New Delhi (Mizzima) – In the wake of the announcement by the United States of its new Burma policy, Human Rights Watch on Monday urged Australia to review its policy towards the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation.
Australia currently has an arms embargo, targeted financial sanctions for selected military generals and their relatives. However, the HRW in its letter to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith urged Australia to effectively continue in its engagement approach – Diplomacy, Sanctions, and Aid.
“Australia already has a very good policy on Burma, but we are urging them to take an initiative on a multilateral level like in the United Nations and other international arena,” David Scott Mathieson, Burma researcher at the HRW, said.
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of the HRW in his letter said, in order to have effective and meaningful engagement with Burma, Australia must be principled and should not be used by the junta to buy time.
The HRW also urged Australia to appoint a special envoy to Burma, so as to be able to enhance dialogue with the Burmese generals as well as other regional and international stakeholders.
On sanctions, HRW said Australia needs to make it more effective by updating and enlarging the list of individuals targeted for financial sanctions.
“The current Australian sanctions, like the arms embargo is really good. But the targeted financial sanctions need to be updated and should be enlarged to include companies and business enterprises that are supporting the junta,” Mathieson said.
But the HRW said while sanctions are imposed on the military generals, Australia should increase its humanitarian aid to the Burmese people as they are facing a humanitarian crisis.
However, the HRW cautioned that as the Burmese military junta is making a lot of profit from the sale of the country’s natural resources, humanitarian assistance should not undermine the ability of the Burmese junta to contribute to the needs of the people.
“Donor discussions with the SPDC over the provision of humanitarian assistance should not come in the way of the government's ability to contribute substantially to such assistance,” Roth said referring to the Burmese junta with its official name of State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
To make matters simple and clear, the HRW said humanitarian assistance should not have any political agenda as the purpose of humanitarian aid is “to keep people alive and healthy”.
“No one should expect humanitarian aid itself to have a significant political effect in opening up the country or changing the government's policies,” the HRW said.
But donors should stress on the importance of transparency and accountability in delivering humanitarian aid, including the need for approaches that strengthen civil society that respond to the views and needs of ordinary people.
The HRW’s letter came days after the US announced its new policy on Burma. Under the new policy, the US said its fundamental objectives have not altered, but it will use a different tactic using both ‘engagement’ and ‘sanctions’.
The US said it will directly engage the Burmese regime while maintaining the existing sanctions with a provision to scale down or tighten it depending on the Burmese regime’s response to the US’s concerns.
