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Resolution on Burma, adopted on 16



Subject: Resolution on Burma, adopted on 16 September 1999

Adopted on 16 September 1999, Brussels

Resolution on Burma

The European Parliament,

- Having regard to its previous resolutions on Burma, in particular its
resolution of 115 Aril 1999.

A) Deeply concerned at the ongoing human rights abuses committed by the
military authorities in Burma, especially the violation of humanitarian law
by the Burmese army in ethnic minority areas,
B) Deploring the continuing restrictions by the SPDC on the freedom of
movement of Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD members, and on all other
political parties, preventing them from functioning,
C) Recalling that the Committee Representing the People's Parliament
(CRPP), acting on behalf of the entire Parliament, had never been permitted
to convene,
D) Condemning the recent arrests of more than 150 Burmese pro-democracy
activists, many of them of high-school age, for joining demonstrations and
distributing pamphlets calling for a general strike on 9 September,
E) Whereas Rachel Goldwin, a British Citizen, has been arrested in Burma at
a pro-democracy demonstration,
F) Whereas the arrest comes a week after another British pro-democracy
campaigner, James Mawdslery, was sentenced to 17 years in jail after being
convicted o f entering Burma illegally,
G) Condemning the five-day arrest of a three-year old girl in July, held
hostage to force her father out of hiding,
H) Whereas in May the ILO, in a report to its Governing Body, noted that
the SPDC has continued to inflict the practice of forced labour on the
eople of Burma, and pointed out that it should not receive any invitation
to attend meetings organised by the ILO,
I) Nothing that European multinational oil companies now provide almost a
third of the total legal foreign investment committed in Burma, and an even
higher proportion of funds disbursed,
J) Nothing the results of the European Union fact-finding mission to
Rangoon in July, and taking into account the fact these results will be the
basis of the review in October by the council of its Common Position to
towards Burma,
K) Nothing that the council has so far not responded to Aung San Suu Kyi's
request and has not taken any significant economic measures against the SPDC,
L) Reiterates its condemnation of the military dictatorship in Burma and
all human rights violations by the SPDC;

2. Calls again on the Burmese government to guarantee the fundamental
rights of the Burmese people, to release all political prisoners and to
allow freedom of movement for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party members;
3. Calls upon the Burmese government to end immediately the widespread
practice of forced labour and the human rights violations connected with
it, which has been labelled by the ILO as a 'crime against humanity'
4. Calls on the Council to ensure that the current CFSP Common Position on
Burma is renewed and strictly enforce, in particular with regard to the ban
on entry visas, and moreover urges the EU Member States to refrain from
giving transit visas to SPDC and military personnel;
5. Furthermore calls upon the Council and the Member States to increase
pressure on the SPDC to instigate a dialogue with the democratic opposition
and the ethnic minorities by including economic sanctions in its Common
Position on Burma;
6. Reiterates its position that Burma should be excluded from the ASEAN-EU
process;
7. Calls upon the Council to use its discussions with the ASEAB and the
other States in the region to pressure the SPDC to enter into dialogue with
the democratic opposition and the ethnic minorities;
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the
Commission, the Parliaments of the Member States, ASEAN, the NLD and its
President Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi and the Government of Burma.