days in utter misery, fear and frustration.” (Muslim Aid, Al-Jamiat Journal, July 2002)In conclusion, I would like to appeal the international community not to ignore the “Genocide practices”

committed by the Military Regime in Burma and take actions against the international criminals in

accordance with the international law. Khin Ma Ma Myo, 20 March 2006

5. Burma Lawyers’ Council

Senior General Than Shwe’s denial of international humanitarian aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargisshould come as no surprise to the international community. This negligence and refusal of access is part and

parcel of the criminal nature of the regime and reflects their fear that the entire world will see first hand theresults of decades of systematic human rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes. We urgethe Security Council to use its Chapter VII powers to end the impunity for state – sponsored heinous crimes

in Burma. 22 May 2008

The Burma Lawyers’ Council has just learned that a fire has burned part of the Burmese Embassy inBangkok. While the source of the fire is still unclear, the fire must not be used as another reason for theState Peace and Development Council to yet again delay the delivery of foreign aid to the victims of

Cyclone Nargis. In fact, the fire looks extremely suspicious, particularly since a large amount of foreign aidworkers are presumably waiting for visas. The SPDC has a long history of deceiving, delaying and tricking

the UN and international community. While we applaud and appreciate UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonfor using his good offices to push the SDPC to allow more aid to reach cyclone victims, we are concernedthat the SPDC’s partial concessions are just another tactic to relieve international pressure. 26 May 2008

On May 27, the SPDC extended Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest. She was originally detained in May

2003 pursuant to the 1975 State Protection Act, which has a maximum detention period of five years. The

five-year period has expired and thus she must be released immediately. Continuing to detain her is aflagrant violation of the SDPC’s own law. Moreover, there is no other applicable Burmese law under which

the SPDC can continue to hold her, such as the Penal Code, because she has not committed any crime. DawAung San Suu Kyi’s detention should also be considered a crime against humanity because it is targeted not

only at her, but at the entire Burmese population. She is no ordinary citizen. She is the embodiment of liberty, democracy and human rights in Burma. Her popularity among the people and her undying charismawon her the Nobel Peace Prize. If someone so distinguished and honored can be unlawfully detained, how

can common people ever hope to oppose the regime without fearing for their own freedom and safety? Thereality is, they cannot. The SPDC knows that the extended detention of Suu Kyi will continue to spread

intimidation throughout the country, and fear strengthens their rule. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention fitsthe technical definition of crimes against humanity. These crimes include “imprisonment or other severe

deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law” (Rome Statute, Art. 7,§ 1(e)). Suu Kyi’s detention is clearly one that violates fundamental rules of international law because shewas detained for purely political purposes, not for any wrongdoing. The BLC urges all supporters of peace

and justice to continue pressuring the UN Security Council to refer the heinous crimes in Burma to theInternational Criminal Court. 28 May 2008

6. Campaign for Burma

Campaign for Burma UK



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“What happened in Rangoon in September happens almost every day in Shan State,” says Mark Farmaner,referring to the shooting of pro-democracy protesters in September 2007. Shan-EU

U.S. Campaign for Burma

“Even though Burma’s military regime is denying aid to 2 million people facing death, efforts at the UNSecurity Council to invoke the responsibility to protect doctrine (R2P) are dead as a doornail, mainlybecause of Burma’s ally, China,” said Aung Din, Executive Director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma. “It is

time for countries to stop waiting for the Council to act - which it won’t - and commence immediate

delivery of aid to thirsty, starving, and homeless Burmese now facing imminent threat of disease in theIrrawaddy Delta.” It is in this atmosphere and context that the notion of providing ‘Aid at the Point of aGun’ has emerged. It is reported that American armed forces are now gathering in large numbers inThailand for the annual multinational military exercise known as Cobra Gold. The US Navy warships

could pass from the Gulf of Thailand through the Strait of Malacca and north up the Bay of Bengal to theIrrawaddy Delta. asiantribune.com, 17 May 2008

Jennifer Quigley, Advocacy Coordinator of the U.S. Campaign for Burma said, “Since 1992,recommendations to stop human rights violations in Burma, made by the UN General Assembly, UN

Human Rights Council and UN Security Council were simply ignored by the Burmese junta, as theserecommendations did not come along with enforcement action.” Added Quigley, “We urge the UN Security

Council to take serious action against the regime to halt crimes against humanity committed by Burma’smilitary regime.” Press Release, 18 November 2008

7. Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE)

Since 2002, the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions has nominated three governments orpublic institutions for its annual Housing Rights Violator Awards who have been responsible for particularlysevere violations of housing rights. COHRE deputy director Jean du Plessis said that the Burmese regime

had shown an “abysmal disregard” for the basic right to housing. “More than one million people have beendispossessed and are internally displaced in Burma – not because of a natural disaster, but due to their own

government’s calculated and brutal actions,” he said in a press release. He went on to describe the severe

violations of land rights in Burma, particularly those of ethnic minority groups. DVB, 6 December 2007

8. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

In 1998, the then UN Special Rapporteur on Burma, Mr. Rajsoomer Lallah QC, submitted a report to theU.N. General Assembly, entitled, “Situation of Human Rights in Burma” (reference: A/53/364). Paragraph59 of the report reads, “The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned about the serious human rights

violations that continue to be committed by the armed forces in the ethnic minority areas. The violationsinclude extrajudicial and arbitrary executions not sparing women and children, rape, torture, inhuman

treatment, forced labour and denial of freedom of movement. These violations have been so numerous andconsistent over the past years as to suggest that they are not simply isolated or he acts of individual

misbehaviour by middle- and lower - rank officers but are rather the result of policy at the highest levelentailing political and legal responsibility.” Jubilee Campaign agrees with this assessment and would gofurther to state that the Burmese regime and its subordinates, the Burmese military, is committing Genocide,

War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity against the Karen, Karenni and Shan people of Burma. This issimply a question of fact and law, whether the facts of the situation of these ethnic groups fit within thelegal definitions under international law of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. The mass

and systematic forced labour, forced portering where the porters have to carry heavy loads for the Burmesearmy and are often killed if they’re too weak to continue - forced labour and forced portering are a form of

slavery, forced relocations where hundreds of villages have been destroyed and the villagers relocated to



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places under military control, rape and summary executions conducted by the Burmese military against theKaren, Karenni and Shan are just some of the actions of the SPDC which easily fit into the definition given

above of Crimes Against Humanity. Furthermore, in their report on Burma, the International LabourOrganisation has rightly condemned the systematic and widespread use of slave labour as a “crime against

humanity”. For five years we have argued that genocide is being committed in Burma by the Junta and it isa disgrace that the international community have not accepted or acted on the evidence that is ava ilable.Text of remarks by Lord Alton of Liverpool at a Press Conference in Parliament on Thursday 23rd June

2005, organised by Jubilee Campaign and Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

A government pamphlet urges: “Attack Christians by any means: Violent or non-violent.” March 2007

What I will do is to use the time I have to tell a few stories from some of the places in which I have been

working to set the scene, and to try to be what Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) seeks to be – a ‘voicefor the voiceless’.I do not know if you are aware that persecution of Christians – by no means the only issue

