2006年VOA标准英语-Burma Asks Red Cross To Close Field Offices

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
27 November 2006

The International Committee of the Red Cross says the government of Burma has ordered the Swiss humanitarian¹ organization to close its five field offices in the country. The Red Cross says this effectively makes it impossible to carry out most of its assistance and protection work for civilians². Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from ICRC headquarters in Geneva.

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ICRC spokeswoman Carla Haddad tells VOA the government of Burma, also known as Myanmar, ordered the Red Cross to close its field offices in mid-October.

She said, "We have tried in the past month to re-establish meaningful dialogue with the government of Myanmar, to no avail."

"The last meeting took place on 17 November in Geneva, but until now and since this meeting there is no sign of the deadlock³ breaking," she added.

Burma's repressive government has faced mounting international criticism of its human rights record and failure to introduce democracy.

Since December 2005, Burma's government has refused to allow the Red Cross to visit prisoners.

The United Nations estimates Burma holds more than 1,000 political prisoners. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for more than a decade.

Haddad says the organization held back from making public the order to close the offices until every possibility of a resumption of discussions with the government had been exhausted⁴.

"At this stage, we are facing a difficult situation where the dialogue was completely interrupted," she said.

"And, we do hope there will be a signal from the government of Myanmar indicating a resumption of discussions so that we can carry out our work according to our established procedures applied⁵ worldwide," she continued.

The ICRC has been working in Burma since 1986. It provides food, water and sanitation⁶ to civilians who live in difficult conditions in border areas. It also provides some medical assistance.

The Red Cross says it has had to drastically scale down activities in recent months because of its increasing inability to do effective work.

Haddad says Burmese authorities have also told the Red Cross that it would not be allowed to resume visits to detainees.

She says those visits were halted in December 2005 because authorities insisted they be conducted with a government field escort present. She says this goes against standard Red Cross procedures that visits with detainees are held in private.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

4 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。