We would like to add the following to the declaration of the NGO forum, World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance to be held in south Africa.

Country-specific situation and recommendations
Burma Situation

We are seriously concerned about the decades-long civil war, due to the unsolved political settlement between the ethnic nationalities and ruling authorities in Burma.

• After the military reasserted power, following the 1988 people's uprising led by students, many were arrested and thousands fled to minority areas, and to neighboring countries. Thousands of young activists also joined the armed struggle against the military. In the last ten years the military authorities have launched a series of crackdowns on members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) since the party won 80% of parliamentary seats in the 1990 election. The party was not allowed to form a government, and hundreds of its members are imprisoned.
  
  

• Torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners, and civilians of all ethnic nationalities in Burma are commonplace and have been well-documented by international organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
  The regime ( the State Peace and Development Council/SPDC) is holding absolute power over Burma to prolong the military rule.
  
  

• The persecution of ethnic nationalities by the military regime is depriving people of their economic, social and culture rights on a large scale. This multiple discrimination against Burma's ethnic people is a form of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance. Some of the examples are:

  • church-burning, harassment and detention of pastors, but preferential treatment for local Buddhist civilians in Chin State; persecution of Christians in Karen State,

  • persecution of Muslims who are living in Burma on account of their religion,

  • not permitting or encouraging the teaching of other ethnic minority languages;

  • Burmanization of place names in ethnic areas;

  • uprooting the ethnic people by systematic forced relocation program,. especially in Shan, Karenni and Karen States , where hundreds of thousands of people have been dispossessed of their lands, cultural heritage and livelihood;

  • Starvation due to forced relocation has forced thousands of men, women and children to search for food in the forests. Many have been shot on sight by the SPDC troops;

  • three major armed groups in Karenni, Karen and Shan State , Rakhine and Chin groups, are still fighting with the SPDC, although most armed groups and SPDC have agreed to cease-fires. Because of their ethnicity and presumed support for armed groups, Shan, Karenni and Karen civilians are targeted for punishment by the military authorities. Even in the cease- fire areas, the SPDC has broken the agreement and continue oppressing the civilians and increasing the military presence. The majority of the civilians are farmers;

  • ethnic persecution by the military regime - forced labour, force relocation, torture, looting, mass killing, and summary execution including systematic rape of women and young girls - has been continuously committed by SPDC troops;

  
  

• To escape these extreme human rights abuses, over two million people from all over Burma have fled to take refuge in the border areas as Internally Displaced Persons(IDP), and in neighboring countries - Thailand, India and Bangladesh as refugees. A few have got asylum in Europe, Australia and America.
  
  

• People fleeing the desperate situation in Burma are sometimes referred to as refugees, sometimes as economic migrants and sometimes as illegal migrants. The distinctions are subtle, but the vulnerabilities to exploitation and abuse they face are the same. There are over one million migrant workers from Burma in Thailand. The vast majority are receiving well below the minimum wage, and are working in highly exploitative conditions because of their illegal status.
  

• We demand SPDC to eliminate the multiple discriminations against all people of Burma, and to stop the ethnic persecution which is a form of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance.
  
  

• We urge the United Nations, ASEAN, Japan, China, India and other concerned international bodies to pressure SPDC, the Burmese military regime to stop the human rights abuses towards the people of Burma, and to start meaningful political dialogue with all actors in the political arena of Burma.
  
  

• In addition, we call on the Royal Thai government and other government to take a humanitarian approach in their policies towards Burma and refugees/migrants from Burma.

Some signatures at a glance