2012 Democracy Award will be given to Burmese activists

Source: Press release from ned.org 

Photo: ned.org

 I was so thrilled to read the announcement from The National Endowment For Democracy (NED) regarding with their decision to provide "2012 Democracy Award" to five Burmese activists who have sacrificed to bring democracy and human rights in Burma. The event will be hosted by NED on September 20 at U.S. Capitol in Washington DC.

Each of these honorees has endured imprisonment and/or torture or exile because of their brave activities to bring  freedom and justice in Burma. Regardless of the life-threatening punishments and warnings from the military government, they continue to fight for the people. Thousands and thousands of activists died and scarified to change the dictatorship ruling system of the country.The battle has not yet come to an end. They are still fighting...

I believe this award will bring international attention towards Burma's democracy movements as well as to those who have fought/continue to fight for democracy in Burma. Thank you NED for giving this award to Burmese activists. 

2012 Democracy Award Honorees

Khun Tun Oo (photo-internet)

 Khun Tun Oo is a leading politician from Burma’s Shan State and Chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) party. Following the 8888 Uprising, he ran in the 1990 parliamentary elections as the head of the SNLD, which won 23 seats, the second most of any party after the National League for Democracy (NLD). After the military government annulled the results, Hkun Htun Oo continued to work for democratic change within the country, for which he was arrested in 2005 and given a 93-year prison term for treason, defamation, and inciting dissatisfaction toward the government. Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience, and in December 2008, he was awarded honorary Italian citizenship by the mayor of Monza. In March 2011, the United Nationalities Alliance, a group representing several minorities in Burma, awarded him the Nationalities Hero prize for his “dedication and struggle for ethnic groups and national reconciliation.” He was released from prison in a presidential amnesty on January 13, 2012.

Min Ko Naing(photo-internet)

 Min Ko Naing is a founding member of the 88 Generation Students Group, which played a key role in the 2007 Saffron Revolution. He rose to international prominence for his leadership role in the pro-democracy protests in 1988 (popularly known as the “8888 Uprising”), during which time he was chairman of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). The New York Times has described him as Burma’s “most influential opposition figure after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.” Both the 8888 Uprising and 2007 Saffron Revolution were violently repressed by the military regime. As a key leader of both, Min Ko Naing spent the majority of the last 20 years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement. He was released on January 13, 2012, in a mass presidential amnesty. During the past two decades, Min Ko Naing has received numerous international awards for his courage, conviction, and dedication to nonviolence and democracy. These awards include the 2009 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights; the 2005 Civic Courage Prize, which he shared with Anna Politkovskaya and Munir Said Thailib; the 2000 Homo Homini Award from People in Need; and the 1999 John Humphrey Freedom Award, which he shared with Dr. Cynthia Maung.

Kyaw Thu (photo- internet)

Kyaw Thu is a two-time Myanmar Academy Award winning film director and actor, as well as founder and president of the Free Funeral Service Society (FFSS), which, since 2001, has provided free funeral services to more than 110,000 people across Burma. In addition, FFSS operates a free clinic for the poor, supports scholarships, organizes vocational and computer trainings, and helps to meet the health needs of former political prisoners. A leading man in Burmese cinema in the 1980s and 1990s, Kyaw Thu gradually turned his attention to social work, and by serving as volunteer president of FFSS, became one of the most prominent members of Burma’s civil society. In 2007, he and his wife were arrested after publicly supporting the Saffron Revolution, after which he was banned from the film industry. After his release, Kyaw Thu and FFSS played a vital role in rescue and fundraising efforts in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated Burma’s Irrawaddy delta and cost over 130,000 lives in May 2008.

Dr.Cynthia Maung (photo-internet)

Dr. Cynthia Maung is an ethnic Karen medical doctor and founder of the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand on the Thai-Burmese border. She founded the clinic soon after fleeing to Thailand in the aftermath of the 8888 Uprising, where she works with a staff of over 700 people to provide medical services to refugees, migrant workers and orphans. The clinic receives 400–500 patients daily, treating such conditions as malaria, respiratory disease and diarrhea, as well as gunshot wounds and land mine injuries. Dr. Cynthia and the Mae Tao Clinic have received numerous international awards, including the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy’s Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the John Humphrey Freedom Award, the Jonathan Mann Health and Human Rights Award, Catalonia’s International Prize, which she won in conjunction with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and most recently, the Freedom to Create Leadership for Women Award.

