Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I join the Leas-Chathaoirleach in welcoming the Minister to the House and congratulating him on his appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I offer my sympathies to the people of Burma and China on the tragedies that have befallen them over recent weeks. In China, in excess of 30,000 people were killed when an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude hit Sichuan province and in Burma, Cyclone Nargis left almost 134,000 dead with an estimated 2.4 million destitute. We can only imagine the horrors that face the survivors and the families devastated, and the struggle to rebuild lives in communities ripped asunder by these tragedies.

Many of us have rightly been critical of the regimes of both countries over their human rights records, and especially their treatment of minorities and their lack of democracy. However, let me put on record my praise for how China has dealt with its catastrophe and my strong criticism of the behaviour of the Burmese military. China reacted to its crisis with openness. It was willing to receive all the help and support offered by other nations, placing the rights of its people to survive above any sense of political and governmental pride.

Worldwide we have experts in the non-governmental sector who know how to deal with natural disasters, as the Minister stated. These are people who know from direct experience what needs to be done in the immediate aftermath of such disasters. They know from all too many past experiences how to assemble aid and get it to the people speedily, what health problems will arise for survivors and how quickly these problems surface. Faced with a disaster of biblical proportions, China acted courageously and immediately, and many who might otherwise have perished survived because of that swift action.

Would that the Burmese military had shown the same willingness to place the needs of their people above the ego of their regime. Sadly, they did not. The regime shut out the world at a time when it needed the help and support of other nations. It slammed the door on the non-governmental organisations which could have helped save lives and which so desperately wanted to do so. The staffs of those NGOs, who could have helped, are prepared for all that follows from such disasters — the spread of disease, the appearance of malnutrition and the emotional trauma of people losing whole families.

Two weeks on, we have a man-made calamity which resulted from what was a natural disaster. British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, perhaps summed it up best when he told BBC One's "The Politics Show" that hundreds of thousands of survivors were at risk. He stated: "A national disaster is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe of genuine epic proportions, largely because of what I would describe as the malign neglect of the regime." The Minister, Deputy Martin, stated something similar in his speech in the House, and I welcome those remarks.

The International Federation of the Red Cross has told us that the aid getting to the victims in Burma was nowhere near the level required. Almost two weeks later, with hundreds of thousands of people in a large part of the country facing a crisis which is growing deeper by the day, the Burmese military regime still refuses to allow aid workers in, leaving ships laden with aid in the seas off Burma waiting for permission to land. It is an appalling vista.

When a Sky News team managed to get to some victims, having circumvented the virtual news blackout the regime had imposed, their report now stands as a powerful indictment of the military regime. Their reports showed bloated bodies floating through the floodwaters and other horrific sights. They showed people, left to themselves by their uncaring government, having to throw ropes around the corpses and pull them away from populated areas. One old woman recounted how a military flight had dropped aid down to the hundreds below. The aid was four packs of noodles. It hardly could be called a token. It could even be called an insult. The people of Burma do not need insults. They need food, aid and medical supplies.

However, the Burmese regime knows all about insulting its citizens. Since 1962 the people of Burma have had to endure a brutal military dictatorship. It has long shown its contempt for the Burmese people. Mass murder of civilians to protect the power of the military has become standard conduct. Hidden behind the guise of a one-party state the military for decades ran the state as their own fiefdom, using its natural resources to line their own pockets while leaving millions in dire poverty.

When, in the first democratic elections in 30 years, the people of Burma elected the National League of Democracy to govern them under Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, winning 392 out of 489 seats in parliament, the military refused to hand over power, imprisoning Ms Aung San Suu Kyi for decades. She is still imprisoned.

The exploitation of the people of Burma by their military dictators has seen 800,000 subject to forced labour, leading to a threat from the International Labour Organisation to seek "to prosecute members of the ruling Myanmar junta for crimes against humanity" over the continuous forced labour of its citizens by the military.

Only last year, yet more protests against the dictatorship, this time by Buddhist monks, were brutally repressed. I recall the debate in this House on the situation in Burma after those protests. Perhaps it is hardly surprising that the Burmese military have been so willing to treat their own people with such contempt that they would not allow international NGOs to help the survivors in their desperate plight.

Recent reports suggest that the death toll may run to 140,000. The United Nations has projected that 1 million people may have been left homeless. The World Food Programme has stated that: "Some villages have been almost totally eradicated and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out." The World Health Organisation has reported outbreaks of malaria in the worst affected areas. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon expressed, "deep concern, and immense frustration, at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis". Ban called, "in the most strenuous terms, on the Government of Myanmar to put its people's lives first", and yet the military during those crucial early ten days would not let aid, either in terms of manpower or food, be delivered to its people.

The US military tell us that about 11,000 servicemen and four ships are in the region for a military exercise and could be harnessed to help, yet it was not until 13 May, ten days after the disaster, that the first US military plane carrying 14 tonnes of food and medical supplies was allowed to land.

NGOs, going on the record of Burma's military, were wary of handing over aid to the military. "The delivery of relief supplies can't be left entirely in the hands of Burma's abusive military, or aid simply won't reach those most in need," according to Mr. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. He also said: "Without independent monitors on the ground, we can't be sure the aid is reaching those most at risk." Those fears are justified, as Human Rights Watch explained. Human Rights Watch confirmed an Associated Press report in which high-protein biscuits supplied by the international community had been seized by the military, and low-quality, locally produced substitutes were delivered instead to communities in need. Even at times of crisis the Burmese military cannot resist trying to steal from its citizens.

Human Rights Watch also reports that CNN footage showed a US aid plane being unloaded by Burmese men wearing T-shirts with a "USDA" logo. The logo is that of Burma's Union Solidarity Development Association, which is a mass-based governmental organization deeply implicated in political repression and human rights abuses in Burma. Burma's Government often tried in the past to impose co-operation with the USDA on international humanitarian agencies operating in the country. The International Red Cross code of conduct stipulates that aid must be given impartially, calculated on the basis of need alone, without adverse distinction of any kind. It also states that unimpeded access to affected populations is fundamental, while those providing assistance are expected to ensure appropriate monitoring of aid distribution and to conduct assessments regularly of the impact of disaster assistance.

The code of conduct also sets out recommendations for governments of disaster-affected countries. Governments should permit proffered assistance and facilitate rapid access to disaster victims. They should waive visa requirements or ensure they are rapidly granted. Relief supplies and equipment should be allowed free and unrestricted passage and should not be subject to usual import licenses or taxes. Given its record, it is hardly surprising that the Burmese military seems so unwilling to obey these basic rules on humanitarian aid. I hope that China, which has recently witnessed its own natural disaster, will now see the Burmese junta in a different light and exert the strongest possible pressure on it to allow all international agencies into the country to administer aid to all who need their help and support.

I would like to take this opportunity to compliment the Irish NGOs and departmental officials who are co-ordinating aid relief from Bangkok. Let us hope that much needed aid such as food, water and medical supplies will eventually reach the impoverished people of Burma, who are persecuted on a daily basis by this cruel and savage regime. Let us hope they will eventually see democracy in their country. We spoke about this regime only a couple of months ago in this House, and we hope that the aid will eventually reach these people.