BurmaNet News, July 16, 2004

[Editor]

July 16, 2004, Issue # 2518


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: NLD Discusses National Convention

HEALTH / AIDS
AFP via Manila Times: UN: AIDS epidemic threatens Myanmar
Aljazeera.net: AIDS deaths threaten world economy
Network Media Group: Carrying condoms is a "crime" for Burmese women

BUSINESS / MONEY
Xinhua: Xinhua: Tourist arrivals in Myanmar up despite off season
Economist: Liberty and investment; Economic freedom
SHAN: Rice prices soar

REGIONAL
AP: Southeast Asian countries "must do more" to win Suu Kyi's release in
Myanmar, U.N. envoy says

OPINION / OTHER
Nation: Govt must protect Burmese, hill-tribe people

STATEMENT
M2 Presswire: In Bangkok, Secretary-General discusses Myanmar situation
with Thai Prime Minister, Foreign Minister


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

July 16, Irrawaddy
NLD Discusses National Convention

Several top members of Burma’s leading opposition party, the National
League for Democracy, or NLD, met on Thursday to discuss the National
Convention, tasked with drafting a new constitution, said the party’s
spokesman today.

Members of the NLD’s Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, or
CRPP, met yesterday at the NLD central office in Rangoon. Party leader
Aung San Suu Kyi and chairman Tin Oo, detained in their homes for over one
year, did not attend the meeting.

NLD spokesman, U Lwin, said the constitutional convention was discussed in
detail, but he did not elaborate. He added that the CRPP would meet again
to discuss the convention at an unspecified date.

The 10-member CRPP was formed on September 16, 1998 after the ruling
military government failed to respond to renewed calls to recognize the
result of 1990 election, in which the NLD won 80 percent of the seats.


HEALTH / AIDS
______________________________________

Jul. 16, AFP via Manila Times
UN: AIDS epidemic threatens Myanmar

Bangkok: AIDS threatens to career out of control in Myanmar with a health
infrastructure woefully inadequate to cope with the epidemic, the United
Nations said Thursday.

The military-ruled state is "one of the top three countries in Southeast
Asia in terms of infection prevalence," with up to 620,000 people aged 15
to 49 believed to be infected with HIV, said Eamonn Murphy, country
coordinator for UNAIDS.

The figure, from UN and national data, is a near 50 percent increase on
the estimated 420,000 cases two years ago, he said.

HIV prevalence in the population is at 2.0 percent, the UN said, driven by
20-30 percent infection rates of sex workers.

Nearly three-quarters of injecting drug users also test positive in some
areas.

"It's in crisis, and HIV is growing exponentially there," Murphy told
Agence France-Presse at the 15th International AIDS Conference gathering
in Bangkok.

"The response is also 10 years late in terms of scale-up when compared to
Thailand's response," he added.

Myanmar's neighbor saw infection rates rocket in the early 1990s, but
Thailand's frank public awareness campaigns and 100 percent condom-use
programs reversed the trend.

Yangon is relatively flush with aid money to fight AIDS, experts say, but
infrastructure problems and lack of hospital facilities are hampering the
country's ability to fight the disease.

A joint Fund for HIV/AIDS in Myanmar (FHM) has put together 42 million
dollars for AIDS prevention and treatment in 2003-2005.

The world's war chest to fight AIDS, the Global Fund, has also allotted 54
million dollars to the country, but sources say the money may not get used
because of western opposition to the junta.

The military regime has ruled the country since 1962 and critics, headed
by the European Union and the United States, have dismissed claims it is
heading towards a democracy as a sham.

But Murphy said the fight against the epidemic should not be hamstrung by
the political showdown.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's detained opposition leader, has also publicly
endorsed the country's anti-AIDS plans, he said.

Min Thwe, who heads the National AIDS Control Program in Myanmar, told the
conference his government is tackling the crisis.

Only 150 HIV-positive people countrywide are being treated with crucial
antiretroviral medicines, but Myanmar has targeted treatment for 2,000
people by the end of this year and 12,000 by late 2005, Min Thwe said.

______________________________________

July 12, Aljazeera.net
AIDS deaths threaten world economy

As many as 48 million workers may be killed by AIDS within the next six
years, and the toll could rise to 74 million by 2015, the UN has warned.

The terrible prediction, made by the UN's International Labour
Organisation (ILO) on Sunday, could inflict a body blow to national
economies.

The ILO published its analysis on the opening day of the 15th
International AIDS Conference, the top forum on the 23-year-old epidemic.

"HIV/AIDS is not only a human crisis, it is a threat to sustainable
global, social and economic development," ILO Director-General Juan
Somavia said.

"The loss of life and the debilitating effects of the illness will lead
not only to a reduced capacity to sustain production and employment,
reduce poverty and promote development, but will be a burden borne by all
societies, rich and poor alike."

Study findings

Their study, entitled HIV/AIDS and Work, Global Estimates, Impact and
Response, examines the effects of the disease in 50 countries.

Forty of them had an estimated prevalence of the human immunodeficiency
virus of more than two per cent in 2001; five were between 1.5 and 2.0 per
cent; and five were countries with an HIV-infected population of a million
or more.

Thirty-five were from sub-Saharan Africa; eight from Latin America and the
Caribbean, five were from Asia, and two were from developed countries.

"This loss in human capital is a direct threat to the Millennium
Development Goal of reducing poverty and promoting sustainable
development"

Franklyn Lisk,
director of ILO's AIDS programmes

As of today, about 36.5 million people of working age - defined as between
15 and 49 years - have the AIDS virus, the report said.

By 2005, the death toll of workers from AIDS since the disease was first
uncovered in 1981 will be as many as 28 million, the ILO said.

Predictions

Two million people of working age will be unable to work by next year,
compared with half a million in 1995.

Almost five million people of working age in Asia have HIV, the ILO said,
referring specifically to Cambodia, China, India, Myanmar and Thailand,
the five Asian countries included in the study.

"By causing the illness and death of workers, the HIV/AIDS epidemic
reduces the stock of skills and experience of the labour force," Franklyn
Lisk, director of the ILO's AIDS programmes.

"This loss in human capital is a direct threat to the Millennium
Development Goal of reducing poverty and promoting sustainable
development."

Comparison

The figures contrast with the toll issued last Tuesday by the UN agency
UNAIDS, which in a report that revised downwards its previous estimate of
2002 said "over 20 million" people of all ages had died of AIDS.

The ILO report said AIDS was already being felt in macroeconomic terms.

In countries where the impact was measurable, AIDS deaths among the
workforce clipped 0.2 per cent off the annual rate of growth of gross
domestic product between 1992-2002.

This was equivalent to $25bn a year.

______________________________________

July 15, Network Media Group
Carrying condoms is a "crime" for Burmese women - Low Htaw

Bangkok: Burmese women can be jailed for a maximum of three years if
military police find them carrying a condom, says Liz Hilton the
spokesperson of EMPOWER, a Thai organisation that supports and educates
sex workers.

Speaking from the Global Village, at the International AIDS Conference in
Bangkok, Hilton said that women in Burma are at risk -  regardless of
whether they are sex workers, domestic workers, or teachers. "What women
are saying is that the police assume any woman with a condom is a sex
worker. And the result is that many women in Burma are now too afraid to
carry condoms, in case the police arrest them".

Jamie Uhrig, a former employee of the World Health Organization (WHO) in
Burma, agrees that,  "It has become a crime for women to carry or sell
condoms. But even though men buy condoms it is not a crime for them."

"Two years ago, the government issued a law to legalize the use of condoms
but the problem is that only the police know this information. Women are
still unaware of it. And prostitution itself is still illegal. That is one
of the major problems."

Uhrig worked for two years in Burma on condom promotion, and harm
production for drug users, as well as people living with HIV. During that
time he says he learned a lot about condom law. "Burma still has many laws
from British colonial times and the British were very hard on
prostitution. They tried to suppress it in their own country and in the
country they ruled."

Now, according to Uhrig, some Burmese military intelligence are themselves
involved in the sex industry.

The Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) based on the Thai-Burma border says
that the number of sex workers in Burma is increasing, especially in Mon
state, southern Burma and Tavoy division. HIV is also increasing.

A sex worker from Yee township in Mon State told IMNA that condoms are
available where sex is for sale, but sometimes customers don't want to use
them, especially when they get drunk.

