Kofi Annan's Big Moment on Burma

Kofi Annan's Big Moment on Burma

Aung Din
December 12, 2005
Washington, DC

As ASEAN leaders in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia pressure Burmese military junta for the release of all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and tangible improvement of the failed democratization process, the UN Security Council is planning to hear a briefing on the situation in Burma. This will be the first time the UN Security Council will discuss Burma in the 17 years since Burma's popular uprising in 1988. Although China and Russia have already said that it will be only a one-time event and only an "informal consultation as a whole", the United States, United Kingdom, the Philippines, Romania and other allies on the Security Council are working to ensure the Council offers its support for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's effort on Burma. The success of this briefing and any subsequent efforts of the international community to democratize and bring respect for human rights in Burma now depend a great deal on the Secretary-General himself.

Most observers expect that the Secretary-General will attend the briefing and offer his own comments, as well as answer questions the Council himself. All Council members, except the regime's allies, hope that Mr. Annan will ask the Council to empower him in his effort to facilitate national reconciliation in Burma. However, before he asks for the Security Council's support, he must first make it clear to the doubtful members of the Council --China, Russia, Japan, Brazil and Algeria-- that situation in Burma justified for the Security Council's involvement.

Encouragingly, in his report to the UN Security Council on last Friday, December 9, 2005, on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, he stated that "The emerging crisis in ... Burma highlights other concerns for the protection of civilians. In these cases humanitarian access and the ability to protect the civilian population from the long-term social and economic consequences of conflict are denied ...."

He also mentioned in the report that these conflicts rely upon child soldiers, who are commonly recruited and used against their will, through abduction, kidnapping, enslavement and coercion or intimidation of their parents or guardians. We believe that he is well aware of over 70,000 child soldiers forcibly recruited into the Burmese military. He also highlighted forced displacement within borders as one of the most disturbing features of conflict. In a graph attached in his report, he stated that numbers of refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) are 15 millions and 25 millions respectively in 2004 all over the world. We believe that over two million population of Burmese refugees and over 650,000 populations of Burmese IDPs, hiding in Eastern part of Burma certainly fall within this "disturbing" category of violence.

The Secretary-General also highlighted the use of sexual violence, particularly against women and girls as a deliberate method of warfare that has become more horrifying in recent years. Although his examples of sexual violence in armed conflict are in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we hope that he is also aware of the Burmese military regime's use of rape as weapon of war in ethnic nationality areas. The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war by the Burmese army has been reported by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Situation in Burma, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and has also been included in the texts of many consecutive resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the UN Commission on Human Rights.

The ball is now in Mr. Annan's court. His briefing to the Security Council will determine whether the supportive countries on the Council will be able to strengthen his mandate with the support of the Security Council, as requested by National League for Democracy and the people from all walks of life in Burma. Judging from his above-mentioned report, we feel that he will use this rare and unique opportunity effectively and seriously for the sake of the people of Burma, for whom he has shown a lot of concerns during his tenure as the UN Secretary-General.

It is also important to note that the UN's current and previous Special Envoys to Burma have often complained of a weak mandate given by the UN General Assembly. Now is Mr. Annan's chance to request from the UN's penultimate body the authority he needs to negotiate a peaceful and non-violent national reconciliation for the Burmese people. Although many countries have worked to get this far at the Council, the West and other allies alone can not provide this mandate. As former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review Michael Vatikiotis said in a recent opinion piece, the Secretary-General must ask --- and negotiate--- for it himself.

In his report to the 60^th session of UN General Assembly on the situation of human rights in Burma, Mr. Annan demanded the Burmese regime resumes dialogue with the representatives of all ethnic nationality groups and political leaders as soon as possible, releases all political prisoners, lifts the remaining constraints on all political leaders, allows reopening of the offices of National League for Democracy, and includes aforementioned groups in the regime's political road map. He went further by saying that he hoped to see these steps implemented by the first half of 2006.

The majority of the Countries on the Security Council have handed the Secretary-General a golden opportunity. We hope that Mr. Annan will seize the moment and request empowerment from the UN Security Council. Such backing will strengthen his mandate and help him keep his words


[Aung Din is a former political prisoner and Co-Founder and Policy Director of Washington, DC-based US Campaign for Burma.]