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Visiting HOME Friday, November 23, 2007
Meg was invited to visit a shelter for migrant workers whilst in Singapore. She spoke to women who had been abused by their employers and were living at the shelter while their case came to court. This particular shelter has over 100 women living there, coming from countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, India and Sri Lanka.
The shelter was set-up by HOME, (Humanitarian Organisation for Migrant Economics). The organisation was founded in 2004 to advocate for migrant workers and provide welfare for those in need. Migrant workers who have been abused by their employers, are sick, injured or are involved in legal disputes are sometimes left with no one to turn to for support. HOME runs emergency shelters for men and women and includes education programmes for them.
Associated Photograph :
Meg Munn meets Ibrahim Gambari to discuss Burma Thursday, November 22, 2007
During a Ministerial visit to Singapore Meg met Ibrahim Gambari, the UN’s Special Envoy to Burma, to discuss the situation in that country. She was joined by HM Ambassador to Burma, Mark Canning. Ibrahim Gambari has been involved in visits to Burma following the widespread protests in the autumn against the ruling regime that resulted in a military crack-down.
Ibrahim Gambari is the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Department of Political Affairs. He initially visited Burma in November 2006 to try and convince the military regime to start to move toward democratic change and first met members of the ruling group then. He was asked by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to meet with the regime following the autumn protests to urge them to show restraint. Recently he has visited again, meeting with members of the regime and Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the democratic movement currently under house arrest.
Associated Photograph :
EU representatives visit Burmese Buddhist Temple Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The following news report was written by Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia. The French and British representatives of the ASEAN-EU Summit visited the Burmese Buddhist Temple off Balestier Road, Singapore, on Thursday afternoon. The visit was aimed at showing their support for the Myanmarese people and to understand the temple’s activities. The VIP visitors also met the monks at the Burmese Buddhist Temple for a short closed-door meeting.
"Their strong message to us was that the religion of Buddhism is a peaceful religion. It’s one where they are not looking for agitation. They are just looking for respect for human rights and they want to see everybody live in peace in Burma."
"It is important to build a front to not only punish (the government), but also sustain, support and help the Burmese people. We would not want the Burmese people to suffer from the sanctions."
Associated Photograph :
Concerned overseas Burmese Wednesday, November 21, 2007
There are at least 30,000 Burmese people currently living in Singapore and following the events in their home country in September 2007 they have become much more politicised. On Saturday 17th November several of these groups came together to produce a joint statement to coincide with the ASEAN summit being held in Singapore. (ASEAN = Association of South East Asian Nations).
Meg met representatives of some of the Burmese community groups and non governmental organisations and they presented her with a copy of their petition. They discussed the current situation and they expressed their disappointment that ASEAN was not taking a stronger line on Burma. Meg was able to update them on the various activities being taken by the UK government, and the EU, in support of democratic change in Burma.
For further details visit: http://overseasburmesepatriots.org
Associated Photograph :
Meeting Burmese delegation Friday, November 02, 2007
FCO Minister Meg Munn recently met with a delegation from of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), including Dr Sein Win, its Prime Minister in exile. They had watched the Parliamentary debate on Burma, held in the House on 29th October, which demonstrated clearly how Burma was an issue that united all parties.
Dr Sein Win thanked Meg for the UK’s recent action to support democratic change in Burma. They felt very encouraged by the level of activity from the international community and called for this to be sustained. The Minister expressed the UK Government’s deep concern about the situation in Burma and our commitment to supporting transition to peaceful reconciliation through the mandate of the UN’s special representative to Burma, Mr Ibrahim Gambari.
Meg also expressed the importance of other UN bodies such as UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) and anticipated the visit of Sergio Pinheiro to assess the human rights situation on the ground. The delegation went on to meet officials at DFID to discuss UK aid support for education, human rights and democratisation.
Associated Photograph :
Singapore Talks Monday, October 22, 2007
On a recent visit to the region Meg met George Yeo, the Foreign Minister of Singapore, to discuss the current situation in Burma. Singapore is currently the Chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), who will hold their annual summit in November. Meg was keen to hear Mr. Yeo’s views on the summit and what Burma’s neighbouring countries will do to encourage democratic change in there.
Mr. Yeo felt that the Foreign Ministers of the ASEAN nations had made very clear their revulsion at Burma’s acts when in September they issued their statement at the United Nations General Assembly. They will be discussing the situation in Burma at their summit and believe that it is important to seek to persuade Burma to move towards democracy.
Meg also attended the Singapore Parliament, where 12 questions were put to the Foreign Minister by MPs about the situation in Burma. There have been large demonstrations about the issue in Singapore.
The Foreign Minister stated:
"All parties in Myanmar (Burma) need to take a fresh approach because it is clear that the old way led to nowhere. …However we must be prepared for negotiations to be long and complicated."
Meg also met Surin Pitsuwan, the Secretary General Designate of ASEAN and a respected Thai politician. They discussed Burma, and he emphasised the importance of involving the neighbouring nations in achieving a solution.
Associated Photograph : Ref: http://www.megmunnmp.org.uk/datapages/news/pressrellist.asp
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