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SPECIAL POSTING: : REPORTS TO THE U



Subject: SPECIAL POSTING: : REPORTS TO THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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The BurmaNet News: SPECIAL POSTING
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN MYANMAR, REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

ORAL STATEMENT, REPORT BY SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS IN MYANMAR
*****************************************************


United Nations General Assembly

A/54/499

Distr.: General 27 October 1999 Original: English

Fifty-fourth session Agenda item 116 (c)

Human rights questions: human rights situations and reports  of  special
rapporteurs  and representatives

Situation of human rights in Myanmar

Report of the Secretary-General

I. Introduction

1. The present report is submitted pursuant to paragraph 19 of General
Assembly resolution 53/162 of 9 December 1998, entitled "Situation of human
rights in Myanmar", in which the Assembly requested me to continue my
discussions with the Government of Myanmar on the situation of human rights
and the restoration of democracy in Myanmar and to submit additional
reports to the Assembly during its fifty-third session on the progress of
those discussions, and to report to the Assembly at its fifty-fourth
session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-fifth session.

2. As I have indicated in previous reports, I consider the role entrusted
to me by the General Assembly as being one of good offices, in contrast to
the fact-finding mandate assigned to the Special Rapporteur by the
Commission on Human Rights.

3. In implementation of resolution 53/162, my Special Envoy, Mr. Alvaro de
Soto, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, visited Myanmar
from 14 to 18 October 1999. During his visit, Mr. de Soto held
consultations with Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the State
Peace and Development Council; U Win Aung, Minister for Foreign Affairs;
Brigadier-General David Abel, Minister in the Office of the Chairman of the
State Peace and Development Council; and Colonel Tin Hlaing, Minister for
Home Affairs. He also held consultations with leaders of political parties,
namely, the National League for Democracy (NLD), including its
General-Secretary Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Shan Nationalities League
for Democracy; and representatives of some of the ethnic minority groups,
including the New Mon State Party and the Kachin Independence Organization.


II. Content of the discussions

4. My Special Envoy and I have raised with the Myanmar authorities and
other political figures the concerns of the General Assembly and the
Commission on Human Rights as reflected in the resolutions they have
adopted over the years, such as the restoration of democracy and human
rights in Myanmar, a dialogue involving the Government, political parties
-- particularly NLD -- and ethnic groups, freedom for political parties to
conduct normal political activities, the release of political prisoners,
the visit of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights,
access to prisoners by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
and last but not least, forced labour practices.

5. In our discussions with the authorities, my Special Envoy and I
reiterated that the best means to achieve democracy was by holding an
inclusive political dialogue with the various political forces within the
country, and in particular with NLD, which had won a majority of votes in
the 1990 elections. My Special Envoy sought to persuade the Government that
if it had been able to carry out negotiations with armed insurgent groups,
it should also be able to extend such talks to unarmed political parties.
He also conveyed to the authorities the widespread concerns of the
international community over the disproportionate and harsh sentences that
have been imposed on those who carried out peaceful political activities.
Such action, in his view, cannot but have a negative impact upon the
Government's goal of returning the country to democracy. He argued that
criticism of the Government, as long as it was expressed peacefully, was
part of the normal political life of all democratic Governments and should
not be grounds for curtailing the freedoms of expression and assembly. My
Envoy and I strongly urged the Government once again to allow a visit by
the Special Rapporteur so that he might report on the situation of human
rights on the ground, without having to rely on second-hand sources. While
acknowledging reports that the Government had suspended those provisions in
the British-colonial-era laws that allowed it to demand forced labour, Mr.
de Soto urged the Government to repeal those laws so that those who
perpetrated forced labour practices could be prosecuted by law.

6. I was very pleased to learn that ICRC had started to conduct visits to
prisons and other places of detention according to its standard procedures.
The Government assured my Special Envoy that it would continue its
cooperation with ICRC. On the release of political prisoners, the
Government argued that the persons concerned were not political prisoners
and were being released from time to time.

7. Regarding visits of the Special Rapporteur to Myanmar, the Government
repeated its displeasure at the reports written by him since he had
undertaken that function. In the Government's opinion, those reports were
biased and relied upon information provided by dubious sources.
Nevertheless, the Foreign Minister stated for the first time that the
Government would give "serious consideration" to a visit by a Special
Rapporteur, without indicating when such a visit might take place.

8. With regard to forced labour, the Foreign Minister stated that it was no
longer practised in Myanmar, since there was no longer any fighting waged
against insurgent groups and therefore there was no need to demand
porterage from civilians. He said that accusations of forced labour were
politically motivated. He indicated that the Government had taken action to
suspend the application of the Village Act and the Towns Act which allowed
for forced labour practices, without repealing them.

9. Concerning a dialogue with the political parties, ethnic groups and
other political actors, the Government stated that it was essential that
there should be sincerity and mutual respect in holding a dialogue, which
was the case in the Government's dealings with the ethnic groups. The
Government noted that NLD showed no sign of such sincerity and mutual
respect, thus making a dialogue with them "very difficult". The Myanmar
authorities said that one way of demonstrating this sincerity was by
showing a desire to "work constructively" instead of attacking everything
the Government did. NLD, for its part, expressed its continued readiness to
engage in a dialogue with the Government at any time.

10. The representatives of some ethnic groups which have ceasefire
agreements with the Government wanted to have a political dialogue with the
Government, but not at the National Convention, which some of the ethnic
groups were not participating in. They said that a more inclusive
conference needed to be held, with representatives of all ethnic groups,
large and small, as well as political parties and the Government. Many of
the ethnic representatives with whom my Special Envoy met expressed their
desire to see a political dialogue between the political opposition,
particularly NLD, and the ruling State Peace and Development Council.


