MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
19.6.2007
pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules of Procedure
by Marco Cappato, Lydie Polfer, Sajjad Karim, Jules Maaten, Johan Van Hecke, Marios Matsakis, Anneli Jäätteenmäki, Marco Pannella
on behalf of the ALDE Group
on Burma
B6‑0253/2007
European Parliament resolution on Burma
The European Parliament,
- -having regard to its previous resolutions on Burma of 16 September 2004, 12 May 2005, 17 November 2005 and 14 December 2006,
- -having regard to the objectives of Council Common position 2007/248/CSFP of 23 April 2007 on renewing restrictive measures against Burma/Myanmar,
- -having regard to the conclusions of the 8th ASEM Foreign Ministers meeting hold in Hamburg on 28 and 29 May 2007,
- -having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
- A.whereas the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) continues to subject the people of Burma, including its many minorities, to appalling human rights abuses, such as forced labor, persecution of dissidents, conscription of child soldiers and forced relocation,
- B.whereas the National Convention, first convened in 1993 to draft a constitution and which has been suspended many times since then, resumed on 10 October 2006 but stills lacks any credibility due to the absence of many representative groups, most notably the National League for Democracy (NLD),
- C.whereas the Nobel Peace Prize and Sakharov Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has now been held in isolation without charge for four consecutive years since the attack on her convoy on 30 May 2003 and has spent more than eleven of the last 17 years in detention,
- D.whereas, according to the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 2006, Burma is the world's second largest producer of illicit opium, accounting for more than ninety per cent of South-East Asian heroin,
- E.whereas the EU's attempts to engage with Burma by allowing the Burmese Foreign Minister to attend the annual Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) has failed to bring any improvements in human rights in the country,
1. Condemns the extension of the house arrest for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi;
2. Reiterates its condemnation of the SPDC for its failure to make any significant move towards democracy, despite having ruled for over forty years;
3. Strongly believes that permitting the Burmese Foreign Minister to attend the ASEM meeting only days after the military government had extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, despite international calls for her release, is a mark of the Council's insufficient commitment to pressuring the military to give up power in Burma;
4. Recognises that the EU's targeted sanctions have not focused on economic areas that earn the regime significant revenues and, as a result, have so far failed to achieve the desired impact on those directly responsible for the suffering of the Burmese people;
5. Calls on the Council to expand the scope of the sanctions and to enlarge the list of those targeted, so that it includes all SPDC ministers, deputies, members, supporters and workers, in addition to their family members, and businessmen and other prominent individuals associated with the regime;
6. Calls on the Council to ensure that all Member States rigorously apply existing restrictive measures;
7. Calls on the international community for concerted political and economic pressure and sanctions to be placed on the regime;
8. Urges China, India and other countries that continue to supply weaponry and other support to the military junta to cease to do so and to join the international community in its efforts to bring about change for the better in Burma;
9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the governments of the ASEAN nations, the National League for Democracy, the State Peace and Development Council, the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD, the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.