The United Nations and the Junta in Myanmar

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. Unfortunately, Einstein's definition of insanity fits the United Nations handling of the sad situation in Myanmar (Burma) for the last seventeen years.

Consider that since the overthrow of the legally elected government by Myanmar's military junta in 1991, the U.N. General Assembly and Human Rights Commission have passed a total of twenty nine separate Resolutions aimed at stopping the Junta's atrocities. For its part, Myanmar’s leadership has completely ignored every single United Nations Resolution.

In addition to all these United Nations Resolutions, there have been twelve calls during the last fifteen years by the United Nations Secretary General in an attempt to secure the release of imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, the legitimately elected leader of the country. Sadly, to this day, Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest by Myanmar's military junta.

In 2005, former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel and South Africa's retired Bishop Desmond M. Tutu, wrote a report on Myanmar for the United Nations Security Council. The 2005 Havel/Tutu report was a complete indictment of the most brutal military dictatorship in the world today. The report indicated that the military kidnaps male children at an early age and trains them in the use of weapons by age eleven. It is estimated that nearly 70,000 children have been forced to join the military in this manner. The country is also the world's leading producer of heroin and is heavily involved in drug trafficking.

In addition to the drugs and rampant child abuse, thousands of Myanmar villages have been systematically destroyed by the military Junta. Over 200,000 refugees have fled the country to escape the brutality of the regime. In Myanmar, there are no basic human rights, healthcare, education, political rights, or free speech. Atrocities are common with murder, rape, and forced labor common.

In addition, HIV aids is a major problem in the country as well. In effect, the military's corrupt ruling Junta has succeeded in making Myanmar one of the poorest countries in the world. The 2005 report also found that Myanmar met all the criteria necessary for United Nations Security Council intervention.

The truth is that the Havel/Tutu report was largely ignored by the United Nations because both Russia and China are significant arms suppliers to the Myanmar regime. Also, both of these United Nations Security Council members are actively seeking future investment opportunities with the Junta because of the country's large gas reserves.

Last year, Myanmar's military was attracting dubious international publicity for killing innocent monks. The monks were protesting the intolerable conditions in the country, even as construction of a palatial inland city for the Junta's leadership called Naypyitaw was well underway. The United Nations quickly responded to last year's tragic events in Myanmar by appointing a "special envoy", Ibrahim Gambarito, as a liaison to improve the situation. A series of meetings between Gambarito and the military Junta would not, in the words of the U.N. special envoy, produce any "tangible outcome".

Today, the sad story of the United Nations and Myanmar continues to get even worse. The wind and rain of Hurricane Nargis have recently devastated much of the country. More than 100,000 people are feared dead and millions more are starving and homeless. The International Community and the United Nations have tried to provide relief aid to the hurricane victims. However, the paranoid Myanmar Junta has refused to let most of the aid enter the country, fearful of a foreign military invasion.

The Junta's continued refusal to accept foreign aid led to the recent meeting between Myanmar Senior General Than Shwe and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at General Shwe's newly constructed palace compound in Naypyitaw. Shortly after the meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left Myanmar praising General Shwe's "flexibility."

It was certainly ironic that only several hours after meeting with the United Nations Secretary General , Than Shwe's government announced that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be held for yet another year under house arrest. At least the U.N. Secretary General will not have to make that historically futile telephone call to try and secure her release for the next twelve months.

Then, a government controlled newspaper called, "The New Light of Myanmar" concluded that the country's hurricane crisis was over as it announced; “The government and the people are like parents and children. We, all the people, were pleased with the efforts of the government.” As for the millions of starving and homeless from the recent hurricane, the government reasoned that it does not need any international aid because the Myanmar people can now eat “large frogs” that are plentiful during the rainy season.

So, the process goes on and on and on. Myanmar atrocities followed by the same sad diplomatic dance between the U.N. and Myanmar's corrupt military leadership. A lack of any diplomatic progress is eventually followed by empty U.N. Resolution after Resolution, over and over again, year after year. However, there has never been a single, positive, tangible outcome to any of the country’s many vast problems.

This entire process is defined by Albert Einstein as insanity and it is the only real term that accurately describes the response of the United Nations to the actions of the world's worst regime of despots in Myanmar for the last seventeen years.