Human Rights and International Governance

Burma/Myanmar is presently in a state of crisis. Just this last week, more than 100, 000 demonstrators, including scores of Buddhist monks, took to the streets. True to form, the government has responded by employing lethal force to put down the pro-democracy movement. Also true to form, its actions have been met by shock and outrage, as governments and citizens groups around the world have called for an immediate halt to the repression. So far, their protests seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
     When it comes to matters involving human rights, there are few things that the international community can agree on; that Burma/Myanmar is a pariah state with a deplorable rights record happens to be one of them. Indeed, in international fora, such as the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Commission/Council, the military government has consistently been centred out for its abusive practices, and with good reason: basic political and civil rights are under constant and systematic assault; members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), including the party’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, are routinely arrested for political reasons; torture and ill-treatment in the prisons are commonplace; and, according to Amnesty International, in recent years hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced from their homes, and then denied access to assistance from international aid agencies. Again, these practices have been met by near universal criticism from the international community.
     Sadly, the current crisis in Burma/Myanmar reveals just how ineffective the practice of shaming governments into improving their behaviour can be as a strategy for protecting human rights. For countries that care about their international reputations, shaming can often be a powerful tool for human rights activists and other states; but Burma/Myanmar is not one of these countries. In the past, widespread international condemnation has not had much of an effect on the military regime. Nor is it likely to have much of an effect in the immediate future either.
     Thankfully, governments and international organizations are working diligently behind the scenes to broker a resolution to this latest round of violence. I wish them good luck. They’ll need it, for they are dealing with a belligerent that has, to date, not shown the slightest bit of remorse for its actions. 

The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author only, and do not represent the views of any organization or institution with which he is affiliated.