KEY POINTS:
Sixty years ago, New Zealand as a founding member of the United Nations played a significant role in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. With perhaps a million or more innocent Burmese facing slow death by starvation or disease thanks to the tin-pot generals that rule their storm-ravaged country, now would be a good time to add some teeth to the declaration's brave words.
In San Francisco in 1945, Prime Minister Peter Fraser and the Australian counterparts fought hard for the principles incorporated into article 55 and 56 of the UN Charter pledging all members of the organisation "to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the organisation" to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all" ...
You would think the right not to die a needless death is a pretty fundamental right to uphold. But countries both big and small, New Zealand included, were jealous of their sovereignty and much earlier in the drafting of the charter had agreed "nothing contained in the present charter shall authorise the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state" ...
Jump 60 years forward to the tragedy that is Myanmar. Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Nargis ravaged the low-lying southern delta of this country, relief teams from around the world are left knocking at Myanmar's door, while the generals pretend all is well and no help is needed.
I never thought I'd ever say this, but for once I wish the United States and anyone else that wants to join in, New Zealand included, just walked in and did what has to be done. Letting your people die in great numbers when medical and food aid is at hand is nothing short of genocide.
Admittedly the Americans are more accustomed to invading foreign countries to overthrow governments they don't like. But the relief effort mounted from the USS Abraham Lincoln into Indonesia's Aceh province, after the 2004 tsunami, shows that when they try, the Americans have the might and power to do great good as well. In this case, the Indonesian Government realised they needed outside help and over-ruled the generals who had been battling a 30-year separatist movement in the province.
The happy ending was that aid got to the people, peace broke out, and the Americans went home. A year later, after the devastating earthquake in Kashmir, the Pakistan Government invited the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to airlift medical and humanitarian aid. Teams of doctors, nurses and engineers flew in from all over Europe along with 3500 tonnes of relief supplies. Joining the relief effort was the US who used heavy-lift Chinooks, based in Afghanistan, to deliver 6000 tonnes of aid and personnel.
However, in Myanmar, the generals would rather their people died in great numbers, than risk such a humanitarian invasion. Unfortunately, the world's leaders buy into this. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates saying "I can't imagine us going in without the permission of the Myanmar Government."
This from the Administration that didn't think twice about invading Iraq and Afghanistan and now stays up late at night plotting the overthrow of Iran.
Greg Beck of the International Rescue Committee says "unless there is a massive and fast infusion of aid, experts and supplies into the hardest-hit areas, there's going to be a tragedy on an unimaginable scale". Yet as I write this, 10 days after the tragedy, the dictators are still refusing to take a phone call from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.
No one knows how many hundreds of thousands have died in the genocidal conflict in Darfur in Western Sudan because the rest of the world has done little more than wag a disapproving finger. The death toll in Myanmar threatens to be much larger, and it could be averted almost overnight if the international community just landed and got on with the life-saving.
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband says "a natural disaster is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions, in significant part because of the malign neglect of the regime".
At the time of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration, distinguished constitutional lawyer Dr Colin Aikman wrote that "the declaration is legally binding on all states whether or not they are members of the United Nations".
Dr Aikman was a young legal adviser to the New Zealand delegation that played such a prominent part in drawing up the 1948 document. At the time of signing it only had "moral and political authority" he said. But over the years, "it is now generally recognised that the declaration has acquired the force of law as part of the customary law of nations."
Incursions into sovereignty territory have occurred on much flimsier grounds. For once, we should be pressing the US, on behalf of the world community, to lead the way.
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