“Why is Canada turning a blind eye to the ethnic cleansing currently underway in Burma?  Is this yet another example of the Harper Conservative’s new foreign policy to downplay human rights violations in order to enhance  potential trade and mining investments?” asked Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

“There are an estimated 75,000 refugees from the Kachin and Shan states. With these regions in turmoil and little visible progress in the Karen region, what are the chances for real democracy?” she asked.  In addition, the bordering regions of the Kachin state are suffering increased environmental degradation as companies illegally step up mining activities.  

On the positive side, more than 6,000 prisoners have been released this year and the decision to suspend the construction of the Myitsone dam in Kachin state is to be commended. Also, a U.S. envoy noted that there has been progress in many ethnic minority areas over the last several months and weeks, with a series of peace deals between the government and some guerrilla groups.

However, individuals caught in the cross-fire between government and rebel troops in the Shan and Kachin region have been tortured and killed. They are being forced to flee for their lives and are now hiding in conditions of terrible deprivation in the jungle.  To make matters worse, Burmese authorities have denied them access to international humanitarian aid. The plight of the Kachin is worse than it has been in two decades.  It appears that President Sein’s government is not only failing to protect their rights, but is actively violating them.

The European Union has been criticized for tabling a draft of this year’s UN General Assembly Resolution on Burma which fails to take any action to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country.

The Green Party urges Canada, both directly and through the United Nations, to press for an immediate end to hostilities and to allow UN and other officials to help the wounded and displaced. In addition, an international mechanism should be created to investigate human rights abuses and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights should be allowed to monitor progress.

Looking towards the future, on March 5, Karen People Worldwide called for genuine peace and a Federal Union of Burma.

Joe Foster, Human Rights Critic for the Green Party, stated, “We commend the Karen community for their positive attitude in  spite of the extensive suffering they have experienced at the hand of the Burmese armed forces. There can be no real progress, either socially or economically, until the Government of Burma reigns in its armed forces and guarantees the protection of the human rights of all ethnic Burmese people.”

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker,

And thank you to those who have just spoken to the spirit and inspiration or an extraordinary human being. I was particularly moved by the words of my friend, the Hon. Member from Toronto Centre.  Václav Havel’s life was of the order of Nelson Mandela, or Aung San Suu Kyi.  His genius as a playwright and poet put him also in the company of Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was murdered by the Abacha regime in Nigeria. Totalitarian regimes dislike the free speech of satirists and poets.

It was a nearly miraculous change of fate that both Mandela and Havel overthrew the oppression of earlier governments to become presidents.

It is the nature of a poet, a creative genius like Havel, to refuse to accept the world as he found it.  An unlikely politician, Havel never lost sight of his complex humanity.

I wish to share his own words with you and ask that we seek to emulate them.

“Let us teach ourselves that politics can not just be the art of the possible, especially if that means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals and pragmatic manoeuvering, but that it can even be the art of the impossible, namely the art of improving ourselves and the world.”

Let light perpetual shine upon him and let us live inspired by his example.

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