BurmaNet News, August 3, 2007

[Editor]

August 3, 2007 Issue # 3260

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: NLD rejects claims that sanctions don’t work
Khonumthung News: Burmese police detain Chin nationals in monastery
SHAN: No attack planned but Wa should move: Junta commander
Irrawaddy: Flooding leaves many homeless in central Burma
KNG: Burma Army into forcible recruitment in Kachin State
DVB: The lawyers demand open trial for May Day activists

ON THE BORDER
IPS: Burma: For pro-junta militia, migrant workers are useful cash cows

HEALTH / AIDS
The Lancet: Human rights abuses threaten health in Burma

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Gambari to visit Southeast Asia
AP: NKorea, Myanmar make concessions but still bristle over hot-button issues

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Burma’s road to reform runs through China - Aung Zaw
Mizzima News: Decrees on migrant workers in Southern Thailand impede basic
human rights - Htoo Chit

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 3, Democratic Vice of Burma
NLD rejects claims that sanctions don’t work

The National League for Democracy yesterday rejected claims by the
Alternative 88 Generation Students group that US economic sanctions were
hurting the Burmese people.

Ko Aye Lwin from the splinter student group yesterday criticised US
president George W. Bush’s decision this week to renew the country’s
economic sanctions on Burma for a further year.

“The US government just does whatever it wants. They are taking the wrong
approach to the situation in Burma . . . The situation here cannot be
changed with sanctions,” Ko Aye Lwin said yesterday.

But the NLD responded by saying that economic sanctions had helped put
pressure on the military and that they were designed to complement the
efforts of Burmese people towards democracy.

NLD spokesperson U Myint Thein said that US sanctions were helping push
the military towards democratic reforms and national reconciliation.

“We have also never heard any complaints from an individual or an
organisation that sanctions had hurt their livelihoods,” U Myint Thein
said.

“The sanctions are imposed on Burma by foreign nations who sympathise with
the Burmese people who face human rights abuses, pressure and challenges
in their fight for democracy,” he said.

____________________________________

August 3, Khonumthung News
Burmese police detain Chin nationals in monastery

The Burmese police rounded up around 70 Chins from the Five Star sea port
in Taketa Township in Yangon on July 17. They were waiting to board a ship
leaving Kawt Taung town, Taninsary division, the southern Burma’s border
with Thailand.

The police from the Yangon division detained 30 of the 70 people on
suspicion that they were planning to cross the Burma-Thailand border
illegally in search of hobs in Thailand or Malaysia. The rest were
released later, said a source in Yangon.

The police are not terming the rounding up as ‘arrest’. They prefer to
call it ‘rescue operation’, for they perceive that the raid was meant to
check human trafficking, the source in Yangon added.

The detained Chins were said to have been kept in the ‘Natmauk Pariyatti’
monastery located in Monk Primary School No. (1), View Point Qtr(East),
Taketa Township, Yangon.

On July 30, there were 24 people including three women in the monastery as
some escaped the source said.

“Those under detention are sad. Today two women did not eat. They are just
praying to God,” said a relative of victim.

The detainees are not being put on trial. Instead the police are planning
to send them back to Chin state.

“The township officer has informed Chin State authorities. The family
members of the arrested and local authorities are expected to come and
help them return home safely”, a policeman in Yangon was quoted as saying.

Economic crisis, forced labour, human right abuses and the repression of
the military rulers in Burma are forcing the people of Chin state to flee
to neighbouring countries for a better life and safety.

____________________________________

August 3, Shan Herald Agency for News
No attack planned but Wa should move: Junta commander

The Burma Army harbours no plans to attack Wa. The area commander of
Pongpakhem sub-township, Mongton Township, opposite Chiangmai, denied
yesterday that the army plans to forcibly dislodge Wa units stationed
along the Thai-Burma border, according to a veteran Thai security source.

Chatting with villagers yesterday, Col Than Tin Aung blamed the media for
stirring up unrest by reporting the Wa had been ordered by the Burma Army
to pull out from their strongholds along the border bases and return to
the north. "It was a trick to create an atmosphere of mistrust between
us," he was reported to have said.

The commander was speaking after a two-day visit to the Mongton-Monghsat
townships by the regional commander Maj-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, accompanied
by the commander of artillery Maj-Gen Mya Win from the new capital. There
are two artillery battalions AB 383 and 386 stationed in the area.

Nevertheless, the Wa must consider pulling back to the Sino-Burma border
where they came from. "The National Convention has designated their Self
Administered Region there," he was quoted as saying. "That's where they
should be."

The junta-organized constitutional convention, in response to proposals by
Danu, Kokang, Palaung, PaO and Wa for self-rule, has since 1995 divided
parts of Shan State as separate self-administered areas for them.

