Clinton Calls for International Tribunal on Human Rights Abuses in Myanmar

The U.S. will work with Australia to establish an international Commission of Inquiry to hold leaders in Myanmar, also known as Burma, accountable for human rights violations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today.

Clinton was speaking in Melbourne where she is spending two days meeting with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd to discuss trade, climate change and regional institutions. She and Rudd will meet with the U.S. and Australian defense ministers tomorrow to work on security and terrorism issues.

Clinton noted that today Myanmar is holding elections that she said were “deeply flawed” and “once again exposes the abuses of the military junta.” Clinton said the U.S. “holds out hope that new players will emerge in Burma who are committed to pursuing democratic reforms.”

Asia remains the only place in the world where three Nobel laureates, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, the Dalai Lama, and Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese activist, are either under house arrest, in prison, or in exile, Clinton said.

“The United States will continue to make clear to Burma’s leaders that they must break from the policies of the past,” Clinton said.

Clinton is on a two-week tour of the Asia-Pacific to reaffirm U.S. engagement in the region and assert its leadership. The trip, Clinton’s sixth to the region since taking office, included stops in Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, China, New Zealand and energy-rich Papua New Guinea.


(2010-11-07/bloomberg.com)