I've posted often on the situation in Burma. Child soldiers, sexual violence, burning of villages, kidnapping, political prisoners...a serious lack of human rights.
I recently found this website, Students for Burma. The site looks a little old, but I love the idea they have on their about having a day at your school where you get many people to wear red, in solidarity with the Burmese monks.
It looks like they have a lot of great reasources that could make this something that you could accomplish at your school. Although the big protests of the Saffron Revolution have ended, the reason for those protests have not. It is important to make Burma a very relevant and big issue in our world.
If you were looking to hold an event like the Red Day and would like help planning, I highly reccomend STAND as a reasource. They have great advice on how to publicize, how to energize and get people excited, and are really just there to help you make a difference!
Today, the verdict was announced from the sham trial of Aung San Suu Kyi. She was found guilty, and placed under house arrest for another 18 months. While that isn't much time compared to her 20 years she has already spent, her sentence also includes that should the regime find another problem, it will be extended.
Aung San Suu Kyi's story can be seen here:
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1. The UK and US are going to be head of the UN Security Council in September and October, consecutively. This is an opportunity for action.
2. Learn more about Aung San Suu Kyi , and tell her story to your family, your friends. Let them know what's happening in Burma, and why it's so important we take action.
4. PASS THIS INFORMATION ON! The more people who are aware, who can sign the petition, who can pressure our leaders, the more action that will happen! Forward the link to the petition to your friends, family, coworkers! Post it as your facebook status!
United Nations expert on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro stated:
“Serious human rights violations have been widespread and systematic, suggesting that they are not simply isolated acts of individual misconduct by middle- or low-ranking officers, but rather the result of a system under which individuals and groups have been allowed to break the law and violate human rights without being called to account.”
Thousands of child soldiers
Villages burned to the ground
2 million left without homes
The United States is set to become the head of the UN Security council in August, an opportunity to take action on these atrocities.
Shepard Fairey, the man who created the HOPE posters for Obama, has now created a new work of art, in support of Aung San Suu Kyi.
“This Human Rights cause is something I believe in strongly,” said Fairey. “I created this portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi to raise awareness of her on-going house arrest and the oppressive nature of the military regime ruling Burma.”
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
1) She is THE ONLY Nobel Peace Prize Recipient currently IMPRISONED, and has been under house arrest for 13 years
2) She is a leader for the rights of the people of Burma, a country with a regime that has destroyed over 3,300 ethnic minority villages, forced at least 1.5 million people to flee their homes, becoming refugees and internally displaced persons, recruited tens of thousands of child soldiers, and employ modern-day slave labor.
3) Her political party, the National League for Democracy, won 82% of the seats in parliament in Burma's last election, however, none of those people were allowed to take their seats. 2,100 political prisoners, including some of those members of parliament, still remain locked up today.
Please look at this new website has been created to heighten awareness of the cruel situation of Burma, and the role of Aung San Suu Kyi, found at http://freedomtolead.causecast.org/
Read, learn, and pass it on! Link the website as your status on facebook or myspace, send out an email, blog it! The more people who know about the situation, the more who can act!
I recently posted about the horrors and atrocities currently occuring in Burma. The militia have rectuited tens of thousands of child soldiers, destroyed over 3,300 villages, use rape as a weapon, and force hundreds of thousands of Burmese people into forced labor.
These refugees are fleeing Ler Per Her Camp.
This is a home that has been burned down by the army.
In the past, with situations such as Darfur, the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda, the United Nations Security Council has voted to create a "Comission of Inquiry", to investigate such abuses. This Comission then makes reccomendations to the UN Security Council for actions.
While no such Comission has yet been created for Burma, two members of Congress are now trying to change this.
Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Don Manzullo (R-IL) have organized a letter to President Obama asking that he pressure the UN Security Council to create a Comission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes comitted by Burma's military regime.
They are circulating this letter in Congress and asking other members of Congress to sign on. The more people who sign this letter, the more of an impact it will have.
1) Check if your Congress member has signed the letter at the bottom of this list HERE
2) If not, then go to THIS LINK and find your state on the list
3) Follow the steps shown, starting with finding your representative
[To find your representative, go to house.gov and type your zip code in the box in the upper left corner]
While sometimes calling government leaders might seem scary, it's the best way to create change. Just remember, they are representing YOU. What you say does and will make a difference to them.
