Democratic Voice of Burma |
- DVB Bulletin: 19 November 2014
- 600 rescued from traffickers in Bay of Bengal
- MPs pass bill to pay themselves higher salaries
- Is Suu Kyi admitting defeat?
- Burma’s missing millions
- Ceasefire draft committee adds finishing touches
| DVB Bulletin: 19 November 2014 Posted: 19 Nov 2014 04:30 AM PST On tonight's DVB Bulletin:
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| 600 rescued from traffickers in Bay of Bengal Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:10 AM PST More than 600 trafficking victims from Burma and Bangladesh have been rescued in the Bay of Bengal, a Bangladeshi navy spokesman in Dhaka said on Tuesday. Many of those on board are thought to be Rohingya Muslims. Large populations of stateless Rohingyas remain in displacement camps in Burma’s western Arakan State, as well as in neighbouring Bangladesh. NGO the Arakan Project says traffickers pose a serious risk to the persecuted minority. |
| MPs pass bill to pay themselves higher salaries Posted: 19 Nov 2014 03:00 AM PST Burma's lower house of parliament on Tuesday approved a bill that will increase MPs' salaries. Pe Than, the Rakhine National Party MP representing Myebon constituency, said that according to the new bill, lawmakers will now be paid monthly salaries of between one million and 1.6 million kyat (US$1,000- $1,600). Currently, a union-level MP receives 300,000 kyat ($300) per month. The bill also brings in an increase in an MP's allowance – up to between 500,000 and one million kyat, plus a 20,000 kyat daily stipend. Monthly allowances for executive members of self-administrated zones will also be increased to between 300,000 and 500,000 kyat, with a 20,000 kyat daily stipend. The "Law on Emoluments, Allowances and Insignias of Parliament Representatives", the "Law on Emoluments, Allowances and Insignias of Executive Members of Self-Administrated Regions", the "Law on Emoluments, Allowances and Insignias of Union and State-level Persons", and the "Law on Emoluments, Allowances and Insignias of the Chairperson and Members of the Naypyidaw Council" were each passed. |
| Posted: 19 Nov 2014 01:30 AM PST Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has conceded that she is unable to force through the constitutional changes that would allow her to run for the presidency, and has even gone so far as to acknowledge house Speaker Shwe Mann's timetable for reform as "realistic". Speaking to reporters during a break in parliament on Wednesday, Suu Kyi said, "He [Shwe Mann] was talking about the process [of constitutional reform], and this is how it has to be. Suppose there is a decision to amend Article 436 – with regard to time and procedure, it has to follow this process. "I know people have held a lot of hope in me becoming president in 2015, but in order to amend Article 59(f), Article 436 must be amended first. Therefore it is realistic to follow this procedure." Article 436 stipulates that any constitutional amendment requires the approval of 75 percent of parliament. Critics, which have included Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), say that the clause is undemocratic because it provides the military – which is appointed 25 percent of parliamentary seats – veto power on any proposed amendments. Article 59(f) is the clause that bars Suu Kyi from running for the presidency or vice-presidency because her sons – and deceased husband – have foreign citizenship. Posting Suu Kyi's statement on its social media, the NLD cited its leader saying, "Regarding the military MPs' strong stance against amending Article 436, it is clear to us that democratic standards must be practiced. We would like the military to adopt a more democratic attitude but we are not expressly seeking to find fault with them. Related Stories"When we say it is necessary to change the 2008 Constitution, we mean it must be amended to meet democratic standards," she added. "The role provided for the military by the current Constitution is not in line with democratic standards." The opposition leader's comments come shortly after her party spokesman Nyan Win admitted to news agency AFP that the NLD "cannot win" the battle to change the constitution. “Calculate the ratio mathematically," he is reported saying. "We cannot win [the fight to change key sections of the constitution]. On Tuesday, Burma's parliamentary house speaker Shwe Mann told a press conference in Naypyidaw that any amendments to the 2008 Constitution will only be enacted after next year's general elections. Following the day's debate in the bicameral parliament on constitutional reform, the house speaker said that a referendum will be held in May 2015 to gauge public opinion on any changes to the Constitution, but that moves to pass any amendments could only be approved through the new legislature which reconvenes in 2016. The elections are expected to be held in either October or November next year. "The 2015 elections will be held in accordance with the laws stipulated under the 2008 Constitution