Brussels, 22/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - In two separate resolutions - each adopted virtually unanimously - the European Parliament, on Thursday 22 May, expressed its condolences and its solidarity with the Chinese and Burmese peoples following the recent natural disasters.
In the resolution on China, Parliament welcomed the prompt response by the Chinese authorities through their emergency operation after the earthquake. It noted with appreciation China's readiness to accept foreign assistance. It called on the Chinese government to facilitate the work of humanitarian, relief and volunteer organisations by ensuring that they can reach any persons in need. It urged the Council and Commission to provide emergency aid, technical assistance and reconstruction aid to the affected area. It welcomed the fact that Chinese and foreign media were being allowed to provide detailed and accurate information on the disaster.
Parliament strongly condemned “the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis by the Burmese authorities, which have put the preservation of their own power before the survival of their citizens”. It deplored the regime's distorted priorities “in pushing ahead with its so-called referendum on the sham constitution” and rejected the implausible outcome at a time when a large part of the country had been devastated and millions were suffering from what has been aptly described as a natural disaster turned into a man-made catastrophe. It reaffirmed that the sovereignty of a nation could not be allowed to override the human rights of its people, as enshrined in the UN principle of the “responsibility to protect”. Parliament called on the government of the United Kingdom, which holds the May Presidency of the UN Security Council, to take urgent action to put the situation in Burma/Myanmar on the agenda of the Council and called on the Council to examine whether aid shipments to Burma/Myanmar could be authorised even without the consent of the Burmese military junta. It called on the governments of China and India to use their influence over the Burmese authorities to have immediate access for all humanitarian relief. (O.J.)