For immediate release
19 June 2006
Julie Morgan, MP for Cardiff North, continues to raise the plight of Burma's democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, and is supporting global calls for a United Nations Security Council Resolution on her release.
On Monday 19 June, Aung San Suu Kyi will spend her 61st birthday in detention. On that day she will have spent a total of 10 years and 238 days (3888 days) in detention. She is isolated; allowed no visitors; her phone line has been cut; and her post is intercepted. She is being denied access to regular medical care.
Protests demanding that the international community take action to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi will take place in more than 25 countries worldwide. Campaigners are calling on the United Nations Security Council to pass a binding resolution demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma, and the restoration of democracy to the country. The United States Government recently announced that it would push for the Council to pass on a resolution on Burma.
Julie will be attending the All Party Parliamentary Group on Burma's meeting on Aung San Suu Kyi in the House of Commons. The meeting will be addressed by two Burmese MPs and Yvette Mahon, Director of the Burma Campaign UK.
Julie said: "Aung San Suu Kyi's dentention is one of the world's longest running scandals. That this woman, legitimately elected by her people, has been held for so long and prevented from being her people's democratic leader is as outrageous as the time its taken the international community to get its act together."
"Aung San Suu Kyi could spend the rest of her life in detention if the Security Council continues to avoid its responsibility to tackle the situation in Burma," said Yvette Mahon. "She has been praised by world leaders, but most have ignored her request for practical international support. On her 60th birthday last year we saw a chorus of calls for her release, but this wasn't followed by any concrete steps at the UN or by governments to secure her release."
The regime in Burma has consistently defied the United Nations, ignoring over a dozen calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's release by the Secretary General, and 28 resolutions by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Commission.
Demands for UN Security Council intervention increased following the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003. The campaign was given fresh momentum following publication in September 2005 of a report - "A Threat to the Peace" - commissioned by Bishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech President Vaclav Havel from global law firm DLA Piper. The report found that Burma does fit the criteria for UNSC intervention. The Security Council held its first discussion on Burma in December 2005, and a second in May 2006, but on both occasions failed to take concrete action.
Aung San Suu Kyi's current period of detention began on 30 May 2003 when a convoy she was travelling in was attacked by a regime-run militia, the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA). USDA thugs beat around a hundred National League for Democracy supporters to death in a failed assassination attempt against Aung San Suu Kyi.
Julie added: "It's been a long ten years now of house arrest for Aung San Suu Kyi. I hope that with concerted international pressure she can celebrate her next birthday not only as a free woman, but as the leader of a democratic Burma."
ENDS |
