On 24 October, Labour’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, marked the twelfth anniversary of the house arrest of the elected leader of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, by calling on the military regime to release its political prisoners and begin a process of national reconciliation.

"The steps that the regime must now take are clear: end the violence; release prisoners; grant effective access to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Sergio Pinheiro and the International Committee of the Red Cross; and engagement in a UN-led process of national reconciliation that involves leaders of all Burma's political opposition and ethnic groups, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."

The Prime Minister has repeatedly warned that lack of progress would result in a tightening of EU sanctions against the regime and promised measures to help boost the country's ailing economy if movement towards democratic reform was made.

“For 45 years the people of Burma have been denied democracy and economic development. This must change. We must see an end to the use of violence against those who have peacefully demonstrated for their rights. We must see the release of all political prisoners and detainees, including trade unionists.

It is time for the Burmese regime to have a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who must finally be released from house arrest, and with all concerned parties and ethnic groups in Burma. Burma cannot continue in this way. The world must not let it do so. We must all do what we can to help”

Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP, Labour’s Foreign Secretary.

The Government has strongly condemned the violence against monks and peaceful demonstrators. But the terror for many Burmese continues and the situation on the ground remains dire.

We salute the courage of the Burmese people at a time when the Burmese regime is seeking revenge on those who dared to speak out.

The Government’s key aim is to mobilise support, particularly among Burma’s neighbours, for UN efforts to promote a process of genuine reconciliation in Burma.

UK policy is aimed at “sharpening the choice for the regime”. We want to increase penalties for non-engagement and show more clearly benefits of engagement.

• The UN Security Council adopted its first ever statement on Burma by consensus – including China. It represents a very significant shift in global politics from just a few weeks ago and sends a clear signal to the regime that they are isolated. They cannot hope to maintain the status quo. The international community wants to see an early return to Burma by the UN Special Envoy Gambari.

• It is right that the Security Council remains fully engaged. The Prime Minister has said that if progress on the ground is insufficient the Council will need to consider further measures.

• UN Human Rights Council condemned human rights abuses. It wants urgent access to Burma for the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Pinhiero and for the President of ICRC.

• The Government is encouraging all those with influence on the Burmese regime to keep up pressure – particularly on Burma’s neighbours. China’s efforts to help Gambari’s mission are welcome. The Government welcomes ASEAN’s firm statement expressing revulsion at suppression of demonstration and calling for reconciliation.

• The EU sanctions are targeted on the economic interests of the regime. The EU decided on 15 October to strengthen trade sanctions in those sectors – timber, minerals, metals, gems – from which the regime draws most of its revenue. We are drawing up further restrictive measures – including a ban on new investment – which may be implemented depending on developments on the ground.

• The UK has negligible investments in Burma. The last two significant British investors pulled out, after representations from the UK government, several years ago.

If progress with reconciliation and democracy is made, the international community is ready to support recovery with aid and other support. The Prime Minister launched an economic initiative involving the UN, International Financial Institutions and bilateral donors: he has written to G7 leaders, Premier Wen, Prime Minister Singh, the IMF and the World Bank to take this forward.

As Aung San Suu Kyi has herself said, the military must play an important part in a future democratic Burma. But the military dictatorship must end.

Meanwhile the UK has announced an additional £1million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs in Burma arising from this latest episode of gross misrule. This will help ensure that vulnerable people do not suffer because of the actions of the regime.

Burma is one of the poorest countries in Asia

• A third of the population live on less than a third of a dollar a day
• Half of Burma’s 20 million children do not finish primary school
• Every year malnutrition contributes to the deaths of 80,000 children
• It has one of Asia’s worst HIV/AIDS situations – between 300,000 and 600,000 people are living with HIV; only around 7.5% of those urgently needing Anti-Retroviral Treatment are receiving it
• 70% of Burma’s population is at risk of malaria

The UK is the world’s third largest donor to Burma

• This government has increased funding from £2 million a year in 2002-03 to £9 million in 2007-08 (only Japan and the EC give more)
• We have called for the international community to provide more financial support to Burma
• None of our aid is channelled through the military regime
• We work with many NGOs and the UN to help provide basic services for the poor – tackling HIV/AIDS and getting more children into primary school
• The UK is one of only 5 donors with staff inside Burma

The UK government’s aid is making a difference to the lives of the poor

• We provide capacity-building for local NGOs, training for journalists, and public courses on community management and good governance, rural development and empowerment of poor women
• Recently increased funding for rights & democracy by a further £3m
• Our support for work on HIV/AIDS has helped deliver: 48m condoms and 1.1m clean needles distributed in 2005 - 4 times more condoms than in 2000, 4 times more needles than in 2003
• Our efforts to support livelihoods has helped achieve: an average increases in income of 2 for over 80,000 people
• This support has been especially helpful to poor farmers enabling: the purchase of extra food; extra investment in the farm; their children to stay in school
• The UK government is also leading efforts to get donors to work together through the DFID-led development of multi-donor funds in health & education

Aung San Suu Kyi Lecture: ‘The Democratic Imperative’ - Speech by the Foreign Secretary David Miliband

Sign the UK Burma Campaign petition to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon at asking the UNSC to pass a binding resolution requiring the restoration of democracy to Burma.

Call on Gordon Brown to continue with his personal support on Burma. Click here>>

Burma – keeping up the pressure for change. Speech by Meg Munn

Record of Burma Stakeholder Meeting

The Burma Campaign

Guardian article by the PM on the twelfth anniversary of house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi

Joint article by Rt. Hon, David Miliband MP, the Foreign Secretary and Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister

Article by Meg Munn MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the FCO.