Report on child soldier released

by Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The unabated recruitment of child soldiers into the Burmese Army has been exposed in a report released by the Thai-Burmese border based ‘Yoma 3’ Burmese News Agency today.

The agency said, it took about one and-a-half years to compile the 72-page ‘Child Soldiers: Burma’s Sons of Sorrow’, which was released on Wednesday at a press conference held along the Thai-Burmese border.

The report includes interviews with two child soldier deserters, a sergeant and four parents of child soldiers forcibly recruited by the army.

“The junta always claims to the international community and UN that it never recruits child soldiers into the army. They also always claim that organizations in exile are disseminating concocted stories to western countries. We wish to let people know clearly what the true facts are,” Nyein Lu, editor of the Yoma 3 told Mizzima.

The report also presented news and photographs of the No. 1 Recruit Centre at Danyinkone Township in Rangoon Division, No. 2 in Mandalay, No. 3 in Yemethin and No. 9 Basic Military Training School in Zay Chaung village of Thaton Township in Mon state.

The group said, the survey and the facts and figures in the report were provided by activists inside Burma, military personnel in the Burma Army and former soldiers.

Yoma 3 news agency was founded in 1998 by pro-democracy and human rights activists, who fled to the border after the 1988 uprising. The report is Yoma 3’s second report on child soldiers.

Despite persistent allegations made by the UN, ILO and Human Rights organizations on the use of child soldiers by the Burmese Army, the junta has always blatantly denied.

In the UN Secretary General’s report released in December 2007, Ban Ki-moon says besides the Burmese Army, there are nine more ethnic armed forces, which also use child soldiers in their respective armed units.

Following severe criticism, Burma’s military rulers in February 2007 allowed the International Labour Organization (ILO) to open a liaison in Rangoon to accept complaints of child soldiers and to help in eliminating the use of children in the army.

According to complaints received by Mizzima, the junta often recruits children mainly between the age of 14-16 from poor family backgrounds in Rangoon, Irrawaddy and Magwe Divisions by using pressure tactics including summoning by quota from each village, intimidation and incentives by way of money.

In 2005, the Yoma 3, published its first child soldier report in collaboration with the Thailand-based ‘Human Rights Education Institute of Burma’ (HREIB).

The group said, they will also present the report to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Asia Human Right Council and Human Right Watch.

READ MORE---> Report on child soldier released...

Burmese Army Still Recruiting Under-age Soldiers

By LAWI WENG
The Irrawaddy News

The Burmese army is still recruiting under-age soldiers in contravention of a United Nations call to stop the practice, according to child labor activists in Burma.

In the latest incident, a 16-year-old youth was taken late at night by an army truck from Light Infantry Division 77, based in Pegu.

Aye Myint, a leading labor activist in Pegu Division, said the youth was taken from a local restaurant where he worked. His parents were told by an officer at the Pegu army base that the youth had been sent to a recruitment center in Rangoon’s Mingalardon Township.

Aye Myint said the youth’s family has lodged a letter of complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO) office in Rangoon on June 17. The Irrawaddy tried
unsuccessfully to contact the office on Wednesday.

Kyin Toe, chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Twante Township, said another family had complained to his office that their under-age son had been recruited by the army.

Burma’s state-run media maintains that the government is screening recruits and releasing any found to be under age. It reported that 68 children were detected recently in various military training schools and were released to their parents or guardians.

The ILO says it has been instrumental, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the release of 12 under-age recruits. A further 14 cases are still being processed.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that 70,000 under-age soldiers are serving in the Burmese armed forces.

The UN also says in its latest report on the situation that the Burmese military junta is still recruiting child soldiers. The report on “Children and Armed Conflict” was released this month.

Human rights groups say children are recruited at train stations, bus depots, tea shops, outside video halls and movie cinemas or even while walking home at night.

The groups say the young recruits are threatened and beaten if they refuse to agree to undergo military training. After their training, many are sent to areas where the army is in conflict with ethnic groups.

READ MORE---> Burmese Army Still Recruiting Under-age Soldiers...

Junta continues to recruit children into army: Rights defender

New Delhi (mizzima news) - Despite the Burmese junta’s claim of eliminating the use of children in the military, a human rights advocate said children in Burma are still recruited into the army and that he is currently advocating for the return of three children from the armed forces.

