Markante udviklinger spores, men også mange udfordringer anes på vejen mod demokrati og international accept
YANGON (Rangoon), 7 November 2011 (IRIN): One year after Burma held its first election in 20 years, domestic and international opinion is still cautious about the prospects for meaningful change in this nation of more than 55 million people.
Much of the reaction to reforms introduced since President Thein Sein’s inauguration in March 2011 reflects hope that the poor country can break from a heavy-handed authoritarian past involving human rights abuses that make it the target of economic sanctions.
Recent events and reactions include:
* Opposition leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi, said after a groundbreaking meeting with Thein Sein in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, on 19 August that she believed he wanted to achieve “real positive change”. She has been released from house arrest imposed by the previous government.
* The US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, described the dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the government as “very consequential” (nyttig), adding it was “also undeniably the case that there are dramatic developments under way”.
* UN special envoy on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said the country was at a “key moment” in its history. “There are real opportunities for positive and meaningful developments to improve the human rights situation and deepen the transition to democracy.”
But Quintana acknowledged that while the government had taken steps to improve its human rights record, much remains to be done to ensure civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Ethnic harmony…..
In any transition to democracy, a critical issue is whether the country can achieve ethnic harmony, which has proved elusive since independence from Britain in 1948, say analysts.
Fighting has flared again in 2011 in the north between the government “Tatmadaw” forces and the Kachin Independence Organization, and in the east with Shan and Karen armed groups.
The president’s call in August for peace talks has thus far failed to yield any results.
While aid organizations report better access to most parts of the country in contrast to the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, they are still unable to access areas of ethnic unrest, according to both a western diplomat and the head of a UN agency in Yangon.
Progress has been reported on one front of the conflict: speaking out against the forced recruitment of child soldiers.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) office in Yangon reported receiving 355 complaints about child soldiers from the start of 2010 to end-June 2011; 77 children have been discharged while investigations into the remaining 242 cases are pending.
This was up sharply from 2009, with 78 complaints (62 children were released) and in 2008, 29 complaints (23 released), a trend ILO attributed to greater awareness.
Change
Læs videre på http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94149
