Apr 10, 2006

U.S. Urges Sustained Global Pressure on Burma's Military Junta


The United States has engaged in a determined pursuit of human rights and democracy goals in Burma over the past year, working with other like-minded countries to maintain maximum international pressure on the country's authoritarian military regime

The United States has engaged in a determined pursuit of human rights and democracy goals in Burma over the past year, working with other like-minded countries to maintain maximum international pressure on the country's authoritarian military regime, according to the State Department.

In an annual report to Congress on actions taken by the U.S. government to encourage respect for human rights, the State Department said the United States continued to push Burma's ruling junta to establish a constitutional democracy, respect human rights, release all political prisoners, end abuses by the military and combat trafficking in persons.

The report, Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2005-2006, was released April 5.

The report serves as a complement to the State Department's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which catalog abuses that took place during the course of the year.

MULTILATERAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS

"The United States worked aggressively and multilaterally to press for change in Burma," despite a deteriorating political and economic situation in the country, the report says.

These efforts included support for the work of the U.N. special envoy for the secretary-general and the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights, the report said, noting that the Burmese government has blocked both officials from entering the country for more than two years.

In support of Burmese workers' rights, the United States also encouraged the efforts of the Rangoon liaison office of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to seek Burmese government compliance with international labor obligations, according to the report.

"At the ILO Governing Board meeting in November 2005, the United States emphasized the need for the [Burmese] government to reengage the ILO in a meaningful dialogue, and to ensure the liaison officer's ability to safely carry out his duties countrywide," the report said.

The United States has co-sponsored annual resolutions at the U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights condemning continued systematic violations of human rights in Burma, according to the report.

"With the strong support of the United States, the U.N. Security Council agreed to discuss Burma in informal consultations in December 2005," the report says. "On December 16, the U.N. Under Secretary General for Political Affairs briefed the Council on the continued deterioration of freedoms in Burma and the regime's neglect of the country's needs."

The United States also consistently raised concerns about Burma in bilateral contacts with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the report says, and has urged those nations to press the Burmese regime to release political prisoners and open up the political process.

SANCTIONS SIGNAL DISAPPROVAL OF JUNTA

The United States joined other countries, including members of the European Union, in imposing a variety of sanctions on Burma's government, according to the report.
"These sanctions signaled international disapproval while exerting pressure on the junta to end its human rights abuses and allow for genuine democracy in Burma," it said.

On June 21, 2005, the report said, the U.S. Congress renewed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act for a third year. The legislation imposes sanctions in a number of areas, including restrictions on trade, bilateral aid and visa issuance.

U.S. SUPPORTS DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS

"The United States was a vocal advocate for the rights of democracy activists in Burma, including Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi," the report says.

Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, leaders of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), continue to be held incommunicado under house arrest, according to the report, and all of the political party's offices throughout the country remain closed, except for the Rangoon headquarters.

"Following the regime's November 2005 announcement that it had prolonged Aung San Suu Kyi's detention for another six months, the United States publicly identified the extension as 'another step in the wrong direction,' and again called on the government to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and initiate a meaningful dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minority political groups," the report says.

The United States has engaged in "vigorous public diplomacy and democracy programs" in Burma, the report notes, including journalist training, scholarship programs, civic education activities, and educational and cultural exchanges.
U.S.-funded groups have been working along Burma's borders to collect information about a variety of human rights abuses, according to the report, documenting incidents of rape, forced labor, repression of ethnic and religious minorities and plundering by the Burmese army.

Partly as a result of such information, the U.S. government has re-designated Burma as a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for the seventh consecutive year, and has ranked it among the worst violators in its annual report on trafficking in persons, the report says.

Source: Shan-EUgroup