အဖြဲ႕အစည္းအသီးသီးမွေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားခင္ဗ်ား
ဒီဇင္ဘာလ (၁၀) ရက္ အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးေန႔ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံသည္လည္း လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးကို ေလးစားလိုက္နာရန္ လက္မွတ္ေရးထိုးထားေသာ အဖြဲ႔၀င္ႏိုင္ငံတခု ျဖစ္သည္။ သို႔ေသာ္လည္း သမၼတဦးသိန္းစိန္ ဦးေဆာင္ေနေသာ စစ္အစိုးရသည္ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးမ်ားကို ေလးစားလိုက္နာရန္ ယေန႔တိုင္ ပ်က္ကြက္ေနဆဲျဖစ္သည္။ ထိုေၾကာင့္ ဂ်ပန္ႏိုင္ငံေရာက္ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံသားမ်ားသည္လည္း အမိႏိုင္ငံတြင္ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးမ်ား ဆိပ္သုန္းေနေၾကာင္း ေဖၚျပရန္တာ၀န္ရွိသည့္အားေလွ်ာ္စြာ ဂ်ပန္ေရာက္ ျမန္မာ့ဒီမိုကေရစီအင္အားစုတို႔မွ စုေပါင္းက်င္းပျပဳလုပ္မည့္ ေအာက္ေဖၚျပပါ အခန္းအနားသို႔ တက္ေရာက္ၾကပါရန္ ႏုိးေဆာ္အပ္ပါသည္။ ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံမွာ ဥပေဒမဲ့သတ္ျဖတ္မႈေတြ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရး ခ်ိဳးေဖါက္မႈေတြ အျဖစ္အပ်က္မ်ားစြာ ဆက္လက္ျဖစ္ေပၚေနဆဲ ျဖစ္ျဖစ္ေၾကာင္းကို shibuya UN ရုံေရွ႕က်င္းပမည့္ လႈပ္ရွားမႈ ပူးေပါင္းပါဝင္ေပးဖို႔ ထပ္မွန္ ဖိတ္ၾကားအပ္ပါသည္။
က်င္းပမည့္ေန႕ ၁၀-၁၂-၂၀၁၄ (ဗုဒၶဟူးေန႕)
က်င္းပမည့္အခ်ိန္ ၃း၀၀ - ၄း၀၀
က်င္းပမည့္ေနရာ Shibuya ( United Nation UN ရုံးေရွ႕ )
ေလးစားစြာျဖင့္
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အျပည္ျပည္ဆိုင္ရာ လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးေန
Concerns over Thai plans to return Burmese asylum seekers
Concerns over Thai plans to return Burmese asylum seekers
Liam Cochrane
Last Updated: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 17:06:00 +1100
Human rights groups have expressed concern over Thailand's plan to repatriate Burmese asylum seekers to Burma after the country's November 7 elections.
Thailand's foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, who made the announcement in New York, says repatriating Burmese asylum seekers is a priority for his government.
"I am going back to Bangkok, and one of the first things I will be doing is to launch a more comprehensive program for the Myanmar (Burmese) people in the camps."
"The displaced persons, the intellectuals that run around the streets of Bangkok and Chiang Mai province, to prepare them to return to Myanmar (Burma) after the elections," he said.
More than 140,000 Burmese asylum seekers live in nine camps spread along the Thai-Burma border.
Most of them have fled conflict, and persecution along ethnic or political lines.
David Mathieson, senior researcher on Burma for Human Rights Watch, says the idea of making those Burmese return is "absurd".
"It's simply not safe for them to go back. Just because Burma's holding elections in November doesn't mean the conditions have changed at all."
Rights groups, as well as the United Nations, have expressed concern about the credibility of the election system, which reserves a quarter of all seats for the army and will take place without the main opposition party.
The National League for Democracy chose to not take part because its leader Aung San Suu Kyi wasn't allowed to be involved and remains under house arrest.
Thailand's foreign minister, Mr Kasit says it is unlikely Burma�s elections will be completely free or fair, but he says it is the first step on the road back to an open and democratic Burma.
"We are going to prepare the Myanmar (Burma) people in Thailand for an eventual return to a new Myanmar (Burma), maybe half-democratic, but I think it is a beginning."
But David Mathieson says the vote next month is merely a mirage of democracy.
"This is one of the negative sides of the Burmese elections, this kind of phoney optimism that people have that the Burmese elections are a serious process - and they're just not."
Despite the comments from Thailand's Foreign Minister, groups involved with refugee resettlement say they have seen no changes to policy about Burmese asylum seekers.
Kitty McKinsey is the spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Asia.
"The UN refugee agency has no reason to believe that the Thai government intends to force refugees to return to Myanmar," she said.
David Mathieson from Human Rights Watch says that while forced repatriation would be frowned upon by the Western world, Thailand has done it recently.
"It's very unlikely they would force refugees back after the elections. However, Thailand did do that over Christmas with the Hmong refugees in the north. They forced them back and there was very little Western countries could do to stop that."
In addition to the asylum seekers in camps on the border, Thailand is also home to an estimated two million Burmese economic migrants, most of them working without proper visas.
Chris Lom, information officer at the International Organisation for Migration, says many of those migrants need the Burmese economy to strengthen and provide them with the chance of work.
"For the vast majority of those two million irregular migrants here, and also registered migrants working here in Thailand, they are here for economic reasons," he said.
"But there are very large numbers of people from Myanmar (Burma) who would go back if the economic situation allowed them to and they could find jobs there."
Thailand's Foreign Minister, Kasit Piromya, says the elections in Burma next month will be a test, not just of Burma but also of the regional bloc, ASEAN.
"The credibility of the election is not only on the credibility and respectability for Myanmar (Burma) but for ASEAN as a whole. It's our credibility and respectability and also on the notion of ASEAN centrality to the whole Asia Pacific."
Free Trade AND Human Rights
http://blog.labour.org.nz/
Free Trade AND Human Rights
Posted by Maryan Street on November 1st, 2009
Last week I was in Kuala Lumpur for the signing of the Malaysia-NZ Free Trade Agreement (see previous blog on that subject). I had arranged before I left NZ to use some of my time there to visit the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) compound in KL. I had been there once before and wanted to know how things had improved - or not. Malaysia had had an appalling record of dumping people, especially Burmese refugees whom it didn’t want, into the arms of traffickers, until an enquiry by the US Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee exposed it and got the Malaysians to improve their practices. I met with a senior staffer in the office of Senator Dick Luger who worked on this committee recently in Washington and got an update on Malaysia from him.
The UNHCR Rep in KL is Alan Vernon. He told me that things have improved in Malaysia and the UNHCR is no longer getting the reports they had been getting of the trafficking on the Thai-Malaysia border. Burmese refugees used to be rounded up by the Malaysian police and deposited on the Thai border where traffickers would take the women and children for prostitution and domestic service, and the men for labouring work who knows where. They are only hearing of about 100 such cases a year now, compared with 1000-2000 a year previously.
91% of the 300-400 people being processed per day at the compound are Burmese refugees. They end up in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and NZ, among other countries. Some of them end up in my town, Nelson, as well as Auckland, Palmerston North, Hamilton and Wellington. These are people with desperate stories of human suffering inflicted by the most evil regime on the planet. Some have become good friends now and they appreciate everything NZ has given them, while they are not blind to our faults. They retain their ardent politics and live for the day Burma returns to democratic rule, preferably under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, their most recently democractically-elected leader (1990), who has been living under house arrest for 14 of the last 19 years.
In Malaysia, there are no laws protecting refugees. Children of refugees are not allowed to go to school; refugees are arrested and detained without charge for prolonged periods of time; they are harassed in their workplace by police. They have exchanged one kind of fear in Burma for another kind of fear in Malaysia.
The day I visited the UNHCR compound, I met families and individuals who were trying to get in to the US. They are processed in the UNHCR facility, treated well by interpreters, medical staff and teams of interviewers from the soon-to-be host country. They want to be somewhere else. They want to be someone else. They want their children to be educated and have a greater chance of a full and rewarding life than they had.
Win Myin Htut - Chin Burmese refugee at UNHCR compound, KL
People wait all day in the heat for their chance at freedom.
These people are in the final stages of processing. Next stop - the US!
People present at the compound with a range of health problems - most frequently anxiety disorders, as well as the illnesses of poverty, malnutrition, some with HIV/AIDS. Parents must go crazy with worry for their children. Here is a family who have been in Malaysia for 4 years and who are hoping to move on soon. He is a farmer - although the difference in the meaning of that word in Burma and the US is striking.
Chin family at UNHCR in KL - UN interpreter front left
Malaysia has a Human Rights Commission and I met one of its Commissioners. But they are kept on a tight leash and their Annual Report has never been presented to, or debated in, Parliament. The national Human Rights Day is boycotted by the human rights NGOs. Sometimes people say “how can we trade with countries which have such appalling human rights records?” The truth is, trade happens. We can make some gains through the labour clauses we negotiate alongside the FTAs. But even more importantly, a country gets opened up by trade and exposed to other ways of doing things. Trade becomes the vehicle for other conversations.
I hope John Key is having those other conversations, as Helen Clark used to do on a regular basis in the context of free trade negotiations and settlements.
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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 11:48 pm and is filed under Foreign Affairs, ethnic, human rights, international. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
AHRC: Burma Using Torture in Criminal Cases
AHRC: Burma Using Torture in Criminal Cases
Thursday, 29 October 2009, 5:18 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission
Much of the human rights advocacy concerning the use of torture in Burma is centred on cases of political detainees. These cases rightly deserve close attention and study. However, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is aware that most victims of torture in Burma are not political prisoners but, as in other parts of Asia, poor citizens accused of ordinary criminal offences. The perpetrators do not discriminate. Victims range from teenage girls to the elderly.
Recently the AHRC obtained the details of a case of two young male victims who were tortured at a police station in an urban area during September 2009, over an alleged robbery. For reasons of their security, it cannot divulge the facts of this case, including the name of the police station and the officers involved. In this extract of their account, all identifying details have been omitted, but the allegations of torture are as they made them. According to the first:
"I was interrogated by eight police for three days. They said to give back what I had robbed. They covered my face with a sarong and then four or five of them assaulted me. They hit me on the cheeks and punched me in the face. They hit me with batons over a hundred times on my ankles, finger and elbow joints, shoulder blades and head. They made me stand on my tip-toes then put something with sharp points under my feet and made me hold a pose like I was riding a motorcycle, for about two hours. They prodded my back with a baton. During this time they were drunk.”
He added that his wife paid a total of the equivalent of around USD100, which is the equivalent of more than a couple of month's wages for poor people in Burma, to police so that they would not torture him. His companion also said that, "I was detained and interrogated for two days. While interrogating me they hit my cheeks and pressed a piece of bamboo on my shins and ran it up and down. They kept my wristwatch."
First, the techniques used are advanced methods of routine torturers. They are the types commonly associated with military intelligence officers or with troops in outlying areas. The motorcycle and rolling bamboo are particularly familiar methods in the documentation in those categories of cases. However, the torturers in this case were police in an ordinary suburban station. Thus the methods of torture ordinarily associated with cases of political prisoners or alleged insurgents are actually in the entire system.
Second, the torture victims are, as noted above, typical of the overwhelming majority of victims throughout Asia: poor people accused of ordinary crimes, for which the purpose of the torture is both to extract confessions and/or to obtain money. In this case, the accused were freed after some payments. However, there is no guarantee that they will remain this way. Once they have gone through this type of experience once, it can happen again at any time. In fact, one of them had already been interrogated over the same alleged crime, and both have expressed fear that they might be picked up again any day. Neither of them was taken before a judge, even though this should have happened within 24 hours of arrest.
Third, the victims claim that they were innocent and that the police know this but they tortured them anyway to conduct a fake investigation as a favour to a local businessperson. This too is a common feature of torture throughout Asia. It is also likely that the police have interrogated, tortured and taken money from other young poor men in the vicinity over the crime for which these two were also accused. One case like this can be very profitable for police. It is common to hear reports of dozens or even hundreds of people rounded up from an area in a general attempt to find some people on which to pin blame and make money at the same time.
The distinctive problem for these victims of torture, then, is not that they were tortured over an ordinary crime in an ordinary police station. This, as noted, is an experience they have in common with victims in India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Pakistan, among others. Rather, it is that there is nothing that they can do about it. In those other countries, the obstacles to bringing complaints of torture against the police are enormous, and the risks immense. But in them there at least exist courts that are in some way separate from the administration, rights groups and lawyers who can work on the cases with some effect and media that can report and publicise to generate public opinion.
By contrast, in Burma the only thing that the victims can really do is to lodge a complaint with high-up authorities in the police and ministries and hope that someone will believe them and take sympathy. If they try to lodge a complaint in the courts, not only will they risk police reprisals, against which they will have no protection-- since there are no groups in the country who can hide them and no media that can report on the case to assist with their safety through some publicity--but they are unlikely to get any help from the courts either. In a 1991 case of alleged police torture the Supreme Court already made clear that unless persons alleging torture have firm physical evidence--which the methods of torture used are designed to conceal--then they need not waste their time complaining to the judiciary.
Even if the victims are lucky enough to get a sympathetic judge, it may make no difference. The courts in Myanmar have no effective authority over other parts of government and are used as an arm of the executive to obtain what it wants. They are not supposed to hit back. Unless an army general or someone else in a position of real importance is supporting a court order, the police can easily ignore it or get around it. Since in this case the allegations are against police officers, the police would use many methods to prevent them from being successful, or if in the extremely unlikely event that the court actually made an order against the police, could see that the officers concerned escape punishment by absconding and changing their identities, which has been done in the past.
Therefore, persons and groups concerned with torture in Burma should be concerned not only with its simple documentation, or with torture in only certain types of cases, but should be concerned above all to expose the absence of institutions and measures to do anything about torture, specifically, the lack of an independent judiciary and also the lack of an open media in which cases can be publicized.
The Asian Human Rights Commission also notes that the 2008 Constitution, which will not come into effect until after elections are held for semi-elected parliaments, does not prohibit torture, and that Burma has not joined the UN Convention against Torture. The AHRC urges all groups and persons concerned with human rights in Burma to actively campaign for the country to join the UN Convention against Torture and to include an express provision to prohibit the use of torture into the constitution, so that at least some minimum standards can be established upon which to begin the real work of addressing its routine use in police stations, council offices, army camps and other government facilities around the country.
ENDS
The Lives of Two Nobel Laureates
The Lives of Two Nobel Laureates
By Nehginpao Kipgen
13 October 2009
http://www.khaleejt imes.com/ DisplayArticleNe w.asp?xfile= /data/opinion/ 2009/October/ opinion_October6 3.xml§ion=opinion
As the season of the world’s prestigious prize announcements are underway, the circumstances of two renowned Nobel Peace Prize recipients are riveting: the stories of Barack Obama of the United States of America and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.
Many Americans awoke surprised on October 9 when the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2009 peace prize to the 44th president of the United States of America. In fact, the president himself said he was “surprised and deeply humbled” and does not deserve to be in the company of many other transformative figures who have been honoured. By receiving the prize in less than a year in the White House, Obama has become the fourth sitting US president to be honoured by the Nobel Committee. The other three recipients were: Jimmy Carter in 2002, Woodrow Wilson in 1919, and Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
Though there are pockets of criticisms and reservations on the selection, the Nobel Committee was convinced that it was too good to ignore Obama’s emphasis on disarmament and diplomacy. The committee was reportedly buoyed by Obama’s vision of a nuclear-free world, laid out in a speech in Prague in April and at the United Nations in September.
