News & Articles on Burma, Sunday, 19 July 2009
Jul 19th, 2009
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The 62nd Anniversary Martyrs’ Day
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Junta Arrests 50 People on Martyrs Day
Human Rights Questions Arise at Asean Meeting
Myanmar detains dozens of opposition members
Security tight in Burma on martyr’s day
Myanmar junta detains Martyr’s Day marchers
Myanmar’s narrow view of storm recovery
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Junta Arrests 50 People on Martyrs Day
By WAI MOE Sunday, July 19, 2009
Fifty Burmese pro-democracy activists were arrested on Sunday while marching in Rangoon to pay respect to Burma’s independence heroes on Martyr’s Day.
“At about 11 a.m. this morning, 50 activists were arrested near the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Rangoon,” said a source close to the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). “Not only NLD members but also other activists, who are not NLD members, were among those arrested.”
Supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi look on just prior to being arrested by Burmese soldiers following a Martyr’s Day ceremony in Rangoon. (Photo: AP)
“On the way to the Martyr Monument, there is a police checkpoint,” said a reporter in Rangoon. “The checkpoint only allows invited people and journalists. Without permission, nobody could enter the monument.”
Rangoon sources said Burmese authorities had tight security around the monument and the Shwedagon Pagoda near the mausoleum. Security forces questioned people were cameras.
The NLD held a Martyr Day ceremony at its headquarter in Rangoon which was monitored by authorities. An estimated 1,000 soldiers, riot police and officers in civilian clothes were stationed near the NLD office.
Sunday was the 62th Martyrs Day in Burma, recognizing the assassination of the nation’s independence hero, Aung San, and his key cabinet members on July 19, 1947.
The arrests in Burma could pose an issue at the Asean Ministerial Meeting now underway in Phuket, Thailand. On Monday, Asean foreign ministers are scheduled to adopt the Terms of Reference of the Asean Human Rights Body.
Since the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protestors across the country, Martyrs Day has become a kind of a political confrontation ground between security forces and pro-democracy activists.
Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, is currently on trial in the infamous Insein Prison in Rangoon. She donated food to ill inmates in the prison hospital on Saturday, according to her lawyer.
Irrawaddy correspondent Kyi Wai contributed reporting to this story from Rangoon.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
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Human Rights Questions Arise at Asean Meeting
By WAI MOE Sunday, July 19, 2009
PHUKET, Thailand — Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are expected to approve the Asean Human Rights Body (AHRB) ’s Terms of Reference (ToR) during their meeting, which began on Sunday and ends Tuesday, prior to a meeting of the full Asean grouping.
However, the process has already illustrated the difficulty the regional body will face while trying to foster human rights protection in Asia.
The terms of reference of the rights body have been drafted as part of Article 14 of the Asean Charter which came into effect in December 2008.
After approval by the foreign ministers, the rights body will be officially announced at the upcoming 15th Asean Summit in Thailand.
Key Asean members have said they would like to see the formation of the rights body before Vietnam takes the Asean chairmanship next year.
The difficulty of crafting the language in the human rights section was highlighted by the parsing of the wording in the body’s fundamental purpose.
The terms of reference state that its purpose is “to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedom” of Asean citizens.
Sources said some Asean countries disagreed with an earlier phrasing of “protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedom” for Asean people, and the “promote and protect” phrase was substituted.
Some human rights groups said they are skeptical of the AHRB’s accountability and argued that protecting human rights must come before promoting.
“The ToR [of AHRB] should include the very essence and bare minimum international standards of a regional human rights protection mechanism: the protection mandate and the independence of the body,” said the Asean People’s Forum of Civil Society in a press release on Friday.
“Unfortunately, these two elements have been missing in the ToR. Ignoring these flaws will leave the people of Asean more defenseless in the face of already existing and widespread human rights violations,” the statement said.
