TROCAIRE, the Catholic Third World agency, has begun its annual Lenten appeal with a call for Western governments to focus more on human rights abuses in developing countries.
It expects to raise over £4 million in the six-week appeal.
The Trocaire chairman, Bishop John Kirby, said the abuse of human rights was at the root of almost all the problems facing the developing world. In many countries the level of political oppression made embarking on development projects "simply a fruitless exercise".
He pointed to Burma as a military-run state with one of the worst human rights records.
"Democracy has been smashed, political leaders detained, and the population increasingly shackled by a system which promotes slave labour and child labour to develop its infrastructure."
It was "scandalous" that the international community had ignored the plight of the Burmese. When it came to action which would have an impact - such as the imposition of trade sanctions - Britain and France voted against these because of their extensive business interests.
Trocaire has introduced a write-in campaign calling on people to urge the Government to "support sanctions. It also wants the Government to support a tourist boycott of Burma.
Mr Sein Win, the prime minister of the Burmese government in exile, will visit Ireland at Trocaire's invitation next month.
This is the 24th year of the Trocaire Lenten appeal, which has raised over £130 million. This year the agency aims to raise slightly more than the £4 million collected in 1996.
Collection boxes are distributed through Catholic churches and schools to 1.1 million homes across the country.
Bishop Kirby acknowledged that the deteriorating security situation in Rwanda was causing serious problems for the aid agencies. Trocaire was reviewing its involvement in the country following the killing of a number of aid workers in recent weeks.
He referred to the "forgotten" civil war in Sudan which has claimed a million lives in the past 15 years. Appalling human rights abuses had been inflicted on the population of southern Sudan, where the Islamic government based in the north of the country was using starvation as a weapon of war.
Bishop Taban Paride, from the diocese of Torit in southern Sudan, called on Ireland to "use its influence in Europe and at the UN to become a voice for the silent, suffering people of Sudan".
He said the international community tended to overlook the problems of Sudan, assuming it was an Islamic country. Yet only 60 per cent of the population was Muslim and many of these were being forced to adhere to the interpretation of Islam demanded by the fundamentalist government.
