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Québec National Assembly Praised for Stand on Burma

The ICHRDD congratulated the Québec National Assembly today for recognizing the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP) as the legitimate authority in Burma, which has been ruled by the military for a decade.

QUÉBEC – December 8, 1999 – The International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development congratulated the Québec National Assembly today for recognizing the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP) as the legitimate authority in Burma, which has been ruled by the military for a decade.

"This motion is very important for the pro-democracy movement in Burma. It states unequivocally that the Quebec National Assembly supports restoration of democracy in Burma and the end of the military junta," said Warren Allmand, President of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development.

Québec is the second province in Canada to vote a motion supporting the CRPP. Earlier this year, the British Columbia legislature recognized the People's Parliament and condemned continuing human rights abuses in Burma, while urging the military régime to release all political prisoners and to restore democracy. Parliamentarians in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and the European Union have approved similar motions.

Dr. Sein Win, Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) was invited to travel to Québec as a guest of the International Centre and in collaboration with the French-language section of Amnesty International and the Drug Rehabilitation Centre Portage. He also met with Speaker of the National Assembly Jean-Pierre Charbonneau and representatives of the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois to thank them for their support.

"Quebeckers must realize that Burma's lack of democracy has a direct impact on their lives at home. Trade in drugs from Burma's Golden Triangle poppy fields has been allowed to run out of control by the military régime," he said.

Dr. Win pledged that when democracy is restored to Burma, immediate and concerted efforts would be made to halt the export of heroin from his country. It is estimated that Burma produces about 80 per cent of Asia's heroin, much of it floods the North American market. Dr. Win will get a chance to see the consequences of the heroin drug trade when he visits a drug rehabilitation centre operated by Portage in the Montreal area tomorrow.