Liz Hilton says, "The SPDC ruling regime in Burma claims to be responsible
for the people. Part of that responsibility is providing health care. And
part of health care is providing protection from diseases like HIV. This
does not only mean providing condoms. It also means information.
Protection is about enabling people to take control, and being able to use
their rights".

Research has shown that HIV is on the increase in Burma. But no one can be
sure how much it is increasing. There is a discrepancy between official
statistics and those issued by international organizations and activists.

The UN's 2004 Global AIDS Report estimates that 330,000 people are
infected with HIV/AIDS in Burma. Government statistics put the infection
rate at just over 50% of that figure.

As the statistic shows that highest way of the HIV transmission is from
sex, everybody including woman should have the rights to carry condoms.


BUSINESS
______________________________________

July 16, Xinhua News Service
Tourist arrivals in Myanmar up despite off season

Yangon: A total of 133,990 foreign tourists visited Myanmar by air during
the off season of the first quarter (April to June) of the present fiscal
year 2004-05, up by 22.8 percent compared with the same period of the last
fiscal year, a local news journal reported in this week's issue.

Of the tourists, most came on independent tours with Thai, Chinese and
Europeans accounting for the majority, the 7day quoted the Ministry of
Hotels and Tourism as saying.

The ministry attributed the rise of tourists in the dull season to
increased airlines flying Myanmar with reasonable spending in the country.

The report expected better prospects to come in the open season starting
October.

There are two joint-venture international carriers in Myanmar and foreign
airlines that link Yangon total about a dozen. One more new joint-venture
Myanmar international airline is to be launched soon to reinforce the
country's international air transportation.

Official statistics show that tourist arrivals in Myanmar by air stood at
205,610 in 2003, while the number of cross-border travelers totaling
nearly 600,000 during the year.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has also launched tourism promotional campaigns in some
Asian nations including Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and India to boost
tourist arrivals.

______________________________________

July 17, The Economist
Liberty and investment; Economic freedom

The Fraser Institute's annual report

The Fraser Institute reiterates the value of economic freedom

WHY do some countries feast, while others live with famine? Some
economists explain the gap in terms of technological progress, or a lack
of it. Others point to the distribution of income. Still others note the
correlation between poverty and tropical climes, and ask whether
energy-sapping heat and disease conspire against the accumulation of
wealth. However, according to this year's "Economic Freedom of the World"
report by the Fraser Institute, a liberal-minded Canadian think-tank, all
these explanations are inadequate.

The report measures countries' promotion of "economic freedom"—defined by
low taxes, protection of private property, freedom of contract, free trade
and monetary stability—on a scale from zero to ten. This year's league
table, which ranks 123 countries, uses data from 2002, the latest
available. The usual names are at the top. Hong Kong is again reckoned to
be the most economically (if not politically) free place on earth,
followed by Singapore. America, Britain and New Zealand share third place.
Near the bottom are some political as well as economic basket-cases:
Venezuela under Hugo Chávez, junta-run Myanmar and Robert Mugabe's
Zimbabwe. Keen investors in Russia will be chagrined to learn that the
country ranks just above Congo-Brazzaville. (North Korea and Cuba are not
included, for want of data.)

Since 1980, the average economic-freedom score has risen from 5.1 to 6.5.
Sounder monetary policies (and hence low inflation) are one reason. Only
15 of the 104 countries surveyed in both years had double-digit rates of
consumer-price inflation in 2002, compared with 76 in 1980. Second,
governments have made their marginal tax rates less painful. In 2002, no
country in the survey had a marginal personal-income-tax rate of 60% or
more. In 1980, 49 countries did. And financial and foreign-exchange
markets are freer. In 1980, 36 countries saw black-market exchange-rate
premiums of 25% or more, a sure sign that the currency market is rigged.
By 2002, only four countries suffered in this way.

Economic freedom, argues the report, does much to foster the investment
poor countries urgently need if they are to grow. James Gwartney and
Robert Lawson, its authors, have found that the freest 20% of countries
invest around $11,000 per worker, more than 12 times the figure for the
least free 20%.

The effects of economic freedom on coveted foreign direct investment (FDI)
are even stronger. The freest fifth of countries attracted over $3,000 of
FDI per worker, against $68 for the least free fifth. Moreover, freer
countries make better use of what they have: the authors estimate that
investment is 70% more productive in the most free countries than in the
least free.

