ARTICLE 19, the Campaign for Free Expression,  issued a press release on 14 November calling for the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution that would call for an end to human rights violations in Burma. The Council held formal talks on the issue on 29 September. It is hoped that a resolution would help put an end to the forced labour in the country as well as lead to the release of some of the more than 1000 imprisoned political opponents, including leader of the opposition Aung San Suu Kyi. (28-NOV-06)

ARTICLE 19 issued a press release on 14 November calling for the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution that would call for an end to human rights violations in Burma. The Council held formal talks on the issue on 29 September. It is hoped that a resolution would help put an end to the forced labour in the country as well as lead to the release of some of the more than 1000 imprisoned political opponents, including leader of the opposition Aung San Suu Kyi. Daniel Steilen reports

However, the organisation Council on Foreign Relations believes that such sanctions are a long way off, if even they were to be imposed. But according to the Washington Post, the US government wants to pass a resolution before January when the terms of some of the countries on the council are set to expire, requiring the case to be addressed again.

-The human rights situation in Burma is dire
“The human rights situation in Burma is dire, with freedom of expression a serious casualty,” said ARTICLE 19. On 4 June, four people were jailed after they published a pro-democracy poem. Earlier two journalists were jailed for three years for filming and photographing the capital Pyinmana. ARTICLE 19 points out that a 2005 report by former Czech President Vacláv Havel and South Africa Archbishop Desmond Tutu found that the situation in Burma met all the criteria for UN intervention, which could not be said of other places in which the the UN had intervened, such as Rwanda. 

Burma was recently named as an enemy of the internet by Reporters san Frontieres. Internet access in the country is denied to a majority of the public; only about 1000 internet users exist in the country of 44.5 million people. For the few Burmese with internet access in the country and for those in exile, the government has set up a propaganda site and sends out emails painting the government in a good light. For the dissidents that actively oppose the government, it is reported that they are sent messages containing harmful viruses. Six members of the military were charged with illegal use of the internet in December 1999, including a colonel who downloaded material off of an opposition website.  

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. undersecretary general for political affairs, visited the country for four days in November. While in Burma, Gambari met with the leader, Senior General Than Shwe, and other officials to urge them to make changes to their human rights policies. “The outcome of my visit – and the concrete results – are still being awaited,” Gambari told the Financial Times. “The ball is clearly back in the court of the authorities.”

Gambari also met with Suu Kyi, who has spent a total of 11 years under house arrest, and recently, in failing health, has been denied regular medical visits. Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, is the leader of the National League for Democracy, which won the 1990 election by a huge margin but was denied legitimacy by the ruling military.   

–The people of Burma want an end to the dictatorship
“Put simply, there is overwhelming evidence that the people of Burma want an end to the dictatorship that has been forced upon them. Without this understanding and without a Security Council resolution, the United Nations is likely to fail in Burma yet again,” said an article published in the Washington Post by parliament members U Pu Chin Sian Thang and U Thein Pe, who state that opposition parties won 82 per cent of the vote in the last elections. 

ARTICLE 19 Press Release
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/burma-unsc-pr.pdf

UN Sanctions: A Mixed Record-Council on Foreign Relations

In Burma, a Cry for U.N. Help-Washington Post