Human rights in Myanmar under its military regime have long been regarded as among the worst in the world.[1][2] International human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch,[3] Amnesty International,[4] and the American Association for the Advancement of Science[5] have repeatedly documented and condemned widespread human rights violations in Burma. The Freedom in the World 2011 report by Freedom House notes that "The military junta
has... suppressed nearly all basic rights; and committed human rights
abuses with impunity." In 2011 the "country's more than 2,100 political
prisoners included about 429 members of the NLD, the victors in the 1990
elections."[6] As of July 2013, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there were about 100 political prisoners in Burmese prisons.[7][8][9][10]
On 9 November 2012, Samantha Power, US President Barack Obama's
Special Assistant to the President on Human Rights wrote on the White
House Blog in advance of the President's visit that "Serious human
rights abuses against civilians in several regions continue, including
against women and children."[11] The United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly[12]
called on the Burmese Military Junta to respect human rights and in
November 2009 the General Assembly adopted a resolution "strongly
condemning the ongoing systematic violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms" and calling on the Burmese Military Regime "to
take urgent measures to put an end to violations of international human
rights and humanitarian law."[13]
Forced labour, human trafficking and child labour of are common.[14] The Burmese Military Regime[clarification needed] is also notorious for rampant use of sexual violence as an instrument of control, including allegations of systematic rapes and taking of sex slaves by the military,[15] a practice which continued in 2012.[16]
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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Myanmar |
Freedom of religion, minority rights, and internal conflict
Evidence has been gathered suggesting that the Burmese regime has marked certain ethnic minorities such as the Karen, Karenni and Shan for extermination or 'Burmisation'.[18]
This, however, has received little attention from the international
community since it has been more subtle and indirect than the mass
killings in places like Rwanda.[19] According to Amnesty International, the Muslim Rohingya people have continued to suffer human rights violations under the Burma junta since 1978, and many have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result[20] Violence against Christian communities such as the Kachin has also flared since fighting restarted in June 2011 in the 2011–2012 Kachin Conflict.
Rohingya rebellion in Western Burma
The Muslim Rohingya
have consistently faced human rights abuses by the Burmese regime which
has refused to acknowledge them as Burmese citizens (despite
generations of habitation in Burma) and attempted to forcibly expel
Rohingya and bring in non-Rohingyas to replace them.[21] This policy has resulted in the expulsion of approximately half of the Rohingya population from Burma.[21] An estimated 90,000 people have been displaced in the recent sectarian violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Burma's western Rakhine State.[22] As a result of this policy Rohingya people have been described as "among the world’s least wanted"[23] and "one of the world's most persecuted minorities".[24][25]
Since a 1982 citizenship law Rohingya have been stripped of their Burmese citizenship.[26] [26] In 2012, a riot
broke out between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, which
left 78 people dead, 87 injured, and thousands of homes destroyed. It
also displaced more than 52,000 people.[27] As of July 2012, the Myanmar Government did not include the Rohingya minority group–-classified as stateless
Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh since 1982—on the government's list of
more than 130 ethnic races and therefore the government says that they
have no claim to Myanmar citizenship.[28]
2012 Rakhine State riots
The 2012 Rakhine State riots are a series of ongoing conflicts between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. The riots came after weeks of sectarian disputes and have been condemned by most people on both sides of the conflict.[29]
The immediate cause of the riots is unclear, with many commentators
citing the killing of ten Burmese Muslims by ethnic Rakhine after the
rape and murder of a 13 years old Rakhine girl by Burmese Muslims as the
main cause.[30] Whole villages have been "decimated".[30]
Over three hundred houses and a number of public buildings have been