Rights groups say some Asean-member countries such as military-ruled Burma are now committing human rights violations and engaged in armed conflicts that currently threaten the peace, dignity and prosperity of Asean people.
“Burmese ethnic women are often raped by Burmese troops during military offensives in eastern Burma,” said Htoo Phaw, an activist with the Karen Women’s Organization.
“If the Asean rights body could not deter human rights violations in Burma, how could it be a real human rights body?” she asked.
The formation of the Asean rights body faced a huge challenge from Burma in May when the Burmese junta arrested and put on trial pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for violating the terms of her house arrest, causing a firestorm of international protests and calls for her release.
As the current chair of Asean, Thailand issued a statement on May 19 calling for the immediate release of Suu Kyi and saying Burma, as a member of Asean, had the responsibility to “protect and promote human rights.”
The Burmese regime angrily responded that Thailand’s statement was interference in its internal affairs.
“Some neighboring nations were unreasonably interested in the hearing of the case,” said Maung Myint, the Burmese deputy foreign minister at the Asean-EU meeting in Phnom Penh in May.
The final argument of Suu Kyi’s trial is expected on July 24, a day after the conclusion of the Asean Regional Forum. Analysts said the junta had selected the day as a way to ensure the final verdict would not be announced while the Asean meeting was underway.
The official Asean meeting will involve 27 countries including the United States and the European Union. The US and EU are expected to raise the Burma issue.
Some Burmese pro-democracy activists are worried that the US administration’s policy on Burma could be too soft for the Burmese regime. The Obama administration is now engaged in a policy review on Burma.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is now in India and will attend the full Asean meeting where she is expected to raise the Burma issue. It is not known if Clinton discussed Burma with Indian officials.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
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Associated Press
Myanmar detains dozens of opposition members
Associated Press, 07.19.09, 04:10 AM EDT
YANGON, Myanmar — Authorities in military-run Myanmar detained dozens of opposition party members Sunday as they returned from ceremonies marking the death of the father of jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses said.
The arrests came after riot police set up barricades around the Martyr’s Mausoleum where the official ceremony took place to commemorate the death of Gen. Aung San, the country’s independence hero.
At least 50 members of the opposition National League for Democracy party were walking in small groups when they were arrested, witnesses said on condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal.
It was not immediately clear why police detained them.
Some of the NLD members had been attending a ceremony at party headquarters to mark Gen. Aung San’s death 62 years ago, while others had been at the official commemoration.
“Some members were roughly taken into trucks, and those who ran away were chased,” a witness said. Some who ran onto public buses were dragged out and taken away.
Gen. Aung San and other government leaders were assassinated by gunmen during a Cabinet meeting on July 19, 1947, shortly after Britain granted independence to the Southeast Asian colony.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi marked the anniversary of her father’s death inside Yangon’s Insein prison. She is on trial on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest by giving shelter to an uninvited American man who swam to her lakeside home in May.
If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. Her trial is to resume Friday.
Earlier Sunday, hundreds of riot police erected barricades secured with barbed wire and blocked streets leading to the Martyr’s Mausoleum. More than two dozen trucks carrying riot police and four prison vans were parked near the monument, located near the famed Shwedagon pagoda.
Flags were flown at half-staff at the mausoleum as officials placed flowers at the tomb, and families of the slain leaders joined the tightly guarded wreath-laying ceremony.
Suu Kyi, 64, who used to attend the official ceremony, was absent for a sixth consecutive year and instead marked the day by donating food to patients at the hospital inside the prison, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for her party.
Martyr’s Day was an important event on Myanmar’s calendar for years, but has been gradually downgraded as Suu Kyi has become more popular, particularly since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was crushed by the junta.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962.
Suu Kyi has been under detention for 14 of the past 20 years. Her opposition party won national elections in 1990, but Myanmar’s generals refused to relinquish power.
