Report
The Repression of Ethnic Minority Activists in Myanmar
16 February 2010 ... Myanmar’s ethnic minorities have played an integral role in much of the political opposition against the government’s repressive conduct. Myanmar’s government has exacted a heavy price from peaceful critics from ethnic minorities: among other violations, arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial executions of activists are documented. With the 2010 elections looming, and the government’s intolerance of any group challenging its legitimacy, policies, and practices increasing, Amnesty International is concerned that the country’s ethnic minorities will suffer even worse violations.
The last time the country’s military government held general elections, in May 1990, it was defeated by the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a coalition of smaller opposition parties seeking to represent the country’s sizeable population of different ethnic minorities. The authorities responded by ignoring the election results and arresting scores of opposition leaders and parliamentarians.
Photo Credit: Boat with ‘NO’ (to the 2008 draft Constitution) in Kayah State, Myanmar, May 2008.
Human Rights in Myanmar: Overview
Political developments:
With the expiry of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest November 13, the November 7 elections (the first since 1990), the convening of the two-chamber national parliament (the first since 1988) on January 31, 2011, and the formation of the supposedly civilian government, Myanmar politics might appear transformed. Whatever the political reality – and at this early stage that remains unclear – the human rights situation has not changed.
Amnesty International welcomed the expiry of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest but noted she should never have been held in the first place. There remain also over 2,100 political prisoners currently held, the vast majority of which are prisoners of conscience punished merely for peacefully exercising their rights to free expression, assembly and association. Amnesty International considers the 2010 election compromised, not credible, failing to meet international standards, and the new Constitution deeply flawed.
Elections 2010:
Amnesty International has described the Myanmar government’s attacks on freedom of expression, assembly and association as compromising the country’s first elections in 20 years. The authorities introduced several new laws and directives restricting free speech and criticism of the government; banning those in detention or previously convicted by a court from participating; requiring all parties to pledge to uphold the new constitution; prohibiting political parties from boycotting the elections; and cracking down on internal calls for the release of the estimated 2,100 political prisoners.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) and several other opposition parties refused to participate and were deregistered as political parties; other opposition parties proceeded to campaign and seek election. Amid reports of intimidation, harassment, bribery, vote rigging and other election abuses, the pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) was returned, winning some 76% of seats.
The New Constitution:
Amnesty International considers the new constitution, approved by referendum in May 2008, to be deeply flawed. It fails to respect and protect human rights and is the product of a flawed drafting process lasting 14 years. Amnesty International is particularly concerned that, rather than attempting to introduce the rule of law and respect for human rights, the constitutional process sought to perpetuate and legitimize the government’s continuing human rights abuses and ensure impunity for past, present and future violations.
The new constitution is flawed because:
- it lacks provision for freedom of expression, association and assembly
- it lacks provision for freedom from torture and other ill-treatment
- it lacks crucial fair trial safeguards
- it grants the armed forces chief powers to outrank the President, including the assumption of power in times the armed forces chief considers “times of emergency”
- it reserves 25% of seats (national and state) for the military
- t makes the President unanswerable to any court or parliament in exercising his duties
- it grants impunity from prosecution for human rights violations to all those “who officially carried out their duties according to their responsibilities” during the period of the military governments.
Because of these and other elements in the new constitution, Amnesty International calls for the constitution to be reformed or replaced, through a transparent, intimidation-free process, with a draft constitution that fully protects international human rights.
New laws announced in November 2010 impose severe restrictions on the conduct of members of parliament, including freedom of expression if it be judged to jeopardise national security or the unity of the country.
Longstanding human rights concerns:
- arbitrary arrests of political activists and anyone critical of the government
- torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, particularly during interrogation
- grossly unfair trials, often held inside prisons and lacking defence counsel
- extremely harsh sentences served in prisons remote from the prisoner’s family
- prison conditions that fails to meet international standards
- forced labour, particularly infrastructure work, enforced guard duties, portering for the military, violence against women and military recruitment of child soldiers
- repression of and discrimination against ethnic nationalities (in 2008 Amnesty International described the human rights violations committed by the military against Karens in eastern Myanmar as so grave, systematic and targeting primarily the civilian population as to constitute crimes against humanity and has called for a Commission of Inquiry).
Myanmar’s ethnic minorities are particularly subject to serious human rights violations:
Amnesty International’s report, The Repression of ethnic minority activists in Myanmar (February 2010) describes arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, torture and extra-judicial killings and, at the very least, extensive surveillance, harassment and discrimination. Ethnic minorities face widespread and systematic human rights violations, such as forced displacement, forced labour, confiscation of land and crops, or persecution for their religious beliefs. In the military’s concerted offensives against various armed ethnic groups, the civilian population has been seriously affected and large numbers displaced. In late 2010 the military intensified its offensives after the Karen and Wa armed ethnic groups refused to join the Border Guard Force under military control.
UN Universal Periodic Review:
Each UN member country undergoes once every four years a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council. Myanmar’s UPR is scheduled for January 2011. In its submission (see sidebar) Amnesty International calls for, inter alia:
- protection of human rights in Myanmar’s legislation, including the repeal or amendment of various domestic legislation, in particular the 2008 Constitution and laws used to suppress peaceful political dissent and assembly
- removal of restrictions on freedom of expression
- release of all political prisoners arrested solely for their peaceful political activity, ethnicity or religion
- trial procedures which conform to international fair trial standards
- improved conditions in all prisons and detention camps and unrestricted access for independent human rights monitors
- immediate halt to all violations of human rights and humanitarian law, including extrajudicial executions, torture and forced labour, and crimes against humanity, ensuring prompt, independent and impartial investigation and bringing those suspected of such acts to justice
- a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.
Updated February 2011