BurmaNet News October 9-12, 2004

[Editor]

October 9-11, 2004, Issue # 2577

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Mon splinter group under pressure

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: UN says Burma’s opium output
The Bangkok Post: Drug War; Humanitarian assistance 'not enough'
AP: Record heroin seized in Myanmar was bound for United States

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: EU agree on new, tighter sanctions against Burma
The Guardian: Asia's inertia buoys Burma's military junta
Reuters: EU Myanmar sanctions pointless, Suu Kyi's NLD says
FT: EU dilutes sanctions plan on Burma
Third Sector: Air Rage

OPINION / OTHER
Washington Post: Nobel Detainee

PRESS RELEASE
Tin Moe given the Prince Claus Award for Literature

APPEAL
Asian Human Rights Commission

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 12, Irrawaddy
Mon splinter group under pressure

The Hongsawatoi Restoration Party, or HRP, a small Mon splinter group that
continued fighting Burma’s central government after the New Mon State
Party signed a ceasefire with Rangoon three years ago, is under pressure
to surrender its arms, said an HRP spokesman today.

Nai Kon Chan Nai, speaking by telephone from the Thai-Burma border, said
Thailand’s National Security Council is pushing the HRP to surrender to
Rangoon and to return to the Burmese side of the border. HRP leader Col
Pan Nyunt and his wife are recuperating from wounds sustained during an
assault on the party’s camp near the border, in a hospital in the Thai
province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, which abuts Burma.

The spokesman said Thai authorities told HRP officials that Pan Nyunt, his
wife and armed HRP soldiers would be sent back to Burma but he did not
know when. He also said that he fears for the safety of the party members
if they are forced back to Burma, and added: “We will have to hold
ceasefire negotiations with the military government and [the Thai
government] said it would guarantee our safety.”

He also said that the ceasefire negotiations should be based on “mutual
respect” and held on “neutral ground”.

A Thai National Security Council officer is scheduled to meet Pan Nyunt
some time this week, the spokesman said.

Sources close to the HRP said that former New Mon State Party member Nai
Soe Nyunt recently tried to persuade Pan Nyunt to make peace with Rangoon,
but that his efforts were rebuffed. Nai Soe Nyunt was an economics
official in the NMSP but now lives in Rangoon.

On September 18, soldiers from the Karen National Union and a local armed
Muslim group ambushed the HRP headquarters, reportedly because the HRP had
been collecting tax in Karen-controlled territory. The attack killed Pan
Nyunt’s five children and two HRP soldiers.

The HRP, which broke away from the NMSP in November 2001, has about 100
members who are scattered along the border.

Last March, 14 HRP members were reported to have been killed by Karen
soldiers near Minhla village, about 10 miles northeast of the Mon State
city of Ye.

____________________________________
DRUGS

October 12, Irrawaddy
UN says Burma’s opium output

AP: Drug officials from the UN and local agencies said on Monday that
opium production in Burma is expected to fall by 50 percent this year
because of bad weather, police crackdowns and public awareness campaigns.

The forecast prompted a UN official to declare that opium production could
be nearing an end in the Golden Triangle—an area where the borders of
Burma, Laos and Thailand meet that has long been one of the world’s main
sources of the illegal narcotic.

In 2004, opium production was projected to be 370 metric tons (407 short
tons), a drop of 54 percent from 2003, and a decline of 72 percent from
1998, said a survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or
UNODC, and the Myanmar Drug Control Committee.

Together with the parallel decline in opium cultivation in Laos, this
trend, if sustained, signals a potential end to more than a century of
opium production in the Golden Triangle.
—UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in the report.

Police Col Kham Aung told a news conference that bad weather, effective
law enforcement and the awareness of poppy farmers that they need to
change their livelihood had contributed to the decline.

“Together with the parallel decline in opium cultivation in Laos, this
trend, if sustained, signals a potential end to more than a century of
opium production in the Golden Triangle,” UNODC Executive Director Antonio
Maria Costa said in the report.