I want to address this evening, but the major focus of the work of Christian Solidarity Worldwide – is amajor and growing phenomenon around the world. It is believed that over two hundred million Christiansaround the world, in over sixty countries, face persecution, discrimination and restrictions of one form or

another. They face threats from all sides, from extremists of other religions, from authoritarian governmentsfrom particular elements in society – especially Islamic fundamentalists in places like Pakistan. Christians

are currently under pressure not only in Pakistan but also in Indonesia, by Hindu nationalism in India, bywhat can only be described as ‘militant Buddhism’ (a contradiction in terms) in Sri Lanka, and byauthoritarian regimes in China, North Korea, Vietnam and Burma – the latter of which will be the major

focus of my remarks this evening. Let me turn now, in the final section of what I should like to share withyou, to what is perhaps the most important element of the situation in Burma, and possibly the most

forgotten. On top of political prisoners, suppression of democracy and use of child soldiers, there is what Ibelieve amounts to a form of genocide taking place against many ethnic groups. There are too many ethnicgroups in Burma to list individually here. Broadly speaking, however, the Karen, the Mon and the Shan are

the major groups in the eastern part of Burma; the Chin on the western border with India; the Kachin on thenorthern border with China; the Arakan and the Rohingya, which are mainly Muslim people, on the border

with Bangladesh. I have been to almost all of those borders, apart from that with Bangladesh, and these

people are facing horrendous crimes against humanity: destruction of their villages, forced labour, and theuse of rape and killing. Ben Rogers is Advocacy Officer for South Asia at Christian Solidarity Worldwide,

thomasmoreinstitute.org.uk, Seminar on Wednesday 31 May 2007

9. Comité de Secours InternationauxThe Burmese military Government has been accused of unleashing “crimes against humanity” on its people

by keeping is borders closed to foreign disaster relief experts. The enraged outburst by Pierre Fouillant , of the French aid group Comité de Secours Internationaux, came as aid workers on the ground in Burma

described a refugee crisis now threatening to descend into a nightmare of disease, starvation and looting.“They say they will call, but it’s always wait, wait, wait,” said Mr Fouillant, a veteran of humanitarian crises

across the globe, “It’s a crime against humanity. It should be against the law. It’s like they are taking a gunand shooting their own people.” timesonline.co.uk, 13 May 2008

10. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)Today, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the enforcement body for

CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women) published itsreport about Burma online. The report, dated November 7, 2008, represents the conclusions of CEDAW’s



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42nd session. The report examined the Burmese military regime’s compliance with CEDAW, which theregime ratified on July 22, 1997. The Committee condemned Burma’s military regime for using sexual violence in its scorched-earth war onBurma’s ethnic minorities, stating that “The Committee expresses its deep concern at the high prevalence of

sexual and other forms of violence, including rape, perpetrated by members of the armed forces against ruralethnic women, including, the Shan, Mon, Karen, Palaung, and Chin. The Committee is also concerned at theapparent impunity of the perpetrators of such violence, and at reports of threats, intimidation and

punishment of the victims. The Committee regrets the lack of information on mechanisms and remedies

available to victims of sexual violence as well as measures to bring perpetrators to justice.”The Committee also addressed violence against women in Burma, stating that “the Committee expressesconcern at the high prevalence of violence against women and girls, such as widespread sexual violence,including rape. The Committee is also concerned that such violence appears to be socially legitimized and

accompanied by a culture of silence and impunity, that cases of violence are thus underreported and thatthose that are reported are settled out of court.”

Burma’s military regime continues committing crimes against humanity in its ethnic cleansing campaignagainst Burma’s ethnic minorities. In just the last two weeks, the junta destroyed 12 ethnic minority villagesin Eastern Burma, driving an additional 2,000 people from their homes. The junta’s scorched-earth ethnic

cleansing campaign has destroyed over 3,300 villages and forced over 1 million people to flee from theirhomes as refugees along Thai-Burma border over the past 10 years. An additional 1/2 million ethnic

minority villagers are hiding in jungles and mountains and struggling to survive without adequate food,shelter and medicine as internally displaced persons.While activists commend the Committee for its recognition of the Burmese junta’s crimes against humanity

and shedding light on its system of impunity for crimes against humanity, they also note the body’s inabilityto hold the regime accountable for its crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Burmese junta has

ignored all previous Committee recommendations. ohchr.org, 7 November 2008

11. Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma (CRDB)Kokkine Junction Incident 9 November 1996: The leader of the Burmese opposition, Daw Aung San Suu

Kyi, said the attack was orchestrated by Burma’s military regime. The CRDB agrees with her completely. In

a country where the authority, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) strictly enforces aban on public gatherings of more than five persons, it is impossible for two hundred or more people to

gather without approval of the authority. The CRDB also warns the criminals in power and their hiredhooligans in Rangoon that any attack on pro-democracy leaders is an act of treason against Burma and the

Burmese people. 11 November 1996

This time, it is almost sure-fire that Burma’s desperate population would warmly welcome a US-led

humanitarian intervention, considering that its own government is now withholding emergency supplies. TinMaung Thaw, USA, 10 May 2008

The Army generals usurping government are committing genocide and indeed a crime against humanity.

Kin Oung, Australia, 17 May 2008

Inhuman action getting close to a crime against humanity. Richard Aung Myint, USA, 17 May 2008

12. Earth Rights International

The report, “Turning Treasure Into Tears: Mining, Dams and Deforestation in Shwegyin Township, Pegu

Division, Burma,” says, “The heavy militarization of the region, the indiscriminate granting of mining and



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logging concessions and the construction of the Kyauk Naga Dam have led to forced labor, landconfiscation, extortion, forced relocation and the destruction of the natural environment.” February 2007

A human rights watchdog group on Tuesday accused Chevron Corp (CVX.N) of complicity in human rights

abuses along a natural gas pipeline in Burma in which it holds a stake and said Chevron could be sued.EarthRights International claimed in a report issued on Tuesday that Burma’s army has in recent yearscommitted serious abuses including rape and murder while providing security for the pipeline that moves

gas from the Yadana gas field, located offshore in the Andaman Sea. The group also said the army has

forced Burmese citizens to build sentry posts, perform security duties along the pipeline and maintain roads.“The people of Burma are making the pipeline go through their own physical energy, their blood, theirsweat and their tears,” Katie Redford , U.S. office director of EarthRights, said in an interview. Reuters, 29April 2008

13. The EldersNobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, SouthAfrica, chairman of The Elders, wrote to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, U.S. President George

Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, calling on the UN Security Council to authorise aid drops overthe objections of the generals. He said the regime had “effectively declared war on its own population and is

committing crimes against humanity”. thoughtleader.co.za, 10 May 2008

Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu has also written to US President George Bush, French President

Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, saying the UN Security Council shouldauthorize immediate shipments of aid to Burma “over the objections of the military regime.” “The refusal of

the Burmese military regime to accept full, adequate humanitarian aid from the international community isnothing short of criminal, and unprecedented in recent history,’ said the former South African archbishop.He said that the Burmese regime had “effectively declared war on its own population and is committing

crimes against humanity.” Citing possible objections by China and Russia at the UN Security Council, Tutuwarned that the world could make “the same mistake it made on Rwanda, accepting solutions that were

guaranteed to fail.” AFP, 16 May 2008

14. Federation of Trade Unions – Burma (FTU-B)The military regime that rules Burma, the SPDC, forces hundred of thousands of people to work against

their will and without pay on development projects, as porters in the military, and in other forms of compulsory labor. Despite its claims to the contrary, the SPDC has continued this practice.The FTU-B urged victims of forced labour to report the crimes to the International Labour Organization

office in Rangoon. Head of the FTU-B U Maung Maung vowed that the group would continue to pressurethe Burmese military over its use of forced labour and that victims should try to overcome their fear of

persecution and speak out about the issue. 1 March 2007

15. FinlandOn Saturday, Foreign Minister of Finland, Alexander Stubb, made a statement on the Finnish Broadcasting

Company (YLE), speaking out against the government of Burma and their actions during the crisis left inthe wake of Cyclone Nargis. According to Stuff, the government’s refusal to grant access to relief workersand foreign aid deliveries designed to assist cyclone victims is akin to a crime against humanity. Mr. Stubb

spoke during the YLE’s Launtaiseura programme, and publically agreed with statements made by theFrench ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert. icenews.is, 22 May 2008



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18. Human Rights Watch“The delivery of relief supplies can’t be left entirely in the hands of Burma’s abusive military, or aid simply

won’t reach those most in need,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Withoutindependent monitors on the ground, we can’t be sure the aid is reaching those most at risk.” hrw.org, 14May 2008

“The State Peace and Development Council’s refusal to allow more aid to the delta has contributed to alarge number of fatalities,” said David Mathieson, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch in Bangkok.Human rights advocates and legal groups in Canada and Europe also say the military regime’s blocking of aid to cyclone victims has cost tens of thousands of lives. Advocates of prosecuting the junta say that they

must go through the UN Security Council first before filing a motion with the ICC. Mathieson said thatalthough China and Russia would probably veto any motion against Burma at the Security Council, the

issue of crimes against humanity should be pursued. The Irrawaddy, 2 June 2008

Burma’s already dismal human rights record worsened following the devastation of cyclone Nargis in early

