The NGOs, which include Christian organisations Church World Service (CWS), Australian Catholic Relief in Cambodia and the Jesuit Refugee Service, sent a joint letter earlier in the week to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and members of the UN Security Council calling for a peaceful and binding resolution on Burma.
The Southeast Asian country has seen an escalation in violence in recent months as the Burmese regime continues its brutal military offensive against Karen villagers, with an estimated 20,000 already displaced.
In the letter the NGOs praised the UN for the first ever briefings it held in December 2005 and May 2006 to discuss the situation in Burma which they described as a “tremendous first step in addressing Burma’s crisis”.
They added, however, that, “Now the UN Security Council must follow up on that first step and take action”.
The letter details the desperate plight of the more than 2,000 displaced persons who have fled across the border into neighbouring Thailand as well as the others who are “desperately trying to survive in the jungle with little to no access to food, medicine, water and shelter”.Now is the time for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the members of the UN Security Council to move beyond discussion and take action in the Council.
Letter to Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan
The Burmese army has also, according to the letter, planted more than 2,000 anti-personnel landmines to prohibit the fleeing villagers from accessing humanitarian aid and alerting foreign agencies of the violent campaign being initiated by the Burmese people.