Burma is the world’s second-largest producer after Afghanistan of opium,
from which heroin is derived. Laos is a distant third.

Costa, however, said military-ruled Burma needed to avert “the
humanitarian disaster threatening opium-growing families who at present
live on, or below, the poverty line.”

The survey said 260,000 households were involved in opium cultivation in
2004.

“If we do not provide for the basic human needs of farmers in Myanmar
[Burma], they will never escape the vicious circle of poverty and opium
cultivation,” Costa said. “The opium communities will remain vulnerable to
human rights abuses, human trafficking and forced relocation.”

The survey indicated that the average price of opium leaving the farms
increased by 80 percent from US $130 per kg to US $234 per kilogram in
2004.

It said the higher price was a reflection of the scarce opium crop this
season, which could act as an incentive for farmers to cultivate greater
amounts next year.

The survey was carried out using field work, including interviews with
opium poppy farmers, complemented with satellite imagery.

Burma gets very little assistance for its drug control efforts because its
military government is shunned by many Western countries for its poor
human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically
elected government.

___________________________________

October 12, The Bangkok Post
Drug War; Humanitarian assistance 'not enough'

The chief of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Burma is
concerned with the shortcomings of humanitarian assistance for
opium-growers in sustainable alternative projects amid the tightening
sanctions against the military regime.

"We are trying not to let Burma become another Afghanistan, where after
the removal of the Taliban regime the opium situation has gone back to
square one and it costs international taxpayers a lot today to clean up
the mess since the poor Afghan farmers have no other choices," said
Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the UNODC representative in Burma.

His Office launched Burma's Opium Survey 2004 yesterday saying that Burma,
the world's second largest producer of opium but the biggest in the
region, saw a significant decline in opium cultivation from 163,000
hectares in 1996 to around 44,200 hectares this season.

The comprehensive survey also showed a 29% decline in cultivation in
comparison to 2003, while there was a production output of 370 metric
tons, a decline of 54% from last year, Mr Lemahieu said.

"The ground plus satellite survey reflected that we are on the right track
and the political will (of the military regime) has contributed sharply to
the dramatic decline," Mr Lemahieu said, also attributing to the changing
situation such as Rangoon's ceasefire with certain ethnic groups which
earlier relied mainly on opium trade income, and regional cooperation.

The production decline was in line with regional opium cultivation
reduction, said Sanong Chinnanon, UNODC coordinator for Alternative
Development.

Opium growing in Southeast Asia has declined from 186,712 hectares in 1996
to 50,807 hectares this year with production falling from 1,914 tons to
413 tons.

However, he was worried that Rangoon's goal to eliminate opium production
by the end of 2005 would only exacerbate the poverty of farmers.

Opium growers, the UNODC chief said, were mostly economically marginalised
and only had an income of US$214 per annum compared to non-opium growers'
US$276 per annum.

A sharp fall in opium production in 2003 in the Kokang area has already
forced half of the 200,000 Kokang ethnic people to leave their homes.

Only two stages of the three-pronged strategy of the UNODC have so far
been implemented, including food delivery, food security and basic human
needs (education/healthcare).

The last stage would promote the most sustainable means of earning a
living, investment in infrastructure and alternative crops.

Mr Lemahieu said the Kokang Wa Initiative, aimed at encouraging farmers to
turn their backs to illicit crops, has now been launched with 17
agencies/countries involved in a partnership to run a comprehensive
alternative programme. However the US$26 million project could cover only
half (540,000) of the affected people. "Certainly sanctions have affected
the humanitarian work but most of us are still doing our job.

"To get political reform back on track and give a push to the government's
implementation of necessary schemes for the poor, we need more aid. And
that's not easy now with Burma on the tag," he conceded.

__________________________________

October 12, Associated Press
Record heroin seized in Myanmar was bound for United States, official says

Massive amount of heroin recently seized in Myanmar was meant to be
shipped to the United States, an official said Tuesday.

Myanmar drug enforcement officials seized nearly 600 kilograms (1,320
pounds) of heroin on July 9 in Ye township, 240 kilometers (150 miles)
southeast of capital, Yangon. It was the country's biggest-ever recorded
single seizure of the drug.

That amount would be worth tens of millions of dollars (euros) in the
United States.

Myanmar is the world's second largest producer of opium and its
derivative, heroin, after Afghanistan.

More than 30 people, including the drug stash's alleged owner, have been
arrested in connection with the case, said the official, who was involved
in the investigation.

He did not say if any cases had gone to court.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some suspects are
still at large and investigations are continuing. Drug trafficking carries
a maximum penalty of death in Myanmar, but executions are rarely carried
out.

Arrested suspects have said a fishing trawler was to take the heroin to
another fishing boat which would carry it to Hong Kong, from where it
would be sent to the United States, the official said.

He did not say give further details.

The heroin was seized after police investigated the sinking of a trawler
off southeastern Myanmar.

Crew members claimed they sank their boat after hiding the heroin in a
house in a village in Ye, the official said. It is not clear why they sank
the boat.

In recent years, traffickers have switched to using sea lanes to move
drugs from Myanmar as authorities have cracked down on traditional
overland smuggling routes.

On Monday, U.N. and Myanmar drug officials released the results of a
survey they jointly carried out, indicating that Myanmar's opium
production is expected to fall by 50 percent this year due to bad weather,
police crackdowns and public awareness campaigns.

The forecast prompted a U.N. official to declare that opium production
could be nearing an end in the Golden Triangle -- an area where the
borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand converge -- that has long been one
of the world's main sources of the narcotic.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 11, Irrawaddy
EU agree on new, tighter sanctions against Burma

AP: European Union foreign ministers agreed to tighten sanctions against
Burma's military leadership on Monday to protest its failure to improve
human rights.

The 25 EU ministers said "conditions had not been met" by Burma to improve
its record and to release pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

"The European Union will maintain the exiting measures against the
military regime in Burma and tighten them," the ministers said in a
statement.

Measures approved include extending the visa ban on high ranking generals.
The travel ban to Europe would include all those ranked brigadier general
and above, officials said.

EU governments also agreed to coordinate international bans at the World
Bank and other organizations on giving financial loans to Burmese
state-owned businesses or investing in other companies there.

France, however, which has several of its oil companies active in the
Asian nation, was able to win an exclusion to such an investment ban for
European companies who already have investment deals in place.

_____________________________________

October 12, The Guardian
Asia's inertia buoys Burma's military junta

Burma's military junta, one of the world's most oppressive regimes, must
be pleased with its weekend's work at the 39-state Asia-Europe (Asem)
meeting in Hanoi.

Far from condemning the generals' continuing egregious abuses of human
rights, Asem expressed a vague hope that the regime's spurious "national
reconciliation process" would succeed and "looked forward to the early
lifting of restrictions on political parties".

A threatened EU boycott of the meeting, attended for the first time by the
junta's representatives, failed to materialise. So, too, did any mention
in the final communique of the plight of Burma's detained pro-democracy
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her persecuted National League for Democracy
(NLD).

Instead, the same Burmese junta that overturned the NLD's 1990 election
victory and which the International Labour Organisation has accused of
"crimes against humanity" was formally inducted into Asem.

Much of the blame for this outcome may be laid at the door of leading
Asian countries, particularly China, which maintain normal political and
trade relations with Burma.

Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said Asem membership would
"encourage Myanmar [the junta's name for Burma] in a positive direction".

Smaller Asian countries such as Vietnam seem increasingly wary, after
Afghanistan and Iraq, of any perceived attempt to foist western values
upon them.

This sentiment has been exploited by Rangoon's state-run media. "Democracy
cannot be built by outside pressure . . . democracy cannot prevail by
foreign invasion, either," an official commentary said at the weekend.

