As Aung San Suu Kyi stares at the walls of her cell in Insein Jail, she must be feeling she is caught in a nightmare where history repeats itself over and over again. It could just as easily be 2003 as 2009. She is back in Insein Jail, isolated from political colleagues, family and friends, and facing five more years of detention. And just like 2003, there is international outrage at her detention, but no practical action to secure her release.
Perhaps there is one small sign of progress. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said he is “gravely concerned”. In 2003 Kofi Annan was only “concerned”. Neither have done anything effective to help free my country and my people.
Fine words from world leaders have rarely been translated into effective action. Almost 15 years ago we started calling for targeted sanctions, but with the exception of the USA, and finally the EU last year, no-one listened. Instead of sanctions we saw billions of dollars of investment, and that money was spent on arms and luxury homes for the generals, not schools or hospitals.
We called for the United Nations to help. But they have taken such a soft line with the generals that after 39 visits by UN envoys in the past 20 years, the human rights and humanitarian situation in my country is worse, not better. The Security Council hasn’t even passed a non-binding resolution on Burma, let alone impose sanctions, not even an arms embargo.
We asked for more pressure to force the dictatorship to allow humanitarian access. But no action was taken, and the people of the Delta paid the price when Cyclone Nargis struck.
The record of the international community on Burma is one of failure. Fine words but little action. In the meantime 2,156 political prisoners are in jail, military attacks against ethnic civilians in Eastern Burma continue, poverty and suffering increases.
I know that some world leaders genuinely care about what is happening in my country. I have met Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and I could see that he wants to help. Meeting him gave me real hope for the future. The British government has taken the lead in Europe pushing for increased pressure, but much more still needs to be done.
Britain must once again mobilise European countries to take action. The European Union must use all its influence to ensure the UN and ASEAN send envoys to Burma, demanding the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma. They must back those envoys with the threat of increased pressure, economic and political, if the envoys are ignored. But they must also make maximum use of existing sanctions, offering to relax them in return for genuine reforms, such as the release of all political prisoners, and an end to attacks on ethnic civilians in Eastern Burma.
Britain must also use its position at the United Nations Security Council to push for formal discussions on the current crisis, as the dictatorship is defying the Council, which called for Aung San Suu Kyi to be released.
And Britain must also use its position in UN bodies to push for a Commission of Inquiry into the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the Burmese Army in Eastern Burma.
There is no magic bullet that will bring freedom to my country, but there are many things that could be done to contribute to bringing our freedom closer. As Aung San Suu Kyi spends her 13th year and 203rd day in detention, Gordon Brown and other world leader must ask themselves, ‘am I doing everything I can’? The answer, sadly, is no.