The military retaliated against their people with severity. There were 10,000 citizens killed in the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations. Many others were taken to detention centres and tortured. They passed lax foreign investment laws to lure investors and companies to Burma despite its political instability. Many of the privileges afforded to foreigners operating businesses in Burma do not apply to the country s own citizens.
Civil rights are virtually non-existent while one million people labour forcibly.
Burma faces an internal refugee crisis with more than 1 in 20 people forced to leave their home. As a result there is something like 1.5 million displaced persons in Burma. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in refugee camps along the border with Thailand and in neighboring countries. Benyah Naing, one of the speakers, told how the student resistance movement went through various transformations as the situation dictated. The last speaker, Tinzar Lwyn, stated that Australia s official position is not to encourage or discourage trade.