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Statement by Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
59th Session of the Commission on Human Rights, Item 9
Geneva, 31 March 2003
Ms. Chairperson,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my honor to
introduce my latest report on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar, which
covered a period up to 10 December 2002, and to present an update
in light of subsequent developments,
including my visit to the country from 19 to 24
March 2003.
The purpose of this visit to Myanmar
was two-fold: to update my assessment of issues
that I had looked into during my previous missions, such as the continued
detention of
political prisoners, the exercise of basic
political freedoms, the administration of
justice, the food and health situations and to pursue discussions with Myanmar
authorities regarding my proposal to
assess allegations of human rights violations in
ethnic minority areas, including Shan State.
This was to be a
shorter mission than previous ones, for which reason I intended to
work only in Yangon.
However I was obliged to interrupt my mission on the third
day due to an
incident involving the standard operating procedures relating to the
conduct of my
fact-finding missions. Since my first mission to Myanmar, I have
sought and received
from the Myanmar authorities repeated assurances that there
would be no adverse
interference with the conduct of my proceedings. These
included the respect
of confidentiality with regard to interviews with persons in
detention and the collection of other
relevant information. I was shocked when while
interviewing prisoners in the Insein Central Prison
(on Saturday, 22 March), I found a
functioning listening device placed under the table in the room that I was using
for
conducting my interviews. I immediately
interrupted my work, informed the
Myanmar authorities accordingly and
announced my departure from the country.
The Government expressed regrets,
apologized and pledged to investigate the incident
and take action against those found
responsible. I reiterated my modus operandi that
all persons cooperating with me should
be free from any form of intimidation,
harassment or punishment before, during and after my missions and the
authorities
reaffirmed their commitment to this
fundamental principle. My first concern must
always be for the security of
individuals whom I interview. I intend to carefully
monitor the situation of all those I spoke with on my mission.
My activities
before the suspension of the visit included meetings with the Secretary-1
of the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), the Home Minister, the Labor
Minister and the Deputy Foreign Minister. I also met with the General Secretary
and
members of the Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy
(NLD), the United Nations (UN) country team,
the diplomatic community,
international non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), recently released political prisoners
and journalists. In the Insein Prison 9 prisoners had
been interviewed before the incident.
Finally, I went to
the mausoleum of U Thant. At this very moment the war
kills and
hurts civilians as well as soldiers. This
Commission has the obligation to remind the
human costs of war. Let us echo here the
words of the Secretary General of the
Amnesty International that "by
showing readiness to uphold the rights of the Iraqi
people, the UN and its member States
may help to redeem the authority of
international law. The moment of truth
is upon us".
The small gesture
of laying flowers at U Thant's tomb was the least I
could do to
honor those victims and to praise all the
efforts for peace made by that former and the
present Secretary General of the UN and the
High Commissioner for Human Rights.
My meeting with
the SPDC Secretary-1 was again very frank and constructive. He
expressed his agreement and support for my proposal to assess allegations of
human
rights violations in ethnic areas, including in Shan State. He clarified that
the exercise
should be considered
as an assessment with a purpose to establish the truth. He
invited me and my
team to visit Shan State, to collect information and to study the
situation first hand and pledged his support. He acknowledged that in some
cases
allegations had been found true and that
action had been taken against perpetrators,
however, I have yet to receive any details of
such actions. He invited me to work out
the practical modalities of the
exercise with Brig.- Gen. Than Tun
(Head of
Department, Office of Military
Intelligence) who was also present at the meeting. As
this technical follow up meeting most
regrettably could not take place due to the
interruption of my visit, it was
agreed that I would pursue my discussions on the
matter in the coming weeks. This
agreement regarding the proposed assessment is a
positive response to one of my
proposals made during my previous visit in October
2002.
I am pleased to
note progress with regard to another related proposal that I made to
the SPDC, which was
to consider allowing an adequate presence of the International
Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) in all conflict areas of the country so it could
assess the
humanitarian situation on an on-going basis, report confidentially to the
authorities and work out with them appropriate measures to ensure the security
and
protection of the civilian population
wherever needed. Since last November the ICRC
has been allowed to extend its presence in sensitive areas in Shan State and
has started
visiting areas of concern. I trust the
cooperation with the ICRC will continue to
develop and strengthen.
With regard to the
first visit ever to Myanmar by Amnesty International, the
Secretary-1 stated
that it was an initial step in a process that would continue.
Other positive
steps in the area of building confidence at the international level are
human rights
workshops sponsored by the Australian Government, the assurances to
facilitate the
operational environment of international NGOs working in Myanmar
and to continue cooperation with my mandate and ILO. While certainly welcome,
these initiatives
are no substitute for real advancement on substantial human rights
issues where the progress has regrettably
been very limited and not at the pace or level
that I had expected.
