With a nascent national human rights mechanism and freshly stated commitments to freedom and the rule of law, Myanmar stood poised to end its persistent patterns of rights violations and to consolidate democratic gains, said a top human rights expert at a Headquarters press conference today.

“This is a key moment in Myanmar’s history,” said Tomas Ojea Quintana, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Mynamar, adding, that there was a real opportunity to deepen the commitment to democracy. The country had taken a number of steps towards fulfilling its stated intention to transition towards democracy, including by forming a National Human Rights Commission and releasing some of Myanmar’s long-detained “prisoners of conscience”. But it remained to be seen if Myanmar would take tangible steps to further the transition, he warned.

Mr. Quintana briefed correspondents following the presenting his annual report yesterday to the General Assembly’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), during which he had focused on developments following Myanmar’s legislative elections of 7 November 2010 and the formation of its new Government in April 2011 (see Press Release GA/SHC/4015).

Referring to his report, Mr. Quintana said the new Myanmar administration, led by President Thein Sein, had set out a number of commitments to reform — including safeguarding human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for the rule of law and an independent judiciary, respect for the role of the media and the protection of social and economic rights, among others. It had also decided to grant release and grant amnesty to a significant number of prisoners, including an estimated 200 “prisoners of conscience”, who had widely been described as political detainees.

He said the Government’s first session had addressed a number of “important and sensitive issues” relevant to the promotion and protection of human rights. Those had included land tenure rights and land confiscation, the registration of associations and trade unions, and discrimination against ethnic minorities, including the predominantly Muslim Rohingya people. The second session, in August 2011, had set up the National Human Rights Commission and other State bodies.


However, despite those strides, the Mr. Quintana noted that certain patterns of “gross and systematic violations of human rights” still existed in Myanmar, and the Government’s expressed commitments had largely not materialized through concrete actions. In drafting his report, he had undertaken several visits to Myanmar and had met with a wide array of Government officials, representatives of ethnic political parties, civil society representatives and even prisoners themselves.

He said he had focused his efforts on four key issues: the functioning of State institutions; the situation of ethnic minorities; the overall human rights situation; and truth, justice and accountability. He had also made a series of recommendations, he said.


“I called on the new Government to intensify its efforts to implement its own human rights commitments and to fulfil its international obligations”, he said, adding that, even after the important establishment of Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission in August, there was still no way to verify that body’s efficiency or independence. Among other challenges addressed in his report were the need to address Myanmar’s longstanding social, economic and development challenges, particularly in conflict-affected and ethnic minority-dominated border areas.

Responding to several requests for further information on his meetings with prisoners of conscience, Mr. Quintana said that he had been granted access to Insein Prison in Yangon in August 2011. He had maintained, as a precondition for the visit, the need for privacy and independence from Government officials. A United Nations interpreter had also been employed for all dialogue with prisoners. Despite the recent release of some prisoners, many — including the leaders of political movements who had been imprisoned for more than two decades — remained incarcerated. “I am pushing the Government to release all remaining political prisoners by the end of the year,” he stressed.


Given the creation of the National Human Rights Commission, another correspondent wondered if the Special Rapporteur would continue to reiterate his previous calls for a commission of inquiry into the patterns of human rights violations in Myanmar. “I keep receiving allegations that [violations] are taking place”, he confirmed, emphasizing that ensuring justice and accountability was a critical way to deter such abuses. However, his calls for a commission of inquiry had been made as just one recommendation among many possible ways for the country to achieve justice, he said; instead, the national human rights body had been created.


In that connection, he again reminded correspondents that it was too early to assess the independence or effectiveness of that mechanism. According to his report to the General Assembly, he had recommended that the Commission fully comply with the Paris Principles and be equipped with the necessary resources, capacity and technical assistance, with support from the international community and particularly the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). He hoped to engage with the Commission and meet with its members, and to present, in his report to the Human Rights Council in March 2012, preliminary assessments as to how the new body could play a role in ensuring justice, accountability and access to truth.

