2nd October 2006| Channel 4 Dispatches
For most of the past 16 years the truly elected leader of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been held under house arrest by a brutal military dictatorship that suppresses all opposition through a policy of rape, forced labour and systematic killings. This is a country unique in failing all five crucial tests by which the UN measures human rights, yet until now the world has all but ignored. Finally, the UN Security Council is beginning to debate how to deal with this renegade nation, in which Britain is the second biggest investor.
Journalist Evan Williams goes undercover for Dispatches deep inside Burma on a highly dangerous journey to witness new levels of violence by the regime against its own people. Evan documents atrocities committed against the Karen people, and follows up by illegally entering Burma again – this time as a tourist. He meets dissidents willing to sacrifice their freedom so that people on the outside should know what is going on. Despite Aung San Suu Kyi’s plea for an end to foreign investment in Burma, Evan discovers that – thanks to the tax loophole of a British Protectorate – Britain remains the second biggest investor in this systematically brutal dictatorship.
Reporter: Evan Williams
Directed & Produced by Tom Fulford
Executive Producer: David Henshaw