We are writing you to express our concern regarding the conference organized by the European Commission on the occasion of the Burma Day, on April 5, in Brussels. That conference, titled “Supporting Burma/Myanmar’s National Reconciliation Process - Challenges and Opportunities”, is organized around an “independent report” dated of January 2005, elaborated for the European Commission, by Robert Taylor and Morten Pedersen.
The report eagerly argues in favour of revising the EU sanctions against Burma and engaging with the Burmese military regime; the report further blames Western policies “directed at isolating and undermining the [Burmese] government” for having “in reality” undermined economic and social rights and institutions, including the rights to education and to health.
The FIDH considers that the said report is totally unbalanced while the speakers appearing in the draft programme of the conference raise fears that the debates might be dominated by opponents to the sanctions against the Burmese regime.
There seems to be one key element missing in their reasoning: the total disregard of the Burmese junta for the welfare of the people of Burma, which is the main reason why social and economic rights are so widely violated in Burma. This disregard is however blatantly demonstrated by the way the government uses the resources of the State, the lion’s share being for military spending while 0,4% of the GDP is devoted to health and education (UNDP, 2003 human development report). Saying that the sanctions “have increased the sense of threat within the government, thus directly contributing to significant allocations of scarce resources for defence and security” seems a simplistic and biased explanation.
In addition, the FIDH is chocked that the authors of the report met with many officials, including five ministers, but did not meet any NLD representative. They specify that “Due to the uncertain political situation after the purge of former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, the team did not on these occasions meet with the main political actors (i.e. the SPDC, the NLD, and the ceasefire groups)”. Such an explanation is not convincing and this approach cannot result in an objective report since the high level officials are by definition close to SPDC, if not members of the party.
In a number of occasions, the authors of the report blame the NLD for not participating in the National Convention [1]
. This is again a one-sided view since they do not mention that NLD would have participated if a number of basic conditions had been met by the junta. They also forget to mention that the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, the UN General Assembly and the UN Secretary General consider those same conditions as basic elements for the National Convention to be legitimate.
Last but not least, the fact that the NLD is asking for international sanctions seems to be considered by the authors as an argument which is irrelevant in the debate [2]
. Again, should it be reminded that the NLD won overwhelmingly the 1988 elections and that its position is consequently to be considered as the only legitimate voice of the people of Burma until new elections are held? The fact that democratic forces inside Burma are asking for sanctions against Burma is, on the contrary, a key argument in favour of the sanctions.
We consequently call upon the European Commission to make sure that the speakers and guests for the 5 April conference represent the various tendencies and positions with regard to the sanctions against Burma. In addition, we urge the European Commission to make sure that it always contributes to the debates around the sanctions in an objective and independent way, bringing together all actors concerned, including Burmese democrats and human rights and trade union rights groups active on Burma.
Sincerely yours
Sidiki KABA
President
Copy : Members of the European Parliament (Foreign Affairs Committee)