News Briefs (February 2006)

“Bangkok demonstrations are usually peaceful in nature but all demonstrations are unpredictable,” the Embassy said in the statement that was e-mailed to American citizens living in Thailand. Security was expected to be tight, with about 5,000 police deployed for the rally and an additional 15,000 on standby, said Interior Minister Kongsak Wanthana. (AP)

Su Su Nway’s appeal rejected

Burma’s Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by imprisoned human rights activist Su Su Nway. According to Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy, Su Su Nway’s lawyers submitted her appeal to the court yesterday. The court responded only hours later that the appeal had been summarily rejected. Su Su Nway, a 34year-old National League for Democracy youth leader, is serving an 18-month jail sentence imposed last October after her conviction on charges of criminal intimidation. Her arraignment followed a successful legal action against four village officials, who received eight-month jail terms for practicing forced labor. The charges against Su Su Nway stated that she threatened local officials and swore at then, charges she vigorously denies. Nyan Win, a lawyer from NLD, said: “According to the law, we have a chance for a special appeal. We will try this.”

Tsunami Survivors Let Down by Governments

Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and the Maldives have been accused of violating human rights in the aftermath of the devastating December 2004 tsunami. A study, which was compiled by a group of international aid organizations and unveiled at the UN’s New York headquarters yesterday, claims the five countries’ governments frequently fail to protect tsunami survivors from discrimination, land conflict and violence. 50,000 people, in 95 towns and villages in the region were surveyed by ActionAid International, the People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning and the New Delhi-based Habitat International Coalition. It was “found that in many places, survivors had been driven from land, cut off from their livelihoods, and denied food, clean water and a secure home.”

In a statement from ActionAid, Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing and sponsor of the report, said: “Failure to immediately comply with human rights standards will deepen the human-induced tragedy already inflicted on the survivors of the tsunami.”Of particular concern was the appearance of so-called “buffer-zones,” areas where local people have been removed from coastal areas, ostensibly for their own safety. The report indicates that, in many cases, commercial enterprises have moved in to the areas, and the locals—many of whom are dependent on the sea for their living—been forgotten.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Bush Touches on Burma in State of the Union Speech

US President George W Bush last night referred to Burma as an example of one of the increasingly few undemocratic nations of the world in his State of the Union address, saying the spread of democracy had been one of the main success stories since the Second World War.