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BURMA: Police cover up abuse and murder of child domestic worker

July 30, 2012

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-136-2012

30 July 2012
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BURMA: Police cover up abuse and murder of child domestic worker

ISSUES: Administration of justice; police negligence; violence against women
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AHRC WEBSITE: BURMA PAGE
http://www.humanrights.asia/countries/burma

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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained information about the case of a child worker whose killing by her employer in the middle of Rangoon the police have covered up. Ten-year-old Ma Thin Thin Myat's employers subjected her to constant abuse and forced her to work like a slave before one of them allegedly pushed her out of a sixth floor window. Afterwards, the police failed to investigate and the family had to pursue the case themselves. When they succeeded in getting some charges into court, the police and employer coerced a witness to change her testimony. The courts also refused to alter the charges against the accused to make them responsible for the girls death, and have dragged their heels on the case, which has been going on for over 18 months without any resolution to date.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Ma Thin Thin Myat began working in the apartment of U Hashin and Daw Baby in 2009 on payment to her father of the equivalent of around USD10, when she was just seven years old. The couple confined her in the apartment. Due to constant abuse that she suffered, she fled from the household four times previously, but on each occasion Daw Baby brought her back. The forms of abuse had included pulling of hair, beatings and kicking.

At 8.15am on 18 November 2010 Thin Thin Myat fell from the balcony of the sixth-floor apartment. She did not immediately die from her injuries but lay crying out on the sidewalk at the front of an adjacent teashop, where there were witnesses to her fall. Her employers then came downstairs and instead of sending her immediately to hospital, incredibly, they carried her back upstairs and into the apartment. Not until after 4pm on the same day did police together with the employers convey Thin Thin Myat to the Yangon General Hospital, where she was admitted to the cranial and spinal unit.

When hospital staff conducted a medical investigation of Thin Thin Myat they found not only that she had suffered injuries from her fall but also had other injuries corresponding to the allegations of her abuse at the house, including bruising to her genitalia, suggesting that the girl had been sexually abused.

When the aunt of the victim went to the police to open a case against the employers, the police said that she had to lodge it in court directly. The aunt then opened a case at court for the causing of hurt and unlawful confinement prior to Thin Thin Myat's fall from the apartment. At this time, the girl had not yet died but was in a critical condition in hospital.

The girl twice regained consciousness in hospital in the presence of her mother, aunt and other relatives and when asked if she had jumped or had fallen she said that U Hashin pushed her from a chair. Thereafter, she died on 2 January 2011.

Instead of arresting the employers of Thin Thin Myat for her murder, police threatened another girl working in slave-like conditions at the apartment. In her initial testimony, the girl said that on the day of the incident when she heard Thin Thin Myat's cries she looked towards the front of the apartment and saw U Hashin coming back inside from the balcony, and going into his bedroom. She went to the balcony and saw Thin Thin Myat crying out from the street below. She then ran to the bedroom door and hammered on it to have the employer come out.

She said that later in the day the employers took her to Hashin's mother's house and that after going to the hospital he came and claimed that he had brought her there so that "the police will not arrest you" and that he had paid the police to protect her, but that if she did not say as he told her then he would arrange for the police to arrest her instead. She also confirmed that both she and Thin Thin Myat had been beaten and sworn at by their employers, "sometimes a little, sometimes a lot". However, under threats from the employers and police she later retracted her testimony.

The aunt of the deceased girl lodged a case in the district court to have the charges against the two accused altered so that they would be held responsible for her death, but after a cursory examination of the case records a higher court refused her request. Subsequently, it has not yet sent the case files back to the lower court, and the examination of the case has been unable to proceed.

Additional details of the case are found in the sample letter below.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This case is by no means isolated. All across Myanmar, children like Ma Thin Thin Myat are daily forced into modern forms of slavery: jobs for which they are paid insignificant amounts of money and are constantly subjected to heinous forms of abuse. The employers are often influential people with money and means to manipulate local authorities' behaviour and prevent any effective investigations of their crimes. Therefore, it is important that an example be set in this case so that other perpetrators of similar forms of abuse be made to understand that they can indeed be held to account for their crimes, in order that the incidence of such crimes be reduced as quickly as possible.

