A lawyer in Burma has been awarded a prestigious European human rights award in recognition of his struggle for labour rights under extremely adverse conditions. U Aye Myint, right, who has set up a legal aid group in Burma to handle cases of forced labour, illegal land confiscation and workers´ rights, was awarded the European Bar´s Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize on 17 May 2008. (23-MAY-08)
Based on a news release from the Democratic Voice of Burma, received at www.humanrightshouse.org via the dispatches of HREA*, this article has been edited and prepared for publication here by HRH F / Nils Jacob Harbitz.
Aye Myint has twice been imprisoned over cases that he has brought to the courts and to the International Labour Organisation, and has had his licence to practice illegally revoked. On at least one occasion he suffered cruel and inhuman treatment by being kept hooded, handcuffed and unfed for days while detained. Speaking to the Democratic Voice of Burma after the announcement, Aye Myint said that he would continue to struggle for rights in Burma for his whole life. “I will fight any government or individual acting against the law,” he said. Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, congratulated U Aye Myint on the award.
“The AHRC has followed Aye Myint´s work for a number of years and have great respect for the courageous efforts of he and other human rights lawyers in Burma working under what are some of the most extremely difficult conditions of anywhere in Asia,” Fernando said. “Aye Myint is well-deserving of the award, but it should be seen as an award in acknowledgement of all lawyers in Burma who are fighting not only for the rights of their people but also to keep alive rational practices of law in what is otherwise a demented system,” he said. The Hong Kong-based regional rights group has issued urgent appeals and advocated strongly both on cases that Aye Myint has handled as well as on his own imprisonment and the unlawful removal of his licence.
“At a time that Aye Myint´s country is facing its greatest challenge of modern times in the form of a cyclone of immense proportions and a government that has shown the worst ever response to a natural disaster in living memory, the presence and work of Aye Myint and others like him will be needed more than ever,” Fernando said. Aye Myint told DVB that like others in recent weeks he had been collecting money and old clothes to send for victims of Cyclone Nargis, which hit the country on May 10.
The Ludovic-Trarieux prize has been awarded since 1984 by the Human Rights Institute of the European Bar. It is named after a former French justice minister who was a founding member and the first president of the French League for the Defence of Human Rights and the Citizen.
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*HREA – www.hrea.org. Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies.
