23-29 May: Depayin Massacre Remembered Amid UN Special Rapporteur’s Call for Commission of Inquiry

May 30, 2011

During a press conference held in Bangkok on 23 May 2011, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, said that the continued treatment and conditions of ethnic groups in the country’s border areas were seriously restricting the government’s intended transition to democracy. He called, once again, for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate serious human rights violations, stating that this could be a step towards national reconciliation. On this trip, Quintana focused on the issue of economic, social and cultural rights, specifically referencing the lack of opportunities in education and employment for young people. Quintana’s statement came at the end of a fact-finding mission that was mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council to assess any progress in Burma since the 2010 elections in its ‘intended’ transition to democracy. Information gathered through this mission will be used to inform Quintana’s report to the General Assembly later in 2011.

Burma’s nominally civilian government denied entry of the Special Rapporteur into the country, demonstrating the regime’s persistent lack of commitment to human rights, transparency and genuine transition. Instead Quintana met with refugees, human rights groups and officials in Thailand to discuss the situation in Burma. He also met with Burma’s Ambassador to Thailand and communicated with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by telephone. The leader of the pro-democracy movement communicated her unequivocal support for a commission of inquiry in Burma. In his official statement, Quintana said that that in spite of the installation of a “civilian” government and the completion of the regime’s “roadmap to democracy,” nothing of substance had been achieved to address severe human rights violations. “Democracy requires more”, he noted. The system of “democratic” governance intended by Burma and taking shape since the November 2010 elections remains severely limited and is failing to uphold human rights standards. Quintana’s comments on the post-election situation in Burma echoed those of US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Yun, who was allowed to visit the country earlier this month. Both officials said that major steps are still needed toward democratic governance, respect for human rights and justice.

Quintana’s statement reminds us today of another serious crime. Today marks the anniversary of the Depayin Massacre on 30 May 2003. Weeks of counter-demonstrations by the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), harassment and threats of violence culminated in a brutal and deliberate armed attack on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and a National League for Democracy convoy in Depayin, Sagaing Region, that claimed over 100 lives. The regime declared that the massacre was unplanned and unintentional, however, there is plenty of evidence showing the role of the USDA (which transformed into the Union Solidarity and Development Party) and the regime’s complicity in the attack. The Ad Hoc Commission on the Depayin Massacre (Burma), formed by the National Council of the Union of Burma and the Burma Lawyers’ Council, found that the attack was premeditated and highly organized. The Asian Legal Resource Centre issued a public opinion stating that in their view, the attack was part of systematic and widespread violence and subsequently amounted to a crime against humanity. To date, there has never been any serious action taken in response to the Depayin Massacre. Many fear for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s security as she plans to campaign again outside of Rangoon, for the first time since the Depayin Massacre. This important anniversary reminds us that there has been no justice for the people of Burma who have suffered human rights violations for decades under successive regimes. It also reminds us sharply that there has been no substantive action taken to prevent impunity or stop ongoing and widespread violations in the future.

More than six months since Burma’s highly controversial general elections, the situation has not improved for the people of Burma. According to reports from local Burma groups, human rights abuses remain widespread and systematic and in some areas such as in Karen and Shan States, conflict with armed ethnic groups has intensified. Rights groups have also argued that conditions inside Burma remain unsafe and that the situation has in fact worsened in the post election period. There has been a notable decline in the eastern border region, where alongside armed conflict, ethnic communities are still victims of land confiscation, forced labour, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence. New waves of refugees are also fleeing from a new conscription law that requires women aged between 18 and 27 years and men aged between 18 and 35 years to serve in the army for a minimum of two years. Many people in Burma have no form of identification and this could, as Quintana points out, exacerbate the existing widepread practice of recruiting child soldiers.

As organizations along Burma’s borders and around the world continue to denounce ongoing violence and severe human rights violations in Burma, the international community as a whole must realize that the new nominally civilian government, controlled by the same military leaders, is unwilling and unable to address severe human rights violations and to hold the perpetrators accountable. In this context, when Quintana addresses his report to the United Nations General Assembly in October and draws attention to the critical need for truth, justice and accountability for the people of Burma who still suffer from systematic abuses, it must be overwhelmingly supported by United Nations member states. A commission of inquiry into serious human rights violations in Burma is the logical and critical next step. Such an inquiry can establish truth, provide an appropriate foundation for healing and national reconciliation and inform specific, achievable and time-bound plans for genuine transition to democratization.