Burma is a country infamous for its human rights violations. The country has been ruled by military juntas since 1962. In 1988, massive protests against the ruling junta were repressed and thousands of people were killed, and not until after that has the rest of the world started to react. The situation in the country has deteriorated and Aung San Suu Kyi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was arrested May 30 last year and is still in custody.
According to Amnesty International's estimations, there are approximately 1,300 political prisoners in Burma, but abuse go further than that with well-documented human rights violations such as forced labour, systematic rape and forced relocation of minority groups. The Mon people in southern Burma are among those who have been affected very hard by the persecution. Dr Min Kyi Win is one of the leaders of the Mon National Democratic Front; in 1990 he was elected to the parliament that the military junta disqualified. He was sentenced to hard labour on December 11th, 1997, after peaceful protests against the ruling party. He has spent more than six years in prison, separated from his wife and three children.
There are more than 300 Amnesty groups around the world campaigning actively for the release of Burma's many prisoners of conscience, among them Dr Min Kyi Win, for whose release we and others work, is a prominent figure. There is still a lack of coordinated measures from the international community to improve the situation in Burma. Today the situation in Burma is facing a potential change toward democracy, with the National Convention on the Constitution of Burma scheduled to be resumed. We feel that it is the responsibility of the international community in general and the countries in the region in particular to actively support the peaceful democracy movement and the struggle against the military dictatorship in Burma.
Especially the ASEAN-countries can influence the Burmese government. It is necessary to take decisive actions to ensure the release of the prisoners of conscience and the cessation of the human rights violations in Burma.