Aye Myint, a lawyer in Pegu town, who has helped in the return of several children from the army, said he is handling three cases of children being recruited in the army in recent weeks. He is now working for their return at the behest of their parents.

“I have just submitted a letter of complaint to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for the return of three children from the army,” Aye Myint told Mizzima on Wednesday.

But since publicising the details of the cases could come in the way of the ILO and his efforts to negotiate with the Burmese authorities in helping the children return, he refused to provide details of the cases of the three children.

In a summary of the cases, Aye Myint said, it includes a boy of age 16 from Myingyan town of Mandalay division. The boy was reportedly working at a restaurant in Pegu town and was persuaded by an Army officer from Brigade 77 to join the army and was later taken away by the officer.

“No matter how the child is recruited, whether by persuasion, coercion, or threat, if a child under the age of 18 is recruited into the army, it is a violation. The army has the responsibility to return the kid because the kid is supposed to be in the classroom not carrying out military duties,” Aye Myint said.

Aye Myint, who by profession is a lawyer, has started fighting against the use of children in the military since 2006. And since March 2006, he said, with the help of the ILO, he was able to help 25 children return from the army.

On June 3, the junta claimed that it is taking steps in preventing and eliminating the use of children in the army by sending back eight minors to their parents from the military.

But Aye Myint as well as other human rights activists said the return was just a sham while the army continues recruiting children into the army.

Burma is a signatory to the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Child (CRC). While the convention prohibits children of age 15 and below from recruiting into the army, the Burmese military law specifies that children below 18 cannot be recruited into the army.

But against these laws, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s 2007 report states that children in Burma are still being used as soldiers not only the Burmese Army but also by non-state armed forces, referring to ethnic armed rebel groups.

The report, which was submitted to the UN Security Council, listed nine armed groups from Burma including the Burmese Army among the 54 armed groups around the world that continues to use children in their armies.

READ MORE---> Junta continues to recruit children into army: Rights defender...

Youth sold to Burmese army for $US20

(DVB)–Teenagers are being kidnapped and sold to the Burmese army for as little as $US20, while those caught trying to escape are often shot or poisoned, say young army deserters recently interviewed.

Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council has come under fire recently as documented cases of forced recruitment of child soldiers continue to emerge, with various international jurists, British MPs and exiled Burmese lawyers labeling the practice a war crime.

Last week, Human Rights Watch criticised as “window dressing” a ceremony in which child soldiers were handed back to their families, and said the problem continues.

A report released by the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) last week featured interviews with three teenagers, one 16-years-old, who recently escaped from the army.

“When I returned from my grandmother's shop [in Rangoon], I went to Sule Pagoda and a soldier who was there from Taw Boke army camp grabbed me,” said an 18-year-old deserter.

“He told me that he would give me pocket money. Then that soldier sold me for 20,000 kyat [approx US$18.80] to a military officer who was sitting in a tea shop.”

He added that out of a monthly salary of approximately US$20, army seniors stole $US18, leaving them with about US$2 for a whole month.

Another former soldier forcibly recruited into the army said that children as young as 13 were taking part in military training, while treatment of those caught fleeing was often brutal.

“They killed them. For example, they injected them with poison or shot them with a gun,” he said.

“It [execution] was especially for the soldiers who escaped with a gun.”

Last week the International Labour Organisation (ILO) voiced concern about a clause in the Burmese constitution that makes use of forced labour legal when the government deems it necessary.

As well as recruitment of minors into the army, cases of forced labour documented by the ILO include recruitment of civilians to walk in front of army patrols as ‘minesweepers’.

Reporting by Francis Wade

READ MORE---> Youth sold to Burmese army for $US20...

ILO condemns Burmese law allowing forced labour

(DVB)–A United Nations group has called for a revision of a clause in the Burmese constitution that apparently justifies the use of forced labour, and has said that cases of forced labour in Burma continue unabated.

In the past two years the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has received 152 complaints of forced labour in Burma.

At a meeting in Geneva over the weekend, the ILO voiced concern over a clause in the new Burmese constitution, ratified last May, that prohibits forced labour “except hard labor as a punishment for crime duly convicted”.

