Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK, won a standing ovation today for her speech on the main stage of the Labour Party Annual Conference. The Labour Party is the main opposition party in the UK, and was in government from 1997-2010.
Dismissing elections in Burma as failing to bring change, she called for stronger international pressure to bring Burma’s generals to the negotiating table.
Wai Hnin told delegates that; “The generals in Burma are trying to tell the world they are reforming. In November they are holding elections, but these are not real elections that will bring real change. They are elections designed to maintain dictatorship, the only real change will be a change of clothes for some soldiers. We will end up with a dictatorship with a civilian face. Our suffering will continue.”
Wai Hnin, whose father is a political prisoner in Burma, first saw him through the bars of a jail cell when she was four years old. He is serving a 65 year sentence for his involvement in the uprising in 2007.
“The facts on the ground tell the real story of what is happening in Burma,” Wai Hnin told the conference. “Our leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in detention. Her party, the National League for Democracy, has been banned. Anyone speaking against the dictatorship faces jail, even for writing a poem or making a joke. Media censorship is increasing.
In Eastern Burma military attacks against ethnic minority civilians have continued. In recent months Burma Campaign UK has received reports of schools being mortar-bombed, villages burnt down, even babies and children being shot. In the past 15 years more than 3,500 villages have been destroyed, more than in Darfur.”
Wai Hnin condemned the lack of effective action from the United Nations:
“We have seen endless statements of concern from the UN Secretary General, but no action. Again and again the generals make promises of reform which they never keep. Again and again the UN says let’s wait and see if they change. While they wait and see political prisoners die in jail. While they wait and see women are raped. While they wait and see more villages are burned.
Generation after generation of children grow up in poverty and fear, their childhood lost. The UN and other governments seem content to sit back and do nothing. This cannot be allowed to continue.”
Wai Hnin went on to call for the world to unite behind the UN in a revived effort to secure negotiations which will bring peace and democracy to Burma.
“The generals are not immune to pressure, it is just that the right kind of pressure hasn’t been applied yet. It is vital that international pressure is maintained. We need to use every tool we can to pressure the generals to enter into dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic representatives. We need stronger and better targeted economic sanctions. We need the world to unite behind a revived UN-led initiative to force the generals into negotiations. And we need a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.”
Following Wai Hnin’s speech Ed Miliband, newly elected leader of the Labour Party, led a standing ovation.
For more information contact Wai Hnin on 020 7324 4710