•  Home
•  Who We Are
•  What We Do
•  Media Centre
•  Publications
•  Humphrey Award
•  Reference
•  Links
•  Contact Us

Letter to Mr. Kofi Annan re. Call for a UN Security Council resolution on Burma

May 31, 2006

Mr. Kofi Annan
UN Secretary-General
United Nations Plaza
New York, NY
United States of America
10017

Re: Call for a UN Security Council Resolution on Burma

Dear Secretary-General:

I would like to begin commending both the United Nations Security Council’s first briefing discussion of Burma in December, 2005 and your recent appeal for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. I am very encouraged by these first steps in addressing Burma ’s escalating humanitarian crisis and long history of gross human rights violations. In view of the urgency of the situation, however, I urge the Security Council to follow-up on these recent initiatives by placing Burma on the UN Security Council’s agenda in order to adopt a resolution.

As you are aware, the extension of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest comes at a time when more than 13,000 villagers in the Karen State have been forced from their homes following a rampage orchestrated by the Burmese military. Tens of thousands may still be desperately trying to survive in the jungle without any access to humanitarian aid.

Unfortunately, the tragedy of the Karens is but the latest in a history of violence and terror which has been inflicted on the people of Burma by the military since 1962. Following the 1988 military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, over 1 million people have been forced to leave the country while a larger number of people are living in military relocation sites or are trying to survive as internally displaced persons.

International interventions to bring peace to Burma and ensure respect for human rights have been marked by failure. The military authorities (SLORC/SPDC) have disregarded no less than twenty-eight UN General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights resolutions calling for national reconciliation and an end to the crisis. As noted by the Honourable Vaclav Havel and Bishop Desmond Tutu, the time has come for the SPDC to be held accountable and be presented with binding obligations to achieve national reconciliation. (1)

As per Chapter VII of the UN Charter (Article 41) and past Security Council precedents, the UN Security Council holds both the authority and the responsibility to take the concrete measures urgently required to end this long-standing humanitarian crisis and Burma ’s systematic human rights abuses. In view of the escalating situation, the urgency of placing Burma on the UN Security Council’s agenda cannot be understated.

Rights & Democracy joins the growing global coalition of organizations calling for the Security Council to adopt a resolution on the situation in Burma . Such a resolution should:

- Urge SPDC to immediately end its attacks on indigenous/ethnic minorities while releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners;

- Call on the SPDC to create the conditions of transparency, accountability and non-interference necessary to allow international humanitarian assistance to reach the most vulnerable groups of the population, including internally displaced persons;

- Require the SPDC to work with the Secretary-General’s office in implementing a plan for national reconciliation in order to restore democracy while respecting the results of the May 1990 elections, and;

- Allow the Secretary-General to report back to the Security Council on a regular basis.

I am confident that you are aware of the urgency of the situation in Burma and the need for immediate strong and binding international action. Peace and democracy in Burma are not only crucial to the realization of the human rights of millions in Burma , but essential in the interest of regional and global security.

Yours very truly,

Jean-Louis Roy
President, Rights & Democracy 

Cc: Members of the Security Council
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper

1. The Honorable Vaclav Havel and Bishop Desmond Tutu, “Threat to the Peace: A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma ,” September 2005.