Australia Quick to Award Junta

September 25, 2001--Despite the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) ongoing investigation of the alleged continued use of forced labor in Burma, the Australian government has sent a team of aid workers to Burma in recognition of recent efforts by the junta to improve its political landscape. The aim of the team is to eradicate mal-nutrition among children in the country, said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. The team will spend three weeks training workers at Burma’s Department of Health. Mr Downer said he was encouraged by the release last month from house arrest of National League for Democracy (NLD) Chairman Aung Shwe and Vice-Chairman Tin Oo. "However, we remain deeply concerned that many Burmese citizens remain imprisoned for their political beliefs and we will continue to impress the importance of further prisoner releases," he said in a statement. While some Burmese residents welcome the humanitarian aid put forth by the Australia government others feel it is a bit too early to congratulate the junta. "Any aid to Burma now is premature," a university student in Rangoon says. "We have yet to see if the ongoing talks between the NLD and the SPDC will bear any positive results," he adds. In 1999 Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked the Australian Government to halt its engagement policy with the junta. In a video smuggled out of Burma in 1999, she said, "Sometimes we are a little concerned that the policies of the Australian Government may not be such that would hasten the process of democratization in Burma." Last year, despite Suu Kyi’s request and international criticism of Australia’s soft approach to Burma’s ruling military regime, the Australian government began dispatching a human rights training team to educate civil servants, including both police and prison officials, about human rights. Secret talks have been underway in Burma since October of last year between Burma’s military government and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Details of the talks have not been disclosed.