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BURMA: Government-backed gang attacks human rights defenders

April 18, 2007

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

19 April 2007
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UA-135-2007: BURMA: Government-backed gang attacks human rights defenders

BURMA: Assault; impunity; un-rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received details from the Yoma-3 News Service (Thailand) and other sources that a gang organised by local authorities yesterday attacked a group of human rights defenders in Burma. On April 18 the small group was leaving a village near Rangoon when they were brutally attacked by around 50 persons, apparently with the backing of the local authorities, including the council and police.
 
The AHRC is still receiving the latest information on this case, but according to what is available so far, on 17 April 2007 the four men had travelled to Henzada township, about 30 miles west of Rangoon, for a human rights education session. They carried with them documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Burma has signed. They were joined by some active villagers from the area and in total there were about ten persons in the group.

At about 12:30pm on April 18, the group set out from Oatpone to another nearby village on two motorcycles. As they were passing the Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of the village, a gang of around 50 persons came on to the road with slingshots and sticks to assault them. The first motorcycle could escape, but the second motorcycle, carrying Ko Maung Maung Lay and Ko Myint Naing, was stopped and the two men encircled and beaten up.

The attack was broken by a pick-up truck carrying some monks. The two injured men were put onto the vehicle and taken to Taluttaw police station, from where they were transferred to Henzada Township Hospital. Myint Naing was found to be seriously injured, with six incisions to his head, and suffering concussion. Maung Maung Lay had minor injuries to the head. Their bodies also had minor injuries all over them caused by the beating and slingshot pellets. The two victims were transferred for emergency treatment and x-rays at the intensive care unit in Rangoon around 10pm that night.

Meanwhile, another two persons, Ko Tin Maung Oo and Ko Yin Kyi, also were reportedly attacked and transferred to hospital in Rangoon with severe injuries; however, full details are not yet available concerning them.
 
After the assault, back in Oatpone village there were announcements broadcast over the public loudspeaker that there was a curfew declared until 6pm by order of the village tract council chairman. 

According to local sources, the attack was allegedly organised by executives of the government mass-movement organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). During the night that the group stayed at Oatpone village, a USDA township official, local police officers and at least one officer from the police special branch also came to stay there. In the morning it was reported that an official from the township council came too. The attackers are alleged to have been USDA members, and police and security forces in plain clothes.

Other human rights defenders are collecting full details of the incidents and intend to lodge criminal complaints in the coming days. They have said that the attack is clearly intended as a warning to them to stop their work; however, they will not do so.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

This is not the first time that gangs have been allegedly organised by the USDA to attack human rights defenders and others in Burma. The USDA has been accused of being behind the notorious 2003 Depayin massacre, in which a convoy carrying democracy party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was violently attacked, leading to many deaths and serious injuries. The Asian Legal Resource Centre released a report in December 2003 on the massacre, which can be downloaded here: http://www.article2.org/pdf/v02n06.pdf. The report of the ad hoc commission on the massacre, organised by the Burma Lawyers Council, can be read here: http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/Depayin_Massacre.pdf. The USDA has a great deal of power and is also known to have been involved in covering up killings and abuses by local officials, such as the recent beating to death of Ko Naing Oo in a Rangoon suburb this March (UA-096-2007). The patron of the association is the head of the military junta, Senior General Than Shwe.

See also the 2006 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Burma, and visit the AHRC Burma homepage: http://burma.ahrchk.net.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the Minister of Home Affairs and other concerned persons below calling for an immediate investigation into this attack. Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma, and Rangoon as Yangon.

Sample letter:

Dear ___________,

MYANMAR: Government-organised gang attacks human rights defenders in Henzada Township

Names of victims:
1. Ko Myint Naing, member, Human Rights Defenders & Promoters (HRDP)
2. Ko Maung Maung Lay, member, HRDP
3. Ko Tin Maung Oo, member, HRDP
4. Ko Yin Kyi, resident of Henzada Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division
Alleged perpetrators:
1. U Nyunt Oo, Secretary, Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), Henzada Township
2. Ne Lin Soe, Special Branch
3. Deputy Superintendent Than Taik, Station Commander, Myanmar Police Force, Taluttaw village, Henzada Township
4. Around 50 persons armed with sticks and slingshots
Date of incident: 18 April 2007
Place of incident: Oatpone-Taluttaw road, near Oatpone village, Henzada Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division

I am writing to express my serious concern at the attack on human rights defenders in Henzada Township, Myanmar on 18 April 2007, and especially reports that the secretary of the township Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) organised the attack, as well as to call for your intervention.

According to the information that I have received so far, at about 12:30pm on April 18 a group of five persons who had been involved in a human rights training session in Oatpone village were travelling out in the direction of Taluttaw when they were set upon by about 50 persons with slingshots and sticks, in the vicinity of the Buddhist monastery. Two men travelling on the second motorcycle, Ko Maung Maung Lay and Ko Myint Naing, were seriously injured. They were transferred to Taluttaw police station, then Henzada Township Hospital, and from there, for intensive care and x-rays in Yangon. Myint Naing was seriously injured, with six incisions to his head, and suffering concussion. Maung Maung Lay had minor injuries to the head. Their bodies also had minor injuries all over them caused by the beating and slingshot pellets.

I am also informed that two local residents, Ko Tin Maung Oo and Ko Yin Kyi, were likewise attacked and transferred to hospital in Yangon some time after the first incident.
 
After the assault, the Kanyinngu Village Tract Peace and Development Council chairman broadcast an order over public loudspeaker that the village of Oatpone was under curfew until 6pm.

I am aware that the attack was allegedly organised by the secretary of the Henzada USDA, U Nyunt Oo, apparently in collusion with police and council officials. During the night U Nyunt Oo and other USDA members are reported to have stayed in the village, along with the police station commander from Taluttaw village, Deputy Superintendent Than Taik and his subordinates, and an officer of the Special Branch police, named Ne Lin Soe. The secretary of the Henzada Township Peace and Development Council is reported to have visited in the morning. The attackers are alleged to have comprised of USDA members, police and security officers in plain clothes.

I am aware that the victims of the assault are intending to lodge criminal complaints against the alleged parties. I urge you to ensure that there is a full and proper special investigation by the necessary officials from outside of the township. I also urge that there is proper and effective prosecution of any persons identified as being allegedly involved in the attack, and that the genuine perpetrators be identified and brought to justice. It need not be pointed out that the group of persons attacked were doing nothing illegal and in fact were doing a service to their society by instructing local people about the commitments of the Government of Myanmar to international human rights standards, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which it is a state party.

I note with concern that the USDA has in the past been accused of organising attacks on human rights defenders and others in Myanmar, in particular, the assault on a convoy at Depayin in 2003. I am not aware of any investigations or prosecutions ever following from that incident and would hope that effective action in this case may lead to the possibility for justice for other victims of abuse of power by its executives.

Yours sincerely

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 040/ 069/ 072
Fax: +95 67 412 016/ 439
E-mail: ddg.gad@gad.gov.mm

PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

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

2. U Aye Maung
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

3. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 549 196/ 228/ 209

4. Mr. Shariq Bin Raza
Representative
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
11A Malikha Road
Ward 7, Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 666 903/ 660 556/ 660 538/ 660 398/ 664 539
Fax: +951 651 334
E-mail: fo.myanmar@unodc.org, shariq.raza@unodc.org, camila.vega@unodc.org 

5. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Mr. Laurent Meillan
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MYANMAR)
E-mail: lmeillan@ohchr.org

6. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Att: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)

Thank you.

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


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-135-2007
Countries :
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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.