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ICG Burma report blasted by Global Justice Center
Irrawaddy - September 29, 2011
In an open letter released on Sept. 20, the Global Justice Center called on the ICG to stop supporting unconditional engagement with Burma's military rulers.
"This policy, encouraging 'the West to robustly engage the new Burmese government at the highest levels,' ignores both 'on the ground facts' and peremptory norms of international law," the letter read. (See: http://www.globaljusticecenter.net/news-events/news/2011/ICGLetter.pdf)
The ICG fails to acknowledge that "the new Burmese government" is illegal because it is based on a constitution mandating a bifurcated sovereignty, a fundamental breach of the law of nations, said the letter.
The ICG report was released on Sept. 22 and calls on the outside world to actively support efforts by Burma's President Thein Sein to implement political and economic reforms. The report says that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank must support Burma's tentative reforms, adding that failure to do so would be to "the lasting detriment" of the Burmese people.
In its 21-page report, the ICG said that recent positive developments have emerged in Burma, including a meeting between President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which could be the beginning of historical change in the country.
The Global Justice Center also called on the Board of the ICG to revisit and change its policy on Burma.
In its letter to the ICG, the Global Justice Center said that Burma's new Constitution guarantees the military impunity from prosecution, encouraging the military's continuing crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
In addition, the sham election held in November 2010 has escalated the risk Burma poses to global peace and security to an all-time high, as armed conflicts broke out between government troops and ethnic armed groups in the wake of the election, according to the letter.
Burma's civil war continues and is marked by heinous crimes of genocide by the military against the Kachin, Karen, Shan and other ethnic groups. The military's war crimes, in particular the use of child soldiers and rape as a weapon of war, remain unabated, in spite of the UN Security Council's denouncement thereof, said the Global Justice Center.
The letter stated that the post-election landscape in Burma is one of escalated military crimes, including genocide and war crimes, which present a threat to peace and security.
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