*EPF404 07/24/2003
Text: Pitts Says Thai Plan for Burma Would Leave Junta in Charge
(Pitts wants U.N. to address situation in Burma now) (320)

The United Nations Security Council should address the ongoing conflict in Burma immediately, according to a member of the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights.

"The international community must act now to help the people of Burma," Representative Joseph Pitts (Republican of Pennsylvania) said in remarks to the House of Representatives July 23.

Pitts also criticized a "road map for peace in Burma" proposed by Thailand that would leave the ruling military junta in power.

Pitts is the founder of the Religious Prisoners Congressional Task Force and a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Following is the text from the Congressional Record:

(begin text)

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST ACT NOW TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF BURMA

House of Representatives

July 23, 2003

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, our State Department should urge, as all of us should, the U.N. Security Council to immediately address the ongoing conflict in Burma. Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains disappeared, and the military junta will not disclose her whereabouts.

The so-called Burmese State Peace and Development Council, the SPDC, which is their name for the military junta, uses slave labor, child soldiers, and mass rape campaigns against the people, the exact opposite of bringing peace and development to Burma. Yet the SPDC is now lobbying surrounding governments to gain support for its rule.

The Prime Minister of Thailand has created a road map for peace in Burma, but the plan leaves the brutal dictatorship in power.

What will it take for the international community to act? How many political prisoners must be tortured and ethnic villagers brutally raped and then murdered? How long must somebody be held incommunicado before strong, decisive action against the SPDC is taken?

Mr. Speaker, the international community must act now to help the people of Burma.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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