From editor at burmanet.org Thu Oct 8 14:48:20 2009 From: editor at burmanet.org (Editor) Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 14:48:20 -0400 (EDT) Subject: BurmaNet News, October 8, 2009 Message-ID: <12349.63.173.78.131.1255027700.squirrel@webmail9.pair.com> October 8, 2009 Issue #3815 INSIDE BURMA Irrawaddy: Suu Kyi, Than Shwe meeting rumors increase ON THE BORDER DVB: Thailand approves border economic zone Narinjara News: Burma reinforces troops along border All Headline News (USA): Bangladesh goes for U.N. tribunal to settle maritime dispute with India, Myanmar BUSINESS / TRADE DVB: Rice and gold prices in Burma double REGIONAL Mizzima News: Thailand?s proposal to register migrant children welcomed INTERNATIONAL CNN: Exiled Myanmar activist backs sanctions OPINION / OTHER The Financial Times: Talks with Burma are no laughing matter ? David Pilling The Nation (Thailand): US stance on Burma is confusing ? Editorial Jewish Tribune (Canada): Keeping the Jewish spirit alive in Burma (Myanmar) ? Sylvia Brooke PRESS RELEASE International Center for Transitional Justice: Burma: Government impunity for sexual crimes, forced labor and child soldiering ____________________________________ INSIDE BURMA October 8, Irrawaddy Suu Kyi, Than Shwe meeting rumors increase Rumors are swirling in Rangoon about a possible meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr-Gen Than Shwe, one day after the junta?s liaison officer met with the pro-democracy leader for the second time within a week. Suu Kyi met twice this week with Aung Kyi, a retired major general who is the regime?s labor minister. The meetings followed a letter Suu Kyi sent late last month to Snr-Gen Than Shwe, offering to cooperate with the Burmese regime in an effort to lift US sanctions and requesting to meet with Western diplomats to discuss the sanctions. Burma's official media confirmed that the two meetings were arranged because of Suu Kyi?s letter to Than Shwe. The letter appeared to be a confidence-building gesture to the junta, observers suggested. Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, has welcomed the meetings as "constructive" and suggested they might lead to higher level talks. "We strongly believe that the only way to solve the political and economic crisis in Burma is to start the dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr-Gen Than Shwe," Khin Maung Swe, an NLD spokesperson, told The Irrawaddy. According to sources in Rangoon, many people, including government officials, civil servants and businessmen, are interested in the current political developments. Some analysts maintain, however, that the likelihood of a top level meeting is "nil." A prominent politician in Rangoon, Aye Thar Aung, who is secretary of both the Arakan League for Democracy and the Committee Representing People?s Parliament, said that the recent meetings were a positive sign that regime is willing to talk, but the nature of the discussions are unknown. "The meetings could just be a follow-up to her letter," he said. Suu Kyi's meeting with Aung Kyi on Wednesday was their seventh since he was appointed "Relations Minister" in October 2007, after the junta came under intense international condemnation for its brutal crackdown on mass demonstrations. Suu Kyi met Than Shwe, accompanied by former spy chief Gen Khin Nyunt, in 1994 and 2002, while she was under house arrest. ____________________________________ ON THE BORDER October 8, Democratic Voice of Burma Thailand approves border economic zone ? Matthew Cunningham An announcement by the Thai government that is has approved the development of a Special Economic Zone along its border with Burma has received mixed reactions from a Burma economics expert. The Thai cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal from the Ministry of Commerce to develop the economic zone in Thailand?s border town of Mae Sot, the Bangkok Post reported. The town?s proximity to Burma and its abundance of low-cost migrant Burmese labor makes the area a hub of economic activity for garment makers and other multinational corporations. Once in place, border trade between the two countries could double, Thailand?s deputy commerce minister, Alongkorn Ponlaboot, said. Observers worry however that development in the area is not necessarily a positive step. ?If investment took place on the Thai side, there is the issue of exploitation [of migrant workers], which is always there,? said Sean Turnell, from the Australia-based Burma Economic Watch. He warned that the problem is not simplistic, with high unemployment, corruption and economic inefficiencies in Burma offering little hope of economic gain for Burmese living in the country. ?The poverty is so desperate for some people this would put them in a net better condition. Investment could be better for migrant workers,? he said. He added that the move to develop the zone could be beneficial to Burmese migrant workers if labor protection standards were put in place by the Thai authorities. In addition, Burmese migrant workers could receive access to local advocacy groups, healthcare and other organizations that they would not otherwise have access to in Burma, he said. The agreement between Burma and Thailand also includes plans to build a second friendship bridge over the Moei River that would allow greater transportation of goods. Border trade between the two countries currently stands at around $US600,000 per year, not including revenue earned from tourism and income tax. ____________________________________ October 8, Narinjara News Burma reinforces troops along border Sittwe ? The Burmese military junta has reinforced its troops along the border with Bangladesh to inspect border pillars and build border fences, said a military source. Even though the source claims the deployed troops are for inspecting pillars and fence construction, Bangladesh has concerns about the increase of Burmese battalions along its border. Because of these concerns, Bangladesh has also reinforced its paramilitary troops along the border with Burma. A Bangladesh Rifles official confirmed that BDR troops had been deployed to sensitive areas along the border and other preparations had been undertaken after an increase in border tension. Burmese authorities have deployed at least nine battalions along the border from Maungdaw to Paletwa near the Indo-Burma border since construction on the border fence resumed last Friday. The battalions stationed along the border from Maungdaw to Paletwa are Light Battalions 55 and 20, and Light Infantry Battalions 234, 263, 344, 233, 289, and 538. LIB 538 based in Rathidaung was shifted to the Paletwa border last week and is currently stationed near the junction of the India, Bangladesh, and Burmese borders. According to a local source, Burmese authorities are constructing the border fences within 70 yards of the border demarcation line between Bangladesh and Burma, in violation of the distance set by international law. Burmese Nasaka authorities informed Bangladesh authorities that the fences would be constructed 200 yards or more from the demarcation line, but Burmese authorities failed to keep this promise and commenced construction within 70 yards. The Bangladesh border authority has officially opposed the construction of the fence within 70 yards of the border but Burmese authorities have ignored the complaint and continued with their construction work. Burmese authorities are expected to finish construction of the border fence in contravention of international law without taking and care towards Bangladesh's objection, an analyst said. ____________________________________ October 8, All Headline News (USA) Bangladesh goes for U.N. tribunal to settle maritime dispute with India, Myanmar ? Siddique Islam Dhaka, Bangladesh ? Bangladesh is going to a United Nations tribunal to settle a dispute over sea territory with India and Myanmar, which has threatened Bangladesh's rights to explore gas in the Bay of Bengal. "We have decided to go for arbitration as the issue was not resolved through bilateral discussion with the two neighboring countries in the last 35 years," Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dipu Moni told a press briefing at the ministry in the capital, Dhaka on Thursday. The minister said the government has decided to take the maritime boundary dispute to a compulsory arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, for a peaceful settlement. Her comments came hours after Foreign Secretary Mijarul Kayes handed over copies of the notification Dhaka is making to the U.N. and a claim of its sea territory to Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty and Myanmar Ambassador U Phae Thoan Oo formally at the foreign ministry. The foreign minister said the government would also keep the options for dialogue open, as both countries are "Bangladesh's friends. We remain committed to the on-going negotiations with our neighbors." The move came as the government last week launched negotiations with two international oil companies (IOCs) --- ConocoPhilips of the United States and Tullow of Ireland --- to sign deals to explore oil and gas in three offshore blocks. Both India and Myanmar, which have made large gas discoveries in their parts of the Bay, last week lodged protests over Dhaka's move to grant exploration rights to the two companies, saying the three blocks overlapped their sea-territories. The foreign ministry reacted forcefully against the protests. "The claims of our neighbors have unfairly cut off a significant portion of our maritime area in the Bay of Bengal. And it prevented us from exploring and exploiting oil and natural gas resources." The government said it took the maritime dispute to the UNCLOS "with a view to preserving our national wealth and sovereign rights in the Bay of Bengal." The foreign minister said the arbitration under the convention could end the dispute with the neighbors "amicably in about five years time." "Because all three countries are parties to this Convention, they are under an obligation to accept the Final Award of this Tribunal, which we anticipate will take approximately four to five years," the ministry said. "This will allow us to once and for all settle this dispute with our neighbors, to ensure that our natural resources in the sea are fully respected, and to move forward to an era of prosperity as we exploit our national wealth." Last month, the Bangladesh government okayed an energy ministry decision to lease out blocks Nos. 5, 10 and 11 to ConocoPhilips and Tullow Oil plc in the Bay of Bengal for oil and gas exploration. The ConocoPhillips, the third largest energy company in the U.S., will get deep-sea blocks Nos. 10 and 11 while Irish company Tullow gets shallow-sea block No. 5, according to the energy ministry ____________________________________ BUSINESS / TRADE October 8, Democratic Voice of Burma Rice and gold prices in Burma double ? Aye Nai and Matthew Cunningham The price of gold in Burma has more than doubled in the past four years, while rice and fish prices have also seen a huge rise, government figures for October report. Figures released by the government?s Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) follow in the wake of the introduction of Burma?s largest currency denomination, the 5,000 kyat banknote, on 1 October. The circulation of the new banknote has sparked fears that inflation rates in Burma would soar, although so far there is no evidence directly linking inflation to the new note. Figures from CSO show that rice prices have more than doubled since 2005, while gold has risen from 286,660 kyat ($US286.60) per kyatha (16.3 grams) in 2005 to 596500 kyat ($US596.50) per kyatha as of October this year. The average price of fish has also doubled in this period. Burmese economist Khin Maung Nyo said that the reason for the rise in the price of gold is due to people?s distrust of Burmese banks. ?Because there is no reliable banking system in Burma, people tend to stock up gold to preserve their wealth,? he said. ?They prefer gold than other properties such as land or a car because gold is easier to trade. It is also because people believe the value of gold is invulnerable to inflation.? His comments were echoed by Sean Turnell, from the Australia-based Burma Economic Watch, who said that the move to gold and other currencies ?shows a broader fear, and a lack of financial institutions?. A major worry, he said, is the total collapse of the purchasing power of the kyat, ?along the lines Zimbabwe situation?. ?Whenever the inflation rate just bubbles along at a rate of 20 percent, which is bad, it is 10 times what it is in neighboring countries.? Mineral and rice exports are a major source of income for the Burmese economy, despite its agriculture sector being severely damaged by cyclone Nargis last year. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has warned that it could take up to three years before the economy recovers from the cyclone Official Burmese government figures put Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at around 10 percent, although ADB believes the real figure to be half of this. ____________________________________ REGIONAL October 8, Mizzima News Thailand?s proposal to register migrant children welcomed ? Usa Pichai Chiang Mai ? The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has welcomed Thailand?s proposal to register children of migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia pointing out it is a positive sign in terms of rights of children. ?The registration will provide opportunities for them [the children] to access more public services such as medical service and education. However, we have to wait for the details of the regulation,? Adisorn Kerdmongkol, Advocacy and Research Officer of IRC said on Thursday. Sompong Srakaew, Director of Labour Promotion Network, Samut Sakorn-based organization, who works closely with migrant workers in the area, said they have urged the government of Thailand to proceed with the plan for a while and admitted that there has been some progress in management of migrant workers. The views came after a meeting of Foreign Workers Administration Committee, led by the Ministry of Labour agreed to propose to the cabinet to start migrant children?s registration. Phaitoon Kaewthong, Thailand?s Minister of Labour, said the committee had a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Maj. Gen Sanan Kajornprasat, Deputy Prime Minister. The group agreed to start registration of children of migrant workers in the country under the age of 15. However, it needs approval from the Thailand government?s cabinet. The committee has decided to submit a proposal in the weekly cabinet meeting in the coming week. ?However, the committee proposes that the registration should be completed within a week to prevent the possibility of bringing children from outside the country for registration,? Phaitoon was quoted as saying in a report in the Thailand National News Bureau website on Wednesday. He also added that registered children, living with their parents, will have to leave Thailand when the working documents of the parents expire. The minister said the policy is ?according to humanitarian principle? and would allow registered migrant children to access basic education and medical services, adding that the main responsibility of implementing the plan will be taken up by the Minister of Interior. In 2004, the Thai government had taken up registration for family members of migrants, but later it withdrew the policy, causing about 200,000 migrant children to live in Thailand illegally. According to the registration since 2004, it is believed that the number is on the rise. Despite of the government?s earlier announcement to provide education to all stateless and migrant children, so far the children are still unable to access public services and continue to hide from officials because they lack any kind of status to live in the country. ____________________________________ INTERNATIONAL October 8, CNN Exiled Myanmar activist backs sanctions New york -- An activist exiled from Myanmar called for the government to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and urged the U.S. to continue sanctions against it. Thaung Htun, Myanmar's government-in-exile's unofficial representative to the United Nations, on Wednesday told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that "it is not the right time even to think about lifting sanctions." He wants the United States to continue to pressure Myanmar's military regime with economic sanctions as it