.
The UN human rights to visit Myanmar
The UN human rights to visit Myanmar
reported by : MIR RAKIB-UN-NABY
The United Nations expert on human
rights in Myanmar said on Monday (22 october, 2007), he would visit the reclusive military-ruled Asian country next month to look into its fierce crackdown on pro- democracy protests.
U.N. special rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro welcomed the junta''s decision to let him in, calling it "an important sign that the government wants to engage again in constructive dialogue with the U.N. and the Human Rights Council."
The specialists told that, they believed last month''s suppression of demonstrations, which were led by Bhuddist monks in several major cities in the impoverished Southeast Asian state, killed many more people than officially acknowledged.
In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday (20 october), which was made public on Monday, Foreign Minister Nyan Win suggested that Pinheiro visit Myanmar before a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) opening on November 17 in Singapore.
It will be his first visit to the country in four years.
The U.N. announcement Tuesday that the government was willing to move up Ibrahim Gambari''s return to early November instead of mid-November came a day after the world body announced the junta had agreed to a visit by U.N. human rights investigator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who had been barred from Myanmar since 2003.
Myanmar''s government has been strongly criticized for sending troops to quash peaceful protests, initially led by students and then by Buddhist monks, in late September. The military junta said 10 people were killed, but diplomats and dissidents say the death toll is likely much higher. Thousands were arrested, and the hunt for participants is reportedly continuing.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent Gambari to Myanmar after the government crackdown, and he met earlier this month with junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe. He also met twice with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But Gambari has so far failed to bring about a dialogue between the two sides.
The U.N. Security Council and the secretary-general had been pressing the government to move up its invitation for Gambari to return in mid-November, so he can try to promote efforts at national reconciliation and moves toward democracy.
The U.N. Human Rights Council had urged an immediate investigation of the rights situation in Myanmar at an emergency session on Oct. 2 where it condemned the crackdown on the demonstrators. Romanian Ambassador Doru-Romulus Costea, who chairs the 47-nation rights council, told Myanmar''s U.N. envoy in Geneva that Pinheiro would be able to travel "at any time should the government of Myanmar give its approval."
Since the crackdown, Myanmar''s ruling military junta has faced international pressure, including from its main ally China, to make concessions to democracy activists led by Nobel prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
It allowed a visit by U.N. Myanmar envoy Ibrahim Gambari at that time and is being pushed to admit him again quickly.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told in Ottawa, "We have to find out what has happened to these people who demonstrated. Where are they?
Pinheiro said he planned to fly to Bangkok on October 29 and visit Yangon by early November.
Myanmar''s generals say 10 people were killed in September''s crackdown. The protests were the biggest challenge to 45 years of unbroken military rule in the former Burma since 1988, when some 3,000 protesters were believed killed by soldiers.
"That number is quite low," Pinheiro said of last month''s official death toll. "I am convinced that the number of the prisoners and the deaths are larger than the numbers estimated by the government," he said.
He said he has received conflicting reports on the number of people who were detained.
A 19-page report Pinheiro plans to present to the Unitesday estimates Myanmar held nearly 1,200 political prisoners as of July 27, up from 1,100 in 2005.
Pinheiro cautioned that Myanmar''s hand-picked commission announced last week to draft a new constitution could founder unless it includes Suu Kyi''s National League for Democracy.
"If the commission is composed just of government people the problem will continue. How are you going to make a decision about democracy without the participation of the NLD?"
The military has run the country since 1962, refusing to hand over power even after the National League of Democracy overwhelmingly won a general election in 1990.
reported by : MIR RAKIB-UN-NABY
Published: October 24, 2007
More in International Relations
More summaries by bdreporter
More