The United Nations Opportunity in Burma
UN can boost stature through alignment with nonviolent democrats
August 15

The neglected nation of Burma provides both a test and an opportunity for the UN, says an August 9th editorial in The Washington Post. While it may seem that diplomats already have their hands full, the author argues that this is exactly why the Security Council should take action in Burma. By addressing Burma now, the UN gets a chance to show that it can address problems and prevent them from erupting into full-blown crises, the article says.

Additionally, the author maintains, Burma’s problems are not quite as intractable as they appear. The National League for Democracy, which received significant popular support in a free election in 1990, offers a viable alternative to the current military junta. And despite multiple cases of imprisonment of NLD leaders, Burma’s democrats are only asking for a dialogue about transition to democracy and that little more attention be paid to human rights. The author points out that whereas the UN recently promised to not allow sovereignty to prevent it from standing up for human rights, the Security Council ought to adopt a resolution “calling for her freedom and the release of all political prisoners; for a process of national reconciliation with the democrats at the table; for U.N. and other international aid to flow directly to Burma's most vulnerable people, not through the corrupt bureaucracy; and for Mr. Annan to report back regularly on progress made on all these points.”

By doing so, the author believes, the UN would both raise its own status, and alleviate problems in one of the world’s overlooked regions.