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Child soldier sentenced for deserting

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Sept 23, 2009 (DVB), The family of two underage children forcibly recruited into the Burmese army last year have filed a complaint to a UN body after both were punished for escaping their depot, with one now in prison.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) received the complaint on Monday from the family of Zaw Naing Win and Than Htun Oo, cousins from southern Burma's Bago division.

The complaint details the case of the two boys who were both 16-years-old when they were abducted at a train station in June 2008 and sent to a Rangoon army unit.

Burmese law states that children under the age of 18-years-old cannot serve in the army, while international law says that those younger than 18 can only join voluntarily.

Daw Nyo, the mother of Zaw Naing Win, said the two were taken to a soldier recruitment centre and forcibly enlisted into the Burmese navy's Central Naval Stores Depot.

After six months of training with the navy, the two were allowed 10 days breaks each, during which they returned home.

"My son said he couldn't bear the strict rules and pressure from the army and he didn't go back to them," Daw Nyo said.

After refusing to return Zaw Naing Win to battalion officials who arrived at the house, the family was asked to pay 200,000 kyat ($US2,000) by a local deputy police chief. Police arrested Zaw Naing Win after the family failed to pay.

While Zaw Naing Win was punished with 15 strokes of the cane, Than Htun Oo was given a six-month sentence in Rangoon's Hlawga prison.

The family filed the complaint with assistance from Bago human rights and legal advocacy group, Guiding Star.

The head of Guiding Star, Aye Myint, said the army has a responsibility for recruiting child soldiers.

"This is a form of domestic human trafficking, the [army] should release these children," he said.

The ILO's liaison office in Rangoon was unavailable for comments.

Recruitment of child soldiers in Burma is common, with reports regular surfacing of abduction of children into the army.

A UN team was last month sent to Burma to pressure the ruling junta and armed ethnic groups to end use of child soldiers.

Reporting by Naw Noreen

UN chief takes credit for prisoner amnesty

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Sept 23, 2009 (DVB), The recent release of more than 120 political prisoners in Burma was down to diplomatic negotiations between the ruling junta and United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief said yesterday.

Fending off allegations that he has taken a soft approach to pariah regimes since he arrived in office in early 2007, Ban Ki-moon said that he had made "a great impact" on the ruling junta in Burma.

"The Myanmar [Burma] authorities have made it quite clear that they were granting amnesty at the request of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon," he said.

The UN chief failed to secure the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his visit to Burma in July after having twice been denied a meeting with her.

The interviewer had previously quoted Human Rights Watch (HRW) executive director Ken Roth, who said that Ban Ki-moon was "so eager to meet with tyrants that you give up all leverage and get nothing in return."

Critics of the ruling junta have said that the release of all political prisoners is a necessary prerequisite for free and fair elections next year.

Ban Ki-moon said he would continue to seek her release and the release of all 2,200 political prisoners in Burma "so that this election can be credible and fair and transparent".

World leaders are meeting this week at the UN General Assembly in New York, where Burmese prime minister Thein Sein will lead a 15-member delegation from Burma.

It will be the first time a senior Burmese government official has visited the United States in 14 years.

The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) announced the release of 7,114 prisoners on the 18 September, a day after a HRW report stated that political prisoner numbers in Burma had doubled since the September 2007 monk-led uprising.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners , Burma (AAPP), 128 political prisoners are included in the amnesty.

Senior National League for Democracy (NLD) member Win Tin said however that the amnesty was an attempt by the junta to deflect growing international criticism and make "bad things appear good".

Reporting by Francis Wade

Political prisoner amnesty a ‘cynical ploy’

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Sept 22, 2009 (DVB), The recent release of hundreds of political prisoners in Burma was a "cynical ploy to ease international pressure", said a Thailand-based group of former political prisoners.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) today confirmed that of approximately 7,000 released from jails, at least 127 are political prisoners.

Of those released, 43 are from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, including three elected MPs. The government said that the amnesty was granted "on humanitarian grounds".

The 127 released represent a small dent in the number of political prisoners in Burma, now believed to be over 2,200. Significantly major leaders such as 88 generation leader Min Ko Naing, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy leader U Khun Tun Oo remain behind bars.

Most notably, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will likely spend the next 18 months under house arrest, the only Nobel laureate to be in detention. Tate Naing, AAPP secretary and former political prisoner, described the three as a "threat to [the junta's] absolute power".

"There can be no real progress towards democracy in our country until all political prisoners are released," he said.

This is thought to be the sixth prisoner amnesty since 2004, with only around 1.3 percent considered political prisoners by AAPP.

The timing of such releases is by many considered to be significant. This one comes shortly before a UN General Assembly hearing that will be attended by Burmese prime minister Thein Sein, and a day after a damning Human Rights Watch report on political prisoners in Burma.