razed. According to Tun Khin, the President of the Burmese Rohingya
Organisation UK (BROUK), as of 28 June 650 Rohingyas have been killed,
1,200 are missing, and more than 80,000 have been displaced.[31]
According to the Myanmar authorities, the violence, between ethnic
Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, left 78 people dead, 87 injured,
and thousands of homes destroyed. It also displaced more than 52,000
people.[27]
The government has responded by imposing curfews and by deploying troops in the regions. On 10 June, state of emergency was declared in Rakhine, allowing military to participate in administration of the region.[32][33] The Burmese army and police have been accused of targeting Rohingya Muslims through mass arrests and arbitrary violence.[31][34]
A number of monks' organisations that played vital role in Burma's
struggle for democracy have taken measures to block any humanitarian
assistance to the Rohingya community.[35]
Continuing violence
On 30 June 2013, rioters in the west coast town of Thandwe
burned two homes. The riot had started because of rumours that a Muslim
man had raped an underage girl, or territory dispute between Rakhine
and Muslim trishaw riders.[36]
Three Muslims were injured in the fire. Roads in and out of the town
were blocked and a government spokesperson said the Myanmar police were
working to find the offenders.[37]
Ethnic cleansing
Government of Myanmar has been accused by the UN of ethnic cleansing[38][39] of the Rohingya population and commiting state-sactioned crimes such as extrajudicial executions, mass murder, genocide,[40] torture, gang rapes and forced displacement against them but Myanmar denies it.[41][42][43][44][45]
In august 2017 new massacres and burning down of Rohingya villages by Myanmar Army were reported.[46][47][48][49][50]
Freedom of speech and political freedom
A 2004 Amnesty International report stated that, between 1989 and 2004, more than 1,300 political prisoners have been imprisoned after unfair trials. The prisoners, including National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo,
have "been wrongfully denied their liberty for peaceful acts that would
not be considered crimes under international law", Amnesty
International claims.[51]
The Freedom House
report notes that the authorities arbitrarily search citizens' homes,
intercept mail, and monitor telephone conversations, and that the
possession and use of telephones, fax machines, computers, modems, and
software are criminalised.
According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), there were 1,547[52] political prisoners
in Burma - the number had doubled from 1,100 in 2006 to 2,123 in 2008.
As of April 2013, there were 176 political prisoners in Burmese prisons.[9][53]
Political prisoners may be detained on charges seemingly unrelated to
politics, complicating the case for their release. For example, National Democratic Force member and land rights activist Daw Bauk Ja was detained by police for medical negligence
in 2013, though the detainment was linked to a 2008 death, the case for
which had been withdrawn by family of the deceased in 2010. She had run
for election in 2010 and also actively campaigned against the Myitsone Dam and took Yuzana Company to court for its land confiscations in Kachin State’s Hukawng Valley region. [54][55]
Freedom of the press
The Burmese media is tightly controlled by the government. Newspapers, journals and other publications are run under the Ministry of Information and undergo heavy censorship
before publication. Reporters face severe consequences for criticising
government officials, policy, or even reporting on criticism.
Restrictions on media censorship were significantly eased in August 2012
following demonstrations by hundreds of protesters who wore shirts
demanding that the government "Stop Killing the Press".[56]
The most significant change has come in the form that media
organisations will no longer have to submit their content to a
censorship board prior to publication, however, as explained by one
editorial in the exiled press Irrawaddy, this new "freedom" has caused some Burmese journalists to simply see the new law as an attempt to create an environment of self-censorship
as journalists "are required to follow 16 guidelines towards protecting
the three national causes -- non-disintegration of the Union,
non-disintegration of national solidarity, perpetuation of sovereignty
-- and "journalistic ethics" to ensure their stories are accurate and do
not jeopardise national security."[56]
Children's rights
According to Human Rights Watch,[57] recruiting and kidnapping of children to the military
is commonplace. An estimated 70,000 of the country’s 350,000-400,000
soldiers are children. There are also multiple reports of widespread child labour.