pursues talks with the south Asian nation, also known as Burma. Sanctions will continue, according to the Obama administration, but it noted that such a policy has not worked as a one-tiered strategy. Even as the United States has settled on moving toward diplomacy, detained leader Suu Kyi has called for lifting the sanctions. Suu Kyi's detention has been a key component in the United States' political tangle with Myanmar. Critics of the country's ruling junta have accused the regime of convicting Suu Kyi, 64, to keep her from participating in 2010 elections. Sanctions coupled with diplomacy could be most effective in dealing with Myanmar, Htun said on the CNN interview program "Amanpour." In advocating tougher sanctions, Htun said economic restrictions target the regime and do not affect the nation's people. According to the CIA, more than 30 percent of Myanmar's population lives in poverty. "The Burmese people are poor, and economy is getting worse because of the mismanagement of the regime," Htun said. "Actually, the regime is getting more money, you know, in the last 20 years. Now they are having $2.6 billion ... just from the sale of gas to Thailand, but they don't use that money for the people." Others disagree on the effects of sanctions on the country's people. "[Suu Kyi] does not want to hurt the people of Myanmar," Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. envoy to Myanmar, told Amanpour. "Some of the sanctions do hurt the people." Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein has called the sanctions "a form of violence" that do not "promote human rights and democracy." Senator Jim Webb, the first congressman to visit Myanmar in a decade, said the U.S. State Department "has been clear that they're not going to move forward on issues like sanctions unless there are further reciprocal gestures. "But we have seen the beginning of a removal of the paralysis," the Virginia Democrat said on "Amanpour" on Wednesday. "Aung San Suu Kyi has been able to meet twice now over the past week with government leaders." But she is still detained and last week she lost the appeal of the 18-month sentence recently added to time she was already serving. She was sentenced in August for breaching the terms of her house arrest after an incident in May in which an uninvited American, John Yettaw, stayed at her home. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been confined in her house for about 14 of the past 20 years. Htun says it's too early to tell whether more talks with Myanmar will affect Suu Kyi's detention or how the regime treats political adversaries. "If we look at the reality on the ground, there is no improvement," he said. "There is more violence in the last seven months, more political prisoners, more arrests, and more military attacks in the ethnic minority areas. That's why we need to be very cautious and we need to put pressure on the regime until these benchmarks can be fulfilled by the regime." ____________________________________ OPINION / OTHER October 8, The Financial Times Talks with Burma are no laughing matter ? David Pilling Before Burmese stand-up comedian Zarganar was thrown in jail, his stage routine was peppered with references to motorcycles. Allusions to this apparently innocuous mode of transport would have his audience tittering nervously. Like Zarganar, they knew he was referring to a form of torture favoured by Burma's generals. The "motorcycle" of Burma's infamous prisons forces inmates to balance, for hours, on the balls of their feet - often with nails placed beneath their soles - and to make a buzzing sound. Burmese humour is no laughing matter. Zarganar, a former dentist whose stage name means "tweezers", certainly never succeeded in amusing the generals who prefer to call the country they run so badly Myanmar. His criticism of the junta's tragically slow response to last year's cyclone Nargis, which killed 140,000 people and destroyed 800,000 homes, landed him a 59-year jail sentence, later commuted to 35 years. Like Burma's best-known political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi, Zarganar has been in and out of detention since the Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy thumped the regime into fourth place in 1990's annulled elections. Ms Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 19 years under house arrest. Last week, a court rejected her appeal against a further 18-month sentence imposed because she allowed an eccentric American to stay the night after he swam across the lake that backs on to her home. Thank God she did not mention motorbikes. Laughably transparent, the extension keeps the charismatic opposition leader out of the way throughout the highly orchestrated elections the junta plans for next year. It may seem an inauspicious moment for President Barack Obama's US administration to open dialogue. Last week, Hillary Clinton told the UN General Assembly that years of sanctions had not worked and that, from now on, "we will be engaging directly with the Burmese authorities". She stressed that, for the time being, sanctions would remain. Reaching out to such an odious regime may seem pointless. Washington's policy of engagement with other nasty regimes, such as the still-defiant Iran, has so far borne little fruit. Yet distasteful as it is to sit down with the generals, it is the right thing to do. There are at least three good reasons why. First, the alternative - isolation - has failed. Burma's generals seem immune to outside pressure. Sanctions have never been effective: China has merely rushed into the vacuum created by the US and European withdrawal. The single biggest effect of isolating Burma has been to drive it into China's sphere of influence. Second, Burma is at a delicate juncture. Next year's elections will be fought under a junta-friendly constitution, approved by a farcical referendum in which 99 per cent of the electorate was said to have voted in favour. (Presumably the other 1 per cent was in jail.) Those elections have been condemned as a sham. But that is not to say they are irrelevant. They mark the likely beginning of withdrawal from active politics of Than Shwe, the 76-year-old former postman who now runs the country. They will also change the political structure by appointing regional legislatures. Such tweaks could be more than cosmetic. If nothing else, they are likely to spark an intra-regime scramble for patronage. The generals' attempt to co-opt tame civilian candidates could also produce elected representatives more independent than presumed. There is even an active debate within Ms Suu Kyi's NLD party about whether to participate. Third, the junta's relations with Burma's ethnic minorities, many of which have historically been supported by Beijing, are heading for crisis. In August, the generals broke a 20-year ceasefire with the north-eastern Kokang region, forcing 30,000 refugees across the border into China. Beijing was not amused. Ceasefires with some of the other 16 ethnic groups could now be in jeopardy. Events are in flux. And that brings opportunity. Of course, the generals are not fools. If they talk to Washington it will be with the hope of much gain and few, if any, concessions. General Shwe would no doubt like the US to lift sanctions and to provide legitimacy and a counterbalance to Burma's dependence on China. Yet the US has lots to discuss besides democracy, including Burma's narcotics trade. The clincher for changing tack is a circular argument. Burma has said it will consider releasing Ms Suu Kyi if she ends her support for sanctions. The US has hinted it may relax its blockade if Ms Suu Kyi is released. Ms Suu Kyi herself has recently shown signs of wishing to square the circle. Last week, she sent a letter to Gen Shwe in which she apparently sought a meeting to discuss sanctions. At the weekend, she was summoned to meet a government representative. One report suggests she was taken by motorbike. For once, there was no pun intended. ____________________________________ October 8, The Nation (Thailand) US stance on Burma is confusing ? Editorial A recent seminar at Chulalongkorn University brought together academics, diplomats and government officials to discuss Thailand's relations with Burma in light of some interesting developments. Ideas were presented, especially about the need for Thailand and Asean, as well as the United Nations, to review their policies following the United States' decision to ease its stance towards one of the world's most brutal regimes. Of course, no one expected the seminar to come up with a conclusive set of recommendations after just a few hours of discussion among people with similar views and intentions, but who differ as to how their objectives should be reached. Some argued that the crisis inside Burma is an internal problem and that we need to respect the Asean principle of non-interference. Others rightly pointed out that just about everything that takes place inside Burma - drug production, insurgency and refugees, human rights violations, migrant workers fleeing poverty and persecution (and the list goes on) - affects Thailand. But the problem with Thailand is that administration after administration cannot seem to prioritise what is important in our relations with Burma. The current administration placed Burmese democratisation and human rights high on its agenda, while the governments of Thaksin Shinawatra and his proxies paid lip service to issues like narcotics and refused to hold the Burmese junta accountable for the activities of drug armies operating freely inside Burma and on the Thai border. Instead, those Thai governments chose to gun down nearly 3,000 Thai citizens in the name of a "drug war" while negotiating lucrative business deals with the junta. No wonder the Burmese generals never take Thailand seriously. Thais don't seem to see that our demand for cheap gems and labour, not to mention lucrative logging and fishery concessions, paves the way for gross human rights violations. It was pointed out that the natural resources we want are located in areas where some of the worst atrocities are committed, be it forcible eviction of ethnic minorities or the use of rape as a war weapon. The Burmese army is the guilty party. These atrocities inside Burma continue as the United States is changing its tune on the issue of isolating the regime, although in real terms no one knows what this means. We see pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi talking to government representatives. But can this be billed as a step in the right direction? Let's not count our chickens before the eggs have hatched. Yes, dialogue with the junta should be welcome. But it should not be an open-ended invitation to the generals. If it is to be a carrot-stick approach, Washington is going to have to spell out exactly what it expects of the junta - like a free and fair election and/or the release of all political prisoners - and state clearly what the generals will get in return. A stable Burma is good for Thailand. But Thailand has for too long been at the receiving end of Burma's internal problems: the suppression of the Burmese people, clashes with rebel groups, the lack of good governance and the influx of illegal workers and refugees. ____________________________________ October 8, Jewish Tribune (Canada) Keeping the Jewish spirit alive in Burma (Myanmar) ? Sylvia Brooke Toronto ? The Jewish community of Myanmar is small in numbers but large in spirit. Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar was once home to a thriving community of predominantly Sephardic Jews, largely from Iraq, Iran and India. Before World War II there were more than 3,000 Jews in Burma. They held their heads high when the Burmese prime minister paid a visit to the newly formed state of Israel in 1948. He was the first such dignitary to do so. Israeli dignitaries in turn visited Burma. They included Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan and Ben Gurion. The Jewish school once had 200 students and several street names were named for prominent members of the Jewish community. In the early 1900s, the mayor of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, was Jewish. However, with the nationalization of businesses in 1962 many of the country?s Jews left for Australia, Israel, India and the United States. Currently there are only eight families remaining, in a country of 15 million. Moses Samuels is the trustee of the synagogue in Yangon and head of the community. Together with his son Sammy, they established Myanmar Shalom Travels and Tour in the hopes of sharing the beauty of their community with the international Jewish community. Tours are kosher and highlight the Jewish sites and history of the region. Sammy, 28, is the North American contact for the agency. Currently working in New York City, he is a graduate of Yeshiva University. Many of the young Jewish Burmese travel abroad for Jewish education and experience, and his two sisters travel often to Israel. He speaks of the jewel of the Jewish community there: ?It?s a beautiful synagogue, right in the city centre. Some Israeli visitors, they may not have been to synagogue in Israel, but when they come they love to see the synagogue and stay for Shabbat.? With help from the Israeli embassy, Jewish tourists and Chabad of Bangkok (the nearest Chabad), the community does not lack for religious materials. They always have a good supply of kosher wine, candles or matzot as the season dictates. The Israeli embassy also arranges an Israel Independence Day celebration in Burma. ?We try to get along with all the other communities because it?s such a small community,? adds Sammy. At Chanukah, they invite their Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Baha?i neighbours to join in the festivities. Sammy recalls many Shabbatot, when he was still living in Burma, waiting outside the synagogue with his father in the hopes that someone would come by and they would open up for prayers. When no one would show, they would still light candles in the synagogue. The Samuels? conviction and dedication to their history is clear. As Sammy simply states, ?we want to keep the Jewish spirit alive in Burma.? ____________________________________ PRESS RELEASE October 8, International Center for Transitional Justice Burma: Government impunity for sexual crimes, forced labor and child soldiering New York ? The international community should withhold support for Burma's 2010 elections and not accept the results of the vote unless the government amends the country's constitution to end impunity for human rights violations, the International Center for Transitional Justice says in a new report. Civil society and international organizations should meanwhile develop a coordinated approach for gathering information about human rights violations in Burma, to help prepare for eventual prosecutions and other measures dealing with the military government's long legacy of impunity. Those are among the key conclusions of Impunity Prolonged, a 40-page report analyzing Burma's 2008 constitution as well as patterns of abuse. It focuses on three broad categories of human rights violations for which the regime has granted itself impunity: sexual violence, forced labor and the recruitment of child soldiers. "Burma presents one of the most difficult challenges in the world in relation to making progress toward combating impunity," the report says. It outlines how the international community could help Burmese civil society systematically collect information about human rights abuses, as an aid to "courts, truth commissions, reparation schemes and vetting programs that may exist in the future." The report finds evidence that the Burmese regime responds to threats from the international community, even if the steps have been small: "Many transitions move in fits and starts... . But experience shows that progress in transition often happens through such slow cultural, structural, and institutional changes." The report cautions that change "is not inevitable but must be achieved through the proactive defense of human rights and concerted advocacy for measures to combat impunity." Download the full report at http://www.ictj.org/static/Asia/Burma/ICTJ_MMR_Impunity2008Constitution_pb2009.pdf About ICTJ The International Center for Transitional Justice assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved. For more information, visit www.ictj.org Contact Robert Ruby (New York) Director of Communications +1.646.919.6599 and +1.410.807.2728 (mobile) rruby at ictj.org and burmainfo at ictj.org