Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann, seriously concerned by the impact of Cyclone Nargis which struck Burma/Myanmar on 2 and 3 May, causing enormous destruction, injuries and loss of life in Burma/Myanmar:

expresses its deepest sympathy for the people of Burma/Myanmar;

condemns the restrictions on humanitarian access which undermines the principles of humanitarian response, so essential to save lives and livelihoods;

calls on the Government of Burma/Myanmar, as a matter of urgency, to allow full and free access to the affected area for humanitarian supplies and organisations experienced in emergency operations;

welcomes the commitment by the Irish Government to provide €1 million as a first contribution, in response to this disaster, and the deployment of humanitarian supplies from its stockpiles in Brindisi, Italy, through the United Nations;

commends the efforts being made by United Nations agencies, the Red Cross and non-governmental organisations to obtain access to those most in need and in peril from the effects of Hurricane Nargis; and

deplores the decision of the Burmese Government to proceed in most of its territory with the already fundamentally flawed referendum on a new constitution on 10 May, despite the concerns of the international community and in disregard of the humanitarian crisis caused by Cyclone Nargis.

Cyclone Nargis struck Burma on 2 and 3 May 2008 with winds of up to 200 km/h, sweeping through the delta region and the country's main city and former capital, Yangon. Damage from the cyclone was most severe in the delta region, where the effects of extreme winds were compounded by a sizeable storm surge that destroyed an estimated 95% of housing. Yangon sustained a direct hit, which knocked down power and communications lines and inflicted major damage to buildings. Even now, more than ten days after the storm, people remain largely without electricity, piped water and communications. Many roads into and out of the city, as well as vital roads into the delta region, are still blocked by flooding or debris. For much of the delta region, the most significant transportation is normally by waterway, and water transport infrastructure has been severely damaged.

The toll of people killed, missing or affected remains difficult to assess, with the numbers continuing to increase daily. The UN estimates that up to 100,000 are feared dead and more than 1.5 million are in need of assistance. To make matters worse, more strong rains are forecast for next week. About 24 million people — roughly 50% of the population — live in the cyclone-affected areas. Considering the season, a major crop loss is not envisaged but huge swathes of fertile agricultural land were inundated with salty water which will require significant time to bring back to normal.

There are enormous challenges involved in mounting a logistics operation of the scale required to deliver sufficient levels of assistance to affected communities. However, the major challenge to an effective response to this crisis is man made. The challenge is the reluctance of the Government of Burma to accept international humanitarian assistance. In the days after the cyclone, the Government refused to issue visas for international humanitarian workers and refused to allow humanitarian supplies to enter the country.

Almost two weeks after the cyclone, there is a very real risk of serious health problems among vulnerable communities, particularly as a result of Burmese Government-imposed delays in the provision of necessary aid. It is feared that malaria transmission will significantly increase and epidemics will occur in many areas. In addition, lack of access to safe drinking water and the near-total absence of sanitation in affected areas will increase the risk of diarrhoeal diseases, including cholera. The denial and impediment of access has compounded what was already a very severe natural disaster.

It was more than one week after the crisis before supplies seemed finally to be getting through, although the quantity is still nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the affected population. Even when supplies have arrived in the country, the Burmese Government has been curtailing their distribution, often insisting on taking control. This is despite the reality that, access permitted, the international humanitarian community has greater capacity and the necessary experience to do so effectively. The Government in Burma has also continued to enforce its very restrictive visa policy. Some aid workers who have managed to obtain visas have been turned back at the airport. Visas that have been issued have, in some instances, been for very short periods only, effectively rendering them useless. Delivery of humanitarian aid in such a crisis is a complex task and without experienced international staff, the delivery will not be as effective.

On Tuesday, the EU Presidency convened a special emergency meeting of the General Affairs Council to underline the severity of this crisis. It is noteworthy that the 11 September terrorist attack and the Asian tsunami were the last occasions that gave rise to the convening of such an extraordinary Council meeting. In its conclusions, the Council considered that without the co-operation of the authorities in Burma, an even greater tragedy is threatened. It fully shared the deep concern recently expressed by the UN Secretary General and expressed its support for any initiative, including in the UN bodies, that would help to meet the humanitarian needs of the Burmese people. It stressed its strong support for the efforts of the UN, the Red Cross-Red Crescent movement and NGOs to bring aid to the people of Burma and underlined the point that the effective delivery of aid must be monitored by expert humanitarian staff. While welcoming recent limited improvements on the ground, the Council called on the authorities in Burma to offer free and unfettered access to international humanitarian experts, including the expeditious delivery of visa and travel permits.

The Council also expressed support for the visit to the region by the European Commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis Michel, in his mission to seek progress from the competent Burmese authorities in ensuring access by humanitarian aid workers to the country and to the affected areas.

Ireland has been to the fore in calling for full and free access to the affected areas for relief supplies. Workers and Irish embassies in neighbouring countries have made representations seeking their assistance in getting access for the international relief effort. Ireland will continue to use its diplomatic influence to improve the access for both humanitarian supplies and workers.

Some of our European partners have raised the possibility of invoking the "responsibility to protect" initiative, agreed at the UN World Summit in 2005 as a means of intervening directly even without the consent of the Burmese Government.

