DICTATOR WATCH
(www.dictatorwatch.org)

Contact: Roland Watson, roland@dictatorwatch.org

FREEDOM FOR BURMA: Now means NOW!!!

December 1, 2005

Please forward.


The rainy season lull is over. The Burma Army is fully active again, committing gross human rights violations against the people of the country.

For the month of November the Shan Human Rights Foundation reported:

- Forced labor and extortion of Shan villagers, occurring on a daily basis throughout Shan State.
- The sexual abuse of a woman, the caning of an elderly man, and the murder of another man.
- The forced relocation of over 200 households.

For the last month, the Free Burma Rangers have reported:

- Forced labor and the murder of the wife of a village headman in Arakan State.
- An attack in Taungoo District of Karen State that burned 30 homes and forced 1,900 villagers to flee.
- A village destroyed in Nyaunglebin District and the travails of 400 internally displaced persons.
- Forced labor in Taungoo to maintain Burma Army camps.
- The murder of a Karen village headman and the torture of his replacement.
- The deaths of two Karen villagers caused by Burma Army landmines.
- The murder of a six year old Karenni child and two Karenni men.

This documentation is incomplete – it describes only those incidents that have become publicly known, by these two human rights groups – and it covers only a small part of Burma. Such abuses must end, now.

We have prepared a new article: Freedom for Burma: Now means NOW!!!. We are also posting a new article that was recently prepared as a brief for a member of Sweden’s Parliament: The Life of the Karen: Insight into Burmese Oppression of the Karen.