Daw Aung San Suu Kyi:
» Authorities denied the lawyer of Burma’s democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi a meeting with her to discuss on the appeal against her continued detention. Lawyer Kyi Win said that his written request to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was rejected by the security forces on December 8.
Click HERE for details.
» Nobel peace laureates opened a summit in Paris on December 11 to draw world attention to the plight of Burma's Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. They are launching an international appeal to free Burmese pro-democracy leader, who won the prize in 1991 and has been detained for most of the past two decades.
Click HERE for details.
Political Prisoners:
» At least 215 Burmese political activists were sentenced in the month of November, according to a report released today by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). The first trial of activists arrested in connection with last year’s uprising in August and September began on 8 October 2007. Since then at least 384 activists have been sentenced, over half of them in the past month, confirming recent reports that the regime plans to expedite the trials of political prisoners.
Click HERE to download AAPP report.
» On December 3, 112 former Presidents and Prime Minister from 50 countries sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to press for the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the end of 2008.
Click HERE to read the letter.
» On December 5, 241 legislators from all over Asia sent a public letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma by the end of 2008.
Click HERE to read the letter.
» On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, the Burma Partnership Working Group members sent an open letter to ASEAN Foreign Ministers to demand the release of all political prisoners in Burma, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders. As the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting will be held in Indonesia on December 15, to celebrate the ASEAN Charter coming into effect, Working Group members also asked the Foreign Ministers to make the issue of Burma’s political prisoners focal in the meeting.
Click HERE to read the letter.
UN and International:
» UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he would not visit Burma without substantive progress by the military regime. He said “At this time I do not think that the atmosphere is ripe for me to undertake my own visit there.”
Click HERE for details.
» US First Lady spoke about Burma on December 10, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She said “This was my opportunity to use the 60th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights to talk about some things that I'm particularly interested in: the rights of women, and two countries that are of special interest to me, Afghanistan and Burma. And I found it really interesting, when I was looking back on the signing, or the adoption, of the International Declaration of Human Rights, that Afghanistan and Burma were both countries that were the original -- of the original 48 countries that signed the International Declaration.”
Click HERE for details.
Companies Funding Burma’s Junta:
The Burma Campaign UK launched a new edition of the “Dirty List”, containing 170 companies that directly or indirectly fund Burma’s brutal regime. It said “Every single day foreign companies give millions of dollars to the regime; allowing them to buy the bullets, guns and supplies for the army that keeps them in power. These companies are financing a regime that rapes five-year-old girls, shoots peaceful protestors and leaves storm victims to die.”
Click HERE to down the Dirty List.
Reporters Without Borders Prize:
Two Burmese pro-democracy activists won the 17th Annual Reporters Without Borders Prize.
Zarganar: An outspoken critic of poverty, privileges and government corruption in his blog, he was arrested in September 2007 for supporting the peaceful demonstrations being staged by Buddhist monks. Arrested again in June of this year on a charge of “disturbing public order” after talking to the BBC about the situation of the victims of the previous month’s Cyclone Nargis, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison by a special court inside Insein prison in November. He was given an additional 14-year prison sentence a few days later. Two journalists have also received long prison sentences for, like him, gathering information about the post-Nargis situation in the Irrawaddy delta. Arrested for the first time during a severe crackdown on opposition activity in 1988, he had been forbidden since 2006 to embark on new artistic activities, including theatre and film.
Nay Phone Latt: The owner of two Internet cafés in Rangoon, Nay Phone Latt was arrested on 29 January 2008 while in possession of a video banned by the military government. He kept a blog (http://www.nayphonelatt.net/) in which he described the difficulties that Burmese youth have to express themselves. It was also a very important source of information about the street demonstrations by Buddhist monks and young people in the autumn of 2007. The government is still cracking down hard on those who participated in or reported on this so-called Saffron Revolution. Nay Phone Latt suffers from an eye ailment but the authorities in Insein prison are not letting him see a doctor.
Click HERE for details.
Report/Briefer:
» Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma: Burma Bulletin November 2008
The Burma Bulletin is a short month in review of events in Burma, particularly those of interest to the democracy movement and human rights activists.
In the November 2008 issue you will find:
* SPDC jails 186 dissidents
* Landmines casualties rising
* Forced labor increases
* CEDAW conclusions
* UNGA condemns SPDC
* SPDC-Bangladesh face-off
* Other Burma news
* List of Reports
* Much more...
Click HERE to download the bulletin.
» On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ALTSEAN-Burma has released a briefer titled "Burma Issues & Concerns Volume 5: Burma Defiles the ASEAN Charter."
Click HERE to download the briefer.
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