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US STATEMENT ON BURMA TO THE UNGA



                              STATEMENT BY 
                   AMBASSADOR MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT, 
           UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS 
                     UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
                             THIRD COMMITTEE
                     HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN BURMA
                            DECEMBER 11, 1995
 
 
Mr Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity to discuss my
Government's decision to join consensus on the resolution
concerning the human rights situation in Burma, despite some
reservations that prevented us from cosponsoring.
 
The resolution reflects a tremendous effort by the Swedish
mission to develop a strong consensus text, and my government
endorses strongly the purposes and recommendations contained in
that text.
 
We join with the other members of this Assembly in urging the
Burmese Government to cease its violations of internationally
recognized human rights. And we urge the government to begin a
substantive political dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, other
democratic leaders and representatives of ethnic groups
concerning the future of the country. These recommendations are
at the heart of the Assembly resolution, and we believe the
Government of Burma should respond favorably to them.
 
The United States was not able to cosponsor the resolution
because of three issues that we believe could have been dealt
with more precisely or urgently. 
 
First, we would have tempered the language in paragraph 17, which
welcomes the cessation of hostilities between the Government of
Burma and various ethnic groups, because the Burmese Army has not
fully honored these ceasefires.
 
Second, we believe the resolution should have included language
similar to that adopted by the UN Human Rights Commission last
Spring, encouraging the Secretary-General to hold discussions
with the Burmese Government for the purpose of stimulating
progress towards democratization and national reconciliation.
 
Third, we believe specific mention should have been made of the
International Labor Organization's decision last June to condemn
Burma's continued use of forced labor and forced porterage,
especially of members of ethnic minorities, for military and
civilian infrastructure projects. The ILO recommends, and my
government strongly agrees, that Burma should bring both its laws
and its practices into compliance with internationally recognized
standards of workers' rights.
 
Finally, we believe that more specific and urgent attention
should have been given in the resolution to important events that
occurred in Rangoon near the end of last month. I refer, of
course, to the withdrawal and subsequent expulsion from the
National Convention of delegates from the National League for
Democracy.
 
The Governing State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC,
has asked the world to view the Convention as a representative
mechanism for drafting a new constitution and facilitating a
transition to democracy.  Clearly, it is not that if the National
League for Democracy, which received 60 percent of the votes in
the 1990 election, is not free to participate openly, freely and
without fear of intimidation. We must remember that the SLORC
handpicked all the delegates, greatly under-representing those
from the democratic movement.
 
Following the release from detention last July of Aung San Suu
Kyi, there were hopes that the National Convention would, in
fact, become a meaningful forum for discussion about Burma's
future. Instead, the Government has maintained its habit of rigid
control, and the few representatives of the democratic movement
and of the various ethnic groups have been prohibited from
voicing dissenting views.
 
The SLORC has said that its goals for Burma include economic
prosperity and multiparty democracy. Burma's democratic leaders
share those goals. The General Assembly should continue to
express strong and unyielding support for actions that would
close the great divide that now exists between what the SLORC
professes to want and what it has thus far been prepared to do.
 
In this connection, my Government also wants to express its very
great concern about recent statements from Rangoon that brand
Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters as "traitors" and speak of
"annihilating" those who criticize the National Convention.  The
SLORC should have no doubt that it will be held responsible for
any actions that result in physical harm or unjust punishment
against those who have simply engaged in the peaceful exercise of
internationally recognized rights.
 
In closing, Mr. President, let me once again congratulate the
Swedish mission for its leadership on this resolution.  Let me
re-state my Government's strong endorsement of its core
recommendations in support of human rights and a substantive
political dialogue.  And let me re-emphasize my Government's
concern about recent events and its hope that the Government of
Burma will reconsider its policies and begin now to move down a
democratic path.
 
Thank you.