FIDH believes that the situation in Burma falls within the Security Council’s mandate : the escalating human rights violations perpetrated by the Burmese regime, the growing humanitarian crisis, are posing increasing threats to Burma’s neighboring countries and the entire region.
Over the past eighteen years the military junta has detained 1156 political prisoners, including 392 representatives of the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD). Recently, the SPDC has further increased political repression. Indeed, on September 27, 2006, the three most prominent student leaders of Burma, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe were arrested by the Burmese military regime. All had already served over 15 years in prison. They were released in 2004 and 2005 and since then, they have been working tirelessly to bring about the democratic changes in country by peaceful means.
Despite more than 28 resolutions adopted by the U.N. General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, calling for national reconciliation and democratization in Burma, as well as the actions undertaken by the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, his office and personal envoys over the past ten years, despite the four envoys to Burma mandated by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the SPDC’s unlawful methods of political and ethnic repression have intensified and consolidated.
FIDH considers that a resolution from highest body of the United Nations constitutes a measure of last resort. A Security Council resolution is not only justified but urgent and essential.