A group of Burmese refugees use street theatre to call for democracy in Burma during a protest outside Parliament. Pic: NZPA

By Paloma Migone of NZPA

Wellington, June 3 NZPA - A young Burmese girl and two men show fear as two combat-clothed men, holding cardboard guns pace around them on parliament grounds this afternoon.

The enactment was organised by Burmese refugees to show how people are treated under the oppressive regime in Burma, officially called Myanmar.

About 30 Burmese now residents from Nelson, Wellington and Auckland showed up with National League for Democracy (NLD) Party flags at parliament today, asking the New Zealand Government to condemn the 2010 Burma elections planned for later this year.

Members from the Green, National and Labour parties were present.

Organiser MweMwe Htain said the street theatre was to show how people were oppressed in Burma.

She said many children have no education and no human rights.

"We are hoping they can get what we got in New Zealand."

Ms Htain said the group believed the elections would not bring democracy to the Burmese people, and had concerns NLD would not be involved.

The party, which won the country's last election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power, was automatically dissolved last month after refusing to register for the upcoming polls.

NLD denounced new election laws as undemocratic and declined to register as required.

It's leader 64-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. In August 2009, she was convicted of violating the terms of her house arrest for briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her home, and she was ordered to serve three years in prison with hard labour.

Aung San Suu Kyi's sentence was commuted to 18 months of extended house arrest, which would keep her detained through the elections.

The Burmese group said there were over 2200 potential political leaders still in prison, barred from voting and about 400,000 Buddhist monks were not allowed to vote.

The military continued to carry out human rights violations against civilians, including forced labour and sexual violence, it said.

Labour MP and Burma Cross-Party Parliamentary Group chairwoman Maryan Street agreed elections cannot be credible without the participation of NLD and its leader Suu Kyi.

Parliament yesterday unanimously passed a motion to call upon the Burmese military rulers to reinstate Suu Kyi's democratic rights.

Green Party MP and Burma Parliamentary Group vice-chairman Keith Locke told the Burmese the unanimous vote showed the New Zealand Government supported their cause.

Mr Locke said perhaps more pressure should be put on the regime through penalties.

"At the moment, the only penalties that exist are on few members of the regime coming to New Zealand," he said.

"I think we need to put pressure on companies that invest in Burma, as some New Zealand companies do. We should keep a close eye on that, so that New Zealanders aren't profiting from the misery of the Burmese."