Please respond to this letter if you can – £15 is such a small amount of money!

Dear friend,

I wanted to write to you about my first hand experiences of the brutal
regime in Burma. It’s often said that Christmas is a time for children and
what I saw just a few weeks ago is not something you’d choose to read about
at this time of year, or at any other time. But as you are someone who does
not turn their backs on the people in Burma, I’m sure that you will want to
know.

Eastern Burma is turning into the Darfur for the next decade – and we need
your support with a donation of £15 today to help prevent this from
happening.

You can donate here.

I was on the Thai/Burma border to show a delegation of UK trade unionists
the situation and to run some training sessions with local groups & other
activists. There I also spoke to a woman, a mother, who has managed to cross
the border to Thailand with her two young children and escape slavery.

Mublaw is 40 years old and is from a village in Pa an district in Eastern
Burma. It was a small village with less than 40 houses and around 200 people
in total. Armed supporters of the dictatorship in Burma came to their
village in June this year. All the villagers were forced to go with them to
carry their food and military equipment. For four nights, Mublaw was made to
carry three rocket launchers on her back, whilst clutching her 6 month old
baby and dragging her 3 year old toddler as they walked.

Amongst the party, children as young as nine years old were forced to carry
heavy equipment to prevent them from being able to escape. Mublaw was given
two small packs of low quality rice each day, which she flavoured with a
little chilli powder. This was the only nutrition Mublaw and the two
children received.

The soldiers forbade the children to cry. So Mublaw had to cover her baby’s
mouth at all times. They were also not allowed to stop, so children had to
simply wet themselves as they walked. The villagers were not given any
water. They had to wait for it to rain and ask permission to drink the rain
as they moved.

The former villagers, who are now over the border in Thailand, are just
surviving. Some of them risked their lives going back to their families in
Burma.

This story of Mublaw, her children and the villagers is just part of the
human rights abuses in Eastern Burma today. As the Burmese regime has
increased their militarization in the last year, it has meant that at least
75,000 people became refugees and more than half a million were internally
displaced in Eastern Burma.

But Mublaw and the others have not suffered the most. An alliance of 12 aid
organisations stated that:

“crimes against humanity are taking place comparable to the situation in
Darfur” 

A report commissioned from Harvard Law School stated:

“…forced displacement of over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma, and
widespread and systematic sexual violence, torture, and summary execution of
innocent civilians. Yet… the UN Security Council has not moved to
investigate potential crimes against humanity or war crimes in Burma, as it
has in other areas of the world, including Darfur and Rwanda.”

In January 2010, the Burma Campaign UK will step up this campaign. We will
be calling for more aid to deal with the immediate human rights abuses. And
we will be lobbying for an investigation into crimes against humanity in
Burma.

We will be lobbying the UK government to support this investigation. As yet
they have not admitted that these crimes against humanity are happening. We
need the UK government to acknowledge this and then to call for a UN
Commission of Inquiry.

And we need your support with a donation of £15 today to help us achieve
this key campaign goal.

The Burma Campaign has had significant success in 2009. We played a key role
in the campaign for a global arms embargo against Burma. Together with our
partners across the world we have begun to build a global consensus for a UN
arms embargo against Burma, in order to help overcome expected opposition at
the Security Council by Russia and China. We have 32 countries supporting
the embargo, recently including the first Asian country. This has been
possible due to the commitment of supporters like you.

Your support of the Burma Campaign UK does turn into positive action for the
people of Burma. That’s why we need you to donate £15 today so that the
innocent victims in Burma – people like Mublaw, her baby and her young child
– don’t face abuse by the Burmese dictatorship for years ahead.

Many thanks for your support.

Mark Farmaner
The Burma Campaign UK

Dear friend

Urgent action for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma

For many years the United Nations has ignored widespread and systematic crimes committed by Burma’s military junta, including the destruction of more than 3,300 villages in eastern Burma, widespread use of rape as a weapon of war against ethnic minorities, the forced displacement of over 1 million refugees and internally displaced people, tens of thousands of child soldiers, and millions used as slave labour.

Despite these appalling crimes, no government is speaking out on this issue. The British Government should urge the United Nations to establish a Commission of Inquiry, which would investigate these crimes and could lead to prosecutions. So far the British Government has remained silent.

Please write to your MP and ask them to support the call for the United Nations to investigate crimes against humanity in Burma.

Take action by clicking here.

Or you can post a letter to your MP. Below are suggested points for you to include in your letter:

* State your concern about crimes against humanity in Burma. There is well documented evidence including from UN General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights resolutions over many years of widespread torture, forced displacement, sexual violence, extra-judicial killings and forced labour and that civilians are deliberately targeted.

