The European Parliament today overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning the Burmese authorities in the wake of cyclone Nargis.
With UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon visiting Burma and the UN and Asean (of which Burma is a member) due to meet for a donor conference on Sunday, the European Parliament today condemned the Burmese authorities with a unified voice for blocking international aid to the 2.4 million Burmese who are at great risk in the wake of cyclone Nargis.
Jean Lambert, the Green Party MEP for London, commented:
"The European Parliament’s unequivocal condemnation of the Burmese military junta reflects the scale of the catastrophe on the ground. It is Burma’s duty to protect the people on its territory. The international community must not tolerate the Burmese authorities’ indifference as they allow their people to suffer within arm’s reach of humanitarian aid.
"It is incomprehensible and unacceptable that state sovereignty can be given as a reason to allow the proliferation of deaths. My colleagues and I will not accept such reasoning and we call on the UN Security Council to act, in particular to explore the possibility of tasking the International Criminal Court prosecutor to examine the Burmese authorities’ responsibility for crimes against its own people."
524 votes were cast in favour of the resolution in the European Parliament with 3 against and 13 abstentions.