SLORC TO APPEAR BEFORE CRC JAN 97

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxx]

                  SLORC TO APPEAR BEFORE THE 
            UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
 
 
The Government of Myanmar will appear before the Committee on
the Rights of the Child on 15 January (10am-1pm, 3pm-6pm) and
16 January (10am-1pm) 1997. The meetings will be in Geneva at
the Palais des Nations. The meetings are public, and the press
is likely to take an interest. 
 
The government delegation will answer questions from the
Committee about Myanmar's implementation of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, which it signed in 1991. It is the
only human rights treaty SLORC has itself acceded to. This is
the first time SLORC has appeared before the Committee. The
questions will be based on the Government of Myanmar's report
to the Committee (CRC/C8/Add.9 of 18 September 1995), the
pre-sessional consultations of last June when a number of
non-governmental organisations and Burma experts briefed the
Committee, other documentation received by the Committee, and
discussions with SLORC representatives.
 
Though the Committee's intention is to act in a consultative
role, sitting down with governments to advise them on the
implementation of the Convention, SLORC is likely to get a
rather rough ride in January. This is because the Convention
is a fairly thorough human rights instrument, and the
situation of human rights in Burma, if we are to believe UN,
governmental and non-governmental observers and Burmese
refugees, is among the worst in the world.
 
 
David Arnott, Burma Peace Foundation
 
Geneva 28/Oct/96