Bertie should initiate UN action on Burma

YOUR report headlined ‘World protests at continued arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi’ (Irish Examiner, June 20) brings into focus the fact that the plight of Burma’s democratically elected leader remains the same now as it has been since 1996.

In the past 14 years, 28 resolutions have been passed by the UN Security Council and the UN Commission on Human Rights condemning the Burmese junta’s gross human rights violations — resolutions which are not enforceable and therefore not worth the paper they’re written on.

Burma is yet another clear example of the west’s appeasement policy of holding conferences, pencilling resolutions and holding more conferences.

The time has come for binding Security Council action, such as a resolution under Article 41 of Chapter VII of the UN charter requiring the junta to hand over to Aung San Suu Kyi.

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach should lead the way by increasing efforts to bring Burma before the Security Council and end the suffering of this terrorised nation where an entire generation has been warped by a regime using forced labour, rape, ethnic cleansing and child soldiers to control the population.

Enough protests, enough chants, enough slogans, enough marches, enough briefings, enough words. It’s time for real action.

John O’Shea

GOAL

PO Box 19

Dun Laoghaire

Co Dublin