Press release 23 May 2008
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Gunilla Carlsson to Burma

Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson is travelling at the weekend to attend a donor conference in Burma. The conference is being arranged by the UN and the regional organisation ASEAN in order to facilitate the entry of international relief to the Burmese people and by doing so, make it possible to provide greater support.

"Up to now, Burma's regime has not shouldered its international responsibility to protect its own population after the natural disaster. The international community now has every right to put pressure on the regime in Burma. The donor conference is therefore a step in the right direction," says Ms Carlsson.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to lead the conference in Rangoon on Sunday 25 May. The conference is being held on the initiative of the UN and ASEAN.

The donor conference is a result of the pressure exerted by the international community to persuade Burma to increase its openness towards international humanitarian relief. At the same time, it is important to draw attention to the underlying problem with Burma's closed society, i.e., the lack of democracy and respect for human rights.

"All those Burmese people who are now being denied food and the necessary relief have also been denied another human right, and that is freedom," says Ms Carlsson.