Letter to NYTimes editor

Advertise on NYTimes.com

Letter

Change in Myanmar

Published: March 8, 2012

• Recommend
• Twitter
• Linkedin
• Sign In to E-Mail
• Print
• Reprints
• Share

To the Editor:

Re “Keep Up the Pressure on Myanmar’s Generals” (Op-Ed, March 6):

Peter Popham misses the point when it comes to a discussion about reform in Myanmar, formerly Burma.

Sanctions or no sanctions, the Myanmar Constitution prohibits any meaningful change, no matter how large President U Thein Sein’s appetite for reform.

This Constitution not only guarantees the military a dominant role in politics, but it also sets it entirely outside the civilian government and, through its broad sweeping amnesty provision, guarantees the military immunity for its crimes, including sexual violence against ethnic women.

Consequently, if Myanmar is truly to move away from authoritarian rule toward a democratic system based on the rule of law, the focus needs to be on the Constitution, justice and accountability, not sanctions.

JANET BENSHOOF
President, Global Justice Center
New York, March 6, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/opinion/change-in-myanmar.html?partner=rss&emc=rss