Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague has urged the British Government to bring the crisis in Burma to the UN Security Council as a matter of urgency, following the military regime’s crackdown on demonstrations last week.

Commenting Mr Hague said: “We welcome the statement last week by the Foreign Office Minister Meg Munn, but we believe a more proactive response is required. Burma’s military regime has shown what it is capable of numerous times. It is guilty of crimes against humanity and extreme brutality. A wait-and-see approach is completely inadequate and by failing to act, we may be sleepwalking into another massacre. We must increase pressure on the regime through the UN Security Council and the European Union, and urge China, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to use their influence to stop the crackdown.

“We salute the incredible courage of the Burmese people who continue to risk assault, arrest, torture and even death in some of the biggest demonstrations in Burma in a decade. We call for the immediate release of all those who have been arrested.

“We are deeply concerned by reports of a military build up in Rangoon, and the violent attacks by police and pro-junta mobs on peaceful demonstrators. We are also extremely troubled by reports that some of those arrested may be charged with disrupting the stability of the state, a crime which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. We know that the regime uses some of the most brutal forms of torture in Burma’s prisons and we are therefore very concerned for those who have been arrested.”

The protests were sparked by the regime’s decision to raise fuel prices by 500 per cent. The organisers of the demonstrations included leaders of the “88 Generation Students” who led the pro-democracy movement in 1988 when thousands of peaceful demonstrators were massacred by the regime. Over 20 key activists have been arrested this week, along with dozens more protestors. Those arrested include former political prisoners Min Ko Naing, who spent 16 years in jail for his role in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Ko Ko Gyi, who was imprisoned for 15 years, and U Ohn Than, who staged a solo protest in front of the US Embassy in Rangoon on 23 August. 

Notes to Editors:

1.  Burma is ruled by one of the world’s worst violators of human rights, a military regime which took power in a coup in 1962. Now known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the regime held elections in 1990 which were overwhelmingly won by the National League for Democracy (NLD). The regime refused to accept the results, and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest. Over 1,200 political prisoners are in jail, subjected to some of the worst forms of torture.
2. The military regime is committing crimes against humanity against Burma’s people, including the widespread and systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, the forcible conscription of child soldiers, forced labour, the use of human minesweepers, and the forcible displacement of over a million people. Since 1996, over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma have been destroyed by the Burma Army.