Civic organisations urge UN to keep a watch on rights situation in Myanmar

 

The civic organisations issued a statement containing their demands after 650 representatives from 256 organisations held discussions for three days.

The statement urged the government to give special consideration to women’s rights under the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and children’s rights under the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as the decisions of the UN Security Council on women’s rights specially protected in conflict areas as set out by resolutions 1325 and 1820. 

The statement also urged the UN to put pressure on the Myanmar government to pave the way for the civic organisations and the people to be involved in the reform process of the country.

“The decisions made by the UN Human Rights Commission are to be kept up. For instance, the UN should continue assigning the human rights special envoy to Myanmar. We would like to suggest that the UN continue to keep a special envoy in Myanmar until sometime in the future and this point is one of the decisions made by the civil society forum,” Thwin Lin Aung, a committee member of the organising forum said.

Quite in contrast, President Thein Sein, in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly and at the Asia-Europe Meeting held at MiCo Conference Centre in Milan, Italy on October 17, clarified on the current reform process and the human rights situation in the country. He urged the European Union to stop issuing its annual report on the human rights situation in Myanmar to the third committee of the annual UN General Assembly. 

Myanmar’s civic organisations urged international governments to take investment, development and armed conflicts into consideration in providing assistance and doing business and suggested that a “Do No Harm” policy should be practised.

Investors to Myanmar should make matters relating to their investments known to the public and the international governments should put pressure on Myanmar to follow its pledges. Advance negotiations should be made with local people before making investments in order to avoid any adverse impacts and violation of human rights. In doing so, international norms should be taken into consideration, the statement said.

International non-governmental organisations should continue providing assistance. They should avoid activities that could cause big problems while carrying out humanitarian work in accord with the standards of human rights. They should respect and recognise the civic role, capacity and equal rights. They should focus only on programmes resulting from coordination with local people rather than their own ones, the statement warned. 

Before releasing the statement, the organising members of civil society forum met with some diplomats in foreign embassies in Yangon on October 17.