* For many years, the United Nations has ignored widespread and systematic human rights violations and war crimes committed by the military regime.

* Ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 238, which calls upon the British Government to urge the United Nations to establish a Commission of Inquiry into these crimes and to support the International Labour Organization referring the dictatorship’s use of forced labour to the International Court of Justice.

You can send your letter to your MP at:
House of Commons
London, SW1A 0AA

Campaign Update

Our campaign for a global arms embargo is working!

Thanks to your emails, momentum for a global arms embargo against Burma is growing as Timor-Leste becomes the 32nd country, and the first Asian country, to back an arms embargo.

Switzerland also announced its support for a global arms embargo against Burma in October and in August, Australia announced its support for a global arms embargo for the first time.

We need to build a global consensus on a UN arms embargo against Burma, in order to help overcome expected opposition at the Security Council by Russia and China. We are targeting 10 countries at time, asking them to support a global arms embargo. Please take action here.

Aung San Suu Kyi update

In recent weeks, Aung San Suu Kyi has managed to use sanctions as leverage to persuade the Generals to resume dialogue. She met the regime’s Liaison Minister twice in October and she also met the UK Ambassador and the deputy heads of the Australian and US missions in Burma. However, so far it has only been low level officials talking about talks.
Meanwhile, the number of political prisoners is rising. There are currently more than 2,100 political prisoners and at least 128 political prisoners are in poor health due to the harsh prison conditions, transfers to remote prisons where there are no doctors, and the denial of proper medical care. The dictatorship has also increased arrests and harassment of democracy activists, and is escalating attacks against ethnic civilians.

Want monthly news updates on Burma?

Sign up to our free monthly newsletter Last Month in Burma. To subscribe, simply send a blank email.

Previous editions are available here.

Many thanks for your support.

Anna Roberts
The Burma Campaign UK

64 today
does she cry?
does she wonder?
when will she be released?

remember Suu Kyi in your prayers today
Our God is a a God of Justice
Let justice come …

Dear friend

On Friday 19th June, it will be Aung San Suu Kyi’s 64th birthday. She will spend her birthday detained in the notorious Insein Prison.

On May 18th Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial, charged with breaching the terms of her house arrest after an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her house and refused to leave. The dictatorship are using the visit as an opportunity to extend her detention.

Her trial has now been adjourned until 26 June. Aung San Suu Kyi has already spent more than 13 years in detention and faces another 5 years in prison.

DEMONSTRATION
Please show your solidarity and join us outside the Burmese Embassy in London from 1-2pm on Friday 19th June.
19A Charles Street
London, W1J 5DX
Nearest tube: Green Park

Solidarity events will be held worldwide. Click here to find out details of events taking place near you.

SEND HER A BIRTHDAY MESSAGE
You can leave a message of support here.

More than 9000 people have now left a message, video or tweet calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and all of Burma’s political prisoners.

Celebrities from around the world have sent messages, including George Clooney, Yoko Ono, David Beckham, Julia Roberts, Daniel Craig, and Richard Branson. Stephen Fry, Eddie Izzard, Kevin Spacey and Sarah Brown have been “tweeting” about the campaign.

As well as celebrities, the website has received political support featuring video messages to Aung San Suu Kyi from heads of state including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives and President Jose Ramos Horta, President of Timor-Leste.

Post your message now http://www.64forsuu.org

Thank you for your support

Johnny Chatterton
Campaigns Officer
Burma Campaign UK

PS. If you’re on Facebook or Twitter, we’re asking everyone to put Aung San Suu Kyi as their profile picture until her birthday. You can download the image here.

Dear Friend

Today was day four of Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial, but the outcome had been decided before she even stepped into the court. Only in Burma could someone be tried because someone broke into their property, and refused to leave. Aung San Suu Kyi has already spent over thirteen years in prison, if convicted, she faces a sentence of up to five years. We are determined to make sure this does not happen.

In the week since Aung San Suu Kyi was first detained the Burma Campaign UK has:

· Briefed journalists about the situation and helped many journalists get into Burma to report what is going on.
· Coordinated a global day of action with demonstrations in more than 20 cities.
· Been in regular contact with governments urging them to take action.
· Organised an email action campaign to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and which has generated more than 14,000 emails. Under increasing pressure, ASEAN has now put out a statement expressing concern.

Our task now is to turn words into action. We need to continue lobbying governments and Parliaments. We need to mobilise support from the public and celebrities. Most of all we need to build pressure for the United Nations Security Council to take concrete action. The Security Council is the only body in the world with the legal authority to force the dictatorship to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners.