The Wa self-administered region has five townships: Mongmai, Pangwai,
Manphang, Napharn and Pangyang, all along the Sino-Burma border.

It is still unclear whether or not the 60,000-120,000 civilians from the
north who have been resettled along the Thai-Burma border since 1999 would
also have to move back. Col Yawdserk, leader of the Shan State Army (SSA)
South, said earlier, "The Wa are citizens of Shan State. As such, they can
live wherever they like within the state. My only request is that they do
not remove those who are already there."

If the Burmese commander's words were meant to comfort the United Wa State
Army (UWSA), it had clearly failed, according to Shan and Thai sources.
"They are arming their reservists," said a source from the border. "Women
have been told to prepare emergency rations for men. The ration consists
of rice mixed with meat both roasted and pounded."

Meanwhile, the Burma Army is on maneuvers in Namzang, 100 kilometere east
of the state capital Taunggyi, according to the SSA. "Mountain tops are
being bombed from the air and captured by the infantry in mock battles,"
said a senior officer.

Since mid July, the UWSA's southern forces along the Thai-Burma border
have been ordered by the Burma Army to move out. The Wa has so far refused
to bow to the Burma Army's demand.

____________________________________

August 3, Irrawaddy
Flooding leaves many homeless in central Burma - Aye Lae

Flooding in Amarapura and Thabeikkyin townships in Mandalay Division has
forced residents from their homes near the swollen Irrawaddy River.

“More than 1,000 people in 500 wards have moved to a monastery because of
the terrible flooding,” said one local resident.

Meanwhile, Yadanarpone University in Mandalay closed its doors for five
days after flood water inundated several of the university’s corridors,
according to a Mandalay-based editor who asked not to be named.

“When I went to the university on July 28, the entry road that connects to
Taungthaman Lake was flooded,” said a university student in Yadanarpone.

“Some students have complained that the university was built on low-lying
areas far outside the city that are frequently affected by flooding,” the
Mandalay-based editor said.

Flooding in central Burma is common during the rainy season. “Beginning in
June and July, the Irrawaddy River overflows year after year, but the
government does nothing to prevent it,” Win Mya Mya, a local resident,
told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

Swe Naing Sidd, the editor of the Mandalay-based journal Nann Myint,
defended local authorities’ handling of the flooding. “Health authorities
have provided medicine and food to those affected by the flooding. They
were quick to act because of their experience in past years.”

State-run The New Light of Myanmar reported this week that the flooding,
which reached its worst levels on July 28, mainly affected Amarapura and
Thabeikkyin townships in Mandalay Division, as well as areas of Sagaing
Division.

The official daily also reported on Friday that a ceremony was held to
collect relief aid for families in flood-affected wards and villages in
Shwegu Township.

Yadanarpone University and Amarapura Township were hit by heavy flooding
in 2004, when rising water levels damaged the historic teak bridge that
spans Taungthaman Lake.

____________________________________

August 3, Kachin News Group
Burma Army into forcible recruitment in Kachin State

Forcible recruitment of youths in the Burma Army late last month, has been
reported from Hopin Township, 60 miles southwest of Myitkyina, capital of
Kachin State in northern Burma.

An unspecified number of young people in Zetkone Quarter were forcibly
recruited before dawn on July 29 with the help of the local militia. The
recruitment drive began three days after a meeting between Burmese
military officials and Administrators of Quarters, Villages and Blocks in
Myazabekone Quarter, residents told KNG today.

The recruitment as part of a joint operation of Hopin based No. 40
Infantry Battalion led by Maj. Tin Maung Maung (temporary), the No.388
Light Infantry Battalion led by Lt-Col. Tin Win Aung and the No.389 Light
Infantry Battalion led by Lt-Col. Khin Maung Lwin, locals said.

The Burmese military ordered Administrators of Quarters, Villages and
Blocks in Hopin Township to assemble young people for the recruitment. The
administrators denied that there was such an order, local people added.

The ostensible reason behind the recruitment drive is that the number of
deserters from military bases around Kachin State has been increasing
every year. The Burmese Army is stepping up fresh recruitment adopting
various means, local sources said.

The army has been bringing into play a new military rule that it is
allowed to recruit youths between the ages of 18 and 35, both single and
married, local sources close to the military said.

A community leader in Myitkyina told KNG that the army also uses indirect
recruitment methods such as hiring agents and rewarding them with money if
they organise young people.

At the same time, the main Kachin armed group, the Kachin Independence
Organization (KIO) is also into fresh recruitments in its controlled areas
around Kachin State and northeast Shan State in Burma, locals added.

____________________________________

August 3, Democratic Voice Burma
The lawyers demand open trial for May Day activists

The lawyers for six men being tried at a special court in Insein prison
for attending May Day celebrations at the American Centre in Rangoon
yesterday appealed to the military to allow a public hearing.

