19.6.2008
UN
Security Council and the Council of the European Union
should take responsibility to protect the people of Burma
when they meet today in New York and Brussels, on the
63rd birthday of the imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, urged All Burma Monks’ Alliance
from Rangoon Burma in its appeal. Today, on June 19, 2008,
Aung San Suu Kyi will again have to spend her 63rd birthday
in detention alone. Today, on June 19, 2008, Aung San
Suu Kyi will again have to spend her 63rd birthday in
detention alone.
According
to the statement released by All Burma Monks’ Alliance
-
(1)
Today, on June 19, 2008, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will again
have to spend her 63rd birthday in detention alone. She
and her party members were attacked by thousands of civilian
militias, organized and supported by the Burmese military
junta, on the night of May 30, 2003, at nearby Depayin
Township in central Burma. Although she escaped from the
assassination attempt, scores of her party members were
brutally killed, and she was arrested by the military
junta, along with U Tin Oo, Vice Chairman of the National
League for Democracy, and put in detention since then.
Recently,
on May 27, 2008, the military junta extended her detention
again for the sixth year. We wish her all the best and
thank her for her leadership and her unity with the people
of Burma. Even though the junta tries to isolate her from
us, she is always with us. However the junta tries to
undermine her, she is still the leader of Burma’s
democracy movement. Any political solution without her
involvement will be meaningless and unsustainable.
(2)
On her birthday, June 19, 2008, the UN Security Council
will hold a debate on women, peace and security. U.S.
Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice will chair the
debate, as the United States holds the Presidency of the
UN Security Council for June 2008.
The
debate will focus on UNSC Resolution 1325, which was passed
unanimously on 31 October 2000. We would like to request
Secretary Rice and other members of the Council to pay
attention to the plight of women in Burma.
Among
the two thousands and more political prisoners in Burma,
at least 154 are women activists. Burmese military troops
are raping with impunity ethnic women and girls, some
as young as eight years old. In the frontier areas, the
Burmese military uses women as porters during the day
and sex slaves at nights. Among the 2.5 million populations
who were severely affected by the Cyclone Nargis and ignored
by the junta, at least 50% are women and among them are
over 35,000 extremely vulnerable pregnant women. We call
for the UN Security Council to take effective action to
stop the humanitarian crises in Burma, created by the
Burmese military junta.
(3)
Also today, 27 Heads of State from the Council of the
European Union will meet in Brussels and discuss the EU’s
role in international affairs. We would like to call for
leaders of European Union to continue to assist Burma’s
democracy movement led by detained leader Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi. The Burmese military junta has used the devastated
situation of the people of Burma after the attack of Cyclone
Nargis to consolidate its grip on power, and to exploit
the generosity of the international community for its
own benefit. The actions of the junta leave millions of
people to die from starvation and infectious diseases
in the delta region, while blocking relief efforts and
assistance offered by the international community. We
request the EU to bring Than Shwe, leader of Burmese military
junta, before the International Criminal Court to be tried
for his crimes against humanity, as recommended by the
European Parliament.
(4)
Some international actors assume that this is the time
to save the lives, not to talk about the politics. Some
even think that any harsh words or actions against the
generals will jeopardize their humanitarian effort. This
is totally wrong, morally, principally and practically.
The Burmese military junta and their policies are responsible
for all bad things happening in Burma, all the crises
overloading the shoulders of the people of Burma. UN Human
Rights Commissioner Ms. Louise Arbor said on June 2, 2008
“in the case of Myanmar, the obstruction to the
deployment of such assistance illustrates the invidious
effects of long-standing international tolerance for human
rights violations that made such obstruction possible.”
She
is exactly right. Long-standing tolerance by the international
community of human rights violations in Burma made the
Burmese military junta believe that they have a license
to kill and they have nothing to fear. This is the time
for the international community to stand up and protect
the people of Burma, by applying unanimous and maximum
pressure against the Burmese military, including a global
arms embargo and coordinated financial and banking sanctions
against the generals, their families and their crony businessmen.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune