International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Paris, 6 September 2007 - As the Foreign Ministers from the European Union’s 27 member states prepare to meet on 7 September 2007 in Viana do Costelo in Portugal, and as the world witnesses the repression of peaceful demonstrations throughout Burma, FIDH sent a letter today to the European Union Foreign Ministers calling on the EU to strengthen its sanctions against the Burmese military junta.
The call for stronger European sanctions on the military junta in Burma follows the series of arrests by authorities, since 21 August 2007, of over 100 peaceful protestors demonstrating against the increase in the prices of fuel. The junta responded swiftly and harshly to the protests, detaining and reportedly torturing several high profile demonstrators. FIDH has previously called upon the Burmese authorities to immediately release the detainees.
FIDH recalls that the European Union has, over recent years, adopted several Common Positions renewing sanctions against Burma. The current measures include an embargo on arms and defence related material as well as a prohibition on European investment in a number of small industries. As FIDH has previously noted, however, the current sanctions have no real positive impact on human rights and governance in the country, due to the resistance of certain members of the European Union to extending the sanctions to the key industries, particularly oil, timber and gas. The revenues from these industries help financially sustain the junta and, as a result, the EU sanctions fail to produce any true impact.
Notwithstanding the flaws in the current sanctions, FIDH welcomes the efforts of the European Union on the issue of the human rights situation in Burma at the United Nations and, in particular, its collective support for the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Burma and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma.
As the recent repression of peaceful demonstrators shows, however, the junta maintains its ability to forcibly control the Burmese population and to deny them their most basic human rights. It is high time for strengthened sanctions to be adopted that will effect real changes on the ground and signal the support of the international community to the peaceful protesters which are targeted.
FIDH urges the Foreign Ministers of the member states of the European Union to impose, as a matter of urgency, a new programme of sanctions that prohibit all European investment in the junta’s most profitiable sectors, namely oil, timber and gas.
Press contact : Gaël Grilhot : +33-1 43 55 90 19
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