In his historic address to the Muslim world from Cairo in June, Obama tried to reinvigorate the relationship between the United States and the Muslims. He offered a new beginning of relationship based upon mutual interest and mutual respect, and common principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
While the prize may add to his international image, Obama’s popularity at home is declining in recent months. The October 1-5 Associated Press poll showed that 56 per cent of Americans approved his job performance. September 17-20 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that only half of all Americans backed his handling of foreign policy. According to Gallup poll, Obama had 83 percent approval rating in January.
On the other end of the world, there is another Nobel Peace Laureate who has spent her life under very different circumstances. Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights” in 1991. Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention since July 1989.
During the general election in 1990, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 of the 485 seats contested in the 492-member assembly. The military-backed National Unity Party (formerly known as Burma Socialist Programme Party) secured only 10 seats. Despite the resounding victory, the party was never allowed to form a government. Obama was privileged to be born in a country where fundamental democratic principles are respected, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Obama is expected to be in Oslo in person to deliver an acceptance speech in December. In 1991, her son Alexander Aris received Suu Kyi’s prize. In his speech, Aris said: “I know that if she were free today my mother would, in thanking you, also ask you to pray that the oppressors and the oppressed should throw down their weapons and join together to build a nation founded on humanity in the
spirit of peace.”
Aung San Suu Kyi continues to be a staunch advocate and believer of non-violence who likes to resolve the conflicts in Burma peacefully. In the latest sign of positive development, at her request, Suu Kyi was allowed to meet diplomats from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia on October 9 to discuss their views on sanctions on Burma. This issue, for a while, has been Than Shwe’s (junta chief) key condition for entering a dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi.
Sadly in Burma, there is no independent Gallup poll to gauge the popularity of Suu Kyi. Nevertheless, she remains to be a promising leader who can be widely accepted by the different ethnic groups of the country.
While Obama is building his international image through diplomacy, Suu Kyi in her utmost capacity is working to establish a democratic society
in her country.
Nehginpao Kipgen is a researcher on the rise of political conflicts in modern Burma (1947-2004) and general secretary of the US-based Kuki International Forum.
Child labourers behind many products: Study
Child labourers behind many products: Study
REUTERS, NEW YORK
Sept 11: Children and forced labourers are mining gold, sewing clothing and harvesting coco around the world, and India is the source for the biggest number of products made by these workers, a US government report said on Thursday.
The Department of Labour for the first time released a list of goods produced by child or forced labour in foreign countries after Congress told it to compile one. The department looked at 122 products in 58 countries.
Under international labour standards, child labour is defined as work performed by someone under the age of 15, or under 18 where specific forms of work are deemed harmful, the report said. Forced labour is involuntary or done under threat. In the new U.S. report, India was linked to the highest number of products made with child labour or forced labour including soccer balls and clothing, according to report.
Myanmar was noted the most often for forced labour for other products like rice, sugar cane and rubber. "The purpose for doing this is to shine a spotlight so more activities can take place that target these problems," said Sandra Polaski, deputy undersecretary for International Affairs in the U.S. Department of Labour.
"In our country we think of these at 19th century problems but these are 21st century problems," Polaski said.
Child labour laws vary widely and the practice is banned in many countries. An international convention ratified by 154 countries requires them to set a minimum working age and to work toward eradicating child labour.
According to the US report, Brazil, Bangladesh, China and the Philippines were also in the top six countries linked to individual products that use child or forced labour. The International Labour Organization has found that 69 percent of child labour worldwide is in agriculture, the report said.
The most common agricultural goods produced by child or forced labour are cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, rice and cocoa. Both forms of labour for cotton production were found in countries including China, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. In India, this was the case for cottonseed.
The listing of specific goods and countries, however, does not mean that total production of specific products involve forced or child labour. Instead, the report said it indicates a "significant incidence" of these types of labour.
For cocoa, the key ingredient in chocolate, countries found using both forms of labour include the world's biggest producer Ivory Coast, as well as Nigeria, the report showed.
The most common mined goods included gold, where Peru and Burkina Faso use both child and forced labour, according to the report.
"Elimination of exploitive child labour or forced labour from a sector or a country requires intensive, sustained commitment by governments, employers, workers, and civil society organisations," the report said.
Burmese Army Still Recruiting Under-age Soldiers
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16176
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By LAWI WENG Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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The Burmese army is still recruiting under-age soldiers in contravention of a United Nations call to stop the practice, according to child labor activists in Burma.
In the latest incident, a 16-year-old youth was taken late at night by an army truck from Light Infantry Division 77, based in Pegu.
Aye Myint, a leading labor activist in Pegu Division, said the youth was taken from a local restaurant where he worked. His parents were told by an officer at the Pegu army base that the youth had been sent to a recruitment center in Rangoon’s Mingalardon Township.
Aye Myint said the youth’s family has lodged a letter of complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO) office in Rangoon on June 17. The Irrawaddy tried
unsuccessfully to contact the office on Wednesday.
Kyin Toe, chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Twante Township, said another family had complained to his office that their under-age son had been recruited by the army.
Burma’s state-run media maintains that the government is screening recruits and releasing any found to be under age. It reported that 68 children were detected recently in various military training schools and were released to their parents or guardians.
The ILO says it has been instrumental, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the release of 12 under-age recruits. A further 14 cases are still being processed.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that 70,000 under-age soldiers are serving in the Burmese armed forces.
The UN also says in its latest report on the situation that the Burmese military junta is still recruiting child soldiers. The report on “Children and Armed Conflict” was released this month.
Human rights groups say children are recruited at train stations, bus depots, tea shops, outside video halls and movie cinemas or even while walking home at night.
The groups say the young recruits are threatened and beaten if they refuse to agree to undergo military training. After their training, many are sent to areas where the army is in conflict with ethnic groups.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy.org
People made to construct road without wages by USDA
http://www.abitsu.org/?p=4984
June 11, 2009
Khonumthung News: Chin people are being forced to construct a road in Kanpelet Township by the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) in Kanpelet Town, Southern Chin State, in western Burma.
“We have started work from April. A link road between Hmuchinding and Cin dwe villages, a stretch of 30 miles, will allow motor cars to travel on the road. The construction work is being led by USDA with 20 neighboring villages. We have been divided into five groups and told to construct a specific number of meters of the road. We have almost finished 16 miles,” a local said.
The construction of the link road between Hmuchinding and Cindwe village has been sponsored by “I Love Myanmar” which is a non government organization (NGO). However, the USDA does not pay daily wages to the villagers who are involved in the project.
Although the USDA has spent all the sponsored funds for buying digging equipment, people’s labour is more useful for the work. “Especially they’re using people’s energy. The machines can’t handle crushing of big stones,” he added.
On the other hand, one of the USDA leaders told workers “The construction of the road is none of our business but we are only doing it to help transportation between the two villages. It will be beneficial for students who go to school in Hmuchinding village.”
There are about 70 houses with approximately 500 people in Hmuchinding village. The village has a Middle School where most students from neighbouring villages attend. “I Love Myanmar” will sponsor a new High School building next year.
Similarly, people are being forced to build a road between Mukwe Inu village and Mindat town by the USDA.
Meanwhile, the workers are anxious about their livelihood as they are being forced into road construction by the USDA without getting paid. They are worried about their family. Yet, they want to complete the project as it would mean better transportation between the two villages and will help their children’s education.
Topics: Daily News, Human Rights | Comments Off
JOINT STATEMENT of Migrants from Burma Working In Thailand and Malaysia
http://workershub4change.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
JOINT STATEMENT of Migrants from Burma Working In Thailand and Malaysia
We, migrants from Burma, live in a perpetual state of crisis and the global economic crisis is further adding to our difficult and sometimes desperate situation.