To browse hundreds of other Burma-related appeals issued by the AHRC, go to the appeals homepage and type "Burma" or "Myanmar" into the search box http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/.

The AHRC Burmese-language blog is updated constantly for Burmese-language readers, and covers the contents of urgent appeal cases, related news, and special analysis pieces.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the persons listed below to call for the investigation and prosecution of Ma Thin Thin Myat's employers, and for action to be taken against the police who conspired with them to cover up her killing. Please note that for the purposes of the letter Burma is referred to by its official name, Myanmar, and Rangoon, Yangon.

Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Myanmar; violence against women; contemporary forms of slavery, and on the sale of children, and the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia calling for interventions into this case.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ___________,

MYANMAR: Police protect employer from charges of killing of child domestic worker

Details of victim: Ma Thin Thin Myat, 10, working in house of U Hashin and Daw Baby, Kyauktada Township, Yangon, at time of death in 2010

Details of alleged perpetrators:

1. U Hashin, alias U Myat Soe, and Daw Baby, residing at 6th floor, No. 233, 35th Street, Kyauktada Township, Yangon

2. Police Sergeant Tin Yu (Crime), Serial No. La/72104, and other officers of the Kyauktada Police Station, Yangon

Date of incident: 18 November 2010

Details of court cases:

1. Criminal Case No. 385/2010, Kyauktada Township Court, brought by the aunt of the victim, Daw Saw Thein, under sections 323/341 of the Penal Code, for causing hurt and unlawful confinement (trial ongoing)

2. Criminal Revision Case No. 259/2011, Yangon Western District Court, to request revision of charges (application rejected)

I am shocked to hear that the employers of a child domestic worker in Myanmar have escaped responsibility for her death, which was witnessed by many persons, due to the protection afforded them by officers of the Myanmar Police Force. I call for immediate action by the relevant authorities at higher levels to have action taken against them in accordance with law.

According to the information that I have received, Ma Thin Thin Myat began working in the apartment of U Hashin and Daw Baby in 2009 on payment to her father of 10,000 Kyat (around USD10), when she was just seven years old. The couple confined her in the apartment. Due to constant abuse that she suffered at their hands, she fled from the household four times previously, but on each occasion Daw Baby brought her back. The forms of abuse had included pulling of hair, beatings and kicking.

At 8.15am on 18 November 2010 Thin Thin Myat fell from the balcony of the sixth-floor apartment. She did not immediately die from her injuries but lay crying out on the sidewalk at the front of an adjacent teashop, where there were witnesses to her fall. Her employers then came downstairs and instead of sending her immediately to hospital, incredibly, they carried her back upstairs and into the apartment. Not until after 4pm on the same day did police together with the employers convey Thin Thin Myat to the Yangon General Hospital, where she was admitted to the cranial and spinal unit.

When hospital staff conducted a medical investigation of Thin Thin Myat they found not only that she had suffered injuries from her fall but also had other injuries corresponding to the allegations of her abuse at the house, including bruising to her genitalia, suggesting that the girl had been sexually abused.

When the aunt of the victim went to the Kyauktada Police Station to open a case against the employers, Police Sgt. Tin Yu recorded her complaint but the police said that it was not a police cognizable case under the Criminal Procedure Code, meaning that the complainant had to open it at the township court directly. The aunt then opened a case at court for the causing of hurt and unlawful confinement prior to Thin Thin Myat's fall from the apartment. At this time, she had not yet died but was in a critical condition in hospital.

According to the lower court record, the employers had told Thin Thin Myat's mother only around the middle of November 19 that the girl had fallen by accident and that they would have her treated so long as she did not tell anyone. Her mother said that the following day in the presence of her and other relatives the girl regained consciousness and that when she asked, "Daughter, what happened, did you jump?" Thin Thin Myat replied that, "I didn't jump, U Hashin pushed me."

Furthermore, Thin Thin Myat's grandfather testified that on November 24 the girl again temporarily regained consciousness when he was present and he asked her if she remembered who he was and what her father's name was. When she answered correctly and consciously, he asked her if she jumped from the sixth floor and she replied that she had been pushed from a chair. She died on 2 January 2011.

