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Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia. Vietnam, Laos, Burma. Vietnam. The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. It became part of French Indochina in 1887.

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Southeast Asia

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  1. Southeast Asia Vietnam, Laos, Burma

  2. Vietnam • The conquest of Vietnam by France began in 1858 and was completed by 1884. • It became part of French Indochina in 1887. • Vietnam declared independence after World War II, but France continued to rule until its 1954 defeat by Communist forces under Ho Chi MINH. • Under the Geneva Accords of 1954, Vietnam was divided into the Communist North and anti-Communist South. US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the government, but US armed forces were withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in 1973.

  3. Two years later, North Vietnamese forces overran the South reuniting the country under Communist rule. • The government embarked on a mass campaign of collectivization of farms and factories. This caused an economic collapse and resulted in triple-digit inflation. Reconstruction of the war-ravaged country was slow, and serious humanitarian and economic problems confronted the communist regime. • Millions of people fled the country in crudely built boats, creating an international humanitarian crisis. • In 1978, the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia (sparking the Cambodian-Vietnamese War) to remove from power the Khmer Rouge—who had been razing Vietnamese border villages and massacring the inhabitants, installing a regime whose leaders ruled until 1989. • This action worsened relations with China, which launched a brief incursion into northern Vietnam (the Sino-Vietnamese War) in 1979. This conflict caused Vietnam to rely even more heavily on Soviet economic and military aid.

  4. Change • At the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in December 1986, reformers, upset by the lack of economic progress after the Vietnam War, replaced the "old guard" with new leadership. • The reformers were led by 71 year-old Nguyen Van Linh, who became the party's new general secretary. • In a historic shift, the reformers implemented free-market reforms known as Đổi Mới (renovation), which carefully managed the transition from a planned economy to a "socialist-oriented market economy”. • With the authority of the state remaining unchallenged, private ownership of farms and companies engaged in commodity production, deregulation and foreign investment were encouraged while the state maintained control over strategic industries. • The economy of Vietnam subsequently achieved rapid growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction and housing, exports and foreign investment. However, these reforms have also caused a rise in inequalities in many spheres of social life, such as income and gender inequality

  5. Government • The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a single-party state. • A new state constitution was approved in April 1992, replacing the 1975 version. • The central role of the Communist Party of Vietnam was reasserted in all organs of government, politics and society. • Although the state remains officially committed to socialism as its defining creed it is increasingly capitalist, according to The Economist it is currently run by "ardently capitalist communists” • The President of Vietnam is the titular head of state and the nominal commander in chief of the military of Vietnam, chairing the Council on National Defense and Security. • All organs of Vietnam's government are controlled by the Communist Party. Most government appointees are members of the party

  6. Communist Party • The General Secretary of the Communist Party is perhaps the most important political person in the nation, controlling the party's national organization and state appointments, as well as setting policy. • The Vietnam People's Army (VPA) is the official name for the combined military services of Vietnam, which is organized along the lines of China’s People's Liberation Army.

  7. Current Situation • Vietnam is a source and, to a lesser extent, a destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and conditions of forced labor. • Vietnam is a source country for men and women who migrate abroad for work in the construction, fishing, agriculture, mining, logging, and manufacturing sectors, primarily in Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, Laos, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan, as well as in China, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Russia, and elsewhere in the Middle East, and some of these workers subsequently face conditions of forced labor; • Vietnamese women and children are subjected to forced prostitution throughout Asiatier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - the government passed new anti-trafficking legislation and a new five-year national action plan on trafficking; nevertheless, while a number of structural reforms were carried out during the year, there remained a lack of tangible progress in the prosecution of trafficking offenders and protection of trafficking victims; the government also did not take steps to increase its efforts to address the problem of internal trafficking • Human Development Index • #116

  8. Laos • Modern-day Laos has its roots in the ancient Lao kingdom of LanXang, established in the 14th Century under King FA NGUM. • For 300 years LanXang had influence reaching into present-day Cambodia and Thailand, as well as over all of what is now Laos. After centuries of gradual decline, Laos came under the domination of Siam (Thailand) from the late 18th century until the late 19th century when it became part of French Indochina. • The Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the current Lao border with Thailand. • In 1975, the Communist Pathet Lao took control of the government ending a six-century-old monarchy and instituting a strict socialist regime closely aligned to Vietnam. A gradual, limited return to private enterprise and the liberalization of foreign investment laws began in 1988. • Laos became a member of ASEAN in 1997.

