Abuses overshadow Myanmar elections

The international community should not be over-awed by Myanmar's more open political climate when serious human rights issues remain in remote states fighting for independence, a human rights group said. Myanmar's army "is committing unchecked abuses in Kachin state while the government blocks humanitarian aid to those most in need," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "Both the army and Kachin rebels need to act to prevent a bad situation for civilians from getting even worse," she said at the launch of a report on the situation in Kachin state at the northern tip of Myanmar, formerly called Burma. Human Rights Watch's 83-page report, "Untold Miseries': Wartime Abuses and Forced Displacement in Burma's Kachin State," describes how the Myanmar army has "attacked Kachin villages, razed homes, pillaged properties and forced the displacement of tens of thousands of people." The report comes after a nominal cease-fire was broken in June last year and clashes have become more frequent between the army and rebel groups. The majority of Kachin's population of nearly 1.3 million is ethnic Kachin, also known as Jinghpaw or Rawang. Other ethnic groups including Bamar and Shanm live in Kachin, nestled at the foot of the Himalayas and bordering China. There is also a small, unrecorded number of Tibetans living in Kachin, an important factor in the ethnic balance of the region. China, which controls Tibet, is a big trading partner with the Kachin. Official government statistics state that nearly 60 percent of the Kachin state is Buddhist and just more than one-third is Christian. The conflict in Kachin has been simmering since the British quit Myanmar in 1948, although a shaky cease-fire was set up nearly 20 years ago. Kachin rebel groups as well as those in Karen and Mons states further south, urged their people to boycott the November 2010 national elections in which the military rulers were running as civilian candidates. But the open fighting that erupted in June last year has sounded alarm bells for human rights groups. Human Rights Watch's report said Myanmar soldiers have threatened and tortured civilians during interrogations and raped women. "The army also has used anti-personnel mines and conscripted forced laborers, including children as young as 14, on the front lines," the report said. Around 75,000 ethnic Kachin displaced persons and refugees "are in desperate need of food, medicine and shelter," the report said. "Both the army and Kachin rebels need to act to prevent a bad situation for civilians from getting even worse," said Pearson. Human Rights Watch also criticizes the Kachin Independence Army for being "involved in serious abuses, including using child soldiers and anti-personnel mines." "Both sides' use of mines, which do not discriminate between combatants and civilians, will complicate the safe return of displaced civilians to their villages when hostilities cease," the report noted. The report acknowledged the "hopeful human rights developments" in lowland Myanmar -- the southern part of the country along the coast. Developments include the release of prominent political prisoners, a "spate of legal reforms" and greater media freedom. Next month Myanmar is having by-elections for 48 seats in Parliament and the government has invited international observers, including from the Association of South East Asian Nations, the United States and the European Union. "There's still a long way to go before the people of Burma, particularly those in conflict areas, benefit from recent promises of reform," Pearson said. "The international community should not become complacent about the serious human rights violations still plaguing Burma." To ease the situation the government should ask the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to set up an office in Myanmar to promote and monitor protection of civilians. "An objective investigation into abuses in Burma's ethnic areas won't happen unless the United Nations is involved and such an effort can help deter future abuses," Pearson said. The report also criticizes Myanmar's National Human Rights Commission, set up in September, for being ineffectual in speaking out and investigating alleged cases of abuses carried out by all side in Kachin. Human Rights Watch pointed to the announcement last month by commission Chairman Win Mra that it wouldn't investigate allegations of abuses in the country's ethnic armed conflict areas due to the government's efforts to negotiate cease-fires. A brief note in the government newspaper New Light of Myanmar in September announced the creation of the commission, saying it was for "promoting and safeguarding fundamental rights of citizens described in the constitution." But analysts questioned whether the commission's retired civil servants and scholars would have the will or the ability to challenge the government. In December a delegation of eight commission members, including its chairman, visited the notorious Insein prison as well as two other prisons. They were investigating reports by Amnesty International that recent hunger strikers claimed they lived in "dog cells" and were deprived of water. Insein, in Yangon -- the old capital formerly called Rangoon -- gained notoriety under Myanmar's several decades of military rule. Junta members imprisoned political activists and pro-democracy leaders in the facility. Inmates included the winner of the 1990 national election and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who served several sentences at Insein. Suu Kyi, now free, is running for a seat in the by-elections next month. After being escorted around the prison and interviewing three former hunger strikers, the commission concluded the allegations were "untrue," New Light of Myanmar said. However, the prison was, the commission said, overcrowded.