Burma
Local MP Dr Bob Spink entered Burma a few years ago across a dangerous border, to give support to the ethnic groups who are being brutalised by the illegal and despotic Burmese Junta.
(Some great Photos are available if required….. Bob’s trip into the Burmese jungle was covered widely in the local press at the time. Bob went as a visiting pastor and preached in the churches in the jungle and refugee camps just over the Tai border.)
Bob says:
Considering atrocities over the last decade, the recent horrific images of thousands of monks being ‘arrested’ in Burma are neither surprising nor shocking?
Bob has consistently called for more Government and international action against the despotic Burmese generals who run a regime where child soldiers, torture and detention without trial are all commonplace and ethnic cleansing is even now in process.
The Burmese Government’s reaction to the monks earlier this month was brutal. The police and military charged in with baton and gunfire and admitted to killing and injuring many innocent people.
But why should we care here in the UK? The reality is that we in Britain take human rights, free speech and democracy for granted. In Burma people are imprisoned simply for laughing at an anti-government joke. I’d have been banged away for most of my life on that basis.
On Wednesday (24 October), the United Nations will celebrate UN Day and on the same day, Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League of Democracy in Burma, will complete her 12th year under house arrest.
To mark the milestone Amnesty have named the day in her honour and have called on the UN to implement an arms embargo on Burma. If the UN really wants to be proud of itself, then it has to deliver.
I will again be urging the prime Minister to increase pressure on to the Security Council to ensure that the embargo becomes a reality. That means keeping up the pressure on other key global players such as China.
But it is not all about high politics, we can all make a difference. The day will also see a call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, but she is not the only prisoner of conscience in Burma. At the end of 2006, Amnesty International was aware of 1,185 – and that was before the current crackdown. The website of the human rights’ organisation has addresses of key Burmese officials you can write to call for the release of all prisoners of conscience.
It may sound like a small gesture, but a sack load of mail or a flood of emails can make a difference. It says to the Burmese authorities that the eyes of the world are watching.
Bob holds regular surgeries and can be contacted by email letter or phone at any time