May 2008. The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) blocked international assistance whilepushing through a constitutional referendum in which basic freedoms were denied. The ruling junta

systematically denies citizens basic freedoms, including freedom of expression, association, and assembly.It regularly imprisons political activists and human rights defenders; in 2008 the number of politicalprisoners nearly doubled to more than 2,150. The Burmese military continues to violate the rights of

civilians in ethnic conflict areas and extrajudicial killings, forced labor, land confiscation without dueprocess and other violations continued in 2008. The SPDC tightly controlled emergency international

assistance and in some cases blocked aid in the crucial early stages following the cyclone. The governmentdenied visas to disaster relief experts and aid workers and prevented them from travel inside Burma. Incyclone-affected areas, there have been reports of land confiscations, forced labor, and forced evictions of

displaced people by Burmese authorities. Authorities arrested several prominent former political prisonersfor their role in cyclone relief activities including, on June 4, 2008, prominent comedian and dissident

Zarganar, who distributed aid through his activist networks to Nargis victims. Zargana had criticized the

SPDC’s relief efforts in interviews with the foreign media. Burma continues widespread and systematicforced recruitment of child soldiers. The Burmese military continues to attack civilians in ethnic conflict

areas, particularly in Karen State and Shan State. Abuses such as forced labor, sexual violence againstwomen and girls, extrajudicial killings, torture and beatings, and confiscation of land and property are

widespread. In 2008 army counterinsurgency tactics and security operations for infrastructure developmentsdisplaced more than 40,000 civilians in these two areas. There are an estimated 450,000 to half a millioninternally displaced people in eastern Burma. In Arakan State in western Burma, the Rohingya Muslim

minority faces widespread rights violations including religious persecution, forced relocation, land seizures,and denial of citizenship and identity papers. Ethnic Chin people in Chin State and Sagaing Division

continue to face forced labor, beatings, sexual violence, and land confiscation by the Burmese military; afamine in the region affected over 100,000 civilians, with reports that relief efforts were hampered by the

Burmese army. World Report 2009, 31 January 2009

Speaking to DVB yesterday, David Mathieson from Human Rights Watch said that the ruling State Peace

and Development Council is failing to adequately cooperate with the international community regarding useof child soldiers, and criticized a recent United Nation’s report on the issue. “The report puts a far morepositive spin on the military government’s cooperation that we think they deserve,” he said. “It’s still a very

serious issue inside Burma and the kind of report that just came out doesn’t reflect the seriousness of theproblem within the Burmese military and it’s not very good of them to not investigate the biggest

perpetrator by far.” 24 April 2009



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19. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Jakob Kellenberger, the ICRC president, denounced the military regime for violating international

humanitarian law by murdering civilians, forcing prisoners to serve as army “porters” in combat areasstrewn with landmines and destroying village food stocks. The abuses - recounted in thousands of interviews between 2000 and 2005 - occurred mainly in eastern Burma along the Thai border, where the

military has spent decades fighting ethnic minority insurgents, including the Karen National Union. 29 June

2007

20. International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese minister and a militia leadersuspected of war crimes in the Darfur region. Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed

leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, also called Ali Kushayb, are wanted on 51 counts. Some200,000 people have died in the four-year Darfur conflict, says the UN. Mr Haroun was a ministerresponsible for the Darfur portfolio in 2003 and 2004. According to the ICC he was responsible for

organising and funding the Arab militia known as the Janjaweed. Ali Kushayb is accused of ordering themurder, torture and mass rape of innocent civilians during attacks on villages near Kodoom, Bindisi Mukjar

and Arawala in west Darfur. “We completed an investigation under very difficult circumstances, fromoutside Darfur, and without exposing any of our witnesses,” ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in astatement, AFP news agency reports. “We transformed their stories into evidence, and now the judges have

confirmed the strength of that evidence.” He told the BBC the government had a legal duty to arrest themen, even though Sudan is not one of the 120 states that signed up to the creation of the ICC. “It is not just

about punishment - but also unveiling the truth. I have to be ready to prove my case beyond any doubt so Istill have a lot of work to do,” he said on the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme. BBC, 2 May 2007

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today issued an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes againsthumanity committed in the strife-torn Darfur region by Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, the first sitting

Head of State to be indicted by the Court. UN News Centre, 4 March 2009

The ongoing abuses by the Burmese government against civilians is reaching a point whereby the junta

could qualify for war crimes charges, said a former senior legal adviser to the International Criminal Court.Speaking at a conference in Oslo, Norway, entitled ‘Crimes against humanity in Eastern Burma’, Morten

Bergsmo stated that the Burmese army’s use of child soldiers could constitute a war crime. “Therecruitment and use of children under fifteen years may be a war crime, and by that an international crime if it happens as part of an ongoing armed conflict,” he said. “If that happens there may be the ground for

investigating and prosecuting such abuses of children.” DVB, 24 April 2009

21. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

The FIDH maintains their serious concerns regarding the institutionally entrenched, systematic andwidespread violations of human rights occurring in Burma. Despite more than 28 resolutions adopted by theUN General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, calling for national reconciliation and

democratization in Burma, as well as the actions undertaken by the former UN Secretary General KofiAnnan and his office over the past ten years, and the four envoys to Burma mandated by the UNCommission on Human Rights, the State Peace and Development Council’s (SPDC) unlawful methods of

political and ethnic repression have intensified and consolidated. 13 March 2007



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22. International Labour Organisation (ILO)The International Labour Organisation (ILO), an agency of the United Nations, released a report today

which accuses Burma’s ruling military of systematic and widespread use of forced labour. The reportcharges that “any person who violates the prohibition of recourse to forced labour under the (ILO)

Convention is guilty of an international crime that is also, if committed in a widespread or systematicmanner, a crime against humanity”. Following a complaint against Burma’s regime by the InternationalConfederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) the ILO established a Commission of Inquiry into forced

labour in Burma. This is the strongest legal action the organisation can take against a member state. The

Inquiry has evidence of “threats to the life and security and extrajudicial punishment of those unwilling,slow or unable to comply with a demand for forced labour; such punishment or reprisals range from moneydemands, to physical abuse, beatings, torture, rape and murder.” It also has evidence that “forced labour inBurma is widely performed by women, children and elderly persons as well as persons otherwise unfit for

work”. John Jackson, a Director of Burma Action Group says “What more evidence is needed as to theabhorrent nature of this regime. It’s time the international community gave its support to those millions of

men women and children who are forced to labour in the worst conditions imaginable. Britain and theEuropean Union can support them by meeting the challenge of Burma’s embattled democrats who havebeen calling repeatedly for sanctions against the regime - until now with little response.”

burmacampaign.org.uk, 20 August 1998

There has been no reduction in the use of forced labour in Burma despite work done by the InternationalLabour Organisation to eradicate it, says ILO’s liasion officer in Rangoon, Steve Marshall . The ILO’sExecutive Director, Kari Tapiola, is currently in Burma to extend for another year the ILO’s cooperation

agreement with the Burmese regime. The agreement stipulates that the government must not harass or arrestpeople who report forced labour to the ILO or collect information on such practices. DVB, 27 February

2009

23. The Irrawaddy News MagazineThe first wave of frustration following Cyclone Nargis was the irrational, foot-dragging and draconian aid

restrictions imposed by the Burmese junta on the international relief effort to help the survivors. The second

wave of frustration is the ineffective, timid approach of ASEAN and the UN to try to coax the stubborngenerals into effective action. The junta has no redeeming qualities: It’s bad at government, economics,

social welfare, education—you name it. Of course, there are some people who flatter the generals, and theyare called sycophants and apologists. Frequently, the UN announcements talked about “turning a new page,”

or “things are moving” or “breakthroughs.” Their words didn’t reflect reality and, in a way, protected thegenerals. It’s now three weeks after the cyclone, and the UN chief is just now arriving in the country to talk to the generals. The cyclone victims want relief supplies. They don’t want to hear more positive-sounding or

appeasing words like those in the past. They don’t need crocodile tears. And, how about ASEAN, of whichBurma is a member? Its emergency meeting in Singapore came two weeks after the cyclone. ASEAN has

never had the courage to confront the generals. Since 1997 when Burma became a member, ASEAN hasnever dared to ruffle the generals’ feathers. Sadly and shamefully, both ASEAN and the UN have agreed to

let the generals’ determine the rules so far. If they really want to help the survivors, they must show thecourage to initiate a new approach. If Ban can’t get real concessions during this trip, there is no approachahead other than the UN’s “responsibility to protect” concept which, while not exactly written for events

such as natural disasters, would nevertheless be justified. The junta is clearly committing a crime againsthumanity, which this concept is meant to address. We have entered what could be the final wave of frustration. The US, France and the UK are clearly waiting to see what the UN and ASEAN can accomplish.

