Des
de fa unes setmanes formo part del Comitè Executiu de la European Parliamentary
Caucus on Burma, que inclou diferents diputats, diputades i ex sensibles amb la
situació a Birmània. La darrera acció que hem fet ha estat dirigir una carta a
tots els ministres d'afers exteriors de la UE en els termes següents:
Burma
Desk
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street,
London, SW1A 2AH,
United Kingdom
Date:
March 2009
Dear
We
are writing to you regarding our concerns about the current political situation
in Burma and issues we believe the European Union should consider when renewing
the EU Common Position on Burma in April.
The people of Burma continue to suffer one of the worst human rights and humanitarian crises in the world. We are deeply concerned about the increasing number of political prisoners in Burma, and the conditions they are being kept in, including denial of medical treatment. We urge the European Union to use all its influence to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma.
We are also extremely concerned by the continuing reports of serious human rights abuses against ethnic people in Eastern Burma, and the humanitarian problems the attacks by the Burmese Army are causing.
The military dictatorship is ignoring calls by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly to enter into tripartite dialogue, and Than Shwe, the dictator of Burma, has repeatedly snubbed Ibrahim Gambari. Instead, the regime is pushing ahead with elections in 2010 that will enact a constitution which will effectively legalise dictatorship, and do nothing to change the human rights and humanitarian situation in the country. Allowing this situation to continue is not only unacceptable on human rights and humanitarian grounds, but also undermines the credibility of the United Nations system itself. Clearly more pressure needs to be placed on the generals to ensure they comply with the demands of the United Nations. We believe the European Union can and should do more to ensure the generals comply with the UN. We ask that the European Union consider the following four proposals:
1. To reiterate that the military dictatorship's planned 2010 elections and constitution are unacceptable in their current form, and support the National League for Democracy and other democratic forces proposals for genuine dialogue and reform.
2. To work to build a global consensus for a global arms embargo.
3. To consider carefully targeted economic sanctions, including targeted financial sanctions, and sanctions stopping European companies providing insurance in Burma.
4. To continue to increase humanitarian assistance in Burma, and to do more to challenge restrictions on aid delivery imposed by the regime. Until such restrictions are lifted, the European Union should support the delivery of cross border aid in order to save lives.
In light of the ongoing abuses in Burma, we strongly condemn those countries that appear to have been breaking the EU Common Position ban on ministerial visits to Burma. Any relaxation of measures in the Common Position should only be in response to positive change by the dictatorship.
We are shocked that European aid to the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium, which supports refugees who have fled attacks by the Burmese Army, has been reduced. There can be no justification for such action when the numbers of aid dependent refugees in the camps remains static. We call for these cuts to be reversed in the coming year.
We believe that aid should be delivered based on need. While we welcome the in-country aid, we also call for aid in border areas where there has been ongoing attacks on civilians by the Burmese Army. Any cuts in border funding will hit the most vulnerable people and cause hardship and malnutrition.
We hope that European member states will consider our proposals positively.
Yours sincerely,
John
Bercow, Member of Parliament, Great Britain
Petr Bratsky, Member of Parliament, Czech Republic
Simon Coveney, Member of Parliament, Ireland
Carmen Garcia, Member of Parliament, Spain
Glenys Kinnock, Member of European Parliament for Wales in the UK
Silver Meikar, Member of Parliament, Estonia
Laszlo Nagy, Member of Parliament, Slovakia
Zbygniew Romaszewski, Member of Parliament, Poland
Renate Weber, Member of the European Parliament, Romania
Raül Romeva, Member of European Parliament, Spain
Foto: En una recent visita als camps de refugiats/des birmans/es de Mae Sot.
És un país desgraciat i 'invisible' ........