Truscott (PSE). - Mr President, I would like to congratulate Mrs Theorin on her excellent report which has been brought before the House today. Action against Burma is well overdue. I welcome the proposal to withdraw access to the GSP or generalized tarrif preferences for industrial and agricultural exports. This will cost Burma an estimated ECU 2,262m in additional customs duties.
The grounds for these economic sanctions are quite clear. The use of forced and slave labour in Burma breaches the Geneva Conventions of 25 September 1926 and 7 September 1956 and Conventions 29 and 105 of the International Labour Organization. There are other broader moral grounds for taking action against Burma. SLORC, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, is a brutal military dictatorship which violently seized power in 1988. SLORC refused to accept the result of the 1990 election which was won by the opposition National League for Democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the 1990 election, has been the victim of house arrest and continual harassment. Apart from the killing and wounding of slave workers, the general human rights situation is appalling. Disappearances, rape, arbitrary arrest and execution are the order of the day. Political opponents, ethnic minorities and the wider population face daily intimidation and worse.
Against this background it is to be welcomed that a number of US and European companies, including Heineken, Carlsberg and PepsiCo, have pulled out. But other companies still trade in Burma, turning a blind eye to the human rights abuses occurring all around them. TOTAL Oil company and Club Med continue to do business in Burma. There is documented evidence of human rights abuses at the sites ofTOTAL's gas pipeline project, including the execution and torture of forced labourers.
This is just not acceptable. What are these European companies doing with Burmese blood on their hands? The European Union should continue to question Burma's possible future membership of ASEAN. ASEAN's credibility will only be damaged if Burma is offered membership of this prestigious South-East Asian club in the near future. It will also complicate ASEAN's relations with the EU. For many years the European Parliament has called for a clause guaranteeing the fundamental rights of employees to be included in agreements when the EU grants generalized tariff preferences. Such social clauses could be used to improve human rights across the world. Certainly when our political and trading partners fall below universally accepted standards of human decency, it is right that the EU should impose political and economic sanctions. I warmly support Mrs Theorin's report.
I hope the EU maintains the pressure on the Burmese authorities so that they feel compelled to embrace democracy and liberate the Burmese people from their suffering and oppression.
