Press release from Glenys Kinnock MEP
EURO-MP Glenys Kinnock marked Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday today by joining a delegation of Burmese women to call for international action to secure the release of Burma’s political prisoners.
The women met Prime Minister Gordon Brown to urge the British Government to do all it can to free political prisoners in Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and also to address the continuing suffering of the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
Suu Kyi will spend her 63rd birthday in detention today, marking a total of 12 years 239 days. She is allowed no visitors, her phone line is cut and her post is intercepted.
It comes as a joint motion for a European Parliament resolution, co-authored by Glenys Kinnock, is put before MEPs in Strasbourg. The motion condemns the illegal extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest and demands her release and the release of all political prisoners in Burma. It also calls for strengthened EU sanctions against the regime and for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to pressure the regime for change.
GLENYS KINNOCK, Patron of the Burma Campaign UK, said:
Today, as we mark Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, we pay tribute to her tenacity in refusing to contemplate freedom or exile until democracy returns to Burma. We honour her courage and resilience, and that of the thousands of Burmese political prisoners, in the face of their continued illegal detention and terrible personal suffering.
So too do we remember the victims of devastation wrought by Cyclone Nagris and the hundreds of thousands who remain in desperate need due to the man-made disaster unfolding at the hands of the junta which has shown nothing but callous disregard for its people.
We urge governments across Europe to put pressure on Burma and her neighbours in order to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all Burma’s political prisoners, and to work for the restoration of democracy and respect for human rights in Burma.
Notes
To view the motion for a European Parliament resolution see:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2008-0231+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN