To All Living Things
Last Week's Column

Amnesty Action:
Fear for Safety of Thousands of Burmese Refugees
by Kathy Gay

o be honest, it isn’t often that human rights makes the news. Most of the time if you want to know what’s going on in the human rights arena, you have to rely primarily on reports from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International or the Watch organizations -- Asia Watch, Americas Watch, etc. But in recent weeks I’ve come across a number of newspaper articles like this one from the Associated Press concerning thousands of refugees from Myanmar (Burma) who have fled a Burmese military offensive and sought refuge in neighboring Thailand.

Nearly 15,000 refugees have arrived in Thailand since February 11 in their efforts to elude a Burmese army assault designed to wipe out the Karen National Union (KNU), a guerrilla army that has fought for greater autonomy for its people since 1949 but now numbers less than 1,500 fighters. In this most recent offensive, Burma’s military government has employed some 100,000 troops to crush the ethnic Karen rebels. Reportedly, the government has validated this newest military campaign as a means "to ensure the security of the state" after the KNU refused to sign a proposed cease-fire. The Karens rejected a deal that excluded an overall political dialogue with Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader.

In the past, Thailand has had an open door policy towards the refugees, and some 90,000 Karens have been living in Thai camps for some time. But about two weeks ago, Thailand forcibly repatriated an estimated 5,000 refugees and, in at least one instance known by Amnesty International, did not even allow about 500 Karen men to cross the border into Thailand. At another camp, fearful that some of the refugees might be members of the Karen guerrilla army, Thai military officials separated out all males 13 years and older and trucked them back across the border. Though some admittedly were rebels, most were probably not. There are numerous cases where women and children have been forced back as well. When the Karen refugees are repatriated, they are frequently returned directly to the areas they fled, putting their lives in great danger. Sometimes, rather than returning to their homes, many choose instead to seek shelter in the Burmese jungles.

And, for the Karen refugees who remain in the refugee camps, the Thai army has not always done its best to protect them. Burmese troops have made repeated assaults on some of these camps. One was recently attacked by 50 Burmese soldiers who were turned back not by the Thai military, but by Thai village militiamen; no Thai soldiers were even guarding the camp. Thai authorities recently established a so-called "safe corridor" farther south from the Burmese border and transferred some refugees to camps there. However, unofficial sources dispute that the "safe corridor" is truly secure, given the movements of the Burmese army.

Background Information

Amnesty International is gravely concerned for any Karen refugees who are not allowed to enter Thailand or are forcibly returned to Myanmar, believing they are at risk of serious human rights abuses at the hands of the Burmese military.

The military government of Myanmar, known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, has been in power since the military staged a coup in September 1988. The country has been under martial law ever since, and its security forces have committed countless human rights abuses against the people of Myanmar. In May 1990 the National League for Democracy (NLD), the largest legally recognized political party in Myanmar, with Aung San Suu Kyi at the helm, won more than 80% of the popular vote in a nationwide election to determine who should govern Myanmar. To this day, the military refuses to transfer leadership of the government to legally elected officials and continues its policy of political repression against its people, with government opponents and members of ethnic minority groups particularly targeted.

Over the last eight years, Amnesty has well-documented evidence of a pattern of forced portering, torture, ill-treatment and unlawful killings of unarmed civilians in Myanmar. Members of ethnic minority groups -- such as the Karen, Mon, Shan and Kayah groups who make up one third of the population -- have been frequent targets by Burmese government forces in the context of their counter-insurgency campaigns against ethnic minority opposition groups. Women and children have been particularly vulnerable to grave human rights violations, including rape and murder, as they have frequently been left behind in their villages after the men fled from military advances. Troops have routinely entered villages, burned houses, stolen livestock and crops, and evicted villagers from their homes.

Thousands of members of ethnic minorities have been arbitrarily seized by the military in their fields or homes, accused of supporting armed insurgents, and tortured. Some have been extrajudicially executed, and others have been forced to serve as porters carrying army supplies or as unpaid laborers building roads and army camps or working on commercial projects. Many have died from exhaustion and neglect, or were shot or beaten to death by soldiers when they became too weak to carry their loads. Elderly men and women, schoolchildren and pregnant women are among those conscripted, and female porters are frequently raped by soldiers.

For decades, the Thai people, longtime adversaries of the Burmese, supported the ethnic opposition groups in Myanmar. But the promise of increased economic growth has warmed relations between the two countries. A $1.2 billion natural gas pipeline owned by the Burmese government with American and French oil companies is being built through Karen territory to sell gas to Thailand. Thai companies also are bidding to develop a deep water seaport at a Burmese city southeast of Rangoon (Yangon), and highways through Karen lands linking the port to Thailand are planned.

How you can help

Please send a letter to the Chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council in Myanmar urging his government to ensure that its security forces do not engage in deliberate and unlawful killings, torture, ill-treatment, or arbitrary arrests of any civilians.

And also please send a letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand urging his government to halt the forcible return of Karen refugees to Myanmar against their will and to grant them all necessary protection.

Please send these letters as soon as possible, but no later than March 29, 1997. You may use the sample letters linked below or use them as models to write your own letters. If you choose to use the sample letters, please cut off or delete all website information at the very top of the letters. If you choose to write your own, make sure that they are politely worded and non-partisan (i.e., not used as a vehicle for political expression). Be sure to include both your name and address, as well as the date, on each letter.

U.S. airmail postage to Myanmar and Thailand is 60 cents.

Questions?

If you have any questions, just post a message to me (Kathy Gay) at the Pub, and I will respond as soon as I can. I greatly appreciate your interest and support.

To see the sample letter to Myanmar, click here.

To see the sample letter to Thailand, click here.

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Kathy Gay is a vegan, and has been a member of Amnesty International for nearly 10 years, where she has worked on numerous campaigns. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a business analyst for a leading California bank.

Kathy's column, To All Living Things, is a regular feature of VegSource On-Line Magazine.