Home / News / Urgent Appeals / BURMA: Police held drivers and their trucks carrying relief
 

BURMA: Police held drivers and their trucks carrying relief

May 27, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-117-2008

28 May 2008
------------------------------------------------------
BURMA: Police held drivers and their trucks carrying relief

ISSUES: Police; right to food; health care; internally displaced persons
------------------------------------------------------

NEW NEW NEW
CYCLONE NARGIS WEBPAGE
http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/cyclonenargis/

------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed that police authorities in Yangon had seized dozens of vehicles used by the relief workers to deliver urgently needed food and water for cyclone victims. The local officials were also reportedly taking drastic actions upon workers to prevent them from continuing their relief effort.

CASE DETAILS:

On May 25, at least around 70 vehicles used by relief workers had been stopped and had their vehicles confiscated by traffic policemen upon reaching a bridge in Hlaingthayar Township. The vehicles were part of the group of local people distributing food, water and other goods to the affected villagers in Daydaye and Pyapon Townships, when their vehicles were seized.

When one of the private donors, who was then in the group, had asked from the policemen for explanation why they and their trucks are being held, they did not give any reasons. Instead, they told the truck drivers go proceed to the Government Technology Institute compound in Insein Township.

Although the authorities had later released the truck drivers later that midnight and that their trucks were given back afternoon of the next day, May 26, but the police had refused to return to their drivers' licenses.

Because of the government's inability to get themselves organized, the local people had taken their own initiatives in distributing relief good to victims by renting vehicles to carry their goods. For instance, the monks, too, who had come from other places, have had to hire vehicles to carry goods that would be distributed.

However, after the May 25 incident, drivers there are now frightened either to get involved by being hired or their vehicles used fearing they too would be held and their vehicles seized. This incident has already had tremendous consequence to groups wanting to distribute relief goods. One donor describe it has become impossible to reach the needy unless this is prevented.

The local officials there had been blaming the people delivering food and water for reasons that the humanitarian work, even by the local persons, they are doing is humiliating and obstructing the government's operations. Some of the workers have already been reportedly charged with criminal offences though no further details on this case yet.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT:

This is not the first that government officials are deliberately taking drastic actions against the survivors of the cyclone. On May 9, the AHRC has reported the government officials also forced in pushing away survivors out from government buildings where they have sought refuge (AHRC-UAC-094-2008).

It is of extreme importance to closely monitor the Burmese government's action in dealing with the relief workers and the distribution of relief goods. What is happening there is largely contrary to what had been reported; and pledges by the Burmese government to the international community it would do.

For instance, the seizure of vehicles used in relief work took place just two days after Senior General Than Shwe, head of Burma's military junta, was reported to have given assurance to UN's Ban Ki-Moon that they would allow all aid workers access regardless of their nationalities into the country.

Also, there are allegations that during Mr. Ban Ki-Moon's visit those whom he had meet are actually persons whom the government had organized. Some of them are either not survivors nor had been affected by the cyclone. During his visit also, many affected people had come to the street begging for money to buy food to eat, but they instead threatened and pushed away by the authorities.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities urging them to look into this. The government should allow, as what they have already public pledged, free access to the devastated areas by relief workers. Those who are involved in delivering relief goods should not be threatened or harassed. They, too, should be given assurance that similar incident should not happen again.

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:

Dear _________,

BURMA: Police held drivers and their trucks carrying relief

I am writing to raise my serious concern regarding the actions taken by the police authorities and the local government officials upon the relief workers which is effectively preventing them to carry on their needed relief work.

I have learned that on May 25, at least 70 trucks, who had come from the Daydaye and Pyapon Townships in Yangon after delivering relief goods, have had their trucks confiscated and truck drivers briefly held without any explanation. They were passing at a bridge in Hlaingthayar Township when they were stopped.

The drivers were released though later that midnight and the trucks had also been returned to them the following day, May 26. However, I have learned that the driver's licenses of these drivers have not been returned. It is for this reason that some of the drivers there are too frightened to get involved.

For instance, they have already refused monks wanting to get their service and use their vehicles in delivering needed relief goods to survivors in the affected villages. The drivers and truck owners there now fears that should they get involved, they may be also held and their trucks seized.

While I appreciate the government's assurance it would allow aid workers access to affected areas; however, I am concerned by the action taken by the police authorities there in this case. This incident has had serious consequences already. For instance, the effect of having the drivers and their truck been briefly held, had resulted to others refusing to get involved by now.

I therefore urge the government that it should give assurance this incidents will not happen again. They, too, should ensure that the authorities return the driver's licenses of those truck drivers whom they briefly held.


Yours sincerely,

-------------------
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-117-2008
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
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.