[Greens-Media] Greens call on government to urge UN Security Council consideration of Burmese situation

[Edwards, Jon (Sen K. Nettle)]

08.08.05

Greens call on government to urge UN Security Council consideration of
Burmese situation

On the 17th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising in Burma
Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has called for the Australian
government to urge UN Security Council consideration of the plight of
the Burmese people.

"The World Food Programme has found last week that the Burmese regimes
actions are starving its own people. The Australian government must
recognise the urgency of the plight of the Burmese peoples and urge the
UN Security Council to address the issue," Senator Nettle said. 

"A UN report this weekend has identified dangerous levels of hunger in
Burma where one in three children under five ''chronically
malnourished,'' with that figure rising to two in three in the border
regions and has laid the blame for these appalling statistics at the
door of the Burmese military junta.

"The Greens call on Alexander Downer to make a statement to parliament
this week in response to the report from the World Food Programme on the
Burmese situation, and detail the steps the government will take to
help.

Mr James Morris, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP),
has just completed a tour of Burma and reported that 'The humanitarian
situation is serious, and it's getting worse,". Mr Morris is the most
senior UN official to visit Burma since pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi was place under house arrest in May 2003.

Contact - Jon Edwards 0428 213 146