Her trial has drawn condemnation from the international community and her supporters within Myanmar, who worry that the ruling junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through elections planned for next year.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
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Security tight in Burma on martyr’s day
Sunday, July 19, 2009 – 10:25 AM
Burma’s military rulers tightened security in Yangon today as officials gathered to commemorate the death, 62 years ago, of the father of jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Burma’s independence hero General Aung San and other government leaders were assassinated by gunmen during a Cabinet meeting on July 19, 1947, shortly after Burma gained independence from Britain.
Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi marked the anniversary of her father’s death inside Yangon’s notorious Insein prison. The 64-year-old is on trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest by giving shelter to an uninvited American man who swam secretly to her lakeside home in May.
If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. Her trial resumes on Friday.
Hundreds of riot police erected barricades secured with barbed wire and blocked streets leading to the Martyr’s Mausoleum. More than two dozens trucks carrying riot police and four prison vans were parked near the monument located near the famed Shwedagon pagoda.
Flags were flown at half-mast in the capital as Yangon officials placed flowers at the tomb, and families of slain leaders joined the tightly guarded wreath-laying ceremony.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who usually attended the official ceremony, was absent for the sixth consecutive year, marking the day by donating food to patients at the hospital inside the prison, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party, and one of her lawyers.
Martyr’s Day was an important event on Burma’s calendar for years, but has been gradually downgraded as Suu Kyi has become more popular, particularly since a 1988 pro-democracy uprising that was crushed by the junta.
Burma, has been under military rule since 1962.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. Her opposition party won national elections in 1990, but Burma’s generals refused to relinquish power.
Her trial has drawn condemnation from the international community and her supporters within Burma, who worry the ruling junta has found an excuse to keep her detained through elections planned for next year.
Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/
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Myanmar junta detains Martyr’s Day marchers - Summary
Posted : Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:35:43 GMT
Author : DPA
Yangon – Myanmar’s ruling junta on Sunday briefly detained 21 pro-democracy activists Sunday who were marching to commemorate Martyr’s Day, which honours among others the father of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, witnesses and security sources said. Despite tight police security, about 30 pro-democracy activists marched to the Martyr’s Mausoleum Sunday morning to commemorate the July 19, 1947 assassinations of Aung San and 10 other independence heroes.
Police detained 21 of the marchers, including Naw Ohn Hla, a former member of the National League for Democracy opposition party, who was wearing a T-shirt with Aung San’s picture on it, security sources said. They were released after questioning.
Three journalists had their camera confiscated for attempting the film the march, witnesses said.
The equipment was later returned.
Martyr’s Day is a national holiday commemorating the assassination of Myanmar independence hero Aung San, his brother Ba Win, six cabinet ministers and three others on the orders of rival politician U Saw.
Myanmar’s junta last year downgraded it from a national-level ceremony hosted by the Culture Minister to a Yangon municipal event in an apparent effort to diminish the memory of Aung San, the father of Suu Kyi, who has become a symbol of the opposition National League for Democracy opposition party.
This year’s 62nd anniversary of Martyr’s Day was hosted by Yangon City Mayor Brig Gen Aung Thein Lin with no senior generals or diplomats in attendance.
“No diplomats were invited to attend this year. We invited some government officials, non-governmental organizations, social organizations and relatives of fallen leaders,” an official who requested anonymity said. http://www.earthtimes.org/
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Myanmar’s narrow view of storm recovery
Regime limits what U.N. visitors see
By John Heilprin
Associated Press
Updated: 07/18/2009 08:54:10 PM CDT
KYON DA VILLAGE, Myanmar — As the U.N. helicopter skimmed above the placid Irrawaddy Delta, Myanmar’s military junta was putting the final touches on its showcase village.
Throngs of people lined the muddy walkways of Kyon Da Village, a relief camp erected in this cyclone-hit area, while others stayed in their homes — neat rows of small houses made out of dried palm and matted bamboo.
