Burma Campaign Australia

[postlink] https://burmacampaignjapanteam.blogspot.com/2010/11/burma-campaign-australia.html [/postlink]

We are an independent information provider, operating under our own policies and principles to support pro-democracy movement for Burma.

Our mission:

• to promote awareness of current activities and pro-democracy movements concerning Burma around Australia.
• to provide latest breaking news, current affairs and events about Burma.
• to collaborate with individuals and organizations that share our aims and objectives to restore democracy and freedom in Burma. 
• to promote our mission independently from governments, non-government organisations and commercial interest.

Burma Campaign Australia – National Statement

Burma Campaign Australia is committed to peace, democracy and human rights in Burma.

Burma Campaign Australia is a network of groups and individuals located around Australia campaigning for peace, democracy, good governance and human rights in Burma. We include human rights advocates, academics, aid agencies and a broad range of Australia-based ethnic and pro-democracy groups from Burma. Also included are Burmese Members of Parliament-elect living in exile. Crucially, we are connected to and coordinate with people inside Burma, around its borders and the global network of campaigns on Burma.

Burma has been wracked by civil wars since independence in 1948 and ruled by a military regime since 1962. The military regime, currently named the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is one of the world’s most brutal. It has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations (UN) for its systematic and widespread abuse of human rights and political oppression. The military regime refused to honour the results of the 1990 general election in which 82% of parliamentary seats were won by the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel Peace Laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She has spent 12 of the past 18 years under house arrest while many other NLD and ethnic leaders remain imprisoned. There are currently around 1800 political prisoners in Burma and several million people, the majority of whom are ethnic minorities, displaced internally and cross-border.

Burma Campaign Australia calls for an immediate end to all violence and human rights abuses, the release of all political prisoners and for the international community to exert the necessary political will to bring positive change to Burma. We believe peace and security in Burma depends on achieving national reconciliation. Genuine political progress towards this goal depends on meaningful dialogue between the NLD, ethnic nationalities representatives and the SPDC.

Burma Campaign Australia encourages the Australian Government and international actors to proactively building conditions conducive to positive change in Burma. We do this through raising awareness of Burma’s crises among the broader Australian community and working with Australia’s government’s at all levels, particularly the Australian Federal Government to ensure political change in Burma is a foreign policy and security priority.

Burma Campaign Australia calls on the Australian Federal Government to:

In the area of Diplomacy

• Make repeated and urgent calls to the SPDC for the unconditional release of all political prisoners in Burma, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ethnic leaders, elected MPs and the '88 Generation Group leaders; 
• Continue to engage the SPDC representatives at every opportunity to express Australia’s deep human rights concerns and desire to see national reconciliation and genuine tri-partite dialogue;
• As a UN member actively and urgently promote a binding UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution including an Arms Embargo;
• Use the Australian government membership of the UN Group of Friends on Burma to take an active leadership role in the initiatives of UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari. Calling for concrete results and time-bound substantive dialogue between the SPDC, the NLD, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic nationalities representatives;
• Pursue options regarding the process for the International Criminal Court to commence investigations into the military regime for crimes against humanity; 
• Investigate how the international norm of “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) applies to Burma and be operationalised. R2P to ensure the effective protection of populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity; 
• Increase the urgency of its requests to the international community including Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Russia and India to increase pressure on the SPDC to engage in genuine tri-partite political dialogue and support a UNSC binding resolution; and
• Call on the SPDC to implement the 1/90 Notification which recognises a constitution written by elected representatives. 

Regarding Visa Bans

• Maintain and extend the visa ban on members of the military regime, previous and current, their families and business associates;
• Provide a publicly accessible explanation as to the method and controls in place to monitor visa bans on members of the regime.
  Regarding Australia’s Regional Military/Police Activities
• Refrain from engaging in military, police and intelligence exercises with SPDC representatives which work to strengthen skills bases that in turn increase the efficacy of the regime to oppress its population; and
• In particular, cease all current training of military and police personnel from Burma both bi-laterally through the Australian Federal Police operatives in Burma and through joint ASEAN training initiatives.

Regarding Targeted Economic Sanctions

• Maintain and extend the freeze of financial assets of members of the military regime, previous and current, their families and business associates; and
• Support targeted sanctions in line with European, Canadian and US models against Australian investment in Burma.

Concerning Corporate Investment

• Make representations directly to Australian companies who conduct business in Burma asking them to withdraw.

In the Area of Humanitarian Assistance

• Thoroughly review the current humanitarian aid approach to Burma to contribute to addressing the humanitarian crisis and empowering civil society towards development, including:
  • Increase support for accountable, transparent and independently monitored and evaluated humanitarian assistance inside Burma;
  • Continue and increase financial support for refugees on the Thailand-Burma border through the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium (TBBC);
  • Reinstate humanitarian assistance to Burma’s border-based welfare and civil society groups;
  • Extend Australia’s current policy to support cross-border humanitarian assistance;
  • Introduce humanitarian aid for refugees on the western borders of Bangladesh and India;
  • Include aid programs that promote civil society education and empowerment processes;
  • Establish a fund that boosts support for human rights defenders, like that established for Zimbabwe in 2007.

Endorsed by:

Democracy for Burma Action Group (Western Australia)
Canberra Network for Democracy in Burma
Burma Solidarity Group, Brisbane
Burma Campaign Sydney
Australia Burma Network

Together we represent people from communities of Burma living in Australia, human rights activists, trade unionists and aid agencies who have formed a national network called Burma Campaign Australia.