From editor@burmanet.org Tue Oct 29 22:01:00 2002 From: editor@burmanet.org (editor@burmanet.org) Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 17:01:00 -0500 (EST) Subject: BurmaNet News: October 29 2002 Message-ID: <47415.207.10.94.131.1035928860.squirrel@webmail.pair.com> October 29 2002 Issue #2112 INSIDE BURMA UN Wire: E.N. envoy visit set for next month AFP: Shan groups say Myanmar junta concedes rape claims in talks with UN envoy MONEY Energy Europe: CFDT wants ethical agreement with Total/Elf/Fina INTERNATIONAL Irrawaddy: UN envoy in Chiang Mai STATEMENTS & JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS NCGUB: NCGUB hails political initiatives by CRPP Internews Thai: Job openings ______INSIDE BURMA________ UN Wire October 29 2002 U.N. Envoy Visit Set For Next Month By Steve Hirsch WASHINGTON -- U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail will visit the country beginning Nov. 12, sources confirmed today. The visit was first reported this morning by the BBC. Razali's planned trip closely follows a visit just completed by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar. Razali was last in Myanmar in August. According to sources contacted by UN Wire, it is not clear how long Razali's visit will last. He is expected to meet with Myanmar officials as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. _______ Agence France-Presse October 29 2002 Shan groups say Myanmar junta concedes rape claims in talks with UN envoy The authors of a report which claimed the Myanmar junta used rape as a weapon of war against ethnic Shan women said Tuesday that visiting UN envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told them the regime admitted the attacks may have occurred. Pinheiro, fresh from an 11-day visit to Myanmar where he met with top members of the regime, travelled to this northern Thai city to investigate allegations of the systematic rape of hundreds of Shan women and girls by Myanmar soldiers. "Pinheiro told us that during talks with the Myanmar authorities, they replied that it may have occured, but they rejected that the rapes had been systematic," Hseng Naung, spokeswoman for the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN), told AFP. The report released in May by Thailand-based SWAN and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), which documented 625 sex attacks, drew international outrage and has been repeatedly rejected by the military government in Yangon. The junta invited Pinheiro to travel to Shan state to investigate the claims but the envoy turned down the offer, saying he would not have had sufficient time to carry out a comprehensive inquiry. Pinheiro, who is due to hold a press conference in Bangkok Wednesday, also met Tuesday with other ethnic minority groups in order to assess their human rights situation, Hseng Naung said. "We had a chance to tell him what he wanted to know. It was a positive meeting," she said. Hseng Naung added that members of Pinheiro's UN team were scheduled to go to the Thai provinces of Tak and Kanchanaburi which border Myanamr on Wednesday to investigate human rights issues there. It was not clear if they would attempt to interview any rape victims, many of whom have slipped across the Myanmar border into Thailand. Myanmar's junta had been hoping that Pinheiro's visit could help clear the air after a series of damning reports, including the rape allegations, which portrayed the regime as a gross human rights abuser. ____MONEY______ Europe Energy October 29 2002 CFDT WANTS ETHICAL AGREEMENT WITH TOTALFINAELF The chemicals and energy union CFDT (FCE-CFDT) demanded "the conclusion of an ethical agreement" on working conditions in Burma from TotalFinaElf management, according to a press release. The French oil group is currently dealing with judicial proceedings launched in France following a complaint made at the end of August by two Burmese nationals who claimed to have been forced to work on one of its sites. TotalFinaElf also figures large in a report produced by the CISL (the Confederation Internationale des Syndicats Libres) published recently in Geneva, which accused the company of having contributed to perpetuating forced labour in Burma. "The FCE-CFDT wanted to conclude an ethical agreement to demonstrate the willingness of the group to stand by the values it says it supports", noted the union, adding that nothing had been undertaken by the oil giant, in spite of various communications and soothing noises from the company about on sustainable development. TotalFinaElf, whilst totally denying the accusations of forced labour in Burma, confirmed that it wanted to maintain its presence in the country, which is governed by a military junta. _____INTERNATIONAL_______ Irrawaddy October 29 2002 UN envoy in Chiang Mai October 29, 2002—After concluding a 12-day trip to Burma, UN human rights rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met with representatives from three Shan groups in separate meetings this afternoon, a Shan source said. The three Shan groups--the Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN), the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)--met with Pinheiro to discus human rights violations, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In particular, the groups spoke about allegations raised in "License to Rape", a report which details the sexual abuse of 625 women by military personnel. In Bangkok earlier today, Pinheiro was reported to have met with Razali Ismail, UN special envoy to Burma. On Pinheiro's schedule tomorrow is several meetings with Thai-based opposition groups and NGOs, including the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). ____STATEMENTS & JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS____ National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma October 25 2002 NCGUB HAILS POLITICAL INITIATIVES BY CRPP The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) is heartened by the recent decisions taken by the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP) at a regular meeting in Rangoon on 23 October 2002. The legitimate body representing the whole people decided, among others, to bring in leaders of major ethnic political parties as members and expand the CRPP to accept new members. The NCGUB also lauds the Chairmen of the Mon National Democracy Front, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and the Zomi National Congress for deciding to represent their own parties and dedicate their full time to the important work of the CRPP to restore democracy and re-build hand-in-hand the multi-ethnic nation of Burma. Today, members of the CRPP--Arakan League for Democracy, Mon National Democracy Front, National League for Democracy, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and Zomi National Congress--have shown that they are strong in their unity and are of one mind in their pursuit of democracy and to re-building the Union