For Immediate Release. August 28, 2002

The Burma Fund
&
the Shan Rape Report

At a press conference in Yangon on 26 August 2002, the State Peace and Development Council rejected the recent report by the Shan Women's Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation on sexual violence against Shan women by Tatmadaw members.

The SPDC instead accused The Burma Fund and Prime Minister Dr Sein Win of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma of giving funds to the SWAN to fabricate the report in order to obtain financial assistance for the 'SURA drug-trafficking insurgent Ywet Sit'. The SPDC spokesman Colonel San Pwint said that the chief task of the Burma Fund is to publish and spread anti-Myanmar publications. This is not true.

The Burma Fund is a legally established non-profit corporation in the USA. The mission of the Fund is to strengthen the human and institutional capacity of the democracy movement by providing policy makers with assistance in developing policies for a transition to democracy.

The Burma Fund gave no financial assistance to either the SWAN or the SHRF to produce the rape report. Research and publications by the Burma Fund have included studies on the Economic Development of Burma; Land Policy for a Future Burma; Military Regimes and the Civilian Support Base; Civil-Military Relations in Democratic Transition; and Organizing a Post-Transition Electoral System. For more information, see: www.burmafund.org

Given that Burma's administrative, social, and economic infrastructure has been neglected for more than 30 years, the Burma Fund has also established a Technical Advisory Network of Burmese and international scholars, and professionals who are committed to helping rebuild Burma. Instead of making unfounded accusations, the SPDC should be seriously considering how it can rebuild Burma with the help of this untapped resource pool.

In the same vein, Colonel San Pwint has accused Harn Yawnghwe, Executive Director of The Burma Fund, of abusing the financial assistance given to the democracy movement by the US and Canada. These accusations are groundless as evidenced by the continued support of these nations. Harn Yawnghwe is currently heading the National Reconciliation Program, which facilitates and encourages dialogue and activities aimed at achieving reconciliation among all nationalities in Burma.

Instead of blanket denials and false accusations, the SPDC must look for ways to deal with the pervasive human rights abuses in Burma that have also been well documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Labour Organization, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the UN General Assembly. Unless these abuses are acknowledged and genuinely dealt with in a transparent way, the SPDC will not be able to build the modern developed nation that it says it wants.

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