Free Aung San Suu Kyi

Dear Secretary General I am writing to you regarding your failure to take effective action to secure negotiations in Burma that will lead to national reconciliation and a transition to democracy. You have been mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to secure negotiations that would lead to a restoration of democracy in Burma. The UN Security Council, UN Human Rights Council, European Union, USA and Asian countries have all said the UN should work to facilitate negotiations between the dictatorship, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, and ethnic groups. In June 2010 The Elders also called for such UN led dialogue. However, no serious efforts are being made to secure such dialogue. Instead,the UN appears to have adopted a wait and see attitude towards the fake elections due later this year, even though it is clear these elections will not bring real change, and even as human rights abuses in Burma continue. I urge you to take the following steps to enact the mandate you have been given: Personally take the lead in UN efforts to secure negotiations. More than 40 visits by UN envoys have failed to secure a single concession from the dictatorship. The authority of the Secretary General himself is needed in this instance, as events after Cyclone Nargis demonstrated. To mobilise the international community to support you in efforts to secure dialogue. To ask the United Nations Security Council for a resolution giving you a stronger mandate to persuade Burma’s dictatorship to enter into dialogue. To ensure that unlike previous envoy-led efforts to secure dialogue, genuine ethnic representatives are included at every stage of the dialogue process. Yours sincerely