The EU, in theory, has what it calls a "common position" on Burma. It says
the present situation is "unacceptable". But differences on how best to
proceed, influenced by commercial considerations and disagreements on
tactics, also undermine effective action.

France's president, Jacques Chirac, said in Hanoi he hoped additional EU
sanctions would not be necessary because they "will hurt the poorest
people".

But France fears its investments in Burma, including those of Total Oil,
may also be hurt.

Measures announced by EU foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday appear
significantly weaker as a result of French lobbying.

According to the Foreign Office, the curbs on new foreign investment in
state-owned businesses, and on visas, amount to an important tightening of
existing sanctions aimed at the regime, and not at the Burmese people.

But John Jackson, director of the Burma Campaign UK, said the EU's
measures were "full of loopholes" and fell woefully short of the broader,
targeted investment sanctions which were necessary.

Decrying international inaction, Archbishop Desmond Tutu issued a plea
last week on behalf of Ms Suu Kyi, a fellow Nobel peace laureate, whose
latest period of house arrest has lasted since May 2003.

"The words of protest at her detention from world leaders ring hollow when
they do not translate into action," he wrote in the International Herald
Tribune.

"Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar have not called for a military
coalition to invade their country. They have simply asked for the maximum
diplomatic and economic pressure against Myanmar's brutal dictators."

The generals, Archbishop Tutu said, can "smell inertia".

The outlines of Burma's misery are clear, despite limited access to the
country. They include the holding of 1,300 political prisoners, arbitrary
arrests, low spending on health and education, forced labour, exploitation
of child soldiers, harassment of ethnic minorities and official connivance
in opium trafficking.

But for all the debate at Asem and Brussels, despite tougher US sanctions,
despite the unflagging efforts of international activists and the
successes of their disinvestment campaign, and despite a recent personal
intervention by Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, Burma's shameful
oppression persists largely unchecked.

Mr Annan asked that the UN's envoy and its human rights investigator be
allowed to return to Burma. Neither has visited for many months. But the
generals, buoyed by international divisions, have not deigned to reply.

_____________________________________

October 12, Reuters
EU Myanmar sanctions pointless, Suu Kyi's NLD says

The European Union's new sanctions on Myanmar, a visa ban on senior
officials, will have no effect on the military government, Aung San Suu
Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Tuesday.

"I don't think this measure will make any difference since they hardly
travel to the EU countries," NLD spokesman U Lwin told Reuters.

Economic sanctions, especially those imposed by the United States, had
been equally ineffective in persuading the government, which insists it is
moving towards democracy in its own way, he said.

"Nothing has happened," U Lwin said.

"What we really need in our case is meaningful dialogues. Only through
meaningful dialogues, will we be able to achieve our goal."

There was no immediate comment from the government or Suu Kyi as the Nobel
laureate has been in detention of one kind or another since May last year.

_____________________________________

October 9, Financial Times
EU dilutes sanctions plan on Burma--By Daniel Dombey and Amy Kazmin

European Union govern-ments have watered down a plan to impose sanctions
on Burma, due to be agreed by EU foreign ministers on Monday.  Last month,
EU governments agreed to ban financing for state-controlled Burmese groups
if Rangoon had not improved its human rights and democratic record by the
time of an Asia-Europe summit that began yesterday.  After pressure from
France, EU ambassadors have now decided to make clear that the ban on such
investments does not refer to arrangements already in place, which can
even be extended or prolonged. Paris was particularly concerned about
investment in Burma's oil and gas sector.

The agreement set to be endorsed by EU foreign ministers on Monday makes
clear that the ban is "without prejudice to the execution of obligations
arising from contracts or agreements concluded before [its] entry into
force".

But French officials say other investors, such as the UK, with over $1bn
(814m, £560m) of investment in Burma, also benefit from the
"clarification". They add that France has investments of $470m in the
country.

