Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy called on the UN Security Council on Monday to consider urgently the human rights and political situation in Burma and support the report prepared by former Czech president Vaclav Havel and retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The report, entitled “Threat to the Peace—A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma,” adopted a “peaceful approach” towards the Burma issue, said NLD spokesperson Myint Thein. It was based on good will and aimed to help solve the country’s problems peacefully, said Myint Thein—adding: “So we strongly urge all members of UNSC should take the report up seriously.”

The council currently has five permanent members with veto power—the US, Britain, Russia, China and France—and 10 non-permanent members who serve two-year terms and have no power to veto resolutions. The US has stated it wants to push for Burma to be placed on the UN Security Council agenda. China, however, has long opposed UN action because of its economic and geopolitical ties with Burma. Russia is believed to object because it’s worried such talks could backfire and lead to the discussion of human right in its Chechnya province.

Last Friday, the UN special human rights rapporteur for Myanmar [Burma], Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, called on the world community, and particularly Burma’s neighbors, to help find a constructive way out of the political deadlock. Pinheiro, a Brazilian human right expert, addressed a committee of the UN General Assembly for the last time, as his mandate expires next April. “I urge the international community to step up its assistance and not to retreat from supporting the people of Myanmar,” he declared.

Pinheiro has visited Burma six times in his four years in office, but the junta refused him entry to the country after his last visit, in November 2003.

The Burmese military government has condemned the Havel-Tutu report, saying it was “based on misinformation by a few remaining insurgents and foreign-funded expatriates,” and was an “attempt to discredit the government.”

Meanwhile Rangoon has announced that the next session of the National Convention will begin in December. The Convention, which is charged with drawing up a constitution leading to a general election, adjourned on March 31. It is being attended by more than 1,000 hand-picked delegates. The NLD is boycotting the sessions.

Some sources say only three of the proposed 16 chapters of a draft constitution have so far been approved. They point out that the regime’s so-called “road map” to democracy has no time frame or scale.

Amyotheryei Win Naing, a veteran politician in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy by phone today: “No one knows when the first step of the roadmap will finish.”

In a report last week on the National Convention, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said: “The loose mention of a referendum and political elections has not yet been clarified. The political transition process has become a long and winding road with no clear end in sight.”

Some Western governments and several human rights group have also dismissed the National Convention as a “sham.”