We, migrants from Burma and migrant support groups, trade union leaders and human rights activists and lawyers from Thailand and Malaysia, met and discussed the impact of the global economic crisis on Burmese migrant workers at the 2nd Two Destinations One Origin Conference organized jointly by MAP Foundation (Thailand), Workers Hub for Change (WH4C) and Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM). We are concerned that Burmese migrants live in a perpetual state of crisis and that the global economic crisis is further adding to their difficult and sometimes desperate situation. We therefore appeal to the governments of Malaysia, Thailand and the ASEAN on the following issues.
We are concerned that Thailand and Malaysia governments’ response to the situation of workers affected by the economic crisis has not been comprehensive and does not provide adequate protection for workers. Migrant workers are not even included in these programs and are thus expected to deal with the impact of the economic crisis by themselves.
We call on the Malaysian government to immediately stop the unjust, discriminatory and unconstitutional policy and practice, known as ‘Foreign Workers First Out’ (FWFO) principle. According to this policy migrant workers lose their jobs before local workers regardless of length of time in the job.
We call on Malaysia and Thailand to demand that all employers fulfill their contractual agreements with regard to all workers, including foreign workers. Employers must not use the economic crisis as an excuse to dismiss workers or close down factories without adequate notice to the workers. Mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that employers pay workers adequate and just compensation for any early termination of employment agreement.
The social protections provided during these times of economic crisis to retrenched workers which include payment of 50% of salary for six months in Thailand and re-training and new job placements in Malaysia should be extended to cover all workers including migrant workers.
We ask the governments to ensure that employers of migrant workers bear all the costs of employing migrant workers. Employers in Malaysia should not make deductions from migrants wages to cover the levy that employers have to pay. Employers in Thailand should not make deductions from migrants wages to cover the registration fee that employers have to pay. The only permissible deductions should be with regards to social security schemes for workers.
We are deeply concerned that all workers wages are falling below a living wage. For migrants the impact of a further reduction may have severe repercussions on the well-being of the workers and their families in Burma who rely on these wages for survival and for settling the debts incurred in the migration process.
Burmese migrants in both Malaysia and Thailand have reported accidents in the workplace due to the sub-standard occupational health and safety standards and enforcement. We call for the governments of Thailand and Malaysia to ensure that employers do not take shortcuts on matters concerning health and safety of workers and to facilitate migrants’ access to the legal mechanisms to receive compensation when accidents do occur. Migrants should also have the freedom of association.
Thailand and Malaysia’s health systems are trying to cope with new and different health issues such as H1NI, Chirkungya, Leptospirosis and Avian flu. In these times of economic crisis, it is imperative that no sector of society be excluded from the right to health. We call on the Thai and Malaysia government to set up effective national free universal health care systems without exceptions, and to work closely with migrant communities for health promotion.
The future of our region depends on the education of the children, and the children of migrant workers must be included in this future. We call for the governments of Malaysia and Thailand to support the education of migrant children in both formal and non-formal education systems.
All migrants have a precarious legal status in Malaysia and Thailand. The majority of migrants are completely undocumented while those with legal or semi-legal status too easily lose their status. Migrants can become illegal by reason of poor policy and practice, by negligence on the part of government officials, by irresponsible actions of the employers or when the migrants attempt to fight for their rights.
Consequently all migrants risk arrest, detention and deportation or threats thereof. We are deeply concerned about the recent reports of deaths of migrants in detention in Malaysia, deaths which could have been avoided with proper access to health care.
Due to the on-going multiple crises in Burma at the hands of an illegal regime, migrants from Burma are forced to leave the country without any preparation, information, safety or documents. The governments of Thailand and Malaysia need to recognize and respond to this reality and ensure that Burmese migrants are not criminalized.
In Thailand, the new registration is a welcome move however we are concerned that forcing migrants to work only within one sector is contrary to all labour rights principles.
We therefore call on Malaysia and Thailand to devise programs which protect the rights of migrants and ensure that migrants can exercise their labour, social, cultural, economic and political rights.
Lastly, we call on the ASEAN and its member nations to abandon their constructive engagement policy with the Burmese regime which only serves to prolong the injustice in Burma.
For further information please contact:
Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM): Ms Pranom Somwong +60192371300
MAP Foundation: Ms Jackie Pollock +66860904118 twodestinations@yahoo.com
Posted by WH4C at 6:41 AM 0 comments
Friday, May 29, 2009
ビルマの政治の釈放を！播其文国連事務総長に世界中から65万以上の署名
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ビルマ市民フォーラム メールマガジン 2009/5/26
People's Forum on Burma
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
今年3月13日より世界各地で実施しておりました、ビルマの政治囚の釈放を
求めるグローバル署名キャンペーンが、5月24日に終了いたしました。
日本からの１万４８９０筆を含め、世界中から合計６５万２１７９筆の署名が
あつまりました（5月26日現在）。
この間の皆様のご協力に心から感謝申し上げます。
ちょうどこのキャンペーンの取組みのさなかに、アウンサンスーチー氏が
新たな罪状で逮捕されるという報が流れました。
このビルマ軍事政権は、政権維持のためならどんな手段でも用いようと
するところであることがはっきりしています。私たちは、ビルマの解放と
民主化を願う日本と世界中の声をこれからも届け続けたいと思います。
そのことが民主化を推進する大きな歴史の流れをつくるものであり、
そしてビルマの国内で抑圧されている活動家を励ますものであることを
信じています。
これからもご協力をお願い申し上げます。
ありがとうございました。
ビルマ市民フォーラム
事務局長 渡辺 彰悟
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
【ご報告】 ビルマ・グローバル・署名キャンペーン
------------------------------------------------------
FREE BURMA’S POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!
今すぐビルマの政治囚の釈放を！
― 65万2,179筆の署名が集まりました！―
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=2349
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
3月13日～5月24日に実施した「ビルマ・グローバル署名キャンペーン
”今すぐビルマの政治囚の釈放を！”」にご協力くださった皆さま、
本当にどうもありがとうございました。
世界220の国と地域から、65万2,179筆の署名が集まりました！
本日26日、キャンペーン本部のあるタイでは、キャンペーンを呼びかけた
ビルマ政治囚支援協会やビルマ民主主義フォーラムが記者会見を
行い、多くのメディア関係者出席のもと、キャンペーンの報告やビルマの
最新情勢について報告しました。
現在、皆様からいただいた署名を国連事務総長へ渡すべく、日程を調整中です。
日本からも1万4890筆の署名が集まりました。
本当にどうもありがとうございました。
こちらも現在、日本政府への提出日時を調整中です。
本署名活動を踏まえた上での今後の活動などに
つきましては、改めてお知らせいたします。
引続き、ビルマ情勢へご注目いただき、ビルマの民主化への
ご支援をどうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
2009年5月26日
ビルマ政治囚支援協会（日本）
国民民主連盟（解放地域）日本支部
全ビルマ学生連盟（外交委員会）
ビルマ民主化同盟
新社会民主党（日本支部）
在日ビルマ人共同行動実行委員会（JAC)
ビルマ日本事務所
（社）アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本
ビルマ市民フォーラム（ＰＦＢ）
日本ビルマ救援センター（ＢＲＣＪ）
ヒューマンライツ・ナウ（ＨＲＮ）
アジア人権基金
ティナラク織の会「カフティ」
ＮＧＯ「人権・正義と平和連帯フォーラム」福岡
アジア女性資料センター
アーユス仏教国際協力ネットワーク
JAM
全日本鉄道労働組合総連合会
（以上、5月24日現在 日本での参加・賛同団体）
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
FREE BURMA’S POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW ! キャンペーン
【プレスリリース】
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ビルマの政治囚の釈放を最優先課題に
播其文国連事務総長に世界中から650,000以上の署名
2009年5月26日
タイ・バンコク
ビルマ（ミャンマー）の政治囚の釈放を求める署名キャンペーンが
国際的に行われ、たった10週間で世界220の国と地域から65万を超える
署名が集まった。呼びかけ団体の一つ、ビルマ民主主義フォーラム
（FDB）のナインアウン事務局長は「ビルマのためにこれほど多くの
世界中の人々が一丸となって取り組んだキャンペーンは初めてだ」と
述べた。
署名文は、播其文国連事務総長に対して、ビルマの民主化に向けた
重要な一歩として、すべての政治囚の釈放を事務総長自身が最優先
課題とするよう求めている。おりしも事務総長はビルマを訪問する
ため軍事政権と交渉しており、アウンサンスーチー氏の拘束につい
ても「深く懸念している」と述べている。ノーベル平和賞受賞者で
国民民主連盟（NLD）を率いるスーチー氏の非公開裁判は、今日で
7日目を迎える。今回の裁判に対しては、ASEANからのかつてない
ほどの批判を始めとして、国際社会から強い非難が相次いでいる。
2008年10月以降、ビルマにいる政治囚2,100人のうち、350人以上
が同様に非公開の裁判で有罪判決を宣告された。もっとも長いもの
では禁固104年という厳しい判決が出ている。
ビルマ政治囚支援協会の共同設立者であるボーチー氏は、「世界は
播其文国連事務総長に注目している。事務総長は（軍政との交渉で）
あらゆる手段を用い、アウンサンスーチー氏と全ての政治囚の即時・
無条件の釈放を実現させなければならない。政治囚の釈放なしに
国民和解などあり得ないのだから」と述べた。
署名キャンペーンは、元政治囚や民主化活動家からなるビルマ政治囚
支援協会とビルマ民主主義フォーラムが呼びかけて行われた。世界
各国のビルマ人民主化団体や支援団体に、活動家のオンライン・コミュ
ニティであるAvaazが加わり、署名を集めた。
Avaaz のリッケン・パテル事務局長は、「アウンサンスーチーはビルマの
ネルソン・マンデラだ。国連事務総長は軍事政権に対し、国際社会と
関係を持ち続けるには、アウンサンスーチー氏を釈放することが条件と
なると強く主張するべきだ」と述べた。
「ビルマ人権の日」にあたる3月13日にキャンペーンが始まって以来、
10秒に1人が署名した計算になる。
（原文英語）
Accept nothing less than the release of Burma's political prisoners:
Over 650,000 global citizens urge Ban Ki-moon, Press Release,
26 May 2009
（日本語訳）
ビルマ市民フォーラム、ビルマ情報ネットワーク
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1. この署名キャンペーンについて
-----------------------------------------------------
・世界5大陸32カ国から、ビルマ人民主化団体や支援団体200以上が参加。
・世界220の国と地域から65万の署名が集まった。
・「ビルマ人権の日」にあたる3月13日にキャンペーンを開始して以来、
10秒に1人が署名をした計算になる。
・ タイ・ビルマ国境地帯では、難民や移住労働者を対象に政治囚について
60以上もの円卓会議が開かれた。
・タイ・ビルマ国境の難民キャンプでは1万9,000以上の署名が集まった。
・タイ南部の移住労働者からは4万7,000以上の署名が集まった。
・タイ・ビルマ国境のメーソットでは2万3,000以上の署名が集まった。
2. ビルマの政治囚について
----------------------------------------------------
・現在2,156人の政治囚が刑務所や強制労働所に収容されている（ビルマ政治囚
支援協会の統計による）。
・2008年10月以降、350人以上の民主化活動家が最長で禁固104年と
いう非常に厳しい判決を言い渡された。2008年11月以降、230人以上が
家族と遠く離れたビルマ各地の刑務所に移送された。
3. キャンペーン事務局・賛同団体について
----------------------------------------------------
本キャンペーンはビルマ政治囚支援協会（URL: http://www.aappb.org/）と
ビルマ民主主義フォーラム（URL: http://www.democraticforumburma.org/）が
呼びかけ実施した。
キャンペーン公式ウェブサイト：http://www.fbppn.net/
キャンペーンに賛同した団体のリスト：：http://www.fbppn.net/?page_id=1750
★日本での問合せ先：
------------------------------------------
fbppn.japan@gmail.com
キャンペーン日本語サイトはこちら
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=2349
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Protests In Japan As Myanmar's Aung Can Suu Kyi Charged
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200905140705dowjonesdjonline000347&title=protests-in-japan-as-myanmars-aung-can-suu-kyi-charged
TOKYO (AFP)--Dozens of Myanmar protesters rallied Thursday in Japan after the Southeast Asian country's military junta charged pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi with breaching the terms of her house arrest.
"Free Suu Kyi!" chanted more than 60 expatriates from Myanmar in front of the country's embassy in Tokyo, holding banners that read: "The military junta should stop oppression with its unfair trial!"
Myanmar's regime Thursday charged pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi with breaching the terms of her house arrest and moved her to a house at a prison after a U.S. man swam across a lake and hid inside her home, her lawyer said.
Expatriates are also lobbying Japanese lawmakers to issue a statement calling for the release of all political prisoners in the former Burma, said Min Nyo, who heads an activist exile group.
"We are also seeking truly democratic elections at home, joined by all political parties, after reconciliation among all the people," he said.
Japan, the top donor to Myanmar among the OECD's major economies, in 2003 suspended most assistance other than emergency aid and some training funds to Myanmar.
It further cut its aid after the regime cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007.
But Japan refuses to join its Western allies in slapping punishing sanctions on Myanmar. China, which often spars with Japan for influence, is Myanmar's main political and commercial partner.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-14-090705ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမုိကေရစီ အဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္ေၾကညာခ်က္။ ၈/၀၅/၀၉
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမုိကေရစီ အဖဲြ႔ခ်ဳပ္
ေၾကညာခ်က္။ ၈/၀၅/၀၉
ရက္စြဲ - ၁၄၊ ေမ၊ ၂ဝဝ၉ ခုႏွစ္။
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမိုကေရစီ အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္ေခါင္းေဆာင္ အေထြေထြ အတြင္းေရးမႉး
ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္သည္ ႏိုဘယ္လ္ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးဆုရွင္ တဦးျဖစ္ပါသည္။
ထို႔အျပင္ အမ်ဳိးသား ျပန္လည္ သင့္ျမတ္ေရးအတြက္ မူလကနဦး
စတင္ၾကိဳးပမ္းခဲ့သူျဖစ္ၿပီး၊ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြး ညိႇႏိႈင္းအေျဖရွာေရးကို
အစဥ္တစိုက္ ၾကိဳးပမ္းေနသူ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။ ႏိုင္ငံေရးအရ အေပးအယူျပဳလုပ္သည့္
ျပဳျပင္ေျပာင္းလဲႏိုင္စြမ္းရွိသူ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
ကုလသမဂၢ အပါအဝင္ ႏိုင္ငံတကာ အဖြဲ႔အစည္းမ်ားက ျမန္မာႏိုင္ငံ
အသြင္ကူးေျပာင္းေရး လုပ္ငန္းစဥ္မ်ားတြင္ သက္ဆိုင္သူမ်ားအားလံုး
ပူးေပါင္းပါဝင္ လုပ္ေဆာင္ၾကရန္ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးေရးမွတဆင့္ အမ်ဳိးသား
ျပန္လည္သင့္ျမတ္ေရးကို တည္ေဆာက္ရန္အတြက္ တိုက္တြန္းႏႈိးေဆာ္လ်က္
ရွိပါသည္။
သို႔ပါလ်က္ အာဏာပိုင္တို႔က ေနအိမ္အတြင္း ထိန္းသိမ္းထားျခင္းမွ အၿပီးအျပတ္
လြတ္ရက္ေစ့ခါနီးေနေသာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အား မည္သည့္ျပစ္မႈကိုမွွ်
က်ဴးလြန္ရျခင္း မရွိပါဘဲ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္အား ေႏွာင့္ယွက္ဖ်က္ဆီးလိုသူမ်ား
ေဘးအႏၲရာယ္မွ ကာကြယ္ေစာင့္ေရွာက္သည့္ ဥပေဒပုဒ္မ ၂၂ အရ ေနာက္ဆံုး
အင္းစိန္ေထာင္အတြင္းရွိ လံုးခ်င္း အိမ္တအိမ္၌ ထားရွိသည္ဟု ၾကားသိရပါသည္။
ယင္းအမႈကို ၂ဝဝ၉ ခုႏွစ္၊ ေမလ ၁၈ ရက္ေန႔တြင္ စတင္စစ္ေဆးမည္ ျဖစ္ပါသည္။
ထို႔ကဲ့သို႔ တရားစြဲဆိုျခင္းမွာ မလုပ္သင့္၊ မလုပ္ထိုက္ေသာေၾကာင့္
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမိုကေရစီအဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္က ျပင္းထန္စြာ ကန္႔ကြက္ေၾကာင္း
ေၾကညာလိုက္သည္။
၁၄ ရက္၊ ေမလ ၂ဝဝ၉ ခုႏွစ္တြင္ က်င္းပေသာ ဗဟိုအလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္အဖြဲ႔ အစည္းအေဝး
ဆံုးျဖတ္ခ်က္အရ -
(ဗဟိုအလုပ္အမႈေဆာင္)
အမ်ဳိးသား ဒီမိုကေရစီ အဖြဲ႔ခ်ဳပ္
ICC campaign (English version)(please click to sign)
To/
Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt
Prime Minister
Royal Government of Sweden
Subject: :Request to lead Swedish government and European Union in order to
seek justice and criminal accountability for victims of heinous crimes in
Burma/ Myanmar
Dear Your Excellency,
I would like to request your kind attention in regard to heinous crimes being committed by the ruling military regime in Burma, SPDC, against its own people, particularly for those offenses, which constitute international crimes such as crime against humanity, genocide and war crimes, since the emergence of the International Criminal Court, July 1, 2002, inter alias, as follows:
1. The regime used about 5,000 members of its lackey organization, namely Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and crashed down Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, democracy icon in Burma, and members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) while making organizing trip at Depayin in upper Burma on May 30, 2003. Since that time, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been victim of crime and she has been under detention for almost six years. In recent month, UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made a ruling that detention of Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi is against the national laws as well as international laws.
