Last week in this forum http://www.hivinfo4mm.org/blog/_archives/2007/1/4/2615727.html the [him] moderator asked if anyone could back up with evidence the statement of Desmond Tutu and Amartya Sen that “lack of attention to dealing with the AIDS crisis that has made Myanmar ground zero for new, resistant strains of this horrible disease”.
None has been presented to [him] and so he thinks that they are just plain wrong. How does one go about telling two people of this stature that they have made a mistake? Ideas welcomed.
[him] moderator
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Tutu and Sen appear to have fresh new evidence about drug resistance in Myanmar / Burma
Now no one would want to call these two septuagenarians wrong. We respect them for courage in standing up to apartheid and for developing the concept of development as freedom. But can Tutu or Sen please present the humble [him] moderator a shred of evidence of “lack of attention to dealing with the AIDS crisis that has made Myanmar ground zero for new, resistant strains of this horrible disease”? Do Tutu and Sen have brand new evidence that strains of HIV found in Myanmar are resistant? Tutu's commissioned report last September did not mention it ...
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The Burmese people deserve our support
Desmond M. Tutu and Amartya Sen
International Herald Tribune
22 December 2006
Myanmar is the best example of what can go wrong when authoritarian
leaders spearhead economic development. For decades, a brutal military
junta has created a modern-day national nightmare, locking up more than
1,100 political prisoners, virtually destroying the country's education
system, crushing any independent media, and carrying out a brutal pogrom
against ethnic groups in which more than 3,000 of their villages have been
destroyed. Not only are villages wiped out, but these areas are mined to
prevent anyone from returning.
The Burmese people have firmly rejected authoritarian rule in their
country at every possible opportunity. In their last election, the
National League for Democracy, or NLD, the political party of Aung San Suu
Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, won 82
percent of the seats in Parliament. In the face of this overwhelming vote
for change, the military annulled the results.
In 2003, during one of the brief times when she was not under arrest, Suu
Kyi toured the country and spoke of freedom and democracy to huge crowds.
The regime, feeling threatened, unleashed their thugs. In what has become
known as the May 30th massacre, more than 100 NLD members were murdered
and scores of others were brutally beaten.
Over the past 15 years, the United Nations has been ineffective in dealing
with Myanmar's regime despite its efforts. The UN General Assembly has
passed 16 consecutive resolutions calling for change in Myanmar; all have
been ignored by the regime. The UN Commission on Human Rights passed 13
consecutive resolutions, similarly ignored.
In order to engage with the regime, the Commission on Human Rights
appointed four representatives to Myanmar. Each has made many trips to
meet with the regime. The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, appointed two
special envoys to negotiate political change in Myanmar, who have made
repeated visits to the country only to be dismissed by the junta.
The slew of diplomats has been expertly managed by the regime. They used
the meetings to curry international favor for "engaging" with the UN while
tightening their grip on power and refusing to make any real concessions.
The latest UN envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, Annan's political chief, was given
the same treatment when he recently traveled to Myanmar. Like previous UN
envoys, he came away empty handed. Indeed, at the very time he was meeting
with Myanmar's generals, the military was engaged in fresh attacks against
ethnic minorities and sentenced two NLD supporters to 14 years in prison.
Just weeks after Gambari's departure, the International Committee of the
Red Cross's Myanmar operations remain severely restricted; the
International Labor Organization referred Myanmar to the UN Security
Council and the International Criminal Court for malfeasance in respect to
forced labor matters.
The twin failures of authoritarian-led development and traditional
diplomacy over the past 16 years must be acknowledged before progress can
be made. Myanmar has not only failed to develop, it is in the grip of a
gigantic humanitarian crisis, because of its governance.
Myanmar has at last been put on the permanent agenda of the Security
Council. This has to be followed up. The council has previously acted in
situations less severe than Myanmar's.
The junta is wreaking havoc not only within Myanmar but throughout the
region, by causing massive refugee flows, by acquiescing to the trade in
methamphetamines and heroin that is spilling across neighbors' borders,
and by its pernicious (some would say deliberate) lack of attention to
dealing with the AIDS crisis that has made Myanmar ground zero for new,
resistant strains of this horrible disease. These threats were outlined in
a report presented to the Security Council in September of last year.
Now that Myanmar is on the council's agenda, we urge the passage of a
nonpunitive resolution that will serve as a baseline for freeing political
prisoners, ceasing attacks against Myanmar's ethnic minorities, and
promoting a political dialogue that will lead to the peace and freedom the
overwhelming majority of the Burmese people have demanded. The Burmese
people deserve our unequivocal support and effective action, which has
been postponed far too long.
