CSW Reveal Calls for UN Security Council to Address Burma Threat

A new report entitled “Threat to the Peace – A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma’, commissioned by former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Bishop Desmond Tutu, has been released to call on the UN Security Council to address the situation in Burma immediately, according to Assist News Service (ANS).
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“As a result of the severity of the overall situation in Burma and in consideration of all of these factors, which are analyzed in detail in this report, the situation in Burma constitutes ‘a threat to the peace,’ thereby authorising Security Council action,” said human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) in a news release.

“Binding Security Council intervention is a necessary international and multilateral vehicle to restore the peace, promote national reconciliation, and facilitate a return to democratic rule.”

According to CSW, the report recommends that the UN Security Council should adopt a resolution on the current situation in Burma, outlining the major reasons for Security Council involvement, requiring the Government of Burma to work with the UN Secretary-General’s office in “implementing a plan for national reconciliation and a restoration of a democratically-elected government.”

Furthermore, the report requests the Secretary-General to remain “vigorously” engaged with the dispute resolution process, according to CSW. It urges the Burmese Government to allow the UN and international humanitarian organisations unhindered access to the country, and to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience.
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CSW reported that Havel and Tutu wrote in the foreword: “In recent years, it has become clear that Burma's troubles are causing serious and possibly permanent problems that go well beyond human rights violations. Burma has now become a problem for the region and international community...Based on our review of this report and its recommendations, we strongly urge the UN Security Council to take up the situation of Burma immediately. Preserving peace, security, and stability in the region and world - as well as achieving national reconciliation in Burma - now requires nothing less.”

The report was prepared by a global law firm, DLA Piper Rudnich Gray Cary. CSW wrote that it supports this report prepared by DLA Piper Rudnich Gray Cary and Jared Genser, the American lawyer who led the team which prepared the report.

“We wholeheartedly support this new effort to bring the issue of Burma to the UN Security Council,” said CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas in a news release.

He concluded, “We applaud the excellent work of Mr Genser and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. We will work with them and with others to ensure this significant report is taken up by the international community. It is high time the Security Council addressed the situation in Burma.”