A Need To Act On Burma


Op-Ed By John McCain and Madeleine Albright

April 27, 2004

The Washington Post

"Apathy in the face of systematic human rights abuses is immoral. One either supports justice and freedom or one supports injustice and bondage." So said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African Nobel laureate and anti-apartheid leader, who knows something about the struggle for human freedom in the face of tyranny.

The world's democracies have a common moral obligation to promote justice and freedom. In few places is this obligation more acute than in Burma, a country in which a band of thugs, led by Gen. Than Shwe, controls the population through violence and terror. The regime has a record of unchecked repression. It has murdered political opponents, used child soldiers and forced labor, and employed rape as a weapon of war. Nearly one year ago the Burmese military junta launched an orchestrated, violent attack against democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of her supporters. Since then the regime has kept more than 1,000 political activists imprisoned, including elected members of parliament. It recently sentenced three Burmese citizens to death for contacting representatives of the International Labor Organization.

The Burmese junta, with the cynical support of neighboring governments, has announced a "road map to democracy," beginning with a constitutional convention in May. The convention is expected to be stage-managed by the junta, which has offered no meaningful participation to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, no timetable for progress toward a political transition, no release of political prisoners and no guarantee that the military will cede control to democratically elected leaders. Instead, the junta's proposals seem designed to institutionalize military control by creating a veneer of civilian authority, while meeting only the minimum expectations of Western democracies in order to avoid further sanctions.

The Burmese regime's recent actions demonstrate that years of international engagement and patience have not made the dictatorship more humane, reasonable or open to accommodation with its political opponents. On the contrary, it is only in response to international pressure that the regime has made even the smallest moves toward a political settlement with the democratic opposition. The lesson is clear: The worlds democracies and Burma's neighbors must press the junta until it is willing to negotiate an irreversible transition to democratic rule.

The legitimacy, authority and commitment of Burma's democratic leaders to govern their country is not in doubt. But the international commitment to Burma's democratic transformation remains uncertain. The Western democracies and Burma's neighbors should immediately take three steps to bolster Burma's legitimate democratic leaders.

First, Congress should promptly renew, and the president sign into law, the ban on Burma's imports enacted into law last July. These sanctions, which are set to expire after a review period beginning Friday, are supported by Burma's National League for Democracy. The restrictions have made it more difficult for the Burmese military to tap financial assets abroad, travel or accumulate revenue through trade. The European Union, whose member democracies care deeply about protecting human rights, and whose trade and assistance programs give it critical leverage in Southeast Asia, is are set to announce a new Common Position on Burma on Thursday. As part of this new policy, the EU should also initiate targeted sanctions against the regime.

Second, the EU and the United States, with support from Asian nations, should urge the junta to implement immediately the provisions of the U.N. Commission for Human Rights and the U.N. General Assembly resolutions -- including democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. The United States and the EU should also formally place the issue on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council, and work urgently toward a resolution threatening credible sanctions against the Burmese regime unless it initiates meaningful progress toward democracy.

Third, China, Thailand, India and other Asian nations uncomfortable with a tougher response to the junta's crimes must understand that diplomatic obfuscation and obstruction on Burma will profoundly affect their broader bilateral relationships with the Western democracies. Thailand in particular should consider this point when it convenes its planned international conference to discuss what it optimistically calls "Burma's progress toward democracy."

Beyond these steps, the United States, Europe and Asian countries must demand the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her fellow political prisoners, but make clear that the releases, while necessary, are insufficient. In addition, they should continue calls for a political settlement that reflects the results of the free and fair elections held in 1990. This settlement must include a central, determinative role for the National League for Democracy.

In another era, a dissident playwright named Vaclav Havel wrote of the "power of the powerless" to overcome rule by fear and force, at a time when such a revolution in human freedom seemed impossible. The international community today has the power to help the powerless inside Burma throw off the shackles of tyranny. It is time to assume this moral responsibility. It is time to act.

John McCain is a Republican senator from Arizona. Madeleine Albright was secretary of state from 1996 to 2001.