Protecting ethnic minorities is a must

February 2, 2008

Protecting ethnic minorities is a must

It is not at all an easy life for the average Burmese citizen of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, under the reign of the brutal military regime there. It is much worse for the country's more than 100 unique ethnicities, whose plight has been given a fresh international focus with the recent cases of Rohingyas who are seeking an escape from persecution at the hands of the junta.
Indeed, the ethnic minorities make Myanmar, which has a population of 55 million, one of the most diverse countries in South-East Asia with a long history of conflict. There are no easy answers to the crises there, but the world has yet to take effective action to help protect the minorities of Myanmar.
The Buddhist Burman (or Bamar) people are the country's largest ethnic group and they dominate the military regime.
Myanmar's ethnic minorities, often targets of unpaid forced labour campaigns, have a record of waging long and bloody insurgencies against the military regime. The junta has always hit back with an iron hand with scorched-earth policies and relocation schemes involving entire villages.
The Rohingyas, a Muslim minority group that has been refused citizenship by the Burmese government since 1982, is the most affected by consistent persecution. Others include the Buddhist Shan, the Christian Chin and Kachin, and the mixed Christian and Buddhist Karen.
The international community has always known of the Burman-dominated regime's campaigns against the minorities, but has done little to make any difference to their misery.
With the latest tales of agony and abuse involving the Rohingya "boat people" who ended up in Thailand, Indonesia and India, the so-called civilised world finds itself facing the challenge of bringing about change in Myanmar.
Instead of tackling the challenge at its roots, the countries involved are returning the boat people to Myanmar where they definitely face more persecution, including torture and forced labour.
It is yet another stain and blemish in the international conscience. The world's approach in such cases has always been selective.
Governments and organisations conveniently look the other way when it comes to calls for effective action against countries and government that are linked to their "strategic interests." They simply want to evade their international responsibility not to tolerate abuses and violations of human rights anywhere in the world.
UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is visiting Myanmar this week for fresh talks with the ruling junta on initiating political reforms that would bring democracy to the country (or at least that is the stated purpose of Gambari's mission).
It is the height of arrogance and defiance of the international community as represented by the UN that the military rulers kept in the dark over his itinerary in the country until after his arrival and failed to even invite him to their remote capital in Naypyidaw during his past two missions in the country.
It was indeed a resounding expression of disgust and protest against the ineffectiveness of the UN that detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi refused to meet Gambari during his mission last August.
The international community, which stood by and watched the invasion and occupation of Iraq in a war based on deception, should get its act together in the case of Myanmar and do whatever it takes to end the gross abuses and violations of human rights there.