FREEDOM TO DEMOCRACY IN BURMA
A tentative move by the United States to have a new UN Security Council presidential statement on the Burmese constitutional referendum was met with opposition by the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, on Monday.
Churkin made his remarks on his last day as president of the Security Council, which rotates each month among its 15 members. South Africa takes over the presidency for the month of April starting on Tuesday.
Churkin made his remarks on his last day as president of the Security Council, which rotates each month among its 15 members. South Africa takes over the presidency for the month of April starting on Tuesday.
The Russian ambassador indicated that his country, which has the power of veto in the Security Council, would oppose any proposal to issue a new presidential statement in regard to the referendum on a draft constitution in Burma in May.
The Burmese draft constitution is loaded heavily in favor of the military junta, say critics. It would prevent Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy opposition group, from running in the election and does not include safeguards for democracy and ethnic groups.
Referring to the UN Security Council meeting on Burma last month, which was addressed by the UN Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, the Russian ambassador said: “In the course of the consultation, one delegation said that maybe we should have another presidential statement.”
The statement was made by the US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad.
“In fact, the way it was described by the authors of that idea was that the presidential statement should be focused very heavily on the way the referendum is going to be conducted in Myanmar [Burma]: listing some criteria for the success or openness or the democratic nature of that referendum,” Churkin said.
“Responding off the top of my head, I said to the members of the Council that the way I heard this idea, to me it is somewhat improper for the Security Council to go into describing modalities for a referendum or an election because we are not an election board,” he said.
“We are the Security Council; we are dealing with issues of threats to international peace and security,” he said.
Noting that there are other institutions within the UN that can provide recommendations or set criteria for elections, Churkin said: “To involve the Security Council in this kind of exercise, to me, did not sound like something which is justified; not because of the Myanmar situation but as a general proposition of the role of the Security Council and prerogative of the Security Council.”
Churkin noted that there has been no proposal for a presidential statement so far.
“If they were to propose something, we would be looking into it, but I would like to remind you that we do have a Presidential Statement on the Security Council on Myanmar (October 2007), and Gambari’s mandate derives from the General Assembly. So we have to keep those two things in mind when we look at things that could be done by the Security Council,” he said.
The Burmese draft constitution is loaded heavily in favor of the military junta, say critics. It would prevent Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy opposition group, from running in the election and does not include safeguards for democracy and ethnic groups.
Referring to the UN Security Council meeting on Burma last month, which was addressed by the UN Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, the Russian ambassador said: “In the course of the consultation, one delegation said that maybe we should have another presidential statement.”
The statement was made by the US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad.
“In fact, the way it was described by the authors of that idea was that the presidential statement should be focused very heavily on the way the referendum is going to be conducted in Myanmar [Burma]: listing some criteria for the success or openness or the democratic nature of that referendum,” Churkin said.
“Responding off the top of my head, I said to the members of the Council that the way I heard this idea, to me it is somewhat improper for the Security Council to go into describing modalities for a referendum or an election because we are not an election board,” he said.
“We are the Security Council; we are dealing with issues of threats to international peace and security,” he said.
Noting that there are other institutions within the UN that can provide recommendations or set criteria for elections, Churkin said: “To involve the Security Council in this kind of exercise, to me, did not sound like something which is justified; not because of the Myanmar situation but as a general proposition of the role of the Security Council and prerogative of the Security Council.”
Churkin noted that there has been no proposal for a presidential statement so far.
“If they were to propose something, we would be looking into it, but I would like to remind you that we do have a Presidential Statement on the Security Council on Myanmar (October 2007), and Gambari’s mandate derives from the General Assembly. So we have to keep those two things in mind when we look at things that could be done by the Security Council,” he said.
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