The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of the above-mentioned members-elect of the Pyithu Hluttaw (People's Assembly) of the Union of Myanmar, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/185/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 184th session (April 2009),

Recalling its long-standing concerns about the complete disregard for the results of the election of 27 May 1990, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 of the 485 seats, and about the continual removal from the political process of parliamentarians-elect, including through the prolonged imprisonment of 13 of them who continue to languish in jail having been sentenced on the basis of “rogue” laws through procedures falling short of minimum fair trial guarantees,

Recalling also in particular its concern at the fact that the National Convention, an assembly of members hand-picked by the authorities, drafted a new Constitution giving the military sweeping and overriding powers, without allowing a free exchange of opinions and ideas and penalizing any criticism of its work, which was adopted by referendum in May 2008 in an entirely military-run exercise and that the military authorities, on the basis of that text, have announced that elections will take place in 2010; recalling furthermore that the NLD and key ethnic parties rejected the referendum results and declared that they would not stand in the elections unless the regime agreed to establish an inclusive commission to review and amend the Constitution,

Recalling finally that both the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar travelled to Myanmar in early 2009 and subsequently reiterated their concerns about respect for fundamental freedoms and the need for meaningful political change, and that the United Nations Secretary-General, on 12 November 2008, called once again for all citizens of Myanmar to be allowed to participate freely in their country’s political future as part of an inclusive national reconciliation process,

Considering that, on 13 May 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and later taken to Insein Prison for violating the terms of her house arrest because she allowed an uninvited visitor, Mr. John William Yettaw, who had swum across Inya Lake to her house, to stay for two days before he attempted to swim back; on 11 August 2009, the court sentenced her to a further 18 months of house arrest, which sentence was upheld on appeal; the trial and its outcome have been widely seen as a move by the military rulers to exclude her from the 2010 elections and have been condemned internationally,

Considering that the IPU Secretary General attempted - in vain - to arrange a meeting with the Deputy Attorney General of Myanmar during the 30th session (3-7 August 2009) of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in Pattaya, Thailand, to discuss the case of the parliamentarians-elect,

1. Condemns the continued disregard of the Myanmar authorities not only for its persistent concerns and pleas in this case, but also for the pleas of the international community to release all political prisoners;

2. Reaffirms that the Constitution fails to reflect the democratic values to which the people of Myanmar have long aspired and that elections are doomed to be a sham in a climate of fear and repression of all freedom of expression and political activity and the exclusion of 13 parliamentarians-elect and many other political prisoners from the political process;

3. Urges the authorities once again to put an unconditional and immediate end to the prolonged incarceration of the parliamentarians concerned on the basis of legal provisions that blatantly disregard their most basic rights, and to engage shortly in a meaningful dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups by accepting the proposal for an inclusive political process to review the Constitution;

4. Appeals to IPU Member Parliaments, in particular those of China and India as neighbouring countries, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), to lend their full support to promoting these objectives, in particular given that, with the scheduled elections in Myanmar drawing close, time is running out;

5. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to all parties concerned;

6. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 122nd IPU Assembly (March-April 2010).

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* On 2 April 2008, MPU-Burma announced that Mr. Myint Thein died following his release, his health having greatly worsened in detention.

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