of Burma. Their display of unity and courage bodes well for the political future of the country because the NCGUB firmly believes that unity among political forces is the most important requisite for the future of the democratic Union of Burma. We, elected representatives in exile and the NCGUB reaffirm our unwavering support for these political parties and the CRPP as a whole. We wish the CRPP success in its endeavors and stand firmly behind it and its determined and unswerving endeavor to fulfill the wish of the people as expressed through the 1990 elections. We, the NCGUB, appeal to all Governments, Parliaments, the United Nations, and international organizations and institutions to strongly back the peaceful efforts by the CRPP and to encourage the generals to enter into a cooperative relationship with it for the benefit of the country and the people. We also wish to remind the SPDC that the military alone can never resolve the current socioeconomic and political problems and that it is vitally important to immediately begin working with the CRPP and elected political parties in order to resolve all national problems, restore democracy, and re-build the nation. The CRPP representing the aspirations of all the multi-ethnic peoples of Burma, supported firmly by all forces in the world-wide democracy movement, stands ready to move forward and rebuild the Union of Burma in the mold and direction inspired to by the people of Burma. ________ INTERNEWS THAI BOOKKEEPER TRAINEE JOB OPENING Start date: End January 2003 Salary: Competitive local salary offered, according to qualifications and experience. This is an excellent opportunity to train in basic accounting skills and be involved in NGO work. The position will potentially lead to work as the Internews bookkeeper. Requirements: - Good spoken and written English - Ability to work accurately with a good eye for detail- - Familiar with maths and money management - Keen and eager to learn - Organised and methodical- - Some computer experience will be useful Essential Duties and Responsibilities: - Full-time on-the-job training in bookkeeping skills and accounting software - Assist bookkeeper in financial accounting Details - Local scale salary - Health benefits - Based in Chiang Mai office - Opportunity to improve your English language - Women and all members of all the ethnic nationalities of Burma are encouraged to apply. Interested applicants please contact: linda@internewsth.com Closing date for applications is: 30 November, 2002 INTERNEWS THAI - JOURNALISM SCHOOL WORLD AFFAIRS/LEARNING SKILLS TEACHER JOB OPENING Contract: 4 months Start date: April 1st 2003 Salary: Competitive local salary offered, according to qualifications and experience. The World Affairs/Learning Skills Teacher will be responsible for creating and teaching a world affairs curriculum to sixteen young people from Burma. As students will be from disadvantaged educational backgrounds, this module should be taught with particular emphasis on imparting learning skills. Essential Duties and Responsibilities - Create a "World Affairs" curriculum comprising an overview of key 20th century economic and political developments, tracing their relevance to current affairs. The course should be designed with an orientation toward SE Asia and should pay specific attention to ethnic conflicts and liberation struggles that have relevance to Burma. - Design or adopt a mode of teaching that will equip students with key learning skills (eg. note taking, organizing information, using classroom equipment) and will give them the opportunity to practice those skills in a structured and consistent way. - Conduct daily classes for a period of three months (approximately 4 hours per day). - Create appropriate teaching aids, resources and materials that can be kept and used in future courses. - Work with students outside of class time on homework, class visits, projects, research, reports, presentations or other assignments. - Oversee homework period two evenings a week. - Monitor and evaluate individual student progress, keep written records of that progress and write a final report on each student. - Evaluate progress, content and impact of overall "World Affairs" module and write final report including recommendations for change and adaption in future modules. Requirements - Demonstrable knowledge of world affairs. - Training/teaching experience, with priority given to those who have taught young non-professionals and/or non-native English speakers. - Experience in curriculum development. - Background in SE Asia, preferably Burma. - Self-starter - willing to take initiative, think on their feet and adapt content and teaching methods as the course evolves. - Knowledge of conflict and refugee issues is a plus. - Team worker - able to pull together with colleagues in an unpredictable program environment. - Flexibility, sense of humor, patience and dedication. - Peparedness to handle volatile student group dynamics arising as a result of ethnic/gender mix, life trauma or other sensitive issues. - Burmese, Thai and Asian nationals are encouraged to apply. Please send resume and cover letter to: alison@internews.org INTERNEWS THAI - JOURNALISM SCHOOL TEACHING ASSISTANT JOB OPENING Start Date: May 1, 2003 Salary: Local salary according to skills and experience Internews in Chiang Mai is setting up a new in-residence journalism program for young people from ethnic communities on the Thai/Burma border. Over a ten-month period, we aim to equip 16 young people journalism and news production skills, English language skills, learning skills, basic computer skills. We require the services of a Teachers Assistant to help trainers and students with all aspects of the teaching and learning process. Essential Duties and Responsibilities - Assist teachers in-class for 4 to 6 hours per day (between 0830 and 1630) - Give students periodic summaries and translations in Burmese - Clarify, explain and discuss lesson content both during and after sessions in order to enhance students' understanding - Help teachers with preparation of lesson materials and management of the program - Some written translation work - Help students with homework - Live on the school premises up to 5 days per week and act as a liaison person between students and staff. Requirements - Good fluency in English and Burmese - Experience in spoken translation from English to Burmese - Commitment to the education of young people - Familiarity with media issues would be an advantage - Knowledge of world affairs would be an advantage - Patience, flexibility, energy and a sense of humour Details - April 2002 - Feb. 3003 with possibility of extension - Based in Chiang Mai - On-site living arrangements are available if wanted - Competitive local salary with health insurance - Women and members of all the ethnic nationalities of Burma are encouraged to apply Interested applicants please contact: alison@internews.org