The
State Peace and Development Council (, ;
abbreviated
SPDC or
Na Ah Hpa in
Burmese)
is the official name of the
military regime of
Burma (also known as
Myanmar),
which seized power in 1988.
The SPDC was originally known as
State Law and Order Restoration Council (
SLORC). It replaced the role of
Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and was a mainly cosmetic change.
In 1997, SLORC was abolished and reconstituted as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
The SPDC consists of the
commanders of the service branches and of the
regional military commands. The eleven members of the junta
probably wield a great deal more power than the
cabinet ministers. Some members of the junta also hold
cabinet portfolios. By most accounts, regional commanders enjoy a great deal of autonomy in their respective areas.
Although the regime has retreated from the totalitarian
Burmese Way to Socialism of BSPP, the regime is widely
accused of human rights abuses. It has rejected the
1990 election results and keeps
Aung San Suu Kyi in house arrest.
History
SLORC was formed when the
Burmese Armed Forces, commanded by General
Saw Maung (later self-promoted to 'Senior General' Saw Maung, died July 1997), seized power on
8 September 1988 crushing the
'Four Eights Uprising'. On the day it seized power SLORC issued Order No.1/1988 stating that the Armed Forces had taken over power and announced the formation of the SLORC. With Order No. 2/1988, the SLORC abolished all 'Organs of State Power' that were formed under the
1974 Burmese
Constitution. The Pyithu Hluttaw (the
Legislature under the 1974 Constitution), the Council of
Ministers (the Cabinet), the Council of People's Justices (the
Judiciary), the Council of People's
Attorneys (the 'Attorney-General Office'), the Council of People's Inspectors (the '
Auditor-General Office'), as well as the State/Division, Township, Ward/Village People's Councils were abolished.
The SLORC also stated that the services of the Deputy Ministers in the previous
Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government which it replaced were also terminated. (Under the 1974 Burmese Constitution the 'Council of Ministers' acted as a Cabinet but since the Deputy Ministers were not considered to be formally part of the Council of Ministers, the SLORC made sure that the Deputy Minister's – together with the Ministers' – services in the previous BSPP government from whom it had taken over power were also terminated.) The Orders that SLORC issued on the day of its takeover can be seen in the
19 September 1988 issue of
The Working People's Daily. The first Chairman of SLORC was General
Saw Maung, later Senior General, who was also the
Prime Minister. He was removed as both Chairman of SLORC and Prime Minister on
23 April 1992 when General
Than Shwe, later Senior General, took over both posts from him.
On
15 November 1997 the SLORC was abolished and reconstituted itself as the State Peace and Development Council. Most but not all members of the abolished SLORC were in the SPDC.
Chairmen
State Law and Order Restoration Council of the Union of Myanmar (1988–1997)
State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar (since 1997)
Current members
Ordered by protocol:
- Lieutenant-General Myint Swe, Chief of Bureau of Special Operation - 5 (Yangon Division)
- Major-General Hla Htay Win, Chief of Armed Forces Training
- Lieutenant-General Tin Aye, Chief of Military Ordnance
Human rights abuses
Reports by the
United Nations, the
Burma Campaign UK,
Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, and other groups have detailed a gruesome litany of abuses taking place in Burma, including:
- Murder and arbitrary executions
- Recruitment of child soldiers
Murder
One of the worst incidents in Burma took place during the Uprising of August 1988, when millions of Burmese marched throughout the country calling for an end to military rule. Soldiers shot hundreds of
protesters and killed an estimated 3,000 people in the following weeks. During the August and September
demonstrations of 2007, at least 30 protesters were shot and killed. Many were tortured. The army continues to engage in brutal military offensives against ethnic minority populations, committing atrocities that violate
international humanitarian law.
Recruitment of child soldiers
It has been widely reported that the SPDC have forcibly recruited children - some as young as 10 - to serve in its army, the
Tatmadaw. It is difficult to estimate the number of
child soldiers currently in the Myanmar Army, but there are thousands, according to
Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty International. One of the reasons for recruiting children is because more and more soldiers are needed to enable the army to keep close control over the entire country.
Given the deep antipathy most Burmese feel towards their reclusive and privileged military leadership, joining the army is not universally appealing, so the army often turns to forcible recruitment of children.
The
UN Secretary-General has named the SPDC in four consecutive reports for violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
Forced relocations
Human Rights Watch has reported that since
Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, the Burmese authorities have expelled hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced persons from schools, monasteries, and public buildings, and encouraged them to return to their destroyed villages in the
Irrawaddy Delta. The authorities emptied some public buildings and schools to use as
polling stations for the May 24
referendum on a new
constitution, despite pleas from
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to postpone the referendum and focus their resources on
humanitarian relief. Since then, the SPDC has evicted people from dozens of government-operated tented relief camps in the vicinity of the former capital
Yangon, ordering the residents to return to their homes, regardless of the conditions they face.
The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the
emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without
foreign aid. People forced from their homes by Cyclone Nargis are considered to be
internally displaced persons under international law. Under the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the Burmese government should ensure the right of “internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence, or to resettle voluntarily in another part of the country.”
Forced labor
Some of the worst forced labor abuses have been reported from southeastern Burma, where a billion-dollar pipeline is being developed by a consortium of America's
UNOCAL and France's
TOTAL oil companies and the Burmese regime. Forced labor has also been used on
tourism development projects. In March 1997, the
European Union withdrew Burma's trade privileges because of the prevalence of forced labor and other abuses.
Political imprisonment
Even before the large-scale demonstrations began in August 2007, the authorities arrested many well-known opponents of the government on political grounds, several of whom had only been released from prison several months earlier. Once the protests were underway but before the 25-29 September crackdown, more arrests of members of the opposition party
National League for Democracy (NLD) took place, which was seen by many as a pre-emptive measure before the crackdown.
Mass round-ups occurred during the crackdown itself, and the authorities continued to arrest protesters and supporters throughout 2007. Between 3,000 and 4,000
political prisoners were detained, including children and pregnant women, 700 of whom were believed still in detention at year’s end. At least 20 were charged and sentenced under
anti-terrorism legislation in proceedings which did not meet international fair trial standards. Detainees and defendants were denied the right to legal counsel.