Credit: UN news Center

Tomas Ojea Quintana spent five days in Burma, the first time he's been given a visa since February last year. 

He says there is currently a window of opportunity for change, but thinks there have been few concrete signs of meaningful reform. 

Mr Quintana once again called for political prisoners to be released and warned any exiles who take up the invitation of the President's invitation to return to the country may face the risk of arbitrary arrest.

22 August 2011 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he is encouraged by last week’s meeting between Myanmar’s President U Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with both figures voicing satisfaction with discussions aimed at finding common ground on issues that would benefit the country. 

The United Nations chief expects that Friday’s meeting will be followed by further steps towards a sustained high-level dialogue focused on national reconciliation, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson. 

“Whether these and other recent developments will move Myanmar forward depends on how all parties choose to work with each other,” said the statement. “It is in the national interest that they seize the opportunity to extend and accept conciliatory gestures to achieve durable peace and unity.” 

United Nations human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana arrived in Burma on Sunday for a five-day visit to assess the human rights situation in the country.

Quintana is scheduled to meet with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon on Wednesday. He last visited Burma 18 months ago, but was not allowed to see the Nobel peace laureate, who was then under house arrest. Subsequent requests to enter the country had been denied until now.

The Argentine lawyer will also meet with government officials in the administrative city of Naypyidaw and attend a session of the new parliament on Monday.

Quintana will present preliminary observations at a press conference in Rangoon on Thursday. His full report on the visit will be presented to the UN General Assembly later this year.

credit : VOA Blog

A United Nations investigator says he will travel to Burma next week to evaluate progress on human rights since a nominally civilian government took office this year.

Tomas Quintana told VOA's Burmese service Tuesday that the details of his trip are not complete but that his main objective is to assess the human rights situation in the context of the new government. He said he hopes he will be permitted to talk to anyone in Burma who has an interest in meeting him.

Quintana noted he has been calling since 2009 for the Burmese government to release its political prisoners, who are estimated to number more than 2,100. He told VOA it is the “first and basic right” in any democracy for people to be able to express themselves freely.

Burma held its first elections in 20 years in November and at the end of March, a new government took office replacing a long-ruling military junta. However, opposition parties were unable to compete fairly and the new government remains dominated by past and present military officers and their allies.

Quintana has galvanized critics of the Burmese government by proposing that the United Nations establish a commission of inquiry to look into suspected crimes against humanity perpetrated by Burma's leaders.

The United States, Canada, Australia and 12 European Union countries have already spoken in support of such a commission.

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“The Secretary-General welcomes the meeting today in Yangon between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Minister for Social Welfare U Aung Kyi,” it said. “He notes that the parties have expressed satisfaction at their positive talks and their intention to cooperate further on matters beneficial to the people of Myanmar.”

“In line with the international community’s expectations and Myanmar’s national interest, the Secretary-General hopes such efforts will continue with a view to building mutual understanding through genuine dialogue. He also calls upon the Government of Myanmar to consider early action on the release of political prisoners in that country,” it said.

Vijay Nambiar, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Myanmar, visited the country earlier in the year, spoke with Government officials, met with Ms. Suu Kyi and reported to the security council that although he welcomed some recent releases of political prisoners, he “reiterated the UN’s call for the urgent release of all political prisoners,” a UN spokesperson said at the time.

While the initial sentence reductions and resulting release of some political prisoners is a small step in the right direction, it has been short of expectation and is insufficient, he said.

Last month Ms. Suu Kyi called on the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) to expand its activities in Myanmar and help promote social justice there.

In a video message to the International Labour Conference of the ILO in Geneva she said: “In its attempt to eliminate forced labour and the recruitment of child soldiers, the ILO has inevitably been drawn into work related to rule of law, prisoners of conscience and freedom of association.”

Ms. Suu Kyi, an opposition leader put under house arrest for almost 15 years, was released on 13 November last year.
Source : UN Center