Hundreds of thousands of people, under the leadership of
Buddhist monks, have joined in national peaceful demonstrations
inside Burma, demanding a government that respects the will of the
people. The problem in Burma involves more than just these protests
that have happened in the past month – for decades the military
regime has maintained a steady strangulation of the country. Because
of the immoral governance of the military, Burma is a hole of poverty
and disease. Moreover, the military regime has maintained a brutal
campaign against ethnic minorities, destroying over 3,000 villages,
forcing millions from their homes, and conscripting more child
soldiers than any country in the world.
Michael Bootzin of Peace Action Wisconsin states, "One
and a half million people have been forced from their homes, women
are systematically raped, men and children have been forced into
slave labor. It's time to say 'enough is enough'!”
Global attention is focused heavily on Burma right now, and we
support voices from the UN, ASEAN, world leaders, musicians, actors,
and countless others who have spoken out for the release of the
world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Aung San Suu Kyi
as well as the release of the thousands of other political prisoners.
The International Committee of the Red Cross usually maintains a
neutral position; however, at the end of June this year, the ICRC
strongly condemned the regime on grounds of forced labor and repeated
atrocities committed against groups in eastern Burma- including
murder, violence, arbitrary arrest and ´large scale´ destruction of
food supplies. According to the BBC, this is the strongest public
criticism since it spoke out against the Rwandan genocide over a
decade ago.
Burma is one of the most forgotten areas of the world; a place
where mass displacement, forced labor, rape, torture, and all forms
of persecution are a common reality. However, it has great value in
the international political climate.
