December 2007 - January 2008
We, the undersigned, call on the Australian Government to end the misuse of Australian taxpayers' money to fund training of police and intelligence personnel in Burma.
Since 1997, Australian aid through the ASEAN-Australian Development Cooperation Program has supported the military regime in Burma and not the humanitarian needs of the people.
Australia has conducted intelligence gathering, counter-terrorism and police cooperation training with Burma's police through the 'Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation'. In 2004-2005 $480,000 of AUSAID money was spent training senior officials in Burma. In November 2006, 20 senior intelligence officers were trained at the Centre by Australian Federal Police (AFP). The AFP also trains Burmese police at its Liaison Office in Rangoon, Burma.
The AFP training can be directly linked to the Burmese military command which recently killed, arrested and tortured peaceful monks and civilians involved in pro-democracy protests. According to human rights groups, it is likely that some senior police involved in the crackdowns in Burma received AFP training.
An immediate end to Australia's involvement in training police and intelligence personnel in Burma will demonstrate how seriously the Australian Government views ongoing human rights abuses by the military regime - a regime Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described as one of world's most corrupt and oppressive.
SIGN THE PETITION PLEASE... ---- ww.australiaburmanetwork.org
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