  9. French Occupation • In the late 19th century, LuangPrabang was ransacked by the Chinese Black Flag and the French managed to rescue King OunKham. In desperate need of protection, LuangPhrabang was incorporated into the 'Protectorate' of French Indochina. • Under the French, King SisavangVong of LuangPhrabang, became ruler of a unified Laos and Vientiane once again became the capital. Laos was never important to France, except as a buffer state between British-influenced Thailand and the more economically important Annam and Tonkin. • During their rule, the French introduced the corvee, a system where every male Lao were forced to contribute 10 days of manual labour per year to the colonial government. • In spite of Laos producing tin, rubber and coffee, it never accounted for more than 1% of French Indochina's exports. By 1940, only 600 French citizens lived in Laos. • Following a brief Japanese occupation during World War II, the country declared its independence in 1945, but the French under Charles de Gaulle re-asserted their control and only in 1950 was Laos granted semi-autonomy as an "associated state" within the French Union. Moreover, the French remained in de facto control until 1954, when Laos gained full independence as constitutional monarchy.

  10. Kingdom of Laos and War • Under a special exemption to the Geneva Convention, a French military training mission continued to support the Royal Lao Army. • In 1955, the U.S. Department of Defense created a special Programs Evaluation Office to replace French support of the Royal Lao Army against the communist Pathet Lao as part of the U.S. containment policy. • Laos was dragged into the Vietnam War and the eastern parts of the country followed North Vietnam and adopted North Vietnam as a fraternal country. • Laos allowed North Vietnam to use its land as a supply route for its war against the South. In response, the United States initiated a bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese, supported regular and irregular anticommunist forces in Laos and supported a South Vietnamese invasion of Laos.

  11. The result of these actions were a series of coups d'état and, ultimately, the Laotian Civil War. • In the Civil War, the heavily armed and battle-hardened North Vietnamese Army was the real power behind the Pathet Lao insurgency. • In 1968, the North Vietnamese Army launched a multi-division attack to help the communist Pathet Lao to fight against the Royal Lao Army. • The attack resulted in the army largely demobilizing and leaving the conflict to irregular forces raised by the United States and Thailand. • The attack resulted in many lost lives. Massive aerial bombardment was carried out by the United States. The Guardian reported that Laos was hit by an average of one B-52 bombload every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, between 1964 and 1973. • US bombers dropped more ordnance on Laos in this period than was dropped during the whole of the Second World War. • Of the 260 million bombs that rained down, particularly on Xiangkhouang Province on the Plain of Jars, 80 million failed to explode, leaving a deadly legacy. • It holds the distinction of being the most bombed country, per capita, in the world. • In 1975, the communist Pathet Lao, along with Vietnam People's Army and backed by the Soviet Union, overthrew the royalist Lao government, forcing King SavangVatthana to abdicate on 2 December 1975. He later died in captivity.

  12. Communist Laos • On 2 December 1975, after taking control of the country, the Pathet Lao government under Kaysone Phomvihane renamed the country as the Lao People's Democratic Republic and signed agreements giving Vietnam the right to station armed forces and to appoint advisers to assist in overseeing the country. • Laos was requested in 1979 by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to end relations with the People's Republic of China, leading to isolation in trade by China, the United States, and other countries. • #112

  13. Human Rights • The Constitution that was promulgated in 1991 and amended in 2003 contains most key safeguards for human rights. • For example, in Article 8 it makes it clear that Laos is a multiethnic state and is committed to equality between ethnic groups. • The Constitution also has provisions for gender equality and freedom of religion, for freedom of speech, press and assembly. • On 25 September 2009, Laos ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, nine years after signing the treaty. • The policy objectives of both the Lao government and international donors remain focused toward achieving sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. • However, Amnesty International has raised concerns about the ratification record of the Laos government on human rights standards and its lack of cooperation with the UN human rights mechanisms and legislative measures which impact negatively on human rights. • It has also raised concerns in relation to freedom of expression, poor prison conditions, restrictions on freedom of religions, protection of refugees and asylum-seekers and the death penalty. • In October 1999, 30 young people were arrested for attempting to display posters calling for peaceful economic, political and social change in Laos. • Five of them were arrested and subsequently sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment on charges of treason. One has since died due to his treatment by prison guards, while one has been released. The surviving three men should have been released by October 2009, but their whereabouts remains unknown. • ]Laos and Vietnamese troops were reported to have raped and killed four Christian Hmong women in Xieng Khouang province in 2011, according to US campaign group The Centre for Public Policy Analysis. CPPA also said other Christian and independent Buddhist and animist believers were being persecuted.

