A U.S. Senator says he hopes a recently released report highlighting abuses in Burma will encourage the United Nations to address the country's humanitarian situation.
In a statement issued Friday, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell from the southeastern U.S. state of Kentucky said the situation in Burma poses what he says is "an immediate danger to the Burmese people and the entire region."
He reiterated a call for the United Nations Security Council to discuss the tragedies that have befallen the Burmese people.
Senator McConnell cited a report released last month that said conditions in Burma were far worse than those in seven other nations, including Afghanistan and Rwanda, where the United Nations has taken action.
That report was commissioned by former Czech president Vaclav Havel and retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu. U.S. officials have said they want to bring Burma before the Security Council to find ways of pressing the junta to reform.
