"The United Nations, among whose proclaimed objectives is the universal promotion of human rights,1 has long endeavored to address gross and systematic violations of the same by Burma?s ruling military regime. After years of valiant but mostly futile UN efforts to improve the overall situation for human rights in Burma, hopes were raised in September 2006, when the issue of human rights and democracy was for the first time placed on the agenda of the Security Council, a body invested with broad powers of enforcement. However, subsequent efforts to pass a Security Council resolution addressing human rights violations in Burma, though supported by a sizable majority of the Security Council?s members, was defeated by veto. Events in Burma since then, such as the violent suppression of the Saffron Revolution, the refusal at initial (and thus critical) stages of the deastation caused by Cyclone Nargis to permit international relief efforts and the extension of Aung San Suu Kyi?s detention, have added urgency to the need for an effective international response to the human rights situation in the country..."