According to the latest information
provided by the Home Minister, there remain only
101 detainees (94 male and 7 female) who are
members of political parties. 90 of
them are members of the NLD, the
remaining are from 6 other political groups
(named in government records as
Democratic Party for a New Society, Student's
Mon National Democratic Organization).
I reiterate my
earlier understanding concerning the definition of political prisoners.
They are not limited
to politicians only; in fact, the majority of them are students,
teachers, lawyers and other individuals arrested arbitrarily under security
laws in
connection with a
peaceful exercise of their basic civil and political rights and
subjected to judicial
procedures falling short of the basic requirements for trial
fairness and due
process. A recent case in point is the sentencing in late October 2002
to 14 years in prison of a law student
who staged an individual, silent, peaceful protest
in front of the Yangon City Hall by deploying
a flag of the banned student union.
Another instance is the sentencing to 7 years in prison of a 75-year old
academic who
also staged an individual peaceful protest
in the same location calling for political
transition and national
reconciliation. I continue to estimate the number of such
persons to be between 1200-1300.
With regard to the
releases of political prisoners, the SPDC's count as
of 20 March
2003 is 515 during 2000-2003 (12 in 2000,
105 in 2001, 335 in 2002, and 63 since the
beginning of this year). The release of the
largest batch of 115 prisoners announced
on 21 November 2002 had been
confirmed and I was provided with a full list of
persons released since my last October
visit. Compared with last year, the pace of
releases has markedly decreased (with
only 1 reported release in January, 14 in
February, and 48 in March on the eve
on my visit to the country, of which only 9
appeared to have been political prisoners).
This appears to
indicate a linkage between releases and the lack of progress in the
political dialogue, suggesting that releases may be being used as bargaining
tools
between the SPDC and
the NLD. If this is true, it is unacceptable and cruel,
especially for elderly prisoners, some of
whom are in their seventies and whose poor
health is aggravated by long and harsh
prison sentences. Concerns relating to the risk
that released prisoners may provoke political unrest also seem to be a factor
in the
decision to release them or not. The
"risk assessment" appears to be mainly done on
the basis of the evaluation of the
prisoners' behavior made by the authorities. All of
the 515 releases were made under the
provisions of Section 401 (1) of the Myanmar
Code of Criminal Procedure, which makes the release conditioned by a
pledge not to
undertake any activity detrimental to public
order. To date, 5 political prisoners are
known to have refused the offer of
such a conditional release. In a country with such
a strong military and security apparatus, I can hardly see how 1200 or
so prisoners can
threaten national security.
In response to my
repeated insistence to release immediately and unconditionally all
the remaining
political prisoners, the Secretary-1 reiterated that releases - of elderly,
sick and women prisoners, pregnant or with young children, on humanitarian
grounds
- would continue. I welcome this
commitment and look forward to learning of further
releases of political prisoners.
I was also encouraged to learn, although I was unable to assess the situation
first hand,
about some improvements with regard to the situation of Muslim population
(about
850,000 persons) in
discriminatory practices on the basis of
their ethnicity and religion, which has led
twice to a large refugee outflow. From 1991 to 1993 about 250,000 Muslim
residents
fled to Bangladesh, representing the largest
population movement from Myanmar
since 1978-1980. While 233,000 of the
refugees (94%) have now returned to
issues of concern such as denial of
citizenship which makes them de facto stateless;
practices of forced labor and forced
contributions; restrictions on freedom of
movement and demolition/ restrictions
on maintenance of places of worship.
According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
which has been
conducting extensive field monitoring in the Northern Rakhine
State,
visiting an average
of some 400 locations every month and sharing its findings
regularly with the
Myanmar authorities with a view to developing a constructive
dialogue regarding
the issues of concern, the authorities had been receptive and this
cooperation has led to notable progress in some areas. These included the
issuance of
temporary residence documents to some 350,000 persons; alleged reduction in the
incidence of forced labor and forced contributions between January 2001 and
January
2003, with some
areas along the border with Bangladesh still continuing to be
affected; and
cessations of demolitions of Mosques and madrasa
(Islamic schools)
with varying degrees of restrictions relating to the maintenance of Mosques
from
places to places.
Freedom of movement has continued to be restricted in the context
of increased
militarization in the area. Muslims in other parts of Rakhine
State have
informed me that they too are subject of severe restriction of movement.
Given
the complexity of issues involved in the
response from UN
agencies merits consideration, especially since several UN
agencies (and also a
number of international NGOs) already operate there. The
UNHCR's work combining grass-roots assistance
with human rights field monitoring
in the area could
also be replicated by other agencies, particularly those with
operational presence
on the ground.
Moreover, from the UNHCR's involvement in the return of refugees in Northern
Rakhine State and its experience in
other countries, it is clear that the extension of
UNHCR's presence on the eastern border of Myanmar
could over time and in parallel
with progress towards
national reconciliation contribute to the creation of conditions
for the orderly, voluntary and safe
return and reintegration of Myanmar refugees from
Thailand. The continuation of unresolved,
longstanding refugee problems is a
challenge, as is the number of
internally displaced persons, and this feeds the conflict
and instability in the country. The expanded UNHCR's
presence could thus also make
some contribution to the peace and
confidence building in Myanmar.