This is the last act. The most frustrating outcome would be if the UN and ASEAN fail to find an effectiveway to aid the people, and Western countries that have voiced the strongest criticism of the junta fail to act

unilaterally to aid the survivors. Kyaw Zwa Moe, 22 May 2008



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24. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of MedicineA report led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine has called for a United Nations

investigation into Burma’s handling of aid and assistance to cyclone hit regions last year, accusing themilitary government of crimes against humanity. Relief groups are calling on Asian countries and theinternational community to press Burma’s military government towards greater transparency and

accountability in receiving assistance. The report, a joint project of aid workers from the Thai-Burma border

and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, charges Burma’s military government with abuseand corruption in its handling of aid and recovery to the devastated Irrawaddy Delta region hit by last year’scyclone Nargis. The report charges Burma’s military of resisting international and regional aid, interferencein assistance, confiscation of aid and resale, arrest of aid workers, discrimination in aid along ethnic lines,

forced labor and confiscation of land. Chris Beyer of the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Healthsays the key recommendation is for a United Nations investigation into the charges that may represent

“crimes against humanity.” “Taken together there is an argument to be made for an assessment and we callfor an investigation of crimes against humanity - that is based on the Rome Statute article 7-IK - essentiallyits based on the argument that there has been intentionally great suffering, mental and physical health,” he

said. VOA, 27 February 2009

The report was a documentation by researchers from John Hopkins University in America, and anorganization of Burmese volunteers called the Emergency Assistance Team – Burma (EAT), in the weeksfollowing the deadly Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2, 2008. Released on Friday in Bangkok,

the report, said it had discovered that Burma’s military junta failed to provide adequate food, shelter andmedical care in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Burma’s Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions, killing at

least 140,000 people. The report said, under international law, creating conditions where the basic survivalneeds of civilians cannot be adequately met, “intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to bodyor to mental or physical health,” is considered a crime against humanity. The report, in its recommendations,

said the junta should be referred to the International Criminal Court, by the United Nations SecurityCouncil, for committing crimes against humanity. Mizzima News, 27 February 2009

The Burmese government should appear before the International Criminal Court to face human rightscharges; the dictatorship committed abuses and crimes in the months following the tragedy of Nargis. This

is the harsh condemnation from a humanitarian association that has documented the violations committed bythe military toward victims of the cyclone. “The charge of crimes against humanity is a very grave and

serious one,” says Chris Beyrer, director of the U.S.-based Center for Public Health and Human Rights, anNGO. “But in the context of a relief effort like this, where you have evidence of forced labour, forcedrelocation and confiscation of relief aid, these are documented violations that need to be taken seriously.”

“ After the Storm: Voices from the Delta” is the first independent report - free from censorship by theBurmese military dictatorship - recounting the drama of cyclone victims. It is based on material collected in

90 interviews with volunteers and survivors. It details obstacles and threats directed against volunteers,cases of the disappearance of humanitarian aid that was later resold, and the use of forced labor for

reconstruction, including the exploitation of child labor. asianews.it, 3 March 2009

25. Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)The ongoing military offensive by the Burmese army against ethnic Karen rebels is affecting Karen childrenwho spend much of their childhoods living in fear, hiding in the jungle, enduring disease and malnutrition,

and suffering from a lack of education, said a leading Karen rights group on Thursday. According to a 174-page report titled Growing up under Militarisation: Abuse and agency of children in Karen State, released

on April 30 by Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), an estimated 15,000 Karen children are among the



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Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living makeshift in the malaria-ridden jungles of eastern Burma.Rebecca Dun, the program director of KHRG, told The Irrawaddy on Friday: “It is very difficult for

children to study in the jungle. They practice writing on the ground or on the cliff faces. There are noeducational aids.” The displaced children don’t receive sufficient medicine or nutritious food when they feel

ill, she said. Also, the Burmese army burns down Karen villagers’ houses and farms and forces villagers towork as porters—a form of slave labor. The Irrawaddy, 2 May 2008

26. Karen national Union (KNU)Since then, the KNU and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) have continued to fight the Burma statemilitary (Tatmadaw) by forming guerilla units and basing themselves in temporary jungle camps on theThai-Burmese border. Following its principle of no surrender, the KNU continues despite a precarious state

of existence. Nonetheless, their fight continues to garner the sympathy of the international community sincethe KNU represent the Karen people, one of the many ethnic nationalities of Burma that are experiencing

ethnic cleansing under the military regime’s Four Cuts campaigns, a strategy where intelligence, finances,food and recruits are eliminated through a scorched-earth policy. wikipedia.org

27. Karen Women’s Organization (KWO)

The report titled State of Terror published by the KWO cites in detail the cases of 959 women and girls inKaren State, who have been subjected to the Burmese Army’s human rights abuses, rape, torture, murderand forced labor. February 2007

A Karen woman based in the United States on Thursday called on the US Congress and the Obama

administration to push the UN Security Council to establish an international inquiry into crimes againsthumanity committed by Burma’s military junta against its own people. Giving graphic details of the some ofthe human rights violations the junta has perpetrated, particularly against ethnic communities and in this

case against her and her family, Karen refugee Myra Dahgaypaw told a Congressional committee that theBurmese regime must be held accountable for all the crimes it has committed. A member of the Karen

Women’s Organization and a board member of the Karen American Communities Foundation, Dahgaypaw

testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which had convened a Congressional hearingon human rights abuses in Burma. “There are several other ethnic groups besides the Karen. Each one of

them also faces oppression and displacement at the hands of the Burmese military regime that will forcethem to live as Internally Displaced Persons or to flee to the borders and other countries,” she said. The

Irrawaddy, 24 April 2009

28. Mae Tao Clinic, ThailandWe are calling on all governments and UN bodies to provide aid immediately to our people who are dying

in their thousands. International humanitarian organizations and local community organizations must dowhatever they can to prevent further deaths and to assist in the restoration of life in Burma. This is not the

time to respect Burma’s border controls. National restrictions that are causing further deaths, do not deserveanyone’s respect. The global community has a responsibility to protect its citizens. The SPDC has time andagain failed to protect the people of Burma, and this time the scale of their neglect is killing our people. The

United Nations must invoke the Responsibility To Protect, even if it is necessary to coerce or force theregime to comply with providing protection and rehabilitation to its citizens. Dr Cynthia Maung,maetaoclinic.org, 11 May 2008

29. Members of Parliament Union – Burma



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Now, after Cyclone Nargis, people around the world are denouncing the regime and equating its stubbornrefusal to allow free access of international relief assistance to the urgently needed victims - not in

thousands but in millions - as a criminal act. Many say that it is time for humanitarian intervention by theUnited Nations under the “Responsibility to Protect” principle. MPs Teddy Buri, Manko Ban and Sann

Aung, The Nation, 12 June 2008

30. Minority Rights Group (MRG), London-based

MRG began the ranking of countries in terms of the threat to peoples on a yearly basis three years ago. Theidea is to forewarn the international community of the likely areas of conflict, and the likelihood of theintensification of conflicts across the globe. In Burma, which is ranked fifth, the threatened communities areKachin, Karen, Mon, Shan and Chin. Sify News, 27 February 2008

31. National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB)A UN Security Council resolution under “The Responsibility to Protect” could have delivered practicalprotection for the people in Burma, particularly the ethnic nationalities, many of whom cont inue to be

victimized by those in power. The vetoes in this instance in the United Nations Security Council, even if unintended, unfortunately provide the Burmese generals to continue persecuting pro-democracy elements,

violating human rights, rejecting calls by the United Nations to investigate into the Depayin massacre andrapes, and even refusing to cooperate in earnest with the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy. 17 January2007

32. National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB)The NCUB insisted that the type of peace wanted by Burma’s military junta is not true peace, and that thecouncil was formed with the intention of ending the despotic military rule in Burma, the emergence equal

rights for all ethnic national groups and a democratic country. The NCUB called for the release of allpolitical prisoners, declaration of a nationwide ceasefire and a tripartite talk. September 2005

An umbrella opposition group in exile, the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), has objectedto the claims of the ruling military regime to represent the country in the United Nations General Assembly.