Instead of arresting the employers of Thin Thin Myat for her murder, police officers from Kyauktada Police Station started to come repeatedly to the residence of another domestic worker, a 13-year-old girl who had been in the house with Thin Thin Myat, to interrogate her and tutor her on how to testify so as to protect the perpetrators.

That girl first testified that on the day of the incident when she heard Thin Thin Myat's cries she looked towards the front of the apartment and saw U Hashin coming back inside from the balcony, and going into his bedroom. She went to the balcony and saw Thin Thin Myat crying out from the street below. She then ran to the bedroom door and hammered on it to have the employer come out.

She said that later in the day the employers took her to Hashin's mother's house and that after going to the hospital he came and claimed that he had brought her there so that "the police will not arrest you" and that he had paid the police 30,000 Kyat to protect her, but that if she did not say as he told her then he would arrange for the police to arrest her instead. She also confirmed that both she and Thin Thin Myat had been beaten and sworn at by their employers, "sometimes a little, sometimes a lot".

However, under threats from the employers and police she later reversed her testimony and said that Thin Thin Myat had fallen of her own accord and that she had given her previous testimony because the family of the victim had told her to testify like that. This assertion is preposterous, because the victim's family members are poor townsfolk with no knowledge of law, authority or money with which to influence her testimony, whereas all of these resources are on the side of the defendants and the police who are protecting them.

After Thin Thin Myat died, her aunt lodged a case in the district court for revision of the charges against the accused, to hold them responsible for her death; however, after cursory examination of the lower court records, the district court judge refused the application to revise the charges. Since rejecting the application, the case files have not yet been sent back to the township court, and so not only have the relatives of the young victim been frustrated in their efforts to get appropriate charges brought against her, but also the trial on the non-commensurate charges also has been delayed. These features of the case cause genuine concerns that not only the police but also members of the judiciary are colluding, perhaps on payment of money, to ensure that the perpetrators of this crime escape responsibility for their actions.

In view of the above, I call for a reopening of the investigation into the death of Ma Thin Thin Myat by a special investigation team from the Yangon region police headquarters or Criminal Investigation Department in order that the true facts of the case be brought out and the persons responsible for her abuse and death be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the law. I also call for a special investigation into the police officers involved in covering up the facts of the case, to establish the reasons that they failed to perform their duties as required and to take appropriate action against them once those facts also are revealed.

I am aware that this case is by no means isolated. All across Myanmar, children of tender ages like Ma Thin Thin Myat are daily forced into what are correctly described as "modern forms of slavery": jobs for which they are paid insignificant amounts of money and are constantly subjected to heinous forms of abuse. I am also aware that the persons responsible for these modern forms of slavery are invariably influential people with money and means to manipulate local authorities' behaviour and prevent any effective investigations of their crimes. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that an example be set in this case so that other perpetrators of similar forms of abuse be made to understand that they can indeed be held to account for their crimes, in order that the incidence of such crimes be reduced as quickly as possible.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. U Hla Min
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

2. U Thein Sein
President of Myanmar
President Office
Office No.18
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR

3. U Tun Tun Oo
Chief Justice
Office of the Supreme Court
Office No. 24
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 67 404 080/ 071/ 078/ 067 or + 95 1 372 145
Fax: + 95 67 404 059

4. Dr. Tun Shin
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106

5. U Kyaw Kyaw Htun
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208

6.Thura U Aung Ko
Chairman
Pyithu Hluttaw Judicial and legislative Committee
Pythu Hluttaw Office
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR.

7.U Aung Nyain
Chairman
Pyithu Hluttaw Judicial and Legislative Committee
Committee for Public complain and appeals
Office of Amyotha Hluttaw
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR

8. U Win Mra
Chairman
Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
27 Pyay Road
Hlaing Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: +95-1-659668
Fax: +95-1-659668

9. Ko Ko Hlaing
Chief Political Advisor
Office of the President
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel-+951532501ext-605
Fax-+951 532500

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-136-2012
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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.