NEWS - Australia Explores Rights Co

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Subject: NEWS - Australia Explores Rights Commission for Myanmar

Australia Explores Rights Commission for Myanmar

               Reuters
               02-AUG-99

               YANGON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Australia's human rights
               commissioner Chris Sidoti met government officials in
               Myanmar on Monday as part of a mission to study the
               possibility of forming an independent rights organisation
in
               the military-ruled country. 

               Sidoti, who arrived in Yangon on Sunday, met Interior
               Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing and other officials, said a
               government official who did not want to be identified. 

               A Western diplomat said that during his visit until
               Wednesday, Sidoti was also expected to meet members of
               the pro-democracy opposition, which is led by 1991 Nobel
               Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. 

               The idea of a rights commission was first proposed by
               Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer a year ago. 

               Downer raised the issue again during a meeting with
               Myanmar's Foreign Minister Win Aung in Singapore last
               week and said the commission envisaged would be similar
to
               one set up in Indonesia during the Suharto regime. 

               However, Downer said the Myanmar government had yet to
               make up its mind how such a body would work and added
               that Suu Kyi had expressed doubts that it would be
               independent. 

               Diplomats, dissidents and international human rights
groups 

               say the military government has been guilty of widespread
               human rights abuses, including mass arrests and torture,
               against political opponents since seizing power in 1988
by
               crushing a pro-democracy uprising. 

               The abuses, mainly against Suu Kyi's National League for
               Democracy and its allies, have led to the imposition of
               sanctions by the United States and the European Union and
               have been an embarrassment for Yangon's fellow members
               of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 


               Bangkok-based human rights activist Debbie Stothart, of
the
               the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, said she believed
               the government would try to exploit the visit and the
idea of a
               rights commission for its propaganda value. 

               "I would be ecstatic if the regime stops violating human
rights
               and allows an independent judiciary and the rule of law,"
she
               said. "Given that there's no rule of law and no trust in
the
               judicial system, it's a rather strange and bizarre
initiative." 

               However, she said it was important to try to take a
positive
               view of the possibilities the mission presented. 

               "If it leads to some kind of opening up in the mentality
of the
               military and they can start talking about the issue, then
that
               would be positive. But it's a bit like talking about a
mission to
               the moon when you can't even get the basics working."