Anna Roberts, the executive director of Burma Campaign UK, said that it is shameful that the international community is taking such a “rose tinted” view of what is going on in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, now tending to focus on trade and investment policies while remaining largely silent on human rights. According to Roberts, despite a public perception of improvements, Myanmar still has one of the worst human rights records in the world. She said that since former General Thein Sein became president, human rights abuses have actually increased, with higher numbers of reports of rape by the Myanmar Army and security forces, hundreds of political prisoners still in jail and almost all of the nation’s repressive laws still in place. Roberts said that while there has undoubtedly been an increase in “civil liberties” in urban centers, things have not changed greatly on the ground; and for many, conditions have actually deteriorated, particularly for members of Myanmar’s ethnic and religious minorities.
Human Rights in Burma
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
An interview on economics and Catholic social teaching with Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist and a professor at Columbia University.
Lesson one: I had to buy more stamps.
Celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea should give new energy to evangelization efforts, a new document from the International Theological Commission says.
In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell walk us through the pontiff’s recovery, including “slight improvements” in his speech.