COVER STORY

COMMENTS (0)

RECOMMEND (446)

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PLUSONE

MORE

E-MAIL

PRINT

TEXT SIZE

“Physical bravery without moral and civic courage is likely to become abusive bullying.”

 

Charm Tong [Exiled Activist]

 

Few members of the Burmese opposition in exile would ever expect an invitation to meet the world’s most powerful man. Yet that is exactly what happened to Charm Tong, an acclaimed human rights activist from Burma’s Shan State. US President George W Bush spent nearly an hour with her on October 31 at the White House. “I think it is very important for me to take this opportunity to raise not only the voice of suffering but also the hope of the people,” Charm Tong said following the meeting. President Bush’s outspokenness on Burma in recent weeks has been attributed by some lobbyists in Washington to “the Charm Tong Effect,” suggesting that the young activist’s appeal on behalf of her people had struck a chord with the president.

 

 

Born in Burma’s central Shan State and raised in northern Thailand, Charm Tong, 24, began her human rights activities at the age of 16 when she joined the Shan Human Rights Foundation. A year later, she testified before the UN Commission on Human Rights about the situation among ethnic Shan in Burma, during which she recounted her personal experiences of suffering and those of other embattled Shan refugees, who have neither official refugee status nor support from Thai authorities.

 

At 18, Charm Tong co-founded the Shan Women’s Action Network, which made headlines in 2002 by releasing a report that documented rapes committed by Burmese soldiers against ethnic minority women in Shan State. SWAN has been involved with numerous projects since its creation, including efforts to assist ethnic Shan women trafficked to Thailand and forced to work in the country’s booming sex industry, a program that offers counseling to victims of rape and educational initiatives for Shan refugees.

 

In the last five years, Charm Tong has traveled widely to expose the ongoing exploitation of women and children in Burma and Thailand. She is fluent in English, Thai, Mandarin and her native Shan, and her effectiveness as a human rights campaigner has increasingly attracted the attention of the global community. In 2004, Charm Tong was named one of the “Women of the World” by Marie Claire magazine; this year she received Reebok’s Human Rights Award, and Time magazine included her on a list of “Asian Heroes.”

 

Su Su Nway [Human Rights Defender]

 

When Su Su Nway successfully sued a Burmese local authority and saw four village headmen jailed for employing forced labor, she predicted that retribution would follow.

 

“The local authorities will do everything to ruin my life,” she told the foreign shortwave radio station Democratic Voice of Burma. Su Su Nway, 34, is now in prison herself, condemned in October to serve 18 months for allegedly threatening and swearing at local authorities.

 

In a courtroom packed with her supporters, she vigorously denied the charge. “I neither swore at nor threatened them. I feel that they are accusing and suing me unfairly in this way and that there is no truth [in their allegations]. As a Burmese Buddhist girl, I would not do such things as they said I did in front of their houses.” A native of Htan Manaing, Rangoon Division, she is youth leader there of the opposition National League for Democracy.

 

Her trial, on apparently trumped-up charges, is seen not only as an act of vengeance by the authorities but as a defiant slap in the face for the International Labour Organization, which had hailed her successful campaign to bring to justice the four village headman accused of forcing people to work against their will. The ILO protested against her conviction and sentencing.

 

A campaign of official harassment preceded Su Su Nway’s trial. She needs regular medical attention for a heart condition, and a local nurse was allegedly prevented from treating her. There are also reports that she is being denied medication in prison.

 

Su Su Nway was always aware of the fate that awaited her, telling DVB radio: “They [the authorities] will try to send me to prison one way or another. If I go to prison on that day, I want to say to people who are subjected to forced labor not to feel dejected.