Myint Thein, the NCUB’s joint secretary, said it was important for the nations of the world to cooperate andextend their active support to the people of Burma, who live under the repressive military junta. “We want

the UN to stand up for the principles of democracy and human rights and reject the credentials of the StatePeace and Development Council’s delegation to the United Nations during the upcoming session of theGeneral Assembly.” Besides campaigning to challenge the regime’s right to represent Burma in the UN, the

group confirmed that it would also push to put Burmese human rights issues on the UN Security Council’sagenda and urge the world body to arraign Burma’s junta before the International Criminal Court for its

crimes against humanity. The Irrawaddy, 16 July 2008

33. National League for Democracy (NLD)The most recent election was held on the 27th May 1990. In this watershed election, the National League for

Democracy (NLD) won 392 of the 485 constituencies contested (seven were deemed too unstable), thus theright to form government. The SLORC refused to cede power. Burma Lawyers’ Council, Legal Issues On

Burma Journal No. 7, December 2000

Burma’s military rulers have no legal authority to extend democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest

when the detention order expires at the weekend, her lawyer said Thursday. Under Burma’s State Protection



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Law, a person can be held without charge or trial for only up to five years, renewable for up to one year at atime, Aung San Suu Kyi’s Washington-based lawyer Jared Genser said. She was detained initially in May

2003 and her house arrest was last renewed on May 25 last year. “Thus, in a tremendously significantcoincidence of timing, she must be released by the end of the day on May 24th,” said Genser, referring to a

high-profile international donor conference to be held in Rangoon the next day. The United Nations and the10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member, are hosting thefunds-pledging conference in Rangoon on Sunday to help the country cope with the disaster which has left

133,000 dead or missing when it struck nearly three weeks ago. “If the Burmese junta abides by its own law,

Aung San Suu Kyi will be able to attend the international aid conference scheduled for Sunday May 25th inperson,” he said. AFP, 23 May 2008

Jared Genser of Freedom Now, an NGO that works to free prisoners of conscience around the world, said

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued detention was a violation of Burmese as well as international law.DVB, 28 May 2008

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention fits the technical definition of crimes against humanity. These crimesinclude “imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of

international law” (Rome Statute, Art. 7, § 1(e)). Suu Kyi’s detentionis clearly one that violates fundamentalrules of international law because she was detained for purely political purposes, not for any wrongdoing.

The BLC urges all supporters of peace and justice to continue pressuring the UN Security Council to referthe heinous crimes in Burma to the International Criminal Court. BLC, 28 May 2008

Burma’s ruling generals extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s democracy leader, bya year on Tuesday. Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, expressed disappointment at the extension of her detention.

“I regret the decision of the government of Burma to extend, for a sixth consecutive year, the detentionunder house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said. aljazeera.net, 28 May 2008

Thein Nyunt, a member of the legal panel on Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD),told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the Burmese authorities had committed a crime against humanity by

ignoring the crisis caused by Cyclone Nargis. “From a legal point of view, blocking aid for cyclone victims

was not only breaking international law, but also Burma’s own criminal code,” said the NLD lawyer.“Under Burmese criminal law, failure to save lives in a disaster situation is noted under criminal laws 269

and 270.” Thein Nyunt said that by forcing cyclone survivors to return to their villages is also a form of crime as it breaks the Burmese military government’s agreement with the International Labor Organization

(ILO) on banning forced relocation in Burma. The Irrawaddy, 2 June 2008

Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party told a U.N. envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana visiting Burma on Wednesday

that the junta’s decision to keep her under house arrest for a sixth year violates her human rights. AP, 7August 2008

The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is “illegal”; it violates “international law” and the “national domestic

laws of Burma.” This is the charge of the United Nations committee on arbitrary detention - a bodyconnected to the UN council for human rights - which calls for the “immediate release” of the Nobel peaceprize winner. Jared Genser, Suu Kyi’s Washington-based legal adviser, welcomes the position of the UN

committee because it “will have an important impact on the United Nations’ ability to press particularlyChina, Russia and others who have been more protective of the junta.” The United Nations working groupon arbitrary detention is an independent body made up of experts from Chile, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, and

Spain. Also today, the leaders of the National League for Democracy issued a new appeal to be allowed tomeet with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy activists held in the country’s

prisons. speroforum.com, 24 March 2009



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34. Norwegian ParliamentThe situation in Burma calls for an international responsibility to protect: Burma’s people have suffered

more than four decades of brutal military rule and civil conflict. Economic mismanagement has turned acountry that once was the rice bowl of Asia into one of the world’s poorest and least developed. EasternBurma in particular is the location of an armed conflict that has been ongoing since Burma’s independence

and is considered the world’s longest-running civil war. Civilians are being targeted and humanitarian

assistance to civilians is being deliberately obstructed in the course of military operations. Since 1994,successive resolutions in the UN General Assembly have called for a tripartite dialogue between theBurmese junta, the democracy movement led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the country’s ethnicnationalities as the path to national reconciliation in Burma. A new constitution adopted in 2008 is set to

entrench military dominance in the political system despite fresh elections scheduled for 2010. NorwegianParliament, prio.no, 11 April 2009

Contact Camilla Buzzi, +47-932-42-435, [email protected]

35. Oslo Center for Peace and Human RightsToday, Burma has one of the most brutal regimes in the world. There are indications that the military junta

acts even more brutally than before. The fact that The National League for Democracy (NLD) has not beenallowed to take over the administration of the country after the election victory in 1990, amounts to acontempt for the people. Aung San Suu Kyi works, not for a violent revolution, but for a non-violent

dialogue between the junta, NLD and the different ethnic groups, Mr. Kjell Magne Bondevik says. The OsloCenter for Peace and Human Rights, 26 May 2007

36. Save the Children Fund

International NGO Save the Children Fund, who undertake humanitarian work in Burma, spell it outsuccinctly in their country profile: Children in Burma face some of the worst poverty in Asia. Government

spending on health dropped from 1 per cent of GDP in 1990 to 0.2 per cent in 2000 and public investment in

education is also declining. Nearly 75 per cent of families live in rural areas where many homes lack cleanwater and sanitation facilities, despite the fact that most areas of Burma have abundant water resources.

Rates of child mortality are high – mainly caused by preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, which claimsthe lives of some 28,000 children under five every year. An estimated 35 per cent of children under 5 years

old suffer from malnutrition. Trafficking of children is a big problem, particularly across the eastern border,and many end up being involved in prostitution, begging rackets or other forms of child labour. TaiSamyone, Burma Digest, 24 June 2007

37. Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN)The report License to Rape was released in June 2002. It gives detailed information of the rape of an

estimated 625 women and girls in the last five years by members of the Burmese military.

38. Southeast Asia Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (SEACSUCS)The SEACSUCS, a network of human rights and child focused NGO’s, said the Burmese junta should openup its claimed process of halting the use of child soldiers. 19 February 2007

39. United Kingdom (UK)



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Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accused the Burmese military junta of treating its people in an“inhuman” fashion in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. His comments came as France’s UN Ambassador, Jean-

Maurice Ripert, said the Burmese government’s refusal to allow external aid to be distributed “could lead toa true crime against humanity”. Mr Brown urged the junta to stop blocking foreign aid to those without

food, clean water or shelter. “This is inhuman. We have an intolerable situation, created by a naturaldisaster,” he said. “It is being made into a man-made catastrophe by the negligence, the neglect and theinhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act.” “We rule nothing out and the

reason we rule nothing out is that we want to get the aid directly to the people,” he said. Mr Ripert said the

junta had rejected 1,500 tons of relief carried on a French navy ship. Yet Burma’s prime minister, TheinSein, declared the emergency relief effort complete yesterday and announced the start of the reconstructionphase. news.sky.com, 17 May 2008

40. UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission

Burma has been ranked the worst human rights violator in the world, out of countries assessed by the UKConservative Party this year. North Korea, meanwhile, is rated the most oppressive, closed society wherefreedom and rule of law are non-existent. Overall, Burma is still the worst. 11 December 2006

41. United NationsResponsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes againsthumanity

138.Each individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethniccleansing and crimes against humanity. This responsibility entails the prevention of such crimes, including

their incitement, through appropriate and necessary means. We accept that responsibility and will act inaccordance with it. The international community should, as appropriate, encourage and help States toexercise this responsibility and support the United Nations in establishing an early warning capability.