and relating laws," Shwe Mann told reporters. "If the referendum in May brings about motions to amend the Constitution, then those bills will be submitted at the next session of parliament convened after the elections." He added that controversial Articles 436 and 59(f) will be considered based on public opinion. Khin Maung Swe, the chairman of the National Democratic Force, which recently tabled a proposal to amend the electoral process to a proportional representation system, said he never believed the government would accede to the calls for constitutional reform. “U Shwe Mann previously promised that the constitutional amendments would be implemented six months ahead of the 2015 elections," he said. "We never believed that. We could see that it would be impossible to amend the constitution to meet all political criteria within the time limit." Others responded to Tuesday's announcement with a mixture of anger and frustration. Supreme Court lawyer Ko Ni said, "I see that the ruling party has no wish to amend the Constitution and are making any excuse to delay it as much as they can." His sentiments were echoed by Mya Aye of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society. "I am very frustrated to hear this," he said. "What we asked for were only the necessary amendments to the Constitution before 2015, and a process of reforming others later. This does not favour any one particular party but is in the interests of the country. Elections without constitutional reform will not guarantee the public their freedom of choice." Speaking to DVB, ethnic leaders – who are currently embroiled in ceasefire talks with the government – also expressed their dissatisfaction. Col. Hkun Okker, a leading negotiator on behalf of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team, said, "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said elections would not be free and fair without some degree of constitutional reform. As for us, we never accepted the 2008 Constitution and will still not accept it even after it is amended. "U Shwe Mann's decision to postpone amendments until after the 2015 elections is a clear signal that the proposal to bring about constitution reform from within parliament is a no-go." Saw Than Myint, co-founder of the multi-ethnic Federal Union Party and spokesperson for the Nationalities Brotherhood Federation, said, "Even after the 2015 elections, it will be nigh on impossible to amend the Constitution without cooperation from the military MPs who hold 25 percent of the seats. Whether it be in 2015 or 2020, how are we supposed to change the Constitution as long as the military holds 25 percent of seats in parliament?"
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| Posted: 18 Nov 2014 11:47 PM PST Last year, when I was in Ma Ja Yang in Northern Kachin State, Burmese fighter bombers, at the height of the peace process, had just flown low over the nearby IDP camp. Two terrified children dug themselves into an earth bank for refuge. In heavy rains the bank collapsed and they suffocated to death: two unrecorded deaths in a sixty year old war involving, arguably, the deaths of millions. But this year these two children may have surfaced, along with millions of others, in the most unlikeliest of places: the government’s 2014 census. Burma’s population, it turns out, is about nine million below what was expected. These two children, and nine million others, are not there. No one is commenting on this. No one is asking why. The most significant and extraordinary information to have come out of the country for decades, identifying 20 percent of Burma’s expected population is "Missing," is disregarded. This figure cannot be explained away by the flawed methodology of the census, which, albeit inadvertently, exacerbated the intimidation, persecution and dehumanisation by the Rohingya. It is the result itself which needs to be examined. The census may in fact have come up with an inconvenient Truth: millions of people may be missing in Myanmar who were expected to be alive based on the perfectly modest realistic estimates of the 1983 census which predicted an annual 2 percent growth rate. Exculpatory explanations for some of the missing millions can, admittedly, be made. Many people were simply not counted, including the Rohingya and some Kachin; so called economic migrants, in reality often refugees escaping persecution, were, by their very nature, out of the country; others were inaccessible; AIDS and drug addiction have probably substantially contributed to many premature deaths; one hundred and thirty thousand perished during Cyclone Nargis and its aftermath; cultural practices, such as celibacy and monasticism, may have lowered birthrates; the1983 census may itself have been flawed. Finally, the global media’s failure to expose decades long destruction may have contributed to the disregard of the result: people slowly dying over decades do not fit the media’s 24 news cycle, especially when most victims have disappeared in remote jungle