The Burmese military government must halt its repression of ethnic minority activists before the forthcoming elections, urged the UK-based Amnesty International. Otherwise the polls and the electoral process will have no credibility, the human rights group warned.   

In a major report, The Repression of ethnic minority activists in Myanmar, released on Tuesday in Bangkok, the organization highlighted the particular plight of ethnic political activists, which as Amnesty's Burma expert, Benjamin Zawacki told journalists was often overlooked.  

He drew attention to the fact that ethnic political parties had played an important role in Burma, and would do so again in the lead-up to the planned elections at the end of the year. “Don’t forget, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) won the second most seats at the 1990 elections,” he reminded journalists.  Shan leaders, like Khun Htun Oo are serving particularly harsh sentences for trying to organize meetings.

“Freedom of speech, association and assembly must be guaranteed if the elections are to be free and fair,” Mr Zawacki told Mizzima. “They must also be allowed to publish their electoral platforms and hand out campaigning literature.”  At present of all this is prohibited by existing laws.   

The thrust of the Amnesty report was that ethnic activists were particularly targeted, and often their incarceration went undocumented – because of the remoteness of some of the border areas. The report draws on accounts given in first-hand interviews with more than 700 activists from the seven largest ethnic minorities, including the Rakhine (Arakanese), Shan, Kachin, and Chin during a two-year period beginning in August 2007.   

In the past two years, ethnic campaigners have been as active as political protestors in Burma, particularly in the lead-up to the referendum in 2008, said the report. “And the government has responded to this activism in a heavy-handed manner, raising fears that repression will intensify before the elections,” said Mr Zawacki

“It’s a systematic response,” Mr Zawacki told Mizzima. “This includes arbitrary arrests, unfair trials and imprisonment, and in some cases torture and even summary execution of ethnic minority activists.” Minority groups have also faced extensive surveillance, harassment and discrimination.   

Many activists told Amnesty International that they faced more acute repression during the broader political movements including the 2007 Buddhist monk-led ‘Saffron Revolution’ in 2007 and during the May 2008 constitutional referendum. Witnesses described the killing and torture of monks and others by the security forces during the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations, especially in Rakhine and Kachin States.  

The list of atrocities is endless, including soldiers shooting a young Mon boy who they accused of opposing the government. A group of Karenni youths were arrested for floating small boats on a river with “No” [to the 2008 Constitution] written on them. And in one of the most notorious cases, soldiers detained and raped four young Kachin girls for singing Kachin songs at a karaoke club in late 2007.    

The systematic repression of Burma’s ethnic minorities is well documented. “In parts of eastern Karen state it’s tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” a French journalist just back from a clandestine visit deep into Burmese territory told Mizzima on condition of anonymity.    

“In the past ten years more than 600,000 people have been forced to move in eastern Burma, creating a permanent state of instability,” he said. “The local population is being pushed out and Burmans are taking their place. It’s a land of fear.”  

Amnesty, Human Right Watch and numerous small human rights groups have persistently revealed the brutal nature of the Burmese soldiers’ treatment of the country’s ethnic minorities. But what Amnesty has tried to do in this report is highlight the intensified repressive behavior of the Burmese junta at a time when it has promised to hold elections that would be transparent and credible.    

Unfortunately the report only deals with this in an anecdotal way. But it does document systematic repression of anyone that opposed the constitution.   

In Shan state, a Karenni family was killed on the orders of the local township chairman and secretary of the pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Council (USDA) because a leaflet urging “No” vote was found outside their house – seven family members perished, reports Amnesty.   

Elsewhere in Shan State, villagers were threatened with three years’ jail if they did not vote in favor of the constitution.   

Right across the all these seven states, ethnic activists were arrested for campaigning or urging a “No” vote. The authorities were particularly vigilante in Rakhine and Mon states, according to Amnesty’s report.   

In Sittwe, in mid-April 2008, more than 20 NLD members were arrested for demonstrating against the draft constitution. Many were wearing “No” t-shirts and carrying anti-constitution pamphlets. Around the same time, in Mon state 25 people were arrested on suspicion of supporting the anti-referendum campaign.   

The Amnesty report documents scores of other similar incidents throughout ethnic areas. In most of these cases the people seem to have all been released later, but many had been badly beaten and tortured.  

benjamin-zawacki1s

But one case that the report does not include, but which the UN rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, is expected raise on his visit to Rakhine state on Tuesday and Wednesday is the group of 10 Muslim leaders – members of the Myanmar Muslims Association of Maungdaw, who were detained for allegedly holding a meeting to discuss the constitution and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

The Amnesty report is a timely reminder to the Burmese government that the international community will be watching the forthcoming elections carefully. And if they are to be accepted as legitimate, they have to be credible. And what happens in the ethnic minority areas will be especially important. “The 2010 elections will not be credible if the regime does not stop violating the rights of the ethnic opposition,” Mr Zawacki said.   

“And the first step must be the immediate release of all political prisoners,” he stressed.   

There are 210 ethnic activists amongst the 2,100 and more political prisoners being held in Burma’s jails. “But according to evidence culled from interviews this significantly underestimates the number.”    

While the Amnesty expert declined to put a new figure on the number – 2,500 was more probable, he said but he would not be surprised if it was even higher.