Singapore (CNN) — President Obama on Sunday called for the release of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

“There are clear steps that must be taken: the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi; an end to conflicts with minority groups; and a genuine dialogue between the government, the democratic opposition and minority groups,” according to Obama, who said the regime should work to ensure its people’s needs are met.

He spoke during a meeting with ASEAN-10 leaders that included the prime minister of Myanmar. Obama is the first U.S. president to take part in a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations economic alliance. The formal meeting was held Sunday.

That 10-nation alliance includes Myanmar, which the United States and other nations have accused of human rights abuses.

U.S. officials were careful to avoid any perception that Obama’s presence at the ASEAN meeting would amount to a bilateral discussion with the prime minister of Myanmar.

After years of refusing direct talks with Myanmar, also known as Burma, the United States has indicated a possible re-engagement with the military regime it considers repressive for cracking down on political opposition, including the National League for Democracy.

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As U.S. prepares greater outreach to Burma, a Marylander is the junta’s latest victim

By Elaine Pearson

October 2, 2009

Published in The Baltimore Sun

In June, Gaithersburg resident Kyaw Zaw Lwin traveled from Thailand to New York to deliver a petition to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special adviser on Burma. The petition, with 680,000 signatures, called on the secretary-general to exert pressure for the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners.

Now, in a tragic twist – and as the Obama administration moves forward with a new policy of increased engagement with Burma – Mr. Zaw Lwin, a U.S. citizen who often goes by the name Nyi Nyi Aung, has disappeared into a Burmese jail cell himself. (Although the ruling junta changed the country’s name in English from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, I and most supporters of freedom and human rights there prefer the original name.)

On Sept. 3, Mr. Zaw Lwin flew to Rangoon, where Burmese authorities arrested him on arrival. Returning to Burma, which he left in 1988, may seem a little crazy. Mr. Zaw Lwin works for the Free Burmese Political Prisoners Now campaign in Thailand; his mother and two cousins are serving lengthy prison terms in Burma for participating in the peaceful demonstrations in 2007.

“His mother, his cousins and so many friends in prison was a nightmare for Nyi Nyi,” Wa Wa, his fiancée, who remains in Maryland, told me. “His mother got very sick. He felt badly about it; he worked passionately for their freedom.”

Now Mr. Zaw Lwin, 40, shares their fate. Over the last two years, the number of political prisoners in Burma has doubled. They include people from all walks of life. While the democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is a worldwide symbol of the struggle against repression, at least 2,100 other political prisoners quietly and invisibly languish in Burma’s squalid jails.

Ruled by a shadowy group of generals since 1962, Burma remains one of the world’s most repressive states, without a free press, with tight restrictions on freedom of assembly, expression and association, and a refugee crisis sparked by military abuses against ethnic minorities.

The U.N. and the international community have long been concerned about Burma’s intransigence. Unfortunately, U.N. action has been ineffectual. For years, Burma’s generals have run rings around senior U.N. officials, stonewalling efforts by the U.N. to discuss political and human rights issues, and managing to broker endless rounds of meaningless dialogue in the place of tangible results.

At a June 18 news conference in New York, Mr. Zaw Lwin said, “Mr. Ban Ki-moon, my message is simple: Your words show you take this issue seriously. But now I want to see what action you will take to secure the release of my family and all Burma’s political prisoners.”

On Sept. 16, in a bizarre public relations stunt perhaps meant to appease the U.N. secretary-general ahead of September’s General Assembly, Burma’s military leaders announced an amnesty of some 7,113 convicted criminals – but just over 100 were political prisoners. As the journalist Eine Khine Oo told the media on her release: “I was nearly due to be released anyway. … I was doing my reporting job. I don’t think I was wrong.” Meanwhile, fresh arrests of monks, political activists and human rights defenders like Mr. Zaw Lwin keep happening.

Although Mr. Zaw Lwin has yet to be charged (his trial was due to start Thursday but has been postponed), the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper claims he confessed to terrorist acts. (This is the propaganda mouthpiece of the government that claims it has no political prisoners.) A U.S. consular officer who visited Mr. Zaw Lwin in prison told his family that he described physical torture, including beatings and food and sleep deprivation.