Another notable detainee to have been released was award-winning journalist Eint Kaing Oo, who was imprisoned after reporting on post-cyclone Nargis recovery last year.

AAPP estimate that 124 political prisoners in Burma are in "poor health". In July an 87-year-old member of the NLD who had collapsed frequently during his trial was sentenced to two years in prison.

Reporting by Joseph Allchin

Rights group highlights persecution of Burma monks

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Sept 22, 2009 (DVB), A US-based rights group has condemned the ongoing persecution of Buddhist monks in Burma on the second anniversary of the September 2007 monk-led uprising.

With as many as 240 monks serving "tough sentences", a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report details via testimonies the continued oppression, intimidation and surveillance of the monks over the past two years.

The report, 'The Resistance of Monks', claims that at least seven of the detained monks are in poor health as a result of their ongoing detention, with many being subjected to torture.

The reverence of monks in Burma was illustrated during the 2007 uprising, which came to be known as the Saffron Revolution after footage was released of thousands of saffron-robed monks marching through the streets.

The report suggests that the ongoing repression of monks is an attempt by the junta to stem their influence, given their position "at the forefront of social movements", according to the report's author, Bertil Lintner.

Furthermore, the number of monks "has decreased drastically since 2007" with many "young monks taking off the robe and going back to the village", Lintner said, adding that "many are scared".

Today's report goes on to say that a repeat of the 2007 protests is a "very real" prospect with little credible political reform having been enacted in the run-up to controversial elections next year.

Earlier this month a number of monks reported being intimidated by authorities, with at least four arrested. Many said that they had been warned not to take part in potential protests this year.

A previous HRW report released last week on political prisoners preempted the release of around 100 detained activists, journalists and politicians.

Critics of the junta, such as opposition National League for Democracy member Win Tin, said it was done for cosmetic purposes, "like putting make-up on a dead person's face".

Reporting by Joseph Allchin

Burmese foreign minister visits Washington embassy

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Sept 22, 2009 (DVB), Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win has arrived in New York after being granted permission to visit the Burmese embassy in Washington, a US official said yesterday.

A number of senior Burmese government ministers, including the prime minister, Thein Sein, are attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters yesterday that Nyan Win "made a side trip" to the embassy in Washington, but did not meet with any members of the US government.

Thein Sein, the most senior Burmese official to visit the US in over a decade, is leading a 15-member delegation at the General Assembly, which began yesterday.

Relations between the US and Burma are strained, although the Obama administration is reportedly close to finalizing its review of policy towards Burma, which has been subject to US sanctions since 1997.

Little is known about the possible outcome of the review, although US secretary of state Hillary Clinton spoke in February of the need for a revise policy in light of the failure of sanctions.

The US has been the fiercest critic of Burma, and ratcheted up pressure on the ruling junta following the sentencing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in August.

US senator Jim Webb's visit to Burma in July, during which he met with both the junta supremo Than Shwe and Suu Kyi, marked the first time a senior US official has visited Burma in over a decade.

He followed the trip with an article in the New York Times which called for an easing of sanctions in favour of greater engagement with the regime.

Critics of sanctions have said that increased Chinese investment in Burma has dampened the impact of an economic embargo.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Opposition members request meeting with detained leaders

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Sept 22, 2009 (DVB), Senior members of Burma's main opposition party have urged the ruling junta to let them meet with detained general-secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and chairman Tin Oo, a party spokesperson said yesterday.

The letter was sent by the National League for Democracy (NLD) on 16 September, urging the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to allow its Central Executive Committee to hold discussions with the two regarding the party's working process.

The government has scheduled Burma's elections for next year, although the NLD are yet to announce whether it will participate.

"We said in the letter that this is an important time for our country and that the NLD needs to meet with [the two] in order to lay the group's policies for the future," said Nyan Win.

"We didn't mention about the elections at all in the letter," he said, adding that the government has not yet responded to the request.

Suu Kyi was in August sentenced to a further 18 months under house arrest, while Tin Oo has been under house arrest since 2004.

Nyan Win said that Suu Kyi was on Sunday allowed to meet with her family doctor Tin Myo Win, who was previously barred from visiting the lakeside compound where she is being held.

"Dr Tin Myo Win and his group were allowed to give Daw Aung San Suu Kyi a checkup yesterday [Sunday]," he said.

"I met with the doctor around 5:30pm that day and he said she was in good health but had low blood pressure."

Suu Kyi was taken to court on 14 May held in a unit inside Rangoon's Insein prison until the verdict was given on 11 August.

The 64-year-old opposition leader has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years, following the NLD's landslide election victory in 1990.

Her renewed house arrest was seen by critics of the junta as a ploy to keep her in detention beyond the 2010 elections.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

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