August 9: On the 17th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising in Burma Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has called for the Australian government to urge UN Security Council consideration of the plight of the Burmese people.

“The World Food Programme has found last week that the Burmese regimes actions are starving its own people. The Australian government must recognise the urgency of the plight of the Burmese peoples and urge the UN Security Council to address the issue,” Senator Nettle said.

“A UN report this weekend has identified dangerous levels of hunger in Burma where one in three children under five ”chronically malnourished,” with that figure rising to two in three in the border regions and has laid the blame for these appalling statistics at the door of the Burmese military junta.

“The Greens call on Alexander Downer to make a statement to parliament this week in response to the report from the World Food Programme on the Burmese situation, and detail the steps the government will take to help.

Mr James Morris, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), has just completed a tour of Burma and reported that ‘The humanitarian situation is serious, and it’s getting worse,”.

Mr Morris is the most senior UN official to visit Burma since pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was place under house arrest in May 2003.