Thu 15 Dec 2005
Filed under: News, Opinion
http://www.burmanet.org/news/2005/12/15/irrawaddy-un%E2%80%99s-annan-should-seize-this-chance-aung-din
When the UN Security Council is briefed by the UN on Burma, as it is about to be, it will be the first time the issue has been brought before the Council in the 17 years since a new military regime came to power in Rangoon, after a huge pro-democracy protest had been brutally suppressed in Burma.
While China and Russia—who both voted against the move in the UNSC—have said the briefing will be only a one-time event, and only an “informal consultation as a whole,” the US, Britain, the Philippines, Romania and others in the majority who voted in favor are working to ensure the Council offers its support for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to move on Burma.
The success of this briefing and any subsequent efforts of the international community, such as the Asean Summit early this week, to press the Burmese regime to democratize and respect human rights now depends a great deal on Annan himself. It’s not clear whether Annan will give the briefing himself.
Most observers expect the secretary general to at least attend the briefing and offer his own comments, as well as answer the Council’s questions. All Council members, except the regime’s allies, hope that he will ask the Council to empower him in his efforts to bring about national reconciliation in Burma. If he does, however, he must first make it clear to the doubtful Council members —China, Russia, Japan, Brazil and Algeria—that the situation in Burma justifies UNSC involvement.
Encouragingly, in his report to the UNSC on December 9 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, he said 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 lead to the forced recruitment of child soldiers through abduction, kidnapping, enslavement and coercion or intimidation of their parents or guardians. We believe that he is well aware of the claim by regime critics that an estimated 70,000 child soldiers have been drafted into the Burmese military in this way. He also highlighted forced displacement of rural communities as one of the most disturbing features of conflict. He added that there are 15 million refugees and 25 million internally displaced persons through conflicts worldwide. We believe that there are more than 2 million Burmese refugees, and 650,000 IDPs hiding in eastern Burma, who are within this category of violence.
In his report, Annan also highlighted the use of sexual violence against women and girls as a deliberate method of warfare that has become more horrifying in recent years. Although his examples of sexual violence were from conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we hope he is also aware of the Burmese military’s use of rape as a weapon in conflicts with ethnic insurgencies. The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war by the Burmese army has been reported by UN rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma 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 Annan’s court, whether he briefs the Council or not. His mandate on Burma could well be strengthened, as called for by detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and other Burmese. Judging from his report, we feel he may well use this rare opportunity effectively, and take seriously the plight of the people of Burma, for whom he has shown a lot of concern during his tenure as the secretary general.
Now is Annan’s chance to ask the powerful UNSC for the authority he needs to negotiate a peaceful and non-violent national reconciliation for the Burmese people. Although several countries have worked to get this far at the Council, the West and allies alone cannot provide this mandate.
In his report to the October opening session of the UN General Assembly on the human rights situation in Burma, Annan demanded the Burmese regime resume dialogue with representatives of all ethnic groups and political leaders as soon as possible, release all political prisoners, lift remaining constraints on all political leaders, allow reopening of the offices of the opposition NLD and include these groups in the generals’ proclaimed road map to democracy. He said he hoped to see these steps implemented by the first half of 2006.
The majority of countries on the Security Council have handed Annan a golden opportunity. We hope he will seize the moment to ask for the Council’s blessing in handling Burma. This would strengthen his mandate on Burma, and maybe help him to fulfill his earlier demands.
Aung Din, a former political prisoner in Burma, is co-founder and policy director of the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma.
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