59 Former Heads of State Call for Release of World's Only Imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

May 15th, 2007, For Immediate Release

Contact: Jeremy Woodrum (202) 234-8022

(Washington, DC) A leading human rights organization today praised a call by 59 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from around the world for the release of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is held under house arrest in the Southeast Asian country of Burma.

"This many former heads of state joining together to publicly call for the release of an imprisoned leader may be unprecedented in world history," said Aung Din, a former Burmese political prisoner and policy director at the U.S. Campaign for Burma (USCB).  "We are especially grateful that many Asian leaders joined the call, something which has never been done before." The effort was joined by every single living American ex-President.

The call came in the form of an open letter to the leader of Burma 's military regime, General Than Shwe, which was copied to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.  The letter stated that Ban Ki-moon had called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in early January, but the regime had yet to respond.  The letter also pointed out that Burma 's neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had also called for the release of Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in the country.

Read the letter: "On January 8, 2007, new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on you to release Aung San Suu Kyi.  May 27, 2007 affords an excellent opportunity to respond to his request.  Indeed, the UN General Assembly, former UN Commission on Human Rights, ASEAN, European Union, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and many other countries have all called for Aung San Suu Kyi's immediate release."

The move came one week after 14 United Nations experts in Geneva, in an unprecedented move, called on the military regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi, and two weeks before the end of Suu Kyi's scheduled detention on May 27th.  In the past, the regime has extended the detention for a period of months, but it is unclear whether they will respond.

"We would like the military regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi immediately, " added Aung Din. Activist groups are organizing more than 300 events around the world to press for change in Burma on June 19th, Suu Kyi's 62nd birthday.

Burma is ruled by one of the world's most brutal military regimes, which has destroyed 3,000 villages in the eastern section of the country while imprisoning Suu Kyi and 1,200 other political prisoners.  The regime has also recruited more child soldiers than any other country in the world.  Suu Kyi has been imprisoned for more than 11 of the past 17 years.

Since September 2006, Burma has been on the permanent agenda of the United Nations Security Council. The United Nations Security Council has taken action on numerous countries similar to Burma, but has been blocked from doing so on Burma by China .

"This effort is the beginning of a new, sustained, high-level campaign to support the United Nation's call for national reconciliation in Burma ," added Aung Din. "We call on citizens throughout the world to join us in this effort."

The letter was spearheaded by former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. ##

May 15, 2007
To

Senior General Than Shwe
Naypyidaw
Burma

Dear Senior General Than Shwe:

We are writing this public letter to call for the immediate release of the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her most recent term of house arrest is scheduled to end onMay 27, 2007.

On January 8, 2007, new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on you to release Aung San Suu Kyi. May 27, 2007 affords an excellent opportunity to respond to his request.

Indeed, the UN General Assembly, former UN Commission on Human Rights, ASEAN, European Union, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and many other countries have all called for Aung San Suu Kyi’s immediate release.

The 2006 UN General Assembly resolution on Burma, which passed overwhelmingly, expressed “grave concern” at “the extension of the house arrest of the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi” and strongly called upon your government to “to release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, including National League for Democracy leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo.”

Aung San Suu Kyi is not calling for revolution in Burma, but rather peaceful, nonviolent dialogue between the military, National League for Democracy, and Burma ’s ethnic groups. The UN General Assembly resolution, and 15 previous resolutions also support this approach.

We strongly urge you to respond to the United Nations and countless other countries and regional groupings around the world by releasing Aung San Suu Kyi before May 27th and committing to participate in peaceful, tripartite dialogue as outlined by the General Assembly.

Sincerely,

1. The Honorable Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín
Former President of Argentina (1983-1989)

2. The Honorable Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri
Former Prime Minister of East Timor (2002-2006)
3. The Honorable Sadiq Al-Mahdi
Former Prime Minister of Sudan (1966-1967,   1989-1989 )

4. The Honorable Halldór Ásgrímsson
Former Prime Minister of Iceland (2004-2006)

5. The Honorable Corazon C. Aquino
Former President of the Philippines (1986-1992)

6. The Honorable Benazir Bhutto
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan (1988-1990)

7. The Honorable Kjell Magne Bondevik
Former Prime Minister of Norway (1997-2000, 2001-2005)

8. The Honorable Gro Harlem Brundtland
Former Prime Minister of Norway (1981, 1986-1989, 1990-1996)

9. The Honorable George H.W. Bush
Former President of the United States of America (1989-1993)

10. The Honorable Jerzy Buzek
Former Prime Minister of Poland (1997-2001)

11. The Right Honourable Kim Campbell
Former Prime Minister of Canada (1993)

12. The Honorable Jimmy Carter
Former President of the United States of America (1977-1981)

13. The Honorable Joaquim Alberto Chissano
Former President of Mozambique (1986-2005)

14. The Honorable William J. Clinton
Former President of the United States of America (1993-2001)

15. The Honorable Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Former President of Brazil (1995-2003)

16. The Honorable Chuan Leekpai
Former Prime Minister of Thailand (1992-1995, 1997-2001)

17. The Honorable Jacques Delors
Former President of the European Commission (1985-1995)

18. The Honorable Philip Dimitrov
Former Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1991-1992)

19. The Honorable Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin
Former Prime Minister of Mongolia (1998, 2004-2006)