  14. “HUNTED LIKE ANIMALS” is an eye-opening documentary about an ongoing, but unknown, genocide on the Hmong Lao people, running and hiding from Laotian and Vietnamese military aggressions in the remote mountainous regions of Laos. • Many Hmong, who fought as CIA soldiers during the Secret War, retreated into the inaccessible mountains of Laos after the U.S. pulled out in 1975.  • They became targets of persecution and retaliation due to their role in the Vietnam War. While most Lao-Hmong are integrated into their country and many Hmong surrendered and continue to come out of the jungle to this day, there are disturbing reports of transgressions by the Lao PDR authorities towards those still in hiding. • Over thirty years and a generation later the Hmong-in-hiding are attacked, chased, raped and killed by Laotian soldiers.  Those who surrender face an uncertain fate. “Hunted like Animals” demonstrates that the Hmong-in-hiding in the Laotian military training areas are going through.   They endure genocide, the reason why many escape to Thailand, and become refugees.  This story of human rights violations on the Hmong-in-hiding must be told.  • Filmmaker Rebecca Sommer traveled in 2005 and 2006 to the Hmong refugee camp Ban Huay Nam Khao, Petchabun, in Thailand, focusing on the Hmong Lao who fled military aggressions in Laos. The testimonies of the Hmong refugees, and footages filmed by the Hmong-in-hiding themselves inside of Laos, are interwoven into the documentary like a tapestry, revealing the human face behind the shocking human rights violations in the remote mountains of Laos, where the Hmong are Hunted like Animals. • Clips of Hunted like Animals

  15. Burma (Myanmar) • Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years (1824-1886) and incorporated it into its Indian Empire. Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became a separate, self-governing colony • Independence from the Commonwealth was attained in 1948. • Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to 1988, first as military ruler, then as self-appointed president, and later as political kingpin. • In September 1988, the military deposed NE WIN and established a new ruling junta.

  16. In late September 2007, the government brutally suppressed the protests, killing at least 13 people and arresting thousands for participating in the demonstrations. • Since then, the regime has continued to raid homes and monasteries and arrest persons suspected of participating in the pro-democracy protests. • Burma in early May 2008 was struck by Cyclone Nargis, which claimed over 138,000 dead and tens of thousands injured and homeless. Despite this tragedy, the junta proceeded with its May constitutional referendum, the first vote in Burma since 1990. • Parliamentary elections held in November 2010, considered flawed by many in the international community, saw the junta's Union Solidarity and Development Party garnering over 75% of the seats. • Parliament convened in January 2011 and selected former Prime Minister THEIN SEIN as president. The vast majority of national-level appointees named by THEIN SEIN are former or current military officers.

  17. Junta Years- Ne Win Democratic rule ended in 1962 when General Ne Win led a military coup d'état. He ruled for nearly 26 years and pursued policies under the rubric of the Burmese Way to Socialism. Between 1962 and 1974, Burma was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general, and almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalized or brought under government control (even the Boy Scouts). In an effort to consolidate power, Ne Win and many other top generals resigned from the military and took civilian posts and, from 1974, instituted elections in a one-party system. • Between 1974 and 1988, Burma was effectively ruled by Ne Win through the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party. • During this period, Burma became one of the world's most impoverished countries. • The Burmese Way to Socialism combined Soviet-style nationalization and central planning with the governmental implementation of superstitious beliefs.

  18. Almost from the beginning, there were sporadic protests against the military rule, many of which were organized by students, and these were almost always violently suppressed by the government. • On 7 July 1962, the government broke up demonstrations at Rangoon University, killing 15 students. • In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force • .Ne Win's rise to power in 1962 and his relentless persecution of "resident aliens" (immigrant groups not recognised as citizens of the Union of Burma) led to an exodus/expulsion of some 300,000 Burmese Indians. • They migrated to escape racial discrimination and wholesale nationalisation of private enterprise a few years later in 1964. • A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled Burma and many refugees inundated neighbouring Bangladesh including 200,000 in 1978 as a result of the King Dragon operation in Arakan.

