Memorandum submitted by Christian Solidarity
Worldwide UK
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This submission relates exclusively to the policies
of Her Majesty's Government in relation to Burma;
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) welcomes
the initiatives taken by Her Majesty's Government in response
to the situation in Burma over the past year, and in particular
the personal engagement of the Prime Minister and the Foreign
Secretary;
CSW welcomes the commitment by the Government
to support a universal arms embargo against the regime in Burma;
CSW urges the Government to explain what actions
it intends to take to work to secure a universal arms embargo
through the United Nations;
CSW calls on the Government to impose targeted
banking and financial sanctions against members of the Burmese
regime, and to work for similar targeted banking sanctions to
be introduced throughout the European Union;
CSW urges the Government to work for the introduction
of further measures as part of the European Union Common Position,
on a rolling basis proportionate to developments within Burma,
and to include a ban on new investment and a ban on investment
in the oil and gas sectors;
CSW urges the Government to call on the UN Secretary-General
to take charge of the UN's Burma initiative personally, to increase
his personal level of engagement, and to visit Burma at the earliest
opportunity to attempt to facilitate dialogue between the regime,
the National League for Democracy and the ethnic nationalities;
CSW calls on the Government to provide funding
and expertise to democracy and human rights projects working along
Burma's borders;
CSW believes that while the Government's level
of engagement with the crisis in Burma has increased significantly
since September 2007, and the Government has pursued a number
of welcome initiatives, the initial response to the demonstrations
and crackdown in Burma when they began in August 2007 was surprisingly
slow. The Government's subsequent initiatives, and the personal
engagement of the Prime Minister, while very welcome, appeared
to have been in reaction to growing public and Parliamentary pressure.
CSW would like to see the Government adopt a much more proactive
approach in the future, and remain consistently engaged with the
situation in Burma at senior levels.
BACKGROUND TO
CSW
CSW is an international human rights organisation
specialising in religious freedom.
CSW has worked on Burma for approximately two
decades, and has made numerous fact-finding visits to Burma and
its borderlands.
CSW's Advocacy Officer Benedict Rogers has made
over 20 fact-finding visits since 2000, including to the Karen,
Karenni, Shan and Mon ethnic groups on the Thailand-Burma border,
the Chin on the India-Burma border, the Kachin on the China-Burma
border, and inside Burma, both to internally displaced peoples
in the jungles of eastern Burma, and to Burma's major cities.
CSW has also interviewed Buddhist monks and
Burmese civilians who participated in the protests in 2007 and
are now in exile in Thailand.
CSW regularly briefs Members of Parliament,
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the European Parliament,
the European Commission, the US Congress and the US State Department,
and has testified at hearings in the House of Commons, the European
Parliament and the US Congress.
BACKGROUND TO
BURMA
Burma is ruled by one of the world's most brutal
and most illegitimate regimes. The military regime, known as the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is guilty of almost
every possible violation of human rights, including:
— the imprisonment of over 1,800 prisoners
of conscience;
— the continued detention of Nobel
Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi;
— extra-judicial killings;
— the widespread and systematic use
of torture;
— the widespread and systematic use
of rape as a weapon of war;
— the widespread and systematic use
of forced labour;
— religious persecution, particularly
against Christian and Muslim minorities;
— the use of human minesweepers;
— the forcible conscription of over
70,000 child soldiers, proportionately the highest in the world;
— the destruction of over 3,200 villages
in eastern Burma;
— the internal displacement of over
500,000 civilians in eastern Burma and perhaps as many as one
million in total; and
— the displacement of several million
civilians who have fled to Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Malaysia,
and to countries in Europe as well as the United States, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.
Elections held in 1990 were overwhelmingly won
by the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi. The NLD won 82% of the Parliamentary seats. The regime,
however, has ignored the results, imprisoned the victors and intensified
its grip on power. Most Members of Parliament elected in 1990
were imprisoned or exiled.
In September 2007, hundreds of thousands of
Buddhist monks and Burmese civilians took to the streets in protests
which became known as "the Saffron Revolution". The
SPDC responded with typical brutality, and shot, beat, arrested,
imprisoned and tortured hundreds of people. Many were killed,
and while an exact number is unknown, it is believed to have been
in the hundreds. Many bodies disappeared, and it is believed that
some were cremated secretly.
THE REFERENDUM
In May 2008, the regime intends to hold a referendum
on a draft constitution. The entire process is a blatant attempt
to enshrine military rule and rubber-stamp the regime's authority.