Ko Thurein Aung, Ko Wai Linn, Ko Nyi Nyi Zaw, Ko Kyaw Kyaw, Ko Kyaw Min
and Ko Myo Min were charged on July 24 with discrediting the government,
violating immigration laws and engaging with unlawful organisations after
spending more than two months in legal limbo.

One of their lawyers, U Aung Thein, told DVB yesterday that the men should
be given a public trial in accordance with Burmese law.

“We have been told that it is enough for our clients to be allowed
lawyers. But this is obviously not enough. The defendant’s families have
been prevented from attending let alone the public,” U Aung Thein said.

“According to section 2(E) of the legal code, every case, apart from some
special cases prohibited by the law, should be open for public hearing,”
he said.

The trial is expected to continue into next week.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 2, Inter Press Service
Burma: For pro-junta militia, migrant workers are useful cash cows-
Marwaan Macan-Markar

Mae Sot, Thailand - On a recent morning, two trucks packed with about 120
Burmese drove up to a pier on the Thai side of the Moe River, which
separates north-western Thailand from Burma. One, with a black exterior
and with grills on the side, is often used to transport prisoners. The
other, a Toyota truck, had sturdy bars and looked like a cage on wheels.

When the doors opened, the Burmese men and a single woman stepped out in
an orderly fashion and headed for a ferry moored at the pier. It took them
in less than a minute across the swollen waters of the Moe to the Burmese
side. From their manner, the Burmese who made this journey from one
country to another appeared familiar with such an unusual border crossing.

This group, however, was not the only one to make this crossing sans
passports and the usual scrutiny by immigration officials for visas. Four
trucks had unloaded their human cargo in the hours before at Pier Number
10. Labour rights activists estimate that nearly 500 Burmese are compelled
to make this crossing daily.

But it is not a journey to freedom once they get off the ferry. These
Burmese citizens, all undocumented migrant workers arrested by the Thai
authorities, are directed into a stockade made out of bamboo. The
likelihood of going elsewhere is ruled out, given who commands the area --
the armed men of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). On that
morning, a gun-totting DKBA operative, in military fatigues, monitored the
returning migrant workers near the entrance to the stockade.

"This has been going on for nearly five years," says Moe Swe, secretary
general of the Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association (YCOWA), a group fighting
for the rights of Burmese migrant workers in Mae Sot. "The migrant workers
have to wait in the DKBA compound until they are freed to go. They have to
make a payment to a broker."

Consequently, the milking of the migrant workers who are themselves
largely poor has "become good business for the DKBA," he said in an
interview in this town, which is ringed by hills and has a large Burmese
population, many of whom are migrant workers. "The Burmese military
government allowed the DKBA to open this camp in 1999."

The monopoly enjoyed by the DKBA becomes apparent as one drives along the
Moe River, which has some 20 piers on the Thai side as points to cross. It
is only at Pier Number 10 that this illegal crossing takes place. "Each
migrant worker has to pay over 1,000 baht to the brokers," adds Moe Swe.
"The DKBA and the brokers work hand in hand."

Release from the stockade also means the migrant worker has the choice of
returning illegally to Thailand to seek work and then running the risk of
arrest and the subsequent familiar journey of deportation into the hands
of the DKBA. It took Wai Lin Oo, 18, less than 48 hours to be back in a
community 40 km outside Mae Sot after being arrested during a pre-dawn
raid by border authorities and deported to Burma.

The DKBA's use of deported migrant workers as a source of income is one in
a long list of monopolies it has been granted by Burma's (Myanmar)
military regime, known officially as the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC).

"The SPDC has given them areas to control and they use it to demand money
from villagers, to force people into illegal logging," says Kevin Heppner,
coordinator for the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), a Mae Sot-based
independent body championing the cause of the Karen ethnic community.

The public transport system in Myawaddy, the major Burmese town across
from Mae Sot, is run by the DKBA, he told IPS. "They run all the local
buses plying from Myawaddy to Pa-an." In early July, a KHRG report accused
the DKBA of "looting, extortion, land confiscation" of villages in the
Thaton District, near Burma's western coastline.

The DKBA, whose forces number a few thousand, has become increasingly
useful to the Burmese junta as its troops battle the Karen National Union
(KNU), a group of rebels fighting for the ethnic Karens. This separatist
conflict is one of Asia's oldest, now in its 58th year. The Karens account
for some seven million people of Burma's 50.5 million population, making
them one of the South-east Asian country's largest minorities.

The DKBA emerged in 1994, following a split within the KNU. The charge at
the time was that Christians were discriminating against the Buddhists
within the Karens. The DKBA is led by a Buddhist monk. Yet it has made
little headway other than as a militia, given the negligible role it has
played in Burma's ongoing political process to draft a new constitution.

