We urge the Burmese authorities to allow Daw Suu Kyi to travel, express her views, and participate in political activities without any restriction on her freedom and to build on this long overdue liberation by releasing all remaining political prisoners in Burma.
We fully support the call from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after her release for the Burmese people to “work together” and her firm conviction that “nothing can be achieved without the participation of the people”.
We also call on the country’s rulers to work with the opposition to foster dialogue and reconciliation, and offer our support to the international community in contributing to such a process. In particular, we encourage the development of an inclusive dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic and ethnic leaders to address the challenges of building a participatory and democratic transition with new and legitimate electoral processes in the country.
In 2008, Burma’s devoted human rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize, was welcomed as Club de Madrid Honorary Member. In the words of Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile and then President of the Club de Madrid, were if not for the illegitimate action of the Burmese Junta suppressing the electoral results of 1990, “this courageous advocate of human rights and democracy would have likely been the first Burmese democratic prime minister in decades”.
Ms. Suu Kyi joined three other Honorary Members of Club de Madrid —Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations; Jimmy Carter, Former President of the United States; Jacques Delors, Former President of the European Commission— and 70 other democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers committed to advancing “democracy that delivers”.
