Guest Comments by the Burma Partnership

NEAR BURMA -- Recently the United Nations special rapporteur on Burma's human-rights situation, Tomas Ojea Quintana, held an interactive dialogue with the Human Rights Council following his progress report to the UN General Assembly. He painted a stark picture of deprivation of social, economic and cultural rights.

Again Burma's military regime proved unwilling to face facts and to address widespread human-rights violations, credible allegations of crimes against humanity and criticisms of its political reforms.

Quintana repeated calls for genuine national reconciliation via an inclusive process and the prompt release of political prisoners. He noted continued serious human-rights violations and that the new military-dominated parliament urgently needs to address the widespread, systematic abuses: "This new government must sooner, rather than later, confront the need for truth, justice and accountability." It's "essential for human-rights investigations to be conducted in an independent, impartial and credible manner without delay."

Burma UN ambassador Thant Kyaw stuck to the military regime's stubborn refusal to acknowledge or discuss the truth about human rights in Burma. While citing the regime’s belief that Quintana's mandate is “inappropriate”, Thant Kyaw ignored calls for credible, independent investigations. He repeated claims that the 2010 elections were free and fair.

Despite reports that Burma's next budget allocates 24 per cent of spending to the military and just four per cent to education, Thant Kyaw called such criticisms “misleading”. He repeated the regime's willingness to work with Quintana, although the authorities last granted him access to the country in early 2010.

Civil-society representatives at the dialogue challenged the Burma delegation's empty assertions with hard facts. Human Rights Watch noted the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians into Thailand due to post-election armed conflict in Karen State. The Asian Legal Resource Centre pointed to its continued documentation of arbitrary detentions, torture and forced disappearances.

Representatives of Canada, France, Japan and Britain were among those expressing concern that the 2010 elections were unfair and lacked credibility. They repeated calls to release all prisoners of conscience.

These events show the Burma military regime's continued refusal to acknowledge abuses and to improve the situation. The new parliament, with 80 per cent military-backed members and military appointees, can't and won't protect human rights.

Therefore, members of the international community must continue to combat the military regime's false claims by fully investigating and documenting human-rights violations. They also must press for national reconciliation and democratic reforms.

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