Burma Briefing No. 6: Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi has now spent more than 15 years in detention, most of it under house arrest. According to Burmese law, she must be released from her current period of detention on Saturday 13th November.

World leaders regularly express support for Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for human rights and democracy in Burma. However, when it comes to acting on requests from Aung San Suu Kyi for practical international support, they have been less forthcoming.

This briefing provides recommendations for action from the international community, whether or not Aung San Suu Kyi is released on 13th November […]

Burma Briefing No. 5: Burma’s Fake Election and the Post-Election Structure

While the international community has focused primarily on the process of the elections, this briefing analyses not only how the election process is unfair, but also how the military have brought in a new constitution which renders parliament powerless to bring in genuine democratic reform without military consent […]

Burma: A Violent Past to a Brutal Future

This report looks at the history of the junta-backed social organization, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), and its transformation to the political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). It documents how the USDA’s legacy of violence, manipulation, domination, and repression has since been transferred to and continued by the USDP in their election campaigning […]

Intimidation, Imprisonment and Repression: The Road to Military Victory in the 2010 Elections

This 2010 Election report of ND-Burma is based on 247 cases researched throughout Burma. The report presents violations of Human Rights under 9 headings explaining how the military government has committed widespread violations to ensure victory of USDP party in the 2010 election […]

Accountability for serious crimes essential to sustainable peace and national reconciliation in Burma

Ahead of the general elections on November 7 in Burma, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) are publishing the main interventions of their joint seminar held in Bangkok in May 2009, where leading exiled Burmese organisations, international and regional human rights NGOs, as well as renown international legal experts gathered to discuss the possibility of prosecuting the leaders of the military junta for the systematic and gross human rights violations perpetrated in Burma […]

Burma’s 2010 Elections: The story so far

This briefer shows that despite the SPDC’s repeated pledges for “free and fair” elections, indicators for election monitoring based on EU, UN, and OSCE guidelines point to the contrary. The SPDC election laws and conduct of the SPDC Election Commission have caused the dissolution of parties that won 84% of seats in the last election, and disenfranchised at least 1.5 million voters […]

Monitoring of the media coverage prior to 7 November elections in Burma – Report n.1 (August 2010)

Since August 2010, MEMO 98 has been systematically monitoring the media coverage of the 7 November parliamentary elections in Burma (Myanmar). The project’s goal is to provide an accurate picture of the state and independent media’s behaviour in the campaign prior to Burma’s elections. Over a period of three months, the project seeks to evaluate the mass media’s performance in providing objective and balanced coverage of the candidates and their platforms so the citizens of Burma can make well-informed choices at the ballot box […]

Putting Women Migrant Workers into ASEAN

Putting Women Migrant Workers into ASEAN: Are they not already in ASEAN working in the export industries? Are they not already supporting the middle and upper classes of ASEAN by providing cleaning and child care services? Are they not already working in significant numbers in agriculture, horticulture, entertainment, food processing, sales and a host of other important work? Indeed, the labour of women migrant workers is already in ASEAN, but the rights, the dignity, and the respect for women migrant workers is not yet there. However, with several important human rights processes evolving at this time, it is valuable for migrant women to be aware of the current instruments and mechanisms that protect their rights and understand how to engage in these international and regional processes […]

The SPDC’s crimes continue: A UN Commission of Inquiry is still needed to protect Burma’s people

In March 2010, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana recommended that the UN consider establishing a Commission of Inquiry to investigate “gross and systematic” human rights abuses in Burma.

Following Ojea Quintana’s recommendation, 11 countries endorsed the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry on crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma. A Commission of Inquiry, in addition to opening a door for victims’ rights to truth and justice, also has a preventive value to discourage more crimes from being perpetrated […]

Report on the Human Rights Situation in Burma: January – July 2010

This report provides up-to date information on human rights violations and highlights pressing issues and trends within the country including election-related human rights violations in the pre-election period […]