We would support any initiative that would bring aid more effectively to those in need, but at this stage it appears very unlikely that the necessary agreement could be found within the Security Council to act in this manner. Frustrating as it is, there may be no practical alternative to continuing to press the Burmese Government to allow in both the necessary supplies and the necessary international expertise. The obstruction of the international aid effort by the Government of Burma is not acceptable. I call on it immediately to lift all obstacles to the delivery of urgent, life-saving assistance. Every day and every hour is critical. Thousands of lives can still be saved.

The Irish Government's response has been rapid and effective. The Government immediately made an initial pledge of €1 million for emergency relief. This will be channelled through established partners in emergency response, such as NGOs, UN agencies and the Red Cross. Clearly, we are ready to respond further. In addition to this direct support to the emergency response, Ireland is also providing support through its substantial annual contributions to two key international funds designed specifically to provide immediate finance in response to sudden on-set emergencies of this kind, namely, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF, and the Red Cross-managed Disaster Relief Emergency Fund, DREF. Both funds, which were established to make financial aid available to their respective organisations to facilitate rapid response to humanitarian emergencies, have already released significant amounts of money for this crisis. This year, Ireland is the sixth largest contributor to the UN's CERF, with a contribution of €22.6 million, and the second largest contributor to the DREF of the Red Cross, with a contribution of €2 million.

On Saturday, 10 May, we dispatched an airlift of essential humanitarian supplies from our stockpiles at the UN's humanitarian response base in Brindisi, Italy. The airlift, which was co-ordinated by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and shared with Norway, landed in Yangon on Sunday, 11 May. On board were large quantities of essential non-food supplies, such as plastic sheeting for temporary shelter, blankets, kitchen sets and mosquito nets, as well as tents, water tanks and water purification equipment provided by Norway. The supplies have been cleared and are to be distributed to affected communities on the ground. In addition, Irish supplies formed part of an earlier airlift last week shared with the Italian Government, which also pre-positions supplies in Brindisi. We are ready to make further shipments of our supplies if requested and access arrangements permit.

I have also asked that the rapid response corps be put on stand-by for early deployment. The corps is a roster of skilled and experienced volunteers who make themselves available to deploy at short notice to humanitarian emergencies. If requested, members of the corps will be deployed to work with our partners, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Food Programme and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. My officials remain in ongoing contact with our partners who have a presence on the ground in Burma and with those who are co-ordinating the response from Bangkok to obtain regularly updated information on the needs of affected communities.

The further tragedy of Cyclone Nargis is that it is a natural catastrophe piled upon the man-made catastrophe that has already engulfed the people of Burma, created by the ruling military regime. A country that was once the rice bowl of Asia has over many years been reduced to abject and desperate poverty in many of its regions by mismanagement, corruption and military offensives to root out ethnic and other political dissent. A country rich in natural resources is now one of the ten poorest countries in the world — its wealth in precious metals, stones, minerals and hardwoods plundered by the military. There is massive diversion of state resources towards maintaining the military elite, with 40% of the national budget spent on defence, while its health care system is ranked by the WHO as 190th out of 191 surveyed nations.

Chronic levels of inflation — notably a fivefold increase in fuel prices last August — sparked protests which were brutally put down by the military on 25 September.

The people of Burma have long made clear their demands for democracy, freedom, justice and economic security but these aspirations have been met by censorship, rejection, intimidation and brute force. The overwhelming victory of the democratic opposition party, the NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, in the 1990 elections was overturned by the military regime and opposition leaders. Anyone seen to be critical of the regime was imprisoned or otherwise silenced.

On 9 February 2008, the Burmese Government announced that it would hold a referendum on a new constitution in May, to be followed by multi-party democratic elections in 2010. The referendum is the fourth step in the regime's deeply flawed seven step road map to democracy. The previous step, drafting the new constitution, was a 14 year process, from which relevant political stakeholders, including the democratic opposition and representatives of ethnic minorities were excluded.

No real progress has been made in seeking to allay any of the international community's concerns that the road map process is a political tool to guarantee a permanent role for the military in the future governance of Burma. The decision of the Burmese Government to effectively ignore this major humanitarian disaster and to proceed in most of its territory with this already fundamentally-flawed referendum can only be deplored. Reports indicate that the regime has sought to push through the new constitution with violence, intimidation and vote-rigging. This referendum cannot be regarded as reflecting the real wishes of the people of Burma. It has done nothing to assist the long-term stability and democratic development of that country. Rather, by prioritising the referendum over aid distribution, the regime has put at risk hundreds of thousands of lives. Ultimately, the only sustainable solution to the political situation in Burma is credible dialogue on democratic reform with the opposition and the ethnic groups.

The Government continues to support the role of the UN Secretary General and that of his special envoy, Dr. Gambari, who was appointed after the crisis of last autumn. Dr. Gambari's good offices mission offers the best path to encourage the ending of the political crisis and achieving national reconciliation. So far, the Burmese authorities have not engaged seriously with the UN.

It is vital that they do so. Burma's neighbours, including ASEAN members and China, have a key role to play in encouraging the Burmese regime towards genuine dialogue and reform. Bilaterally, and through the EU, we continue to urge their proactive engagement in pressing the Burmese regime towards national reconciliation, dialogue and democracy. While some of Burma's neighbours did exert a more active influence than heretofore, particularly last autumn, this has not so far been as sustained or effective as it needs to be. Both Dr. Gambari and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have stressed the importance of tangible action by the Burmese regime, and have rightly made clear that the patience of the international community is running out. The Security Council should be engaged in efforts to find sustainable solutions to both the immediate and longer-term problems facing the country.

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