On Sept. 24, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that “to achieve democratic reform, we will be engaging directly with the Burmese authorities.” High-level diplomacy by the U.S. is welcome, as long as the U.S. stands by its principles to uphold the basic rights of the Burmese people. The same applies to the U.S. government’s dealings with Burma’s friends and protectors.

To secure the release of Kyaw Zaw Lwin – and fellow political prisoners he risked everything to free – the U.N. and the U.S. must be prepared to exert pressure on countries like China, Russia, India and ASEAN member states. Trying to overcome the Burmese government’s self-imposed isolation is a laudable goal, but engagement should mean no reluctance to exert pressure on the senior leadership.

Sanctions alone may not work, but silence and sweet-talking this regime does not work either.

Elaine Pearson is deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Washington, D.C. – Refugees International applauds the State Department for fully supporting the provision of humanitarian assistance to the people of Burma as part of its policy review released today. While the review endorses keeping the major components of long-standing policy in place, the support for humanitarian aid is an important shift. Refugees International encourages the U.S. Congress to provide adequate funding for a humanitarian assistance program that meets the needs of the Burmese people.

“Allowing desperately needed assistance to reach the Burmese people corrects a long-standing flaw in U.S. policy towards Burma,” said Joel Charny, Acting President of Refugees International. “For years, the policy has doubly punished the Burmese people: they have suffered under a regime that directly contributes to their daily hardships, while being denied life-saving assistance by the U.S. government. This new policy will increase desperately needed assistance to the Burmese people through independent channels.”

International humanitarian aid for the Burmese people has not kept pace with their needs. The United Nations Development Program estimates that GDP per capita in Burma is the 13th lowest in the world. An average Burmese family spends 75% of its income on securing food. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Burma receives less overseas development assistance, $4.08 per person (2007), than any of the poorest 55 countries. The average assistance in this group of countries is more than $42 per person.

The Burmese people perpetually live on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, and Cyclone Nargis proved that further disruption can be disastrous. The U.S. was the second largest donor for the Cyclone Nargis response, contributing $75 million to emergency efforts. These efforts showed that it is possible to provide aid inside the country transparently and effectively. However, prior to the cyclone, U.S. contributions were a meager $3 million per year for a country of 55 million people.

Currently, the House and Senate are reconciling differences in the Fiscal Year 2010 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, and there is a $12 million discrepancy. The Senate’s version is more in line with the Administration’s request and new policy.

“Now that the Administration has announced its intention to support humanitarian aid inside Burma, Congress should ensure that it fully funds this program in 2010,” said Charny. “Refugees International supports the Senate appropriation of at least $39.8 million for Burma, and agrees that this money should be used wherever the greatest need exists, both inside the country and for refugees forced to flee to neighboring states.”

Refugees International is a Washington, DC-based organization that advocates to end refugee crises. In February of 2009 the organization traveled to Burma to assess the humanitarian situation inside the country and released a field report in March, “Burma: Capitalizing on the Gains.” For more information, go to http://www.refugeesinternational.org.

(Washington, DC, September 16, 2009) – Burma’s military government has more than doubled the number of political prisoners in the past two years, including more than a hundred imprisoned in recent months, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. Sentenced to long prison terms for their involvement in peaceful demonstrations in 2007, and for assisting civilians in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis in 2008, the political prisoner population has reached more than 2,200.

The 35-page report, “Burma’s Forgotten Prisoners,” showcases dozens of prominent political activists, Buddhist monks, labor activists, journalists, and artists arrested since peaceful political protests in 2007 and sentenced to draconian prison terms after unfair trials. The report was released on September 16, 2009 at a Capitol Hill news conference hosted by Senator Barbara Boxer.

Human Rights Watch said that Burma’s rulers should immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners in Burma if scheduled elections in 2010 are to have any credibility.“Burma’s generals are planning elections next year that will be a sham if their opponents are in prison,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Despite recent conciliatory visits by UN and foreign officials, the military government is actually increasing the number of critics it is throwing into its squalid prisons.”

The release of the report marks the launch of “2100 by 2010,” Human Rights Watch’s global campaign for the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the time of the 2010 elections.

