Despite the facts that there are still many political prisoners in jail and despite the laws that put them their being still on the books this is good news. It is another sign of hope after so many years of worsening gloom in Burma.

Pray that the progress may continue.

Pray that this and other hopeful signs from Burma may indeed mark a new beginning for the troubled country!

The teens and their vege patches

The question of when child labour is a traditional form of community self-help has come up a couple of times for me recently.

The example nearer home came from a friend of ours working on the border in a village that runs dormitories and a school for teens and kids who otherwise would miss out (falling between two countries systems, an ongoing war and just plain remoteness). She writes(with a few identifying details changed)  of a new project at the village, a vege garden:

As I have watched the transformation of scrubland into well ordered farm, a conundrum has arisen in my mind. My Western Social Work self asks if this is a form of abuse and exploitation of a captive youth labour force compelled to do whatever their elders “ask” of them. As one new 18 year old student assertively told the Principal, “I have never had to get out of bed at 5.30 a.m. and have never had to work like this in all my life. I came here to study  so I can go to university”. Then my K’nyaw wah (white Karen) self sees one boy playing guitar and singing alongside of other boys who are splitting bamboo stakes 1, and I see the bwadawar (community) at work and it all seems perfectly normal – a  community that sows together, reaps together, producing nutritious food,  developing new skills and combating the passive donor aid mentality that so permeates the border – just one of many casualties of this 62 year old war.

Please share with me your thoughts – I would appreciate some dialogue on this.

My “take” is simple:

• if the labour is for the children’s benefit, as in this case since they will eat the results instead of eating a more minimal diet
• if no one but the children is profiting from the work, as in this case since the food is grown as food not for sale
• if the children learn and grow themselves – as in this case for growing (even a little of) your own food is rewarding and builds a sense of one’s own worth as well as practicing skills of collaboration and dependability

then it is not child labour but community development.

The first example came up in a discussion on Fair Trade chocolate and the accusations of slavery in the Ivory Coast. David Ker pointed me to a post by a friend of his (a link which I have somehow lost The friend had spent time working in Ivory Coast and argued that (at least) many of the cases of supposed child labour there were the common African phenomenon of children being sent to live with relatives for their schooling, and while there helping out the family with family work.

On the whole the case he described, which fits with what we knew in Zaire/Congo, is similar to the case above, with the added benefit that the adults involved are relatives, but the complication that it is a cash crop being grown.

(On the general case of Ivory Coast I am not convinced, there are what seem to be well-documented reports from reputable organisations, e.g. the US State Department, that claim regular trafficking of children for work in cocoa plantations.)

What do you think? How would you answer my friend?

The United Nations operates a system of double standards. When in North Africa (close to Europe as so “visible”) a military dictator begins attacking civilians the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon and Security Council reacted quickly to Colonel Gaddafi’s attacks on Libyan civilians. The Security Council passed a unanimous resolution demanding an end to the attacks, imposed sanctions, and refered Libya to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In Burma ethnic minority civilians have been attacked by the state for decades.

I then mentioned the KNU’s appeal “asking UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take effective action to immediately stop the Burmese regime’s military operations and human rights violations in Karen areas. ” and asked:

Is NZ supporting this appeal? If so how? If not why not?

Mr McCully’s answer only took about 12 weeks to compose and basically says: No, but we do support some humanitarian projects in Burma, and did oppose the unjust imprisonment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Basically this does not answer the question. So I will reply like this:

Dear Murray,

Further to my letter of 4th March and your reply of 30th May, as I understand your answer it is a firm: No. But you seem also to claim that somehow our support of some humanitarian projects and campaigning for the release of one prominent political prisoner (out of thousands), Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, somehow absolves us from complicity in the ongoing abuse (amounting according to many observers to attempted ethnic cleansing)  of the ethnic  minorities by the regime’s armed forces. Can you please explain the logic of this to me. If it was my daughter being raped, or my brother maimed by landmines I doubt I would see NZ’s support for the release of one prisoner as a great support.

Yours faithfully,

Tim Bulkeley

There has been heavy fighting just across this peaceful river in recent weeks.

Several sources have been reporting remarks made recently by the Thai Governor of Tak province (where most of the Burmese refugees in Thailand are) these all refer to a report on Alert Net: Thailand wants Myanmar asylum seekers to go home – official

The headline is a touch misleading, since it has always been Thai policy that the refugees return home once there is no fighting and their homes are safe. The refugees wait for that day too. What is new and involves a flagrant disregard for the truth is the claim that the elections in Burma have ended the fighting and removed the need for the refugees to remain. In view of the shelling, mortar fire and repeated gunfire (heard in Mae Sot as well as in smaller Thai towns close to the border) this claim either betrays a total disconnect from reality, or a blatant lie by Govenor Loifah.

Loifah said Myanmar was no longer violent and “we should start considering asking them to return voluntarily”.

But the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR said voluntary returns should only happen if there was no longer any fighting and refugees could sign papers saying they wanted to go back.

“That means Myanmar would have to be welcoming them home and guaranteeing their rights when they go home. UNHCR would need to be able to monitor their safety when they go home. It’s fairly clear that none of these conditions exist right now in the areas these refugees come from,” said UNHCR spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey.

