Ethical Cycling :
Overview:
Burma, a country of around 50 million people is ruled by fear. A military machine of 500,000 soldiers denies a whole nation its most basic rights.
It`s military regime has since 1996 sought to attract international tourists to what is indeed one of the world's most diverse and beautiful lands. Yet large parts of Burma remain off-limits to tourists because of military operations, narcotics trafficking in border areas, and a contentious gas pipeline built across southern Burma. And many tourism-related projects have involved massive forced labor, arbitrary property seizures, compulsory relocations, and other human rights abuses.
Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, symbolises the struggle of Burma's people to be free.
Her Party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 82% of the seats in elections held in 1990. The people of Burma overwhelmingly rejected military rule yet the military continues to refuse to transfer power to Burma's democratically elected leaders.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent a total of more than 10 years under house arrest in Rangoon. She is allowed no visitors, her phone line has been cut, and her post is intercepted. She is being denied access to regular medical care.
She has reiterated her call for a tourism boycott. In an interview with the BBC, she said: "Our policy with regard to tourism has not changed, which is say that we have not yet come to the point where we encourage people to come to Burma as tourists."
 We feel that we should all respect Aung Kyis words and stay out of Burma, until
genuine progress towards democratization
has taken place. Now is not the time to go.
The NLD, ethnic nationalities, students and monks continue to resist the regime despite a highly repressive political environment. The campaign for a democratic Burma has become international and continues to grow in strength.
Political :
Pressure from campaigns across the world has forced a long list of companies to withdraw from Burma. These include: British American Tobacco, Texaco, Levi Strauss,Triumph International, Premier Oil and many others.
However, companies like TOTAL Oil (of France) and Chevron (of the USA) are major investors in Burma. The Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) aims to pressure companies like these to withdraw from Burma and cease their support for the regime.
The United States has imposed tough economic sanctions on Burma. These include a ban on new investment, an asset freeze, a restriction on dollar transactions and a ban on most Burmese imports into the United States.
The UK government is a strong critic of the regime but despite supporting Aung San Suu Kyi’s call for targeted economic sanctions in opposition, the government has failed to impose them. BCUK is lobbying the government to honour their pre-election position.
Despite repeated calls from Aung San Suu Kyi, the European Union has not imposed a single sanction that has had any significant impact on the regime's financial interests. (For more information, see our report on the EU and Sanctions)
Burma's democracy movement is also calling for action by the United Nations Security Council.
On September 20th 2005 Vaclav Havel and Desmond Tutu published a report, Threat to the Peace: A call for the UN Security Council to act in Burma. The report found that Burma fits the criteria for United Nations Security Council (UNSC) intervention. It calls on UNSC members to pass a resolution requiring the regime to work with the United Nations in restoring democracy to Burma, and to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience. Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, has backed the report, and called on governments to act. For more information, click here.
Troubled Times:
Since an army coup overthrew Burma's last democratically-elected government in 1962, military-run or dominated regimes in Burma have been among the world's worst violators of human rights. An already serious level of abuses climbed higher after the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) (renamed the State Peace and Development Council in November 1997) seized power in September 1988. The junta removed all pretence of civilian administration and marked its arrival by massacring thousands of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators in Rangoon and other Burmese cities and towns.
Today, says Amnesty International, "torture has become an institution" in Burma. Reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other groups have repeatedly detailed a gruesome litany of abuses, including murder, torture, rape, detention without trial, massive forced relocations, and forced labor Even before 1988, Burma's army faced allegations of serious human rights abuses, especially in its campaigns against ethnic groups along the country's borders. These severe violations continue today, including arbitrary executions and forced labor of villagers as military porters in combat zones. Children have been particularly hard hit, both as direct physical victims of military abuse and as members of affected families. In 2001, conditions in Shan State and Karen State deteriorated as the junta launched wide-scale military operations. Hundreds of thousands of people in those areas have fled their homes to avoid conscription as porters or worse abuses. While some have reached safety in Thailand, most remain internally-displaced persons (IDPs). Only a few who are near the Thai frontier receive even a little external food or medical assistance.
These gross violations are added to ongoing suppression of other fundamental freedoms. Today, the most basic of globally recognized civil and political rights are not respected by Burma's generals, despite the fact that Burma is signatory to several of the most important international human rights treaties. There is no freedom of expression. Even art exhibitions must be approved by military authorities. Beyond sports and romance magazines, the few independent publications that survive are subject to severe censorship. The regime's Press Scrutiny Board orders articles even obliquely critical of official actions inked over or torn from offending issues, while state newspapers are filled with crudely virulent attacks on democratic forces.
Broadcast media are even more closely controlled. State-monopoly radio and television offer endless images of the junta's generals cutting ribbons and making speeches. Burmese do seek other sources for accurate news. International radio stations such as the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Voice of America, the Democratic Voice of Burma, and Radio Free Asia estimate that their Burmese audience is perhaps greater per capita than anywhere else in the world.
The junta's efforts to quash free expression continue. A 1996 SLORC decree provides up to 20 years' imprisonment for anyone publicly opposing the junta's policies. Under the 1996 "Computer Science Development Law;' unlicensed possession of a fax machine or modem is punishable by I 5 years in jail. These are among many repressive measures enforced without regard to international standards or Burma's own constitution. In Burma, the law is what the generals say it is; it can and does change from day to day.
Freedom of association and assembly are denied. Political gatherings are banned. Political parties such as the National League for Democracy (NLD) are closely monitored and its members harassed or arrested. Amnesty International estimates that there are at least 1,300 political prisoners detained or imprisoned under severe conditions in Burmese jails. Many prisoners have died in detention. Among the current political prisoners are victorious NLD candidates in May 1990 elections in which the NLD won over 80% of the seats.
Labor unions are not allowed. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has detailed the junta's use of massive and widespread forced labor in Burma, often under dangerous conditions. In October 2000, after repeatedly failing to receive convincing assurances that the junta is acting to end forced labor, the ILO took the unprecedented action of urging all ILO members, including governments, labor unions and employers, to review their ties to the regime.
Some of the worst forced labor abuses have been reported from southeastern Burma, where a billion-dollar pipeline is being developed by a consortium of America's UNOCAL and France's TOTAL oil companies and the Burmese regime. Forced labor has also been used on tourism development projects. In March 1997, the European Union withdrew Burma's trade privileges because of the prevalence of forced labor and other abuses.
Religious repression is another long-time feature of military rule. Burma is a predominantly Buddhist country, and the military regime demands that Buddhist clergy support its rule. Troops have invaded monasteries to remove Buddhist leaders who supported human rights and the democracy movement.
Burma also has sizable Muslim and Christian communities. Muslims in southwestern Burma are continuing targets for army attacks. Over a quarter million fled to Bangladesh during a major army offensive in 1989, and approximately 25,000 more escaped in 1997. Dozens of mosques were ransacked and destroyed as anti-Muslim riots reportedly instigated by the Burmese military flared in several Burmese cities in March 1997, and a new spate of attacks in the Arakan region was reported in late 2000. Christian churches are also closely monitored by the army, and church activities country-wide are restricted. In some border areas, especially the Chin Special Division and the Karen State, churches have been wrecked by soldiers and religious differences exploited by the junta to promote discord among minority ethnic groups.
for further information:
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Ethical Cycling :
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