The EU's latest decision follows an earlier climbdown from threats not to
attend the Asia-Europe meeting if Burma was represented without first
freeing Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel prize-winning dissident. A compromise
was brokered in which Rangoon would send a lower-ranking minister instead
of Khin Nyunt, the prime minister.

Mark Farmaner, an activist with the Burma Campaign UK, described a broader
package of EU measures against Burma as "a fig leaf" for the union's
decision to attend the summit.

_____________________________________

October 13, Third Sector
Air rage

Burmese political exiles joined supporters of the Burma Campaign UK near
London's Trafalgar Square last week to protest against Austrian Airlines'
direct service to the country, which is contracted to Lauda Air. Burma is
ruled by a brutal military dictatorship, and the leader of its democracy
movement, Aung San Su Kyi, who is under house arrest, has called on
travellers to stay away because tourism is a vital source of income for
the regime. The airline group has been targeted by the campaign since it
began flying direct to Burma in 2002. It is the only European airline to
do so, and supporters from 13 countries are backing the campaign against
it. Campaigns officer Anna Roberts said: 'Austrian Airlines have blood on
their wings. They might as well be carrying in tanks and guns and bullets
as that's what the regime will buy with the money they get from it.'

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 10, Washington Post
Nobel Detainee

Kenyan environmentalist and feminist Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel
Peace Prize on Friday, joins an eminent list of men and women who have
campaigned tirelessly against long odds and stood up courageously to cruel
dictators. For some, winning the prize was an affirmation of success
already achieved; for others, the prize conveyed a kind of protection and
provided a spur to the cause. But one woman on the list -- one of the most
courageous -- remains a prisoner today. At a time of celebration, Aung San
Suu Kyi of Burma has, 13 years after becoming a Nobel Peace laureate, very
little to celebrate. Her continuing imprisonment should be taken as a
rebuke by everyone in the "international community" who claims to care
about
freedom, democracy and human rights.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the hero of Burma's independence, is
herself a reluctant heroine. She assumed the role of pro-democracy leader
in 1988, when demonstrating students and others resisting Burma's
dictatorship demanded it. In 1990, her party won four out of every five
parliamentary seats in a national election, even though she was already
under house
arrest. But Burma's dictators never honored the people's wishes, and many
leaders of the National League for Democracy remain in prison today. Many
more have been tortured and killed, and Aung San Suu Kyi herself is under
house arrest, cut off from supporters at home and overseas.

Directly responsible for this are the corrupt generals who rule her
once-promising Southeast Asian nation with brutality and incompetence. But
others share in the blame. The United States has imposed sanctions, as
called for by Burma's democrats, but their effectiveness is limited by
Europe's commerce-motivated reluctance to follow suit. The European
Council, after a number of false starts, has threatened to take action
this week.

We'll see. Burma's Southeast Asian neighbors believed that "engagement"
would begin to civilize Burma's junta, but so far the only result of their
policy has been to make them look weak. Meanwhile U.N. Secretary General
Kofi Annan's personal representative to Burma has failed to achieve
anything; it's time for Mr. Annan to get more involved.

U.S. and British troubles in Iraq have shown the difficulty of imposing
democracy through force, for which France and Germany claim vindication.
But implicit in their opposition to the Iraq war was a belief that
diplomacy, pressure and other means can succeed. Burma would be a good
place for them to start proving that point.

_____________________________________

Press Release
The Hague, 11 October 2004

Tin Moe given the Prince Claus Award for Literature

[Excerpted from a Press Release by the "Prince Claus Fund for Culture and
Development." - Ed]

Since 1997 the Prince Claus Awards have been presented annually by the
Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development to artists, thinkers and
cultural organisations that are mainly located in Africa,Asia, Latin
America and the Caribbean.Through these awards, the Fund pays homage to
the laureates for their oeuvre and their dedication to culture and social
engagement.  This year, the laureates have been honoured for their
contributions to theatre, literature, sport, dance, cultural heritage and
social involvement.

