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UPDATE (Burma): Jailed tuition teacher on hunger strike

March 5, 2007

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Update on Urgent Appeal

5 March 2007

[RE: UP-132-2005: BURMA: South Rangoon District Court summarily rejects appeals against prison terms; UP-030-2006: BURMA: Case of jailed tuition teacher to go to Supreme Court]
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UP-029-2007: BURMA: Jailed tuition teacher on hunger strike

BURMA: Arbitrary detention; cruel and inhuman treatment; un-rule of law
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Pyithu Hittaing Vol. 2. No. 2 OUT NOW
http://burma.ahrchk.net

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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learnt from a number of sources that U Aung Pe, the teacher who was jailed in Burma in 2005 for "illegal tuition", has gone on hunger strike and is gravely ill.

According to visitors to the central Insein Prison, where Aung Pe is being held, he launched his hunger strike on national Union Day, February 12, in response to his continued imprisonment and lack of health care.

Aung Pe is now in very poor health. He has reportedly been suffering from a painful hernia since 2006, and cannot walk. According to one visitor, he was promised by the prison authorities in November 2006 that he would get medical attention, but until now he has not been treated. He also has reportedly not been able to receive food from home.

In August 2005 Aung Pe was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on a charge of giving illegal tuition. His prosecution was in fact motivated by "political" activities: he spoke to his students--who were poor children he was teaching for free--about independence hero General Aung San and hung up a t-shirt bearing a picture of Aung San's daughter, democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung Pe's appeals to higher courts, including the Supreme Court, were rejected.

Please see the earlier appeals for full details of the case: UP-030-2006; UP-132-2005; AHRC-PL-012-2006.


ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

It is common for detainees in prisons in Burma to contract illnesses while in detention and due to inadequate medical attention many older prisoners or those with prior conditions die as a result. In December 2005 the International Committee of the Red Cross was ordered to halt its visits to prisons in Burma, and in November 2006 it was forced to close its field offices "effectively making it impossible for the organization to carry out most of its assistance and protection work" (see ICRC press release here).

Recently the AHRC also reported on a number of other prisoners in a number of cases who have suffered serious illnesses and not received treatment: UP-016-2007.


SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the home affairs minister to demand that U Aung Pe obtain adequate medical treatment and be properly treated while imprisoned. Please also raise questions over the legality of his detention.

Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma.

Sample letter:

Dear _______,

MYANMAR: Health condition of U Aung Pe (a.k.a.) Khin Maung Oo in Insein Prison

Details of prisoner: U Aung Pe (a.k.a.) Khin Maung Oo, 50, son of U Mya Maung and Daw Kyin Aye, ID No. 12-TaTaNa(Naing)021312, private tuition teacher of Kyuntaw Ward, Twente Township, Yangon Division convicted to three years' imprisonment by Twente Township Court, Criminal Case No. 97/2005, 25 August 2005, under section 23 of the Tuition Law 1984; held in Cell 7, Building 5, Insein Prison, Yangon

I am writing to you to express my serious concern that a U Aung Pe, a detainee at Insein Prison, has launched a hunger strike in response to a lack of proper medical treatment.

According to the information I received, U Aung Pe began his hunger strike on Union Day, 12 February 2007, after he had been promised medical treatment for a painful hernia as far back as 21 November 2006, which until now he has not received. I am also informed that he has not been able to receive food from his home.

Without regard to other factors, I urge that the Government of Myanmar ensure that U Aung Pe receives full and proper medical treatment and other provisions as necessary during his period of imprisonment. I note in particular that if his condition is left unattended it could be construed as "cruel and inhuman treatment" under international law and amount to an act of torture.

I also urge it to review of U Aung Pe's imprisonment, in light of his ill health and the circumstances of his conviction. In particular, I note that although he was ostensibly convicted for "illegal tuition" under section 23 of the 1984 Tuition Law, the judgment suggests that he was in fact convicted for other unrelated legal acts.

Finally, I call on the Government of Myanmar to ensure adequate treatment of all persons in its prisons by again granting access to the International Committee of the Red Cross. I share the view of the international committee that it has "always worked in Myanmar in faithful accordance with the mandate assigned to it by the international community... in full transparency and with the agreement of the government". I too am convinced of the value of its work in Myanmar and see no reason as to why it should be refused entry to the country's jails. 

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


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 Zaw Win
Director General
Myanmar Correctional Department
c/o Ministry of Home Affairs
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 250 315 / 374 789
Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208

3. 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

4. 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

5. Ms Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
Working Group on arbitrary detention
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)

6. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Safir Syed
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)


Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-029-2007
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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.