Junta Targeting Civilian Ethnic Minorities: UK

WASHINGTON — Expressing concern on the lack of progress towards national reconciliation, Britain on Wednesday charged that the Burmese military regime continues to target ethnic minority civilians in human rights abuses.

The plight of internally displaced persons is an acute problem in a country like Burma, British Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Philip Parham told the UN Security Council during the course of a special debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

Burmese residents in Japan stage a rally in Tokyo on June 19 to demand the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (Photo: Getty Images)

In Burma, he said, Britain remains deeply concerned about the lack of progress towards national reconciliation.
 
“The Burmese military regime continues to target civilians, particularly people from ethnic minorities,” he said.

“The use of rape and other forms of sexual violence remain a serious concern, as do the use of child soldiers and forced labor for military use. Protecting civilians, wherever and whoever they are, is the best way to prevent displacement and consequent deprivation,” Parham said.

In May, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma Tomas Ojea Quintana said the United Nations should investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese junta.
Earlier, a panel of international judges and Nobel laureates has met with UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon and UN Security Council member-states, to make a case for an international inquiry into the ruling junta's crimes such as forced displacement of people, violence to life and person, sexual violence including rape and sex trafficking, torture and persecution of people based on religious or ethnic identity, among others.

“The courageous protests led by Buddhist monks in September 2007, and the regime’s shocking crackdown, including the killing of Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai, exposed more clearly than ever before the regime’s cruelty,” wrote Yozo Yokota, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Burma and a member of the UN Sub–Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, on July 6 in The Jakarta Post.

“Eight months later, Cyclone Nargis ripped through the country, leaving death and devastation in its wake, and the regime’s initial refusal to accept international aid workers evidenced its inhumanity,” she said.