Burma’s representative at the Geneva meeting said that the government "cannot accept criticism on our constitution process,” when ILO asked to bring the article into conformity with labour rules.

According to the chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions (Burma), Maung Maung, those present at the meeting voiced their frustration at the slow pace of Burma’s political transformation and continued instances of forced labour.

A report released by the ILO last week warned that the number of complaints doesn’t reflect the extent of forced labour practices in Burma.

Victims can face difficulties in filing complaints: the ILO is situated in Rangoon with only limited resources, and forced labour victims don’t always have reliable communication systems or travelling possibilities.

Filing a complaint itself can also be dangerous: in 15 out of the 152 complaints received, the ILO has received information alleging harassment or reprisals by government authorities.

“The major difficulty we are facing is that there is no convenience in reporting the abuses,” said Maung Maung.

“We suggest the ILO open more offices in Mandalay and also in Arakan and Karen states.”

Of the 152 complaints of forced labour received by the ILO, a third involved the recruitment of child soldiers.

The government response has generally been that the child ‘volunteered’ for army, whilst the ILO stand is that accepting volunteers under the age of 18 is against the law.

Reporting by Yee May Aung and Rosalie Smith

READ MORE---> ILO condemns Burmese law allowing forced labour...

Activists skeptical of release of child soldiers

by Salai Pi Pi

New Delhi (Mizzima) – State-run newspapers on Wednesday reported that eight minors who had joined the military of their own volition were returned to their parents, a rare case in military-ruled Burma, which is often criticized for forcibly recruiting children into the armed forces.

The junta’s mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar on Wednesday stated, “The Work Committee for Prevention Against Recruitment of Minors today handed over eight minors who joined the Tatmadaw [military] of their own accord to their parents.”

The incidence, however, was received with skepticism by rights activists, believing the move a “showpiece” and accusing the junta of secretly continuing to recruit children into the military.

Aye Myint, a lawyer from Pegu town advocating and fighting against the recruitment of child soldiers said the paper’s claims were contradictory to the prevailing situation, as he has received several parental complaints of children being recruited into the military.

He said just months ago family members of a child, who had reportedly gone missing in December, approached him explaining they had received a letter from their son saying he is now in a military camp in central Burma.

While unable to confirm the facts of the missing child, he said he is working on the case and will bring it to the attention of the liaison office of the International Labor Organisation in Rangoon, through which he has been able to rescue a number of boys from military camps in the past.

“The number of children being returned back to their parents would only be a small percentage of the total children in the military,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, Aung Myo Min, Director of the exile-based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), welcomed the junta’s action of returning the eight kids to their parents but voiced concern for those who remain in the camps.

“Earlier the junta blatantly denied having children in their barracks, but this is a significant confession. It is definitely a progressive development,” affirmed Aung Myo Min.

He said HREIB has documented the presence and recruitment of child soldiers into the Burmese Army and expresses his hope that the junta will release additional children from their barracks.

But Aung Myo Minn said he is skeptical of the junta’s claim of the children joining the army upon their own will, because the Army is notorious for abducting children from the streets, railway and bus stations and other public places.

“We still need to raise the question on whether the children had joined the Army of their own will, as there are many incidents in which the regime has forcibly recruited children,” he said.

Additionally, Aung Myo Min expressed concern for the children’s mental and moral health due to their experiences in the military.

Additional reporting by Niangboi

READ MORE---> Activists skeptical of release of child soldiers...

Forced labour victim denied medical care

(DVB)–A woman who broke her collar bone whilst being forced by Burmese authorities to work on the construction of a road in Irrawaddy division has said she has received no medical attention for her injuries.

Reports of forced labour in infrastructural development projects in Burma are common.

A resident in Irrawaddy’s Ingapu township said that township authorities had ordered the expansion of a two mile-long road between Thegone and Thargaung villages on 21 May. Both men and women were forced to work on the project.

Three women from Thegone village were hurt when a bullock cart flipped over, with one sustaining a broken collar-bone and the other two receiving facial injuries.

“One of the women named Daw Ma Kyi broke her collar bone but the village authorities refused to take her to a hospital in nearby town of Kwin Kaut,” said the Ingapu resident.

“So she instead went to a shaman in Kyaynapyan village.”

