European MPs Welcome Estonia Support for Burma Crimes Inquiry

Media Release of the European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma

The European Parliamentary Caucus on Burma (EPCB) today welcomed a statement of support by Estonia, for a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma.

In reply to Mr. Silver Meikar, the member of EPCB executive committee and member of Estonian Parliament, asking it to support a UN Commission of Inquiry on Burma, Estonia became another country to publicly support a UN Inquiry.

In his reply, Mr. Jaanus Varu, the Advisor to the Bureau of Asia, Australia and Oceania of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “As a reply to your request for information on the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the proposal of the UN special rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana, I would like to inform you that after a thorough analysis and deliberations it has been decided to support the idea presented in the March 2010 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana to the UN Human Rights Council to found on international committee of inquiry in the appropriate body of the UN on the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Burma/Myanmar.”

In Burma, the military junta is committing widespread and systematic crimes with impunity. The crimes include the destruction of more than 3,500 villages in Eastern Burma, the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war against ethnic minorities, the forced displacement of over 1 million refugees and internally displaced people, the recruitment of tens of thousands of child soldiers, and the widespread use of forced labour in the country. The UN Commission of Inquiry, which will allow the investigation of these crimes, can be a crucial and effective step that the international community must support.

Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, UK and USA have also expressed their support for an Inquiry.

For more information please contact Kristina Prunerova, People in Need +420 777 787 917.

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