This translates into faster GDP growth (see chart). After adjustment for
differences in initial income, climate, the proportion of people near
coastlines and human capital, countries with a freedom score below five
saw growth of less than 0.4% a year, on average, between 1980 and 2000.
Those scoring more than seven clocked up 3.4%. Economic freedom, it seems,
can take you a long way.

______________________________________

July 16, Shan Herald Agency for News
Rice prices soar

Paddy prices that had plunged to 600 kyat per basket early this year
following an abrupt announcement of a 6-month export ban, effective since
1 January have taken a rocketing U-turn starting this month, said traders
from Kengtung, the capital of eastern Shan State.

"We have received an order to purchase 50,000 baskets (1 basket=54 liters)
from the authorities," said a rice trader who is on a visit in Tachilek.
"Official permission has been given to export rice as well."

The withdrawal of the ban has pushed the prices up to 5,000 kyat per
basket (100 kyat = 4.2 baht), he added.

The reason for the ban was, according to his explanation, the Army's worry
that its units would not be able to purchase enough rice at low prices.
"At the time, farmers were not permitted even to move their paddy to
neighboring villages," he said.

On 23 April 2003, Lt-Gen Soe Win, then Secretary #2, announced scrapping
of its 40 year old compulsory paddy procurement policy and a new policy
which transferred the whole business to the private sector.


REGIONAL
______________________________________

July 16, Associated Press
Southeast Asian countries "must do more" to win Suu Kyi's release in
Myanmar, U.N. envoy says - Jasbant Singh

Kuala Lumpur: Southeast Asian countries should do more to pressure
Myanmar's military regime to restore democracy and free Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from detention, the U.N.'s special envoy to
Myanmar said Friday.

Razali Ismail's comments come as the United Nations steps up pressure on
Myanmar's fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to
do more to speed up democratic reforms the junta has promised to carry out
but that appear to be languishing.

"The responsibility of the continuing situation (in Myanmar) more and more
is beginning to rest on the shoulders of the countries in the region,"
Razali told reporters Friday. "There will be no change in Myanmar unless
and until the countries ... accept that responsibility."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan made similar remarks in a statement
issued during a visit to Bangkok this week.

Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, has for four years tried to end the
political standoff in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The pace of progress
has been glacial, and suffered a big set back a year ago when Suu Kyi was
arrested amid clashes between her supporters and the regime's.

Suu Kyi's detention - she is now under house arrest - prompted
international outrage and a new round of sanctions against the regime,
which insists she will be released when it is safe to do so and that an
ongoing national convention that could lead to elections shows that its
reform agenda is on track. Suu Kyi's party has boycotted the convention
because she is detained.

The issue of Myanmar has spilled over and is now causing wider problems
between Asia and the outside world.

A summit of European and Asian leaders planned for October in Vietnam is
in doubt because the European Union doesn't want Myanmar to take part, and
ASEAN members insist it should be allowed to.

Malaysia helped Myanmar to join ASEAN in 1997, arguing that a policy of
"constructive engagement" would be more successful than international
isolation. But senior officials have started showing signs of frustration
at the lack of progress and the threat to the Asia-Europe meeting.

"We cannot allow Myanmar to be an obstacle that stops us from sitting down
(with European leaders) and achieving much more," Prime Minister Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Razali said the problem of Myanmar "is already impacting on the interests
of ASEAN" and said member governments "must do much more, and it must be
effective."

Razali did not say what measures ASEAN countries should take to bring
about Suu Kyi's release.

Razali said the junta has not told him when he would be allowed to visit
Myanmar again.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. In 1991, Suu Kyi's party
overwhelming won elections, but the military refused to give up power.


OPINION / OTHER
______________________________________

July 16, The Nation
Govt must protect Burmese, hill-tribe people - Dr Chris Beyrer

Thailand's discriminatory treatment of minorities is putting hundreds of
thousands of people at far greater risk of contracting HIV/Aids

The Thai government's corrupt and discriminatory law enforcement and its
failure to protect human rights have permitted the ongoing violence
towards and exploitation and trafficking, sometimes by the authorities
themselves, of Burmese migrant and hill-tribe women and girls, elevating
their risk of HIV/Aids and virtually assuring that HIV/Aids will continue
to be a problem for Thailand.

