Pro-democracy students holding a banner shout slogans during a demonstration outside the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, on Aug. 7, 2011. (Photo: AP) IRRAWADDY
WASHINGTON — Even after the formation of a new government following last year's general election, further reform in Burma is needed before the US can lift sanctions on the country, a key US lawmaker has said.
“Sadly, Mr. Speaker, the regime in Burma has not made the necessary progress to justify lifting the restriction,” Californian Congresswoman Laura Richardson said in her speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives on Friday.
Speaking in favor of House Resolution No 66, which if passed would extend US sanctions on Burma for another year, Richardson argued that in light of continuing human rights abuses in the country, lifting economic sanctions at this time would send the wrong signal to the Burmese regime, the international community, and, most importantly, to dissidents working to bring real democratic change to their country.
Introduced by Congressman Joseph Crowley, the resolution is co-sponsored by as many as 11 lawmakers. Similar legislation is also being considered in the Senate. “I support this resolution because it is consistent with our humanitarian and democratic values against forced labor,” said Richardson.
“As Americans, we must not only sustain these values in our country, but we must act globally and deter other countries from tolerating or employing practices that have no place in a civilized society, such as forcing innocent men, women, and children to work under harsh and slave-like labor conditions,” she argued.
“For this reason, it is critical that we renew the import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003,” she said.
Reviewing the reasons for the sanctions, Richardson noted that in 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won the overwhelming number of parliamentary seats (82 percent) in a multiparty election held by the Burmese junta.
However, she said, the military regime refused to honor the election results, and imprisoned both democracy activists and elected members of parliament, including Suu Kyi.
No further elections took place for the next 20 years, until the regime held a vote last year on Nov 7 as part of its “road map to democracy,” said Richardson.
The NLD “refused to participate over concerns that the electoral process was fraudulent, concerns that were confirmed by the United Nations and most Western countries, which noted widespread fraud, voter intimidation and cheating throughout the country,” she said.
Since then, the congresswoman argued, the Burmese regime has continued its campaign of suppression and persecution against political opponents, dissidents and other minority populations.
“This shameful conduct has resulted in the internal displacement of more than 600,000 people and forced more than 130,000 persons to live in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. Additionally, during this time the [Burmese] regime has been protecting drug traffickers and forcing residents into slave labor,” she said.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recently listed Burma as the fifth largest source country of refugees in 2010, with 415,700 refugees.