Former US first lady Laura Bush called for new international pressure on Myanmar in order to force its military leaders to stop human rights abuses.
"With UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon planning to visit Burma this summer, it is crucial that he press the regime to take immediate steps to end human rights abuses, particularly in ethnic minority areas," the spouse of former president George W. Bush wrote in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post.
"There have been 38 UN resolutions condemning these abuses, yet the horrors continue unabated," she pointed out. "Under the junta's brutal rule, too many lives have been wasted, lives whose talents could have helped all of Burma prosper."
Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, is being held in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after American John Yettaw swam to her lakeside house earlier this year. She faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention since the ruling generals refused to recognise the landslide victory of her National League for Democracy party (NLD) in 1990 elections.
Bush hails Aung San Suu Kyi's "continued example of civil courage," saying that it reminded Americans of the desire of people around the world to live in freedom.
"We should all share her hope -- and add our voices to those who risk so much to protest tyranny and injustice in Burma and beyond," Bush said, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
