NCGUB calls on labor movement to su

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Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 14:09:23 -0700
Subject: NCGUB calls on labor movement to support Burmese democracy



National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB)

Reports from the Office of the United Nations Mission, 
24 October 1995

429, East 52nd Street, Suite 5H, New York. 10022
Tel (212) 751 5312   Fax:  (212) 759 4149)

REPORT 1:

24 October 1995

Report Begins


19 October 1995:  Returning from Manila and London, Prime Minister, Dr
Sein Win, arrives in New York to join Dr Thaung Htun, CEC Member ABSDF
and NCGUB Represeentative to the United Nations. 

Manila.  The International union conference inManila, Philippines titled
"Democratic Trade Union and Other Human Rights in burma", called
together international unions from 134 different coutnries with a
membership of 126 million people.  The Prime Minister was invited as a
special guest speaker to explain the situation in Burma.  He asked that
the unions lend their support to the democratic movement led by Aung San
suu Kyi.  Included as part of a tough resolution the confernce called on
trade unions around the world to "Press all governments to insititute
comprehensive economic sanctions against th eSLORC and to include this
demand in the "United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Burma". 
Pariticpating in the Confernece, Maung Maung, Secretary, Federation
Trade Unions, Burma, called on the unions to take tough and decisive
action. 

London.  Burma Donor Forum met in London to discuss funding priorities
in 1996.  Organised in conjunction with the Forum Meeting, a Burma
Briefing was held by UK based NGOs to which th ePrime Minister, Dr Sein
Win was invited to speak. 

20 October 1995:  Amanda Zappia arrives New York.  1995 NCGUB UN Mission
delegates will include Prime Minster, NCGUB, Dr Sein Win, Dr Thaung
Htun, ethnic leaders and Amanda Zappia.  The names of the ethnic leaders
will remain confidential until their arrival in New York. 

23 October 1995.  Maung Maung Aye, Vice Chairman, SLORC, addresses the
United Naitons General Assembly and the NCGUB respond.  Speech and
Statement are included in this report. 

24 October 1995: SLORC has declared Aung San Suu Kyi's re-appointment as
Secretary General of the National League for Democracy illegal according
to reports in the New York Times and Dallas Morning News.  NCGUB issues
a press release. 

Furture Agenda:  The Delegation will meet with Australia's Foreign
Minister, Senator the Hon. Gareth Evans on the 25th October.  NGOs and
Burma support groups will meet with the Delegation up to the end of the
month.  Official meeting with UN Mission will commence on the 6th
Novermber. 

Report Ends. 

------

National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
Office of the UN Mission

RESPONSE TO GENERAL MAUNG AYE'S SPEECH  [23/10/95]

In his address to the 50th Anniversary Special Commenmorative Sessionof
the United Nations General Assembly, General Maung Aye, Vice Chairman of
the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), supported the
instituion of the United Nations.  He said, "There is no better
alternative to the United Nations.  In an increasingly inderdependent
world, the United Nations is the only forum for multi- lateral
cooperation.  I would like to reaffirm Myanmars's abiding faith in the
United Nations as a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the
attainment of universal peace and cooperation".  General Maung Aye also
renewed SLORC's commitment to the principles and purposes of the Charter
of the United Nations and pledged SLORC's continued cooperation with the
United Nations. 

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB),
representing the will of the people of burma as expressed in the 1990
general elections, welcome SLORC's commitment to the UN and its pledge
to cooperate with the world body which represents the international
community. 

Since 1991, the UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN General
Assembly have consistently passed consensus resolutions calling on SLORC
to honor the results of the 1990 elections, to accelerate the pace of
democratization in Burma and to improve the human rights situation in
Burma. The resolutions are consistent with the Charter of the United
Nations which clearly states that all Member States have an obligation
to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.  They are
also consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
whichstate that "the will of people shall be the basis of the authority
of government". 

SLORC cannot pledge to support the UN and at the same time claim that it
has the right to ignore the will of the Burmese people as well as the
will of the international community because the situation in Burma is an
internal affair.  Neither can General Maung Aye claim that to maintain
international peace and security, the UN should not "internal affairs". 
The UN Secretary-General has stated in his 'Agenda for Peace' that
security does not merely mean the lack of military threat. Human Rights
violations, poverty, humanitarisn crises and natural disasters also
threaten international peace and security.  The current situation in
Burma and SLORC's refusal to address them is beginning to threaten
regional security.  Given SLORC's professed commitment to the UN, the
NCGUB calls on the international community to require SLORC to live up
to its obligations. 

The preamble of the UN Charter quoted by General Maung Aye in his speech
obliges Member States, "to practice tolerance anigh live together in
peace with one another as good neighbours".  It also calls for Member
States not to use armed forced and to establish conditions under which
justice can be maintained.  Given SLORC's systemic gross violation of
human rights in Burma, its persecution of religious and ethnic
minorities, its indiscriminate use of armed force to suppress dissent,
and its blatant disregard for the territorial integrity of its
neighbors, it is right that the UNGA should continue to express its
concern about the situation in Burma. 

The NCGUB would also like to remind General Maung Aye and SLORC that
Article 6 of the UN Charter staes that a Member State which persistently
violates th eprinciples ocntained in the Charter may be expelled from
the UN by the General Assembly. 

The NCGUB, therefore, calls on SLORC to make good without further delay,
its commitment to the UN and its pledge to cooperate with it by fully
implement the UN resolutions. Since October 1994, the UN
Secretary-General has been trying to engage in a dialogue with SLORC
about human rights situation in Burma in order to facilitate a dialogue
between the Burmese military led by SLORC, the democracy movement led by
Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic leaders, as a
menas to national reconciliation.  At the very least, SLORC should
cooperate with the UN Secretary-Genral and initiate a dialogue with Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi. 

October 23, 1995.

-----

Wire NEWS:  UN Summit Outcasts
"US holds pariah states at arm's length"

New York, Oct 22 (AFP) Eight countries that Washington views as rogue
states were pointedly excluded from a reception late Sunday hosted by US
President Bill Clinton alongside UN 50th anniversary celebrations. 

Some 185 UN member countries are represented here at the celebrations
with 140 heads of state and government on hand. 

Those left out of the US bash at the New York Public Library -- an
elegant Manhattan landmark -- were Burma, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Libya, North
Korea, and Sudan, which Washington accuses of supporting terrorism or
suppressing democracy.
	
Somalia, in virtual state of anarchy, was also left out, a US official
said, "becasue they don't have a goverment we recognize". chz/sjh/mb. 

*******************
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    hazel lang
Department of International Relations
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200
Australia
Fax 61 6 279 8010
Phone 61 6 249 2177
email:  hazell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx