HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA

July 6, 2009

We, the undersigned Canadian Parliamentarians, urge the Government of Canada to support a United Nation’s Commission of Inquiry, and referral of the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court, as well as support for a Global Arms Embargo, and a binding UN Security Council resolution on Burma's military regime.

For years, Burma's military regime has committed grave human rights abuses that rise to the level of crimes against humanity. Among other mass atrocities, the regime has:

- destroyed 3000 ethnic minority villages

- recruited thousands of child soldiers

- used rape as a weapon of war,

-pressed millions of Burmese into forced labour, a modern-day form of slave labour, and

- through a scorched-earth military campaign, forced at least 1.5 million people to flee as refugees and internally displaced persons.

Recently one of the United Nation's most respected human rights experts, who served as special rapporteur to Burma for human rights from 2000-2008, Pauolo Sergio Pinheiro, wrote in the New York Times that "It is time for the United Nations to take the next logical step: The Security Council must establish a Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and impunity in [Burma]." The Security Council took similar steps with regard to Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. The situation in Burma is equally as critical.

Subsequently, five of the world's leading judges and jurists, including those that worked at the International Criminal Tribunals on Yugoslavia and Rwanda, commissioned a report by Harvard's International Human Rights Law Clinic, which called on the UN Security Council to immediately initiate an investigation into mass atrocities in Burma.

At the same time, while most of the world rightfully refuses to sell weapons to Burma's military regime, a few countries continue. The UN Security Council has the power to ban weapons sales to Burma, and we publicly support such an effort, which has been the Canadian Parliamentary Friends of Burma policy for over a year.

For too long, the world has looked in the other direction, as Burma's military regime has heaped mass atrocities on its own people. The trial of Honourary Canadian Citizen, Aung San Suu Kyi has rightfully placed the whole of Burma in the international spotlight. Now, it is time for action.

The undersigned Canadian parliamentarians:

Alan Tonks	York South - Weston
Alexandra Mendés	Brossard—La Prairie
Bernard Bigras	Rosemont-La petite-Patrie
Brad Trost	Saskatoon-Humboldt
Bruce Hyer	Thunder Bay - Superior North
Bruce Stanton	Simcoe North
Carole Lavalée	St.Bruno-St.Hubert
Christiane Gagnon	Députée de Québec
Claude Bachand	Saint-Jean
Derek Lee	Scarborough - Rouge River
Diane Bourgeois	Terrebonne - Blainville
Francine Lalonde	La Pointe-de-l'Île
Frank Valeriote	Guelph
Garry Breitkreuz	Yorkton—Melville
Gérard Asselin	Manicouagan
Gilles Duceppe	Leader of Bloc Québécois
Hon. Anita Neville	Winnipeg South Centre
Hon. Bob Rae	Toronto Centre
Hon. Geoff Regan	Halifax West
Hon. John McKay	Scarborough—Guildwood
Hon. Larry Bagnell	Yukon
Hon. Marlene Jennings	Notre-Dame-de-Grâce – Lachine
Hon. Wayne Easter	Malapeque
Hon. Hedy Fry	Vancouver Centre
Hon. Shawn Murphy	Charlottetown
Irene Mathyssen	London—Fanshawe
Jean Crowder	Nanaimo - Cowichan
Jean Dorion	Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher
Jean-Yves Laforest	Saint-Maurice-Champlain
Josée Beaudin	Saint-Lambert
Judy Foote	Random – Burin – St. George’s
Kevin Sorenson	Crowfoot
Libby Davies	Vancouver East
Louis Plamondon	Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour
Mario Silva	Davenport
Meili Faille	Vaudreuil-Soulanges
Peter Stoffer	Sackville—Eastern Shore
Pierre Paquette	Joliette
Roger Pomerleau	Drummond
Stephen Woodworth	Kitchener Centre
Yves Lessard	Chambly—Borduas
Yvon Lévesque	Abitibi – Baie-James - Nunavik – Eeyou

Senator Consiglio Di Nino

Senator David Smith

Senator Lorna Milne

Senator Lucie Pépin

Senator Michel Rivard

Senator Nancy Ruth

Senator Percy E. Downe

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MIKHAIL LENNIKOV

June 25, 2009

OTTAWA - Support for Mikhail Lennikov continues to grow. An additional 13 Members of Parliament signed a multiparty letter to the Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney, urging them to rescind the deportation order of Mikhail Lennikov to Russia. This brings the total number of MPs backing the campaign to allow Mikhail Lennikov to stay in Canada to 36.