As a way of controlling local communities, "the SPDC has supported a more
aggressive DKBA role" in places such as the Thaton District, KHRG stated
in its July report, "The Compounding Consequences of DKBA Oppression:
Abuse, poverty and food insecurity".

"With the junta's political, military and financial backing, the DKBA has
sought to expand its numbers, strengthen its position vis-à-vis the
civilian population and eradicate the remaining KNU presence."

Burma, which has been under successive military governments since a 1962
coup, has gained notoriety for its repressive policies towards its
minorities, including rape as a weapon of war. The oppressive rulers have
also succeeded in destroying an economy that, soon after independence in
1948, was vibrant, including being an exporter of rice.

"Reports of starvation were none at the time," says Soe Aung, spokesman
for the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), an umbrella
organisation of Burmese political activists living in exile.

It is such a ruined economy that has pushed tens of thousands of Burmese
to seek jobs across the border in Thailand. YCOWA estimates that there are
more than 1.5 million Burmese migrant workers who made this risky journey,
and most are undocumented. In 2006, only 880,000 Burmese migrants
registered with Thai labour authorities. The jobs they do are described as
"dirty and dangerous," ranging from work on construction sites, vegetable
and fruit farms, the fishing industry and the garment sector.

In 2003, the Thai and Burmese government signed an agreement to regularise
this labour force, aimed to protect the migrant workers and reduce the
vast sea of undocumented labour. "The Parties shall take all necessary
measures to ensure proper procedures for employment of workers," this
memorandum of understanding states. Article Seven spells out the need for
the migrant workers to have visas and work permits.

"The Parties shall take all necessary measures, in their respective
territory, to prevent and suppress illegal border crossings, trafficking
of illegal workers and illegal employment of workers," says another
article.

But Burmese authorities have done little since, says the International
Labour Organisation, among others. Meanwhile, Thailand continues to raid
places where undocumented migrants work, detain them in a holding cell and
then transport hundreds daily to this border town.

"The SPDC has told Thailand that they will only receive 250 migrant
workers every week," says Moe Swe, adding that it "is done through the
formal detention centre on Fridays." On such occasions, the deported
migrants cross a bridge that connects Mae Sot to Myawaddy.

"On other days, the workers are deported illegally to the DKBA camp," he
adds. "They are the majority."

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 4, The Lancet
Human rights abuses threaten health in Burma - Rhona MacDonald

Decades of neglect, civil war, and corruption have rendered Burma's health
system incapable of responding to infectious diseases and other health
risks. And, as the country closes its doors to more and more aid agencies,
the situation only looks set to worsen. Rhona MacDonald reports.

At the end of June, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)-in
a rare departure from its usually confidential stance-publicly denounced
the repeated violations of international humanitarian law committed
against civilians and detainees by the military government in Burma
(Myanmar). The use of detainees as porters for the armed forces and many
acts of violence committed against civilians living in conflict affected
areas along the Thai-Burma border, are among the long list of abuses
committed by the government.

In a press statement on June 29, Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the
ICRC said "The ICRC has repeatedly drawn attention to these abuses but the
authorities have failed to put a stop to them...The continuing deadlock
with the authorities has led the ICRC to take the exceptional step of
making its concerns public".

Between 1999 and 2005, the ICRC visited hundreds of detainees in more than
70 prisons and labour camps to assess their living conditions and
treatment. On the basis of the ICRC's recommendations, and with its
support, the detaining authorities worked to improve the water supply,
accommodation, and provision of health care available to detainees. This
development led to measurable progress: by 2005, the mortality rate of
detainees had dropped by 50, even though it still remained twice as high
as within the general population. But, since late 2005, the ICRC has not
been able to visit any places of detention and the humanitarian situation
seems to be deteriorating.

Carla Haddad, spokesperson for the ICRC at its headquarters in Geneva,
told The Lancet more about the situation. "Since 2005, the government of
Myanmar has imposed increasingly severe restrictions on ICRC activities,
making it impossible for the organisation to continue visits to thousands
of detainees in line with its usual working procedures, which include
carrying out private interviews with detainees. This has also prevented
the ICRC from conducting independent field visits to conflict affected
areas and from delivering aid to civilians according to strictly
humanitarian, neutral, and apolitical criteria". Haddad added that "the
ICRC's activities have therefore been drastically scaled down to a few
limited projects in the field of physical rehabilitation for amputees and
mine victims".

The military government, which has ruled the country since 1962, has
severely restricted the movement of international aid agencies and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with the result that some have had
to leave the country despite its many health problems.

Almost 90 of Burma's 52 million population are at risk of malaria, and the
country has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world with
nearly 97000 cases detected every year. There are 25000 estimated new
infections of HIV every year, with significant spreading of the disease in
young people and high-risk groups. A third of children are chronically
malnourished, 15 of the population is food insecure, and the under-5
mortality rate is 106 per 1000 compared with 21 per 1000 in neighbouring
Thailand.

Yet the military government spends less than US1 per person on health and
education every year-national expenditures in health and education are 3
and 10, respectively. The military, including an army of over 450000
soldiers, receives 40 of the budget, even though Burma has been at peace
with its neighbouring countries for decades.

According to a recent report by researchers from the Human Rights Center
of the University of California at Berkeley and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health, the Burmese military is destroying medical
supplies intended for civilian populations and detaining and killing
medical workers in areas of internal conflict. These abuses have left the
population vulnerable to death and illness from malnutrition, malaria,
tuberculosis, night blindness due to vitamin A deficiency, and diarrhoeal
diseases.

The report-which is based on data on infectious diseases gathered from
health clinics and interviews with health professionals, governmental
officials, and non-governmental and community-based organisations-also
states that decades of neglect, civil war, and corruption have rendered
the country's health system incapable of responding to these endemic
infectious diseases and that even with substantial amounts of foreign aid
Burma's capacity to curb these diseases is hindered by its military
leaders.

Eric Stover, the lead author of the report, says that "there has to be a
regional response to Burma's chronic crisis. Health professionals and
local NGOs should be trained to standardise their collection and analysis
of infectious disease data. This will facilitate a coordinated response to
both chronic and emerging infectious diseases such as avian influenza". He
added that "donors should support such a regional effort".

However, a recent report from the UK House of Commons International
Development Committee emphasised that donors are not giving enough and
that increased aid is desperately needed to help displaced people hiding
in the jungles and conflict zones of Burma, many of whom have infectious
diseases.

The UK's Department for International Development-as one of only four
donors based in Burma-is in a leading position to scale up the assistance
given to displaced people and refugees. Shahid Malik, the UK Minister for
International Development told The Lancet "The British Government is
committed to addressing the dreadful levels of poverty in Burma, which is
why the UK has been playing a leading role in establishing programmes to
provide health services in the country".

The UK, Australia, the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, and
Sweden have set up the Three Diseases Fund (known as the 3D Fund), to help
fight tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS in Burma as part of a 100
million joint-donor programme set up in response to the Global Fund to
fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria having to pull out of Burma in 2005
due to the restrictions imposed by the Burmese Government. The aim of the
3D Fund is to target those most at risk of being infected by each of the
three diseases, with a particular focus on those who have little or no
access to public-health services.

Although the authors of the joint University of California, Berkeley, and
Johns Hopkins report acknowledge that large infusions of foreign aid
directed at the health sector can potentially lessen the burden of
infectious diseases in Burma, they also caution that it could have
unintended consequences. "This is tricky terrain", said Stover. "There is
always the danger that foreign aid aimed at one specific disease can
divert health professionals and their institutions from addressing other
serious health problems, and can also provide national authorities with a
ready excuse for decreasing even further their paltry expenditures in
health."

Stover and his team are now planning to map what all the various
organisations are doing in Burma and its borders and then hold subregional
training seminars. "There is no time to wait for international agencies to
do something. We need to act now", he said.

Stover also believes in a soft and hard approach. "International
humanitarian aid needs to reach those most in need, but there also has to
be continued pressure on the Burmese Government to increase its spending
on health, lift the travel restrictions it has imposed on aid and
development organisations, and increase the amount of cross border
assistance to internally displaced people", he said.

Stover thinks that it is vital to get China on board for progress to be
made, especially now that some Chinese health professionals are concerned
with the rates of infectious diseases at the Chinese border with Burma.

In his press statement, the ICRC's president reminded all states party to
the Geneva Conventions of their obligation, under article 1, to respect
and ensure respect of the Conventions. Haddad explains what this should
mean in practice: "In their bilateral talks with the government of
Myanmar, states should urge the government of Myanmar to respect
international humanitarian law".

Meanwhile the continuing behaviour and actions of the armed forces are
contributing to a climate of constant fear in the population and have
forced many people to leave their homes and join the ranks of the
internally displaced, or flee abroad. And, according to the Reuters news
agency, Thailand has now closed its doors to new refugees, making their
future increasingly uncertain. As Haddad says, the ICRC "are concerned
about the lack of provision of basic services to civilians living along
the Thai-Myanmar border where no humanitarian organisation has access
today".

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 3, Irrawaddy
Gambari to visit Southeast Asia

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative o­n Burma Ibrahim
Gambari will visit Southeast Asian countries to consult with regional
governments on the issue of the restoration of democracy and the
protection of human rights in military-ruled Burma.

Ibrahim Gambari, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Burma
(Photo: AP)
According to western diplomatic sources, Gambari will arrive in Southeast
Asia next week, but it not yet known which countries will be included in
his itinerary. Speculation has it that he may visit Jakarta
first—Indonesia is now serving as a non-permanent member of the UN
Security Council.

Gambari’s visit to Southeast Asia follows earlier trips to Russia and
selected European capitals—including Paris, Brussels, London and Geneva—in
July. Also that month, Gambari visited key Asian Capitals—Beijing, New
Delhi and Tokyo—as part of the mandate given to him by the UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Gambari’s forthcoming trip is part of a larger plan to consult key nations
ahead of the secretary-general’s announcement of a new approach on
Burma—restoring democracy, protecting human rights and negotiating with
the military junta on the release of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Any effort to promote positive changes in Myanmar [Burma] is going to
require not o­nly direct dialogue with the government and people of the
country, but also dialogue with all interested countries and all who can
potentially help support our efforts,” said Marie Okabe, the deputy
spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, during Gambari’s visit to Asia
in July.

____________________________________

August 3, Associated Press
NKorea, Myanmar make concessions but still bristle over hot-button issues
- Paul Alexander

Amid all the talk of unity and harmony at the ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia's
largest security grouping, conflict still brewed behind closed doors and
even boiled over publicly, with normally diplomatic Japan bristling over a
confrontation with North Korea.

The North had been praised at the Manila meeting for shutting down its
Yongbyon reactor, the first major step in dismantling its nuclear weapons
program, and ARF foreign ministers urged the reclusive country to continue
on the road to disarmament.

But while North Korea vowed to live up to its commitments, Foreign
Minister Pak Ui Chun renewed a demand in talks with his South Korean
counterpart that the U.S. end its "hostile policy" toward the North, a
South Korean official said Thursday.

There also was an unusual clash as Japan sought to include, in a final
joint statement, a reference to the North's past abduction of Japanese
citizens. Pak, making his first foreign trip since taking on his new job,
responded by criticizing Japan, and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso
made a strong rebuttal, said Aso spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba.

The issue was only mentioned vaguely in the final statement, with the
ministers emphasizing the "importance of addressing the issue of
humanitarian and people concerns of the international community."

Myanmar meanwhile resisted the creation of a regional human rights body by
the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, worried about
interference in its internal affairs. It later acquiesced, but made clear
that it does not want the new body to be too strong because it could be
combative and embarrass governments.

Myanmar also managed to avoid any specific mention in the final statement
of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy leader
held under house arrest.

The two incidents demonstrated how single countries can hijack an agenda
or water down public positions, but officials defended the ARF process.
Meetings like this also have been criticized as talkfests that produce
little but unfulfilled promises.

But the diplomats say the fact that disparate countries can sit down and
discuss hot topics is the start of real action down the road.

"Give us some time," said outgoing ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong.
"Before you ever get married, you have to talk to each other. We are
building mutual trust, we are talking how to develop long-lasting
relationships. Once we get our mutual trust, then we build our projects
and programs, and that will not be difficult."

"What we are trying to do here in ASEAN ... is to create an area of peace
and stability," said ASEAN's new chairman, Singapore Foreign Minister
George Yeo.

M. C. Abad, an ARF official, said the forum's 27 members adopted a
cooperation framework on transnational crimes, including terrorism, which
focuses on ensuring transport security, exchanging information and dealing
with the consequences of terrorist acts.

The region faces continuing threats from terrorism and separatist
insurgencies in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere. A pact
signed Wednesday by ASEAN and Australia pledged closer cooperation in
combatting cross-border crimes including terrorism a mutual concern
because both regions have been targeted by al-Qaida-linked militants.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said some Southeast Asian
countries have made inroads in fighting terrorism.

"The Indonesians, the Filipinos as well as the Malaysians and Singaporeans
have been very successful in tracking down terrorists and in some cases
they have killed them," he told reporters.

The ASEAN Regional Forum brings together the 10 members of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and 16 other countries,
including China, Australia, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 3, Irrawaddy
Burma’s road to reform runs through China - Aung Zaw

The rare meeting in June between a senior US official and a group of
Burmese ministers in Beijing signaled a change in US-Burma policy. The
meeting was marked by a frank and free exchange of opinions from both
sides, according to US State Department spokesperson Tom Casey, who said
it had come at the request of the military junta. Burmese ministers were
apparently delighted to meet Eric John, deputy assistant secretary of
state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Although the substance of their talks was not disclosed, it is understood
that the continuing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political
prisoners, US sanctions and the political situation in Burma in general
were discussed.

But why the two sides chose Beijing to host the meeting remains an open
question. Casey gave this response during a press briefing following the
meeting: “As you know, the government of Burma often asks for us to meet
with them and often prefers that we would meet with them in Burma itself.
Our longstanding policy is that we will not meet with them in Burma
outside of our embassy officials, if they will not allow us to meet with
Aung San Suu Kyi.”

This clearly indicates that the release of Suu Kyi remains a deal breaker
in US-Burma relations. If Naypyidaw decides to release the Nobel laureate
and allows her to participate in the national reconciliation process, US
policy on Burma is likely to be reviewed, as it was when Suu Kyi was freed
for the first time in 1995 and the Clinton administration offered its
praise and called for a policy review.

But the meeting in Beijing may be an important step in itself as
Washington begins to realize that China may hold the key to resolving the
political deadlock in Burma.

There is no doubt that Burma’s main trade partner and major arms supplier
continues to play an influential role in the country while exercising its
quiet diplomacy through “fraternal friendship.”

The signs are unmistakable. China reportedly nudged the junta to wind up
the constitutional drafting process sooner rather than later. More
importantly, Chinese officials are holding meetings with ethnic leaders
from Burma. There is a clear indication that China wants to see political
stability in Burma that will guarantee its trade and business interests.

China may be happy to play host for the US-Burma dialogue, as it has in
the six-party talks on North Korea. So, Washington was right to choose
Beijing as the forum for talks with Burma.

But the US continues to be disappointed by Burma’s regional neighbors,
including China, India, Russia and Asean member nations, which continue to
support Burma’s military government. Japan is one of the largest aid
donors to Burma but refuses to apply any substantial pressure for
political reform.

Furthermore, China and Russia collaborated in scuttling US efforts to pass
a resolution o­n Burma in the UN Security Council in January.

The US has grown more isolated as Burma’s neighbors continue to cuddle
with the ruling generals and vie for interests in the country’s large gas
and oil reserves. Their political and economic ties have also emboldened
the regime in the face of increasing international criticism.

Washington is learning that it is in China’s interest to leverage positive
political change in Burma, and that China wants a peaceful and prosperous
southern border, with the door to Burma wide open.

A review of the history of Burma’s unpredictable regime shows that the
relationship between the US and Burma will likely remain rocky. There is
no easy shortcut to normalize relations as long as both sides pull in
opposite directions.

Junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe must realize that if he wants to improve his
relationship with Washington, he must embark on substantive reforms and
forego the use of intermediaries such as China. He must also learn that
efforts to improve relations without reform have always failed and always
will.

In 1997, the ruling junta and selected business leaders took the unusual
step of hiring the Washington, DC, lobby group Jefferson Waterman
International to improve its image abroad.

As late as 2002, Burma hired the DCI Group, another Washington, DC, lobby
firm, in an effort to steer the Bush administration away from criticism of
its human rights abuses and its continued detention of Suu Kyi, and to
push for lifting US sanctions. But the US remained firm in its Burma
policy.

That policy has remained consistent. The Clinton administration focused
o­n three key areas: human rights, democratization and drug trafficking.

President George W Bush has taken a more aggressive interest in Burma,
even holding a nearly hour-long meeting with Shan activist Charm Tong in
the Oval Office in 2005.

The US is unlikely to break precedent and let down countless Burmese
activists by embracing Burma’s repressive military government—labeled as
one of six “outposts of tyranny” by US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice.

It is more likely that the US will continue its tough policy o­n Burma
with sanctions and repeated efforts to secure the release of all political
prisoners, including Suu Kyi. Washington will also want to see the
National Convention as a truly inclusive and meaningful forum for
political dialogue that will ultimately lead to national reconciliation.

But as the Beijing meeting demonstrates, America is not beyond employing a
healthy dose of political realism by seeking additional channels for
dialogue, particularly among Burma’s important neighbors.

And the UN may be taking the same approach. Two weeks after the US-Burma
meeting, Ibrahim Gambari, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special
Adviser on Burma, visited Beijing to meet Chinese foreign ministry
officials.

“China said it hopes that, as a neighbor, Myanmar [Burma] will have
stability, economic development and ethnic concord and harmony,” Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gan said, following the meeting with
Gambari.

This was a clear and familiar message that China will not interfere in
Burma’s internal affairs. But it also put Washington, DC, and Naypyidaw on
notice.

As things stand now, the political road to reform in Burma runs through
China.

The above article appeared in the August 2007 edition of The Irrawaddy
magazine.

____________________________________

August 3, Mizzima News
Decrees on migrant workers in Southern Thailand impede basic human rights
- Htoo Chit

Everyday workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia immigrate to Thailand
looking for better opportunities. Their neighbor, Thailand, offers a more
stable economic and political environment than their native lands.
Thailand is one of many developing or industrialized countries that
benefit economically from migration, but still offers limited legal
protection and promotion of migrants and their families. A general
estimation counted more than 2 million Burmese migrants working in
Thailand. In fact, five provinces in Thailand have recently issued a
decree that effectively strips certain migrant workers of their basic
human rights.

