The British Embassy, in cooperation with the Czech Embassy, hosted a screening of the documentary film, Burma VJ on 20 October. About 30 Slovak Government representatives, NGOs, journalists and diplomats attended the screening, which was followed by a debate on Burma led by the NGOs People in Need and People in Peril.

Burma VJ is an award winning documentary depicting dramatic events captured by reporters' cameras in the country.  Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country.  Armed with small handycams the Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages from the streets of Rangoon.  Their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media.  The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been carefully put together and at once, they tell a much bigger story. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.

Burma remains one of the poorest countries in the world, and faces a range of humanitarian challenges which are compounded by the absence of fundamental rights, and continued lack of progress towards democracy.
Military governments have ruled Burma since 1962.  In 1988, pro-democracy protests were brutally crushed by the military.  Thousands of demonstrators were killed.  In 1990 national elections were held and the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won the elections with an overwhelming majority. The result was ignored by the regime.

Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest. She has been detained for more than 13 of the last 19 years. Suu Kyi and her two companions were arrested on 14 May 2009 and sentenced to 18 months house arrest on the Tuesday 11 August 2009.  The UN and EU have already condemned her trial and detention as unlawful. We believe this is a political sentence designed to prevent her from taking part in the elections the regime planned for 2010.

It is estimated that over 2,100 political prisoners remain in detention. The regime has resisted all calls for an accurate accounting of those held, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has not been permitted to visit any political prisoners since 2005.

The UK has been working for many years to secure the release of all political prisoners, a credible transition to democracy and respect for human rights in Burma.

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