A monthly round-up of Human Rights issues around the world
November began with the build-up to the first elections in Burma (renamed Myanmar by the junta in 1989) since 1990. Last time out the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, before the ruling military junta decided it didn't really want to relinquish power and dismissed the elections. So, twenty years on and the elections take place with a ban of foreign observers and journalists, two thirds of the candidates having links to the ruling junta and the main opposition leader, Aun San Suu Kyi under house arrest . It seems little wonder that nobody really seemed to care, and inevitably the UN condemnation of the elections as being unfair was issued despite Russian and Chinese objections. In the queue of inevitabilities was the declaration of victory for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the biggest military backed party in the elections. The main opposition, the NLD, refused to take part in the elections ....... read more >>>>