2. The International Committee of the Red Cross issued a global alert on Burma, on June
29, 2007, verifying the regime's criminal violations of the Geneva Conventions, stating that such violations were personally observed by ICRC delegates, that all confidential bilateral negotiations had broken down, and that the crimes by the government were likely to be ongoing. The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, stated as follows:
"…I urge the government of Myanmar to put a stop to all violations of international humanitarian law and to ensure that they do not recur. ... I would also like to remind all States party to the Geneva Conventions of their obligation, under Article 1, to respect and to ensurerespect for the Conventions."
3. In September 2007, the military regime brutally suppressed peaceful demonstration of
several thousands of monks, and killed and tortured them. Without paying any regard to the effective Criminal Procedural Code in Burma, the military security forces of the SPDC raided the monasteries, searched the campuses, ruined the properties of Buddhist religion, and seriously tortured the monks.
4. In June 2008, the Amnesty International reported that for 2½ years a human rights
emergency has been occurring in the form of a military offensive by the SPDC army waged against ethnic Karen civilians in Kayin (Karen) State and Bago (Pagu) Division. Accordingly, an estimate of 147,800 people have been and remain internally displaced in Kayin State and Bago Division and many of these people have been subject to widespread and systematic human rights violations including unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests, the imposition of forced labour including portering, the destruction of homes and villages, and the destruction or confiscation of crops and food stocks and other forms of collective punishment. The research undertaken by AI raises grave concerns that the violations of international human right and humanitarian law against the Karen have been part of a widespread and systematic pattern of crimes which may constitute a crime against humanity.
5. In the wake of the SPDC's criminal negligence after Cyclone Nargis occurred in delta
area of Burma, on May 22, 2008, European Parliament made a resolution on the tragic
situation in Burma, as follows:
Takes the view that, if the Burmese authorities continue to prevent aid from reaching those in danger, they should be held accountable for crimes against humanity and calls on EU Member States to press for a UN Security Council resolution referring the case to the ICC for investigation and prosecution.
6. On 27 February 2009, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United
States and Emergency Assistance Team (Burma) jointly released a report entitled "After
the Storm; Voices from the Delta" and mention that the SPDC obstructed relief to victims
of the cyclone, arrested aid workers and severely restrained accurate information in the
wake of the worst natural disaster to befall modern Burma. The report charges these
abuses may constitute crimes against humanity through the creation of condition whereby
the basic survival needs of victims cannot be adequately met, "intentionally causing great
suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health" violating Article
7(1)(k) of the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court.
7. Rape reports published by ethnic women in Burma including the Shan, Mon, Karen,
Palaung, and Chin (Shan Women’s Action Network, Shan Human Rights Foundation,
Human Rights Foundation of Mon land, Karen Women’s Organization, Palaung’s
Women Organization, Women League of Chin Land and Women’s League of Burma as
well as by Refugees International, document sexual and other forms of violence against
women systematically perpetrated by the junta and even identify perpetrators, give
relevant dates and the battalion numbers of the rapists. Despite that the military regime committed heinous crimes one period after another consistently, the judiciary inside Burma has been keeping silent and no legal action has been taken on the perpetrators for those heinous crimes. The military regime and its lackey perpetrators have been enjoying impunity endlessly and people in Burma lack any protection.
The Responsibility to Protect Doctrine or R2P is a catalyst in transforming the meaning of UN membership and participation in the international community by affirming that with state sovereignty comes the “obligation of a State to protect the welfare of its own people.” It makes clear that in exceptional cases where a State cannot or will not protect civilians the international community has a right to act, and a responsibility to do so. The legal import of UNSCR 1325 to Security Council Actions is that when the council is confronted with evidence of systematic crimes including rape in the context of conflict there should exist a presumption of a threat to international peace and security. In this case such presumption should require a UN Charter Chapter VII referral to the ICC.
In conclusion, I would like to request your Excellency to lead Swedish government and, if possible, European Union to press for a UN Security Council resolution referring the situation of Burma/Myanmar to the ICC for investigation and prosecution in order to seek justice and criminal accountability for victims of heinous crimes there. Only then, repeated crimes will be prevented; the rule of law will be restored; a genuine stability will be established; and a peaceful democratization process will also be facilitated in Burma.
Respectfully,
Download here ( Letter to Prime Minister | English | Burmese language )
Petition to Swedish Prime Minister
Sign the Petition Here:
Name
First Last Email
City
Country
SBHRA intends to send the petition before July 1, when Sweden assumes the leadership of the European Union. So, we would be glad to have your signature by June 15, 2009.
Workers Around the World Back Employee Free Choice
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/05/08/workers-around-the-world-back-employee-free-choice/
by James Parks, May 8, 2009
Workers around the world understand the freedom to freely join a union is a human right and one of the key marks of a free society. That’s why the global union movement is solidly behind the Employee Free Choice Act.
The most recent examples of that strong support come from Thailand and Indonesia. In a letter to United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, Saman Pronprachathum, general secretary of the Petroleum & Chemical Worker’s Federation of Thailand, says “a strong economy depends on workers [being] given the opportunity to join a trade union and to bargain collectively so that fair wages and social benefits are lifted for all in a society.”
In a separate letter to Gerard, Irzan Zulpakar and Etin Rodiana, president and general secretary, respectively, of the Indonesian paper workers union, say:
Our trade union stands firmly behind the American trade unions in your efforts to get the United States Congress to pass this legislation into law, with the support of President Barack Obama….[W]e consider it an essential element in a free society that workers be allowed to join a trade union in an unobstructed way.