But campaigning costs money, and we need your support. Please support us at this critical moment. You can donate via our website from any country in the world.

We will never stop campaigning until Aung San Suu Kyi and all the people of Burma are free. Please help us bring that day closer. Donate now.

Thank you,

Anna Roberts
Director
Burma Campaign UK

Dear friends,

In the last few days you may have read reports that Burma’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is unwell and is being denied proper medical attention by the Burmese regime.

We are deeply concerned about her health and have urgently called on the United Nations and ASEAN to send envoys immediately, and insist on Aung San Suu Kyi being given proper medical treatment

HER DOCTOR HAS BEEN ARRESTED, MEDICAL ATTENTION DENIED
Aung San Suu Kyi is reported to be suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure, and having difficulty eating. Her doctor was arrested on Thursday without explanation. Another doctor was allowed to visit her on Friday, and reportedly put her on an IV drip. He was not allowed to visit her on Saturday. It is not clear what is wrong with Aung San Suu Kyi, or what treatment she is being allowed to receive.

Since Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in 2003, the dictatorship has repeatedly stopped her having proper medical access. The United Nations negotiated an agreement that her doctor be allowed to visit her once a month, which is less than the doctor said was necessary.

13 YEARS, 199 DAYS UNDER ARREST
Today Aung San Suu Kyi will have spent a total of 13 years and 199 days in detention since she was first placed under house arrest in 1989. The United Nations has ruled that Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention is illegal under international law, and also under Burmese law. The United Nations Security Council has also told the dictatorship that they must release Aung San Suu Kyi.

THE REGIME’S POLICY OF DENYING MEDICAL TREATMENT
The denial of medical treatment is systematically used against Burma’s 2,156 political prisoners. The regime deliberately leaves democracy activists to die in squalid conditions in Burma’s prisons.

Nearly 300,000 people have now signed the global petition calling the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon make the release of Burma’s political prisoners his top priority. Please sign the petition now and help free Burma’s Political Prisoners: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/fbppn.htm

If you have already signed the petition please tell you friends, family and colleagues to sign it now. Why not forward this email on to them?

Thank you,

Johnny Chatterton
Campaigns Officer
Burma Campaign UK

P.S. You can find out more about Aung San Suu Kyi here.
P.P.S You can show your support for Aung San Suu Kyi on her facebook page here.

Dear Friends,

The Burma Campaign UK is delighted to announce that the autobiography of Zoya Phan, the International Coordinator at Burma Campaign UK, is published in the UK today.

When Zoya was 14 years old the Burmese Army attacked her village and she was forced to flee. She lived in a refugee camp in Thailand before coming to the UK, where she now has asylum. She joined the Burma Campaign UK in 2005.

In the UK, Little Daughter is available in bookshops, online and from Burma Campaign UK.

BUY YOUR COPY NOW
If you buy a copy via the link to Amazon on our website you can also raise money for Burma Campaign UK. Buy your copy here.

Amazon are selling the book for just £9.58 including delivery in the UK. The recommended retail price is £15.99.

The Burma Campaign UK is selling SIGNED COPIES for £16.25 including delivery in the UK. To order yours send a cheque made payable to Burma Campaign UK to: Burma Campaign UK, 28 Charles Sq, London, N1 6HT. Or call 020 7324 4715.

If you live outside the UK please see the note at the end of this email for details on where the book is being published worldwide.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Zoya Phan was born in the remote jungles of Burma, to the Karen ethnic group. For decades the Karen have been under attack from Burma’s military junta; Zoya’s mother was a guerrilla soldier, her father a freedom activist. She lived in a bamboo hut on stilts by the Moei River; she hunted for edible fungi with her much-loved adopted brother, Say Say. Many Karen are Christian or Buddhist, but Zoya’s parents were animist, venerating the spirits of forest, river and moon. Her early years were blissfully removed from the war. At the age of fourteen, however, Zoya’s childhood was shattered as the Burmese army attacked. With their house in flames, Zoya and her family fled. So began two terrible years of running from guns, as Zoya joined thousands of refugees hiding in the jungle. Her family scattered, Zoya sought sanctuary across the border in a Thai refugee camp. Conditions in the camp were difficult, and Zoya now had to care for her ailing mother. Zoya, a gifted pupil, was eventually able to escape, first to Bangkok and then, with her enemies still pursuing her, in 2004 she fled to the UK and claimed asylum. The following year, at a ‘free Burma’ march, she was plucked from the crowd to appear on the BBC, the first of countless interviews with the world’s media. She became the face of a nation enslaved, rubbing shoulders with presidents and film stars. By turns uplifting, tragic and entirely gripping, this is the extraordinary true story of the girl from the jungle who became an icon of a suffering land.

