Burma: Human Rights Abuses

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Burma is once again in the news with the sentencing by a kangaroo court of opposition leader, Nobel laureate and democracy icon Aung Saan Suu Kyi…What is the world and UN doing about this gross injustice? Nothing other than issuing statements…

According to a report (‘Crimes in Burma’ commissioned by five of the world’s leading international jurists: Judge Patricia Wald, Judge Pedro Nikken, Judge Ganzorig Gombosuren, Sir Geoffrey Nice, and Judge Richard Goldstone) issued by the Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, “human rights abuses in Burma are widespread, systematic and part of state policy.”

“The UN Security Council has taken action regarding Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sudan when it identified information strongly suggesting the existence of crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said Tyler Giannini, the clinical director of the Human Rights Program at HLS. “As our research shows, UN documents clearly and authoritatively suggest that the human rights abuses occurring in Burma are not isolated incidents. Failure by the UN Security Council to take action and to investigate these crimes could mean that violations of international criminal law will go unchecked.”

The report is based on an analysis of scores of UN documents dating back to 1992, including UN General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights resolutions, as well as reports from several different Special Rapporteurs.

Major abuses cited by the United Nations documents include forced displacement of more than 3,000 villages in eastern Burma, and widespread and systematic sexual violence, torture, and summary execution of innocent civilians.

So, if all this evidence is present with the UN Security Council, why isn’t it going after the junta? Is it because Burma has no oil (it has gas reserves but not as much as the Middle East) and therefore not worth the money, time and effort? OK, so Yugoslavia, Sudan and Rwanda also don’t have oil but Yugoslavs are white and how can the UN sit back and twiddle its thumbs while injustice is meted out to whites? Sudan and Rwanda are in Africa and somehow Africa has managed to capture the imagination of Western nations – Burma has not…Nobody (including India) cares about her people…As far as I can see, Burma will be a part of China in a few years and India doesn’t want to ruffle China’s feathers by siding with pro-democracy anti-junta Burmese leaders…India also has economic interests in Burma – New Delhi would like the country to provide a trade link to the ASEAN region and so is building roads and ports to achieve this objective…Burma’s gas reserves are also important for India…

Basically, everything comes down to money and the colour of one’s skin…Altruism has vanished…

13 thoughts on “Burma: Human Rights Abuses”

  3. 😦 😦 it got me really down when I read how the most flimsy of excuses were being used to keep Aung Saan Su Kyi under an even longer period of house arrest. (as if they have any plans of letting her go at all! ) 😦

    The human rights abuses…? what should one say? ..what can one do?

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  4. The Security Council can do nothing because China will veto any resolution for it.

    Myanmar was India’s for the asking but we got carried away by a morality that is completely non-existent in our internal politics. So, that country has literally been forced into the arms of China that has just signed a deal for a massive 200 mscmd gas and 20 mt pipeline to China. Compare this to the 80 mscmd gas that Reliance is going to produce from KG basin and you will get an idea of what India has gifted to China and brought that country to its shores.

    Musharraf was a military dictator but that did not stop India from embracing him. Perhaps that was because because Pakistan has lit a fire you know where!

    I am not sure how many human rights abuses are taking place in Myanmar. On the face of it, the situation is better than it is and was in Pakistan. We forget that Sharif and Benazir were both sent to live in exile for a number of years.

    India has made a huge blunder as far as Myanmar is concerned. National interest should reign supreme, as it does when we deal with Pakistan, no matter who is in power.

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  5. Never talk about UN bones… its another white house… 😡 its high time they can dissolve it… its of no use… I will give a punch on everybody’s face who are responsible for this… she has won the elections in 1988 with complete majority, instead of ruling the country she kept under house arrest for no-reason… what wrong she did to be as prison for almost half of life…?? that lowly thugs must be behind the bar… She is a role model of me… they have given her the offer of go out of the country and never come back else be under arrest… the resolve she was showing unmatchable… and India’s foriegn policy is fled away with globalization… thats the one of the prize we have paid to get exposed… the world is selfish… without any benefits for them nobody will do anything.. 😡

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  6. Such a shame! And all the so called ‘upholders of democracy’ do nothing – because obviously – they don’t have vested interests there.. As you say, Burma is not oil rich. Nobody seems to care.. India should have been more concerned – but sadly, I think we lack the political courage to help…

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  7. seriously bones……………….. this farce has gone on too long……………
    I like this post coz you rightly said that burma has neither oil or white skin…………

    india has to do something………. but as usual we will sit back and do nothing………….

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  11. I think the people of Myanmar should decide their own future and not India and China. India can and should raise the issue in all International forums if possible and try to isolate China in this issue

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  12. Pingback: What Politicians Do To Remain In Power « Ramblings By Bones

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