The outcome of the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act will have an impact beyond our borders. In December 2007, participants in the historic global summit on organizing told members of Congress the anti-worker atmosphere created in the United States by unscrupulous employers and advanced by the Bush administration systematically denies workers their rights, especially the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively.
A report released at the summit showed the United States has the lowest rate of union membership among developed nations and that anti-union tactics are being exported to other countries.
This export of anti-worker sentiment by U.S. employers has spurred the global union movement to support passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. On the Global Unions website, Anita Normark, general secretary of the Geneva-based Building and Woodworkers International, says:
We know from experience that, without explicit provisions, the dominant American anti-union corporate culture will prevail. It is the job of governments to protect human rights. And, the United States government is not doing its job.
Junta’s pipeline root of rights violation: Report
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/2099-juntas-pipeline-root-of-rights-violation-report.html
by Salai Pi Pi
Friday, 08 May 2009 20:39
New Delhi - The Burmese military regime’s Kanbawk-Myaing Kalay gas pipeline has been a source of widespread human rights violation in southern Burma, a new report said.
The 100-page report titled ‘Laid waste: Human rights along Kanbawk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline’ released on Wednesday said, the junta, on the pretext of guarding the gas pipeline has forcibly relocated local villagers, raped ethnic women, used forced labour, and in many cases killed with impunity.
Burma’s military government began constructing a gas pipeline from Kanbawk in Tenasserim division to Myaing Kalay in Karen state, to transport gas from the Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea to be used in cement factories and for electricity projects in Myaing Kalay in November 2000.
Nai Kasauh Director of the Mon Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), the group that compiled the report said, at least 15,000 acres of land was confiscated by the Burmese Army to make way for the pipeline and to support 30 army battalions deployed in the area to protect the pipeline.
“They [Burmese regime] moved several villages and confiscated over 2,400 acres of land such as paddy fields and rubber farms which fell on the route of the gas pipeline,” said Nai Kasauh Mon.
“Over 11,000 acres of land were confiscated and used to plant rubber and Durian [fruit] for ration for the army battalions,” he added.
According to HURFOM, the junta has drastically expanded the presence of the army along the gas pipeline route since 2000. Along with the expansion, the Burmese Army began widespread rights abuses ranging from rape of women, forced labour, extra-judicial killings, extortion and demanded food from local villagers.
Nai Kasauh Mon said the villagers near the gas pipeline are subjected to forced labour in vulnerable situations, where the Kanbawk-Myaing Kalay pipeline construction had several times been attacked by ethnic rebel groups.
The northern Tenisserim division in Mon and Karen state, where the pipeline passes through, is home to a number of ethnic armed rebel groups including the Karen National Union (KNU), and the New Mon State Party (NMSP).
“Sometime it [the gas pipeline] exploded on its own. Sometimes rebels attacked it. And such incidents caused damages to the villages and rubber farms close to the pipeline, as it caused fires several times,” Nai Kasauh Mon said.
“As a result, local villagers have to work for the pipeline without being paid and are used for guarding the pipeline and even carrying army equipments for soldiers on duty,” he added.
He said, the human rights violation committed by the soldiers guarding the pipeline have largely been ignored by the junta’s army officers.
Similar atrocities have been reported when the junta engaged in construction of the Yadana and Yetagun pipelines in early 1990s, which was used for transporting gas to neighbouring Thailand.
“This time, since the pipeline is solely constructed by the junta and no foreign companies are involved, the campaign against human rights violation is too little and it is difficult for the victims to raise their voices,” Nai Kasauh Mon said.
“But the extent of violations are no less,” he added.
OVER 60 BRITISH MPS CALL FOR UN INQUIRY INTO CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN BURMA
CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY WORLDWIDE
For Immediate Release
07 May 2009
OVER 60 BRITISH MPS CALL FOR UN INQUIRY INTO CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN BURMA
Over 60 British MPs are calling for a United Nations (UN) commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma, just two weeks before Nobel Laureate and democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is due for release from house arrest.
Former Foreign Office Ministers, Ian McCartney, MP and Keith Vaz, MP join over fifty other MPs in signing an Early Day Motion (EDM) tabled by John Bercow MP, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma, to express their profound concern at the deteriorating human rights situation in Burma.
EDM 1336 urges the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect in relation to a campaign of ethnic cleansing Burma’s military regime is carrying out against its ethnic nationalities.
The Burmese junta’s policies include the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers, child soldiers, and the destruction of over 3,300 villages in eastern Burma since 1996, in addition to the imprisonment of over 2,100 political prisoners. Attacks on civilians have also resulted in the internal displacement of one million people.
John Bercow MP said: “I have visited the ethnic peoples on both the Thailand-Burma border and the India-Burma border with CSW, and have been shocked by the horrific stories I have heard from victims of this barbaric regime. I have sat face to face with victims of unspeakable torture, including women and children who have seen their loved ones murdered. They have looked me in the eye and pleaded for the world to hear their cry. It is time their cries were answered and the junta's crimes investigated. The people of Burma urgently need the freedom and justice they have been denied for so long."
Alexa Papadouris, CSW's Advocacy Director said: “CSW strongly urges the British Government and other Governments to take this call seriously and to initiate a commission of inquiry into the junta's crimes against humanity. We will not stop campaigning and we will not stop speaking out until the suffering in Burma is over and all Burma’s people are free.”
For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Theresa Malinowska, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on email theresamalinowska@ csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org. uk.
CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.
Note to Editors:
1. The full EDM text reads: That this House expresses profound concern at the desperate and deteriorating human rights situation in Burma; condemns the continuing widespread and systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, torture, forced labour, forced relocation, religious persecution, forcible recruitment of child soldiers and use of human minesweepers by the military regime; further condemns the military offensives in eastern Burma, including attacks on civilians, resulting in the internal displacement of one million people and the destruction of more than 3,300 villages in eastern Burma alone, and the imprisonment of over 2,100 political prisoners and continued detention of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi; calls on Her Majesty's Government to draw these gross violations of human rights to the urgent attention of the UN Security Council and the Secretary-General; urges Her Majesty's Government, along with other governments, to propose the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma; and urges the UN to invoke the principle of Responsibility to Protect in relation to the crisis in Burma.
2. To find out more about CSW’s Change for Burma! Campaign and to watch an interview with John Bercow MP, please click here.
3. To sign a CSW supported online petition led by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners and the Forum for Democracy in Burma, calling on the UN Secretary-General to make the release of Burma’s 2,100 political prisoners a personal priority, please click here or visit www.changeforburma. org
ENDS
ビルマ・グローバル署名キャンペーン-―888,888の署名を集めよう！―
今すぐビルマの政治囚の釈放を！
FREE BURMA’S POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!
