I Introduction; II The European Union, Japan and the United States; III Multilateral organizations; IV Western NGOs, foundations, IDOs and exiled groups; V Conclusions; VI Recommendations. "...That human rights reform and political change in Burma are urgently needed is strikingly evident. It is also evident that each of the three protagonists in Burma?s drama over the past 10 years – the Tatmadaw, the political opposition represented by the NLD and the ethnic minorities– has publicly expressed their desire for such changes. What this report has shown is that thus far, the efforts of the international community have failed to assist in a transition from military rule, and may even have prolonged military rule by giving the government a much-needed external enemy on which all its failings can be blamed. Western policies, encouraged by NGOs and the external and internal opposition, have had a short-term aim of getting rid of the military government as fast as possible. While this is a laudable aim, and perhaps realistic in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the military still in power and with no signs of changes, there has to be a rethink of this position. Neither sticks, nor carrots, will be able to move them. Sanctions against the Tatmadaw are important and necessary, but they must be well defined, both in kind and in intention. They should signal that the behaviour of the Tatmadaw in perpetrating human rights abuses, the failure to allow democratic processes and refusal to comply with UN resolutions, is totally unacceptable, and that such behaviour will have negative consequences. Once sanctions are imposed, this should not be the end of the policy. Rather, governments must take active measures to make the sanctions effective, at the same time avoiding ossification of positions..."