mountainous terrain far from journalists and diplomats. These factors, amongst others, may help explain away some of the missing millions and the disregard of the result: they do not, however, fully account for millions of missing people. The elephant in the room is government policy. Widespread, systematic human rights violations, i.e. crimes against humanity, have been identified and condemned by successive UN Special Rapporteurs and General Assembly Resolutions since 1992. The country was specifically placed on the UN Genocide Watch list back in 2005 and, I understand, still remains so. The outgoing UN Special Rapporteur, Tomas Ojea-Quintana, affirmed "Elements of genocide" apply as recently as June 2014. Genocide, we should remind ourselves, involves the physical "Destruction of ethnic, racial, religious or national groups in whole or," significantly, "In part." If even a small fraction of these millions of missing people have disappeared due to government policies, the Genocide Convention would apply. Related StoriesThe decades long systematic violations targeting mostly ethnic civilians with destruction need to be seen in their historical context. UN condemnations have been explicit and specific. Special Rapporteur, Rajsoomer Lallah QC in 1998, condemned widespread, systematic violations, including "The killing of women and children," as: "The result of policy taken at the highest level entailing legal and political responsibility." (Situation of Human Rights Myanmar, para. 59, Report to the UN Economic and Social Council, July, 1998.) Systematic and widespread violations, inflicted for decades have inevitably caused the deaths of many people; the two aforementioned children died as a consequence of the Burma army’s military attack. We need to reflect on nine million missing people: the number is about the same as the population of Sweden. It is about one and a half times the number of Jews who perished in the Holocaust. It is nearly twice the number who died as a result of Stalin’s inflicted famine in the Ukraine. In Burma nearly one in five people is not alive who was expected to be alive based upon a modest estimate of the two per cent population growth rate. Despite its significance, the news does not chime with the media’s brave new world: "Burma Unbound", "Burma booming", the "Mandela-like transition." The figure is met instead with silence. A connection between systematic, widespread human rights violations and possible missing millions exists, however. Martin Smith, generally regarded as a leading authority on Burma’s ethnic peoples, identified a dramatic "Slump in birth rates" back in 1990, opining: "The birth rates of most minority races (and not just the Mons and the Karens) have inexplicably slumped." ("Burma, Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity," page 38, Zed Books, 1991) We should note his use of the word "Slump," i.e. a sudden and dramatic fall. This "slump" in birth rates, moreover, has been accompanied by some outright "Collapses in population" as identified by Amnesty International: "In some areas complete collapse in ethnic populations has occurred, such as in Kunhing Township in Shan State where a 70 percent drop in population was recorded." ("Atrocities in Shan State", Amnesty International, 1998.) Smith estimated 10,000 dying a year for four decades back in 1990 which would make 400,000. Extrapolated forward to 2014 the figure would approach 550,000, a figure which would be unlikely to include the hundreds of thousands who have died indirectly from denial of shelter, food and medicines, nor would it include the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya forced to flee, and often die, in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere. The Transnational Institute cited a figure of 600,000 casualties in 2005. "The true death toll," Smith wrote, quoting former SLORC Chairman General Saw Maung vack in the 1980′s, "Would reach as high as millions". ("Burma", Zed Books, 1990 ed. p.101) Specific evidence of widespread destruction has been documented, often graphically, in Karen, Karenni, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Mon, Delta, Karen, Rohingya areas over the decades. Mass forced location of the Bamar population, we should remember, was also inflicted in lowland Burma during the 1990′s. These "slumps in birth rates", and local "collapses in population," contrast with earlier "Prolific high birth rates of ethnic peoples" identified in the unique, in depth, detailed bench mark study carried out just before Burma’s civil war began by W.D. Hackett. He explains "The minorities . . . are more prolific than the Burman population and increasing at a very rapid rate." (The Pao People of Shan State, p. 3, W.D. Hackett, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cornell, 1953.) Although Smith does state the slump in birth rates as being "Inexplicable," observation of what has been inflicted in conflict areas; analyses of infant and maternal mortality rates documented by, amongst others, the Mae