mr president as members have very clearly underlined serious human rights violations are continuing in burma
the military government has not responded to international calls to stop those human rights infringements and it has not released political prisoners including aung san suu kyi
pressure has increased on the rohingya minority to force them to leave the country and the deterioration of socioeconomic conditions continues
an estimated eighty of the population live in rural areas and severe problems in agriculture and food production are developing
the eu has several times issued declarations condemning violations of human rights
the eu has also tightened sanctions and in parallel we have pressed the neighbours of burma myanmar asean china india to use diplomatic pressure too and some of the neighbours are doing this
in addition the eu has strongly supported the united nations efforts
these measures have created difficulties for the military government but they have failed to make it change its behaviour
now the military government has promised elections in twenty ten as a step towards its gradual exit from power
we can only judge these elections when the electoral law is published and when we see if clear and fair arrangements are in place for the ballot
in the meantime the eu is willing to engage with the present government to persuade it to use the opportunity of the elections in order to change the situation and to start a positive phase in the history of burma
by saying this i make it very clear that the eu does not want to isolate burma
we are in fact the biggest donors of humanitarian and related assistance to that country
the bulk of our assistance goes to the countryside particularly to the delta which is still recovering from cyclone nargis
assistance also goes to the refugee camps along the thai border
we should also know that the report of the united nations special rapporteur speaks a very clear language
we back the special united nations rapporteur and are ready to help him
but we also know that direct activities on human rights in burma are hardly possible
for instance the eu will not be invited to observe the elections so we have to utilise indirect measures
therefore human rights are built into all our assistance programmes
in order to promote our values human rights development dialogue we need to have a very clear message
today the united parliament had this very clear message and i am sure it will be heard
i am also sure that we should not outsource our task of reminding myanmar of its obligations to neighbouring countries
we have to remain committed ourselves
we have to engage directly on our human rights agenda with the authorities and we will continue to do so