For the first time, awards have been granted to laureates in Palestine,
Myanmar (formerly Burma),Tajikistan and Bhutan.  Laureates whose work
reflects the positive results of asylum and migration:

Literature
Tin Moe (1933, Myanmar, formerly Burma) is a well-known writer whose
literary work had achieved great recognition and appreciation before the
advent of the military dictatorship in Burma. Living in involuntary exile,
he is unofficially regarded as being his country’s ‘national poet’.
Although his work is banned in Burma, he continues to write poetry and
other work in Belgium and the United States. His texts are a constant
source of inspiration for his people.Tin Moe’s poems are circulated in
pro-democratic circles in Burma and are regularly published in the foreign
media. This award was granted in the context of both the Fund’s new focus
on ‘the positive results of asylum and migration’ and its emphasis on the
‘zones of silence’. The Fund prioritises activities that provide support
and scouting in these areas.

tel +31.70.427.4303
fax +31.70.427.4277
info at princeclausfund.nl
www.princeclausfund.nl

_____________________________________

APPEAL
October 12, Asian Human Rights Council

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received news from the Yoma-3
news service that on 7 October 2004 the Henzada Township Court convicted U
Ohn Myint and Ko Khin Zaw for criminal defamation after they had attempted
to take complaints of forced labour to the courts. The same court threw
out the forced labour cases against local government officials on 27
August 2004 that were filed by these two victims. (See further: UP-51-2004
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/807/})

According to the information received, U Ohn Myint and Ko Khin Zaw were
found guilty of criminally defaming the government officials for alleging
that they had been forced to do labour in violation of the national law,
after their allegations were thrown out of court without proper
investigation. The presiding special judge Daw Htay Htay Win sentenced the
two men on October 7 to six month’s imprisonment or a fine of 10,000 Kyat
each (US$10). After one hour have passed, judge Daw Htay Htay Win informed
U Ohn Myint and Ko Khin Zaw that they had to pay the penalty immediately,
and added that if they could not pay, their houses could be confiscated.
After another hour passed, she called the two victims again and asked if
they would pay the penalty by installments, however, the accused opted to
go to prison.

The International Labor Office (ILO) in Yangon has reportedly been
notified about this matter, and is said to be taking up the case with the
Myanmar authorities.

Other villagers are also said to be planning legal action, therefore the
sentencing of the two men for criminal defamation can be seen as an
additional warning to those persons of the consequences of their planned
actions. However, the choice of imprisonment over a relatively small fine
by the two victims also speaks to their defiance of the court in this
instance, and determination to take a strong position as human rights
defenders, both in relation to international standards and the domestic
law.

BRIEF REMINDER OF THE CASE

As outlined in our first urgent appeal on this case (UA-112-2004
{http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/785/}), starting from 10 July
2003, the Kanyinngu Village Tract Peace and Development Council instructed
villagers of Oatpone village to act as sentries at the local Buddhist
monastery. After U Ohn Myint and Ko Khin Zaw failed to serve, the chairman
lodged charges against them. Both were subsequently imprisoned for
refusing to follow the local government officer’s orders.

The two men argued that they were punished in violation a number of orders
issued by the government in 1999 and 2000, which banned forced labour in
compliance with International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 29.
They filed a case against the local authorities accordingly. The chairman
of the village tract council then filed a counter-complaint to the effect
that both he and the council had been defamed.

On 8 September 2004, another villager from the same place, U Mya Sein,
also lodged a complaint alleging that he was obliged to serve as a sentry
at the village monastery. In his case, the complaint was lodged on his
behalf by a Supreme Court lawyer, and in it he averred that he was
threatened to do the sentry duty with reference to the case of U Ohn
Myint, who was imprisoned at the time (see further UP-50-2004
{http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2004/797/}).

