From the office of the Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town

Nine Nobel Peace Prize recipients today released a public statement calling for the international community and the United Nations Security Council to impose arms embargoes on the Southeast Asian country of Burma. The move comes after the country’s ruling military regime carried out a massive crackdown on demonstrating Buddhist monks and civilians in October 2007. The regime has since launched a nationwide dragnet, arresting and torturing thousands of dissidents.

Reads the statement: “We appeal to the members of the Security Council, and the international community, to take action quickly on measures that will prevent the sale of arms to the Burmese military, including a ban on banking transactions targeting top Burmese leaders, as well as state and private entities that support the government’s weapons trade.”

The statement was issued by Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu and signed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Prof. Elie Wiesel, Betty Williams and Jody Williams.

In 2006, Burma was voted onto the permanent agenda of the UN Security Council for the first time in history. On October 11th 2007 the UN Security Council issued its first-ever Presidential Statement on Burma, calling on Burma’s military regime to “…create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation with the direct support of the United Nations.”

Burma’s military regime has defied the Council’s demands, refusing to release political prisoners and instead proceeding with a vote on a new constitution written by hand-picked delegates of the military regime.

“The UN Security Council imposed arms embargoes on apartheid South Africa after the Sharpeville Massacre and Soweto Uprising. Now it is time for the UN and individual countries to immediately impose arms embargoes and targeted banking sanctions on Burma following the Saffron Massacre,” said Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu. “The election promised by the military regime is a complete sham,” he added.

The call by the Nobel laureates reflects the desires of Burma’s democracy movement inside the country. Two leading organizations, the 88 Generation Students and the All Burma Monks Alliance recently issued statements rejecting the referendum of the military regime and calling for arms embargoes and banking sanctions.

Burma is ruled by one of the world’s most brutal military regimes. The regime has incarcerated Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Nearly 2,000 political prisoners including hundreds of Buddhist monks are locked up. Meanwhile, the military regime has destroyed 3,200 ethnic minority villages in eastern Burma and hundreds of thousands of villagers to flee their homes as refugees and internally displaced.

According to the respected arms sales monitoring organization, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China is the leading supplier of arms to Burma’s military regime. Others include Ukraine, Poland, India and Russia.

Signed By:

Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Shirin Ebadi

Adolfo Perez Esquivel

Mairead Maguire

Rigoberta Menchu Tum

Prof. Elie Wiesel

Betty Williams

Jody Williams

Click Here to read the appeal from the Nobel Laureates