On Tuesday, just a few days before the controversial elections in Burma, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accused the military junta currently in power of serious human rights abuses against minorities. At least 86,000 members of ethnic minorities in Burma have had to flee their villages since August 2009 due to war and human rights abuses. "The junta employs only war and displacement in the remote ethnic areas," reported Ulrich Delius, head of the STP's Asia section. "This military government does not belong on the electoral roll, but rather before the International Criminal Court." There are almost 240 army divisions stationed in Eastern Burma alone, raping and shooting civilians or pressing them into forced labor. The number of soldiers stationed there has been increased from 180,000 to 400,000 since 1988. In light of the recent purchase of 50 army helicopters in Russia, the minorities fear an escalation of the war after the elections.

So far in 2010, at least 113 villages populated by ethnic minorities in Eastern Burma have been destroyed or forcibly relocated. Primarily members of the Mon peoples and the mostly Christian Karen people were affected by these assaults. Soldiers shot and killed civilians at random, sprayed gunfire into villages and fields, and burned down schools, churches and hospital wards. Food, seeds and agricultural equipment were confiscated or plundered. Provision of humanitarian aid to the destitute in the civilian population was obstructed. At least 26,000 Karen and 8,000 Mon fled from the attacks.

Around 450,000 members of ethnic minorities are living as internally displaced persons in the eastern part of the country. At least 115,000 of these refugees are hiding from the army in inaccessible areas.

Minorities are also on the run in the western and northern parts of the country as well. At least 8,000 Muslim Rohingyas fled in the past 12 months from western Burma to neighboring Bangladesh. Some 5,000 Christian Chin from the north of Burma have had to leave their villages due to human rights abuses and ongoing drought.

"It is scandalous the way this junta wants to use unfair elections to legitimize itself as a democracy, especially after they have brought most of the 135 ethic groups in this multiethnic nation to the brink of ruin. Today, 32 percent of the population in Burma is living below the poverty level," said Delius. "The military has become rich from the sale of natural resources taken from minority areas, while the regions themselves grow poorer every day. China, India, Thailand and Bangladesh are having more than 20 huge dams built there for their energy needs. Several hundred thousand people will be displaced in the process. "This predatory building project is being financed by China, who gave Burma an interest-free loan of 4.2 billion US dollars in September 2010."

For further information, please contact Ulrich Delius (0049-(0)551-49906-27).

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford