Kinnock hits out as EU leaders mingle with military dictatorship

Press Release from Glenys Kinnock MEP/ASE
Labour, Wales - Llafur, Cymru

Glenys Kinnock today slammed the EU’s decision to allow Burma’s military regime to take part in this weekend’s Asia-Europe summit.

The MEP and Patron of the Burma Campaign UK, said the decision to allow the Burmese Foreign Minister to attend the ASEM meeting of European and Asian leaders was “shameful”.

She said: “The Burmese junta is responsible for the most heinous of crimes against humanity. By engaging with the generals in this way, the EU is lending credibility to one of the most brutal, oppressive and secretive regimes in the world.”

As current president of the European Union, Finland invited Burma to the ASEM meeting in Helsinki - despite EU sanctions barring the country’s leaders from European visas. It says it will use the meeting to put pressure on Burma’s military regime to change.

Glenys Kinnock said: “The Burmese regime must know it is internationally isolated as a result of its morally repugnant actions and policies. EU travel bans should be consistently enforced.

“But unfortunately, some EU countries are putting their trading interests ahead of their duty to promote international standards of human rights.”

She added: “If the EU is really serious when it says this meeting is designed to pressure for change, then we must see real and tangible results within a set timeframe.  If not, no further Burmese official must be allowed to visit the EU.”

ASEM brings together the European Union with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, China, Japan and South Korea.

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was elected leader of Burma after her National League for Democracy won a landslide election victory in 1990, but she has never been allowed to take office. Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest almost ever since and many of her supporters have been jailed or killed.

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