Bangkok - A United Nations commission of inquiry should be set up to address Myanmar's human rights abuses which have not stopped under the new government, a senior UN official said Monday.
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, said the Myanmar military has continued to commit widespread human rights abuses in areas with ethnic minority insurgencies along the border with Thailand, which he visited last week.
'These abuses include land confiscation, forced labour, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence,' Quintana said.
Quintana has not been issued a visa to visit Myanmar since March 2010, when he suggested an inquiry.
His latest assessment follows the November 7 election won by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party. Quintana said he would continue to push the UN General Assembly to set up a commission at its next session in October.
'A commission of inquiry is an option, and I'm not dropping it,' Quintana told a press conference.
The UN has launched 50 commissions of inquiry in its history, including a special probe of Myanmar labour rights abuses conducted by the Intenational Labour Organization (ILO) several years ago.
Although the ILO report failed to stop forced labour in Myanmar, it did pressure the government to allowing the organisation to set up an office in the country, Quintana said.
He said the new parliament is too weak institutionally to address the complex issue of human rights abuses in areas controlled by ethnic minorities fighting the government for six decades.
'These democratic institutions are very new and I see some positive signs in them but it is too early for them to function effectively,' he said.
Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 to 2010, and the current government is run by either former or serving military men.
Quintana also criticized the government's 'amnesty' of thousands of prisoners last week, noting that it had only commuted sentences by a year and included only a handful of political prisoners among those released.
There are an estimated 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar jails, of whom some 55 were released last week.
'I would like to see a concrete and time-bound plan announced by the government for the systematic release of all prisoners of conscience,' Quintana said.
Source:http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1640844.php/UN-envoy-says-inquiry-needed-over-rights-abuses-by-Myanmar
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, said the Myanmar military has continued to commit widespread human rights abuses in areas with ethnic minority insurgencies along the border with Thailand, which he visited last week.
'These abuses include land confiscation, forced labour, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence,' Quintana said.
Quintana has not been issued a visa to visit Myanmar since March 2010, when he suggested an inquiry.
His latest assessment follows the November 7 election won by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party. Quintana said he would continue to push the UN General Assembly to set up a commission at its next session in October.
'A commission of inquiry is an option, and I'm not dropping it,' Quintana told a press conference.
The UN has launched 50 commissions of inquiry in its history, including a special probe of Myanmar labour rights abuses conducted by the Intenational Labour Organization (ILO) several years ago.
Although the ILO report failed to stop forced labour in Myanmar, it did pressure the government to allowing the organisation to set up an office in the country, Quintana said.
He said the new parliament is too weak institutionally to address the complex issue of human rights abuses in areas controlled by ethnic minorities fighting the government for six decades.
'These democratic institutions are very new and I see some positive signs in them but it is too early for them to function effectively,' he said.
Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 to 2010, and the current government is run by either former or serving military men.
Quintana also criticized the government's 'amnesty' of thousands of prisoners last week, noting that it had only commuted sentences by a year and included only a handful of political prisoners among those released.
There are an estimated 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar jails, of whom some 55 were released last week.
'I would like to see a concrete and time-bound plan announced by the government for the systematic release of all prisoners of conscience,' Quintana said.
Source:http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1640844.php/UN-envoy-says-inquiry-needed-over-rights-abuses-by-Myanmar
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