Promote Democracy in Burma

 

 

In May 2003, thugs backed by the brutal military regime that controls Burma attacked the motorcade of Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and most importantly, the rightful leader of that country. (She overwhelmingly won Burma’s 1990 election, but has never been permitted to assume power). U.S. officials said a gang armed with rocks, slingshots, and nail-studded clubs killed close to 100 people.

 

 

Aung San Suu Kyi and many of her supporters were arrested. Late in September Aung San Suu Kyi was released from the secret location where she was being held and placed under house arrest after undergoing surgery. Diplomats from the U.S. and other countries were prevented from meeting with her. In November the Burmese regime claimed to have released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, but reports indicated that the offer of release — if it was in fact made — was unacceptable to her because many others remained in prison.

As socially responsible investors, we believe that U.S. corporations should not do business in Burma (renamed Myanmar by the current regime). Burma’s military dictatorship has been accused of serious and ongoing human rights violations. Because the country’s economy is almost entirely government-controlled, corporations operating there inevitably provide financial support to the regime. President Bush recognized this when he signed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, which bans the import of products from Burma.

How can you help? Please urge the Congressional Human Rights Caucus to continue pressing the government of Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and to allow opposition organizations to operate freely.

More information about Domini’s position on non-U.S. operations and on Burma is available.

For further details on human rights in Burma, visit websites for Amnesty International at www.amnestyusa.org and Human Rights Watch at www.hrw.org. Learn more about the struggle for freedom in Burma at the website of the Burma Campaign UK at www.burmacampaign.org.uk. Thanks to the New England Burma Roundtable for initiating this urgent action.

 

SAMPLE LETTER

 

Re: Promote Democracy in Burma

 

Mr. Hans Hogrefe

Office of Congressman Tom Lantos

Director, CHRC

Professional Staff, House International Relations Committee

2413 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

 

 

Dear Mr. Hogrefe:

 

As a socially responsible investor, I believe it is important to keep pressure on the government of Burma to protect human rights and allow political organizing and the free expression of ideas. For that reason I favor the withdrawal of U.S. corporations from Burma, and continued U.S. government pressure on behalf of democracy there.

 

I appreciate the Congressional Human Rights Caucus’s efforts on behalf of democracy in Burma, including the passage of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003. I urge you to take the following additional actions:

 

-          Call for immediate access to Aung San Suu Kyi  by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

-          Call for the U.N. Security Council to discuss the situation in Burma.

-          Call for U.S. diplomats to urge Southeast Asian leaders to insist on the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters.

 

 

Many thanks.

 

Yours Sincerely,