One of the villagers told DVB that the locals, although aware that they could report the forced labour incident to the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO), were unable to do so because they were afraid they would get punished.

“We know we can report to the ILO about this but no one has guts to do so,” he said.

“We are afraid of our village authorities as they showed us examples in the past.”

Complainants of forced labour are often intimidated, with some even imprisoned after authorities learnt of the complaints.

The ILO office in Rangoon maintains that they have an agreement with the Burmese government that complainants will not be persecuted, although acknowledge that it is an ongoing problem.

Ingapu’s township Peace and Development Council office was unavailable for comments.

In a separate incident, villagers in Mongyang township in Shan state were last week reportedly forced by authorities repay the cost of a visit by Burmese prime minister, Thein Sein.

Authorities claimed the cost of the visit could not be fully subsidised by the township council, although villagers doubted this.

“The cost could not have been much,” a village headman told the Shan Herald Agency for News.

“The visitors just stayed for about an hour and they only had coffee and juice. It’s just another way to fill up his pocket.”

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

READ MORE---> Forced labour victim denied medical care...

Recession bites: compounding misery for migrants

By Joseph A. Allchin

(DVB)–The economic recession became real to Yomana in March. Seven years of working up to 13 hours a day came to an end when, like most in his garment factory, he was laid off.

His story could prove quintessentially 21st Century. Yomana (not his real name) joins approximately 4000 factory workers in Mae Sot, on the Thai-Burma border, who have lost their jobs in recent months as a result of the recession. But according to Moe Swe of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association (YCOWA) the recession has come late to Mae Sot precisely because the wages are so suppressed here. Despite this Moe Swe estimates that as many as 12 factories have closed.

Yomana’s days of toil were rewarded invariably with less than the Thai minimum wage, and his overtime went unpaid. A thirteen-hour day therefore could result in him being paid under US$2. The conditions were exacerbated by a system that, whilst relieving great desperation in the first place, verges on bonded labour.

As a farmer in Mon state, Burma, he left his lands as erosion ate into his dozen acres of rice paddy; a peril that will perhaps come to inflict many this century as a result of global warming. His journey was orchestrated by brokers, who for a large fee escorted him and his young family the short distance over the border into Mae Sot.

Arriving in Thailand illegally puts workers in Mae Sot in a particularly difficult place. According to Thetis Managahas of the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO), there is very little that the Thai authorities can do to regulate migrant workers; they arrive from Burma with no documentation.

As such, businesses in Mae Sot are able to pay pitiful wages, ones that would not be paid to Thais, and the local authorities and the business community enjoy what Mangahas terms a ‘built-in relationship’, and turn a blind eye. Moe Swe of YCOWA confirms this relationship, saying that “everybody knows that workers in Mae Sot are exploited but nobody does anything”.

The ugly truth is that the commodity of cheap labour is treated as such, with workers reporting suffocating factory floors with little fresh air and intense pressure to produce more. These conditions encourage injury and accident. All ‘wastage’ must come out of the pitiful wages, and workers speak of being punished or threatened with violence from factory bosses.

The majority of Burmese migrants are forced to stay in Mae Sot. Few towns outside of war zones can have quite such strict departure measures. On leaving the town on the main road away from the border, one is liable to pass through as many as five different army checkpoints where Burmese are systematically targeted. ‘Fees’ to leave and travel freely in Thailand can be paid, but would dwarf most salaries.

An overarching responsibility for the worker is also placed on the employer in Thailand, putting the lives of workers such as Yomana in the hands of their employers. He says his bosses would levy ‘security’ charges out of wages and look after their work permits. Fees are also often levied for food and other things, giving bosses an almost parental control over workers. Inspections are rare and, according to Moe Swe, done as part of the ‘cosy’ relationship, with hand-picked workers reportedly rolled out for the inspectors.

Thai law further forbids migrant workers the right to unionise. Whilst they are allowed to join Thai unions, none are present in Mae Sot purely because there are so few Thai workers here.

All this makes for suffocating working conditions before the recession, and with the rise in the value of the Burmese currency, the Kyat, things were tough enough. As a footnote, the rise of the value of Kyat occurred partly as a result of a sudden influx of aid money in the wake of cyclone Nargis. This makes the hope of sending remittances back to impoverished family members even more unlikely.

