Join our mailing list for latest news and information about Burma.
British Government In Denial About Burma’s Stalled Reforms – New Briefing Paper
By Burma Campaign UK • January 27, 2015Burma Campaign UK today publishes a new briefing paper responding in detail to the British government’s misleading claims and the selective use of information that it uses to defend Burma’s reform process and its own trade-led policy. The briefing paper is available here:http://burmacampaign.org.uk/
In November 2014, Aung San Suu Kyi said that for the past two years, Burma’s reform process had stalled. President Obama said that there had been backtracking of reforms. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma has also said there has been backsliding. However, when asked in Parliament, British Ministers refused to accept that Burma’s reform process was stalled.
In response, Burma Campaign UK asked supporters to email the British Prime Minister David Cameron, calling on him to admit reforms have stalled, to drop trade promotion as the British government’s top priority, and return to putting human rights first. The action is on our website here: https://action.burmacampaign.
On 8th January 2015 Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire MP published a letter responding to the emails to the Prime Minister. This briefing paper contains a line by line response to that letter.
The briefing paper exposes how, in this letter, the British government talks up positives, plays down or ignores negatives, and deliberately attempts to mislead the reader in order to cover up their lack of action on key issues.
“The fact that Hugo Swire cannot even bring himself to agree with Aung San Suu Kyi, President Obama, and the UN Special Rapporteur that reforms are stalled, backtracking or backsliding, shows just how much in denial of reality the British government still is,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The British government still has its rose-tinted glasses welded on.”
The briefing paper is available at: http://burmacampaign.org.uk/
For more information contact Mark Farmaner on 07941239640.
Twitter:
@burmacampaignuk
@MarkFarmaner
This post is in: Press Release
Related PostsBritish Government Defends Burma Reforms: Burma Campaign UK Responds
Parliament Committee: Re-impose Burma Sanctions If No Improvement In Human Rights
The FCO’s Human Rights Work 2013
Britain Must Support International Investigation into Rape and Sexual Violence in Burma
British Government Still In Denial About Reality Of Burma Reforms
All posts