By Clive Parker
The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission today launched a damning account of life in Burma, saying the human rights situation was deteriorating in the country due to the military government's failure to provide an adequate legal system to protect its own citizens.
The report-which includes sections on ten Asian countries including Burma-draws attention to incidents of forced labor, torture, arrests, murder and rape by the ruling junta.
"Thuggery and coercion by local authorities and police are part of life for people throughout Burma, whether inside prisons or out," it says.
"With the jailing of Ma Su Su Nway this October, human rights in Burma reached a new low-point," it adds, referring to the first Burmese citizen to successfully sue the authorities on forced labor charges-a move which prompted the government to imprison her for "abusing" state officials.
The case points to "the un-rule of law" in Burma, AHRC says.
Other incidents cited in the five-page document include that of National League for Democracy member Aung Hlaing Win, who died while in detention in May last year and who's body was subsequently cremated by intelligence officers without the permission of the victim's family. Min Tun Wai suffered a similar fate-also in May last year-after spending just one day at Moulmein prison. Authorities subsequently stated that his body had disappeared.
Cases of rape by police officers and beatings inflicted on democracy activists or those engaged in more innocuous activities usually occur without the possibility that the victims may seek justice, the report concludes: "Together these cases speak to the lack of possibilities for obtaining redress for rights violations anywhere in Burma today. The purpose of its institutions is to support the interests and authority of the army and subsidiary state agencies."
The final page of the report takes the form of a letter to Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, requesting Burma be expelled from the body for perpetuating a human rights situation described as "among the worst in the world."