6 April 2005

Mme. Benita Ferrero-Waldner
Commissioner External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy
European Commission
Rue de la Loi 170
1049 Brussels

Fax + 32 2 29 81 299

Burma Day 2005

Dear Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner,

In their letter to you dated 5 April 2005, the General Secretaries of the ICFTU, ETUC and WCL quote a passage from an e-mail which I sent on 3 January 2005 to a Mr Eric Bruce Johnson subsequently posted on certain internet discussion groups.

The quotation in their letter is not accurate. What I in fact wrote was:

I heard Bob Geldorf today lamenting the Western obsession with human rights and democracy, whose absence is the least of their concerns for those who survive on less than a US$ 1 a day. In Burma, and you might even agree with me, the real issue is the relationship between the nationalities, far more important to the future peace and prosperity of the country than the luxury of hr & d . Not much democracy apparent in the cease-fire areas.

The difference between what the three General Secretaries say I wrote, and what I in fact wrote, is my deliberate use of the abbreviation hr & d in precisely the context set by Bob Geldorf. It is the very issue of survival on less than US$ 1 which makes human rights and democracy a veritable luxury in that desperate context.

By lifting one part of the concept hr and d, expanding it to human rights and then reproducing it in the phrase in their letter alleging that he.. has described human rights in Burma as a luxury, I think that any fair-minded person would agree that the three General Secretaries have distorted the clear meaning of the phrase in the context in which I used it. They should apologise for this distortion.

Yours sincerely,

Derek Tonkin

Derek Tonkin - Heathfields, Berry Lane, Worplesdon, Guildford, Surrey GU3 3PU UK Tel: + 44 1483 233576 - Fax: + 44 1483 233161 - Mobile: + 44 7733 328832 E-mail: d.tonkin@btopenworld.com