Nobel Winners Appeal for Action on Burma
On 19 February 2008, nine Nobel Peace Laureates released a public statement calling for the international community and the United Nations Security Council to impose arms embargoes on Burma. The appeal, issued by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and signed by eight other Laureates, points out that Burma’s military junta consistently uses arms supplied by foreign governments to brutally oppress its citizens. The regime is known for its violent crackdowns against peaceful protests, most recently during the Saffron Revolution in late 2007.
We can not, and we will not, forget the events of the Saffron Revolution and the courage of the Burmese people in asserting their right to live in peace and freedom.
- Nobel Laureates Appeal
Recently, pro-democracy activists are have called into question the credibility of the regime’s drafted constitution, which bans Burma’s democratic leader, sister laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, from the 2010 elections.
NOBEL LAUREATES APPEAL
The peaceful, nonviolent marches by the Burmese Buddhist monks in 2007 asking for peace and dialogue towards a political settlement of the problems confronting that country galvanized the attention of the international community. They marched to support the lay population who publicly and bravely protested grievances against the regime. We watched in horror as their peaceful overtures were met with a violent crackdown by Burma’s military junta lead by General Than Shwe. The subsequent dragnet he ordered has resulted in arrests, torture, and killings that continue to this very day.
In spite of the overwhelming desire of the Burmese people for political change the regime has made no overtures and no progress on national reconciliation. They continue their refusal to engage the Burmese people and ethnic groups in substantive, meaningful dialogue. We stand firmly in support of our fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and have repeatedly called for her release, as well as the release of Buddhist monks and all political prisoners in Burma. The regime’s “roadmap” and decades-long constitution process is flawed: it does not include participation of the National League for Democracy. The NLD and Burma’s ethnic nationalities must play an inclusive role in determining a negotiated settlement and transition to democracy.
We can not, and we will not, forget the events of the Saffron Revolution and the courage of the Burmese people in asserting their right to live in peace and freedom. Despite decades of repression and in a world wracked by violence, their peaceful demonstrations represent a model for the proper and rightful expression of political dissent of which they are entitled.
Many of the arms used by Burma’s military regime to retain its hold on power have been sold to the regime by foreign governments. This is not acceptable – no nation should sell arms to a regime that uses weapons exclusively against its own people. We call upon the international community to actively work to implement arms embargoes against the regime. Further, we appeal to the members of the Security Council, and the international community, to take action quickly on measures that will prevent the sale of arms to the Burmese military, including a ban on banking transactions targeting top Burmese leaders, as well as state and private entities that support the government’s weapons trade.
S/agreed:
Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu and,
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Shirin Ebadi
Adolfo Perez Esquivel
Mairead Maguire
Rigoberta Menchu Tum
Prof. Elie Wiesel
Betty Williams
Jody Williams
*President Oscar Arias has also pledged his support to the Statement of and Appeal
LEARN MORE
World’s conscience on Burma, The Boston Globe, 22 February 2008
Nobel Laureates demand arms embargo on Burma, The Irrawaddy, 20 February 2008
Nobel Laureates appeal to UN, Inter Press Service (IPS), 20 February 2008
A forgotten crisis, The Washington Post, 20 January 2008