20. The Honorable José María Figueres
Former President of Costa Rica (1994-1998)

21. The Honorable Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Former President of Iceland (1980-1996)

22. The Honorable César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo
Former President of Colombia (1990-1994)
Former Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (1994-2004)

23. The Honorable Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera
Former President of Uruguay (1990-1995)

24. The Honorable Václav Havel
Former President of the Czech Republic (1990-2003)

25. The Honorable Thorbjørn Jagland
Former Prime Minister of Norway (1996-1997)

26. The Honorable Lionel Jospin
Former Prime Minister of France (1997-2002)

27. The Honorable Kim Dae-jung
Former President of South Korea (1998-2003)

28. The Honorable Junichiro Koizumi
Former Prime Minister of Japan (2001-2006)

29. The Honorable Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Former President of Poland (1995-2005)

30. The Honorable Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar
Former President of Chile (2000-2006)

31. The Honorable Árpád Göncz
Former President of Hungary (1990-2000)

32. The Honorable Kenneth Kaunda
Former President of Zambia (1974-1991)

33. The Honorable Lee Hong-Koo
Former Prime Minister of South Korea (1994-1995)

34. The Honorable Paavo Lipponen
Former Prime Minister of Finland (1995-2003)

35. The Honorable Mahathir Mohamed
Former Prime Minister of Malaysia (1981-2003)

36. The Right Honourable Sir John Major, KG CH PC
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1990-1997)

37. The Honorable Megawati Sukarnoputri
Former President of Indonesia (2001-2004)

38. The Honorable Rexhep Meidani
Former President of the Republic of Albania (1997-2002)

39. The Honorable Benjamin William Mkapa
Former President of Tanzania (1995-2005)

40. The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney
Former Prime Minister of Canada (1984-1993)

41. The Honorable Davíð Oddsson
Former Prime Minister of Iceland (1991-2004)

42. The Honorable Andrés Pastrana Arango
Former President of Colombia (1998-2002)

43. The Honorable Göran Persson
Former Prime Minister of Sweden (1996-2006)

44. The Honorable Fidel V. Ramos
Former President of the Philippines (1992-1998)

45. The Honorable Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
Former Prime Minister of Denmark (1993-2001)

46. The Honorable Mary Robinson
Former President of Ireland (1990-1997)

47. The Honorable Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé
Former President of the Republic of Bolivia (2005-2006)

48. The Honorable Petre Roman
Former Prime Minister of Romania (1989-1991)

49. The Honorable Amos Claudius Sawyer
Former President of Liberia (1990-1994)

50. The Honorable Chandra Shekhar
Former Prime Minister of India (1990-1991)

51. The Honorable Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Former Prime Minister of India (1989-1990)

52. The Honorable Mário Soares
Former President of Portugal (1986-1996)
Former Prime Minister of Portugal (1976-1978, 1983-1985)

53. The Right Honourable Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1979-1990)

54. The Honorable Alejandro Toledo
Former President of Peru (2001-2006)

55. The Honorable Jorge Quiroga
Former President of Bolivia (2001-2002)

56. The Honorable Ung Huot
Former Prime Minister of Cambodia (1997-1998)

57. The Honorable Casam Uteem
Former President of the Republic of Mauritius (1992-2002)

58. The Honorable Abdurrahman Wahid
Former President of Indonesia (1991-2001)

59. The Honorable Lech Wałęsa
Former President of Poland (1990-1995)

cc:
- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Members of the UN Security Council

- U Aung Shwe, Chairman, National League for Democracy

 

New York, 8 January 2007 - Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on Myanmar

The Secretary-General has taken note of the decision by the Government of Myanmar on 3 January 2007 to grant amnesty to 2,831 prisoners.

He welcomes reports that this includes the release of up to 40 political prisoners. The Secretary-General urges the Myanmar authorities to go beyond this first step by releasing all other political prisoners in the country, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and by making further concrete progress on all of the issues raised in the context of his good offices.