This latest assault started in December 2006 when Phuket's provincial
government issued a decree restricting the movement and rights of migrant
workers from Burma, Laos, and Cambodia in the province. Ranong, Surathani,
and Rayong followed with a similar decree to implement the same
restrictions. Currently, other provinces including Chiang Mai and Chumpon
are considering adopting a similar law. It is feared that such a law will
soon be in effect throughout Thailand.

On June 9, 2007, the law was implemented in the Phang Nga province of
Tsunami-affected areas in Southern Thailand and goes far beyond
restricting movement. Of the 10 points in the June announcement, the most
detrimental rules are that migrant workers are forbidden to carry mobile
phones, drive motorbikes, stay outside of their homes between 8 p.m. and 6
a.m. and are forbidden to gather in groups of more than five people. As
with the other provinces, these laws apply only to migrant workers from
the aforementioned countries. It should be emphasized here that the
targets of the decree are illegal migrants as well as legal migrants with
valid work permits issued by the government. In other words, the Thai
government allows migrants to work in Thailand but refuses to provide them
basic human rights.

Action Network for Migrants – Thailand (ANM) reported; "The decrees will
adversely affect migrant's ability to access healthcare and to practice
health. They are an obstacle to community health education activities and
cooperation between the different stakeholders. Migrant's ability to
continue to exercise their right to education, particularly non-formal
education will be severely impeded by these decrees. Migrants will no
longer be able to practice religion and culture freely."

Indeed, there already have been cases of migrants and their families being
denied their basic right to healthcare. On July 17, 2007, a 23-year-old
Burmese construction worker had an accident while he was working at a
construction site in Takuapa district in Phang-Nga.

"I requested my employer to send me to the hospital, but he refused and
just sent me to a local clinic. The clinic refused to treat me and
referred me to the hospital. So, I couldn't get any treatment from anyone.
I was so concerned about my injury because I had an accident in my eye,"
the migrant told me.

The employer was afraid to send him to the hospital because of the new law.

With many migrants without papers in hiding, one pregnant woman had to
give birth in the jungle. "I was hiding in the jungle overnight because I
was afraid of being arrested. I did not hold an ID card. Even though my
husband has an ID card, he also hid with me. I just delivered a newborn
baby in the last few days".

This "martial law" against one group of people makes Thailand looks
intolerant and primitive in the world community.

Mr. Wasant Sathorn, Director of the Bureau of Alien Workers in Ministry of
Labor said that Thai "policy is no different than other countries."
("Hidden Survivors" Bangkok Post, Outlook, July 5, 2007). Mr. Sathorn was
referring to the US and Japan in the statement. However, he still has to
know that these countries, or any other industrialized countries for that
matter, do not place a particular ethnic or racial group under restrictive
laws such as Thailand does. Even a mention of a curfew of one ethnic group
will undoubtedly draw a comparison to Japanese Americans during World War
II and Jews in Nazi Germany.

In order to combat human rights abuses of migrant workers, the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families, was adopted at the 69th plenary
meeting of the General Assembly on December 18, 1990.

According to UN reports, twenty-two states have ratified the Convention on
Migrants' Rights. Therefore, the decree goes beyond trampling migrants'
rights and casts doubt on the legitimacy of Thailand as an international
participant.

An ANM Press release in May-day 2007 noted that "Such restrictions
increase the opportunities for extortion and corruption by the authorities
and the migrant communities will live in a state of increased fear. In
addition, these decrees reinforce negative attitudes towards migrants and
incite xenophobia in Thai society. We are concerned that the
above-mentioned provincial decrees will make it impossible for Thailand to
regain international respectability."

Unfortunately, these dire predictions are coming true. Since the decree
came out in Phang Nga Province, specific case studies have been collected
which clearly show increased extortion and corruption. As a result,
migrants are beginning to live in constant fear. Worse, Thai citizens are
beginning to feel nationalistic hate against migrants.

Local officials say this law is in the interest of national security and
to protect against trafficking. Yet, they have no data showing a link to
migrant workers and drug trafficking in northern Thailand or the violence
in southern Thailand. No one has yet to provide a proof that these
measures will improve the situation in criminal activities or violence.
Rather, it has shown in its limited tenure that very vulnerable people
face increased danger and exploitation.

Migrants and their families were unfortunate to be born on the wrong side
of a line that determines who is rich, who is poor. Thailand benefits from
their cheap labor doing work Thais are not interested in. It is time for
Thailand to recognize their contributions and protect their dignity as
fellow human beings. Anyone with an interest in human rights should urge
the Thai provinces to repeal these regressive decrees.

The author is the Director of the Grassroots HRE and Development Committee
(Burma)

Reference: Action Network for Migrants (ANM) and UNCHR.