“We named the campaign ‘2100 by 2010’ in July – but since then, the number has grown to approximately 2250,” said Malinowski. “The United States, China, India, and Burma’s neighbors in Southeast Asia should make the release of all political prisoners a central goal of their engagement with Burma, and use every tool of influence and leverage they have to achieve it.”

In a September 9 letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Human Rights Watch called on the United States to complete its policy review on Burma and focus on the promotion of human rights through principled diplomacy, tougher financial sanctions, and additional but properly monitored humanitarian aid.

Political opponents, activists and others with the courage to speak out against military rule or criticize government actions or policies have been routinely locked up in Burma’s prisons for years. There are 43 known prisons holding political activists in Burma, while more than 50 labor camps where prisoners are forced to perform hard labor.

Repression increased after the popular uprising led in part by monks in August and September 2007 was crushed by the government. Closed courts and courts inside prisons have held unfair trials and sentenced more than 300 political figures, human rights defenders, labor activists, artists, journalists, comedians, internet bloggers, and Buddhist monks and nuns to lengthy prison terms. Some prison terms have been for more than 100 years. The activists were mainly charged under provisions of Burma’s archaic penal code that criminalizes free expression, peaceful demonstration, and forming of independent organizations. More than 20 prominent activists and journalists, including Burma’s most famous comedian, Zargana, were arrested for having spoken out about obstacles to humanitarian relief following Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma in May 2008.

The world was reminded of the brutality of the military government after the arrest, protracted and unfair trial and conviction of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in August after an American intruder broke into her house. Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won the last Burmese elections in 1990, has been in prison or house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

“Gaining the release of Suu Kyi is important not just for her own well-being, but because it could facilitate a process that allowed the opposition to fully participate in elections and Burmese society,” said Malinowski. “But Suu Kyi is not the only person facing persecution for her political beliefs. People like the comedian Zargana, imprisoned for criticizing the government’s pathetic response to Cyclone Nargis, or Su Su Nway, a brave woman activist who led street protests, also deserve the world’s attention.”

“Burma’s Forgotten Prisoners” spotlights the cases of political prisoners including:
· Zargana: In November 2008, a Rangoon court sentenced prominent comedian and social activist Zargana to 59 years in jail – a sentence later reduced to 35 years – for disbursing relief aid and talking to the international media about his frustrations in assisting victims of Cyclone Nargis. Zargana was previously detained for a year following the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations in Burma, and jailed for four years in 1990-94 for making political speeches. Police rearrested Zargana in September 2007 for publicly supporting the protests by monks, and detained him for 20 days. Zargana is serving his sentence in a prison in Myitkyina, Kachin State, in northern Burma, which is known for its bitterly cold winter and is difficult for relatives to reach. His mother Daw Kyi Oo died in March 2009, while Zargana was in prison.
· U Gambira: On November 4, 2007, Burmese authorities arrested 28-year-old U Gambira, one of the main leaders of the All-Burma Monks Alliance, which had spearheaded the September 2007 protests. On the day of U Gambira’s arrest, the Washington Post published an opinion piece in which he wrote: “The regime’s use of mass arrests, murder, torture and imprisonment has failed to extinguish our desire for the freedom that was stolen from us so many years ago.” On November 21, 2007, U Gambira was sentenced to a total of 68 years in prison (since reduced to 63 years), including 12 with hard labor. His brother Aung Ko Ko Lwin received 20 years in prison for hiding him, and was sent to Kyaukpyu prison in Arakan state, while his brother-in-law Moe Htet Hlyan was also jailed for helping him while he was being pursued by the authorities.
· Su Su Nway: In 2005, labor rights activist Su Su Nway became the first person to successfully prosecute local officials for the imposition of forced labor, a common human rights violation in Burma. Su Su Nway, who suffers from a heart condition, was subsequently sentenced to one and a half years of imprisonment in October 2005 on charges of “using abusive language against the authorities.” In 2006, she was awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award by the Canadian human rights group Rights and Democracy. She was rearrested in November 2007, after leading peaceful protests earlier that year. In November 2008, she was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison after being charged with treason and “intent to cause fear or harm to the public.”
· Min Ko Naing: Born in 1962, Min Ko Naing is a former chairman of the All- Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and one of the student leaders of the “8/8/88 uprising” against the Burmese junta which began on August 8, 1988. Arrested in 1989, he was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for instigating “disturbances to the detriment of law and order, peace and tranquility.” In November 2004, he was released after serving 15 years in prison. After taking part in peaceful demonstrations in August 2007, he was arrested along with other leaders of the 8/8/88 movement. On November 11, 2008, Min Ko Naing was sentenced to 65 years of imprisonment. Min Ko Naing was reportedly tortured during periods of his detention.

