United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
c/o Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017

Dear Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

I am writing to draw your immediate attention to the plight of the people of Burma (Myanmar) and to the seven brave individuals who, right now, right outside your United Nations Headquarters door, have been staging a hunger strike since 21 September in solidarity with the people of Burma.

The hunger strikers symbolize their fellow Burmese who are starving every day. Says one striker, Han Lin of Ithaca, New York: The people of Burma are invisible to the people around the world. Nobody hears about them, nobody knows anything about the terrible conditions in which they live. We want to draw attention to them so that the United Nations will take a stand against the military dictatorship now oppressing them.

Please, Mr. Annan, please, pays attention. These hunger strikers are putting their very lives on the line to ensure that you act. What they, and I, want is for the United Nations Security Council to put the issue of Burma on the table.

The leader of the Burmese people, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been incarcerated by the military dictatorship off and on for 15 years. The human rights of the Burmese people have been trampled by this dictatorship. It is time for the world to stop ignoring this terrible tragedy. The United Nations is the only hope for the Burmese people to reclaim their freedoms, their democracy, and their dignity.

I beg you to place this issue before the Security Council before it is too late for the brave men of the Long March and Hunger Strike. Please reply and let me know what you intend to do. I eagerly await word that you have taken this basic action to save the people of Burma.