Free ASSK! Global Campaign
Letters
A
Birthday t o Remember - Message
from Prime Minister Dr Sein Win (NCGUB)
Nancy
Pelosi, U.S.A. Congress Women, Democratic Leader - Support
Letter
Nobel
Peace Laureate Open Letter on the Occasion of Aung San Suu Kyi's
60th Birthday
We wish to use this opportunity, on the occasion of Aung San
Suu Kyi's 60th birthday, to reaffirm our solidarity with the
people of Burma and their legitimate struggle for democracy,
human rights and civilian rule.
Our sister Laureate has spent almost 15 years under
house arrest. Her determination and courage inspire us. We
offer to her our heartfelt congratulations on this auspicious
day.
Many of us have witnessed sweeping political
changes in our own countries. We know that change will come to Burma,
too. The illegal military junta that rules through force
and fear will yield to the power of justice. The people
of Burma will control their destiny again. But we also
know from experience that tyranny does not crumble by itself. Freedom
must be demanded and defended, by those who have been denied
it and by those who are already free.
Many people and nations around the world have
seen the suffering in Burma and looked for a way to help. The best
way to do so is to stand with the people of Burma, not with the
regime that is the cause of their suffering. We call upon
the international community to maintain pressure against Burma's
military junta. We applaud those countries that have imposed
sanctions to deny the regime the wealth it craves to sustain
itself. Such measures accord with the wishes of the
National League for Democracy and the ethnic nationalities, who
suffer egregious human rights abuses, including torture, arrest,
forced labor, force relocation, and rape. They remind Burma's
military leaders that they cannot reconcile with the world until
they reconcile with their own people.
With its extraordinary human and natural resources,
Burma will one day be a leader in its region. But that day
cannot come until Burma has a government that truly speaks
for its people. We encourage those countries in Southeast
Asia that have begun a campaign to deny Burma's military regime
leadership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
in 2006. Burma was admitted to ASEAN to lift its people
up, not to drag the organization down.
All should join in urging the Burmese government
to release, immediately and unconditionally, the nearly 1,500 political
prisoners it holds, to end its brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing
against the minority peoples of Burma, and to begin a transition
to genuine democracy. That is the only hope for Burma's future,
and the only outcome Burma's friends in the world should accept.
Dr. Wangari Maathai -
(2004)
Jody Williams - International Campaign
to Ban Landmines (1997)
Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo - (1996)
Prof. Joseph Rotblat - Pugwash
Conference Science and World Affairs (1995 )
Rigoberta Mench Tum - (1992)
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama - (1989)
Prof. Elie Wiesel -
(1986)
Bishop Desmond Tutu -(1984)
Adolfo PŽrez Esquivel -
(1980 )
Mairead Corrigan - (1976)
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