WORLDWIDE SALES: Little Daughter is published this month in Asia (English language bookshops), and in Australia and New Zealand. The book will be published in Canada in June, and the USA summer 2010. (In the USA the book will be called Undaunted) In Germany, German language editions will be published later this year. In Netherlands, a Dutch edition will be published later this year. To get the latest news about the book, including global release dates, become a “Fan” of the book on Facebook here.

Thank you,

Anna Roberts
Director
Burma Campaign UK

Dear Friends,

You may already have heard the news today that the United Nations has declared that the continued detention of Burma’s democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi is illegal. [1]

The judgment, by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, stated unequivocally that Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention was in violation of both Burmese and international law. The United Nations urged the regime to immediately release her. [2]

We are having an impact, working with other groups around the world we are keeping Burma on the global agenda. It is welcome that the UN has declared her detention illegal but action is needed.

Please sign the global petition we told you about last week calling on the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to make it his personal priority to secure the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sign the petition now encourage someone else to as well.

Burma’s democracy activists are denied a voice by Burma’s brutal regime. They are locked away in squalid prisons and often subjected to horrific torture. This is your chance to give them a voice.

We need a flood of signatures to Ban Ki-moon to ensure he makes this his top priority. Please sign the petition then forward this email on to your friends and colleagues to ensure that hundreds of thousands of people sign this petition. The petition target is 888,888 signatures, symbolising 8.8.88, the day the junta massacred some 3,000 people who courageously protested in Burma’s largest democracy uprising. This is a hugely ambitious target, but with your help it is achievable.

Sign the petition here then forward this email to a friend.

Thank You,

Johnny Chatterton
Campaigns Officer
Burma Campaign UK

This is the latest update from The Burma Campaign UK.

Now that Burma is out of the news, I fear that humanitarian crimes will just continue unopposed.

Please take time to write to your MP and click on some of the links below.
Life in Burma is horrendous and nothing will happen to change that unless there is continued and strong international pressure to have a level of justice.
It’s frustrating that after 38 UN visits still nothing has changed. There are still over 2000 political prisoners. Aung San Suu Kyi is in her 13th year of house arrest for the crime of winning an election!

Please do something so that Burma fades into the mist of yesterdays news

Dear Friends,

A United Nations envoy has just returned from Burma and has yet again failed to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s 2,130 other political prisoners. UN envoys have now made 38 visits to Burma and have consistently failed to achieve any progress towards democracy and human rights.

Stronger action is needed. These prisoners have done nothing wrong. They have been imprisoned for calling for freedom and human rights. The United Nations Security Council must bring in a binding resolution to ensure that Burma’s political prisoners are released. We need your help to make this happen.

TAKE ACTION – IF YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Take 2 minutes now and write to your MP and urge them to support Aung San Suu Kyi by signing Early Day Motion 343* (Early Day Motions are similar to a parliamentary petitions – read more below**).

EDM 343 calls for all the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all Burma’s 2,130 political prisoners. The EDM demands that the British government uses its position on the UN Security Council to get the Security Council to take action.

We’ve made it really easy for you. Just go to this page and click “Take Action, Click Here”. Then all you do is put in your details (so we can find your MP for you) and personalise the message we’ve drafted for you. We take care of the rest!

TAKE ACTION – IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE UK
Take 2 minutes now and email UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon and the UN Security Council from this website and urge him to make it his top priority to secure the release of all Burma’s political prisoners.

An update from inside Burma
This week Burma’s imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed out of her house arrest for a few short minutes to meet with the UN Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, and the Central Executive Committee of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Suu Kyi called on the UN to prioritise the release of all 2,100 political prisoners in Burma.
She once more bravely stated that she is willing to talk to the Burmese regime at any time, but the regime is refusing to come to the negotiating table.

Aung San Suu Kyi is only kept safe because of her high international profile. You, as one of her supporters are helping to keep her safe.

Thank you

Johnny Chatterton
Campaigns Officer
Burma Campaign UK
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk

P.S. You can find out more about Aung San Suu Kyi here
P.P.S For the latest news from the Burma Campaign UK join our free email list here.
—
* What is Early Day Motion 343? EDM 343 is available to read here.

**What is an Early Day Motion? Early day motions are a bit like petitions that are exclusively available to MP’s. They allow MP’s to raise issues that are important to them and are a record of what the British Parliament are concerned about. You can read more on Parliament’s EDM page or on Wikipedia.

The Burma Campaign UK
Registered Company No. 3804730
Registered office address
28 Charles Square
London N1 6HT