As the recession bit and orders dried up, Yomana’s job ended. A few remained in the factory who would work even longer hours for even less remuneration and, as the desperation mounted, workers further undercut each other. He now takes daily wage labour work, when it comes - he gets a few days work a month and is sheltered by an NGO. Every now and then, particularly in these tough economic times, the Thai police erect check points or go house-to-house, factory-to-factory, rounding up the ‘aliens’ in what Mangahas describes as a “nice political release”; essentially a proverbial scapegoat.

Transnational economic migrants are an essential plank of the Thai and global economies. The Federation for Thai Industry acknowledge the value of the foreign currency that the rock bottom wages in Mae Sot bring into the Thai economy. Yet their labour here is rewarded with subsistence wages, no security and backbreaking work at the best of times.

In other parts of the world they call such a space an ‘export processing zone’ or a ‘special economic zone’; a space where regulations and taxes are particularly favourable to business. Mae Sot is such a space with only semi-official recognition and no fancy acronym to conceal the money-making that feeds off desperation.

READ MORE---> Recession bites: compounding misery for migrants...

Jailed farmers’ lawyer refused appeal - Pho Phyu

(DVB)–An appeal for a renowned lawyer jailed after helping Burmese farmers complain to the United Nations of land confiscation by the military was last week rejected by court authorities, his lawyer said.

In January this year, lawyer Pho Phyu was arrested and then sentenced in March under the Unlawful Associations Act to four years in prison.

He had been assisting farmers in Magwe division, central Burma, to file complaints to the UN’s International Labour Organisation regarding the confiscation of over 5000 acres of farmland by the Burmese army.

“The court rejected our request to reconsider his sentence so his term remains at four years as before,” said lawyer Myint Thwin.

“We are to take our appeal to a higher level court.”

Min Lwin Oo, spokesperson for the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission denounced the court decision and charges, pointing out that Pho Phyu had not formed any association under which he could be charged under the Act.

“The organisation never existed and there is also no evidence that Pho Phyu was drawing plans to form one,” he said.

“Yet they still passed the sentence upon him before they could prove anything and it is very wrong to reaffirm that at court.”

The ILO’s liaison office in Rangoon was unavailable for a comment.

The Unlawful Associations Act outlaws groups and organizations deemed by the government to be a threat to national stability.

It has been used to sentence numerous activists and politicians, often under very spurious grounds given the arbitrary criteria under which groups are deemed ‘unlawful’.

In April, the exiled Burma Lawyers Council called for abolishment of the Act, citing the malleability under which the government uses it to sentence opposition members, journalists and activists.

Reporting by Aye Nai

READ MORE---> Jailed farmers’ lawyer refused appeal - Pho Phyu...

Villagers afraid to report forced labour to ILO

(DVB)–The International Labour Organisation has stated that complainants of forced labour in Burma are at greater risk of imprisonment if they have affiliations with political opposition groups.

The comment came after reports surfaced that villagers in Irrawaddy division had been forced to work on the reconstruction of a road, and were afraid to make a complaint to the ILO for fear of imprisonment.

"We heard about two men from central Burma who were recently thrown into prison for reporting a case to the ILO,” said one of the villagers.

Labour activist Zaw Htay was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in January after helping farmers in Magwe divison file a report to the ILO on land seizures.

His lawyer Pho Phyu, was subsequently sentenced earlier this month to four years imprisonment after defending him at the trial.

“So we are scared we might end up the same way if we complain about what happened in our villages," the villager added.

Steve Marshall, ILO liaison officer in Rangoon, said that, although the vast majority of complainants received no subsequent action from the government, there were some that had.

“The ILO is of the belief that in those cases it is because they are firstly politically active, but are secondly active within the ILO’s supplementary framework as well,” he said.

The supplementary framework is the mechanism which deals with complaints to the ILO in Burma. It stipulates that the government must not harass or arrest people who report forced labour to the ILO or collect information on such practices.

“If someone who has got affiliations and is active in other political activity takes action then the risk of them having some retaliation taken against them increases,” he added.

The ILO reported last month that there has been no reduction in forced labour over the past year, despite ongoing attempts to tackle the problem.

