English essay

p Human Rights Violations in Burma

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been explicit in citing the rights of every individual . These rights range from freedom to life , liberty and property to freedom to participate in the social life of one 's community . In several countries all over the world , these rights are not always respected and individual rights are often disregarded and trampled . One such country where the rights of individuals are violated and not respected is Myanmar , formerly known as Burma

Human rights violations have been particularly documented

and reported by human rights groups which have become concerned with the rampant violations of the rights of majority of the Burmese citizens . The human rights problem in Burma may have come from its efforts to build their democracy after British colonialism . The country faced many civil wars and insurgencies in the 1940s . And as a response to these civil wars and insurgencies , it fell under military dictatorship in the 1960s . Ever since then , human rights have been oppressed and a large number of innocent people have been killed . Activists and protesters such as students , Buddhists monks and other civilians were killed after a series of massacres and protests Although admittedly rich in natural resources such as oil , timber and natural gas , Myanmar is one of the poorest nations in the world today The administration has tried to lure investors into the country to take advantage of these resources and the forced labor it practices According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions hundreds of men , women and children have been forced to work against their will by the current administration (ICFTU 2005 . Those who refused to work were shot to death , raped or tortured . Children have been repeatedly exploited and forced into labor by both the military and rebel groups . The Human Rights Watch has even documented those boys as young as eleven years old have been forced to serve in the military to fight rebels and insurgent groups , while others act as porters for the military . Human rights groups all over the world have repeatedly asked the administration to end this practice of forced labor that has been in practice since the 1960s . But the military junta has repeatedly denied that it practices forced labor in the country Moreover , the freedom of speech and political freedom has been curtailed in the country . More than 200 individuals have been imprisoned between 1989 to 2004 who are opponents and critics of the current administration . These prisoners were mostly members of the National League for Democracy and have been wrongfully denied of their rights to liberty for acts which have been considered peaceful by the under international law . Students , lawyers , teachers and many others have been unjustly arrested by the military and have been imprisoned for offenses that do not even exist . The military has been in the practice of arbitrarily searching houses , intercepting mails and monitoring telephone conversations of suspected members of the opposition . The administration has also made...