Title 3--The President Human Rights The SPDC's human rights record remains poor with repression of political dissent, forced labor, ethnic persecution, lack of religious freedom and traf- ficking in persons all figuring prominently. Burma was designated a Coun- try of Particular Concern for particularly severe violations religious free- dom in 2001. Burma has been the scene of severe human rights abuses, par- ticularly in ethnic minority areas, where there have been many reports of extraiudicial killings, rapes, and disappearances. Some of these were high- lighted during the past six months in publications by Amnesty Inter- national and groups based on the Thai border. The Department of State's annual Human Rights Country Report on Burma includes credible reports of rape and other atrocities committed by the Burmese military, especially in ethnic minority areas. In June 2002, the Shan Human Rights Foundation (an organization initially related to the Shan United Army, a narcotics-traf- ficking organization), together with the Shan Women's Action Network, published a report, based on interviews with displaced persons, which al- leged that Burmese Army personnel had been involved in multiple rapes involving hundreds of women between 1996 and 200\177. The report also ar- gued that the Burmese Army had used rape systematically as a weapon of war in its counter-insurgency operations. The Burmese investigated these charges with three separate teams from the Burmese Army, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Myanmar National Women's Cooperative Associa- tion, but concluded--incredibly--that there was no evidence that Burmese Army personnel had been involved in any rapes in Shan State during the five-year period covered by the SHRF/SWAN report. Following subsequent international pressure, the Burmese have approached both the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN Special Rapporteur Pinheiro for pos- sible involvement in an investigation, but there remains doubt about the Burmese government's willingness to deal effectively with Burmese Army abuses in areas of internal conflict. We are urging that the UN independ- ently investigate the reports. The Burmese government dealt more effectively with other allegations of human rights abuses. It has continued to work with the International Com- mittee of the Red Cross on improvements in prison conditions. It has also allowed ICRC to open up five regional offices throughout the country, staffed by 34 international volunteers, to provide protection to ethnic mi- norities. Similarly, it has allowed the United Nations High Commission on Refugees to maintain a presence in northern Rakhine State, providing sup- port and protection services to more than 230,000 Rohingya Muslims who have returned from Bangladesh. After nearly a decade, however, some 22,000 Rohingya refugees still remain in two refugee camps in Bangladesh. In spite of ongoing repatriation efforts, for the last few years repatriations to Burma have not kept up with the camp birthrates and restrictions on movement in Burma have made life exceedingly difficult for this popu- lation. Furthermore, nearly \17730,000 other Burmese ethnic minority dis- placed persons live in several camps along the border in Thailand because they do not feel it is safe to return. Given continued insurgent activity among some ethnic groups, associated human rights abuses are likely to continue. The government has also made some progress on forced labor, which re- mains an issue of serious concern to the international community. In No- 32O
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