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Clinton urged to prioritize human rights and ethnic conflict

Irrawaddy - November 28, 2011

Saw Yan Naing – Ahead her visit to Burma this week, the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has been urged by activists to push Naypyidaw harder on human rights abuses, political prisoners and ethnic conflicts.

Around 500 activists, including some youth members of the National League for Democracy, signed a petition in Rangoon on Monday that called for the release of political prisoners and the end of civil war in ethnic regions.

Zaw Ye Win, a campaign organizer in Rangoon, said that he planned to send the letter to Clinton via the city's US embassy on Tuesday. Clinton is currently in South Korea and will visit Burma from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Monday, David Scott Mathieson, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who specializes in Burma, said that it is not enough for Clinton to merely meet President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for photographs. She must instead tell the government that abuses against ethnic minorities in conflict zones are a serious concern, he added.

"Although reforms are taking place, [the government] haven't make improvements to the human rights situation," said Mathieson. "The government is just pretending to talk to armed ethnic groups while abuses against civilians in conflict zones are still ongoing. It has not improved at all," he added.

Debbie Stothard, a leading regional activist who is coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma, told The Irrawaddy that the secretary of state should be fully aware of what she is not going to see. That includes the growing attacks against ethnic minorities in Kachin and Shan states and hundreds of political prisoners who remain behind bars, she added.

"It is important to reiterate the basic principals of human rights and push harder what needs to be done in Burma," said Stothard.

Despite the government making some minor reforms in Burma, critics claim that Naypyidaw is still failed to engage with ethnic armed groups to achieve peace.

On Tuesday, the government planned to meet with leaders of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) in Ruili, China, opposite the Burmese town of Muse, ahead of Clinton's visit.

KIO spokesperson La Nan told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the Burmese government will try to hold talks as they want to show the international community that they are attempting to make peace with ethnic minority groups.

A government delegation has already met twice with KIO officials without any tangible resolution. On Nov. 19, a group from Naypyidaw also met five ethnic rebel groups including the Karen National Union, Shan State Army-South and representatives of Kachin, Karenni and Chin peoples.

Only the Shan and Chin groups reportedly agreed a ceasefire with the government while the rest are awaiting further talks.

Norway-based non-governmental organization Partners Relief & Development released a new report on Monday highlighting serious human rights violations committed by Burmese troops. These include torture, extrajudicial killing, opening fire on civilians, human shielding, unlawful arrest and detention, forced labor, forced relocation, displacement, property theft and property destruction against ethnic communities in Kachin State that may amount to war crimes.

The 59-page report documents first-hand testimony and frontline photographs of the increasingly brutal civil war in Kachin State. Fighting between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army broke out on June 9 ending a 17-year-long ceasefire agreement. An estimated 30,000 civilians have fled the conflict since the resumption of hostilities, according to the report.

Agung Putri Astrid, the executive director of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), told The Irrawaddy, "It is a moment for [Clinton] to ensure the government of Myanmar releases all political prisoners."

The Kachin Women's Association of Thailand, a group of Burmese women's rights groups, released a statement on Sunday urging the US secretary of state to demand an immediate end to the use of rape as a weapon of war against the ethnic women of Burma.

Thakin Chan Tun, a veteran politician in Rangoon, said, "We want the United States to cooperate with Burma in helping it to practice real democracy."

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