Five Laureates Urge Secretary of State Clinton on Establishment of a Commission of Inquiry on Burma

By Nobel Women's Initiative • September 7, 2011

Five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates – Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, and Wangari Maathai – have sent an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urging public and unequivocal support for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.

Women in Burma continue to live in fear as the Burmese military regime inflicts sexual violence as a weapon of war. The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) and the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) continue to document cases of sexual violence committed by the Burmese government forces – declaring that a “humanitarian crisis is looming in Kachin state.”

“We hope that you will take a stand in supporting the population of Burma by preparing a resolution supporting a Commission of Inquiry that will begin the long road to accountability and demonstrating that crimes against humanity and war crimes are not tolerated. A resolution calling for a Commission of Inquiry would lend tremendous support to the people of Burma who have been toiling for so long for an end to the injustices in their country, and be a most powerful deterrent against such acts being repeated by others, elsewhere, time and again.”– Open letter to Secretary Clinton

Clinton has previously expressed American support for an Inquiry to look into the widespread human rights abuses perpetrated by the ruling military Junta of Burma.

Click here to see the open letter.