13-19 February: The International Community Must Support the People of Burma in Their Efforts to Exercise Their Rights

February 20, 2012

“We’re still on strike. We are fighting for our rights, because we want to be treated fairly” said a female worker representative from the Tai Yi shoe factory in Rangoon, on Wednesday. It has now been more than a week since nearly 2,000 workers went on strike because of the factory’s refusal to pay them for the five days they were prevented from working during Chinese New Year.

“We are being forced to get off our own land and the company is threatening legal action against us. So we have authorized someone to act on our behalf in filing a lawsuit against Khin Shwe” said Kyaw Sein, a farmer who lost 50 acres of land, talking to the Irrawaddy this week.

Farmers from Rangoon’s Mingaladon Township said that they will sue Khin Shwe, the chairman of Zay Kabar Company and a member of the Lower House of Parliament, for allegedly confiscating their farmland.

“As part of our campaign, we have also sent the letters of our demands for sharing the natural gas from the Shwe Gas Project for the benefit of local Arakanese people to President U Thein Sein and the Chief Minister U Hla Maung” said Mar Mar Kyaw Zwar leader of the group “Ray of Arakan.” The group was founded a month ago in order to demand rights for the Arakan people to the benefits of the pipeline. Members of the group wore t-shits proclaiming this message during traditional games in early February but the youths were stripped of the shirts by the police.

Earlier this week members of Generation Wave a youth activist group, some of whom have only recently been released from prison, organized a prayer action for peace in Burma at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon and were joined by members of the 88 Generation Students’ Group.

Many other public gatherings have been taking place around the country to address issues of public concern such as education, land confiscation, development pojects and their social and environmental impact on local communities. These numerous instances of popular protest demonstrate that the people of Burma want to seize the momentum and use any space they have been given to fight for their rights. Even though there are still uncertainties and doubts about how genuine recent reforms are, the people are showing their desire to take ownership of the transition process that is underway in the country and push for further changes.

The reforms undertaken by Thein Sein’s government have undoubtedly opened more space for people’s participation in the public life of the country, as demonstrated by the fact that recent actions have not generated the type of crackdown that previously would have been the government’s response. However, many repressive laws remain unamended and a culture of fear, entrenched by decades of dictatorship, has created a high degree of self-censorship, preventing the people from fully exercising their rights.

Moreover, the famous singer Saung Oo Hlaing was giving a concert on Friday to raise funds for the 88 Generation Students’ Groups and the Free Funeral Service association and invited both groups to attend the event. However, the authorities threatened to cancel the concert if members of the 88 Generation Student’s Group attended and members of the Free Funeral Service were barred from entering the place for wearing their association’s uniforms.

Without the ability for people to freely and safely participate in the public life of the country, the reform process will be limited and is unlikely to benefit the general population. Therefore, we call on the international community to support the people of Burma in their efforts to exercise their rights and to press the government to undertake genuine reforms by repealing the existing repressive laws. As 36 organizations from Burma and around the region expressed last week, we request that the ASEAN’s Secretary General use his visit to the country, beginning today, as an opportunity to urge President Thein Sein and his government to respond to the calls of the people and take meaningful steps towards the establishment of genuine democracy.