For Immediate Release: May 31st, 2006
Contact: Jeremy Woodrum and Cristina Moon, (202)
223-0300 (office) or (202) 246 7924

(New York and Washington, DC) The U.S. Campaign
for Burma today praised members of the UN Security
Council for holding a discussion on Burma. This
is only the second briefing on Burma in history
by the Council, and comes six months after the
previous briefing in December 2005, during which
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan laid down a
series of steps that should be taken by the
military regime by mid-2006. Not a single one
of those prescribed steps has been taken.

“None of the goals laid out by Secretary
General Annan six months ago have been met,
it is past time for the Security Council to
put Burma on the formal agenda and pass a resolution,”
said Aung Din, a former political prisoner and
Policy Director at the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

The briefing comes the same day that the regime’s
army launched an attack against Karen villagers
in eastern Burma. In the past few months, regime
troops have driven 18,000 villagers from their
homes, and now another 3,000 are in immediate
danger of attacks from the Burma army. These
internally displaced persons join those who
have fled from 2,700 villages burned or otherwise
destroyed by the military regime in eastern
Burma over the past 10 years. Survival is extremely
difficult as the junta hunts down villagers
and kills them like animals. According to the
respected human rights organization Refugees
International, over 1 million refugees have
fled the country.

The recent attacks may represent the largest
military offensive in ten years.

The discussion also comes just days after UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed publicly
to regime leader Than Shwe to release Aung San
Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel
Peace Prize recipient. In what was seen as a
diplomatic slap in the face, Than Shwe pointedly
refused, and extended her detention another
year. The United States, European Union, Japan,
Thailand, Malaysia, and others had also all
called for her release.

“The Council should move quickly to take
necessary action to stop killing and violence
against civilians, by adopting a binding resolution
calling on the Burmese military regime to fully
cooperate with Secretary-General Kofi Annan,”
added Aung Din. “This resolution should
also include demanding that the regime release
all political prisoners including Aung San Suu
Kyi, allow all political parties to function
freely, immediately stop attacking civilians
and ethnic nationalities, and begin a tripartite
dialogue with NLD and ethnic representatives.”

The United Nations and other bodies have attempted
countless failed attempts at diplomacy on Burma,
passing 28 consecutive UN General Assembly and
Commission on Human Rights resolutions that
have been summarily ignored by the ruling military
regime. The European Union has sent several
failed “troika” missions to Burma,
while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’
“Bangkok Process” fell apart in
2004. Bilateral efforts at provoking change
by Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand
have also failed.

Unlike other UN mechanism, the Security Council
is the only body within the UN system that can
pass and enforce binding resolutions on a UN
member country. # #