Pro-democracy Burmese in exile, living in India, have appealed the neighbouring countries of Burma (Myanmar) to adopt a pro-active role so that the detained Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi can be freed at the earliest.
On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of Military Coup in Burma, the leaders of the Burmese pro-democracy movement in India, on September 18 appealed to the neighbours including India, China, Thailand and Bangladesh, to initiate a move for the release of Suu Kyi from the prolonged house arrest by the military junta of Burma.
"The most important lesson of 20 years is that we have to count on ourselves and not to trust the greedy and selfish countries which are being ensnared by natural resources and business opportunities which are actually unlawfully monopolized by the regime," said a statement ofthe Burmese pro-democracy Movement in India, released for the media on Thursday.
It also added that 'although Burma receives an estimated US$150 million a month in revenue from gas exports, the present regime continues investing a huge sum of money into the military resulting in 90 per cent of its population to live on less than $1 per day'. The regime known as the State Peace and Development Council reportedly allocates 40 per cent of its annual budget to military expenditure, where as less than 3 per cent is being spent on education and health. The country has nearly 70,000 child soldiers, which is the highest in the world.
"There are 2,097 political prisoners including 21 MPs. Since 1988, 137 political prisoners including three MPs have died in custody. Despite having ratified the (ILO) Convention 29 on forced labour, the regime engages in systematic forced labour abuses till date. After Afghanistan and Iraq, Burma under this regime is the world's third largest source of refugees," stated Tun Tun of Burmese pro-democracy movement in India.
The Burmese in exile added, "During the last 20 years we have experienced scores of disappointments from many other governments. The people of Burma have lost confidence in the international community. The engagement policy of the ASEAN and the neighbours failed to satisfy themselves as well as the people of Burma. United Nations has gone down below the credible level and instead of being a peace keeper it has become a dictator keeper because of a couple of veto wielders at the UN Security Council."
While appreciating the role of the western countries, which stood on principles and ethics and sided with pro-democracy movement for 20 years and those, who had imposed sanctions against the perpetrators, and sponsored Burma resolutions at various international forums, the pro-democracy activists expressed optimism, "Despite these hindrances, frustration and setbacks, we will not give up the hope of achieving our goal of democracy and the defeat of brutal and despotic military rule. Democracy must come to Burma."
Meanwhile, the research and documentation department of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) has come out with the Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007. The Human Rights Documentation Unit (HRDU) of NCGUB has published the 14th annual edition of the yearbook which has comprehensively documented the human rights situation in Burma.
"The Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2007 reveals that the human rights situation confronting the people of Burma has not improved since the very first yearbook was published more than a decade back. On the contrary, widespread human rights violations continued to be perpetrated in Burma with near impunity throughout 2007," said a Burmese in exile living in India.
The yearbook narrates how the civilian population throughout Burma continues to face numerous incidents of extortion, arbitrary arrest, summary execution, rape, forced labour, religious persecution and ethnic discrimination.
"Whether we look at it in terms of the time elapsed since the Saffron Revolution last year or over a longer timeframe since the uprisings in 1988, the result is the same. The root causes which gave rise to these protests have never been adequately addressed by the regime and the general grievances of the population remain. While it is difficult to say conclusively that the human rights situation in Burma is getting worse, we can say that it certainly isn't showing much improvement," said Dr Sann Aung, a representative of NCGUB.
