FN-resolution om Burma

27. februar 2002
FN's generalforsamling har vedtaget en resolution om Burma. Resolutioner som denne er aldrig så klare i sprogbruget, som man kunne ønske sig, men der er dog mange gode ting ved denne resolution. Bl.a. har man for første gang omtalt sociale, kulturelle og økonomiske rettigheder. Burmas etniske minoriteter er direkte nævnt og alt i alt er Burmas eksilregering, NCGUB, yderst tilfreds.

United Nations General Assembly Fifty-fifth session Third Committee Agenda item 114 (c) Human rights questions: human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America: draft resolution Additional Co-sponsors: Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Poland, USA, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Malta, Slovenia Situation of human rights in Myanmar The General Assembly, Reaffirming that all Member States have an obligation to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms as stated in the Charter of the United Nations and elaborated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (1) the International Covenants on Human Rights(2) and other applicable human rights instruments, Aware that, in accordance with its Charter, the United Nations promotes and encourages respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all and that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government, and therefore expressing its grave concern that the Government of Myanmar has still not implemented its commitment to take all necessary steps towards democracy in the light of the results of the elections held in 1990, Recalling its resolution 53/162 of 9 December 1999,and Commission on Human Rights resolutions 1992/58 of 3 March 1992,in which the Commission, inter alia, decided to nominate a special rapporteur with a given mandate, and resolution 2000/23 of 18 April 2000,(4) in which the Commission decided to extend for one year the mandate of its Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Still gravely concerned at the deterioration of the human rights situation in Myanmar, especially at the unabated suppression of the exercise of political rights and freedom of thought, expression, association and movement in Myanmar, as reported by the Special Rapporteur, and deeply concerned that new obstacles have been placed on Aung San Suu Kyi and other National League for Democracy members, Also gravely concerned that the legal system is effectively used as an instrument of oppression and at the increasing intimidation and detention of lawyers, Recognizing that the systematic violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights by the Government of Myanmar have had a significant adverse effect on the health and welfare of the people of Myanmar, Noting with interest the two recent visits to Myanmar by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General and the cooperation extended by the Government of Myanmar in that regard, Deeply regretting the failure of the Government of Myanmar fully to cooperate with the relevant United Nations mechanisms, in particular the Special Rapporteur, who still has not been invited to Myanmar, despite assurances by the Government of Myanmar last year that they would seriously consider a visit, 1. Expresses its appreciation to the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Myanmar for his interim report,(5) and calls upon the Government of Myanmar to implement fully the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur; 2. Urges the Government of Myanmar to cooperate fully and without further delay with the Special Rapporteur, and to allow him, urgently, without preconditions, to conduct a field mission and to establish direct contacts with the Government and all other relevant sectors of society, thus enabling him fully to discharge his mandate, 3. Notes with satisfaction the continued cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, allowing the International Committee to communicate with and visit detainees in accordance with its modalities of work, and hopes that the programme will be pursued further: 4. Deplores the continuing violations of human rights in Myanmar, including extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, enforced disappearances, rape, torture, inhuman treatment, mass arrests, forced labour, including the use of children, forced relocation, and denial of freedom of assembly, association, expression and movement, as reported by the Special Rapporteur: 5. Expresses its grave concern at the increasingly systematic policy of the Government of Myanmar to persecute the democratic opposition, National League for Democracy members, sympathizers and their families, and ethnic opposition parties, and at the use by the Government of intimidatory methods such as arbitrary arrest and detention and abuse of the legal system, including harsh long-term prison sentences, mass rallies and media campaigns, which have forced many to refrain from exercising their legitimate political rights: 6.Urges the Governme4nt of Myanmar to cease, without delay, all activities aimed at preventing the free exercise of internationally recognized human rights, including freedom of association, assembly, movement and speech, and in particular to remove all restrictions on the freedom of movement of Aung San Suu Kyi’s and other National League for Democracy members and on their freedom to communicate with the outside world: 7. Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to release immediately and unconditionally detained political leaders and all political prisoners, including journalists, to ensure their physical integrity, and to permit them to participate in the process of national reconciliation: 8. Expresses its concern that the composition and working procedures of the National Convention do not permit either members of Parliament-elect or representatives of the ethnic minorities to express their views freely, and urges the Government of Myanmar to seek new and constructive ways to promote national reconciliation, and to restore democracy, through, inter alia, the establishment of a time frame for action: 9. Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar, taking into account the assurances it has given on various occasions, to take all necessary steps towards the restoration of democracy, in accordance with the will of the people, as expressed in the democratic elections held in 1990 and, to that end, without delay, to engage in a substantive political dialogue with political leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and representatives of ethnic groups and, in that context, notes the existence of the Committee representing the People’s Parliament: 10. Notes with grave concern that the Government of Myanmar has failed to cease its widespread and systematic use of forced labour of its own people and to meet all the three recommendations of the International Labour Organization on that issue: this failure has compelled the International Labour Organization strictly to limit further cooperation with the government and has prompted the International Labour Conference to adopt, subject to certain conditions, a number of measures to secure compliance by the Government of Myanmar with the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry established to examine the observance of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No, 29): 11. Takes note of the recent visit by the technical cooperation mission of the International Labour Organization to Myanmar and the cooperation extended to the mission, while awaiting the result of the mission: 12. Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar fully to implement concrete legislative, executive and administrative measures to eradicate the practice of forced labour, in conformity with the relevant recommendations of the commission of Inquiry: 13. Welcomes the reopening of most university courses but remains concerned that the right to education continues to be a right that is exercised only by those willing to refrain from exercising their civil and political rights and concerned at the reduction in the length of the academic year, the division and separation of the student population to distant campuses, and the lack of adequate resources: 14. Deplores the continued violations of human rights in particular those directed against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, including summary executions, rape, torture, forced labour, forced portering, forced relocations, use of anti-personnel land mines, destruction of crops and fields, and dispossession of land and property, which deprives these persons of all means of subsistence and results in large-scale displacement of persons and flows of refugees to neighbouring countries, thus causing negative effects for these countries, and an increasing number of internally displaced persons: 15. Urge the Government of Myanmar to end the systematic enforced displacement of persons and other causes of refugee flows to neighbouring countries and to create conditions conducive to their voluntary return and their full reintegration in conditions of safety and dignity, and to allow the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel to assist in the return and reintegration process: 16. Also deplores the continuing violations of the human rights of women, especially women who are refugees, are internally displaced or belong to ethnic minorities or the political opposition, in particular forced labour, trafficking, sexual violence and exploitation, including rape, as reported by the Special Repporteur: 17. Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to implement fully the recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in particular the request to prosecute and punish those who violate the human rights of women, and to carry out human rights education and gender-sensitization training, in particular for military personnel: 18. Deplores the recruitment of children as soldiers, in particular children belonging to ethnic minorities, and strongly urges the Government of Myanmar and all other parties to the hostilities in Myanmar to end the use of children as soldiers: 19. Expresses its concern at the growing incidence of HIV/AIDS infection and urges the Government of Myanmar urgently to address this issue which will have a serious long-term impact on the development of the Union of Myanmar, and to ensure that the health system receives sufficient funding to enable health workers to meet the rights of all people to the highest possible standard of health care: 20. Expresses its grave concern at the high rates of malnutrition among pre-school-aged children, which constitute serious violations of their rights to adequate food and the highest attainable standard of health, and may have serious repercussions for the health and development of the affected children: 21. Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to ensure full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including economic and social rights, and to fulfil its obligation to restore the independence of the judiciary and due process and to end the impunity of and bring to justice any perpetrators of human rights violations, including members of the military, and to investigate and prosecute alleged violations committed by government agents in all circumstances: 22. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the visit of his Special Envoy to Myanmar, endorses the appeal of the Special Envoy for the initiation of a process of dialogue that would lead to national reconciliation, and supports his efforts to achieve such a dialogue: 23. Requests the Secretary-General to continue his discussions on the situation of human rights and the restoration of democracy with the Government of Myanmar, to submit additional reports to the General Assembly during its fifty-fifth session on the progress of these discussions, and to report to the Assembly at its fifty-sixth session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-seventh session on the progress made in the implementation of the present resolution: 24. Decides to continue its consideration of this question at its fifty-sixth session. Adopted by consensus at 5:30 p.m. on 8th November, 2000 Co-sponsored by (39) countries --00-- What UN General Assembly Resolutions Mean (“Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar” – a resolution adopted by consensus at the 55th Session of the UN General Assembly) Every year since 1991, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly has been discussing the situation of human rights in Burma and adopting resolutions and recommendations by the General Assembly with regard to the ongoing human rights violations by the Burmese military junta. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions by nature are not legally binding but they do bear the weight of moral authority and provide justification for the international community to exert pressure on the Burmese military regime to bring about change in Burma. There has been a growing concern by the international community over the deteriorating situation in Burma. The country has become a top priority on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly. The regime has only to blame itself for becoming isolated and without a friend to defend its position at General Assembly sessions. It fails to cooperate with relevant UN mechanisms, particularly with the UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur, and continues to make allowances for the human rights violations in Burma. Another factor that contributes to the regime’s loss of credibility in the international arena is its repeated irrational excuses and lies to justify its crimes in the country. Resolutions adopted by consensus annually for the past nine years underscore the fact that the international community is not swayed by the regime’s excuses and that it is unhappy over the way political, economic, social, and human rights issues are being handled by the regime. The resolutions also indicate that the international community wants to see a political settlement and peaceful change in Burma through dialogue. The resolution passed on 8 November this year was the strongest ever of the Burma resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly in terms of language and subject matter. The UN General Assembly not only raised questions about the violations of civil and political rights but also the deprivation of economic, social, and cultural rights. With regard to the regime’s crackdown on the National League for Democracy, the General Assembly concluded that the regime’s persecution of the democratic opposition was not ad hoc but a “systematic” perpetration. It urged the regime to remove all the restrictions against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD members. At every UNGA session the regime claims that steps were being taken gradually to transform Burma into a democratic society and that the National Convention process was a crucial step towards achieving that goal. UN missions that the NCGUB delegation comes across express their doubts about “disciplined democracy” – a term the regime uses to describe the system the generals are trying to install. The General Assembly was also critical of the composition of the regime’s National Convention and the restrictions on freedom of expression imposed on the delegates to the convention. The substance of this year’s resolution is that the old language on National Convention was juxtaposed with a new clause, which urges the regime to seek new and constructive means to promote national reconciliation and restore democracy. It also noted the need for “a time frame for action.” In other words, the General Assembly was expressing its lack of confidence in the regime’s National Convention and that it was impatient over the regime’s delaying tactics through rhetoric and excuses which are never followed by action. The National Convention lost its legitimacy at home since the NLD walked out from the process. The new clause in the UNGA resolution on the National Convention means the process has also lost “external legitimacy” as the international community has indicated that it cannot accept the National Convention as an appropriate means of pursuing democracy. Operative Paragraph 14 in the UNGA resolution also shows a growing concern of the international community over intensifying human rights violations particularly against “ethnic minorities.” The General Assembly concluded that “large-scale internal displacement” was the result of a “systematic” policy being pursued by the regime and it criticized the regime for depriving “ethnic minorities” of all means of subsistence. The excuse that the Burmese military likes to give is that its first priority is to provide food, shelter, and clothing to the people and that civil and political rights of the people cannot yet be fully guaranteed at the present time of transition. In reality, no real effort has been made by the regime to halt the deteriorating economic and social conditions of the people during the 12 years of military rule. This negligence has caused alarming social consequences which UNICEF has termed as a “silent emergency.” This is highlighted in the UNGA resolution which remarked that systematic violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights have had a significant adverse effect on health and welfare of the people. The UNGA expressed grave concern over the growing incidence of HIV/AIDS and high rates of malnutrition among pre-school-aged children and also criticized the regime for the violation of rights of women and children, including the recruitment of children as soldiers. The UN Special Rapporteur submitted a report to the UNGA regarding Burma and many of the findings were incorporated into the resolution. The rapporteur noted that the absence of respect for rights pertaining to democratic governance is at the root of all the major violations of human rights in Burma. Some of the points cited by the UNGA were the regime’s failure to halt its widespread and systematic use of forced labor which has compelled the International Labor Organization to take action, the lack of independence of judiciary and due process of law, which provided the opportunity to perpetrators of human rights to enjoy impunity, and the fact that the legal system was effectively being used as an instrument of oppression by the rulers. Realizing that the only way to correct the deteriorating socio-economic and political conditions in Burma is through a process of national reconciliation, the 55th Session of the United Nations General Assembly urged the regime to restore democracy and promote national reconciliation through a substantive political dialogue. In this regard, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General will be continuing to explore ways to resolve the political problems in Burma through dialogue. The UN General Assembly extended the mandate of the UN Secretary General to monitor the progress of the situation in Burma. UN members have come to an agreement on the problems and the approach that the United Nations should take to resolve the issues in Burma. It is a matter of time before democracy comes to Burma. But, the time that will take for that to happen will depend on how individual member states actively support UN efforts to translate their visions into concrete results. Burma UN Service Office November 13, 2000 New York


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