International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
PRESS RELEASE
BURMA
Paris, May 28, 2007. The International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH) strongly condemns the decision of the Burmese military junta to
extend the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate and leader of the Burmese opposition. FIDH, calls today the
Burmese authorities to put an end to the harsh repression of political
opponents and to immediately release all political prisoners.
On 25 May 2007, the Burmese military regime announced its decision to
extend, once again arbitrarily and for yet another year, the house
arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Secretary-General of the National League
for Democracy (NLD), the main opposition party in Burma, has already
spent more than 11 years under house arrest since 1989, although she has
never been charged with a crime. Her last arrest dates back to May 2003.
Despite the repeated appeals for her release from the international
community, including the appeals of Ms. Louise Arbour, United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights and 59 former Heads of States and
Governments, the Burmese regime has taken a step further in its
determination to neutralise the eminent opposition leader.
Over the past year, the Burmese military junta has not undertaken any
action in favor of national reconciliation. Indeed, in September 2006,
the regime publicly declared that it will never engage in discussions
with the NLD and ethnic minorities. Instead, NLD leaders and democracy
activists have increasingly been subjected to harassment including
arbitrary arrests and restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly.
The reform process proposed in the road map and the work of the National
Convention have produced absolutely no concrete results and the military
campaign in the ethnic areas of eastern Burma is having a terrible
effect on human rights with 27 000 internally displaced people in 2006
alone in the region.
FIDH urges the Burmese authorities :
– to release Aung San Suu Kyi and the other political prisoners,
estimated at 1200 by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in Myanmar (Report submitted at the HRC,
February 2007), who are arbitrarily detained and to guarantee
their physical and psychological integrity.
– To put an immediate end to military operations and attacks against
civilian populations in ethnic areas;
– To allow the immediate, safe, and unhindered access to all parts
of the country for international humanitarian organizations to
provide assistance to the most vulnerable groups;
– To undertake a meaningful, transparent and inclusive dialogue with
all political parties and ethnic groups in order to achieve a
genuine process of national reconciliation.
Moreover, FIDH urges, once again, the international community to take
all necessary measures, including economic pressure, in order to promote
the effective protection of the rights of the Burmese people and the
strengthening of the rule of law.
* Press contact :
Karine Appy
+ 33 1 43 55 14 12
+ 33 1 43 55 25 18
kappy fidh.org *
Isabelle Brachet
Desk Officer for Asia
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
17, passage de la Main d’Or
75011 Paris – France
tel : + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / fax : + 33 1 43 55 18 80
www.fidh.org