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BURMA: Government officers force homeless villagers out of public buildings

May 8, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-094-2008

9 May 2008
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BURMA: Government officers force homeless villagers out of public buildings

ISSUES: Right to food; health care; shelter; internally displaced persons
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NEW NEW NEW
CYCLONE NARGIS WEBPAGE
http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/cyclonenargis/

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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that hundreds of homeless cyclone refugees seeking shelter and food in Rangoon are reportedly being forced to vacate the places from where they stay. Officials are trying to force people to leave areas where they have gathered on various pretexts.

CASE DETAILS: (According to Yoma3 news, Thailand and various other sources)

On May 5, two days after the devastating Cyclone Nagris, about 600 people from different places had come into South Dagon ward 105, Rangoon. They had sought shelter at a religious hall (Dhamma Hall) and a Primary School No. 25 in the same place. However, days after staying there, it is reported that ward council officials in Rangoon have started forcing them to leave the shelters.

When the villagers protested that they have either lost or not been able to repair their houses; and that there is no food they go back to their villages, they were told they need to leave because the weather is already fine. The local officials ignored people’s protests and said that they were just following the orders of district officers.

Upon learning of the incident, the AHRC promptly informed concerned UN personnel and obtained assurances that they would establish if it is possible to look into the case. However, at time of writing the fate of these hundreds of persons is not known.

There have been reports of similar incidents in Hlaingthayar and other townships of Rangoon but the AHRC also has been unable to confirm the details of these. Council officials are reportedly telling people that is not sanitary for them to stay in large numbers together in public schools and similar buildings but are not making any alternative arrangements or considering the unsanitary conditions of the persons’ destroyed houses and neighbourhoods.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

There is a shortage of food and drinking water in Rangoon. The cost of other basic commodities, like candles, has also gone up. For instance bottle of one variety of drinking water has gone from 300 Kyat to 800-1000 Kyat (at least 65 US cents), and drinking water has sold out completely in some places. Although some government vehicles have distributed drinking water it has not been enough.

In Pazundaung Township, a melee took place when the locals saw municipal vehicles delivering water rations only to the houses military and civilian officials. The villagers crowded around upon seeing this and demanded that they too be given water. On May 6, at 7pm the municipal authorities had announced that they would reopen the water pipes, but because the power supply has not been restored yet for pumping station only persons with their own generators may be able to draw water.

Township councils in Rangoon, instead of giving basic commodities free of charge to victims of the storm are selling supplies. Council vehicles are travelling in some areas announcing by loudspeaker that the government's tax-free markets have been opened. But the products being sold there are actually costly and not free. For instance, the low-grade rice is being sold for 720 Kyat (about 45 US cents) for one viss (1.6kg), vegetable oil for 2240 Kyat for one viss and a sheet of roofing zinc for 4500 Kyat. Fuel for generators is also available but costly.

For links to the work of the AHRC in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis please visit: http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/cyclonenargis/

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send letters to the concerned agencies below urging them look into these allegations of victims of the cyclone being forced out of public buildings and to stop such evictions without clear alternative plans for housing and food. To this end, the authorities must ensure that aid groups and assistance from other governments is allowed into the country at once as a matter of life or death for thousands.

For the sake of the letter, please refer to Burma as Myanmar and Rangoon as Yangon. Please also be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to numerous UN and international agencies encouraging their interventions.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

MYANMAR: Homeless villagers forced to vacate public buildings in South Dagon

I am writing to express my shock and outrage that local authorities in Yangon are allegedly trying to evict cyclone refugees from public buildings without making any alternative arrangements for them.

According to the information that I have received, on 5 May 2008, days after Cyclone Nagris devastated Yangon, at least 600 villagers who had come from different places sought refuge at a religious hall (Dhamma Hall) and a Primary School No. 25 South Dagon ward 105 since their houses had been damaged or destroyed and they no longer have food to eat.

I have learned that the Ward Peace and Development Council officials, instead of making suitable arrangements for them, instead came and told them that they must leave, on the pretext that the weather is already fine. When the persons protested they were told that it is an order from the District Peace and Development Council and that was all.

In fact, similar reports are coming from other parts of Yangon, such as Hlaingthayar Township, where other homeless people had also gathered in schools and have since been told to leave on the pretext that it is not sanitary for them to stay together in large numbers. Only the elderly, sick and infirm have been allowed to remain.

In none of these cases has any regard been had to alternative arrangements. Only, the people have been told to go somewhere else. Yet the fact that these people are sheltering in schools and other public buildings points to the fact that they have nowhere and nothing else and it is a duty of the state to offer alternatives, not simply to tell them that they cannot stay somewhere, which is an utterly reprehensible response to this drastic situation.   

Accordingly, I call for the government authorities in Myanmar first to investigate the allegation concerning the group of some 600 persons in South Dagon Township and if finding it to be true see that proper alternatives are established to house and feed these people rather than just putting them onto the street.

I urge that similar arrangements be made in all such instances and that above all else international assistance be allowed freely into Myanmar now. It is completely incomprehensible that a government in the twenty-first century would behave with such neglect and animosity towards its own people as the government of Myanmar has demonstrated in the last week, and I urge that this intolerable condition be ended and aid be allowed to flow freely into Myanmar now.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624

2. Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439

3. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439

4. Maj-Gen. Maung Maung Swe
Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement
Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement
Office No. 23
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67- 404 020-22/ 404 337
Fax: +95 67- 404 335

5. U Aung Bwa
Director-General, ASEAN-Myanmar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Pyinmana
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 229 214; 221 191
Fax: +951 222 950; 221 719
E-mail: dgaseanmofa@myanmar.com.mm 

6. Mr. Patrick Vial
Head of Delegation
ICRC
No. 2 (C) - 5 Dr. Ba Han Lane
Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, 8th Mile
Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel.: +951 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: +951 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org 

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-094-2008
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.