Human Rights Watch said that it is seriously concerned for the health of many prisoners held in remote facilities with poor medical and sanitation conditions. The Burmese government should immediately permit the resumption of International Committee of the Red Cross visits to prisons to assist those in custody, and grant access to other independent humanitarian organizations. The government should also end its disgraceful and punitive practice of transferring prisoners to remote areas, placing a huge burden on family members to visit and provide urgently needed medicine and food.

“Instead of being persecuted and imprisoned, people like Zargana, U Gambira, Su Su Nway and Min Ko Naing should be allowed to help their country,” said Malinowski. “When visiting Burma, foreign officials should ask not just to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, but with other Burmese political activists in prison to solicit their views and show support for their courageous and important work.”

Human Rights Watch said that during this critical period, the Burmese government’s friends such as China, India, Japan, Russia, and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), members of the UN Security Council, the UN secretary-general, and others should use their influence to press for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.

To read the Human Rights Watch report, “Burma’s Political Prisoners,” please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/node/84743

For more of Human Rights Watch work on Burma, please visit:
· “2100 by 2010” – Human Rights Watch’s global campaign for the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the time of the 2010 elections:
http://www.hrw.org/free-burmas-prisoners
· Burma country page, at:
http://www.hrw.org/en/asia/burma

For more information, please contact:
In Washington, DC, Tom Malinowski (English): +1-202-612-4358; or +1-202-309-3551 (mobile)
In Washington, DC, Elaine Pearson (English): +1-646-291-7169 (mobile)
In New York, Steve Crawshaw (English, French, German, Russian): +1-212-216-1217; or +1-917-385-2642 (mobile)
In Thailand, Sunai Phasuk (Thai, English): +66-81-6323052 (mobile)
In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-20-7713-2767; or +44-790-872-8333 (mobile)
In Australia, David Mathieson (English): +61-(0)4-2300-5477 (mobile); or +66-87-176-2205 (mobile)
In Tokyo, Kanae Doi (Japanese, English): +81-3-3234-9145; or +81-90-2301-4372 (mobile)

(New York, September 9, 2009) – The Obama administration should promptly conclude its Burma policy review and adopt initiatives to make its policies on diplomacy, sanctions and humanitarian aid more effective, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released today.

“Delays in announcing a new Burma policy could encourage Burmese military leaders to believe the US is weakening its commitment to human rights and pluralism,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Although the situation in Burma seems intractable, an energetic and revitalized approach to Burma from the Obama administration could help bring positive change.”

Human Rights Watch recommended that the United States appoint its own special envoy on Burma, who would have a direct line to the secretary of state and specific instructions to engage in a principled way with the Burmese government and key bilateral and multilateral actors. Vigorous diplomacy is specifically needed with China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan.

Human Rights Watch also recommended the establishment of a Burma Contact Group or similar form of multilateral grouping to meet and regularly discuss diplomatic engagement with the Burmese government on a range of issues. This could have the effect of converging the views and policies of China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, the European Union, and the United Nations, and gradually minimize the ability of Burma to play states off against each other. There is considerable common ground on a range of issues, including the need for political reform and credible elections involving the political opposition, concern over Burma’s trafficking in heroin and methamphetamines, and the need for a regional approach to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Such a grouping would demand that the US remain firm on fundamental human rights principles and not engage in diplomatic horse-trading on core issues of reform.

As the UN has long been the focal point for diplomacy on Burma, Human Rights Watch urged the US to support the continuation of a special envoy of the secretary-general. It is crucial that the secretary-general and the special envoy not accept access or high-level meetings as the goal or a sign of progress in Burma, as they have in the past. The envoy should be an individual with the principles, skills, and backing of the international community to make an impact.

