Burma: Aung Myo Min, an extraordinary journey
Audio 03:31
After more than two decades in exile, Aung Myo Min, 53, has once again had to flee his country to escape the military dictatorship.
© YouTube / PVTV Myanmar / Screenshot
By: Jelena Tomic Follow
10 mins
Direction Burma, where the army took power on February 1.
Last May, Jelena Tomic succeeded in joining Aung Myo Min, prime minister of human rights in the Burmese government of national unity, deemed illegal by the junta.
The first senior official who openly displays his homosexuality, Aung Myo Min has dedicated his entire life to promoting and defending human rights.
(Replay)
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It is August 8, 1988, students rise up against General Ne Win, in power for 26 years. By deciding to abolish certain banknotes, the dictator is causing a major economic crisis. The economies of the majority of Burmese are soaring. Anger roars, the students are quickly joined by monks and workers. The uprising is suppressed in the blood. Thousands of people succumb to military bullets.
“
I couldn't forget or forgive what happened,
” said Aung Myo Min, who was 20 at the time.
“
Comrades who like me called for democracy and the end of the dictatorship have been killed.
We loved each other, they were dear friends, whom I saw die in my arms.
This traumatic experience, I turned it into a commitment.
I felt the duty to continue the fight for them.
It made me stronger, I decided to react and I took up arms.
"
His discovery of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
With other students forced to flee the country, Aung Myo Min sets up the first student army, the Democratic Front of All Burmese Students, a battalion of about 7,000 combatants. Head to Karen State on the border with Thailand controlled by the Karen National Army, one of many armed ethnic groups at war with the junta.
"
I underwent military training and went to the front, but I quickly realized that I was not so good at handling weapons, I was not made for that
", concedes Aung Myo Min .
Then to add: "
I had the chance to be able to study in the university which one climbed in the jungle and it is there that I had for the first time in my hands the Universal Declaration of the rights of man, adopted by the UN in 1948. I realized while reading the book that no rights inscribed in its articles were protected in my country.
It was then that I decided to give up the armed resistance to learn about human rights
”.
"I really wanted to end the despair endured by minorities"
His experience in Karen State only strengthened his beliefs. “
During the uprising in 1988 we wanted democracy, but we had a very abstract notion of what human rights were, such as equality, non-discrimination, mutual respect and diversity,
” he says. .
Then he adds: “
When I looked around, I realized that human rights simply did not exist.
I have seen the Karen population flee from military attacks and go into exile, women have been raped and entire villages set on fire.
I really wanted to end the desperation endured by minorities.
It was then that I started collecting evidence of gross human rights violations to assist international NGOs in their investigations and let the world know what is happening in ethnic areas,
”says Aung Myo Min. .
Go into exile the better to come back
Then begins a long period of exile which will last 24 years.
The former Yangon student leader goes to New York to study where he specializes in human rights.
“
I missed my country a lot and I always looked for a way to come back.
In 2012, a minister suggested that I come to assess the situation.
It was a period of openness.
But I didn't want to come as a tourist, I was issued a two week visa.
I wanted to come back for good, to work for my country.
But the military did not give me back my citizenship until 2019,
”he explains.
Integrating the cause of LGBT people into the defense of human rights
Gay, Aung Myo Min is one of the few who had the courage 30 years ago to come out.
The inclusion of LGBT people in the spring revolution is one of his greatest pride.
“
LGBT activists are on the front lines of the protests.
They have demonstrated that they are part of society, that they are human beings like any other who oppose the military dictatorship and demand respect for dignity and human rights.
Some of them were arrested or killed.
It changed the way people looked at them.
All my life, I have made sure to integrate the LGBT cause into the defense of human rights.
We are all equal and hand in hand, we are fighting against the junta.
It makes me very proud.
"
After more than two decades in exile, Aung Myo Min, 53, has once again had to flee his country to escape the military dictatorship.
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Burma
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