139.The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriatediplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter,

to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In this

context, we are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner, through the SecurityCouncil, in accordance with the Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation

with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and nationalauthorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and

crimes against humanity. We stress the need for the General Assembly to continue consideration of theresponsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes againsthumanity and its implications, bearing in mind the principles of the Charter and international law. We also

intend to commit ourselves, as necessary and appropriate, to helping States build capacity to protect theirpopulations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and to assisting those

which are under stress before crises and conflicts break out.140.We fully support the mission of the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of

Genocide.General Assembly, United Nations, 15 September 2005

The United Nations has been primarily responsible for the prosecution of crimes against humanity since itwas chartered in 1948. The UN has been where all modern prosecutions for crimes against humanity haveoccurred. The International Criminal Court (ICC) was recently organized by the Rome Statute and the UN

has delegated several crimes against humanity cases to the ICC. Because these cases were referred to theICC by the UN, the ICC has broad authority and jurisdiction for these cases. The ICC acting without a UN

referral lacks the broad jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against humanity, and cannot prosecute many cases,



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particularly if they occur outside of ICC-member nations. The most recent 2005 UN referral to the ICC of Darfur resulted in an indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against

humanity and war crimes in 2008. The first person to be handed over to the ICC was Thomas Lubanga. Histrial has still has not been completed. The ICC still is seeking Joseph Kony. When the ICC President

reported to the UN regarding its progress handling this crimes against humanity case, Judge Phillipe Kirschsaid “The Court does not have the power to arrest these persons. That is the responsibility of States andother actors. Without arrests, there can be no trials.” The UN has not referred any further crimes against

humanity cases to the ICC since March 2005. wikipedia.org

The UNSC decided to put the situation of Burma on its agenda. The decision was adopted by a 10-4 vote,with one abstention. (10 supported: U.S., U.K., France, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Argentina, Ghana, Peru,and Slovakia, 4 opposed: China, Russia, Republic of the Congo and Qatar, one abstained: Tanzania) 15

September 2006

The U.N.’s humanitarian chief in Burma, Charles Petrie, told the Associated Press the fuel price increasewill make it more difficult for many Burmese to survive. He says almost 90 percent of Burmese live belowor near the poverty line of one dollar a day. VOA, 27 August 2007

Many of the more than 2,100 political prisoners held in Burma have been sentenced in flawed, closed-door

hearings, said a report to be presented at the U.N. Human Rights Council Monday. “Many of the prisonersof conscience have been sentenced in close-door hearings within prison compounds, without legalrepresentations, without the presence or knowledge of their family members, and without proof of evidence

or with defective evidence,” said the report by Tomas Okea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on Burma.Quintana, who based his report on a visit to Burma Feb. 14-19, said some of their defense lawyers had in

turn been imprisoned for “contempt of court” - a charge left open to interpretation by the courts. Detaineessuffered from a lack of medical care during imprisonment and from “physical ill- treatment” duringinterrogation, he added. Quintana also noted that more than 600 of these prisoners were being held in

prisons far from their hometowns, making family visits a rarity. Some prisoners were regularly transferredto other prisons, making it difficult for family members to keep track of their whereabouts, Quintan wrote.

Dow Jones Newswires, 16 March 2009

The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is “illegal”; it violates “international law” and the “national domestic

laws of Burma.” This is the charge of the United Nations committee on arbitrary detention - a bodyconnected to the UN council for human rights - which calls for the “immediate release” of the Nobel peace

prize winner. The leader of the opposition party National League for Democracy has spent 13 of the past 19years under house arrest. The UN committee has already denounced five times the violation of internationallaws in the detention of the “Dear Lady.” But for the first time, it is emphasizing that the regime of house

arrest “not solely violates international law but also national domestic laws of Burma.” According toBurmese law, only people who “threaten national security” can be arrested without burden of proof. The

reference is to the State Protection Law promulgated in 1975: it allows an arrest warrant to be renewed for amaximum of five years; Aung San Suu Kyi has spent more than 13 years under arrest. It must also be

verified whether the Nobel peace prize winner could constitute a threat to the “security of the State or publicpeace and tranquillity.” speroforum.com, 24 March 2009

42. United States of AmericaSince 1962 Burma, with an estimated population of 54 million, has been ruled by a succession of highly

authoritarian military regimes dominated by the majority Burman ethnic group. The State Peace andDevelopment Council (SPDC), led by Senior General Than Shwe, was the country’s de facto government,

with subordinate peace and development councils ruling by decree at the division, state, city, township,



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ward, and village levels. Military officers wielded the ultimate authority at each level of government. In1990 prodemocracy parties won more than 80 percent of the seats in a general parliamentary election, but

the regime continued to ignore the results. The military government totally controlled the country’s armedforces, excluding a few active insurgent groups. The government’s human rights record worsened during the

year. The regime continued to abridge the right of citizens to change their government. The governmentdetained five leaders of the 88 Generation Students prodemocracy activists. The government refused toallow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisoners privately. The army increased

attacks on ethnic minority villagers in Pegu Division and Karen State designed to drive them from their

traditional land. In addition, the government continued to commit other serious abuses, includingextrajudicial killings, custodial deaths, disappearances, rape, and torture. The government abused prisonersand detainees, held persons in harsh and life threatening conditions, routinely used incommunicadodetention, and imprisoned citizens arbitrarily for political motives. National League for Democracy (NLD)

General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo remained under house arrest.Governmental authorities routinely infringed on citizens’ privacy and resorted more frequently to forced

relocations. The government restricted freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, andmovement. The government did not allow domestic human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)to function independently, and international NGOs encountered a hostile environment. Violence and societal

discrimination against women continued, as did forced recruitment of child soldiers, discrimination againstethnic minorities, and trafficking in persons, particularly of women and girls. Workers rights remained

restricted, and forced labor, including that of children, also persisted. U.S. Department of State, 6 March2007

43. US Commission on International Religious Freedom

The commission condemned the Burmese military for violating religious rights, and advised that the countryremain listed a one of particular concern. The military junta that governs Burma monitors the activities of allreligious organizations through a pervasive internal security apparatus. The government imposes restrictions

on certain religious practices, controls and censors all religious publications, has supported, allowed, orinstigated violence against religious minorities, and in some areas of the country, has forcefully promoted

Buddhism over other religions. The junta denies their citizens the right to religious freedom. 2 May 2007

44. Women's League of Burma (WLB)Early last month, the four girls, aged 14-16, from a village south of Putao, northern Kachin State, were

gang-raped by three army officers and four soldiers from a local SPDC military base. The army gave hushmoney to the girls and their parents and ordered them not to report the incident to police or other authorities.After news of the incident was reported by independent Burmese media, the girls were arrested and jailed.

This is further conclusive evidence of how the SPDC military is continuing to practice systematic sexualviolence in Burma. The WLB has repeatedly exposed the ongoing state-sanctioned sexual crimes against

women and girls throughout Burma and appealed to all stakeholders to take action against the regime tobring an end to this violence. 8 March 2007

45. Women's League of Chinland (WLC)

The WLC released a report on 30 June 2006, documenting 38 cases of rape committed against ethnic Chinwomen by the soldiers of Burma’s military junta, based on the testimonies of rape victims recorded over aperiod of six months. Of these 38 cases, 5 of them were girls under 18 and the youngest was 12 years old.

