Executive Summary
"No change, no change," a representative of the regime‟s military intelligence
Burma‟s military regime held the first elections in twenty years, on 7 November 2010. One week later, on 13 November 2010, Burma‟s democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi was released, after a period of seven years under house arrest. Over the past twenty years, she has spent more than 15 years in detention.
Despite the elections and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, nothing has really changed in Burma. The new national two-chamber Parliament, and the regional and state legislatures, were convened on 31 January 2011, and are overwhelmingly dominated by the military regime. The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the regime‟s party, won 76% of all contested seats in the three levels of legislature, and almost 80% of the seats in the Lower House (People‟s Assembly). In addition, 25% of seats were reserved for the military before votes were cast. The new President, Thein Sein, is a former General who served as prime minister in the previous regime, and of the thirty members of the new Cabinet, only four are civilians – the overwhelming majority of government ministers are from the military.
The new Parliament has no power, and Members of Parliament face severe restrictions. MPs face up to two years in jail if they "write, print or distribute by any means parliament-related documents, information, statistics, drawings, charts or other reference," and MPs are prohibited by law from making comments deemed to endanger national security, the unity of the country or are in violation of the 2008 Constitution. Parliamentary questions must be submitted ten days in advance, and although some parliamentary proceedings have been reported in the state media, no live media coverage is permitted.
In addition to continuing to suppress democracy, the regime has intensified its attacks against ethnic civilians, particularly in Karen and Shan states. On 13 March 2011, the regime broke its 22-year ceasefire with the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), deploying 3,500 troops from over twenty battalions to attack Murng Su township. Over 100,000 civilians have been affected. The military has killed several civilians, shelled Buddhist temples, forced civilians to work as porters for the army and gang-raped Shan women. Over 3,000 villagers have been forced to flee from their homes.
Shan State is enduring further suffering following the earthquake which struck the area on 24 March, 2011. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 74 people have been killed. Other sources put the death toll at over 150. One source claims that the military authorities have continued to tightly control aid distribution to the entire area, and international NGOs have reportedly only been able to deliver relief supplies to a storage and distribution centre. Two weeks after the earthquake, remaining aid supplies were taken to a military camp and the distribution centres were closed by the authorities. Village leaders were called to a meeting with the military and informed that the "relief" phase was over and a "rehabilitation" phase should begin. According to this source, "aid distribution has reduced to a trickle".
Conditions for refugees and internally displaced peoples (IDPs) in eastern Burma and along the Thailand-Burma border continue to be dire. NGOs in all sectors report a struggle to maintain basic services in the refugee camps and cross-border support is being cut due to funding shortages. Limited donor support for new refugee self-reliance initiatives do not have the potential to significantly reduce the need for basic humanitarian support in the camps and any further cuts threaten to undermine the integrity of the entire assistance programme.
Describing the situation inside Burma one Karen refugee said: "The dictators want to make our people disappear from this world." The principal of the Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Church Bible School in Mae La refugee camp, Pastor Simon, uttered the cry of people across Burma, "We want peace, justice and freedom for all the people of Burma. We want the regime to respect and treat us as brothers and sisters, not as enemies or slaves. We want the whole world to help. We want to go home – please help us."
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) conducted a three-week fact-finding assignment to Burma and the Thailand-Burma border in March 2011. CSW travelled to Rangoon to meet a wide range of Burmese and international representatives. For their security, CSW‟s sources in-country cannot be identified. CSW then travelled to Mae Sot on the Thailand-Burma border to meet with exiled groups including the General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), the National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA), the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the Burma Lawyers‟ Council, visited Mae La refugee camp, and had meetings with the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), the Karen Women‟s Organisation (KWO) and the Network for Human Rights Documentation in Burma (ND-Burma). In Chiang Mai, CSW had meetings with the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), the Shan Women‟s Action Network (SWAN), the Kachin Women‟s Association-Thailand (KWAT), the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), The Irrawaddy magazine, Burma Relief Center (BRC) and Partners Relief and Development. In Bangkok, CSW met the EU Ambassador, the Canadian Ambassador, the Head of the Political and Economic Section at the British Embassy, the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Watch and the Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB).
The unanimous view of everyone CSW spoke to in Rangoon and on the Thailand-Burma border is that there is no meaningful change in the political situation in Burma. Widespread vote rigging, intimidation and voter harassment meant the elections were a sham, and the military continues to rule. A military intelligence officer in Rangoon told CSW, "No change, no change."
CSW welcomes the European Union‟s decision to continue its key economic sanctions against the regime. Until there is meaningful change in Burma, including the release of political prisoners, an end to military offensives against ethnic civilians, and a genuine dialogue between the regime, the democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic nationalities, pressure on the regime must be maintained. CSW believes the human rights violations perpetrated by the regime against ethnic nationalities and political prisoners amount to crimes against humanity and, in some areas, war crimes, and reiterates its call for the international community to support the recommendation of the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma for the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate these crimes.