Myanmar: Government attacks on freedoms compromises elections

From
杉山透子 Toko Sugiyama(AI-JAPAN)


The Myanmar government’s attacks on the freedoms of expression, peaceful
assembly, and association compromises the country’s first elections in
20 years, Amnesty International said today.

The Myanmar authorities have introduced several new laws and directives
in the run up to the 7 November elections, restricting free speech and
criticism of the government, prohibiting political parties from
boycotting the elections, and cracking down on internal calls for the
release of the estimated 2,200 political prisoners in the country.

“These elections presented an opportunity for Myanmar to make meaningful
human rights changes on its own term－and with the world watching,” said
Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “Instead,
throughout the run up to the polls, the government has attacked the
rights necessary for holding meaningful elections.”

Since March this year, when the government enacted restrictive and
repressive Electoral Laws, it has routinely violated the freedoms of
expression, peaceful assembly, and association. Recent violations include:

・On 14 September, the Election Commission issued a notice outlining
strict restrictions on campaign speeches to be broadcast on state media,
including vaguely worded provisions that effectively ban criticism of
the government or any mention of the country’s problems, particularly
ethnic issues.

・On 18 September, the government warned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her
National League for Democracy party－winners of the 1990 elections－of
penalties for encouraging an election boycott.

・On 27 September, authorities sentenced Ashin Okkanta, an ethnic Mon
monk, to 15 years’ imprisonment for possessing leaflets calling for the
release all political prisoners in Myanmar.

・In the final two weeks of September, the authorities arrested 11
students, at least nine of whom remain in detention, in Yangon for
handing out leaflets urging people not to vote.

“That Myanmar continues to hold more than 2,200 political prisoners
exposes the government’s contempt for human rights in these elections,”
said Salil Shetty. “Their self-described ‘Roadmap to Democracy’, of
which these elections are meant to be a significant part, seems to lead
only to continuing political repression.”

The Myanmar government maintains that it is not holding any political
prisoners, despite the highly critical report of the UN Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar released on 15
September 2010.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won
Myanmar’s last polls in 1990 has spent nearly 15 of the past 21 years in
detention.

The Myanmar government has also recently denied allegations of serious
human rights violations in the country’s ethnic minority regions in the
run-up to the polls, including attacks targeting civilians in the army’s
ongoing counter-insurgency efforts. In 2008 Amnesty International found
that such attacks amounted to crimes against humanity. Amnesty
International has called on the UN to establish a Commission of Inquiry
into the serious human rights violations in Myanmar.

“Myanmar’s record of human rights violations has threatened the
stability of the country and the region, and it’s time for the UN, as
well as Myanmar’s neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), to say enough is enough,” said Salil Shetty. “The sham
nature of these elections should convince even China and India－which
have been supportive of Myanmar’s military government－to side with the
people of the country instead.”

The elections are being held against a backdrop of political repression
and systematic violence that has continued since tens of thousands of
protesters－led by Buddhist monk－took to the streets in August and
September 2007, demanding economic and political reforms. The peaceful
country-wide demonstrations were violently put down by the authorities,
resulting in at least 31 (and possibly more than a hundred) people
killed and many more injured, and at least 74 people disappeared and
thousands detained.

“Denying the existence of political prisoners and the occurrence of
serious international crimes will not make them disappear,” said Salil
Shetty. “Only by releasing the prisoners and holding perpetrators of
such crimes accountable can the government begin to adequately address
these persistent human rights challenges. Holding elections is not enough.”

Regardless of the election results, Amnesty International calls on
ASEAN, and Myanmar’s other Asian neighbours, to demand the release of
political prisoners and to make a Commission of Inquiry a reality in
Myanmar.

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杉山透子 Toko Sugiyama


社団法人アムネスティ・インターナショナル日本（個人会員/ビルマチーム）
Amnesty International Japan(Burma Team)
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/


NGO共同声明 : 国連での調査委員会設立を求めるNGO共同要請
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/news/article.php?storyid=850

日本支部声明: 死刑執行に抗議する
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/news/article.php?storyid=824

日本 : 「立川テント村事件」の最高裁判決を懸念
http://www.amnesty.or.jp/modules/news/article.php?storyid=467