Burmese women react to brutality with inspiring courage and dignity

By Laura Bush

(SMH) -For two weeks, the world has been transfixed by images of Iranians taking to the streets to demand the most basic human freedoms and rights. Watching these courageous men and women, I am reminded of a similar scene nearly two years ago in Burma, when tens of thousands of Buddhist monks peacefully marched through their nation's streets. They, too, sought to reclaim basic human dignity for all Burmese citizens, but they were beaten back by that nation's harsh regime.

Since those brutal days Burma's suffering has intensified. In the past 21 months, the number of political prisoners incarcerated by the junta has doubled. Within the past 10 days, two Burmese citizens were sentenced to 18 months in prison. Their offence: praying in a Buddhist pagoda for the release of the jailed opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

That is only the tip of the regime's brutality. Inside Burma, more than 3000 villages have been "forcibly displaced" - a number exceeding the mass relocations in Darfur. The military junta has forced tens of thousands of child soldiers into its army and routinely uses civilians as minesweepers and slave labourers. It has closed churches and mosques; it has imprisoned comedians for joking about the Government and bloggers for writing about it. Human trafficking, where women and children are snatched and sold, is pervasive. Summary executions pass for justice, while lawyers are arrested for the "crime" of defending the persecuted.

Rape is routinely used as a "weapon of war". In 2006 I convened a roundtable at the United Nations to address the situation in Burma and listened as the Burmese activist Hseng Noung described the rape victims she had aided. The youngest victim was eight; the oldest was 80. Her words silenced the room.

Yet time and again, the women of Burma, often the regime's chief targets, have responded to this brutality with inspiring courage. I will never forget visiting the remote and crowded refugee camps on the mountainous border between Burma and Thailand. There I watched the tireless efforts of Dr Cynthia Maung to provide life-saving medical aid for hundreds of Burmese. I sat with victims of landmines who had lost legs or feet and were waiting quietly, often for hours, for basic care.

Last year it was my great privilege to present a Vital Voices award to 17-year-old Charm Tong, who testified before UN officials and eloquently described the systematic military campaign of rape and abuse waged against women in Burma's Shan state. She spoke unflinchingly, even though her audience included representatives of the very regime she condemned.

More of us in America should make such courage our courage. At this moment, Suu Kyi, 64 and in fragile health, faces sentencing on trumped-up charges. The junta leaders wish to undermine the Nobel Peace laureate's influence before next year's elections. Leaders from around the world have called forcefully for the junta to release Suu Kyi and the 2100 other political prisoners it is holding. But the world must do more than express concern.

A new report from Harvard Law School asks the UN Security Council to establish a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma. Harvard's panel of international law experts has catalogued the junta's "widespread and systemic" human rights violations. The Security Council has already referred the crisis in Darfur to the International Criminal Court. It should do the same for Burma.

With the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, planning to visit Burma, it is crucial he press the regime to take immediate steps to end human rights abuses, particularly in ethnic minority areas. There have been 38 UN resolutions condemning these abuses, yet the horrors continue unabated.

But Aung San Suu Kyi's continued example of civil courage - like those brave protesters in Iran - reminds all of us that no matter how callous the regime, it cannot lock up what she stands for: the fundamental desire of all people to live in freedom and with dignity. During the brief moments that foreign diplomats were allowed to observe her show trial, Suu Kyi calmly apologised for having to greet them in a prison, saying, "I hope to meet you in better times." We should all share her hope - and add our voices to those who risk so much to protest tyranny and injustice in Burma and beyond.

The Washington Post
Laura Bush is the former first lady of the United States.