Send a birthhday card


On Tuesday 19th June, Aung San Suu Kyi will celebrate her 62nd birthday. But she will be celebrating another birthday alone, under house arrest. Burma’s brutal military dictatorship defied calls from the UN, USA, EU and ASEAN to release her and extended her detention under house arrest on 25 May. She is now in her 12th year of detention. She isn’t allowed to see family or friends as all visitors are banned and her phone line is cut.

Take action to help free Aung San Suu Kyi!

Send a birthday card to Aung San Suu Kyi!
Send a card to Aung San Suu Kyi and show your support on her birthday.

Please send cards to Aung San Suu Kyi’s home address in Burma:
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
54 University Avenue
Bahan 11201
Yangon
Myanmar

Postage costs from UK:
20g = 78p
(most cards do not weigh more than 20g)
40g = £1.17

we do this each year to show the generals controlling the country that the world has not forgotten Aung San’s 12 year imprisonment for that worse crime of all …. winning the general election with 82% of the vote!

Please make that little effort needed to send a card – it will cost you so little, but the effects could be amazing.

To see more ways to support please click on the Burma Campaign icon top right of the page.

Stand up for Burma

Sadly I can’t get to this, but as someone of Burmese ancestory if you can please go along to support the Burma Campaign.

Today in Burma more than 1,100 political prisoners are in jail.

Today in Burma many of them will be tortured.

Today in Burma soldiers will continue their attacks on civilians, burning villages, killing and mutilating people.

Today in Burma Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, isolated, with no prospect of being released.

YOU CAN HELP STOP THIS.

HELP RAISE MONEY FOR THE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK. BUY YOUR TICKET TODAY.

It looks like a fantastic night and you can get tickets here.

"I have seen with my own eyes…"

“I have seen with my own eyes the result of foreign investment in Burma.
More soldiers, more guns, more rapes and more killings.”
Zoya Phan – Burmese refugee from the Karen ethnic minority

URGENT ACTION – WRITE TO IAN MCCARTNEY – FOREIGN OFFICE MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR BURMA

For more than ten years the British government has refused to ban new investment in Burma, despite repeated requests from Burma¹s democracy movement. The regime in Burma has used foreign investment to double the size of the army, reinforcing its grip on power, while ordinary people have become poorer.

Since 1988, Britain has been one of the largest investors in Burma, largely because many foreign companies use places like the British Virgin Islands to channel their investment to Burma. The British government could stop this, but refuses to do so. One of the excuses the government uses for doing nothing is that there is no evidence that investment is still happening.

Well now there is. On the 21st January, media reported that MPRL E&P Ltd, based in Singapore but registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), had signed a contract with the regime to explore for gas. The response from the British government? NOTHING.

Then on February 8th Xinhua news agency reported another BVI company, Rimbunan Petrogas, Ltd, has just signed a gas deal with the regime. The response of the British government? NOTHING.

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS ALLOWING INVESTMENT IN BURMA THAT WILL HELP ARM THE REGIME AND LEAD TO MORE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES.

Please write to:
Ian McCartney
Minister of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles St
London SW1A 2AH

Ask the Minister to immediately ban new investment in Burma via the British Virgin Islands and other Overseas Territories. (The government can do this using a mechanism called a Queens Order in Council)

Ask the minister to introduce legislation that will also enable the government to ban British companies from investing in Burma (Labour is the only major political party in the UK that does not support a unilateral investment ban)

Find out more about the campaign to stop new investment in Burma here

Burma update

Friday 12th January 2007

The Burma Campaign UK
today condemned China and Russia for vetoing a Security Council resolution requiring the restoration of democracy to Burma.

“It is deeply disappointing that China and Russia have used their veto,” said Yvette Mahon, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “This is a blow, but not a knockout. The majority of the Security Council voted for this resolution. Russia and China lost the argument, and were forced into the desperate measure of using the veto. This vote was not just about Burma, but about China and Russia wanting to give the USA a slap in the face.”

Russia and China are both significant arms suppliers to the Burmese regime, as well as seeking investment opportunities in Burma’s large-scale gas reserves.

The majority of the Council, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy, Slovakia, Peru, Panama and Ghana supported the resolution, China and Russia exercised their veto powers to reject it. South Africa opposed the resolution, while Qatar, Indonesia, and Congo abstained

“The biggest shock is that South Africa, of all countries, would vote for dictatorship, said Yvette Mahon. “Given their history they should know better. Every South African should be ashamed of what their government has done.”

The Burma Campaign UK praised those governments that backed the resolution. “The USA and UK worked very hard to secure a resolution, and deserve a lot of credit for sticking with this in the face on intense opposition. This is foreign policy making based on principle and international law, and it deserves praise and recognition.” said Yvette Mahon.

The regime in Burma has consistently defied the United Nations, ignoring over a dozen calls for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release by the Secretary General, and 29 resolutions by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Commission. The regime has also defied repeated calls by the International Labour Organisation to end forced labour. Demands for UN Security Council intervention increased following the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003. The campaign was given fresh momentum following publication in September 2005 of a report – A Threat to the Peace – commissioned by former archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech President Vaclav Havel from global law firm DLA Piper. The report found that Burma does fit the criteria for UNSC intervention, and called on the UNSC to pass a binding resolution requiring the restoration of democracy to Burma, and the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The Security Council held its first discussion on Burma in December 2005.

Ridiculous!

This is a great ridiculous idea. I’m going to get my pineapple today – not the tinned variety, but a real one!

Should I wrap it or not?!

Want to know why the free Burma Campaign is suggesting we send Margaret Beckett a pineapple? Read here or click the pineapple to find out more.

‘Dad … why?’

I watched the Dispatches program on Burma on Monday evening with Tom and Beth. There was a weird silence as we heard of villages burnt, land mines hidden outside the front doors of people, children killed or press ganged into the army.

Burma has a massive army, but no enemies other than its own people. These soldiers are involved in a brutal process of ethnic cleansing.

As the program outlined that the military in Burma would seriously struggle without western funding through oil and tourism, the main two countries being France and the UK – she asked a question:

‘Dad … why doesn’t our government do something, or at least stop our money being used?’

Good question.
Interesting to see that a 10 year old girl understands the brutal injustice on display here.
Why can’t politicians?