Vol. 526 No. 6
157 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps which can be taken through the EU or the UN against the present illegal regime in Myanmar/Burma, with the aim of restoration of democratic rule there after free and open elections. [27800/00]
Democratic elections were held in Burma in 1990. Had the results of these elections been accepted by the military regime and been allowed to be implemented, decades of oppressive military rule in the country would have come to an end. However, the military regime did not allow this to happen. Since then they have consistently refused to enter into dialogue with the democratically elected representatives of the Burmese people, including representatives of the National League for Democracy and the various ethnic groups. They have instead tried by a broad range of repressive measures to undermine and destroy these forces for democracy. These actions of the military regime have resulted in systematic and ongoing violations of human rights, a major downturn in the economy, wide-scale forced labour and displacement of persons, and deficiencies in the education and health systems which have had a devastating effect on the population.
The problem of Burma is addressed on an ongoing basis by the EU as well as by the UN, and other international bodies such as the ILO. The UN Commission on Human Rights, the General Assembly and the International Labour Organisation have condemned the policies and practices of the military regime. Ireland supports fully all of these efforts. At the current session of the UN General Assembly, Ireland together with all EU partners co-sponsored a resolution on the situation in Burma. This set out comprehensively our concerns in respect of the many matters which need urgently to be addressed there.
As the situation in Burma is considered by some countries, including permanent members of the security council, to be a purely internal one and, therefore, not appropriate for UN sanctions, the UN security council has not, and is unlikely, to address the issue. However, the UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, is trying to address the situation. He appointed a special rapporteur on human rights in Burma and has tried to facilitate dialogue between the military regime and the democratic forces by the appointment of special envoys. The failure of the regime to co-operate with the UN rapporteur on human rights, led the latter to resign recently and it remains to be seen if the secretary general will make a further appointment. Mr Ismail Razali of Malaysia, the Secretary General's current special envoy has visited Burma twice since his appointment last May, but as the secretary general reported to the UN General Assembly recently, his efforts to promote dialogue have not yet proven successful. Prior to Mr. Razali's most recent visit to Burma in early October, the EU made a declaration of support for his efforts.
