I am aware that the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, adopted a resolution on 8 April 2005 concerning 23 parliamentarians in Burma, 15 of whom are reportedly in detention, six of whom are reported to have died in custody and two of whom are reported to have been assassinated.
Together with our EU partners, the Government has consistently condemned the lack of progress towards democracy in Burma and the continuing abuse of human rights and fundamental freedoms in that country. Most recently, the EU Troika of Foreign Ministers met with the Burmese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. U Nyan Win, in the margins of the Asia-Europe Meeting, ASEM, of Foreign Ministers in Kyoto, Japan, on 7 May 2005. The troika expressed concern about the situation in Burma and called on the Burmese authorities to enter into a constructive dialogue with the opposition National League for Democracy, NLD, other legitimate representative bodies and ethnic groups. The troika also called for the release of all political prisoners and presented a list of 19 political prisoners, which the EU would like to see freed immediately on humanitarian grounds, to the Burmese authorities. The troika further appealed to the Burmese authorities to establish permanent and sincere co-operation with the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Burma, Mr. Razali Ismail, the special rapporteur on the situation on human rights in Burma, Mr. Sergios Pinheiro and with all relevant UN agencies. The Burmese Foreign Minister agreed to study the list of political prisoners and the demands expressed by the EU.
At the opening session of the ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting on 6 May, European and Asian Foreign Ministers collectively expressed to the Burmese Foreign Minister, their concern at the situation in Burma and expressed the expectation that all restrictions on the democratisation process will be lifted at the earliest possible opportunity. Ireland was represented at the ASEM Foreign Ministers Meeting by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche. The Minister urged the Burmese authorities to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners. He also expressed Ireland's grave disappointment and concern that the Burmese authorities had failed to create the conditions for political parties to participate in the national convention, now in recess.
On 14 April 2005, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights passed without a vote a resolution introduced by the EU and co-sponsored by Ireland, criticising systematic violation of human rights in Burma, calling for the restoration of democracy and freedom for all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The resolution also called on the Burmese authorities to release unconditionally and immediately, all political prisoners, with particular emphasis on the elderly and the sick. It further called on the Burmese authorities to desist from arresting and punishing persons for their peaceful political activities.
The Government's continuing goal, and that of the EU, remains the return of democracy to Burma, an end to human rights violations there and the realisation of peace and prosperity for the long suffering people of Burma.