23 May 2007
Calls Grow for Release of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi
International pressure mounts as end of current detention term approaches
United Nations -- Worldwide pressure on Burma to improve human rights practices and release political prisoners has been growing as the end of the current term of house arrest nears for the country's most famous political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners would demonstrate a willingness to abide by universally accepted human rights standards," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said in Geneva May 22. "It would also, I believe, facilitate national dialogue and free the government and the people to focus on the need to unite the country and to allow the emergence of democratic structures to decide on the way forward."
Aung San Suu Kyi, the general secretary of the National League for Democracy, has spent 11 of the last 17 years behind bars or under house arrest for campaigning against the ruling junta. Since her party and its allies won Burma's 1990 election with more than 80 percent of the parliamentary seats, the Nobel laureate regularly has been detained without charge or trial, and has been held in isolation for the past four years. Aung San Suu Kyi's current term of detention is scheduled to end May 27.
Arbour said her office is "ready to assist Burma in any efforts toward democratization by addressing the complex human rights crisis faced by the country."
The statement by the High Commissioner for Human Rights follows a similar call by 14 U.N. special rapporteurs May 10. In their statement, which refers to Myanmar, the ruling junta's name for Burma, the U.N. human rights experts said they believed "the stability of Myanmar is not well served by the arrest and detention of several political leaders or by the severe and sustained restrictions on the exercise of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also want Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi, according to press reports May 22.
Speaking at a meeting of senior ASEAN diplomats, Philippine Foreign Under Secretary Erlinda Basilio said, "It's a consensus that we want to see her early release. We'd like to see the lifting of the order." The diplomats are preparing for the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in July.
In Bangkok, Thailand, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill also urged Burma to free its political prisoners. "The continued incarceration or house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi is one of several issues that's posing a real blockage in terms of Burma being able to rejoin the international community," Hill told reporters. On May 17, President Bush extended sanctions against the Burmese regime due to its continued repression of democratic opposition and violence against ethnic minorities in the country.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced May 22 that he had designated his special adviser Ibrahim Gambari to begin working immediately with Burma to help the regime restore democracy and protect human rights throughout the country.
In reappointing Gambari as a U.N. envoy to Burma, Ban said that he looks forward to the cooperation of the government and all political parties in making tangible progress toward the restoration of democracy and the protection of human rights in Burma.
Gambari, a former Nigerian ambassador to the United Nations, visited Burma twice in 2006, meeting with top government officials, the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Aung San Suu Kyi. Gambari discussed five major issues with Burmese government officials: political prisoners, humanitarian access, a more inclusive political process, the need to work with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the need for a cessation of hostilities against ethnic minorities, particularly in Kayin state. (See related article.)
Reporting to the Security Council in November 2006, Gambari said that the government had taken "small steps," but it was up to the government to take further steps to respond to the concerns of the international community. "The ball is clearly in the court of the government," he said.
The full text of a statement on continued sanctions against Burma is available on the White House Web site.
For further information, see U.S. Support for Democracy in Burma.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
