To All People of Conscience Worldwide: End Violent Oppression in Burma

The people of Burma have been ruthlessly oppressed and murdered by the SPDC for decades while the world has turned their eyes from this diabolical violence, and in so doing, submerged their conscience. The world is now looking Burma squarely in the eyes, and the time for change is now.

The recent oppression and killing of peaceful protesters by the Burmese government was not an unusual government activity, but rather fully in character for a government that has slaughtered ethnic minorities since they violently and illegally forced their way into power nearly two decades ago. They have used as forced labor, starved, beat, and killed the men, women, children and elderly of Burma while displacing over 3,000 villages. The time to stop the violence is now.

Security Council Demands

We believe that addressing the violence in Burma is not outside the Security Council mandate, nor would Security Council action conflict with efforts of other UN bodies such as the Human Rights Council, International Organization for Migration and the World Health Organization, as suggested by China and Russia. Rather, consistency with Security Council mandates require action in Burma, and a security council resolution is necessary for other UN organizations to work more productively. For example, if the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution it would not be able to address the situation in Myanmar while the Security Council remained seized with the matter.

Continued waiting, as the UN did in Darfur and Rwanda, will bring continued immeasurable suffering. Given the fact that the SPDC will likely continue in violence and preventing a democratic process, and the ruling generals have failed to cooperate with the UN Secretary General and his special envoy, who is mandated to facilitate a political dialogue, it is time for the United Nations Security Council to address the situation in Burma.

We call on the United Nations Security Council to respond to the current crisis by urgently passing a binding resolution, with clear timelines and benchmarks requiring the regime to do the following:

• Release all political prisoners, including democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
• Desist from violence against peaceful protesters, civilians, ethnic minorities and prisoners
• Revoke the constitutional guidelines drawn up by "national convention"
• Begin specific, clear, meaningful movement toward real democracy, including facilitated dialogue with all groups, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her party
• Begin arranging for free and fair new elections in partnership with other parties
• Allow aid agencies unhindered access to respond to the immediate needs of displaced and severely impoverished peoples inside of Burma
• For all people of Burma, make significant new strides toward addressing poverty, poor health care, low education standards, environmental degradation
• Allow UN representatives full and free access to verify progress toward meeting these objectives

Until the required movement toward these changes can be verified in the timeline to be issued, the following sanctions on Burma should remain in place:

• Stopped economic investment
• Stopped outside investment in infrastructure development
• A complete arms embargo
• No purchase of the products produced or sold by the government or related organizations, including oil, gas, timber, jewels, and other natural resources

If Burma makes these changes in the timeline presented, sanctions should be lifted. If sufficient movement is not seen within the timeline presented, additional sanctions should be set forth in a binding resolution.

Governments

We implore all governments, especially India, China and those of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), to use their influence with the regime to bring an end to the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the ruling military junta, and to independently take the actions outlined above even before the Security council is willing or able to do so.

We ask India and China to immediately stop providing arms, military, and economic support to the Burmese regime.
We call on the United Kingdom to take the lead within the European Union in imposing targeted sanctions on the regime. We call on other nations to take the lead in their respective representative bodies, such as the African Union, to take sanctions against Burma.

Individuals, Organizations, Businesses, Cities, and Religious Groups

Whether the Security Council and/or governments act or not, we encourage all individuals, organizations, businesses, cities, and religious or other groups to follow their moral convictions and make decisions consistent with the recommendations to the security council outlined above. With conviction, devotion, and agility, we encourage all peoples of conscience worldwide to seek additional practical and creative means to accomplish the objective of an expedient transition to durable peace and democracy in Burma.


World Evangelical Alliance (WEA): World Evangelical Alliance is made up of 128 national evangelical alliances located in 7 regions and 104 associate member organizations. The vision of WEA is to extend the Kingdom of God by making disciples of all nations and by Christ-centered transformation within society. WEA exists to foster Christian unity, to provide an identity, voice and platform for the 420 million evangelical Christians worldwide.