Burma (Myanmar)

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 8:49 pm on 3 December 2002.

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Photo of Baroness Northover Baroness Northover Liberal Democrat 8:49, 3 December 2002

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, for introducing this important debate, which she did with appalling clarity. It would be good to able to say that we can see the situation in Burma improving. Can we see a chink of light? If so, it is surely distant. As the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, argued, little has changed in recent times. Yet, the country's current economic plight, after years of economic mismanagement, may present an opportunity for the international community to do more to bring pressure to bear on the country to democratise and put an end to its widespread human rights abuses. As the noble Lord, Lord Clarke of Hampstead, put it, words are not enough. We need action. We cannot stand by while atrocities such as the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, and the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, have described are carried out.

It is welcome that Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest and that she has had some freedoms restored to her. But that means little to ordinary people unless democratic rights are extended much further. Her release has clearly been used as a smokescreen covering further human rights abuses, as the international world concentrates on her and not on what is happening to the vast majority of the oppressed population.

As the New York Times put it on 28th November, six months after her release, Burma's,

"military rulers seem to have lost interest in political compromise".

They have released only a trickle of political prisoners from among more than 1,000 who are behind bars. They have dragged their feet on a pledge to open substantive talks with Suu Kyi and her political party, the National League for Democracy. One of the top generals has stated that,

"the process is moving forward. But such movement can only occur at a pace with which we are comfortable".

The world should not wait until such generals feel "comfortable".

There is a feeling among some that international opinion is focusing chiefly on the need to democratise Burma and expecting human rights abuses thereafter to be curbed. Those working in that field argue that human rights abuses must be tackled now. I believe that has come across clearly in this debate. It simply cannot wait.

As we have heard, the particular concern is with the Karen and Shan people, among whom guerrillas have been based and against whom the military authorities have taken vicious action. As the Jubilee Campaign explains, the Burmese Government have pursued what is known as the "Four Cuts Policy", designed to deprive the guerrillas of any possible food, funds, recruitment or intelligence from the civilian population. To quote the Jubilee Campaign:

"Especially since the 1990s the Four Cuts Policy has amounted to an intense, deliberate and systematic targeting of the civilian populations of the Karen, Karenni and Shan people by the Burmese military, resulting in widespread atrocities. One observer has described the Burmese military's tactics as draining the ocean so that the fish can't swim—the ocean being the civilian community and the fish the guerrillas".

As we have heard, above half a million people have been forcibly relocated, away from their villages to areas controlled by the military. Those who flee are likely to be shot on sight if discovered and, of course, fleeing from place to place means that they cannot cultivate crops or adequately support themselves. Healthcare is virtually non-existent. Those who are relocated are often forced into labour or the army. There have been massacres, again as we have heard, as people seek to flee across the border with Thailand.

The government in Thailand, in recent times, have sought to return some of those refugees as they seek to improve their own relations with the government in Rangoon—although once refugees are in the refugee camps, overseen by the international community, they are likely to be safe.

I should like to ask the Minister what assistance is being provided to such people—the dispossessed? Is the aid in the form of financial support for those still within Burma, rather than simply within the refugee camps in Thailand, welcome though that is? Will the Government work closely with NGOs on the Thai/Burma border to send cross-border humanitarian aid from Thailand to the half million internally displaced people in eastern Burma?

What pressure is being brought to bear on the Burmese Government to halt those atrocities and what are the British Government doing to raise the cases of the Karen, Karenni and Shan at the United Nations? In addition, what pressure is being brought on the Burmese Government to admit people from those oppressed communities to the talks, limited though they are, with the National League for Democracy? And if, as seems to be the case, the Burmese Government deny that atrocities are taking place, will they agree to admit human rights monitors to the Karen, Karenni and Shan areas of Burma, as has been suggested, to investigate and monitor the human rights situation?

Besides the human rights problems in the eastern region of the country, there has long been a problem with forced labour. The ILO brought out its report last year and now has someone in Rangoon monitoring its implementation. We would welcome the fact that pressure continues to be applied by the ILO. The Burmese Government have agreed to put an end to the practice of forced labour, issuing edicts to that effect. As others have said, nevertheless the practice continues, particularly in the rural areas, but on a more informal basis.

