Amnesty International and Burma

DVB ( 22 December 2003 )

The military regime of Burma, the SPDC welcomed a visit by one of the strongest critics of its human rights record as "constructive involvement of the international community."

London-based Amnesty International (AI) concluded a 17-day fact-finding tour of Burma on 19 December, but failed to meet with detained Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo who is currently held at Kale Prison in Upper Burma.

The AI team also failed to meet the family members of political prisoners and the NLD’s legal support team during the trip.

Catherine Baber, AI's deputy programme director for Asia, and researcher Donna Guest declined to comment on their trip before departing for Bangkok, Thailand, where they were scheduled to hold a press conference Monday.

The AI team visited several prisons and met with government officials and leaders of National League for Democracy (NLD), who were recently released from detention.

"The visit reflects the spirit of openness and international cooperation which are helping to make Myanmar's (Burma’s) transition to democracy a success," said a statement from the government spokesman's office.

"Much of what has been written about Myanmar has been based on rumour, ideology and conjecture, rather than fact," the statement said.

AI has been critical of the appalling human rights records in Burma and observers believe that the SPDC is utilising psychological and propaganda warfare by pouring praises on one of its greatest critics before it says anything critical on the regime.