UNA-UK Chair Lord Hannay of Chiswick responds to questions from the UNA-UK membership

Letter from David Hamilton, UNA Lewisham branch, 13 May:

Dear Lord Hannay,

You will recall that we spoke briefly about Burma at Annual Conference this year. Lewisham branch, of which I am the chair, has been concerned about conditions in the country since a meeting a few years ago at which we were addressed by three members of the Burmese opposition, one of whom had escaped via Thailand just three weeks previously.

We feel strongly that the present situation allows no time for the usual diplomatic niceties and that the UN and the international community as a whole has obligations, amply supported by international law, to provide for a stricken people emergency food, water, shelter and medical supplies which its own rulers are manifestly unable to provide. We hope that you will urge the government to join with others in by-passing the objections of those in power in Burma - before it is too late.

David Hamilton

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Response from Lord Hannay, UNA-UK Chair, 13 May:

Many thanks for your message about the humanitarian crisis in Burma. I share your frustration and anger about the regime’s negative attitude and foot-dragging over the international relief effort. But I do not share the view that by-passing the Burmese government and if necessary using force to deliver aid would be the best way to proceed, or indeed in the best interests of the long-suffering population of the Irrawaddy Delta. It would certainly reinforce the regime’s paranoia and make them even less willing to cooperate with the NGOs and the international relief effort which seem to be just beginning to get access. Air drops would be of little use in a heavily flooded region. And while I have no doubt that the use of force could be justified by reference to the ‘responsibility to protect’, it is clear that the Security Council would not authorise it (because of objections from Russia, China, Indonesia and others). So I see no alternative to keeping up unremitting diplomatic pressure on the Burmese government to admit more aid and aid workers. This does now seem to be working (belatedly and inadequately).

You may be interested to read the exchange in the House of Lords last week, in which I was involved. I spoke along similar lines on BBC World Service Television and on Sky (twice) at the weekend. And I heard the Bishop of Winchester, who is in touch with the Christian community in Burma, saying much the same on the BBC’s Sunday Programme.

There was another exchange about Burma in the House of Lords today, which might also be of interest:

David Hannay