Loifah said he would be happy to work with the European Union and the UNHCR if they started reducing spending on assistance to the camps to persuade residents to leave.

“Ideally, the province would like to be able to set a deadline for closing these camps but realistically, it’s hard to do so because of international organisations. So it’s likely to drag on,” he added.

Snr-Gen Than Shwe seems to have learned some lessons from other dictators who ignore the welfare of their people, he has built a fine bunker close to his home!

When NZ and Japan were struck by earthquakes recently each country welcomed International search and rescue teams to help hard-pressed local teams.

When a nearly 7 point quake shook a tribal area in northern Burma (Myanmar) the generals who have the power reacted just as they did to previous national disasters. The Irrawaddy reports:

However, the junta once again prioritized internal security above the lives of its own downtrodden population while stubbornly refusing to request any direct international humanitarian assistance. This repeated self-centric slow disaster management was compounded by the lack of any rescue expertize or equipment.

Although the junta eventually accepted material support from the international community, the generals remained reluctant to invite in foreign rescue teams with well-equipped experts. They seem to think it would be a national humiliation, and chose to let the people suffer more and die merely to save face.

But even if such deplorable motives for the refusal of international aid comes as no surprise, it does nothing to explain why domestic efforts were similarly thwarted. Local civic groups and Burmese volunteers who—individually or in groups—rushed to the disaster areas to provide victims with assistance were turned away.

These military rulers really seem to be men without heart or soul.

The timing is not bad, tomorrow the significant United Nations Human Rights Council, questions the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in “Myanmar”. It is high time the nations of the world united to condemn clearly and unequivocally the “widespread and systematic human rights violations” in the country.

The situation is well-known, if little talked about.

• Nearly 2,200 political prisoners (mostly prisoners of conscience)
• Censorship and  restrictions on freedom of expression, not least deliberate policy to make mobile phones inaccessible and Internet only through Junta-owned suppliers
• Ethnic minorities – including their civilian populations subject to forced labour, their villages and crops burned, wives and daughters raped by soldiers apparently without consequence
• Teenagers (even young kids barely into their teens) abducted and forced to become “soldiers”
• The list goes non and on…

The Junta refuses  to accept, let alone follow recommendations from the  international community to improve this situation.

Amnesty International put it like this:

The government rejected a massive total of 70 recommendations made during the UPR session, which urged Burma, among other things, to release political prisoners; to repeal national legislation that grants impunity to state officials for human rights violations or penalises peaceful dissent; to end discrimination against ethnic minorities; to investigate and punish cases of intimidation, torture and enforced disappearance; to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to detention facilities; and to reform the judiciary to ensure its independence and impartiality.

Burma’s negative response to these recommendations starkly illustrated the government’s absence of political will to acknowledge its serious human rights failings, and strongly suggested its unwillingness to provide effective redress for human rights violations.

Echoing key recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur, Amnesty International calls on all Human Rights Council member and observer states to urge the Burmese authorities to:

• immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience;
• halt all violations of international human rights and humanitarian law;
• remove all provisions in the Constitution that exempt state officials from prosecution for past human rights violations, and provide full information on measures taken to investigate allegations of human rights violations;
• facilitate independent, impartial, and thorough investigations of all allegations of serious human rights violations; prosecute alleged perpetrators, irrespective of rank or status, in fair proceedings; and provide adequate reparations to victims in accordance with international standards; and
• amend or repeal all legislation which fails to meet international human rights standards, including the 1982 Law on Citizenship, which denies the Rohingyas the right to citizenship.

Amnesty International also calls on all Human Rights Council member and observer states to:

• support the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur;
• advance the Special Rapporteur’s previous recommendation that an international Commission of Inquiry be established to investigate credible allegations of grave international crimes in Burma.

So, if you are the praying sort, pray that either the UN will find it’s backbone, and the delegates will learn to empathise with the people of Burma, or that in some other way God intervene so that this sad country can live in peace and with justice!

Of course, we don’t stop praying for the people of Japan, and a dozen other places where sadness reigns because of natural catastrophe, and human sin. But equally praying for them ought not to excuse us from sparing a moment today (or tomorrow) for the Global Day of Prayer for Burma!

Unofficial travellers under the Freindship Bridge at Mae Sot (photo by jackol)

The last two paragraphs of a DVB article explain the closure of the “Friendship Bridge” according to the Thai govenor of Tak Province:

Thailand’s Foreign Trade Department estimated in October last year that around $US3 million was being lost each day due to the closure of the bridge, the main land-crossing between the two countries. In 2009 trade through Mae Sot was worth about $US860 million, nearly a quarter of the total annual bilateral trade.

Perhaps as a result of the bridge’s closure, as well as attempts by Thailand to curry favour with the junta in return for winning lucrative investment contracts, Thai policy toward refugees has become stricter, and some 10,000 Karen who fled earlier this year have been forced to find shelter in makeshift camps along the river, with little access to food and healthcare.

Meanwhile the military on both sides of the river profit, more bribes. Big ones for the important soldiers, who can help with smuggling the significant loads, small ones for the average grunt, but a nice addition to the family budget. The bridge could stay closed as long as the two governments are controled by the military.