User talk:Burma Democratic Concern

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BURMA

The State Law and Order Restoration Council { SPDC} stated to enacts the following Law:

(a) To implement the rights of the child recognized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child;

(b) To protect the rights of the child;

(c) To protect in order that children may enjoy fully their rights in accordance with law;

(d) To carry out measures for the best interests of the child depending upon the financial resources of the State;

(e) To enable custody and care of children in need of protection and care by the State or voluntary social workers or non­governmental organizations;

(f) To enable a separate trial of a juvenile offence and to carry out measures with the objective of reforming the character of the child who has committed an offence.

By reviewing this law, it is obviously contradicted with the current acts by Burmese military regime. Burma's army has doubled in size since 1988, and with an estimated 350,000 soldiers is now one of the largest armies in Southeast Asia. According to the accounts of former soldiers interviewed by Human Rights Watch, 20 percent or more of its active duty soldiers may be children under the age of 18.

Human Rights Watch noted that there is no way to precisely estimate the number of children in Burma's army, but it appears that the vast majority of new recruits are forcibly conscripted, and there may be as many as 70,000 soldiers under the age of 18.

In Burma, the large number of prisoners increased after 1988.Before 1988, there were approximately 40,000 prisoners in Burmese prisons. After 1988, the number rose to about 60,000 with an additional 20,000 in labour camps. Of the entire prison population, over 1,600 are political prisoners. There are 36 prisons in Burma and over 20 of them detain political prisoners. Recent arrestment in 2007 certainly define that there are more and more political prisoners. Numerous violations of human dignity and brutal harassment and torturing inside the prisons are unavoidable for the prisoners.

The prisoners in labour camps and porters for military operations are facing the worst situations. The prisoners are treated brutally and used in inhuman work, such as blowing up rock faces, digging at cliff-sites, ploughing fields in the place of animals and carrying loads far too heavy in the front lines. Prisoners are often used as porters by the military. Prison labour has used on numerous infrastructure and tourism projects.

Regional military commanders requests for porters and in order to comply that, the Department of Prisons has formed prisoner service units. They had been using the tactics of giving longer prison sentences to minor crimes to solve the demand for prison labour increases.

The use of forced labour in rural areas where ethnic minority groups live Karen and Shan states, is under the disguise of "Government Development Programs." Although the issue of forced labour in Burma has received much recent attention internationally, there has been little corresponding action by SPDC to eradicate it despite an order banning the use of forced labour which was promulgated in 2000.

The government used two trends in taking porters fees, in one, each household in a village is required to pay a certain amount each month in order to compensate the conscripted porters. In the other, villagers are forced to pay a fee so that they are not conscripted as porters. Porter fees are a burden on villagers as they earn little money by their hard work.

Villagers who cannot afford to pay money to avoid portering become the victims of the abusive Burmese military. The Burmese military claim that the porters are paid labourers in which the fund is forcibly collected from villagers. Both the increase in the use of prisoner portering and porter fees can be attributed to SPDC improve its image in the international community.

International law prohibits government forces or armed groups from recruiting children under the age of fifteen. Such recruitment has been recognized as a war crime under the statute for the International Criminal Court. In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that raised the minimum age for participation in armed conflict to 18, and prohibits all forced recruitment of children below age 18.

Burma is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but has not yet signed and ratified the optional protocol. The International Labour Organization convention on the worst forms of child labour, adopted in 1999, also recognizes the forced recruitment of children under age 18 for use in armed conflict as one of the worst forms of child labour.

Most citizens of Burma are now struggle daily to provide for their own needs and facing hardship.Increasingly women must work to supplement family incomes. With a cultural tradition of maternal self-abnegation, women consistently forego their own needs in order to give their children first priority.

Due to a combination of traditional Burmese customs and the deteriorating economic situation, families are increasingly prioritizing the rights of males over females to limited resources. As a result, women and girls throughout Burma suffer from reduced access to nutritious food, medical services, as well as vocational training and other educational opportunities.

Rural women are most affected by the nation's instability. Women are forced to work as porters and unpaid labourers for local SPDC military troops and are often raped by soldiers. Ethnic women in areas where armed conflict with the junta is ongoing face constant threats of attack, rape, torture, slavery, and murder by SPDC soldiers. Women are often left alone to raise their children, while male members of the community are taken as porters, serve as soldiers, or are killed.

In the government and civil service, the junta gives priority to those with military experience, who are usually male and those who are from military background. Many women who flee to Thailand end up in brothels as a result of economic exigency.

In the international cooperation sector, the Burmese military regime signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in1997; hosted the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in 2000; sponsored the National Seminar on Women's Health in cooperation with WHO; and observed the International Women's Day 2001 and still the Burmese Regime claims that the legal system of Myanmar provides equal rights to women and men in the area of business and commerce, although violations and disrespect of law are vividly seen by international Community.

Burmese legal system is flaw and no rule of law under the manipulative military Regime and the innocent lives of Burmese people are at stake.