 

UN RIGHTS EXPERTS CALL FOR THE RELEASE OF DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI
AND ALL REMAINING POLITICAL PRISONERS

10 May 2007

This statement was issued today by 14 United Nations human rights mandate holders*:

“On 27 May, the current term of detention of the General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy comes to an end. Since her party and its allies won the 1990 election with over eighty percent of the Parliamentary seats, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for 11 of the last 17 years without charge or trial. She has been held in isolation for the past four years.

As of one of the world's most acclaimed human rights defenders, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is a major political and spiritual leader of Myanmar . Her tireless commitment to non-violence, truth and human rights has made her a worthy symbol through whom the plight of all people in Myanmar may be recognized.

We call on the Government of Myanmar to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi unconditionally and to free all the remaining political prisoners. We believe this would give a significant sign of the Government's will to initiate a genuine and effective transition towards democracy.

The UN human rights experts believe that the stability of Myanmar is not well served by the arrest and detention of several political leaders or by the severe and sustained restrictions on the exercise of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights”.

- The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro;
- The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani;
- The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo;
- The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy;
- The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak;
- The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk;
- The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir;
- The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Rodolofo Stavenhagen;
- The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Miloon Kothari;
- The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt;
- The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler;
- The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Sigma Huda; and
- The Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Juan Miguel Petit.

Zaw Win Htun
Foreign Affairs Department
NLD-LA (Youth)
PO Box 156, Maesot, Tak 63110, Thailand.
Ph +66 81 4277 264

OSLO, Norway, May 15, 2007 (AP Online via COMTEX) --

Nearly 60 former heads of state - including three ex-American presidents - demanded Monday that Myanmar's military regime release Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

Suu Kyi has been in and out of detention, mostly house arrest, since her pro-democracy movement won a landslide election in 1990 and the military refused to hand over power. She won the Nobel Peace in 1991.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter all signed the letter to the dictatorship's top leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

The 59 former leaders urged Myanmar, also known as Burma, to release Suu Kyi when her latest term of house arrest ends May 27.

"Suu Kyi is not calling for revolution in Burma, but rather peaceful, nonviolent dialogue between the military, National League for Democracy, and Burmas ethnic groups," said the letter, coordinated by former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik's Oslo Peace Center.

The letter noted that the United Nations, the European Union and many countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Japan, have also demanded Suu Kyi's release.

Those signing the letter also included ex-British Prime Ministers John Major and Margaret Thatcher, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, former French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, and former Canadian Prime Minister Martin Brian Mulroney.

---
On the Net:
http://www.oslocenter.no
Copyright (C) 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://financial.washingtonpost.com/custom/wpost/html-story.asp?dispnav=business&mwpage=story&symb=&guid={7528355C-1FCF-4FB7-8887-1A824A60DB04}&tid=informbox

(Washington Post editorial)
The world's senior statesmen call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007; A14

IT'S A REMARKABLE list: 59 former presidents and prime ministers, from countries ranging from Mongolia to Chile and from Argentina to Zambia. They are Hindus and Muslims, Catholics and Buddhists, socialists and right-wingers.

What could possibly unite them? Dismay that Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel peace laureate and fighter for democracy, remains under house arrest in her Southeast Asian homeland of Burma (also known as Myanmar). The 59 signed a letter, released yesterday by Norway's former prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, calling for her freedom. "Aung San Suu Kyi is not calling for revolution in Burma, but rather peaceful, nonviolent dialogue," the former leaders noted. They urged Burma's "senior general," Than Shwe, to take her up on the offer.

Indeed, Aung San Suu Kyi has been amazingly consistent in her support of nonviolence and democracy through nearly two decades of provocation and oppression from Burma's dictators. In 1990, her National League for Democracy won more than four out of every five parliamentary seats in a free election, but the junta imprisoned many of the winners and refused to cede power. Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 11 of the subsequent 17 years and in solitary confinement since 2003. The corrupt regime meanwhile has driven its resource-rich nation of 50 million people deeper and deeper into poverty. It has burned 3,000 villages in campaigns of ethnic cleansing; used rape and forced child labor to decimate ethnic groups on its enemy list; and forced 1 million refugees into neighboring countries.

Not long ago a majority of the U.N. Security Council voted to deplore such tactics in a resolution that was vetoed (not surprisingly) by China and Russia and opposed (more surprisingly) by South Africa. No former leader from those three countries signed the letter.

But three U.S. ex-presidents did: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. And it's a mark of Burma's growing isolation that the signatories included so many respected leaders from Asian countries that until recently argued against any form of pressure:

Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos of the Philippines, not to mention leaders from India, Pakistan, Thailand and more. Gen. Than Shwe should read his mail carefully today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/14/AR2007051401399.html