Child soldiers
Child soldiers have and continued to play a major part in the Burmese Army as well as Burmese rebel movements. The Independent
reported in June 2012 that "Children are being sold as conscripts into
the Burmese military for as little as $40 and a bag of rice or a can of
petrol."[58] The UN's Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, who stepped down from her position a week later, met representatives of the Government of Myanmar on 5 July 2012 and stated that she hoped the government's signing of an action plan would "signal a transformation.”[59]
In September 2012 the Burmese Army released 42 child soldiers and the International Labour Organization met with representatives of the government as well as the Kachin Independence Army to secure the release of more child soldiers.[60] According to Samantha Power,
a US delegation raised the issue of child soldiers with the government
in October 2012 however she did not comment on the government's progress
towards reform in this area.[11]
State-sanctioned torture and rape
A 2002 report by The Shan Human Rights Foundation and The Shan Women's Action Network, License to Rape, details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving 625 girls and women, committed by Tatmadaw
(Burmese Army) troops in Shan State, mostly between 1996 and 2001. The
authors note that the figures are likely to be far lower than the
reality. According to the report, "the Burmese military regime is
allowing its troops systematically and on a widespread scale to commit
rape with impunity in order to terrorize and subjugate the ethnic
peoples of Shan State." Furthermore, the report states that "25% of the
rapes resulted in death, in some incidences with bodies being
deliberately displayed to local communities. 61% were gang-rapes; women
were raped within military bases, and in some cases women were detained
and raped repeatedly for periods of up to 4 months."[61] The Burmese government denied the report's findings, stating that insurgents are responsible for violence in the region.[62]
A 2003 report "No Safe Place: Burma's Army and the Rape of Ethnic Women" by Refugees International further documents the widespread use of rape by Burma's soldiers to brutalise women from five different ethnic nationalities.[63]
Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International also report
frequent torture of prisoners, including political prisoners.
Forced labour
According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
several hundred thousand men, women, children and elderly people are
forced to work against their will by the administration. Individuals
refusing to work may be victims of torture, rape or murder. The International Labour Organization
has continuously called on Burma to end the practice of forced labour
since the 1960s. In June 2000, the ILO Conference adopted a resolution
calling on governments to cease any relations with the country that
might aid the junta to continue the use of forced labour.[64]
Right to organise labour
Trade unions were banned when General Ne Win
came to power in 1962. In 2010, amid growing calls for reform to labour
laws, unofficial industrial action was taken at a number of garment
factories in Rangoon, causing concern at government level.[65] In October 2011, it was announced that trade unions had been legalised by a new law.[66]
Past condemnation and individual cases
1990s
In a landmark legal case, some human rights groups sued the Unocal corporation, previously known as Union Oil of California and now part of the Chevron Corporation.
They charged that since the early 1990s, Unocal has joined hands with
dictators in Burma to turn thousands of citizens there into virtual
slaves under brutality. Unocal, before being purchased, stated that they
had no knowledge or connection to these alleged actions although it
continued working in Burma. This was believed to be the first time an
American corporation has been sued in a US court on the grounds that the
company violated human rights in another country.[67][68]
2000s
The Freedom in the World 2004 report by Freedom House
notes that "The junta rules by decree, controls the judiciary,
suppresses all basic rights, and commits human rights abuses with impunity.
Military officers hold all cabinet positions, and active or retired
officers hold all top posts in all ministries. Official corruption is
reportedly rampant both at the higher and local levels."[69]
Brad Adams,
director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, in a 2004 address
described the human rights situation in the country as appalling: "Burma
is the textbook example of a police state. Government informants and
spies are omnipresent. Average Burmese people are afraid to speak to
foreigners except in most superficial of manners for fear of being
hauled in later for questioning or worse. There is no freedom of speech,
assembly or association."[70]
From 2005-2007 NGOs found that violations of human rights included the absence of an independent judiciary, restrictions on Internet access through software-based censorship,[71][72] that forced labour, human trafficking, and child labour were common,[73]
and that sexual violence was abundantly used as an instrument of
control, including systematic rapes and taking of sex slaves as porters
for the military. A strong women's pro-democracy movement has formed in
exile, largely along the Thai border and in Chiang Mai. There was also said to be a growing international movement to defend women's human rights issues.[15]
In a press release on 16 December 2005 the US State Department said UN involvement in Burma was essential[74] and listed illicit narcotics, human rights abuses and political repression as serious problems that the UN needed to address.[74]
According to Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
(HRDP), on 18 April 2007, several of its members (Myint Aye, Maung
Maung Lay, Tin Maung Oo and Yin Kyi) were met by approximately a hundred
people led by a local official, U Nyunt Oo, and beaten up. Due to the
attack, Myint Hlaing and Maung Maung Lay were badly injured and
subsequently hospitalised. The HRDP alleged that this attack was
condoned by the authorities and vowed to take legal action. Human Rights Defenders and Promoters was formed in 2002 to raise awareness among the people of Burma about their human rights.
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