At the opening of the XV International Aids Conference ('Access for All'),
Prime Minister Thaksin made a welcome pledge to provide life-saving Aids
treatment drugs to all who are living with Aids in Thailand.

The country has entered into a new trade pact that will allow
approximately 64,000 Thais to be treated for the virus. But the lack of
legal status for Burmese migrant and hill-tribe women and girls has
resulted in discrimination and exploitation, a lack of personal security
and an inability to access healthcare and other services. Traffickers,
acting in collusion with corrupt officials, operate with impunity in
exploiting these groups.

If a population this large can't even access the most basic healthcare
services, how can Thailand mount a successful campaign against HIV/Aids'

Hundreds of thousands of Burmese women and girls, many of them
undocumented migrants, lack the most basic rights and access to services,
face serious discrimination and are subject to the threat of deportation
to Burma. Women and girls endure dangerous work conditions without safety
precautions.

They receive low or no pay, are subject to having essential documentation
confiscated by employers, are forced to work many hours without rest,
subsist in inadequate sanitary and living conditions, are confined,
physically and sexually abused and sexually harassed by employers and
their agents. Discriminatory denial of care and treatment virtually
condemns them to quickly die from Aids.

Similarly, many hill-tribe women, though born in Thailand, are denied full
citizenship rights. They cannot register births or marriages, are denied
opportunities for education and work, cannot access public healthcare
services or reproductive healthcare services through the universal Bt30
healthcare plan and are restricted in their freedom of movement.

Because of the denial of legal status and its protections, both hill-tribe
members and Burmese migrants routinely experience ill treatment from
employers, the authorities and members of the majority Thai community.
Women and girls are exposed to sexual harassment and abuse, rape,
unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortions.

These additional risks and human rights violations are factors in HIV
transmission and thus increase the likelihood that hill-tribe and Burmese
women and girls will become infected with HIV. Given the absence of
treatment, most will likely develop Aids.

The general exploitation of hill-tribe and Burmese women and girls is
routinely aided and abetted by police harassment, which is a daily reality
for all migrants.

There are solutions. The government of Thailand should prosecute and
punish those who commit crimes, including human trafficking. It should
provide temporary worker status through worker registration, which is the
only means to safely and affordably access the Thai public health system.

And it must improve health services and HIV/Aids programmes for Burmese
migrants and hill-tribe members, in particular women and girls.

Citizenship for hill-tribe women and girls and worker, birth, and resident
registration for their Burmese counterparts could open up safer work
opportunities, higher wages and access to education and healthcare.

It could also help to reduce the number of Burmese and hill-tribe women
and girls entering situations of forced labour and the commercial sex
industry, whether by force or desperate choice.

The Thai government needs to act on the commitment made this week and show
the world that 'access for all' means just that, and not only for HIV/Aids
prevention, care and treatment, but all services needed to protect the
fundamental human rights and dignity people deserve.

Dr Chris Beyrer is a consultant for Physicians for Human Rights and
co-author of a recently released report called 'No Status: Migration,
Trafficking & Exploitation of Women in Thailand'.


STATEMENT
______________________________________

July 16, M2 Presswire
In Bangkok, Secretary-General discusses Myanmar situation with Thai Prime
Minister, Foreign Minister

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for
Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

While in Bangkok for the fifteenth International Conference on HIV/AIDS
and on an official visit to Thailand earlier this week, the
Secretary-General exchanged views with Prime Minister Thaksin Sinawatra,
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, and representatives of other
nations, on the situation in Myanmar.

In his discussions with the Thai leaders, the Secretary-General
underscored the role and responsibility of the countries of the region in
helping to accelerate the process of democratization and national
reconciliation in Myanmar, beginning with the release of Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi.

To that end, he emphasized the need to engage constructively with
Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council.

The Secretary-General also discussed the possibility of holding
international consultations on Myanmar and supported the Bangkok Process
as one format in which they could be conducted. He welcomed the support of
Thailand and others for the continuing role of his Special Envoy, and for
the necessity of his returning to Myanmar as soon as possible to continue
his facilitation efforts.