By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Mar 18 2007 (IPS)

Hopes that Burma&#39s military regime will change and begin caring for its people soon have been dashed now that a respected international humanitarian agency has revealed that the junta is not serious about easing the hardships of its long-suffering citizens.

The terse statement released this month by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) left little doubt about the insurmountable difficulties faced by an organisation that has a reputation for striving to be neutral as it pursues politically sensitive work. ‘&#39The ICRC&#39s humanitarian work in Myanmar has now reached near paralysis,&#39&#39 a ranking member of the Geneva-based organisation said of Burma, which has been renamed Myanmar by the current junta.

‘&#39A recent meeting with the ministry of home affairs made no headway,&#39&#39 Pierre Krahenbuhl, the ICRC&#39s director of operations, added. ‘&#39There are also strong indications of a deterioration in conditions of detention and treatment at several places of detention.&#39&#39

That it means business was confirmed by the decision to close its offices in areas that are home to two of Burma&#39s many ethnic communities, the Mon and the Shan. The ICRC will be shutting down its offices in Mawlamyine, in the Mon state, and Kyaing Tong, in the Shan state, and ‘&#39is carefully considering whether to keep open its remaining field offices,&#39&#39 added the agency, which opened its first office in 1986 to help fit artificial limbs for disabled victims of conflicts.

The prospect of ICRC pulling out completely from Burma will have broad implications, say analysts, since this humanitarian agency has served as a barometer to gauge the space available for other international and U.N. agencies to work in the South-east Asian nation under the iron grip of a military dictatorship. &#39&#39The ICRC pulling out will make it difficult for other humanitarian agencies in Burma to say that things are fine, that the harsh rules are only on paper and to send more money,&#39&#39 says Debbie Stothard, ranking member of the Alternate ASEAN (Association of South-east Asian Nations) Network on Burma, a regional human right body.

This will force other humanitarian agencies that choose to remain in Burma to ask if they are prolonging and perpetuating the crisis or helping to change the situation through their work, she told IPS. ‘&#39The reality is the regime has not shifted; this is a wake-up call that exposes what is actually going on in Burma.&#39&#39

The ICRC&#39s announcement comes as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the Burmese junta calls itself, appeared to be demonstrating new confidence to deal with its international critics following a significant diplomatic victory at the U.N. Security Council in mid-January. That month, China, Russia and South Africa succeeded in blocking a move by the United States government to draw the U.N.&#39s most powerful body to play an active role in solving the political crisis in Burma.

The Security Council is not the proper venue to discuss Burma, Washington&#39s opponents said, adding that the problems in the country did not measure up to one of international insecurity. This draft resolution – which called for national reconciliation, a push for greater democracy, the release of all political prisoners, and an end to human rights abuses – was the first of its kind, since Burma had not figured this way in front of the Council before.

But Washington did not adjust its tune, as an annual human rights report released early March by the U.S. state department ranked Burma as one of the world&#39s worst rights violators. ‘&#39Prisoners and detainees were subjected to abuse and held in harsh, life-threatening conditions,&#39&#39 the department&#39s 2006 report revealed, adding further that ‘&#39surveillance, harassment and imprisonment of political activists continued.&#39&#39

It also drew attention to the use of forced labour, trafficking in people, religious discrimination and the conscription of child soldiers. ‘&#39The (Burmese) regime&#39s cruel and destructive misrule also resulted in refugee outflows, the spread of infectious diseases, and the trafficking of drugs .. into neighbouring countries.&#39&#39

The ill treatment of political prisoners and the threat of jail terms for the junta&#39s critics in the country have become key elements to judge how sincere the SPDC is when it talks of plans for political reform and change. They even featured during a visit to Burma last November by a senior U.N. envoy. ‘&#39(Among) the five major issues I raised (during meetings with the SPDC) were: political prisoners, humanitarian access (and) a more inclusive political process,&#39&#39 Ibrahim Gambari, undersecretary-general for political affairs, told journalists after submitting a report to the Security Council about that visit.

Burma, which has been under the control of successive military regimes since a 1962 coup, started allowing the ICRC prison visits to monitor the condition of political detainees since September 1999. Over 1,100 political prisoners currently in Burmese jails benefited from these visits till they stopped in November 2005 due to interference by the SPDC.

‘&#39The prisoners have lost much since the ICRC has stopped going for nearly one-and-a-half-years, since they help prisoners with their problems and also donate over 50 percent of the medicines needed in all the prisons,&#39&#39 says Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner who now is a ranking member of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a group that champions the human rights concerns of those jailed in Burma. ‘&#39The regime does not want the ICRC to help those who are suffering.&#39&#39

This is the longest period the ICRC has not been to the prisons since 1999, he added in an interview. ‘&#39There is a greater possibility of more people dying in prison now that the ICRC cannot work freely in Burma.&#39&#39

In fact, the timing of the ICRC&#39s latest announcement only strengthens the view of the SPDC critics that the past 12 months of oppression and reluctance towards genuine reform in Burma have been consistent with the past. After all, in March 2006 another Geneva-based agency known for its success at conflict resolution, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, was booted out of Burma.

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