III. World Bank participation

11. In a departure from previous missions, an official of the World Bank
accompanied my Special Envoy as his adviser with the purpose of assisting
him in explaining the cooperation that might be available to Myanmar from
the international financial institutions and the requirements that would
have to be met for those institutions to accede to it. This was done on the
basis of a draft report of the Bank, entitled "Myanmar: An Economic and
Social Assessment", to be published by the end of 1999, currently under
discussion with the Myanmar authorities concerned. Myanmar, according to
the World Bank, is trapped in abject poverty despite its rich resource base.

"Most poverty and human development indicators have lagged, placing Myanmar
behind its neighbours and most developing countries. Those outcomes are
attributable to flawed policies that afflict a twin blow: policy
distortions retard the ability of farms and firms to create income-earning
opportunities, and poor public finances prevent adequate response to the
needs of the diverse population ... failure to improve living standards of
the majority of the population ... could have devastating consequences for
poverty, human development and social cohesion in Myanmar."

12. The World Bank makes clear that in order for Myanmar to realize its
full economic potential and achieve levels of broad-based prosperity
enjoyed by other countries in South-East Asia, it will be necessary both to
set in place good domestic incentives and capable institutions, and to
secure external financing through high-quality foreign investment and
well-targeted Official Development Assistance. However, to obtain the
support of the international community for such external financing, Myanmar
will need to demonstrate the commitment to a broad-based reform policy that
would address not only the economic issues discussed in the Bank's report,
but also the other concerns of the international community which affect
their relations with Myanmar. As the Bank states in its report, "the United
Nations had adopted resolutions that convey these concerns as regards
political and human rights policies that will affect the degree of
international support for Myanmar"


IV. Observations

13. As I mentioned above, I welcome the visits by ICRC to prisons and
places of detention -- something which the General Assembly has repeatedly
asked the Government of Myanmar to allow to take place. However, I am
unable to report concrete progress on other issues which the international
community has raised time and again in successive resolutions of the
General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights. It is my very strong
desire to see the Government take action on these other issues as well. I
hope the Foreign Minister's indication that "serious consideration" would
be given to a visit by the Special Rapporteur will translate into the
setting of a date very soon, in time, I hope, for the submission of a
report to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-fifth session. 

*****************************************************

Statement by Mr. Rajsmoor Lallah, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of
Human Rights in Myanmar

[4 November 1999]

Mr. Chairman,

This is the fourth interim report that, as Special Rapporteur, I am
presenting to the General Assembly on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar. In spite of my persistent efforts, supported by those of the
Secretary-General and of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the
Government of Myanmar has not so far acceded to my request for a visit to
Myanmar in the discharge of my mandate. In this respect, Myanmar continues
to disregard the successive resolutions of the General Assembly and of the
Commission on Human Rights.

Mr. Chairman,

There is a welcome development in the co-operation between the Government
of Myanmar and the ICRC which I highlight in paragraphs 19 and 20 of my
report. Indeed, the resumption of its most valuable work by the ICRC is
particularly important in a situation where those expressing political
dissent or simply participating in normal political activities are singled
out for disproportionate and extravagantly long prison sentences, giving
rise to serious humanitarian concerns.

Mr. Chairman,

Again the humanitarian programmes put in place by several UN Agencies which
I deal with in Chapter V of my report no doubt alleviate in some measure
the condition of significant numbers of people who have been subject to the
policies and practices of the regime.  As I recommend in paragraph 51 of my
report, these programmes should be intensified and co-ordinated to ensure
that they focus on humanitarian assistance and should have regard to the
resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Commission on the
situation of human rights in Myanmar.

Mr. Chairman,

Except for the two developments which I have referred to, the situation of
human rights continues to raise most serious concerns.  Political
repression keeps growing and all means appear to be exerted to compel
members of the NLD, in particular to abandon their party or, at least, to
abandon political activities.  Towards this end, their liberty, physical
integrity and their basic freedoms are violated in a routine manner on the
strength of repressive laws and a compliant justice administration system.
There has so far been no real engagement in a genuine political dialogue as
has been urged by the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights.

Mr. Chairman,

In the ethnic areas on which I have reported, the forcible and large scale
displacement of the population would appear to remain a constant policy of
the Government of Myanmar.  This policy is accompanied by many violations
of basic rights from which the old, the weak, women and children are not
immune.  Further, this policy has resulted in a flow of people taking to
the jungles, living in precarious conditions, or else across the frontier.

Mr. Chairman,

I must draw the attention of the General Assembly to the action which the
International Labour Conference has felt bound to take in the face of the
failure of Myanmar to take appropriate measures to put an end to forced
labour.  I give an account of this in Chapter III of my report.  I must
recall that forced labour has been a subject which both my predecessor and
myself have extensively dealt with in our reports to the General Assembly
and the Commission on Human Rights.  I must also note that the conclusions
reached by the ILO coincide with those which my predecessor and I had
previously reached on the basis of extensive information which we had been
able to gather.  All I wish to say is that the practice of forced labour
cannot be justified by recourse to notions of culture or tradition and is
totally unacceptable under the generally accepted international norms and
the ILO instruments by which Myanmar is bound.

Mr. Chairman,

My experience over the last four years has convinced me of the very sad
fact. In a manner of speaking, and at the very worst, we are faced with a
country which is at war with its own people. At the very best, it is a
country which is holding its people in hostage. The time for hostility
towards the duly elected representatives of the people has clearly gone for
too long. However bleak the situation now is, there must always be room for
hope. I greatly hope that the Government of Myanmar will abandon its
hostile policies, and engage in a genuine political dialogue with the
legitimate representatives whom the people have elected in no uncertain terms.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman

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