Reporting by Francis Wade and Naw Say Phaw

READ MORE---> Villagers afraid to report forced labour to ILO...

Confiscated farmland returned following ILO pressure

(DVB)–The International Labour Organisation has confirmed that over 2000 acres of farmland confiscated by the army in Magwe division has been returned following meetings between the ILO and local authorities.

The land had been taken from farmers in Aunglan township, Magwe, two years ago after they refused to bow to government pressure to grow sugarcane for army-run Aunglan township’s sugar factory.

Following a meeting on 11 March between the ILO and the military, 2003 acres of land was returned.

“Satisfactory conclusions were reached in respect of the farmers having the right to access their land or in other areas to receive an equal quantity of land which they would then have to the right to use to grow whichever crops they wished to grow,” said the ILO liaison officer in Rangoon, Steve Marshall.

“The principles and agreements…now are in the process of being put into practice,” he added.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

READ MORE---> Confiscated farmland returned following ILO pressure...

ILO, Burma extend ‘supplementary understanding’

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - The International Labour Organization and Burma’s military regime on Thursday extended Supplementary Understanding on the treatment of complaints lodged against forced labour for another 12 months, Burma’s state-run newspaper said.

The New Light of Myanmar, Burma’s military junta’s mouthpiece, on Friday reported that Burma’s Labour Minister Aung Kyi and ILO’s Executive Director Mr. Kari Tapiola on Thursday signed the extension of the Supplementary Understanding.

The ILO and Burma reached an agreement in February 2007 to establish a complaint mechanism for victims of forced labour. Under the agreement, the ILO was allowed to have a liaison officer in Rangoon.

This Supplementary Understanding supports the application of existing laws prohibiting the use of forced labour in Burma and provides a complaints’ mechanism, facilitated by the ILO Liaison Officer in Rangoon.

Under Article 1 of the Supplementary Understanding, Burmese citizens can, with protection from reprisal, seek justice under the law if they are subjected to forced labour.

The Burmese junta’s Labour Minister Aung Kyi said, signing the extension of the Supplementary Understanding supports Burma’s “political commitment to the eradication of forced labour.”

Human Rights groups have criticised military-ruled Burma for its appalling human rights records and has documented the widespread use of forced labour in building army camps, constructing roads and even including forced conscription of children into the army.

Aung Myo Min, the director of the Thailand-based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), in an earlier interview with Mizzima said, the Burmese Army has at least 60,000 child soldiers.

READ MORE---> ILO, Burma extend ‘supplementary understanding’...

Lawyer in ILO case harassed by authorities - Pho Phyu

(DVB)–Lawyer Pho Phyu, who is well known for representing political activists, has complained of being harassed by local authorities when he went to Nat Mauk township to attend a court hearing.

The case involved farmers who were arrested after reporting land confiscation by the military to the International Labour Organisation.

Pho Phyu said he was denied guest registration on arrival in the Magwe town on 1 January and was pressured by authorities when he tried to check into a guest house.

Later that evening, while he was waiting for a bus to go back to Rangoon, a group of local government officials led by Magwe police station 1 chief Kyu Aye apprehended Pho Phyu.

They took him to the local Ward Peace and Development Council office and questioned him while they went through his belongings and case files.

"I was waiting for a bus and at around 11.30pm, Kyu Aye and some police officers arrived on motorbikes. They said they had suspicions about me and took me to the WPDC office," Pho Phyu said.

"When we got to the office, they started looking in my bags claiming I might be carrying explosives," he said.

"I told Kyu Aye that they needed proper paperwork to search my belongings and also that they didn't have the authority to look at my case files as they contain information that is between me and my clients.

"He said he didn't care and told me he could sue me for disturbing a government official on duty."

He said Kyu Aye had also taken a report he was preparing entitled 'The struggle for human rights in [Burmese] courts', a compilation of testimonials from his clients.

"The report included information about cases relating to the ILO, mainly cases of land confiscation and forced labour," Pho Phyu said.

"They took away the documents under a search warrant and forced me to sign it," he said.

"I explained to him that I had the right to freely consider my cases and legal procedures, but he just said it didn't matter as it was more important for them to be able to bring me to court." Pho Phyu was in Nat Mauk to attend court hearing for his clients Hla Soe of Nat Mauk and Zaw Htay from Aung Lan.

