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BANGKOK : Independent observers are claiming that victims of Cyclone Nargis have suffered human rights abuse at the hands of the Myanmar government.
It is a sharp contrast to previous reports by the UN, ASEAN and the military government which said that the hard-hit Delta region was getting back on its feet again.
When Cyclone Nargis struck and devastated Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008, the resulting humanitarian disaster - which claimed 140,000 lives - shocked the world.
After the initial wave of destruction, there was hope that international aid efforts would succeed in the isolated nation to reach the estimated 2.4 million victims who had lost everything.
In the first and only independent and community-based assessment of the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis are a host of allegations of human rights violations by the Myanmar government. The report's authors say that these alleged abuses may constitute crimes against humanity, and they are urging the UN Security Council to mount a serious investigation.
This latest report is a joint effort by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health and the Emergency Assistance Team, a private community group formed in response to Cyclone Nargis.
It found evidence of forced labour and relocation and ubiquitous confiscation and resale of aid by government officials. These accounts came from over 90 interviews with relief workers in the Delta, many of whom were Nargis survivors themselves.
Intimidation and arrest of aid workers, as well as discrimination against ethnic minorities, in the distribution of aid, were also said to be widespread.
Dr Chris Beyrer, Director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said: "To report things that have happened to you - rights violations, forced labour, things that you may have seen, forced relocation - can get you lengthy prison sentences in Burma.
"Secondly, to do so in front of the international community is not better, it is not a protection - it is worse because often after the international community leaves, then the crackdown comes."
Issaryia Sayadaw, All Burma Monks Alliance and Relief Worker, said: "NGOs and the UN will not know the real situation, because when they come to give aid to the victims, they have to be under the control of the government.
"Once, when donors came to give aid to villagers, they filmed it and took photos. After the donors left, the authorities took the aid away. The international NGOs and ASEAN are not able to get this kind of real information - only the local people know the real situation."
At present, ASEAN is working in conjunction with the UN and Myanmar government to appeal to donor nations for the nearly US$700 million required for the next three years of recovery.
But this latest report underscores the importance of independent agencies to monitor the situation for transparency and accountability. - CNA/ms
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