PEN has long been concerned about freedom of expression in Myanmar. Since the 1988 crackdown on the National League for Democracy (NLD) in which thousands were killed and thousands more arrested, the numbers of detained writers known to PEN has remained largely unchanged. PEN is currently campaigning for the release of nine writers serving sentences ranging from seven to twenty-one years imprisonment in Myanmar. All are detained for their peaceful opposition activities. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), who seized power in a military coup on September 18, 1988, have remained apparently impervious to the considerable and sustained international pressure for its gross human rights violations.

Political dialogue in crisis

Confidence-building talks between Myanmar’s military junta and the National League for Democracy (NLD) have collapsed following the arrest on May 30, 2003 of opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and scores of her supporters. The UN-brokered talks between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the NLD leader began in October 2000, and were accompanied by a program of releases of political prisoners and the relaxation of some of the constraints on the lawful political activities of the NLD. By early 2002, the UN Special Envoy for Myanmar, Mr Razali Ismail, reported that the time had come for the talks to move forward from the ‘confidence-building’ stage to a political dialogue on more substantive issues. However, this has not happened, and by the end of 2002 it was apparent that the Government’s commitment to substantive political reform was lacking. The progress of the talks and the programme of releases of political detainees were both losing momentum, and there were reports of new arrests of peaceful political activists.

In his report to the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights published in March 2003, the UN Secretary-General concluded, “I am concerned that the national reconciliation process could be reversed unless some tangible progress is quickly made in the near future”. Tensions between the military government and the opposition reached crisis point on May 30, 2003, when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into ‘protective custody’ following allegedly state-orchestrated violent clashes between her supporters and those of the government. Since then, Amnesty International confirms that over 100 people are known to have been arrested or gone missing; most of the NLD’s offices have been shut down, and the government has ordered the indefinite closure of the country’s universities and colleges. Hope for credible change in the political and human rights climate in Myanmar now appears very bleak indeed.

International PEN is taking this opportunity to put pressure on the military government to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political detainees in Myanmar, and to resume the process of political dialogue with the National League for Democracy as a matter of urgency.

The campaign will focus on the following issues:

• Arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention of peaceful political activists;

• Torture and ill-treatment in prison, particularly during pre-trial detention;
• Poor prison conditions and denial of medical treatment, access to family and legal representation.

PEN members, supporters and friends are urged to take part in this campaign by sending appeals:

• protesting the detention of all those detained in Myanmar solely for the peaceful expression of their opinions, in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and calling for their immediate and unconditional release;

• expressing serious concerns that those detained for expressing their views are ill-treated in detention, denied access to medical treatment, and denied their right to a fair trial as guaranteed by international standards;

• condemning the practice of arbitrary and prolonged detention without trial.

Please contact ftw@pen.org if you have any questions.