Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-16-Speech-4-152"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2000-11-16"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Human rights2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20001116.9.4-152"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2000-11-16-Speech-4-1532
lpv:speaker	lp:Glenys Kinnock2
lpv:spoken text	"Mr President, in an answer to me on Burma in the October session Commissioner Patten said that if things deteriorate in Burma, then holding the EU-ASEAN meeting planned for 11 and 12 December would be reconsidered. How bad do things have to get? Aung San Suu Kyi is held incommunicado. There are 3,000 political prisoners, 23% of the population live below the poverty line and 40% of the children in Burma are malnourished. Burma is now the world's second largest producer of heroin and opium after Afghanistan. They are conducting a major offensive against the Shan people and the Karen people and, as the UN rapporteur has said, there is no sign of any dialogue between the SDPC and the NLD. Today in Geneva the ILO are meeting as we speak and it looks very likely that they are going to support sanctions against Burma in protest about the use of forced labour. It is my understanding that the French representative in Geneva has supported that view. Now is the time to actually impose strict conditions on that meeting in December. Aung San Suu Kyi must be released and allowed to travel freely and a troika must be allowed to go to Burma and to go anywhere and meet anyone they like. Also today, Thailand, an ASEAN member, has said that Burma must allow a permanent ILO presence in that country, that there must be a mechanism to monitor forced labour and that ILO sanctions should not be lifted on their fellow ASEAN member until real results have been achieved. How will the EU respond to these strong voices from across Europe and indeed from the region for the first time? It is surely indefensible for the Commission and the Council to continue with any idea of holding this meeting. It will clearly be interpreted as a softening of Europe's approach at this time. Aung San Suu Kyi has reiterated recently that constructive engagement with Rangoon is not working and she and the NLD have asked for the meeting to be postponed. If the EU goes ahead, the junta would be encouraged and heartened by the decision to sit our foreign ministers from democratic European governments around a table which includes the military junta of Burma. We should be ashamed of such treachery. ASEAN would also continue to feel that it is not necessary to do anything about the pariah in their midst. Do we intend to collude with this or will we make a decision now to pull out? By standing by our own principles and the values that we cherish, we will also be cherishing the values of the people of Burma who are being so systematically persecuted by the military regime in their country. ( )"@en1
lpv:spokenAs	member; Committee on Development and Cooperation (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3,3 vice-chair; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (1999-09-14--2002-01-14)3,3 member; PES (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3,3 unknown; Labour Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3,3 substitute; Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy (1999-07-22--2002-01-14)3,3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Applause"1 "Kinnock (PSE )."1

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