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Burma may not be a charter member of the “axis of evil,” but it surely deserves a dishonorable mention. Controlled by a clutch of generals since 1962, the country has devolved from Asia’s breadbasket to an economic basket case, known for its brutal repression of ethnic minorities, imprisonment of human-rights activists and, most recently, rumored attempts to develop nuclear capabilities with the assistance of North Korea.

For years, the U.S. response to the junta’s ironfisted rule has been an arsenal of economic sanctions. But Webb’s confab with junta head General Than Shwe, though not an official visit, may signal a shift in U.S. policy. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that U.S. sanctions have done nothing to moderate the junta’s behavior, in part because nations like China and India have poured investment into Burma. After his mission, Webb told reporters, “Isolation is only preventing [Burma] from developing economically and politically.”

In addition to becoming the first top-level U.S. politician to meet with Than Shwe, Webb was allowed to see detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a privilege denied to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he visited last month. Webb’s trip came just days after a military-backed court sentenced Suu Kyi to 18 months of house arrest. The democracy advocate, who has been locked up for 14 of the past 20 years, was punished in a bizarre case in which an American swam uninvited to her lakeside villa. The verdict virtually guarantees that Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy overwhelmingly won the 1990 elections that the junta ignored, will have to sit out the nationwide polls that the regime has promised for next year.

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EIGHT years ago I visited Myanmar as a private citizen, traveling freely in the capital city of Yangon and around the countryside. This lush, breathtakingly beautiful nation was even then showing the strain of its severance from the outside world. I was a guest of an American businessman, and I understood the frustration and disappointment that he and others felt, knowing even then that tighter sanctions would soon drive them out of the country.

This month I became the first American political leader to visit Myanmar in 10 years, and the first-ever to meet with its reclusive leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, in the haunting, empty new capital of Naypyidaw. From there I flew to an even more patched-and-peeled Yangon, where I met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel laureate who remains confined to her home. Among other requests, I asked Than Shwe to free her and allow her to participate in politics.

Leaving the country on a military plane with John Yettaw — an American who had been sentenced to seven years of hard labor for immigration offenses, and whose release I had also requested of Than Shwe — I was struck again by how badly the Burmese people need outside help. They are so hardened after decades of civil war and political stalemate that only an even-handed interlocutor can lift them out of the calcified intransigence that has damaged their lives and threatened the stability of Southeast Asia.

For more than 10 years, the United States and the European Union have employed a policy of ever-tightening economic sanctions against Myanmar, in part fueled by the military government’s failure to recognize the results of a 1990 election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. While the political motivations behind this approach are laudable, the result has been overwhelmingly counterproductive. The ruling regime has become more entrenched and at the same time more isolated. The Burmese people have lost access to the outside world.

Sanctions by Western governments have not been matched by other countries, particularly Russia and China. Indeed, they have allowed China to dramatically increase its economic and political influence in Myanmar, furthering a dangerous strategic imbalance in the region.

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By WALL SREET JOURNAL REPORTERS

Naypyitaw, Myanmar

This grandiose new city has four-lane highways that are largely empty, a gems museum with sapphires and a zoo with air-conditioned Arctic habitats for penguins. Government officials reside in high-security compounds that can’t be visited by foreigners.

A five-hour drive to the south, residents in Yangon get by with hours at a time of no electricity. Their once-grand city is filled with collapsing Victorian mansions and abandoned colonial administrative buildings. Roads are often impassable during monsoon rains, and most cars date to the 1980s or early 1990s. Some taxis are so worn out that they have holes in the floorboards that allow passengers to see the road rushing by underneath.

The divide between Myanmar’s shining new capital, home to much of its military elite, and its commercial capital underscores the failure of a decade of U.S. and European sanctions, efforts to break the country’s military regime by cutting it off from doing business with much of the Western world. Instead, the country’s leaders and top businessmen have survived and even thrived by replacing Western buyers with Asian ones. Trade with China has more than doubled over the past five years, and sales of natural gas and other resources to Thailand, India and other Asian powers are also growing quickly. In the process, the regime has only tightened its grip.

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