Freedom House Calls for Economic Sanctions and UN Action in Burma

By Freedom House • July 7, 2011

Freedom House today joins other human rights organizations in urging President Barack Obama to take more decisive action against human rights abuses in Burma.

Freedom House and 21 other human rights organizations expressed their concerns to President Obama in a letter urging the United States to impose economic sanctions on Burma as outlined in the JADE Act—and to sanction banks financing the junta’s economic activities, in addition to imposing sanctions on government leaders and officials. Freedom House also urges the United States to push the United Nations to establish a Commission of Inquiry to thoroughly investigate Burma’s human rights abuses, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

“The international community must continue to hold the Burmese government accountable for the abuses it has perpetrated against its people,” said David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House. “It is imperative that the United States and the United Nations make clear that they are on the of side of those promoting human rights in Burma by taking more concrete action to support the efforts of human rights defenders and pro-democracy activists.”

A military junta governed Burma by decree from 1992 until 2011—controlling all branches of power, impoverishing and committing human rights abuses against its population as well as severely restricting freedom of expression and association. The situation has changed little since the country conducted sham elections in 2010 that were falsely characterized as a transition to civilian government. The political parties backed by the junta won the majority of seats and Thein Sein, Burma’s new “civilian” president, was reported to have been handpicked by the former military regime. The National League for Democracy, the main opposition party, opted to boycott the fraudulent election leading to the party’s dissolution by the junta for failing to register.

In recent months, the political situation in Burma has become increasingly volatile. The government brought the country to the brink of civil war, as the military carried out offensives against ethnic resistance groups in Karenni and Karen states, and began military operations in Shan and Kachin. Hundreds were arrested, tortured, sexually assaulted and killed by Burmese troops, and many ethnic villages were destroyed in May and June 2011 – brutal assaults were launched against entire villages after they were accused of supporting ethnic resistance groups. Consequently, more than 10,000 villagers have been displaced and are settled on Burma’s borders.

Earlier this week, the deputy chief of mission to the Burmese embassy in Washington, DC, Kyaw Win, announced his resignation and was seeking political asylum in the United States. A high ranking diplomat, Kyaw Win, spent 31 years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and said he resigned as an act of protest against the regime’s egregious human rights record and lack of democratic reform. During his time as a government servant, Kyaw Win had attempted to implement limited reforms, but said that he lost confidence after the sham elections of 2010 and that he could no longer in good conscience uphold the regime’s agenda.

“Kyaw Win’s resignation is significant because it clearly exposes the regime’s ongoing charade and reveals the deep cracks that exist even within the ranks of the Burmese government. The brutality and illegitimacy of this regime are now visible to all and this is a true vindication of everything that human rights activists in Burma have been saying for decades,” said Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, senior program manager for SouthEast Asia at Freedom House.

Burma ranks in the bottom tier of the world’s most repressive regimes, earning it a place in Freedom House’s Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2011 report. Burma is ranked Not Free in the 2011 edition of Freedom in the World, Freedom House’s annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, and in 2010 version of Freedom of the Press.

To learn more about Burma, read:

Freedom in the World 2011: Burma
Freedom of the Press 2010: Burma
Freedom on the Net 2011: Burma
Worst of the Worst 2011: The World’s Most Repressive Societies

Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

Tags: Commission of Inquiry, Freedom House, Sanctions, United States

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Freedom House Calls for Economic Sanctions and UN Action in Burma

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