Responding to pleas from the international community and the US Campaign for Burma, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon made a two-day trip to Myanmar on July 3 to broker the release of political prisoners by the ruling junta. Following in the footsteps of the 40 or so failed UN envoys that came before him, Ban was unable to secure any concessions from Burmese officials. He also enraged the international community by commending the junta’s head, General Than Shwe, for his “commitment to moving [the] country forward.”

The US Campaign for Burma, a member-based organization that has been calling for an end to military rule there, spearheaded a massive campaign to get Ban to sit down with the regime. Campaign organizers asked its members to send emails to Ban urging him to visit Myanmar, and collected signatures from 112 former presidents and prime ministers in a petition that was printed in The New York Times earlier this year.

Although numerous UN envoys failed to produce any results, the campaign was hopeful that a visit by the Secretary General would “show whether UN visits to Burma, without Security Council action, were enough.” Ban reportedly called on Burmese officials to release all political prisoners and protect voter rights, but got no response. Ban was also denied a visit with detained Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi–who has been held in custody off and on for the past 19 years despite being popularly elected to the country’s highest office in 1990.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown–who reportedly speaks to Ban about Burma on a weekly basis–urged the Secretary General not to visit without first securing concessions from the junta beforehand. In the lead up to the trip, there was some hope that Ban would be able to broker the release of Suu Kyi, a hope that was quickly squashed upon his arrival in Yangon. Myanmar-watchers are fearful that Ban’s visit will only lend legitimacy to the ruling party and the staged elections to be held there in 2010.

With Ban’s failure, it is unclear what, if anything, the UN can do to improve conditions in Myanmar. The US Campaign for Burma is now calling upon the UN Security Council–the only organ allowed to pass binding legislation–to set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate human rights abuses by Burmese leaders. Similar to bodies that have been setup in Yugoslavia and Darfur, the commission would be responsible for investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity. President Obama has been sent a letter signed by 55 members of Congress to bring such a proposal before the Security Council for discussion, though it is unclear how Burmese-ally China will vote on the measure.

photo credit: World Economic Forum’s Flickr photostream (creative commons)