Moo Keh Blue Kusay Karen Student, Myanmar

 a major voice for human rights and freedom in Burma  Won Nobel prize in 1991  1988 – decided to join National League for Democracy (NLD)  placed under house arrest for 15 years  won more than 80% of the legislative seats but military government didn’t recognize the election results CNN (2015) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi:

What are the causes and effects of human rights abuses in Burma by the country’s military government, and what are some possible solutions to this problem?

Brief outline:  Causes and effects  Solutions  Where I stand  Conclusion

 Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status (UNHCR, 2015)  Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948 Definition:

Land confiscations:  Infrastructure projects  Natural resource  Commercial agriculture projects  Military purposes  Armed ethnic groups

Consequences:  Loss of Private property  Loss of ancestral lands  Health issues  Loss in income and employment  Environmental risks  Land rights activists imprisonment  Displacement

Freedom of expression violation:  Military junta wants:  To limit the activities of political movements  To suppress the reports/critiques from media outlets  To take control all section of education system

Outcomes:  1989 – 2004: 1,300 political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi have been imprisoned after unfair trials (Amnesty International, 2004)  Heavy censorship on media(Committee To Protect Journalists, 2015)  Parties/reporters face severe consequences for criticizing government officials and policy (Reuters, 2015; Freedom house, 2014)  Prohibit formation of students & teacher unions (National Network for Education Reform, 2014)

Possible solutions:  Protests against the military government  Complaints to government authorities and reports to international human rights agencies  Educate farmers related to land ownership rights  Spreading the news via media outlets  NLD wins the oncoming election (November, 2015)

My perspective:  Myanmar is overwhelmed with basic human rights abuse but there is one most effective solution: National League for Democracy (NLD) wins the oncoming general elections in November, 2015.

Conclusions:  Problems:  Land confiscations  freedom of speech violations  Best solutions:  National League for Democracy

Reference:  Amnesty International. (2014). The State of the world’s human rights. Retrieved from  Aung San Suu Kyi Fast Facts. (2015, June). Cable News Network (CNN). Retrieved from  Myanmar’s 2015 general elections explained. (2015, July 20). BBC News. Retrieved from  PNA people’s militia confiscates farmers’ land. (2015, May 18). Burma News International. Retrieved from pna-people-s-militia-confiscates-farmers-land.htmlhttp:// pna-people-s-militia-confiscates-farmers-land.html  10 Most Censored Countries. (2015). Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved from  Burma: land rights activists are newest political prisoners. (2015, August 15). Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from rights-activists-are-newest-political-prisonershttps:// rights-activists-are-newest-political-prisoners

 Karen Human Rights Group. (2015). ‘With only our voices, what can we do?’: Land confiscation and local response in southeast Myanmar. Retrieved from confiscation-and-local-response confiscation-and-local-response  Myanmar Sentences Journalist to Prison for Reporting Accurately. (2014, July 11). Freedom house. Retrieved from sentences-journalists-prison-reporting-accuratelyhttps://freedomhouse.org/article/myanmar- sentences-journalists-prison-reporting-accurately  Myint, N. (2014). Land-grab demonstrators step up protest outside Yangon City Hall. Mizzima. Retrieved from news/myanmar/item/15812-land-grab-demonstrators-step-up-protest-outside- yangon-city-hall/15812-land-grab-demonstrators-step-up-protest-outside-yangon- city-hallhttp://archive-3.mizzima.com/mizzima- news/myanmar/item/15812-land-grab-demonstrators-step-up-protest-outside- yangon-city-hall/15812-land-grab-demonstrators-step-up-protest-outside-yangon- city-hall  Parties banned from criticising army in state media. (2015, August 30). Reuters. Retrieved from elections-idUSKCN0QY0K http:// elections-idUSKCN0QY0K  The Human Rights Risk Index (2015). The Human Rights Risk Atlas. Retrieved from  United Nations Human Rights. (2015). What are human rights? Retrieved from