HC Deb 17 October 1991 vol 196 c203W
Mr. Foulkes

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the award to Aung San Suu Kyi of the Nobel peace prize; and what further actions Her Majesty's Government intend to take to put pressure on the government of Burma to hand over power to the democratically elected government of the National League for Democracy.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

We warmly welcome the award of the Nobel peace prize to Aung San Suu Kyi. The award is a fitting tribute to her commitment to the cause of democracy and civil liberty in Burma, and a reminder to the world community that the Burmese people's struggle for political and human rights continues.

We have repeatedly called on the military authorities to hand over power to democratically elected representatives of the Burmese people. In joint actions with our EC partners, we have suspended all non-humanitarian aid and placed an embargo on all defence sales to Burma. We will continue to do everything possible to encourage peaceful democratic change in Burma, in the first instance by working for a resolution on Burma at the present session of the UN General Assembly in New York.