Rights & Democracy Applauds Canada’s Sanctions Against Burma and Calls for Tangible Support to Burma's Legitimate Authorities

Rights & Democracy applauds today’s announcement by Maxime Bernier, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, of a series of sanctions against the military regime in Burma.

Mr. Bernier said Canada will ban all exports and imports as well as new investments. It will freeze assets in Canada of Burmese nationals connected with Burma’s military regime, and prohibit the provision of Canadian financial services. Burmese ships and aircrafts will not be allowed to enter Canada, and Canadian-registered ships and aircrafts will not be allowed to dock or land in Burma.

“Today, the Canadian Government took a major step towards the implementation of Parliament’s May 2005 Burma Motion,” said interim president Janice Stein. "By imposing sanctions, the government is not only putting pressure on the military regime, it is also sending a strong message of solidarity to thousands of Buddhist monks and citizens from Burma who have courageously taken to the streets asking for democratic rule." Among them are two of our John Humphrey Freedom Award winners, Min Ko Naing and Su Su Nway, who took part in the very first demonstrations in August 2007, and are both currently under detention.

For over 17 years, Rights & Democracy has been calling for Canadian sanctions against Burma along with its coalition partners in Canada. The goal of the sanctions is to pressure the military junta to engage in a meaningful tripartite dialogue with the National League for Democracy, and Burma’s ethnic leaders as stated in 28 resolutions of the United Nations.

Rights & Democracy calls upon the Canadian government to continue its actions to support democracy and human rights in Burma by implementing other parts of the 2005 Burma Motion, including "tangible support to the legitimate authorities in Burma, specifically the government in exile (the National Coalition Government for the Union of Burma), the Members of Parliament Union (MPU), and the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP), or other democratic institutions such as the only independent radio and television media institution, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)".

Rights & Democracy is a non-partisan, independent Canadian institution created by an Act of Parliament in 1988 to promote democratic development and to advocate for and defend human rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights. In cooperation with civil society and governments in Canada and abroad, Rights & Democracy initiates and supports programmes to strengthen laws and democratic institutions, principally in developing countries.