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Obama urged to push for CoI on Burma war crimes
Irrawaddy - July 8, 2011
"The United States should also mobilize support for a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, recommended by UN Special Rapporteur Mr Tomas Ojea Quintana and supported by Burma's democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," said the letter signed by representatives of 22 different organizations.
Prominent among them are the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, American Jewish World Service, The Carter Center, Citizens for Global Solutions, Democracy Coalition Project, Enough Project, Foreign Policy Initiative, Freedom House, Genocide Intervention Network/Save Darfur Coalition, Human Rights Watch, Institute for Asian Democracy, Open Society Foundations, Orion Strategies, Perseus Strategies, Physicians for Human Rights, Project 2049 Institute, The Burma Fund-UN Office, and the US Campaign for Burma.
An IDP family shelter from the rain in the Karen jungle. (PHOTO: Free Burma Rangers) The former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nancy Soderberg, also signed the letter to Obama dated July 7.
"The Burmese government has given your administration no reason to believe that more diplomacy, absent greater internal and external pressure, will persuade it to change course. The time has come for the United States to use the levers of pressure at its disposal, and implement in full the banking sanctions authorized in the JADE ACT," the letter said.
The statement brings to the US president's notice that it has now been almost two years since his administration launched its new engagement policy with the military government in Burma.
Senior officials from the US State Department have visited the country several times, met with Burma's leaders, and tried to persuade them to implement positive changes in the country, as demanded by the people of Burma and the international community, the letter said adding that this has not yielded any result so far.
"Since completing the establishment of its new, ostensibly civilian governing structures, the Burmese army continued military offensives against ethnic resistance groups in Karen and Karenni States, and began military operations in Shan and Kachin States," the letter said.
"These armed groups in opposition to the government have refused to accept Burma's undemocratic constitution, and to transform their armed forces into border guards under the command of the Burmese army," the US organizations said.
Meanwhile, in a resolution introduced in the US Senate, Senator Jim Webb urged the Chinese and Burmese governments to improve cooperation with the Mekong River Commission and information sharing on water flows, as well as engaging in the regional decision-making processes on the development and use of the Mekong River.
The resolution calls for the protection of the Mekong River Basin and delaying mainstream dam construction along the river, which flows through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
"The United States and the global community have a strategic interest in preserving the health and well-being of the more than 60 million people who depend on the Mekong River," said Webb. "All countries along the Mekong River should respect the riparian water rights of other river basin countries and take into account proper environmental standards when considering construction projects," the Senator urged the countries of the region.
To avoid irreversible damage to the region, it is prudent to delay the construction of mainstream dams along the river, including those along the Upper Mekong River, until adequate planning and multilateral coordination can be guaranteed," he said.
"The recent decision of the Mekong River Commission to delay endorsement of the Xayaburi Dam is a positive step forward in this regard, and I hope that all countries will abide by their commitments to complete a robust assessment of this dam before moving forward on any construction.
Absent such a collaborative approach, the ecological and economic stability of Southeast Asia is at risk," he added.
The resolution calls on US representatives at multilateral development banks to support strict adherence to international environmental standards for any financial assistance to hydropower dam projects on the mainstream of the Mekong River. It calls for the Lower Mekong Initiative to allocate more funding for infrastructure projects and to help identify sustainable alternatives to mainstream hydropower dams.
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