Army officers committed about third of the rapes. Often the rapes have been carried out with extremebrutality and in some cases resulting in the death of the victim. In one case, a woman was stripped naked

and hung on a cross, in a deliberate act of mockery against her Christian religion. This indicates that sexual



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violence is being deliberately used as a weapon to torture and terrorize local ethnic populations intosubmission. The report also said soldiers were offered 100,000 kyat to marry educated Chin women as part

of a program to slowly eradicate the Chin race.The New Delhi-based Women’s League of Chinland released above report as Unsafe State: State-

sanctioned sexual violence against Chin women in Burma. Cheery Zahau, coordinator of the WLC, told DVB the report aimed to highlight the plight of Chin women, who lived in fear of being sexually assaulted.27 March 2007

We also would like to request the governments of China and Russia to reconsider their positions and supportthe UN Security Council’s intervention in Burma. By opposing the UNSC resolution on Burma in January2007, China and Russia gave the wrong signal to the Burmese military regime to continue killing its ownpeople and to rape more women and girls. We need UNSC intervention in Burma immediately. 27 February

2007

46. Military Junta46. 1. Vice Sr-Gen Maung Aye, No. 2 in SPDC, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, Vice

Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Butcher of DooplayaIt was February 1997, and his troops were in the mopping-up phase of a crushing offensive against ethnic

Karen guerrillas. Maung Aye arrived in the remote eastern hamlet of Azin to accept the surrender of a Karencaptain and his rag-tag band of men. The general walked across the flag, ground it beneath his boots andordered the Karen captain to get down on his knees and apologize. Time, 18 December 2000

46. 2. Maj-Gen Myint Hlaing, Commander of Northeastern Region Command

The Burma Army is doggedly continuing with its efforts to force the Shan State Army North to come to itsknees, according to both ceasefire and civilian sources from northern Shan State. “I am not going to stopuntil the SSA acknowledges who’s the boss,” he said. Shan Herald Agency for News, 2005

46. 3. Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Minister of Information, Chief of World Information Working Committee

and Information Working Group, Head of Counter-media Campaign, Secretary of National Convention

Convening Committee, Comical AliMilitary news media: No news in the truth. No truth in the news.

“The authorities have chosen Pyinmana because it is centrally located and has quick access to all parts of the

country,” Brig Gen Kyaw Hsan said. Some analysts point to a paranoia among senior military figures thatthey might come under attack, potentially from the United States, and that a location further from the coastis strategically safer. It certainly puts the generals closer to their frontline forces within the Shan, Chin and

Karen states, our correspondent says. But others suggest the military leaders are simply repeating the habitsof the Burmese kings in pre-colonial times who built new towns and palaces on the advice of fortunetellers.

BBC, 7 November 2005

“The Burmese government has no plans to talk with the National League for Democracy led by detainedpro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,” Kyaw Hsan said, “we are having extensive discussions withother political parties and ethnic representatives at the ongoing convention. Having dialogue with only one

party would be very limited.” 26 April 2006

The official order suspending publication of Burma’s partly government-owned weekly, The Myanmar

Times, and the resignation under pressure of one of its reporters, Win Kyaw Oo, in a newsroomreorganization are the latest examples of how Minister of Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan is clumsily

harassing the country’s media. The Irrawaddy, 18 January 2008



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46. 4. Former Brig-Gen Aung Gyi, number two in the Revolutionary Council after Gen Ne Win staged a

coup in 1962, supporter and defender of Ne Win and the armyBo Aung Gyi together with Bo Ne Win, Bo Sein Lwin, and Bo Tun Yi ordered to demolish the historical

Students Union Building on 8 July 1962; about hundred of bodies, some students still alive, were crushed atthe sewage treatment plant in Rangoon. Artillery officer Hla Myint laid dynamites thoroughly around thesolid walls and demolished the building.

46. 5. Gen Thura Shwe Mann, No. 3 in SPDC, Butcher of Mae Tha Waw 1989, Cunning DiplomaticGeneralAt present, Shwe Mann is the No 3 man in the military hierarchy and holds the title of joint chief of staff.But reports suggest that senior army leaders who were former heads of the Bureau of Special Operations

have resisted his command. However, those around him tread carefully; Shwe Mann is considered to be oneof Than Shwe’s protégés. Shwe Mann earned the title “Thura,” meaning “bravery,” during offensive

operations against the Karen National Liberation Army in 1989. He runs day-to-day military affairs in theMinistry of Defense, but is allegedly bypassing Maung Aye and reporting directly to Than Shwe. TheIrrawaddy, 28 June 2008

46. 6. Hla Myint, leader of Pyithu Swan Arr Shin, Sidaw mingala quarter, Prome, Pegu

As a member of Pyithu Swan Arr Shin (People’s Power Holders), I have an authority to kill any civilian. 30March 2007

46. 7. Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, Commander of Northern CommandDuring last week, SPDC Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint has lashed out at Kachin students as the students

from Myitkyina University as well as from high schools were picked up and forcibly made to appear in fontof him. He then warned the students to stop the poster campaign and threatened the students saying, “You’rea handful for me and I’ll kill you now! Your Kachins are going to disappear.” Kachin News Group, 18

September 2007

46. 8. Win Myint, Warden of Tharawaddy prison

“This is my prison. If I want to shackle you for three days, three months, or three years, I can and I will.”aappb.org/torture_report.pdf, 2005

46. 9. Former Gen Khin Nyunt, former Prime Minister, The world’s biggest crook, Prince of Evil

Gen Khin Nyunt’s feared military intelligence has poisoned the social environment by infiltrating everyaspect of Burmese life: every bus and train, every temple, every teahouse. Gatherings are reported; mail isintercepted and read; people disappear. Eric Kolvig, Burma Today: Land of Hope and Terror , December

1991

As the chief of Military Intelligent Service, he sent death squads to the border areas to kill ethnic leaders andBurmese dissidents.

46. 10. Soe Nyunt (a) Bo Thannami (a) Htilar Sitthu, soldier-poet, former Deputy Minister of Information,former Deputy Minister of Culture

He threatened reporters who failed to respect “journalistic ethics and the rules of sovereignty” would bekilled, referring in particular to Mr. Bertil Lintner.

46. 11. Maj-Gen / U Htay Oo, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Secretary-General of the UnionSolidarity and Development Association (USDA)



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Lt-Gen Myint Swe’s role to ensure an outcome favourable to the junta is no different to that of anotherconfidante of Than Shwe, Maj-Gen Htay Oo, the secretary-general of the USDA. The latter organisation,

which Than Shwe founded in September 1993, has been given the lead role in the forthcoming referendumand the general elections to be held in 2010. IPS, 4 May 2008

46. 12. Maj-Gen Maung Oo, Minister of Home AffairsHe pressured the doctors from SSC private hospital in Rangoon not to treat Daw Mi Mi Lay (diagnosed with

blood in urinary tract), the mother of 88 generation student leader Ko Htay Kywe. 14 October 2006

A Ministry of Home Affairs source said the Swan Arr Shin took orders from the junta’s feared UnionSolidarity and Development Association (USDA). Basically, they are junta-backed thugs. They come fromanywhere, and are the unemployed underclass. Everywhere you go, there are groups and truckloads of

grubby- looking men looking bored and looking for a fight. Reuters, 28 August 2007

46. 13. Captain Myint Oo He ordered his soldiers to load their guns and aim at Aung San Suu Kyi who was walking down the streetalong with her followers in Danubyu during a campaign tour of the Irrawaddy. 5 April 1988

46. 14. Nyunt Oo, Secretary of Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA / Kyant Phoot)

HenzadaDuring Human Rights Defence and Promoters were brutally bashed and fatally attacked by a large group of USDA, Ya Ya Ka, SB, police and their family members wielding sticks and slingshots filled with metal

bolts; the leader Nyunt Oo on a walkie-talkie ordered his gang, “kill them.” 18 April 2007

46. 15. Gen Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, No. 5 in SPDC, Secretary-1 of the State Peace andDevelopment CouncilThe hardliner Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, bearer of the title Thiha Thura (Courageous as a Lion), became

Secretary One, in November 2007, after the death of Soe Win. According to The Indian Express, an Englishdaily newspaper, the Burmese junta’s quartermaster general, Thiha Thura Lt-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, who

oversees all military supplies to Burma’s armed forces, met his Indian counterpart Lt-Gen Sudhir Sharma

and Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen Deepak Kapoor. Tin Aung Myint Oo, reportedly requested for moresupplies of infantry weapons and ammunition in return for Burma’s help in flushing out Indian insurgents

holed up along the 1,600 km porous Indo-Burma border. The report said, the Burmese general’s “shoppinglist” included, “small arms like assault rifles, light machine guns and side arms.” thehellsgeneralsof

burma.blogspot.com, May 2008

46. 16. Gen Thein Sein, No. 4 in SPDC, Prime Minister, National Convention Chairman

He is the country’s fourth-highest ranking general, and also serves as the chairman of the government-sponsored National Convention Convening Commission. wikipedia.org

He told delegates the purpose is to install a disciplined democracy in Burma. He said, “This convention is

the first and most crucial step in the transition to democracy. There is no other way.” VOA, 19 January 2006

46. 17. U Nyunt Maung Shein, Ambassador / Permanent Representative and leader of the Burmese

Delegation, ILO conferences, Geneva, SwitzerlandThe Barbarian Diplomat is his nickname.