Aung Din (photo: internet)

Aung Din served over four years behind bars as a political prisoner in Burma after helping to organize the country’s nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988 as Vice-Chairperson of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), the largest national student organization and outlawed by the regime. He also served as Vice-Chairman of Burma’s Youth Liberation Front (BYLF), and as Cabinet Secretary of the Parallel Government, which was founded by former Prime Minister U Nu during the peak of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience in 1989, and its chapters worldwide campaigned for his release. In 2003, he co-founded the Washington, DC-based U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB), an umbrella group of Burmese dissidents in exile and American activists, where he now serves as executive director.

Ref: http://www.ned.org/for-reporters/aung-san-suu-kyi-to-address-ned-2012-democracy-award-in-us-capitol

Aung San Suu Kyi addressed at the 101st International Labour Conference

Burmese democracy icon and Nobel Peace prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, visited Switzerland on June 14,2012.During her visit, she addressed at the 101st International Labour Conference in Geneva as follow:
 

 Source: ILO.ORG. 

Statement | 14 June 2012

The welcome that I have received this morning has forced me to move a little away from my prepared text, with apologies to interpreters.


Mr President of the Conference, Director-General, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, before I start on my prepared address, I would like to thank you all for this totally unexpected very warm welcome. It has moved me profoundly and I hope that in the future we shall be able to work together to build a world where all of us can move closer to one another.

I was saying to Mr Somavia – he just told me how to pronounce his name correctly – I was saying to Mr Somavia that whenever I meet people from South America I feel as though I were meeting members of my own family because we have been through the same experiences, our countries. But I think this applies to many other countries besides the ones in South America. So coming here, it feels as though I have come back to meet long lost members of my family and I hope that this will, by no means, be the last meeting.

I am one of those countless people whose lives are impacted by labour issues."

The International Labour Conference is a pioneer and an example of inclusiveness. Delegates of Workers and Employers as well as Governments coming together to find effective solutions to complex problems demonstrate the value of meaningful exchange between relevant stakeholders. However, I do not stand here as a representative of Workers or of Employers or of Government, not yet anyway. Perhaps you could accept me as the fourth element, I am one of those countless people whose lives are impacted by labour issues. I am also a politician so perhaps I could make a claim to be the fifth element as well, the element that represents the interests of the general public. I still feel a little self-conscious about referring to myself as a recently elected member of Parliament, which I presume is the correct formal definition of my status.

Photo: Reuters

A Burmese woman won 2012 International Women of Courage Award

The US secretary of State, First Lady and 2012 International Women of Courage Award Winners(source:state.gov)

Zin Mar Aung, a Burmese activist for women’s rights, received the International Women of Courage Award from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C on March 08,2012.


During the ceremony for the award, Mrs.Clinton states:


Eleven years in a Burmese prison could not silence Zin Mar Aung.  Her life’s work has been promoting democracy, women’s rights, and conflict resolution in Burma.  Today, she leads a self-help association for female ex-political prisoners as well as a school of political science.  Her efforts have allowed former prisoners to take advantage of rebuilding their lives, even when her activism jeopardized her own freedom.  She continues to raise awareness of issues affecting ethnic minorities in this evolving environment for civil society and democracy activists.

US's college helps Burmese woman share story of torture, imprisonment

A Burmese writer/ former political prisoner, Khet Mar, published her first novel "The Souls of Fallen Flowers,"  in the United States on February 24,2012. Mar's book was published with the help of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

David Henry Sterry interviewed Mar as follows:

 TV news about Khet Mar's book (Video)

 When MaryAnn told me about Khet Mar's heartbreaking and monumentally inspiring odyssey, from being locked up in a Burmese prison for her revolutionary writing, to her harrowing escape and subsequent relocation to City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, I felt like it was my duty to tell the world her story.

Khet mar's book: The Souls of Fallen Flowers

DAVID HENRY STERRY: Tell us about your childhood. Where did you grow up, and what was it like?
KHET MAR: I grew up in a fishing village. My childhood time was like a huge field with valuable plants and terrible weeds. I didn't notice how much I liked my childhood time until I was a teen. I still have things to write about my childhood even though I have been writing for 23 years.

A Bike Ride for Burma's Political Prisoners

Source: http://www.assknetwork.org/knowledge-centre/report/311-jag-completes-bike-ride-for-burmas-political-prisoners.html

Jag Completes Bike Ride For Burma’s Political Prisoners

 Jag Dojkovski, Fundraising Assistant at Burma Campaign UK, has completed her 2,000km bike ride for political prisoners in Burma, arriving in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. Jag was cycling one kilometre for every political prisoner in Burma. She was also seeking to raise £2,000 for campaigning for the release of political prisoners. In the event she smashed her fundraising target, with donations so far totalling £3,330.

“Right now I just feel pure relief, I'm so glad I made it,” said Jag Dojkovski. “It was a real challenge, both physically and mentally, but when I found it hard to keep going, I thought of the amazing people from Burma I have met, who have been through so much to win freedom for their country, and that kept me going." 

President Obama's letter to Aung San Suu Kyi

(Ref: Release from State Department) 

Aung San Suu Kyi
Rangoon, Burma
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi:
It was a pleasure and an honor to speak with you recently. As I said during our conversation, I have long admired your brave and unwavering struggle for democracy, and I consider our conversation a highlight of my recent visit to Asia.

I am pleased that the Burmese government has taken several encouraging steps in the direction of democracy and reform. Secretary of State Clinton's visit will explore how the United States can support efforts to foster political opening and respect for universal human rights, as well as demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to helping the people of Burma achieve their democratic aspirations.

I thank you for your welcome of the Secretary's visit, and look forward to speaking to you again. Thank you for the inspiration you provide all of us around the world who share the values of democracy, human rights, and justice. We stand by you now and always.

Sincerely,
Barack Obama

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Burma

Photo Ref: US President Barack Obama stands by Burma President Thein Sein as they participate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Nusa Dua on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, Nov. 19, 2011. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left Washington on Monday to South East Asia countries. She is currently visiting South Korea and will visit Burma on Thursday. According to the State, Clinton will spend two days in Burma where she is planning to meet with government officials on Thursday and with Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday.

 Some say the meeting will speed up political changes in Burma towards the road of democracy but others say it is so early for President Obama to send the Secretary of State because the new government has not shown satisfactory changes inside Burma. According to the recent report from Human Right groups, the Burmese military backed government continues to torture and kill civilians, gang rape women and turn thousands of villagers into refugees in campaigns.(The civil war inside Burma has been going on since independence from Great Britain in 1949.) The fact that Burma new government still put hundreds of political prisoners behind bars also raises suspects of its willingness to reform Burma into a democractic country.

Regardless of different comments, the coming meeting between two powerful women of the world has caught an international attention at this time.This trip will be a remarkable milestone in American foreign policy as well as the history of Burma.

Although Clinton's visit may not cause changes to Burma's situations right away, i do believe that this will bring good results. I also believe that Burma is in need of international guidance and support at this time.

Ongoing Abuses in Burma's Kachin State

Although the new government in Burma has promised to change the country into a democractic country, its army continues to conduct human rights abuses in ethnic areas such as Kachin and Shan states.

Human Rights Watch(HRW), a New York based organization, issued a press release on October 18,2011 to highlight the ongoing abuses conducted by the Burma's armed forces against ethnic Kachin civilians.

The press release was issued after the HRW has conducted a fact-finding mission to the conflict areas in Kachin State (by visiting abandoned villages and eight remote camps of internally displaced persons) and documented the witnesses's reports. The serious abuses committed by Burmese soldiers included but not limited to killings,attacks on civilians, pillaging of villages and the unlawful use of forced labor.

"Since hostilities began over five months ago against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Burmese armed forces have been responsible for killings and attacks on civilians, using forced labor, and pillaging villages, which has resulted in the displacement of an estimated 30,000 Kachin civilians" the press release said.

The press release also pointed out the September 2011 report to the United Nations General Assembly by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Thomas Ojea Quintana, “Allegations of abuses against civilian populations throughout Kachin State include reports of 18 women and girls having been gang-raped by army soldiers, and of four of those victims being subsequently killed.” 

Although the government is showing some good deeds in its cities, people from remote areas are still being victims of human rights violations. There is still no significant change in Burma.  

Photo from Human Rights Watch: Villagers from Sang Gang, in Kachin State, site of recent fighting, at a newly established internally displaced persons camp in southeastern Kachin State.