92003E1270

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1270/03

by Marianne Eriksson (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(3 April 2003)

Subject: Human rights violations in Burma

The Burmese army is using rape as a weapon of war along the Thai-Burma border, especially directed towards the Shan minority in Burma. The situation has worsened since the release of the report Licence to rape by the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women's Action Network in May 2002. The report documents 173 cases of sexual violence, involving 625 women and girls, committed by the Burmese army between 1996 and 2001. I would like to request that the Council sends a fact-finding mission to investigate all human rights violations carried out by the Burmese army. Is the Council intending to do so?

Reply

(2 October 2003)

1. The Council shares the Honourable MEPs' serious concerns over human rights violations in Burma, and in particular over allegations that the Burmese army is systematically using rape as a weapon in the internal conflict along the border with Thailand.

2. The EU has on several occasions in meetings with the Burmese authorities raised its human rights concerns, and will continue to do so. The Council has also publicly declared in its conclusions adopted in mid-April 2003 that the EU is gravely concerned over the ongoing serious violations of human rights in Burma, and over the reports of rapes and other forms of sexual violence persistently carried out by members of the Burmese armed forces.

3. The Council considers that an EU fact-finding mission to Burma would have little chance of being admitted into the country by the Burmese authorities. The Council will therefore continue to support the initiative of UN Human Rights Rapporteur, Amb. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, in this regard. A full and speedy investigation by Amb. Pinheiro and his team into the allegations of rape is deemed to be the most appropriate way to address this issue.

4. Consequently, at its meeting on 16 June in Luxembourg the Council adopted conclusions referring to its decision, following the events of May, to implement without delay the strengthened sanctions originally envisaged to enter into force by October 2003. The Council also decided to monitor closely the further evolution of the situation in Burma/Myanmar, and reaffirmed its readiness to react proportionately to future developments. The Council further decided to postpone the Troika visit on a political level previously scheduled to take place before the end of October 2003.