Neither the constitution nor the referendum contain any element
of democracy or respect for human rights, and as such should not
be accorded any legitimacy by the international community. The
essential points concerning the process are as follows:
The National Convention, which drafted the guidelines
for the constitution, involved no debate among the handpicked
delegates, and none of the proposals made by the few ethnic representatives
who did participate were adopted. Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD and
the major ethnic groups were excluded;
Law 5/96 imposed prison terms of up to 20 years
for discussing the constitution process;
In the referendum, millions of Burmese are disenfranchised.
Buddhist monks and nuns, who number 500,000, are denied the vote.
Religious leaders from other faiths are also excluded. Over 500,000
internally displaced people on the run in the jungles of eastern
Burma, as well as the 700,000 Muslim Rohingyas, treated as non-citizens
and therefore stateless, are banned from participating. Millions
living in conflict zones in the ethnic states, as well as refugees
who have fled to neighbouring countries and exiles further afield,
will also be excluded;
The regime refused the UN's request to allow
international monitors. Anyone campaigning against the process
faces a jail sentence of at least three years;
Few have seen the full constitution, which was
only published very recently. It is only available in Burmese,
making it difficult for those ethnic nationalities who can vote
to understand what they are voting on;
Under the terms of the proposed constitution,
the Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Army will appoint 25% of the
national legislators. He will also appoint the Minister of Defence,
who will report to him. The army chief can seize power at any
point, if he happens to believe that national security is threatened.
There will be no independent judiciary, and the constitution cannot
be amended for 10 years;
Under the terms of the proposed constitution,
political prisoners will be barred from contesting elections,
and the President must be a person with military experience who
has not married a foreigner. Aung San Suu Kyi, therefore, is by
definition excluded from contesting future elections.
RECOMMENDATIONS
CSW believes that the efforts of UN Special
Envoy Ibrahim Gambari have clearly failed to achieve any progress
whatsoever towards meaningful tripartite dialogue between the
regime, the NLD and the ethnic nationalities. CSW therefore urges
Her Majesty's Government to take a leading role within the UN
and the EU in calling for new measures to increase pressure on
the regime and to support the democracy movement in Burma, including
the following steps:
To call on the UN Secretary-General to take
charge of the UN's Burma initiative personally, to increase his
personal level of engagement, and to visit Burma at the earliest
opportunity to attempt to facilitate dialogue between the regime,
the National League for Democracy and the ethnic nationalities;
To propose a UN Security Council resolution,
or a Presidential Statement, rejecting the regime's referendum
process and mandating the Secretary-General to increase his personal
engagement, including to visit Burma as a matter of urgency;
To work to secure a universal arms embargo against
the regime through the UN Security Council;
To continue to urge the Governments of China,
India, Russia, Japan and the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN)—in particular the Government of Singapore and the
Royal Thai Government—to use their influence with the regime
to move towards tripartite dialogue, and to cease providing the
regime with arms and economic and political assistance;
To impose targeted banking and financial sanctions
against members of the Burmese regime, and to work for similar
targeted banking sanctions to be introduced throughout the European
Union;
To work for the introduction of further measures
as part of the European Union Common Position, on a rolling basis
proportionate to developments within Burma, and to include a ban
on new investment and a ban on investment in the oil and gas sectors;
To provide funding and expertise to democracy
and human rights projects working along Burma's borders;
To adopt a much more proactive approach in the
future, and remain consistently engaged with the situation in
Burma at senior levels.
CONCLUSIONS
CSW believes that Her Majesty's Government's
level of engagement with the crisis in Burma has increased significantly
since September 2007, and the Government has pursued a number
of welcome initiatives. CSW particularly welcomes the personal
involvement of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. Prior
to September 2007 Burma rarely featured in statements by the Prime
Minister or the Foreign Secretary, and there are few if any known
examples of personal action taken at Cabinet-level to address
the crisis in Burma. Burma was always previously handled at the
level of Minister of State and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State. CSW warmly welcomes the change.
CSW notes, however, that the initial response
to the demonstrations and crackdown in Burma when they began in
August 2007 was surprisingly slow. The Government's subsequent
initiatives, and the personal engagement of the Prime Minister,
while very welcome, appeared to have been in reaction to growing
public and Parliamentary pressure. CSW would like to see the Government
adopt a much more proactive approach in the future, and remain
consistently engaged with the situation in Burma at senior levels.
8 April 2008
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