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the Attorney General to call for a legal review of the
decision. Send copies to the Minister for Home Affairs and Prime Minister,
as they issued the orders prohibiting forced labour. You may also like to
send a separate letter to the ILO to demand that it take steps to
guarantee the security of persons bringing cases of forced labour to the
courts or re-examine its mandate in Burma, and send copies to concerned UN
officers. A suggested letter for the Attorney General follows. Please note
that for the purposes of these letters, the country should be referred to
by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma.

Sample letter:


Dear Director General,
Re:	CONVICTION ON CRIMINAL DEFAMATION CHARGES IN HENZADA TOWNSHIP
	COURT OVER FORCED LABOUR ALLEGATIONS

I am most disappointed to hear that two villagers, Ko Khin Zaw & U Ohn
Myint, were convicted by the Henzada Township Court on October 7 of
criminally defaming the Kanyinngu Village Tract Peace and Development
Council, and sentenced to six-months’ imprisonment as a result.
The allegations brought by Ko Khin Zaw and U Ohn Myint against the members
of the Council, under section 374 of the Penal Code and in accordance with
Order 1/99 and the Supplementary Order prohibiting forced labour had
credibility, but do not appear to have been properly investigated. After
the same court, headed by special judge Daw Htay Htay Win (No. Ta/1767),
threw out the section 374 complaint on 27 August 2004, it took up the
counter-complaint lodged by the chairman, alleging criminal defamation. It
comes as little surprise to hear that judge Daw Htay Htay Win found the
two men guilty of this charge.

Criminal defamation has in recent years been condemned globally as
offensive to basic rights. Many countries have recognised that criminal
defamation is obsolete, and have removed it from the statute books. Among
the principal reasons for its removal are that criminal defamation cases
are used to intimidate citizens from asserting their basic rights, as in
this instance. In particular, under no circumstances should criminal
defamation be available to government agents criticised for their actions
by citizens acting in the public interest, and with regards to the
official duties of those concerned. I therefore urge you to review the
statues in Myanmar, with a view to removing the charge of criminal
defamation from existing legislation.

I further urge you to take steps to review the decisions made in the cases
pertaining to Ko Khin Zaw and U Ohn Myint, with a view to overturning the
grossly unjust sentence passed by the Henzada Township Court, and
re-examining the allegations against the village tract council officials.
This should be done particularly in light of another case brought by a
villager from the same location against the same officials, that of U Mya
Sein (Complaint No. 1542/2004), lodged on 8 September 2004 by Supreme
Court lawyer Daw Mya Mya Aye. I am especially concerned that the
complainant in this case will be subjected to the same treatment as Ko
Khin Zaw and U Ohn Myint, and not given a proper opportunity to have his
allegations seriously examined by the courts.

Finally, I urge you to hold discussions with the mission of the
International Labour Office in Yangon to ensure that Order 1/99 and the
Supplementary Order are effectively implemented without further delay, and
that complainants under Penal Code section 374 are offered protection in
making their complaints. These discussions should be undertaken both with
specific reference to the above-mentioned cases, and any others pending.
Yours sincerely,


PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Dr. Tun Shin
Director General
Office of the Attorney General
101 Pansodan Street
Kyauktada Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: + 95 1 282 449 / 282 990

PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

1. General Khin Nyunt
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Signal Pagoda Road
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: + 95 1 652 624

2. Colonel Tin Hlaing
Chairman
Myanmar Human Rights Committee & Minister for Home Affairs
c/o Ministry of Home Affairs
Corner of Saya San Street and No 1 Industrial Street,
Yankin Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: +95 1 549 663 / 549 208

3. Mr Leon de Riedmatten
Facilitator for ILO Liason Officer to Myanmar
Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
114 Rue de Lausanne
CH-1202
Geneva
Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 908 1140

4. Mr. Paulo Sergio Pineheiro
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
OCHR-UNOG, Palais Wilson,
Rue des Paquis 52, Geneva
SWITZERLAND
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018

5. Mr. Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
OHCHR-UNOG,
1211 Geneva 10,
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006

6. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights
defenders
Att: Ben Majekodunmi
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006

Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)