CSW visit to Kachin State 01/05/2009
Photo. Benny Manser
Executive Summary
“I want justice to be done” - A Kachin rape victim
Burma’s ruling military dictatorship, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), continues to perpetrate gross violations of human rights, amounting to crimes against humanity, throughout the country. More than 2,100 political prisoners are in jail, subjected to horrific torture and dire conditions, and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention. In eastern Burma, more than 3,300 villages have been destroyed by the military since 1996, and over a million people have been driven from their homes. Civilians are shot at point-blank range or used as human minesweepers, and children are forcibly conscripted into the Burma Army. Forced labour and rape as a weapon of war are used on a widespread and systematic basis, with impunity, throughout the country.
In Kachin State, the regime continues to perpetrate human rights violations, despite a ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since 1994. Although there is currently no armed conflict, rape, forced labour, land confiscation and religious discrimination remain significant problems. While the Kachin can enjoy comparative peace, and do not suffer mass destruction of villages and displacement of civilians on the scale of eastern Burma, they continue to experience discrimination and abuse. In SPDC-controlled areas, for example, children are not allowed to learn in their own language, but must study in Burmese. There is also reportedly an agenda to impose Buddhism on Kachin students, requiring them to recite Buddhist scriptures, even though the Kachin are 90 per cent Christian. In addition, environmental degradation, drug addiction and human trafficking are major social challenges with which the regime is directly or indirectly associated.
In a significant development, on 28 April 2009 the KIO was given an ultimatum by the SPDC, along with other ceasefire organisations. The KIO was ordered to restrict its activities to a 10km zone along the border with China, and operate as a border security force under the control of the Burma Army. The KIO/KIA currently controls a significant proportion of Kachin State, primarily rural areas, under the terms of the ceasefire. The KIO/KIA fought an armed struggle for autonomy and federalism from 1961 until the ceasefire in 1994, and the regime’s proposal would effectively mean a complete surrender. Under the proposal, KIA troops and arms would be surrendered to the control of the Burma Army.
The KIO participated in the regime’s National Convention to draft a new constitution for Burma, but KIO representatives who had been part of the delegation to the National Convention told CSW that they had no opportunity to present their proposals and that their submissions were ignored. “Every day we attended, and we only listened to the speeches,” one delegate said. “No discussions were allowed”.
The referendum on the new constitution, held in 2008 in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, was widely regarded as a sham throughout the whole country, and Kachin State was no different. A new report by the Institute for Political Analysis and Documentation, No Real Choice: An Assessment of Burma’s 2008 Referendum, published in May 2009 details the abuses in the referendum process in Kachin and northern Shan States. Elections scheduled for 2010 are equally expected to be a sham. In the words of one Kachin: “There is no freedom of expression. The regime always violates fundamental human rights. The elections cannot be free and fair. During the referendum [this] was obvious”.
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