  19. Uprising • In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. • Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). • In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests. The military government finalised plans for People's Assembly elections on 31 May 1989. SLORC changed the country's official English name from the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" in 1989. • In May 1990, the government held free elections for the first time in almost 30 years. • The National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San SuuKyi, won 392 out of a total 489 seats(i.e., 80% of the seats), but the election results were annulled by SLORC, which refused to step down. • Led by Than Shwe since 1992, the military regime has made cease-fire agreements with most ethnic guerilla groups. • In 1992, SLORC unveiled plans to create a new constitution through the National Convention, which began 9 January 1993.

  20. 2007 Protests • The 2007 Burmese anti-government protests were a campaign of civil resistance. • The main immediate cause of the protests was an event in mid-August: the unannounced decision of the ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council, to remove fuel subsidies which caused the price of diesel and petrol to suddenly rise as much as double, and the price of compressed natural gas for buses to increase fivefold in less than a week. • The protest demonstrations were at first dealt with quickly and harshly by the junta, with dozens of protesters arrested and detained. • Starting 18 September, the protests were led by thousands of Buddhist monks, and those protests were allowed to proceed until a renewed government crackdown on September 26. • During the crack-down, there were rumours of disagreement within the Burmese armed forces, but none was confirmed. Some news reports referred to the protests as the Saffron Revolution.

  21. Aung San SuuKyi • During the 2007 anti-government protests a significant role was played by Aung San SuuKyi, the leader of the opposition to the Burmese military government. • Aung San SuuKyi was under periods of house arrest from 1989–2010. In September 2007, hundreds of monks paid respects to her at the gate of her home, which was the first time in four years that people were able to see her in public. • She was then given a second public appearance on 29 September, when she was allowed to leave house arrest briefly and meet with a UN envoy trying to persuade the junta to ease its crackdown against a pro-democracy uprising, to which the Burmese government reluctantly agreed.

  22. Dealing with Burma • World governments remain divided on how to deal with the military junta. Calls for further sanctions by Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and France are opposed by neighboring countries; in particular, China has stated its belief that "sanctions or pressure will not help to solve the issue”. • There is some disagreement over whether sanctions are the most effective approach to dealing with the junta, such as from a Cato Institute study and from prominent Burmese such as Thant Myint-U (a former senior UN official and Cambridge historian), who have opined that sanctions may have caused more harm than good to the Burmese people. • #132

  23. Human Rights Abuse • Human rights in Burma are a long-standing concern for the international community and human rights organizations. • There is consensus that the military regime in Burma is one of the world's most repressive and abusive regimes. • Several human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have reported on human rights abuses by the military government. They have claimed that there is no independent judiciary in Burma. • The military government restricts Internet access through software-based censorship that limits the material citizens can access on-line.Forced labour, human trafficking, and child labour are common. • The military is also notorious for rampant use of sexual violence as an instrument of control, including allegations of systematic rapes and taking of sex slaves as porters for the military. • A strong women's pro-democracy movement has formed in exile, largely along the Thai border and in Chiang Mai. There is a growing international movement to defend women's human rights issues. • Average Burmese people are afraid to speak to foreigners or worse. • There is no freedom of speech, assembly or association. • ”Evidence has been gathered suggesting that the Burmese regime has marked certain ethnic minorities such as the Karen for extermination or 'Burmisation’. • This, however, has received little attention from the international community since it has been more subtle and indirect than the mass killings in places like Rwanda.

  24. The GAO report, entitled "Assistance Programs Constrained in Burma", outlined the specific efforts of the government to hinder the humanitarian work of international organisations, including restrictions on the free movement of international staff within the country. • The report notes that the regime has tightened its control over assistance work since former Prime Minister KhinNyuntwas purged in October 2004. • The military junta passed guidelines in February 2006, which formalized these restrictive policies. According to the report, the guidelines require that programs run by humanitarian groups "enhance and safeguard the national interest" and that international organizations coordinate with state agents and select their Burmese staff from government-prepared lists of individuals. • United Nations officials have declared these restrictions unacceptable. • Burma's government spends the least percentage of its GDP on health care of any country in the world, and international donor organizations give less to Burma, per capita, than any other country except India • . According to the report named "Preventable Fate", published by Doctors without Borders, 25,000 Burmese AIDS patients died in 2007, deaths that could largely have been prevented by Anti Retroviral Therapy drugs and proper treatment.

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