Tao Clinic; detailed mapping of widespread, systematic destruction in eastern, western, northern regions and the Delta, including satellite imagery, and numerous reports, demonstrate the destruction must have inevitably resulted in the deaths of large numbers of people. Moreover, these "collapses in population" and "slumps in birth rates" is certain to be greatest in so called ethnic areas. If the full regional breakdown of the results of the 2014 census is ever revealed, it will probably confirm this. Latest reports, however, indicae this information is not being released indicative of a cover up. We need to ask, however, what government strategies have contributed to the slump in birth rates and much lower than expected population figure. The central strategy outlined by Smith is known as the Four Cuts strategy which is explicitly intended to destroy the civilian base of resistance. Ethnic civilians are thus the target. The first circle: killing Successive military juntas, and the current hybrid civilian/military successor, have been killing and causing deaths for decades. In January 2013 I was in Kachin State. A young boy, sitting on a wall, described to me how soldiers had come to his mother’s kitchen and shot her while he looked on from the edge of a sugar cane field. An old man sobbed hysterically next to him: he had just described his daughter bayoneted to death through the left breast. Nearby two small boys had dug themselves into a mud wall to hide from fighter bombers. It collapsed and suffocated them to death. These small boys, the old man’s daughter and the boy’s mother are part of Myanmar’s missing millions. In this case they died as a result of a systematic onslaught- not "Ethnic conflict"- by the Burma army. This attack occurred just after President Thein Sein had formally announced a ceasefire on prime time television, supported by a vote of the whole lower house, and dutifully echoed by the global media and Ban Ki Moon. Along "The ceasefire line" human wave attacks were carried out on Kachin positions involving tens of thousands of troops, helicopter gun ships and fighter bombers. Jane’s Intelligence reportedly estimated five thousand Burmese troops and one thousand Kachin were killed. (That’s double the number estimated killed in the 1988 student uprising.) These deaths predictably remain disregarded, downplayed, understated or denied. They don’t fit the narrative of democratic transition, or the assumptions of top down, urban, Burman centred journalists, politicians and diplomats whose views have been co-opted by the rhetoric of "Transition". (Needless to say young Burmese conscripts, forced to fight and die are also victims and just as deserving of our compassion, as ethnic victims.) Let’s rewind to the autumn of 2000 when I was in the mountainous areas of Karen State. Four women were brought into our encampment who had just been forced to watch their husbands being beheaded in front of them. Nearby in a burning village two toddlers had been thrown into the flames. Their dying screams were heard in the surrounding hills for minutes. An old lady, unable to move, burnt to death silently. In a nearby village a Baptist pastor was beaten for three days, his Bible shredded and then beheaded. I could go on. These people were murdered by the Burmese army. This has been going on for decades, and is still going on. These dead are part of the missing nine million. These killings include not just individuals, but massacres such as in the Delta in September 2001 and Dooplaya district. Karen State in May 2002 ("Dying Alive," Images Asia, 2005) The second circle : cyclone Nargis About 130,000 people, more than the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, died in the Delta as a result of Cyclone Nargis. Many of these deaths resulted from the Junta’s criminal negligence failing to warn the population and impeding relief efforts. We can infer that the population of the Delta would now be higher if the government had carried out its responsibilities effectively. The third circle: sexual violence If systematic killing is the first circle, denial of aid the second circle, widespread, systematic rape and sexual violence represents the third. The UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Rajsoomer Lallah QC, condemned it as being a "Regular, routine feature" and "The result of policy" as far back as 1998. It has been condemned in most UN reports. This form of targeted violence of women undermines birth rates because, amongst other things, it often destroys women’s desire and ability to marry and have children. The fourth circle : indirect destruction This encompasses those subjected to slow, indirect violence, defined in the Rome Statute as: "The deliberate deprivation of resources indispensable for survival, such as food, medical services, or systematic expulsion from homes."