46. 18. Sr-Gen Than Shwe , No. 1 in SPDC, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council(SPDC / Na Ah Pha), Butcher of Buddhist Monks 2007



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At age 60, mandatory retirement age for army officers, he extended his tenure indefinitely, giving noindication that he will step down soon. He has stated publicly that it is the junta’s aim to eliminate the 7

million-strong Karen. In ten years all Karen will be dead. You will have to go to a museum in Rangoon tosee one. 1992

The code of ethics Shwe speaks of mandates habitual extortion, forced labor and the burning down of villages thought sympathetic to democratic ideas, or which are simply in the way. Richard, freesuukyi.org,

11 November 2006

Than Shwe is expected to retain absolute control of the country until his death. The Irrawaddy, November2006

Burma’s junta chief marked Armed Forces Day on Thursday by urging soldiers to “crush” anyoneattempting to destabilize the tightly controlled country. AP, 27 March 2008

46. 19. Lt-Gen Myint Swe , Rising Star in SPDC, chief of the Bureau of Special Operations 5 and MilitaryAffairs Security, member of the State Peace and Development Council, Christie Island Massacre 1998

Myint Swe’s role to ensure an outcome favourable to the junta is no different to that of another confidanteof Than Shwe, Maj-Gen Htay Oo, the secretary-general of the USDA. The latter organisation, which Than

Shwe founded in September 1993, has been given the lead role in the forthcoming referendum and thegeneral elections to be held in 2010. IPS, 4 May 2008

One box bore the name of Lieutenant General Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in boldletters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand”. independent.co.uk,

11 May 2008

46. 20. Lt-Gen Khin Maung Than, former Chief of Bureau of Special Operations 3 (Pegu, Rangoon,

Irrawaddy, Arakan), Ministry of Defence, member of the State Peace and Development Council, formerRangoon Commander

Lt-Gen Khin Maung Than’s daughter and her husband have forcibly confiscated 3,000 acres of paddy fields

in Irrawaddy division, according to locals. DVB, 7 February 2008

46. 21. Lt-Col / U Thaung, Minister of Science and Technology, Minister of LabourThe Ministry of Labour of Burma ‘s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),

officially notified the family of Win Lwin who was killed during a forced labour session that nocompensation would be forthcoming for his death. Win Lwin, from Ngapyin Village, Aunglan, Magwe incentral Burma, was killed in December 2004 while he was forced to work in the construction of Rangoon-

Magwe motorway. He was crushed to death by an avalanche of stones and pebbles. DVB, 15 August 2005In August and September 2005, the ILO office received 21 death threats cautioning it not to interfere with

the internal affairs of Burma. U Thaung, the junta Minister of Labor, also threatened that Burma wouldwithdraw from the organization. While ILO workers continued to conduct interviews of villagers, the junta

monitored all ILO visits. Throughout the year, there continued to be reports of harassment of those incontact with ILO representatives. US Concern over Burma Junta’s Reported Harassment of ILO, 29 October2005

On September 20, the former president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, and South African ArchbishopDesmond Tutu submitted their report to the United Nations Security Council, strongly urging it to act on the

situation immediately. U Thaung has forced the staff and most especially teachers and students from theComputer and Technology universities and colleges to send e-mails to international governments and media

groups refuting the report. South China Morning Post, 3 December 2005



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Four students, Sein Htay, Nay Sai Thu, Sein Than and Toe Thu Aung from Henzada, Irrawaddy in lower

Burma, had been expelled from their college for life, for paying homage to fallen Burmese national heroeson Martyrs’ Day. The students were expelled from their college by the order of U Thaung. BurmaNet News,

25 July 2006

46. 22. Col / U Aung Thaung, Minister of Industry-1

In a recent flamboyant address to villagers in Pyawbwe, Mandalay, he declared that should the US, Britain

or any other foreign force invade Burma he would fight to repel the aggressors. At the same meeting, hemade clear the anger he feels towards opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung Zaw, The Irrawaddy, June2007

About 50 students from Mandalay have been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in a hard labour camp,according to family members. A judicial official in Mandalay confirmed to DVB that the students had been

brought before the court and sentenced before being sent to Kabaw prison work camp in Sagaing. Orders forthe move were given to officials by the Minister of Industry (1), Aung Thaung. 4 October 2007

Aung Thaung has been accused by Burmese dissident groups of being one of the masterminds behind the2003 ambush of a convoy carrying democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Depayin, Sagaing Division in

northern Burma. Human rights groups estimate that about 100 Suu Kyi supporters were killed by pro-government thugs. Aung Thaung is also said to be one of the richest persons in Burma. His family runs atleast three companies—Aung Yee Phyo Co, IGE Co Ltd and Queen Star Co— which are gaining footholds

in oil, gas, agricultural products, timber and rice trading industries and the importation of computers andother electronic goods. The Irrawaddy, 15 October 2008

46. 23. U Aung Toe, Chief Justice, Vice-Chairman of National Convention Convening CommitteeNo guarantee of a fair public trial.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, DOB: Tuesday, 19 June 1945, native of Rangoon, survivor of Depayin Massacre30 May 2003, political prisoner 1989-95, 2000-02, 2003 + one-year extension November 2004 + six-month

extension November 2005 + one-year extension 27 May 2006 + one-year extension 25 May 2007 + one-

year extension 27 May 2008.

U Hkun Htun Oo, DOB: 11 September 1943, and 8 of his colleagues were detained and sentenced to long-term imprisonment from 79-106 years on 5 November 2005. One of them, Math Myint Than, died in

custody in Sandoway prison on 2 May 2006.

U Tin Oo , DOB: 12 March 1927, Retd. Gen., Chief of Staff and minister of defense (1974-76), monk,

survivor of Depayin Massacre 30 May 2003, political prisoner 1976-80 Insein prison, 1989-95 Inseinprison, 2003 + extended yearly on 13 February under house arrest, Vice Chairman of NLD, Committee

Representing People’s Parliament.

46. 24. U Min Tun, Shwedagon Pagoda Board of TrusteesHe banned prayer of political movement group at the Shwedagon Pagoda. November 2006

46. 25. U Thaung Tun, Burmese Ambassador to the PhilippinesHe told foreign correspondents in Makati that no discussion with NLD and CRPP, no freedom of Daw Suu,and ignorant of foreign pressure. August 2006

46. 26. Maj-Gen/U Nyan Win, Minister of Foreign Affairs, former Deputy Chief of Armed Forces

Training



Foreign Minister Nyan Win last week confirmed to his Southeast Asian counterparts that the military’s newconstitution would bar Aung San Suu Kyi from running in elections that have been slated for May. Channel

News Asia, 25 February 2008

46. 27. Maj-Gen Khin Yi, Police Chief, Burma Police ForceIgnoring the appeals from the international community and Burmese people, the special police haveextended the detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by another year. 25 May 2007

46. 28. Thura Kyaw Zwa, former chairman of Burma Socialist Program Party, SagaingHe was responsible for Sagaing Massacre 1988.

Democracy’s not perfect. I think you have to keep working at it. Unless my lifetime is unexpectedly short, I

certainly will see democracy come to Burma.Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, dassk.comBurma Compatriots

Citizens for Peace, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Stability, and ProsperityContact Info: [email protected]

Note: In honor of the strong will of the Burmese people, we would like to use the conventional English onlyin all of our documentations regarding Democracy for Burma.

crimes against humanity in burma

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