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10-11 April 2000

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Councils

BRUSSELS COUNCIL - Platform for global progress

10-11 April 2000

RESOLUTION ON BURMA

The Council of the Socialist International, meeting in Brussels on 10-11 April 2000, remains very concerned by

the continuing lack of progress toward a democratic opening in Burma;
the increasing political repression which denies the people and opposition parties all basic human rights and freedoms, and includes arbitrary detentions or house arrest against democratic leaders including Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and fellow members of the National League for Democracy (NLD);
the severe restrictions and intimidation which has caused the forced resignations of NLD members and the closing of NLD offices throughout Burma, thereby destroying whatever semblance of pluralism that had existed and re-imposing a completely dictatorial situation;
the mob actions carried out by members of the government-controlled Union Solidarity Association to intimidate democratic forces and scare ordinary citizens by calling for the banning and dissolution of the NLD;
the continuing detentions of NLD members of parliament when they attempt to convene the legitimate People's Assembly elected in 1990 and in which voters gave the NLD a large majority.

The Socialist International therefore reaffirms the resolutions passed at the SI Congress held in Paris on 8-10 November 1999 calling for full respect for human rights in Burma, and urges that all political and diplomatic pressures be maintained against the military government in Burma, as well as all economic sanctions;

Expresses its support for the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP) formed by the NLD members of parliament elected in 1990, and calls upon the Burmese government to recognise the victory of the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi in those elections;

Deplores the continuing gross violation of human rights generally as well as in the context of the government's war against the non-Burmese ethnic peoples, particularly in the Karen, Kareni, Shan and Chin states;Calls on the ASEAN nations to put pressure on the Burmese government to hold real political dialogue with the NLD and the non-Burmese ethnic groups to peacefully resolve the longstanding conflicts in the country;