Poverty is
particularly acute and is affecting all strata of the
including the
military and hitting the hardest the most economically and socially
vulnerable segments
of society such as people living in remote areas, the rural
landless and the
semi-urban slum dwellers. At a time of extraordinary increase in
costs, including in
the price of rice and other staples, the poor are struggling to adopt
coping mechanisms and becoming
increasingly vulnerable. The implementation of
the policy relating
to the paddy quota system, for instance, has reportedly led to
widespread abuses of
power by local authorities against poor farmers in several
townships in Yangon, Sagaing,
Mandalay and Ayeyarwaddy Divisions. Farmers have
reportedly been intimidated, threatened,
arbitrarily arrested, had their land
appropriated or have been forced to
sell properties in order to be able to meet the
standard paddy quota.
Malnutrition is rising and currently
over a third of Myanmar children under five are
moderately or severely under-weight. These
and other humanitarian issues are
diverse and complex and their
interplay has created a very precarious situation. A
solution lies in addressing their root causes, such as existing policy
approaches and
institutional frameworks, the macro-economic environment, level and quality of
basic
social services, civil society participation
and lack of stability, peace and security,
transparency and accountability. The declining economy and recent problems in
the
banking sector are contributing to an already complex economic situation.
In response to the
evolving humanitarian situation in Myanmar, the UN country team
is completing a review of humanitarian
conditions. Within the broader context of the
UN's efforts to promote national
reconciliation in Myanmar, the output of this
exercise will provide a strategic
framework for an integrated UN humanitarian
response. The review will aim at
offering the most up-to-date analysis of the basic
needs of the population at the present stage of political transition;
raising awareness of
the current situation; influencing policies;
mobilizing resources; strengthening
partnerships with stakeholders; promoting cooperation across the
political and social
spectrums in Myanmar and in doing so, identifying the best ways of meeting the
basic
needs of the people.
UN agencies
increasingly work in partnership with local and international NGOs.
The work of these
organizations, which provide essential humanitarian assistance
directly to the population, should be
facilitated. Unnecessary administrative obstacles
continue to hamper their ability to operate. This issue was raised with the
authorities
during earlier missions and in previous
reports, without significant results. I drew the
attention of Secretary-1 to this
matter during my last meeting. He instructed the
Department of International Organizations
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
receive complaints from international
NGOs with a view to addressing them.
I am convinced that real progress in
the realization of all human rights will not come
about unless genuine progress towards national reconciliation occurs. It is a
serious
setback that dialogue between the Government
and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has not
yet taken place at the highest level,
despite the considerable optimism of the
international community following the
lifting of the remaining restrictions on Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi's movement on 6 May 2002. The NLD has been trying to
start a
dialogue but this will be possible only if the SPDC is prepared to cooperate.
Efforts
must be made to address this situation, as there is a huge expectation on
behalf of all
the peoples of Myanmar that
dialogue, leading to a durable national reconciliation and
democratization, will take place. More
than ever, I think, it is essential that the
Special Envoy of the Secretary General
is able to go to Myanmar as soon as possible
so that he can continue to facilitate the resumption of dialogue.
In this context, I have appealed to the SPDC to give serious consideration to
renewed,
visible and convincing human rights initiatives. Demonstration of such a
renewed
commitment to human rights is much needed at
this time, particularly to prevent that
the unfortunate incident during my last mission will not in any way
hinder the efforts
which had been made in the past two years between the Government of Myanmar and
the Commission on Human Rights. I hope that
the authorities will come forward with
a full indication of measures taken
with regard to this incident. Should the action
taken by the authorities prove
inadequate, I will be obliged to reassess my
commitment to this mandate.
My letter of 22
October 2002 recommends to the SPDC a number of concrete steps
that may be
considered to improve the political climate and pave the way for a
credible dialogue
towards the stated objective of democratic transition. These relate
to the immediate and
unconditional release of political prisoners, refraining from new
arbitrary arrests,
the initiation of a review of current legislation criminalizing the
exercise of the
basic rights and the lifting of remaining restrictions on freedoms of
expression, information, movement, assembly and association, particularly those
that
continue to hamper
the ability of political parties and groups having concluded
ceasefires with the SPDC to conduct legitimate, peaceful activities. It is also
high
time that the SPDC
take bolder steps to begin to reform the system of administration
of justice and to
build mechanisms of public accountability for abuses committed by
State officials. I hope that the authorities will give a serious consideration
to these
initiatives.
It is more than urgent that the current
deadlock be overcome and that the human rights
situation in Myanmar improves. It is only in
this way that progress towards peaceful
reconciliation, dialogue and
cooperation will take place. This would be beneficial to
all the peoples of Myanmar, which is
desperately needed at this time.