Angelina Jolie and son Pax today met the children who have fallen victim to an ethnic war in a troubled Burmese state as part of her mission to improve human rights in the troubled country.
After meeting high-ranking government officials in the corridors of power yesterday, today they moved on to Kachin state, a troubled area marred by extreme poverty and decades of violence.
They met some of the thousands of people who have fallen victim to the violent civil war in the region, now living in squalid conditions at Jam Mai Kaung IDP camp in Myitkyina, capital city of Kachin.
Up to 1,000 people have died in the conflict that has raged since 2011 and up to 100,000 Internationally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are thought to be living there.
Angelina and Pax, who is originally from Vietnam and was adopted by his mother and husband Brad Pitt, wore Wellies as they met the children displaced by the conflict.
It was a fitting place for Jolie, a special envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, to visit as she tried to highlight the plight of those displaced and improve human rights in the country.
While thousands are living in government camps, the majority – up to 70,000 – are believed to be living in Kachin Independence Army controlled territory.
A number of organisations, including Human Rights Watch, have called for ceasefires in the region but these calls have been ignored.
Angelina Jolie met the President of Burma yesterday in her first visit to the country and is part of a tour of south east Asia, arriving directly from Cambodia.
She was personally invited to the troubled country by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition in the dictatorship, who was put under house arrest by the Government for a total of 15 years. Jolie visit her during the trip.
Angelina said: ‘I am looking forward to meeting with many people including women’s groups, civil society, displaced people and youth, to learn firsthand from them about their concerns and hopes for the future of their country.
‘With elections on the horizon in November it is an important moment for people to exercise their democratic rights and help to address the fundamental issues critical to a peaceful future.’
This morning she arrived in the country, also known as Myanmar, and met President Thein Sein and high-ranking members of the military government at the presidential palace.
Sources close to Mrs Jolie Pitt said she used the opportunity to talk about prominent issues in the country, including sexual violence, a lack of transparency and child soldiers.
But she will also be visiting members of the political opposition and will carry out field visits to displaced people in Myanmar’s conflict-affected states.
The source, who has been travelling with the UK special envoy party, said that Burma is one of 130 nations that signed up to an agreement to address sexual violence as part of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.
Yet it has taken no concrete steps to address the issue and lags behind countries such as Somalia, the Central African Republic and Kosovo, who admit to having problems but are making better progress.
The source says addressing sexual violence is high on her agenda, as she is dedicated to stamping out the use of ‘sex as a weapon’ in conflicts.
Between now and Saturday, when she leaves Burma, Mrs Jolie Pitt will also visit members of the political opposition, who have been severely oppressed over the years, and refugees.
She will meet local people who are working on human rights and inter-faith relations, and groups carrying out projects to promote women’s rights, voter education and participation ahead of the forthcoming elections.
Human Rights Watch says that the President’s Cambodian People’s Party has made often violent attempts to silence political opposition and has a history of taking political prisoners.
The Government controls the judiciary which means people have no legal recourse to the oppression, according to Human Rights Watch, and protest has been made illegal.
There is some progress being made. The Government today announced 7,000 prisoners would be released, among them are former military officials who were purged by their colleagues a decade ago, and a handful of political activists and journalists.
It comes amid criticism that the government is backsliding on the promise of political reform made before elections in 2011 as the next vote approaches. However, Human Rights watch says that they have not gone nearly far enough and there are still hundreds of cases pending.
But it is hoped that Mrs Jolie Pitt’s unique status as a non-Government party will help ‘shine a light’ on the country’s problems in a way other organisation’s can’t.
The source said: ‘She will be telling senior figures that they have similar interests, and if they truly want to become a democratic country, the onus is on them to address these problems.
‘It is an amazing opportunity to get into Myanmar which not everyone gets so Angelina will be using it to meet as many different groups as she can and try and open a dialogue on these issues.’
SIGNS OF PROGRESS IN AUTOCRATIC STATE AS 7,000 PRISONERS PARDONED
The Myanmar government today announced that more than 7,000 prisoners would be pardoned for their crimes.
Among those included are former military intelligence officials purged by their army colleagues more than a decade ago, and a handful of journalists and social activists.
An Information Ministry statement said 6,966 prisoners, including 210 foreigners, were being freed across the country ‘on humanitarian grounds and in view of national reconciliation.’
No official lists of pardoned prisoners are issued, so many of the names come from the prisoners themselves or their families.
The pardons issued by President Thein Sein were timed to coincide with a Buddhist religious holiday and come ahead of a November general election.
The polls have triggered criticism that the government is backsliding on political reforms it promised upon taking power in 2011, after almost five decades of repressive military rule.
Past governments have released political prisoners as a way of easing criticism from abroad.
Those released included 155 Chinese workers, all but two of whom received life sentences earlier this month in connection with illegal logging in northern Myanmar.
The punishment seemed largely to serve as a warning not to make business deals with Myanmar ethnic rebel groups, as the Chinese logging company was believed to have done.
Despite close ties, there are significant tensions between China and Myanmar.
Chinese economic penetration is big and highly visible in northern Myanmar, and some large infrastructure and mining projects have drawn charges of being insensitive to the environment and local concerns.
China is also seen as providing a safe haven for some Myanmar ethnic rebel groups, with whom Myanmar’s government wants to reach cease-fire agreements.
Others who were pardoned included eight former senior military intelligence officers, who since 2004 have been serving jail terms of 80 years or more, according to their families.
Also freed Thursday were the owner, publisher and three journalists from a privately-run weekly journal, Bi Mon Te. They were sentenced to two years last November on charges of causing public alarm.
Although more than 1,300 political prisoners have been freed since Thein Sein’s government took power, right groups say hundreds of new cases are still pending
Angelina Jolie Pitt has been following the situation in Myanmar closely since her first visit to Myanmar refugees in Thailand in 2002, and many subsequent visits to the region to focus on these issues.
She arrived in Burma from Cambodia, where she was visiting health, education and conservation projects funded by the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation since 2003.
She was beginning preparations to direct the film First They Killed My Father based on a child’s experience of the years of turmoil in the country.
Angelina and husband Brad Pitt adopted their son, Maddox, in 2003. He is originally from Cambodia.
During her visit to the country, she reportedly told reporters Maddox is her son but also ‘a son of Cambodia’.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
