Visit to the Thailand-Burma Border, October 2011 01/11/2011
Executive Summary
“Whenever the Burma Army comes, they burn villages or shoot people. So whenever the Burma Army comes we run away because we know what will happen to us if we don’t.” – A Karen internally displaced person
Since July 2011, Burma’s new regime has undertaken some important and encouraging steps which may, according to some analysts, lay the preliminary foundations for possible political reform and change in the country. Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, released from house arrest in November 2010, met President Thein Sein in July, and has since remarked that while “we are not there yet”, she believes “we can see the way clear ahead more than we have ever been able to”.
While the regime should be encouraged to go further, and the international community should respond proportionately to events and positively to genuine reform, so far the steps taken are largely symbolic gestures and reformist rhetoric, rather than significant, substantial and long-lasting policy changes. These gestures and rhetoric are welcome, but if the regime wishes to demonstrate its sincerity, it must match its rhetoric with action. President Thein Sein’s meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi; further meetings between her and the Minister of Labour; the President’s decision to suspend construction of the Myitsone dam in Kachin State; the decision to lift the ban on certain foreign websites and media3; statements regarding an end to censorship4 and the legalisation of trade unions5, and the release of an estimated 220 political prisoners6 are all, in and of themselves, welcome gestures. However, they do not in themselves represent substantial, significant and long-lasting change. There remain, for example, almost 2,000 political prisoners in prison, including Buddhist monks such as U Gambira, who helped lead pro-democracy protests in 2007, and prominent political activists serving long sentences of sixty-five years or more. The regime’s gestures so far, therefore, must be followed with further measures, including the recognition of the existence of political prisoners and their release.
The regime continues to violate religious freedom, most recently attacking churches in Kachin State and imposing new restrictions on church activities. Christians and Muslims continue to face serious restrictions, discrimination and, in some areas, persecution. Among Burma’s ethnic nationalities, religion is a factor in driving the regime’s policies of persecution, particularly among the Muslim Rohingyas, the predominantly Christian Chin, Kachin and Karenni, and the significant Christian population among the Karen. The US State Department continues to rank Burma as a Country of Particular Concern for violations of religious freedom.
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