Testimony on Human Rights Problems in Burma

This Administration will maintain its unwavering commitment to support the long-suffering people of Burma until each is free to participate fully in the governance of their country by once again electing their leadership through a free, fair and democratic process as they did in 1990. We will not end the pressure until every political prisoner is free, offices of political parties are open and active and ethnic groups are at peace and represented in any discussions of Burma’s political future.

There has been unprecedented agreement within both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government to intensify pressure on the regime, and we cannot back down until the pressure yields results. To quote another Nobel Laureate familiar with the struggle for freedom, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “If the people of South Africa had compromised the struggle against apartheid, we may never have gained our freedom. In Burma, to settle for anything less than freedom and justice, for the democratic participation of all people, would be to accept the presence of oppression and to dishonour our brave brothers and sisters who have dedicated themselves to the future of a democratic Burma.” It took concentrated and coordinated sanctions and other international pressure to move the South African regime toward change and we need to work harder to convince other concerned nations, especially our European allies and Burma’s Asian neighbors to increase their pressure on the regime as well.

We will not abandon our brave brothers and sisters of the Burmese democracy movement – working both inside and outside of Burma – to the persistent empty promises of the junta and their attempts to whitewash their despicable human rights record for the international community. I am pleased that you have invited one of these brave people to speak to you on the next panel. Daw San San is a stellar example of the strength and courage of the Burmese democracy movement. She is a true Burmese democrat. After being freely elected by the Burmese people in 1990, she served two prison sentences totaling six years. The regime has debarred her and many other elected members of parliament from standing in any future elections. After the May 30 incident, she boldly wrote a letter urging the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners – for this she was threatened and forced to flee last summer.

Daw San San, and others like her, have risked their lives and suffered for the cause of democracy in Burma. It is these Burmese democrats themselves who have the authority to comment on what is needed to bring democracy to Burma – we must continue to listen to them and support them. With U.S. support, Daw San San carries on the struggle from exile. Mr. Chairman, the struggle has been long and hard, people are getting older, and the regime remains in power. This can be frustrating for those of us who care about this traumatized country and its people. But if Burma’s democrats can persevere – and they are – then we must stand with them.

After 16 years of intense targeted aggression by the junta, the democratic movement has survived and remains standing. It has persevered through overwhelming challenges. I am always amazed at how quickly the Burmese people exercise their rights and stand for democracy when any space opens. If you have not seen the video broadcast by the BBC of some of Aung San Suu Kyi’s travels around the country before the May 30 incident, I recommend it to you. The video shows clearly how deeply the Burmese people love freedom and democracy and the risks they will take to support it. This groundswell of support broke free due to ongoing support for democracy from the outside. We must continue to feed and nurture these networks until space once again opens.

The orchestration of the ambush of Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters on May 30, her imprisonment, and the junta’s continued refusal to account fully for what happened that day leaves no room for debate. The Government has not investigated or admitted any role in the attack. It subsequently banned all NLD political activities, closed down approximately 100 recently reopened NLD offices, detained the entire nine-member NLD Central Executive Committee, and closely monitored the activities of other political parties throughout the country. The junta continues to rule through fear and brutality with complete disregard for the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The SPDC’s renewed campaign of violence and repression against the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi shows the junta’s blatant disregard for the basic rights of the Burmese people and the desire of the international community to see those rights protected. The most recent crackdown is just one link in a long chain of appalling behavior toward the people and the nation that the military regime claims to be protecting.

I stated here six months ago that the SPDC’s disregard for human rights and democracy extends to almost every conceivable category of violation, and unfortunately, that has not changed. In fact, the State Department’s recently released 2003 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices states that in 2003 “the Government’s extremely poor human rights record worsened.” The junta suppresses political dissent through persecution, censorship, imprisonment, beatings and disappearances. Security forces continue to commit extrajudicial killings and rape. They forcibly relocate entire villages, use forced labor and recruit child soldiers. The junta sharply curtails religious freedom, and security forces systematically monitor citizens' movements and communications.

The abuses inflicted upon civilians in ethnic minority regions persist. NGOs continue to report that the Burmese military uses rape against ethnic Shan, Karen, Mon, Karenni, Chin and Tavoyan women in an extensive pattern of abuse. We continue to receive reports of widespread and brutal sexual abuse of women by security forces, including in areas where ceasefire agreements have been signed between the SPDC and ethnic groups.

We remain deeply concerned by ongoing torture, murders, forced relocations, forced labor, confiscation of property, and suppression of religious freedom in ethnic minority regions. For example, 2,000 Karennis reportedly were driven from their homes in January. Their villages and rice barns were burned and their cattle seized.

