Burma Campaign UK
Today Burma’s President, former General Thein Sein, is making his first visit to London. He will be meeting Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague. To coincide with the visit, Burma Campaign UK is releasing a new briefing paper on Thein Sein. The briefing highlights his decades-long involvement in human rights abuses in …
Burma Campaign UK today publishes a new Briefing Paper – Burma’s New Constitution – Denying Ethnic Rights – analysing Burma’s new Constitution and the impact it has on ethnic rights. View the briefing here. Burma’s new Constitution, approved in a rigged referendum in 2008, is likely to have wide-ranging negative impacts on ethnic people in Burma. These …
Burma’s Dictator, Than Shwe, has today officially disbanded the State Peace and Development Council, the body through which Burma’s dictators have ruled the country since 1997. However, Burma Campaign UK today warned that dictatorship remains alive and well in Burma, guaranteed by a new Constitution and a new political infrastructure. The transfer of power from …
Burma Campaign UK today welcomed steps taken by the British government to highlight restrictions on freedom of speech and scrutiny in Burma’s new Parliament. In response to a question in the British Parliament, Jeremy Browne MP, Foreign Office Minister with responsibility for Burma, stated: “we have raised our concerns over the restrictive and undemocratic nature …
As Burma’s new Parliament convenes for the first time, Burma Campaign UK today called on the international community not to be fooled by cosmetic changes by Burma’s dictatorship. “This Parliament is packed with soldiers, ex-soldiers, pro-regime parties, corrupt businessmen and stooges,” said Zoya Phan, Campaigns Manager at Burma Campaign UK. “The tiny number of genuine …
Burma Campaign UK has received reports of violent intimidation, beatings and arrest of supporters of the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD), an ethnic Rohingya party. These reports add to the increasing number of reports from across Burma of intimation of political activists before, during and after the fake election on 7th November. Reports received …
Press release from Shan Women’s Action Network SWAN strongly denounces the Burma Army build-up around the Shan ceasefire area in Ke See township, central Shan State, which led to the rape of a young disabled woman on the eve of the November 7 election. Since November 3, more than 1,000 new troops have been deployed …
Burma Campaign UK today welcomed British Prime Minister David Cameron raising the situation in Burma during his meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. In a written Parliamentary answer, the Prime Minister has also pledged to discuss the situation in Burma with US President Barack Obama. Burma Campaign UK has been calling on the Prime Minister …
Kyaw Kyaw Naing, a jailed member of the National League for Democracy, has gone on hunger strike to protest against sham elections being held today in Burma, according to Burma Campaign UK sources. Kyaw Kyaw Naing is in Pa-an prison in Karen State, Burma, began his hunger strike at 8am on Saturday 6th November. No …
We, the members of the European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma, are expressing our concern with the elections that were held in Burma on November 7th and call on the international community to not recognize its results. The government of Burma has, since 2003, rejected every single proposal by the United Nations and international community to …
Burma Campaign UK today warned that Burmese Army attacks on a Karen armed faction in Myawaddy Town in Karen State, Burma, could be just the first example of many such attacks against armed ethnic groups, creating a major humanitarian and human rights crisis. Burma Campaign UK has repeatedly called on the international community to take …
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma today condemned elections held in Burma on 7th November as a total sham, and called for increased international pressure to force Burma’s dictatorship to the negotiating table. The elections held in Burma on 7th November were the first in 20 years. At the last election, despite severe …
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is today guest editing his wife Sarah Brown’s Twitter account, supporting Burma Campaign UK’s call for stronger international pressure to bring real change to the people of Burma. Burma’s generals are today holding the country’s first elections for 20 years, but every stage of the election process has been …
As Burma’s generals today hold fake elections, Burma Campaign UK publishes a new briefing detailing how Burma’s generals have brought in a new constitution which sidelines Parliament and makes it impossible for MPs in the new Parliament to introduce any genuine democratic reforms. • There is no requirement for a single member of Burma’s new …
16 Burma Pro-Democracy Organizations host a London rally and a peaceful march to condemn Burma’s sham election Today, 16 Burma pro-democracy organizations including all ethnic organizations, based in the United Kingdom, organize a London rally and a peaceful march to condemn sham elections in Burma on 7 November 2010, urging the international community to reject …
Election statement from members of the European Burma Network We, the undersigned organisations, do not believe that fake elections due in Burma on 7th November will be a meaningful step towards the promotion of human rights and democracy in Burma. We therefore call on the international community to unite behind a revived UN-led effort to …
Burma Campaign UK today welcomed the ASEM statement on Burma as a sign that European and Asian countries are not being fooled by the Burmese dictatorship’s promises that elections will bring significant change in Burma. While the statement is far weaker than Burma Campaign UK would like it to be, the fact that the statement …
Media Release From Freedom Now Washington, D.C. –Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy and the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, should be released immediately and unconditionally from her illegal house arrest; however, she must, under Burmese law, be released on November 13, 2010. This release will …
Burma Campaign UK today warmly welcomed British Prime Minister David Cameron’s letter of support for Aung San Suu Kyi on her 65th birthday, and asked him to take the lead in supporting UN led efforts to secure negotiations between the dictatorship and Burma’s democracy movement. “The letter from the Prime Minister demonstrates Britain’s continuing commitment …
Ninety British MPs so far have signed a Motion in the British Parliament calling on the British government to support a UN led effort to secure dialogue in Burma. The Motion, timed for Aung San Suu Kyi’s 65th birthday, rejects elections due in Burma later this year, condemns the new constitution, and calls on the …
The Burma Campaign UK today condemned as ‘pathetic’ and ‘irresponsible’ a joint statement on Burma issued by the EU and ASEAN on 26th May. The statement goes so far in misrepresenting reality that it effectively amounts to a defence of the dictatorship. The statement bizarrely calls on the dictatorship to ‘continue to engage in meaningful …
Free Elections ‘Impossible’ The European Parliament today unanimously passed a strong resolution on Burma, stating that election laws make free elections ‘impossible’ and the new constitution will ‘maintain a dictatorship in a civilian guise’. The European Parliament also called EU member states to support the recommendation by the UN Special Rapporteur on Burma for a …
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has failed to take any serious action to prevent Burma’s largest political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), becoming a banned organisation. Under new election laws introduced by Burma’s dictatorship the NLD will officially cease to exist from midnight tonight. The NLD was required to register as a political …
Today is the final deadline for armed ethnic groups which have signed ceasefire agreements with the dictatorship in Burma to agree to become border guard forces or militias under the control of the Burmese Army. The demand is part of the generals’ agenda to destroy all opposition ahead of elections designed to maintain their rule …