On May 15th member of Parliament Désirée Bonis (PvdA) will ask the Dutch Foreign Secretary Mr. Timmermans, about the ongoing violations of human rights in Burma. Mrs. Bonis will raise this issue following an email from Human Rights Media.
Lifting sanctions
In this email I have asked about the early lifting of the EU sanctions against Burma, earlier this week. The lifting of these sanctions is a decission taken bij all Foreign Secretaries of the EU member countries, amongst others Mr. Timmermans.
Human Rights priority
With lifting the sanctions, the EU shows to be content with the current process of democratisation in Burma. Only one week earlier, Mr. Timmermans pointed out at a meeting at the University of Maastricht, that human rights have priority in the Dutch policy on Foreign Affairs.
Recent violence
In my email I asked therefore, whether human rights truly have priority in the Dutch Foreign policy. Unfortunately, there is a daily stream of news on human rights violations in Burma, eventhough the democratisation process is ongoing. Currently the situations of the muslims in Burma, and of the Rohingya in particular, are truly worrying. The recent violence comes from an era of military oppression and poverty, whilst the government has put different ethnic groups up against eachother for decennia. Now, the government passively watches while these groups fight each other. It is a painful reality in Burma now.
Mrs. Bonis gave me an answer to my email, right the same afternoon. She will bring the human rights violations in Burma under the attention Foreign Secretary Mr. Timmermans. I am very happy to hear this. Of course I am looking forward to hear the outcome of this meeting.
For more information on the situation of muslims in Burma, this BBC video (only 3 minutes) says it all: