Write to Catherine Ashton vice-president and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy.
email: COMM-SPP-HRVP-ASHTON@ec.europa.eu
tweet: @eu_eeas
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Tell her it is not acceptable that the EU is strengthening ties and dropping sanctions with a country whose government is ethnically cleansing part of its population.
The Rohingya Muslims have been living in Bangladesh for hundreds of years. Their citizenship was removed in 1982. They are denied many human rights including the right to get married. Thousands of their homes have recently been destroyed by fire. Hundreds have been killed by police instigated violence and thousands are now homeless, in hiding, in desperate need of food and medical assistance.
Please draw attention to the following:
Genocide Alert Level 7 (extermination) issued by Genocide Watch
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
World Food Program
Channel Four
The Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein made his policy on ethnic cleansing clear, when he told the UN:
'We will take responsibility for our ethnic people, but it is impossible to accept the illegally entered Rohingyas, who are not our ethnicity,'
'We will send them away if any third country would accept them,” Thein Sein said. “This is what we are thinking is the solution to the issue.'Background Info on EU Position
An article published by the Anadolu Agency on 22nd July states that the EU 'is making diplomatic initiatives so the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar ends', but we could find no such evidence of this elsewhere or on the EU website.
These are all the recent statements from Catherine Ashton's office regarding Myanmar:
17th April 2012 - Catherine Ashton EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Speech on Myanmar European Parliament Strasbourg
'We will encourage European companies to look for opportunities in Burma.'27th April 2012 - Catherine Ashton visits Burma/Myanmar to open a new chapter in the relationship
'The European Union welcomes the remarkable changes in Burma/Myanmar and has decided to open a new chapter in our relations. We have suspended the sanctions with the exception of the arms embargo.'28th April 2012 - HR/VP Catherine Ashton opens the EU office in Burma/Myanmar
'I hope you will see our office as a symbol of the European Union, its 27 Member States, its institutions that demonstrate the commitment of the EU to this country and to the political process that is now underway.'14th May 2012 - Meeting between President Barroso and U Shwe Mann, Speaker of Lower House of the Parliament of Myanmar
'in line with the recent decisions to suspend the restrictive measures, the new package of €150 million in development assistance for 2012/2013 and the opening of a diplomatic presence in Myanmar.'
13th June - Statement by the spokesperson of High Representative Catherine Ashton on the crisis in Northern Rakhine State in Myanmar
'We welcome the priority which the Myanmar Government is giving to dealing with all ethnic conflicts. We very much welcome the measured response reflected in the President's statement.'15th June - Joint statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht on Burma-Myanmar
'We welcome the decision by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to suspend their resolution against Myanmar/Burma condemning labour practices in the country'
