DAVID ADAMS reports…
Christian leaders and agencies have joined with world leaders in calling on the international community to ensure that the push for political reform continues in the Asian nation, following a violent crackdown on recent mass anti-government protests in Burma.
CRACKDOWN: A Buddhist monk flees. PICTURE: Image supplied courtesy of Christian World Service.
“(I)t’s really up to countries like Australia who have some fairly strong diplomatic ties with China to encourage them, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to take this issue fairly seriously…Without the China and the Indian who have the economic ties to actually make a different, then not much will happen.”
– Alistair Gee, executive director of Christian World Service
At least nine people have reportedly been killed – including a Japanese photographer – and hundreds arrested as Burmese security forces sought to end protests, involving thousands of Buddhist monks, in Rangoon and other cities in a move which has prompted a chorus of condemnation from nations around the world.
The US has responded by strengthening existing sanctions while the Australian Government has flagged the introduction of targeted sanctions which would freeze the Australian-held assets of members of the Burmese regime and ban officials and supporters from using Australian financial institutions – moves Prime Minister John Howard says are aimed at underlining Australia’s “dismay” concerning the violent crackdown.
Alistair Gee, executive director of Christian World Service – the international humanitarian and development agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia, says while he welcomes Australia’s moves to introduce targeted sanctions, it’s only when countries like China are engaged to put pressure on the regime that change will occur in Burma.
In January, China – along with Russia and South Africa – blocked a United Nations Security Council draft resolution – sponsored by the UK, US and France – which called for more action in Burma.
“That’s been the problem. I think the international community had just decided that if China is not going to play by the rules on this issue, then it’s too hard for them,” Mr Gee says.
“So it’s really up to countries like Australia who have some fairly strong diplomatic ties with China to encourage them, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to take this issue fairly seriously…Without the China and the Indian who have the economic ties to actually make a different, then not much will happen.”
China has issued a statement with regard to the recent violence, calling for all parties to “maintain restraint” – a move Mr Gee says is somewhat unusual given China’s standard response that it doesn’t interfere in internal issues within other countries. But Mr Gee adds that the statement is “very tentative”.
“They need to go much further than that,” he says.
To that end, Mr Gee has written to the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Zhang Jun Sai, urging that the Chinese Government condemn the violent response to the peaceful protests in China and urge the Burmese Government to “immediately allow entry” to the UN Special Envoy and to make “significant, measurable commitments on political reform”.
Meanwhile, London-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide has expressed its outrage at the crackdown on protesters, with Benedict Rogers – the advocacy officer for the region – saying that the “courage of the Burmese people who continue to defy this brutal regime inspires our profound respect”.
CSW have called on the UN Security Council to pass a “binding resolution” demanding the release of political prisoners including democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and that the regime desist from the “brutal suppression of human rights” and engage in a meaningful dialogue for the transition to democracy.
Welcoming the US decision to strengthen sanctions, Mr Rogers has called for a similar response from the UK Government and urged Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) – including Indian and China – to “use their influence to bring positive change to Burma”.
CSW have asked that Christians of all denominations “fulfil their Biblical mandate for justice by speaking up and praying for the suffering people of Burma”.
The latest round of demonstrations – the largest in the nation since 1988 when pro-democracy protests culiminated in the death of thousands of people – were sparked by a recent 500 per cent increase in fuel prices.
Mr Gee says the price hikes seemed to have been a “last straw”. “There have been repeated delays in any movement by the military regime in it’s progress towards democracy.”
He says that while the Burmese Government’s action may temporarily quell the protests, it’s important that, while the cameras may turn away, “the international community remains engaged”.
There are more than 1.5 million internally displaced people in Burma with more than 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers in neighbouring countries, including more than 150,000 people who remain in camps in Thailand, 40,000 in India and 53,000 in Bangladesh. More than 40,000 women have been sold into Thailand’s sex industry.
Mr Gee says that while countries like Australia and the US have said they will take more people from those camps, “we expect a lot more to come into those camps this year”.
Mr Gee is hopeful that this most recent round of protests may be a turning point.
“We’ve seen the situation in Burma come to this before only to be disappointed. But it is really only when the people come together as one in a peaceful way that I think we’re going to see permanent change in Burma…If the international community can get behind them, we do have a chance.
“Now is really a critical moment, both in terms of ensuring that further lives aren’t lost through violent responses but also that we do see commitments to measurable change from the regime.”
~ www.ncca.org.au/cws.
~ www.csw.org.uk.
