The International Green Light For Thugs

Vaclav Havel, a man who knows a bit about having the boot of the state on his neck, points out the disastrous effect on human rights the ineffectual United Nations is having around the world, but especially in Burma.

I fear that, with only a few exceptions, most countries have been surprised and caught off guard – once again – by the rapid course that events have taken in Burma. So they seem to be completely unprepared for the crisis and thus at a loss as to what to do.

How many times and in how many places has this now happened? Worse, however, is the number of countries that find it convenient to avert their eyes and ears from the deathly silence with which this Asian country chooses to present itself to the outside world…….

…….On a daily basis, at a great many international and scholarly conferences all over the world, we can hear learned debates about human rights and emotional proclamations in their defense. So how is it possible that the international community remains incapable of responding effectively to dissuade Burma's military rulers from escalating the force that they have begun to unleash in Rangoon and its Buddhist temples?

For dozens of years, the international community has been arguing over how it should reform the United Nations so that it can better secure civic and human dignity in the face of conflicts such as those now taking place in Burma or Darfur, Sudan. It is not the innocent victims of repression who are losing their dignity, but rather the international community, whose failure to act means watching helplessly as the victims are consigned to their fate.

The people of Burma and especially the monks who are leading the protests are in serious trouble. The governments of the world and the UN are milling about doing nothing. It is a green light for the thugs who run that benighted country. Other thuggish regimes see just how effective the United Nations is in dealing with anti-democratic, brutal regimes and learn the lesson well. Burma is only the latest. Darfur, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Kosovo. All are, or have recently been, the victims of the ineffectual "international community." The lesson to the thugs of the world is very, very clear.