The Nation publishes several Op-Eds by lawyers, calling for criminal accountability in the SPDC regime.

The first Op-Ed in this collection is one co-authored by Janet Benshoof, founder and president of GJC, and U Aung Htoo, of Burma Lawyers, titled "The Burma Lawyers Council and the Global Justice Center urge the United Nations Security Council to take all actions necessary to stop the murders of innocent people in Burma and hold the military junta commanders criminally accountable".

There are six other Op-Eds included as well.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—September 27, 2007

[MAE SOD, THAILAND] The Burma Lawyers’ Council and the Global Justice Center urge the United Nations Security Council to take all actions necessary to stop the murders of innocent people in Burma and hold the military junta commanders criminally accountable. This includes authorizing peacekeeping forces and creating an independent commission of inquiry to investigate on-going crimes. Violence is a tool of the military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to retain control over the people of Burma who are prisoners, not citizens. The latest massacre in Burma must be the last, no more impunity for criminal actions such as the massacre of student protestors in 1988 and of supporters of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Sui Kyi in 2003 in Depayin. It is the obligation of the international community to stop the junta from using murder, torture, and rape as tools to maintain power. The Security Council has an obligation to act under its Chapter VII mandate to maintain international peace and security as well as UNSCR 1674 on the Responsibility to Protect, UNSCR1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and the Genocide Convention.

Wome'n International League on for Peace and Freedom publishes its 93rd issue titled "Focus on Burma," which features analysis by Janet Benshoof, President of the Global Justice Center. 

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As many of you may have noticed, Burma has made its way to the international news media as a result of ongoing protests inside the country over the past few weeks. These protests, many of which have been initiated by the 1988 Generation Student Group, have resulted in arrests by the military regime for allegedly undermining the stability and security of the country. The recent protests are the most significant since the 1988 uprising and the military regime continues to respond with brutality and a complete disregard for human life, as it has done for the past 20 years. The Global Justice Center is pleased with the news coverage about these protests and other attention recently focused on Burma, and we are working to take this opportunity to also raise awareness about the ongoing heinous crimes committed by the criminal regime.

The Burmese junta is the longest running military dictatorship in the world. For the first time since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the International Red Cross departed from its customary neutrality and released a report detailing the gross level of abuse in Burma and the impossibility of working with the regime. As the 2008 Olympics approaches, many have called on China to withdraw its investments from Sudan. As a result of this joint effort, China responded by sending a diplomatic envoy to Sudan leading to Al-Bashirs agreement to allow U.N. Peacekeeping forces to enter Darfur. Similarly, at the beginning of August, a group of U.S. Representatives introduced House Resolution 610 calling for the United States to take immediate steps to boycott the Beijing Olympic games "unless the Chinese regime stops engaging in serious human rights abuses against its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights abuses by the Governments of Sudan, Burma, and North Korea against their citizens." The current efforts by the global community strongly indicate that it is time that we demand accountability for the crimes committed by the military regime in Burma.

Photo: Robert Coles / CC BY 2.0

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