Home / News / Urgent Appeals / UPDATE (Burma): Jailed human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe reportedly denied medicines

UPDATE (Burma): Jailed human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe reportedly denied medicines

October 27, 2005

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

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Update on Urgent Appeal

27 October 2005

[RE: UA-112-2004: BURMA: Complaints against forced labour blocked and victims punished issued on 3 September 2004; UP-11-2005: BURMA: Four officials sentenced to prison for forced labour in Kawmhu Township, Yangon Division; UP-63-2005: BURMA: Local officials seek revenge against villager who obtained first successful forced labour prosecution; UP-68-2005: BURMA: Preliminary hearing against villager who obtained first successful forced labour prosecution completed; UP-73-2005: BURMA: Defamation case against villager continues; UP-117-2005: BURMA: Human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe jailed in Insein Prison; UP-119-2005: BURMA: Latest news on jailing of human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
UP-124-2005: BURMA: Jailed human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe reportedly denied medicines

BURMA: Forced labour; impunity; un-rule of law; threats to human rights defender; arbitrary detention; cruel and inhuman treatment
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by the Yoma-3 news service (Thailand) that Burmese villager and human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe, who was jailed recently in Insein Prison on the spurious grounds that she abused and intimidated local government officials (see UP-117-2005) has been denied medicine by the prison authorities.  Ma Su Su Nwe suffers from a heart condition for which she takes regular medication. 

Please write to the government authorities in Burma or the embassy or consulate in your country stressing your concern about this case. If you haven't done so already, please also write to your own foreign ministry or equivalent to urge that it take up the case through diplomatic channels: a second sample letter for this purpose can be found in the last update (UP-119-2005). Please modify that letter to include the latest details.
 
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
-----------------------------------------------------------

LATEST INFORMATION

According to the latest information received by the AHRC, Ma Su Su Nwe has been denied medication since being transferred to the central Insein Prison on October 13. Visitors who were able to meet her within a couple of days of her imprisonment said that the authorities had not permitted her to receive any medicines for treatment of her heart condition. Nor had the prison doctors given anything.

The visitors subsequently informed the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has an agreement with the Burmese authorities to visit the prisons. According to the information received, the ICRC said that it would seek to get access to Ma Su Su Nwe on its next visit.

Ma Su Su Nwe is reportedly being housed in a new building in the prison, in a cell that was being used as a storeroom. When she was brought to the cell, it was first necessary to clean it out. The cell is said to be dark, with very little natural light or ventilation. Ma Su Su Nwe is reported to be let out once in the morning and once in the evening.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the Minister of Home Affairs of the government of Burma and concerned international agencies to stress your concern about the conditions under which Ma Su Su Nwe is being held, in particular, the reported denial of medicines for her heart condition. If you have not yet contacted your government and international organizations in your country on the case, you can refer back to the previous update (UP-119-2005) for a sample letter on how to do so. You may also use the following sample letter to write to the authorities in Burma and express your concern directly to them about the health of Ma Su Su Nwe.

Please remember that for the purposes of all these letters, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma, and please note that some other names have also been changed in accordance with the spellings designated by the current government.

Sample letter:

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

Dear Major General Maung Oo

RE: CONDITIONS OF DETENTION OF MA SU SU NWE IN INSEIN PRISON

I am extremely disturbed to hear reports that Ma Su Su Nwe, who on October 13, 2005, was jailed in Insein Prison on grounds of having threatened and insulted local government authorities in Kawhmu Township, Ayeyawaddy Division, has been denied medicine and locked up in extremely poor conditions.

According to the information I have received, although Ma Su Su Nwe suffers from a chronic heart ailment which if left untreated could worsen she has been denied access to medicine by the prison authorities. She has also reportedly been located in "Cell No. 8" of a new prison block, which up until she was imprisoned in it was being used as a storeroom. The cell is said to have very little natural light and ventilation, and she is permitted to come out only once in the morning and evening.

As the Myanmar Correctional Department falls under the auspices of your Ministry, I urge you to take the appropriate action without delay to ensure that Ma Su Su Nwe be given free access to medicines and humane conditions while in detention, particularly in view of her fragile health. Additionally, I urge you to ensure that the International Committee of the Red Cross has unimpeded access to Ma Su Su Nwe for the duration of her detention.

I also take this opportunity urge your government to review the circumstances of her detention and arrange for her release at the earliest possible date.

Yours sincerely

---

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

Maj-Gen Maung Oo
Minister of Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Corner of Saya San Street and No 1 Industrial Street,
Yankin Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: +95 1 549 663 / 549 208


PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

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

2. 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.: +95 1 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: (+951) 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org

3. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Ms. Audrey Ryan
Room 3-090
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (Attn: Special Rapporteur on Myanmar)
E-mail: aryan@ohchr.org

4. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Att: Ben Majekodunmi or Ms. Chloé Marnay-Baszanger
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 for human rights defenders)
E-mail: bmajekodunmi@ohchr.org; cmarnay-baszanger@ohchr.org

5. Mr. Paul Hunt
Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 90 06
E-mail: urgent-action@ohchr.org (Attn: Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health)


PLEASE ALSO SEND OR TAKE APPEALS TO:

1. The foreign minister (or representative) or equivalent in your country, and your local elected representative (member of parliament or equivalent)

2. International missions in your country, including, where available:

a. United Nations, especially International Labour Organisation and Commission for Human Rights
b. International Committee of the Red Cross
c. European Union or other regional body
d. Diplomatic missions of other countries


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)  
Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-124-2005
Countries :
Issues :
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.