Guest Comments by the Burma Partnership

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A year after Burma's flawed election, it's time to assess. The regime has taken a few positive actions, like suspending the Myitsone Dam in Kachin State, releasing some political prisoners and making changes to the political-party registration laws that would allow the National League for Democracy to register. But there's also a big increase in human-rights abuses, notably in ethnic areas.

Regional civil-society and exiled Burmese activists based on the Thai-Burma border recently gathered in Jakarta to remind ASEAN and the international community of this outrageous reality. The small concessions don't affect most civilians, especially ethnic nationalities.

In a public hearing, victims and regional civil-society members told of abuses in ethnic areas. The audience heard testimony about women gang-raped and imprisoned by soldiers, children forced into the national army, an ex-political-prisoner tortured for months, a Karen activist whose father was shot and who fled from his village after the army burned it, a man forced to carry and bury dead bodies for the army and men used as human minesweepers before being left to die in the jungle.

The hearing took place before an expert panel that called on the regime to promptly end its crimes in ethnic areas, on ASEAN to study the situation and on the international community to establish a commission of inquiry. Later, individuals from Burma and others discussed how best Burma can transition into a democracy that respects human rights.

Parts of the international community appear to believe that minor actions by Burma's regime justify shifting their approach and improving relations. Soon ASEAN will announce a decision on Burma's bid to chair the regional bloc in 2014. Participants in Jakarta urged ASEAN to delay until Burma makes measurable progress. Meanwhile, the United States has decided to enter into regular dialogue with the regime.

The international community should not allow minor changes to overshadow the regime's human-rights abuses. Addressing these crimes is crucial for real democratic transition.

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