“There is a growing consensus that the government is being heavy handed in Mr. Lennikov’s case,” said his MP Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster). “I hope that the community and political support will help these Ministers see that Mr. Lennikov poses no threat and should be allowed to stay with his family.

While Irina Lennikova and Dmitri Lennikov’s application of permanent residency has been approved, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has refused to waive the deportation order for Mr. Lennikov, forcing him to seek sanctuary in his church on June 2nd .

New Democrat, Conservative, Liberal, and Bloc Quebecois MPs asked the Ministers to use their discretionary powers and end the deportation order on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. Mr. Lennikov is being denied permanent residence status because of a brief time with the KGB in the 1980’s, an employment that he has fully explained as reluctant and of a primarily administrative character.

“Why separate this family forever? Mikhail Lennikov has never been accused of any crime during his 11 years of residence in Canada and the Minister has not been able to substantiate his deportation order,” said Julian. “The Minister of Immigration’s own internal documents confirm that Mr Lennikov has never been trained as a spy.”

This prompted Peter Julian to request under section 8. (2) of the privacy Act all records and information on Mr. Lennikov under the custody of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA). On June 18, Mikhail Lennikov signed the waivers authorizing his MP to request the information.

“I have no doubt that the content of these files will allow the public to see even more clearly why the deportation of Mr. Lennikov cannot be justified,” said Julian. “Dmitri, Irina and Mikhail have demonstrated that there are law abiding, peaceful and productive members of the community. They should be allowed to stay together in their country, Canada.”

The following MPs have signed the appeal:

Niki Ashton, MP (Churchill) Peter Julian, MP (Burnaby-New Westminster)

Malcolm Allen, MP (Welland) Francine Lalonde, MP (La Pointe-de-l'Île)

Alex Atamanenko, MP (BC-Southern Interior) Megan Leslie, MP (Halifax)

Dona Cadman, MP (Surrey-North) Jim Malloway, MP (Elmwood—Transcona)

Olivia Chow, MP (Trinity-Spadina) Tony Martin, MP (Sault St. Marie)

Joe Comartin, MP (Windsor—Tecumseh) Brian Masse, MP (Windsor-Ouest)

Jean Crowder, MP (Nanaimo-Cowichan) Irene Mathyssen, MP (London-Fanshawe)

Nathan Cullen, MP (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) Joyce Murray, MP (Vancouver Quadra)

Don Davies, MP (Vancouver Kingsway) John Rafferty, MP (Thunder Bay-Rainy River)

Libby Davies, MP (Vancouver East) Pablo Rodriguez, MP (Honoré-Mercier)

Nicole Demers, MP (Laval) Jean-Yves Roy, MP (Haute-Gaspésie—La

Paul Dewar, MP (Ottawa Centre) Mitis-—Matane—Matapédia

Sukh Dhaliwal, MP (Newton-North Delta) Denise Savoie, MP (Victoria)

Ujjal Dosanjh, MP (Vancouver South) Bill Siksay, MP (Burnaby-Douglas)

Linda Duncan, MP (Edmonton Strathcona) Peter Stoffer, MP (Sackville-Eastern Shore)

Meili Faille, MP (Vaudreuil-Soulanges) Judy Wasylycia-Leis, MP (Winnipeg North)

Hedy Fry, MP (Vancouver-Centre)

Yvon Godin, MP (Acadie-Bathurst)

Claude Guimond, MP (Montmorency—Charlevoix-—Haute-Côte-Nord)

Jack Harris, MP (St. John’s-East)

Bruce Hyer, MP (Thunder Bay—Superior-Nord)

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A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE

HUMAN RIGHTS IN BURMA

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MIKHAIL LENNIKOV

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