(Rome Statute, Genocide, Article 6c). Burning people out of their homes, like the 3,600 villages documented by the Thai Burma Border Consortium in eastern Burma, or what has been inflicted in Rohingya and Kachin areas recently, leads, indirectly, to death because people lack shelter or basic services. I remember the gloves of a back pack medic being destroyed in order, presumably, so that babies could not be born hygienically and die as result. I recall a report of a man shot through the leg for carrying antibiotics in 2005.The denial and destruction of medical services and supplies, deprivation of clean water and food, often inevitably results in death. (The Rohingya are particularly victimised by this slow motion, low intensity form of genocide.) Very many people have died prematurely and unnecessarily over the decades as a result of these deliberately inflicted conditions. Maternal and infant mortality rates in particular, documented by the Mae Tao Clinic and others, resulting from these conditions have been some of the highest in the world. We should note that two hundred and fifty thousand people, a quarter of a million, have been terrorised out of their homes since "the democratic transition" began and "Peace" broke out. The fifth circle : persecution In the fifth circle there are the millions who over the decades have been forced to flee persecution, i.e. the denial of their fundamental rights Many of those in the refugee camps, or those fleeing into the Indian Ocean, or into China, India, Malaysia etc., are not economic migrants, but victims of systematic Persecution. In the case of the Rohingya, as the former Special UN Rapporteur asserted, the conditions they are escaping include "Elements of genocide." The sixth circle : enforced migration In the sixth circle we do admittedly find very many economic migrants working in foreign countries. Many of these have, however, not really made free choices but have had to escape the extreme poverty resulting from government policies which have failed to provide people with, amongst other things, adequate medical and educational services. The seventh circle : general poverty Here are the great majority of the Burmese people who are mired in the poverty resulting from governmental negligence. Such conditions can lead people to put off, or not marry, or have smaller families than they otherwise would have had, which leads, in turn, to a probable reduction in birth rates. In conclusion, decades long State inflicted violence and deliberate deprivation of the necessities for life must have resulted in at least hundreds of thousands, and if former SLORC Chairman General Saw Maung was right "Millions", of premature deaths. The numerical qualifying criteria of what comprises the attempted destruction of a part of a people to justify a charge of genocide is: "substantial". Those two young children should not have died, nor should hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, be allowed to disappear into a vortex of complicit silence. A Truth Commission should be set up to find out what has really happened. Perpetrators should be held to account.
Guy Horton has worked on Burma and its border areas since 1998. His 2005 report, "Dying Alive" and supporting video footage, received worldwide coverage and contributed to the submission of Burma to the UN Security Council in January 2007. As a result of the report, the UN Committee on the Prevention of Genocide carried out an investigation and placed Burma/Myanmar on the Genocide Watch list. Since 2005 Guy Horton has focussed on establishing a coalition of governments, funders, institutions and leading international lawyers with the aim of getting the violations investigated and analysed so that impunity can be addressed. He is currently a researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was short-listed for the post of UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar 2014. He can be contacted at: ghrtn7@gmail.com The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect DVB's editorial policy.
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| Ceasefire draft committee adds finishing touches Posted: 18 Nov 2014 10:28 PM PST A 15-member committee assigned to draft a framework for the political dialogue due after a nationwide ceasefire agreement expects to finalise their proposal by the close of Wednesday. The committee, which is made up of representatives of 56 political parties, is holding what it hopes to be its final meeting in Rangoon, where it will lay the finishing touches to a document which is to be offered to both ethnic armed groups and a Burmese government delegation. Formed in September, the 15 political party members have met eight times to discuss and draft the dialogue framework. Related StoriesPu Zo Zam, a committee member and chairman of the Chin National Party, said the finalised framework will be presented to Burma's political parties for perusal around 25 November. The opposition National League for Democracy and the United Nationalities Alliance – a coalition of ethnic parties formed in1990 – did not take part in selecting the committee or its activities. |
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