Tweet Hugo Swire MP - make human rights not trade the top priority in Burma

Dear friend Later this week, Hugo Swire MP, the British Foreign Office Minister with responsibility for Burma, will be visiting Burma, leading a trade delegation. Sanctions may now have been suspended, but very serious human rights abuses remain. Attacks by the Burmese Army against ethnic Kachin civilians continue, hundreds of political prisoners are still in jail, and the situation in Rakhine State remains very tense. In recent weeks many people have been arrested for organising peaceful protests, and the government is confiscating land from farmers and selling it to big business. The number of people internally displaced by conflict, violence and human rights abuses has tripled since Thein Sein became President, and he is still not allowing full humanitarian aid to reach many of them, causing malnutrition and sickness in thousands of children. There has still not been any Constitutional change to make Burma more democratic. With so many problems remaining, we think it is vital that the British government makes human rights, not trade, its top priority in Burma. Hugo Swire has invited people to use Twitter to tweet their concerns to him ahead of his visit, so let’s make sure he receives as many tweets as possible about the continuing human rights abuses in Burma. Tweet your message to @HugoSwire You can send your own message, or use one of our suggestions below. Thank you Burma Campaign UK http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/donate