British MPs call for inquiry into junta’s crimes

by Mungpi, Mizzima News, Wednesday, 02 December 2009.

New Delhi (Mizzima) - British Parliamentarians on Tuesday urged the British government to support its call to the international community, particularly, the United Nations to set up a commission of inquiry into the crimes against humanity committed by Burma’s military rulers.

The call was made by members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma (APPG Burma) during a panel discussion at the British Parliament on ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ in Burma.

Sappho Dias, Chair of the London-based Burma Justice Committee (BJC), who was also a panelist in the discussion said, “It is time for the international community to act on the crimes committed by the Burmese generals. And it is also a reminder to the junta that they cannot get away with what they have done.”

Dias said the Burmese military regime’s crimes including forced displacement, torture, sexual violence, extra-judicial killings and forced labour, have been well documented and it is time for the international community to act, instead of passing resolution after resolution without action.

Citing a report of the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, titled ‘Crimes in Burma’, at the panel, Dias said, various United Nations bodies and Special Rapporteurs have all documented evidences of the Burmese junta’s crimes and it is time for the UN Security Council to act.

“The Harvard Law School report is a collection of UN documents and various others studies on the junta’s crimes,” Dias said.

Nang Seng, Campaigns Officer with the Burma Campaign UK, an advocacy group organising the panel discussion, said it is sad that despite the many documentations by various UN bodies on the crimes committed by the junta, UNSC has so far failed to act.

Burma’s military junta, which has ruled the country for the past two decades, has been internationally condemned for its appalling human rights violations, particularly in areas dominated by ethnic minorities.

In October, Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), said at least 75,000 people in eastern Burma were forced to leave their homes during the past one year, making the situation in eastern Burma comparable to that of Darfur in eastern Sudan.

TBBC, an umbrella group of aid agencies providing humanitarian assistance to Burmese refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) along the Thai-Burmese border, said between August 2008 and July 2009, about 120 communities were put into disarray, accounting for a total of over 3,500 villages and hiding places in eastern Burma that have been destroyed or forcibly relocated since 1996.

Sir Geoffrey Nice, one of the panelists and one of the five legal experts that commissioned the Harvard report, during the panel discussion explained the that various UN documents and reports by Special Rapporteurs are sufficient to hold the Burmese junta accountable for their actions.

Despite widespread criticism, Burma’s military junta justifies that it has not committed any crimes against humanity but has saved the multi-nationalities country from falling apart as several ethnic rebels are fighting to secede.

The junta, in its daily mouthpiece newspaper, often accuses ethnic resistance groups, based along the borders, of instigating public unrest by setting off explosions in cities across the country, and of torturing and killing local villagers.

Sappho Dias, a lawyer by profession, said, “Once the commission of inquiry is established, the junta’s excuses cannot be accepted. Based on the commission’s findings, they would be held accountable.”

In support of the campaign to the UNSC to set up a commission of inquiry, members of the APPG-Burma last week tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM), which was supported by over 40 Members of Parliament, including high profile MPs across parties, who signed the EDM.

"There is well documented evidence highlighting Burma's use of widespread torture and forced labour against its civilians," said Alistair Carmichael, Secretary to the APPG Burma.

"It is imperative that the United Nations establishes a Commission of Inquiry into these heinous crimes and supports the International Labour Organisation's calls to refer the use of forced labour to the International Court of Justice," added Carmichael.