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Letter from the Dutch ministers of



Subject: Letter from the Dutch ministers of Foreign Affairs and  Development Cooperation to the Parlement on Burma, October 16th 1998

Unofficial translation (by Burma Centre Netherlands) of a letter by the two
Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation to the Chair of
the Commission on Foreign Affairs of the Parlement.

to the Chair of the Commission on Foreign Affairs of the Parlement

16 October 1998 / DAO/ZO-327/98 / 6 pages, 1 annex, letter on Burma

Dear Chair,

Regarding your request we inform you on recent developments in Burma and
the reaction from the Netherlands on these. The annex is a comprehensive
report on the actual situation in Burma and the Foreign political and
economical relations of the Netherlands with that country. The annex also
describes the situation of Burmese refugees in Thailand.

The human rights situation in Burma continous to be extremely grave. The
political differences of opinion are sharpening and the bad economic
outlook are leading towards social unrest. The Burmese administration is
none the less showing any preparedness to enter into a serious dialogue
with the pro-democratic groups. The international community can not escape
to increase the pressure on the Burmese autorities in order the end move
them towards democratisation and improvement of the human rights situtation.

Dutch effort
At the end of October, the EU will have to decide on the fourth extending,
with six months, of the common position (CP) of 28 October 1996 regarding
Burma. The CP contains visa-restrictions for representatives of the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and affirms the arms-embargo and the
suspension of all non-humanitarian aid. Then, in 1997 the system if
preferential tarifs that were granted to Burma, in the General Preferential
System of the European Community, were stopped. Next to extending it now is
the issue of whether the influence of the CP should be broadened. The
Netherlands is in favor of this. Herewith the effort will be to an explicit
ban on transitvisa for members of the SPDC, the armed forces and the
intelligence service. With that, their possibilities of travelling trough
EU-member states to third countries are cut. Moreover the Netherlands will
plead for the option of economic sanctions like an investmentban by the EU.

Extending the EU-sanction regime, to which also the National League for
Democracy (NLD) and the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
are urging, is the logical next phase in the approach that the EU decided
to take in October 1996. In first instance the emphasis was on lighter
sanctions, to prevent direct isolation of Burma and to leave room for
increasing the political signal in case the human rights situation would
worsen further. Now the lighter sanctions have had no effects, and in the
fields of democratisation and human rights there have been not a single
improvement and even in the countries that surround Burma (united in the
ASEAN - Association of South East Asian Nations) the criticism is
increasing, there is all the more occasion to put stronger measures forward.

Even though the economic crisis in Asia has decreased the amount of
investments in the Burmese economy, a eventual investment boycott in Burma
by the EU would hit the country hard: in 1997 more than 60 % of the foreign
investments in Burma came from the EU. These investments are concentrated
in the oil and gas industry of which the profits are a important pilar of
support of the regime.


On this point there is everything but concensus within the EU.

signatures from 
Minister of Foreign Affairs
J.J. van Aartsen
and 
Minister for Development Cooperation
E.L. Herfkens