2009年3月13日、「ビルマ人権の日」に当たるこの日、署名キャンペーン「Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now!」が始まりました（5月24日まで）。4月21日現在、世界5大陸32カ国で199の在外ビルマ人団体やビルマの民主化を求めるグループが参加しています。
これは、国連の播其文事務総長に対して、ビルマ軍政に全ての政治囚を釈放させることを事務総長自身が最重要課題とするよう、求めるものです。
キャンペーンでは、今年2009年5月24日（アウンサンスーチー氏の自宅軟禁をこれ以上延長できない、とビルマの法律上定められた期限）までに888,888筆の署名を集めることを目標にしています。“888888”という数字は、ビルマで過去最大の民主化運動が燃え上がり、そして軍事政権によって弾圧された1988年8月8日（ビルマ人にとっては忘れられない日です）を象徴したものです。
軍事政権が長く続くビルマでは、人権の抑圧が激しく、政治活動の自由や表現の自由はほとんどありません。その結果、現在2,100人以上の政治囚がビルマ各地の刑務所に捕らわれています。軍事政権は、昨年5月の「憲法草案に対する国民投票」など、「見せかけの民主化」プロセスを進めていますが、アウンサンスーチー氏も指摘するとおり、全ての政治囚の即時・無条件釈放がなければ、本当の民主化プロセスとはいえません。
ビルマ(ミャンマー)の人権状況・政治囚について
日本では、在日ビルマ人各団体のほか、ビルマの民主化を目指して活動するNGOが協力して、この署名キャンペーンに取り組んでいます。
政治囚の釈放には、皆さん一人ひとりの力が必要です。ビルマの民主化と政治囚の釈放を願う世界中の人びと共に、ぜひ声を上げていただきますよう、皆さまのご協力をどうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
オンライン署名に参加する
署名用紙による参加もできます
キャンペーンの詳細
期間： 2009年3月13日～5月24日
お問合せ先： fbppn.japan@gmail.com
キャンペーン本部： Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now!（英語）
私たちも署名に賛同しています
相原久美子（参議院議員）、川田龍平（参議院議員）、近藤昭一（衆議院議員）、今野東（参議院議員）、中村哲治（参議院議員）、那谷屋正義（参議院議員）、白眞勲（参議院議員）、平岡秀夫（衆議院議員）、福島みずほ（参議院議員）、藤谷光信（参議院議員） （4月13日現在／敬称略／五十音順）
ビルマのことをもっと知ろう！
アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本 ビルマ（ミャンマー）の人権
ビルマ市民フォーラム
日本ビルマ救援センター
ビルマ情報ネットワーク
きょうのビルマのニュース
ヒューマンライツ・ナウ
On Fri, 1/5/09, PFB
From: PFB
Subject: Urgent & Special Request for Free Political Prisoners Campaign***
To: "Phone Hlaing"
Cc: "Arata KUMAZAWA"
Date: Friday, 1 May, 2009, 12:12 PM
Dear Burmese groups and Burmese friends in Japan,
(I may miss many groups or friends in this e-mail since I don't know their
E-mail addresses, so I would be happy if you could send forward this e-mail to
your friends or othre groups in Japan that I'm missing. Thank you.)
I am writing as I'd like to request a special favor from you.
I know some of you have already know about the Global signature campaign
" Free Burma 's Political Prisoners Now !!(organized by AAPP and FDB)
" and work so hard for the campaign here in Japan.
The petition calls on the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to make it his
personal priority to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma, as
the essential first step towards national reconciliation and democratization in
the country. The target symbolizes 8.8.88, the day the junta massacred some
3,000 people who courageously protested in Burma’s largest democracy uprising.
Besides that, in Japan, we added one more point in this letter that; calling on
"the Japanese Government" to give more pressure on SPDC to release of
all political prisoners in Burma. And we will submit the signatures that we
collect in Japan not only to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon but also to
the MOFA.
As far as I know,the following organization have endorsed the campaign from
Japan.
-----------------------------
*Japanese Organizations:
People Forum on Burma ? Japan
Amnesty International ? Japan
Burma Relief Center ? Japan
Human Rights Now
Foundation for Human Rights in ASIA(FHRA)
*Burmese Organizations:
National League for Democracy ? Liberated Area ? Japan
AAPP- Japan
Democratic Party for a New Society-Japan Branch (DPNS-JPB)
All Burma Federation of Student Union (Foreign Affairs Committee) ABFSU
(FAC)"
League for Democracy in Burma (LDB)
Joint Action Committee of Burmese Community ? Japan
Burma Office Japan
-----------------------
Please find attached the press release announcing the quarter of a million
milestone, in case you haven't already seen it.
We have reached the milestone of 250,000 signatures now since the launch of the
campaign, we have only 3 weeks to go to reach the target of 888,888 signatures.
Now in Japan, many Burmese groups and Japanese NGOs are joining this campaign
and collecting signatures. But we need more support from ALL OF YOU/ YOUR
Organizations for getting to reach the target of 888,888 signatures by May
24th,2009!!!
If you have not endorsed the campaign, PLEASE PLEASE consider about it and join
us as soon as possible !
(If you would like to endorse the campaign, please let me know your
organization's name ASAP, so that I will inform the campaing head office.)
Now, every week the campaign committee tries to give an update on the number of
signatures on website or newsletter to the world, so from Japan, PFB is
collecting all the information - number of signatures from each organization and
inform the campaign committee office the total number of signature from Japan
every Thursday.
SO, I would like to ask you to let me know the number of signatures your
organization have collected every Thursday. OR you can send the signature
papers to me (PFB) or BOJ by FAX or post.
< Next deadline will be,, May 7th, 1:00pm.>
* Here is the website of this campaign and organizations which have endorsed
the campaign:
http://www.fbppn.net/?page_id=1750
* Oneline signature (Japanese version)
https://burmacampaignuk.wufoo.com/forms/aeaaaaaaaeaie/
* Download the paper (Japanese version)
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/image/fbppn.pdf
* Here is the Japanese version website:
Please let your Japanese friends know this website, and ask them take action
for Burma's political prisoners !!!
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=2349
< FYI >
* BOJ is now consulting with Mr.Suematsu and is tryinf to collect signatures
from all Myamar - GIREN members.
*AI ; Kumazawa-san is also working with AI-secretariat to collecting signatures
from AI-GIREN members.
Sorry for my poor English, I hope you understand....
If you have any questions, please feel free to contace me.
As you all are aware that releasing all political prisoners is sooooo...
important.
I hope many of you join this campaign for the brave people who are now
continuing the fight for Burma in prison.
Thank you very very much for your understanding and cooperation.
Best regards,
Sayaka MIYAZAWA
PFB Secretariat
TEL; 03-5312-4817
FAX: 03-5312-4543
pfb@izumibashi-law.net
http://www1.jca.apc.org/pfb/
http://pfbkatsudo.blogspot.com/
ဧျပီ(၁)ရက္ေန ့တြင္ဖမ္းဆီးခံသမဂၢအဖြဲ ့၀င္မ်ားျပန္လည္လြတ္ေျမာက္မွဳနွင့္ပတ္သတ္၍ FTUB မွ ေႀကညာခ်က္
Unlawfully detained trade union members released
The five members of FTUB who were arrested unlawfully on April 1, 2009, are back in their homes in Rangoon It was through international solidarity that the five were released. The charges on which they were arrested were never announced, and the FTUB strongly condemns these unlawful arrests.
The following five FTUB members were released on 10 April 2009.
1. U Zaw Myint Aung (49 years old, Teacher, South Okkalapa, Rangoon)
2. U Soe Oo (37 years old, Textile Factory Worker, Shwe Pyi Thar, Rangoon)
3. Maung Tun Nyein (22 years old, Worker, Shwe Hninsi Textile factory, Hlaing Thayar, Rangoon)
4. Ms. Khine Lin Myat (22 years old, Worker, UMH Textile factory)
5. Ms. Shwe Yi Nyunt (25 years old, Nurses Aide and Law Student, University of Western
Rangoon, and Member, FTUB Women’s Committee)
A number of the family members of these five were also arrested. They have now all been released.
On behalf of the released members and their families, FTUB extends its thanks and continuing appreciation to all international and national trade unons who responded to our call, including those unions affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Global Union Federations, the ITUC-Asia/Pacific, and the Asean Trade Union Council (ATUC). We also wish to thank the ILO for its prompt intervention, and add our sincere appreciation to those national Governments who took up the cause of our members.
FTUB requests the international trade union movement, the ITUC and its members, as well as the ILO to
assist the development of the workers’ social and economic conditions in Burma by continuing with the
following demands upon the SPDC Burma regime:
1. The SPDC must gaurentee that the five who were unlawfully arrested and relased do not loose their jobs.
2. The SPDC must strictly abide by ILO Convention 87 of the International Labour Organization on Freedom of Association, which Burma has ratifed, as well as all International Core Labour Standards, which Burma is required as a member of the ILO to enforce.
3. The SPDC must denounce the actions of the authorities involved in arresting our members, and immediately order an end to all actions to prevent workers from forming trade unions and exercising their labour rights in Burma.
-ends-
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