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British PM Gordon Brown Calls for U.N. Security Council Meeting on Myanmar

Associated Press
Published | Updated

BOURNEMOUTH, England – Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday called for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting on Myanmar, or Burma, and urged the military regime there to be restrained in reacting to protests.

"The whole world is now watching," Brown told reporters at the Labour Party's annual conference. "I hope the Security Council will meet immediately, meet today and discuss this issue and look at what can be done."

"The first thing that should be done is the U.N. envoy should be sent to Burma to make them directly aware that any trampling of human rights that takes place is unacceptable."

Brown said EU ministers would meet to discuss an extension of sanctions.

"I think the international pressure that can be made to be felt in the next few days is incredibly important. I want to see the whole of the world getting together on this. Each continent of the world can come together," Brown said.

"The whole world is now watching Burma and its illegitimate and repressive regime should know that the whole world is going to hold it to account," Brown added.

"The age of impunity in neglecting and overriding human rights is over."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who was flying to New York later Wednesday, also urged restraint in Myanmar.

Britain's ambassador in Yangon, Mark Canning, believes that "the international community's voice is a factor in the discussions that are going on there," Miliband told reporters.

"It's very important that we continue to maintain this unanimous international call for restraint, and also an international message that there will be accountability in respect of any decisions that are taken, but restraint must be the order of the day," Miliband told reporters.

"In all of our discussions we are emphasizing the need for restraint, and clearly there is a degree of caution being exercised ... in the minds of the regime, but it's clearly important that they continue to understand that restraint must be the order of the day," he added.