U.N. Security Council Criticized for Failure to Act Against Abuses in Burma By Patrick Goodenough 12/11/2009 CNSNews.com Original Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/58406 The U.N. Security Council came under fresh calls Thursday to take action on Burma. Hundreds of lawmakers from 29 countries urged the world body’s most powerful organ to pass a resolution setting up an inquiry into human rights violations and imposing a global arms embargo on the military junta. The appeal, on International Human Rights Day, came as Burmese opposition groups warned that with controversial elections coming up next year, the country’s “most dangerous days” lay ahead. Four months ago, the Security Council issued a brief “press statement” on Burma whose strongest language was the expression of “serious concern” about the conviction and sentencing of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Council press statements are weaker than presidential statements, and do not become part of the official record. The last time the council considered a resolution critical of Burma, in January 2007, China and Russia vetoed the U.S.-sponsored text. It was one of only six vetoes ever cast by China since it became a permanent council member in 1971, and the first time China and Russia had cast a double veto since 1972. (Non-permanent member South Africa also voted against the resolution, and Indonesia, Qatar and the Congo abstained.) Burma has been under military rule since a 1962 coup, and current junta leader Than Shwe has occupied his post since 1992. The Obama administration in September announced in a policy shift that it would seek to engage the junta, while keeping sanctions in place. In his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Thursday, President Obama referred to the human rights situations in several countries, including Burma, saying “there must be consequences.” He also made a case for engaging governments that violate their citizens’ rights. “I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation,” he said. “But I also know that sanctions without outreach – and condemnation without discussion – can carry forward a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.” Aung Din, a former political prisoner in Burma who is executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB), said Thursday the organization supports the administration’s policy of sanctions and engagement, but with conditions. “We appreciate President Obama and his administration for trying to help the people of Burma to be free from decades-long suffering under the military dictatorship,” he said. “But, engagement should not be an open-ended process. It should be within limited timeframe, with clear benchmarks, and an adequate plan for appropriate response.” Aung Din said sanctions and pressure should be “maximized” to make engagement more powerful. “[Obama] should make the regime understand that the United States’ outreach to the regime for positive solution in Burma has a limit,” he said. ‘Shocking silence’ In their letter to the Security Council, 442 parliamentarians from countries around the world called for a resolution “establishing a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma and imposing a global arms embargo.” They said the council had “for too many years” ignored crimes including the destruction of thousands of ethnic minority villages, rape of ethnic minority women, recruitment of child soldiers and forced displacement of more than one million people. The lawmakers called Security Council “silence” shocking, and concluded that “the longer the Council waits, the more people in Burma will die.” Among signatories to the letter, which was organized by two Japanese lawmakers, were dozens of lawmakers from the Czech Republic, Britain, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Cambodia and Japan. Four Republican members of the U.S. Congress – Reps. Joseph Pitts (Pa.), Aaron Schock (Ill.), Mark Souder (Ind) and Frank Wolf (Va.) – also signed. “I am proud to stand with so many freely elected leaders from around the world to call for the regime to respect the rights of the people of Burma and to cease the senseless violence,” Pitts said. According to the USCB, similar initiatives, also calling for a Security Council commission of inquiry, came from 55 members of the U.S. House of Representatives last June, from 82 members of the Canadian parliament in October, and from 92 members of the British House of Commons in November. The U.N. acts Asked about the lawmakers’ letter Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said she had not seen it and so declined comment. She did note that Obama had referred to Burma in his speech in Oslo. “Obviously we will continue our discussions here in the United Nations and in Geneva at the Human Rights Council on what action might be desirable and feasible multilaterally,” Rice added. Apart from the Security Council press statement last August and an earlier one in May, the U.N. has taken two other actions this year with regard to the human rights situation in Burma: -- In March, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution which “strongly urge[d]” the Burmese government to stop politically-motivated arrests and release political prisoners. The resolution also “note[d] with appreciation the cooperation” of the regime with the international community, including the U.N. (Five months later, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Burma but was refused permission to visit Suu Kyi.) The council adopted the text without a vote, although China and Russia expressed reservations. -- In November, a General Assembly committee dealing with human rights issues passed a resolution introduced by the European Union, condemning “systematic and widespread” rights violations in Burma, calling for the release of political prisoners and urging the junta to lift restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression. The committee was split over the resolution, with 92 countries voting in favor and 91 others either voting against (26) or abstaining (65). Members rising to criticize the resolution included China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Malaysia and Vietnam. ‘The regime views engagement as weakness’ Three dissident groups inside Burma in a joint statement Thursday urged the international community not to recognize elections scheduled for 2010 unless political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, are released, and unless there is dialogue with the opposition and ethnic minority groups, and “national reconciliation.” The All Burma Monks’ Alliance, 88 Generation Students and All Burma Federation of Student Unions said the passage of a new constitution and next year’s election were final steps in a “plot to set up a permanent military rule in the country,” and warned that “the most dangerous days of Burma are before us.” Ratified last year, the constitution sets aside 25 percent of seats in parliament for the military. A section on eligibility for political office would prevent Suu Kyi from competing, since she was formerly married to a foreign citizen. Indiana University law professor David Williams told a U.S. Senate panel in October the constitution was “a cynical attempt to buy off international pressure.” The three Burmese organizations also commented on the fact that “more governments are now choosing to engage with the regime with the expectation that they can persuade it to make positive changes in our country.” “However, evidence, on the ground, proves that the regime considers engagement as a weakness; the regime rejects good-will,” they argued.