In terms of how pressure may be brought to bear, we need to look at the effect of economic sanctions. Clearly, that is a problematic area. There surely must be widespread support for "smarter" sanctions against repressive regimes, such as the EU arms embargo and severance of defence links with Burma. Britain must take more action to combat arms brokers. However, I note that the International Development Select Committee recently reported in The Future of Sanctions that there is evidence to suggest that economic sanctions often do not target those truly responsible while increasing the suffering of civilian populations. I would like to hear the Minister's comments on that issue. We would certainly like to see the establishment of a UN body with responsibility for targeting financial sanctions and the establishment of an office of foreign assets control so that individuals and states are more effectively targeted. But in the case of Burma it can be argued that since any company seeking to work in Burma must work with the military regime, it is the military regime that benefits first and foremost. Could the Minister comment on whether the Government are maintaining a policy of discouraging investment in Burma, and what do they do when companies ignore that recommendation?

I note that BAT Industries is one company that is established in Burma, and of course Kenneth Clarke is on its board. That is surely one industry which has no place in Burma in any capacity or, for that matter, any role in any developing country; or—dare I say—anywhere. The terrible toll of illness and death that has resulted from the use of tobacco in western countries should simply not be visited on developing countries. Burma has enough health problems among its population without incurring further harm.

It is clearly a great challenge, given the nature of the regime in Burma, to get international assistance into the country so far as health problems are concerned. There is of course a strong link between poverty and ill-health, and between poverty and reproductive health. A report in the Lancet recently has detailed how Burma's health is in crisis. The infant mortality rate is at least twice as high as that in Vietnam and Thailand. One million children are poorly nourished, and malaria, TB and diarrhoeal diseases are widespread. Women in Burma face particular health problems because of poor living conditions, inadequate health services and lack of education. We have already heard this evening how rape is used as a weapon of war. Healthcare is even more deficient in ethnic minority regions where constant relocation and heavy losses of life among men have left women with the complete responsibility for raising children. Maternal mortality rates are about 580 per 100,000 live births compared with about 80 for Malaysians. Abortion is used by a very large proportion of women as a means of birth control in the absence of other means. AIDS is an increasing problem, particularly on the Thai border.

As the United Nations Family Planning Association declared in a statement issued with the publication today of its report People, Poverty and Possibilities: Making Development Work for the Poor,

"addressing population concerns is critical to meeting the UN's Millennium Development Goals of halving global poverty and hunger by 2015, reducing maternal and child mortality, curbing HIV/AIDS, advancing gender equality, and promoting environmentally sustainable development".

It designates Burma as a category A country where there is the most urgent need of assistance. And yet, because of the regime in Burma, it cannot get that aid in. It has therefore been unable to channel adequate funding into Burma. The kind of action that UNFPA has been able to take in China, for example, has proved impossible in Burma.

Robert Templer, writing in a recent report for the International Crisis group, stated that it was not certain that attempts to avoid a health disaster in Burma would succeed, but that certainly Burma could not turn the tide,

"without immediate, substantial and sustained financial and technical support".

I should like to ask the Minister whether the Government have found any means to deliver this kind of aid and what other assistance is feasible to try to improve the health of the Burmese people, and thus to help lift them out of poverty. The Government's preference is, as I know, to work with governments. They must not in a case like this, when they do not wish to deal with a government like the Burmese Government, neglect the people of Burma. What are they doing through NGOs to try to change things?

Burma is clearly in the grips of a social, political and economic crisis. Human rights abuses abound, as we have heard, and democracy looks as far away as ever. And yet now just might be a time of opportunity. The military regime in Burma does respond to foreign pressure, if only to step up its propaganda efforts. It is in dire need of economic assistance, and this may just open the possibility for the international community to influence events. We have to hope that the international community is ready and willing to do just that and that the abuses that we have heard about will shock people into action.