Source: Upi

November 24, 2011: Naypyitaw , Myanmar, (UPI)-Despite recent changes, Myanmar's serious human rights violations have not ended, The Washington Post said in an editorial Friday.

The editorial, titled "Undeserved validation of Burma (Myanmar's former name)," pointed to the current situation in the isolated military-controlled south Asian country ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton official visit there next week.

"What have the generals and former generals who run Burma done to earn such validation? Not created a peaceable democracy, that is for sure," the editorial said.

Quoting a recent U.N. General Assembly resolution, the editorial said Myanmar's army continues to wage war against ethnic minorities -- targeting civilians, raping women as a deliberate policy, and conscripting child soldiers. The regime engages in ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and conservative estimates are that the regime holds more than 1,000 prisoners of conscience, the newspaper said.

The editorial noted recent changes under the new government of President Thein Sein, which U.S. President Barack Obama described as "flickers of progress" while announcing Clinton's trip. The changes have included suspension of a dam project under public protest, easing of control over the Internet, freeing about 200 political prisoners and changing the rules to allow leaders such as democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in politics.

"The hope is that (Clinton's) visit will bolster the ostensible reformers in the regime and weaken the ostensible hard-liners …," the editorial said.

"The risk is that the United States is giving too much, too soon," it said, adding Clinton should be "measured in her favors to the regime -- and mindful of what incentives she can retain in case it fails to deliver on it promise of further liberalization."