The two men were arrested by authorities on 29 October last year after they filed a report on the confiscation of land from local farmers by the army.

"They did this to me intentionally to disrupt my clients’ court hearing, making it impossible for me to be present or call witnesses," Pho Phyu said.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

READ MORE---> Lawyer in ILO case harassed by authorities - Pho Phyu...

Army frames charges against ILO complainants

by Myint Maung
21 November 2008

New Delhi (Mizzima)– Burma's Army has framed charges, under the Electronic Act, against farmers from Natmauk Township who lodged a complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO) against the seizure of their farmland.

The farmers, from five village tracts in Natmauk Township, Magwe Division, lodged their complaint against the local Central Ordnance Depot, objecting to the seizure of their farmlands by the Army. Subsequently, Captain Phyo Wei Lin of the Central Ordnance Depot has prosecuted three farmers, held to be the leaders of the ILO filing, at a township trial court.

"We are in trouble now and we are on the run," U Tint, one of the villagers whose name appears on the ILO complaint and is listed in the prosecution's case against the farmers, told Mizzima.

Forty-nine villagers in all, from five villages, including Ngeyekan, Ywathit and Nyaung Pauk, lodged a complaint with the ILO on August 3rd against the Central Ordnance Depot for seizing about 5,000 acres of farmland situated along the Natmauk-Magwe railroad.

"We don't know about this Electronic Law and also don't know about the Video Law, as we cannot see movies regularly in our rural area," U Tint commented.

The Electronic Law is a common tool used by the junta against political dissidents who allegedly use the Internet to disseminate news held to be critical of or damaging to military authorities.

Captain Phyo Wei Lin accused the defendants of sending news and facts to the foreign media.

In a well known case, blogger Nay Phone Latt was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on November 10th for violating the same law.

The Natmauk Police arrested Ngayekan villagers Ko Hla Soe, Ko Nay Lin and Ko Sein Sten on October 20th – later prosecuting them under the Electronic Law. Nine days after their arrests, another villager, Ko Zaw Htay, was also detained.

At first, Captain Phyo Wei Lin registered a case against the initial three detainees under section 31(a) of the Official Secrets Act and section 51(a) (making a photograph of an Army establishment), but the prosecution changed the charge against them to a violation of the Electronic Law.

In their complaint, the villagers said that the Central Ordinance Depot seized about 5,000 acres of farmland from them in 2005 for the purpose of growing physic nut – viewed by the state as being essential in addressing the country's energy shortfall.

READ MORE---> Army frames charges against ILO complainants...

NLD Member Released in Human Rights Case - Thet Wai

By Saw Yan Naing

The chairman of Sanchaung Township’s National League for Democracy was released on Friday following his recent arrest for possessing a memory card and documents regarding human rights abuses in Burma, according to Nyan Win, the party’s spokesperson.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, a source close to Thet Wai confirmed that he had been released on 500,000 kyat bail from a court in Kyauktada Township in Rangoon that day. Thet Wai returned to his work at the NLD headquarters later on Friday.

A lawyer in Rangoon, Aung Thein, confirmed that Thet Wai had been arrested for accepting material from a pro-democracy activist, Ohn Than, who was himself arrested by police and plainclothes security officials after staging a demonstration outside the United States embassy in Rangoon in August.

The material in question apparently contained information relating to human rights abuses in Burmese prisons and forced labor issues, and was written by Ohn Than during his incarceration in the notorious Insein prison. Sources said that he intended to hand the information over to the International Labor Organization.

Aung Thein said that Thet Wai was prosecuted under article 505 (B)—instigation or destruction of stability or government— a charge that is expected to result in three years’ imprisonment.

Meanwhile, another pro-democratic human rights activist, Htin Kyaw, was charged under Article 124 (A)—disrespecting the government of the country—and would probably be sentenced to life imprisonment, said the lawyer.

Htin Kyaw is one of the prominent activists who were arrested by Burmese authorities in August following protests against the increase in fuel prices.

He went on hunger strike in protest against the human rights abuses in the prison for several weeks while he was detained in Rangoon’s Insein prison.

Source: Irrawaddy News

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