New Delhi (Mizzima) – A United Nations human rights expert on Thursday announced he will make another visit to military-ruled Burma, whose human rights situation remains “alarming”.
Tomás Ojea Quintana, the UN’s point man for human rights in Burma, during a press conference said the situation of human rights in Burma remains “alarming with a pattern of widespread and systematic violations,” while announcing he will make yet another visit to Burma at the end of November.
The Argentine lawyer said, “I urge the government to take prompt measures to establish accountability and responsibility with regard to those widespread and systematic human rights violations.”
He also called on the Burmese junta to release all political prisoners including Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi before the elections in 2010 in order that the polls are inclusive.
“I told the government that these elections should be fair and transparent, that freedom of speech, movement and association should be guaranteed in the country, and of course that all prisoners of conscience should be released before those elections,” Quintana told a news conference in New York on Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, the Special Rapporteur informed a General Assembly committee dealing with social and humanitarian issues, also known as the Third Committee, that the judiciary in Burma is not independent, sighting evidence of gross impunity and widespread systematic violations.
Quintana, in addressing the country’s legal woes, urged the Burmese government to request technical assistance in reforming the judiciary, because their seven-step road map to democracy would be incomplete without the judiciary’s independence.
However, Burma’s UN representative, Thaung Tun, told the Committee that the UN Rapporteur’s report was “less than objective”, saying anti-government groups were given a sympathetic ear while the junta’s willingness to work with the envoy went largely unacknowledged.
"It is regrettable that allegations of human rights violations from exiled groups have found their way into the report. These allegations should be taken with a grain of salt," Thaung Tun said.
"We find it perturbing, troubling, that the report focuses principally on selected individuals and groups, instead of engagement with the Myanmar [Burma] authorities to grow cooperation," he added.
He further said he is deeply disturbed over the envoy’s critical remarks concerning Burma’s judicial system and the elections to be held in 2010, reaffirming that systematic steps have been taken to hold the elections as scheduled and emphasizing there should be no doubt that the poll will be held in a free and fair manner.
Quintana will be visiting Burma for the third time since his appointment as the Special Rapporteur to Burma in May 2008.
