Today, for the first time ever, the United Nations Security Council will formally discuss the widespread human rights violations that for decades have been occurring in Burma, or Myanmar, under the rule of a repressive military junta calling itself the State Peace and Development Council.
The Security Council has long failed to address the situation in Burma for fear of drawing China’s veto. For the same reason, today’s discussion is not expected to bring about any concrete action, but human rights advocates consider it a promising first step. Burmese exiles, however, have doubts about the West’s ability to deal with the hardnosed regime, as Burmese historian Thant Myint-U writes in a New York Times op-ed piece today.
Mother Jones recently reported on the build-up to the Security Council’s discussion, and on underground resistance in Burma.