The Burmese regime systematically represses religious freedom. Across Burma, the secret police infiltrate virtually all religious groups and repress the rights of religious freedom for believers of many faiths. Religious persecution is especially harsh for Muslim communities and for Christian communities in Chin and Kachin ceasefire areas of Burma where the SPDC has supported forced conversions to Buddhism. In these states, restrictions are placed on minority religions, including the arrest of clergy, prohibition of constructing new places of worship, destruction of churches and forced labor. Recent NGO reports based on first-hand accounts from refugees in India cite continued widespread use of forced labor in Chin State for public infrastructure projects and portering for the military.

The widespread use of forced labor by the SPDC is an ongoing concern to the United States and the International Labor Organization. Forced labor is one of the most egregious violations of worker rights. Since the ILO’s request to its constituents in December 2000 that they review their relations with Burma in light of the system of forced labor, the ILO has been trying to work with the SPDC to eliminate forced labor. But it continues to be a serious problem especially in border areas where the Burmese military has a large presence.

The SPDC has tried to appease the international community through slow increases in the level of cooperation with the ILO, but this has yet to lead to any serious action to combat the problem. The International Labor Conference decided in June last year that the climate of uncertainty and intimidation created by the events of May 30 did not provide an environment in which an agreed Plan of Action to eliminate forced labor could be implemented in a credible manner. After reviewing the situation again last November, the ILO Governing Body came to the same conclusion. This week, the Governing Body has evaluated the situation once more in light of disturbing new evidence that a Burmese court has convicted three people of high treason and sentenced them to death in part because they had contacts with the ILO. As a senior ILO official wrote to Burma’s Minister of Labor on March 12, “It would indeed seem impossible to reconcile the commitment of your Government to eradicate forced labor in cooperation with the ILO with the notion that contacts with the ILO could constitute an act of high treason.”

Our report on Trafficking in Persons sheds further light on the problem of forced labor and the Burmese regime’s insufficient response. Burma is a Tier 3 country in the 2003 Report issued under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. On September 9, the President imposed sanctions pursuant to that law.
The State Department will continue to report honestly and accurately on the abuses of the SPDC in our reports on human rights, religious freedom and trafficking in persons. The truth will not be hidden. The oppression of an entire nation must not stand.

I am proud that the U.S. government has stood by Burmese democrats over the years in their struggle both inside and outside the country. With specific funding from Congress, we support many Burmese democracy groups. U.S. Government-funded programs focus on democracy and capacity-building activities and the collection and dissemination of information on democracy and human rights. In fact, most of the information that we have on human rights violations inside Burma comes from first-hand victim accounts collected by such organizations.

Organizations like the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma have increased their professionalism and credibility in documenting and presenting information. Run by former political prisoners, AAPPB has earned a strong reputation for quality information on the numbers of political prisoners in Burma and the conditions they face in prison. They follow closely cases of political prisoners like student leader Min Ko Naing and Ko Htay Kywe (Ko Tay Jway) who have both had their sentences extended and are reportedly very ill. Ko Htay Kywe recently was treated at Insein Hospital but then returned to prison even though his health has not improved – his family worries for his life and still the regime holds him in prison.

We also provide scholarships to send Burmese students to Thailand or the United States to study law and governance. All these U.S. Government funds are used to promote democracy in Burma and prepare many of Burma’s future leaders for good governance after transition.

Unfortunately, under current conditions, the prospects for real democracy promotion activities inside Burma are once again extremely limited. Mr. Chairman, I have a long history with democracy promotion programs and feel that I can comment on the efficacy of different approaches. Some would argue that we should be doing whatever we can inside Burma including using humanitarian assistance to gradually build civil society. When I was President of the International Republican Institute, we used the civil society building approach in China to expand the space within which people could advance democratic principles in various sectors of society. But the Burmese context is different. In Burma, it is extremely difficult to use humanitarian assistance to address real democratic concerns. Instead, humanitarian assistance that is not closely monitored serves only to bolster the regime that controls all aspects of society. The only way to create space in which democracy inside Burma can flourish is with sustained international pressure – it is the only thing that works with this repressive junta. We must keep up the pressure.

We should also continue our support for the democracy movement in every way we can, inside the country when possible and within the exile community. It was the consistent U.S. support of democracy promotion, capacity building, improved human rights documentation and political party development that prepared the democracy movement to respond when space briefly opened up last year. Without our continued support, the movement and the marginalized ethnic minority groups will face even greater challenges. The problem with promoting democracy in Burma has never been with a weak Burmese democracy movement, it has been with a recalcitrant junta that refuses to give up power.

In closing I want to emphasize that when President Bush signed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, he acknowledged that the act was the result of close cooperation between Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and the Administration. We appreciate Congressional resolutions and statements that call for democratic change and human rights in Burma. We want to continue speaking with a unified voice so that there can be no doubt about U.S. policy. The generals must release immediately and unconditionally Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners languishing in Burma’s jails. They also must begin to take concrete steps toward true democracy and improve their human rights record. We expect nothing less than an irreversible transition to the democracy so cherished by the Burmese people.