On Monday 11 September, the European Union called on Nobel Peace Prize winner and current foreign affairs minister in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi, to work harder for the tension in Burma to be calmed.
When questioned about the EU's rallying to the call on Aung San Suu Kyi by several Nobel Peace Prize winners – including the Dalai Lama, Malala and Desmond Tutu – to take action for the Rohingya Muslims, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service, Maja Kocijancic, did not give a direct answer. "We have called on the Burmese authorities" for the tension to be calmed "and this very clearly includes Aung San Suu Kyi", she simply said.
Kocijancic stated that High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini had published a statement on 6 September calling for calm, for the respect of human rights, for implementation of the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, and for unrestricted humanitarian access (see EUROPE 11779).
Asked about possible sanctions, Kocijancic stated that efforts are currently focused on these elements. She said that the EU was in contact with the Burmese authorities.
The spokesperson also said that the EU had already talked to Suu Kyi about European positions on human rights. Suu Kyi last week criticised the "iceberg of misinformation" which gives a false view of the Rohingya crisis. She rejects the accusations of ethnic cleansing with regard to the Rohingya, although on 11 September the UN described the situation as a "classic example of ethnic cleansing". According to the High Commissioner for Refugees, 313,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since 25 August.
MEPs will discuss the situation in Burma at their plenary session on Thursday 14 September. They are expected to adopt a resolution on this the same day. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)