Burma: EU Common Position (Hansard, 22 April 1999)

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, EU Foreign Ministers will discuss renewal of the EU Common Position at the General Affairs Council on 26th April. The Common Position was strengthened 1228 when it was last renewed, in October 1998. We have regular contacts with EU partners about possible changes to the Common Position but there has been no recent consensus on further measures.

§ The Earl of Sandwich
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that refreshingly honest reply. Will she join me in paying tribute to Aung San Siu Kyi, the legitimate Burmese leader, who has shown remarkable and exceptional courage in the past few months, especially following her bereavement? Will the Minister also join Aung San Siu Kyi in saying that the position in Burma has deteriorated continually in the past few months: 120 members of parliament are in detention. Will she agree also with Aung San Siu Kyi that concrete measures and more urgent attention should be given to that by both the European Union and the United Nations?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, I agree with the noble Earl. There has been no improvement in the political or human rights situation in Burma. The SPDC continues to detain democracy activists and to force them to resign from their political parties. In January about 200 students and about 50 LLD youth members were sentenced to up to 52 years. Ethnic minorities continue to cross into Thailand. There are now about 115,000 people in the refugee camps. I am sure that the whole House will agree with what the noble Earl said about Aung San Siu Kyi's courage and would wish to send her our great sympathy on the death of Michael Aris. I am sure we all agree that both she and Michael Aris were quite extraordinarily brave in the stand that they took.
I am happy to say that our ambassador has been in close touch with Aung San Siu Kyi in recent months over the tragic humanitarian case of Dr. Aris. At one point, he was seeing her almost every day.

§ Lord Eden of Winton
My Lords, since there has been no sign of any change of heart on the part of the Burmese regime, and since the people of that country continue to suffer under repression, might it not just be possible that a change of policy would yield better results and that some form of dialogue and international contact with the regime would lead to a more favourable solution, rather than a continuing policy of sanction and ostracism?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, we must bear in mind what the elected leader of Burma, Aung San Siu Kyi, urges upon other countries which favour democracy. The course of action suggested by the noble Lord to your Lordships is not the course of action chosen by the elected leader of that country.
With our partners we are working hard on a draft resolution on Burma for adoption at the session of the UN Convention on Human Rights. We are taking a number of different actions, such as supporting, as I have indicated, the EU Common Position and looking 1229 at ways of tackling the issue through the ILO. However, it behoves us to listen to what is said to us about the position in Burma by its elected leader.

§ Lord Marsh
My Lords, does the Minister agree that countries in the region that hold no brief for the military rulers in Burma, are extremely sensitive about interventions by former colonial powers, and that ASEAN has a much greater opportunity of producing some sort of bridge? Does she also agree that while no one argues against the bravery of Aung San Siu Kyi, many of her former supporters believe that she is a stumbling block to any sort of dialogue?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, while I am sure that we all wish to see eventually the same outcome on the ground in Burma, we hold rather different views on how that will best be achieved. We firmly believe that any Burmese representation to international bodies—the noble Lord mentioned ASEAN—should not breach the spirit of the EU Common Position. We believe that the Burmese Foreign Minister should not be granted a visa to attend the ASEAN meeting. We take a very different view from the one articulated by the noble Lord.

§ Baroness Williams of Crosby
My Lords, does the Minister realise that many of us do not accept the views expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Marsh, and believe that the democratic forces in Burma, which have reasserted themselves over many years and won a clear election victory, should be supported? In the light of her last reply, will the Minister consider working closely with the new committee for the representation of the people's parliament which has the support of a clear majority of the elected members, including many who are now in detention, and encourage, for example, the International Parliamentary Association and others to work with that committee to represent our support for democracy and the democratic forces in Burma?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her support of the Government's position on this. Earlier I mentioned the work we are undertaking with our partners on a UN Commission on Human Rights draft resolution. We hope to ensure that such a draft resolution includes a reference to the committee representing the people's parliament. We hope that will be a positive step which will give proper encouragement to those who support democracy within Burma.
To the noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Marsh, I would say that in many ways our policy is working. We have seen, for example, our policy on trade working. During 1998 UK exports to Burma decreased by about 18 per cent. compared with 1997. The action we are taking together with our EU partners is having some effect, we believe, on the Burmese economy.

§ Lord Pearson of Rannoch
My Lords, the Minister has said that she would like the UK to strengthen the EU's Common Position on this matter. Can she say by 1230 what mechanism that would be achieved in the working group concerned? Would it be by some form of Euro majority, or by unanimity?

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
My Lords, we shall be looking at all sorts of ways to try to strengthen the position, depending on the particular action that might be agreed. Sadly, as I said in my original Answer to my noble friend, at the moment there is no consensus. Were there to be a consensus, of course, the way in which it would be achieved would be a question of what the subject of that consensus was.