The new houses on stilts replaced the plastic tents and stacks of supplies put on display for visitors a year earlier, after Cyclone Nargis devastated the delta in May 2008.
For the early July visit by U.N. officials, some villagers smiled, and their kids sported freshly starched and ironed white linen garments. Many of the women and children wore Thanaka, a cosmetic used by Burmese women for 2,000 years — golden-colored tree bark that is ground, made into paint and used to draw circles on the cheeks and even their ears.
About 1,000 homes collapsed and more than 100 people died in Kyon Da when the cyclone struck.
The angry waters that swallowed 138,000 lives in the cyclone have receded. Seen from above, where there had been a monolith of shimmering water was now a patchwork of rice field and border, river and shoreline, muddy pond and gray cloud.
Gone were the endless stretches of flooded rice fields and islands of destroyed homes with a few people standing on the rooftops. It affected more than 2 million, leaving a quarter-million homeless.
The biggest health threats remain HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, according to the International Organization for Migration, which began partnering with Myanmar’s government in 2005. In the past year IOM-led medical teams treated 110,613 people in 858 of the affected villages.
Local medical officials in Kyon Da Village began to explain to a reporter how the clinics were all busy, with the village and the broader Irrawaddy Delta region suffering from a high number of respiratory infections.
But after government minders began listening in, the medical officials suddenly seemed to lose their ability to speak English. End of conversation.
Residents spoke of some improved health conditions — fewer cases of diarrhea and several new clinics nearby. Some other improvements were obvious, but this was the camp that the xenophobic junta that rules Myanmar, also known as Burma, wanted the world to see.
“Clearly, they are living in their own world,” a senior U.N. official along for the village inspection said of Myanmar’s ruling junta, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid angering authorities.
Many Western nations haven’t fully opened their wallets to the U.N.’s three-year, $691 million recovery plan, lacking trust in Myanmar or not wanting to provide too much help to an authoritarian regime, a senior U.N. humanitarian official said on condition of anonymity to protect his relationship with Myanmar authorities.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first trip to Myanmar more than a year earlier helped overcome the reluctance for which the junta was widely condemned in granting foreign aid agencies access in the first weeks after the disaster, which almost certainly added to the death toll.
But to focus on securing cooperation from Myanmar’s government with various humanitarian agencies, Ban dropped any appeals to the ruling generals to improve their human rights’ record or to release jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners.
Ban’s visit was meant to make up for that. He held two rare meetings with the junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, but was not allowed to see the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has been detained by the ruling generals for nearly 14 of the past 20 years.
Suu Kyi is now on trial, charged with violating her house arrest, and faces five years in prison if convicted in a trial that has sparked global outrage.
On a brief visit to Kyon Da Village carefully scripted by Myanmar’s government, the U.N. chief was haunted by the memory of a baby girl he encountered here a year ago. “She was only one day old,” Ban mused aloud.
He had seen the mother living in a tent with the girl, hours after her birth. He’d seen another girl, too, just 19 days old, sick and clinging to life, but lacking medical support. He’d told the mothers not to lose hope, the United Nations was there to help.
But the U.N.’s World Food Program, which has operated in Myanmar for 15 years, still cannot muster 44 percent of the $79 million it says is needed over three years. The World Health Organization still lacks 57 percent of $42 million in projected needs for 325 townships.
Ban wasn’t able to determine the whereabouts of those fledgling lives he’d seen the year before. Instead, he and his entourage — top aides and two journalists — got a snapshot that showed some improvements while masking remaining problems.
Ban, who carried the same message as last year that the U.N. was there to help and keep hope alive, said he was satisfied “the government has taken necessary measures.”
Nearly a quarter-million people in remote villages rely on boat deliveries of clean drinking water, rice fields remain bare or contaminated with salt from the floodwaters, and food handouts are increasingly scarce.
Schools are rebuilt but short of teachers, and a half-million people still live in the most basic of shelters. http://www.twincities.com/
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