| By AUNG MYO MIN | Thursday, July 1, 1999 |
Recently the Irrawaddy caught up with human rights advocate and award winner Aung Myo Min to talk about his work. He recently received an award from Columbia University's Center for the Study of Human Rights. He has also received awards from the University of Toronto and the International Lesbian and Human Rights Commission. He serves as the Director of the Human Rights Documentation Unit of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB). The following are excerpts from the interview. Q: Tell us why you decided to come back to Thailand to work after graduating from university in the US, when so many other Burmese have stayed? A: The reason why I decided to come back to Thailand was that I want my country to be democratic and for the people to enjoy human rights. In the US, I didn’t intend to learn and to lead an intellectual life. That’s why when I had a chance I went to study in Columbia in New York and after my graduation I came back because while I feel that I have the opportunity to go and study but many people in my country don’t have this. So that is why it became my responsibility to work with them for the restoration of human rights in Burma. Q: Can you give us details on your activities on the border? A: I travel a lot on the border especially to the refugee camps, migrant communities and communities inside Burma, where many thousands of Burmese migrants are working and staying. I meet and talk to them and I try to get information about human rights violations in terms of what they have experienced, their life and how their life became threatened by the military and their fear of the situation in Burma. I try to get all the information, and then I document it by subject such as arrests, detention, torture, rape, forced relocation and forced porter. As Director of the Human Rights Documentation Unit of the NCGUB, I publish an end of the year human rights yearbook on Burma every year. It includes information like forced labor and forced relocation. I collect it and send it to international organizations like the International Labor Organization and UNHRC as well as NGOs and HR organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. So my information is being used as evidence of the junta’s human rights violations in the international forum. Q: What kind of human rights violations are taking place in Burma, especially in ethnic minorities’ areas? How do you compare it with the situation ten years ago? A: The human rights violations still continue in every area of Burma especially in the ethnic areas of Burma. Burmans are not being treated like ethnic people, but because of the civil war and the four cuts system in the ethnic areas the ethnic people suffer a lot. More than the Burman people. But Burmese people also suffer other kinds of human rights violations. In the ethnic areas there is forced portering and forced relocation on a massive scale, but at the same time inside Burma there is political detention and arrest of political activist still going on. We can not compare what is worse and which one is the better one, but the human rights situation is as bad as before like ten years ago. I would say that in some areas its getting worse and in some areas its getting better. Q: What about women’s issues? Are you doing any training on this issue? A: One of the trainings that I’m doing is women’s empowerment training. I work closely with ethnic and Burmese women’s groups along the border and communities inside Burma. What I’ve observed is that we need more work to empower women into the decision making position and to gain more confidence in their abilities. Because there are misunderstandings and some gaps between the male-dominated areas. The women are still seen as housekeepers and even in the revolutionary area they are seen as good for nurses and teachers. So we want to bring women into more positions with more decision making position. Q: Why do Burmese women have a limited role in society? A: Some people argue that Burmese women are enjoying their rights and that there is no discrimination against them in Burmese society. But there is still a limited definition for women. If you want to be a good mother, you have to treat your husband as a god and your son as a master. This is a Burmese saying. Women are defined with that kind of definition. If you don’t treat your husband as a god you will be labeled a bad woman. As for freedom of expression, if women want to speak out about something there is a traditional belief not to speak or be outspoken about what they think. This is the stereotype of the Burmese women. So we have more programs to help them understand that they also have rights. Q: Burma used to have a lot of prominent women in a lot of areas. But now the male-dominated military suppresses everyone including women. What is the role of militarization in the treatment of women? A: Militarization is one of the reasons that women are being suppressed. All the military officers in the Burmese army are male. They assume that they have power because they are military plus they are men. So they have a two-power position to suppress women. And traditionally, women are defined to obey the man and then, because the military rules Burma, women have to obey them. Because there is military rule in Burma, women are doubly violated in terms of their rights. There are many reasons that women suffer more than men. In ethnic areas, the majority of the refugees are women. The women and men live in one household. When the military impresses porters, the men work and the women have to take care of the family. When a woman is a porter, the family has to go there. This is how women face a double violation of their rights. Q: What is your experience in working for lesbian and gay rights in Burma? A: As an advocate working for human rights, I think that gay and lesbian rights should not be excluded by what you say is human rights because we are all human. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone is born equally. What about gays and lesbians, they are also human so their rights should be included in the overall term “human rights.” That is why I’m working for lesbian and gay rights in Burma, but I’m not advocating that they should be given the first priority, but they should not be treated in a discriminatory way. Don’t allow any discrimination because of the sexual orientation, just treat them like other people. Q: Like other NGOs and activists, you gather information from people. What do you offer to them? A: I feel uncomfortable collecting information from the people because I'm just taking something from them. I feel that I should give something back. It is good to collect information and send it to the international organizations and they take action against the State Peace and Development Council but still we need something from our people. People just giving information and doing nothing for human rights is not a good sign. That is why I decided to do some kind of training to give the knowledge about human rights and give a chance for people to think about their basic rights. This is good for the future of Burma so that people know about their rights, so they know how to prevent abuses. If they know how to advocate then they can protect their human rights. Even after we get democracy or even after the SPDC is overthrown so people with the kind of basic knowledge can be helpful for the foundation of civil society for the future of Burma. Q: How did you feel when you heard that you won the award from Columbia University? A: At first I felt happy and proud of myself because this is recognition by an international organization and academic school from the US giving the award to me. Then I felt more responsible for the people inside Burma. This is my 3rd human rights award. The increased recognition makes me more responsible to work harder than before for the people. Even though, I’ve received three human rights awards, human rights violations still go on in Burma. This means that I have to work harder.