UNCHR: 1998 RESOLUTION ON BURMA

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This is the text of the resolution adopted by consensus (i.e.
without a vote) by the UN Commission on Human Rights on 21
April 1998
*********************
 
UNITED
NATIONS
 
Economic and Social Council
Distr. LIMITED
 
E/CN.4/1998/L.81/Rev.1
20 April 1998
 
Original:  ENGLISH
 
 
 
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty fourth session
Agenda item 10
 
 
QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL
FREEDOMS, IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE
TO COLONIAL AND OTHER DEPENDENT COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES
 
Australia*, Austria, Belgium*, Bulgaria*, Canada, Costa Rica*
Cyprus*, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia*, Finland*, France,
Germany, Greece*, Hungary*, Iceland*, Ireland, Italy, Latvia*,
Liechtenstein*, Lithuania*, Luxembourg, Netherlands*.  New
Zealand*, Norway*, Poland, Portugal*, Romania*, San Marino*,
Slovakia*, Slovenia*, Spain*, Sweden*, Switzerland*, United
States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland:  draft resolution
 
 
          1998/...  Situation of human rights in Myanmar
 
The Commission on Human Rights,
 
    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 as elaborated
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
International Covenants on Human Rights and other applicable
human rights instruments, 
 
    Aware that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
states that the will of the people shall be the basis of the
authority of government, 
 __________
 
     *  In accordance with rule 69, paragraph 3, of the rules
of procedure of the functional commissions of the Economic and
Social Council.
 
GE.98 12229  (E)
      Mindful that Myanmar is a party to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on the
protection of victims of war, 
 
    Recalling previous resolutions of the General Assembly and
the Commission on Human Rights on the subject, most recently
Assembly resolution 52/137 of 12 December 1997 and Commission
resolution 1997/64 of 16 April 1997, 
                                        
 
1. Welcomes:
                                        
 
(a) The report of the Special Rapporteur (E/CN.4/1998/70) and
the report of the Secretary General (E/CN.4/1998/163); 
                                        
(b) The cooperation by the Government of Myanmar with the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and international non governmental organizations with respect
to the voluntary repatriation and reintegration of returnees
from Bangladesh, and takes note of the role of the United
Nations Children's Fund in the promotion in Myanmar of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child;
                                        
(c) The accession of the Government of Myanmar on 22 July 1997
to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women; 
                                        
(d) The Secretary General's meeting with Senior General Than
Shwe, Chairman of the State peace and Development Council and
Prime Minister, and the visits to Myanmar by the Special Envoy
of the Secretary General in May 1997 and in January 1998, for
the purpose of discussions with the Government and with Aung
San Suu Kyi and other political leaders;
                                        
(e) The remission of sentences for some long-term prisoners
announced by the Government of Myanmar in December, and calls
for this to be widened to include prisoners imprisoned for
their peaceful political activities;
                                        
(f) The holding of the Party Congress of the National League
for Democracy in September 1997 and subsequent meetings
marking Myanmar's National Day, Independence Day and Union
Day;
                                        
 
2.  Takes note of the contact, despite its limited nature,
between the Government of Myanmar and the National League for
Democracy, but deeply regrets the failure of the Government of
Myanmar to engage in a substantive political dialogue with Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders, including
representatives of ethnic groups;
     
 
3. Expresses its deep concern:
                                        
(a) At the continuing violations of human rights in Myanmar as
reported by the Special Rapporteur, including extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions and enforced disappearances,
torture, abuse of women and children by government agents,
arbitrary seizures of land and property, violations of freedom
of movement of people and goods, and the imposition of
oppressive measures directed in particular at ethnic and
religious minorities, including systematic programmes of
forced relocation, and the widespread use of forced labour,
including work on infrastructure projects and as porters for
the army;                                        
 
(b) At the severe restrictions on the freedoms of opinion,
expression, assembly and association, the restrictions on
citizens' access to information including censorship controls
on all forms of domestic media and many international
publications, and the restrictions imposed on citizens wishing
to travel abroad, including the denial of passports on
political grounds; at the continued closure of most
institutions of higher education for political reasons, at the
absence of due process of law, including arbitrary arrest and
politically motivated arrest and detention, the detention of
prisoners without trial and the trial of detainees in secrecy
without proper legal representation, and at the inhuman
treatment of prisoners, leading to illness and deaths in
custody, as reported by the Special Rapporteur; 
                                        
(c) At the violations of the rights of women, especially women
who are refugees, internally displaced women and women
belonging to ethnic minorities or the political opposition,
in particular forced labour, sexual violence and exploitation,
including rape, as reported by the Special Rapporteur;
 
(d) At continuing violations of the rights of children in
contravention of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in
particular by the lack of conformity of the existing legal
framework with the Convention, by recruitment of children into
forced labour programmes and into the armed forces and by
discrimination against children belonging to ethnic and
religious minority groups; 
                                        
(e) At the violations of rights of persons belonging to
minorities, including the systematic programmes of forced
relocations directed against ethnic minorities, notably in
Karen, Kayan, Rakhine and Shan States and in Tennasserim
Division, resulting in displaced persons and flows of refugees
to neighbouring countries, thus creating problems for the
countries concerned, and deplores recent attacks on refugee
camps on the border between Thailand and Myanmar;
                                        
(f) That the Government of Myanmar still has not implemented
its commitment to take all necessary steps towards democracy
in the light of the democratic elections of 1990, while noting
that the absence of respect for the rights pertaining to
democratic governance is at the root of all major violations
of human rights in Myanmar; 
                                        
(g) That the Government of Myanmar refuses to cooperate with
and has not yet agreed to a visit by the Special Rapporteur; 
 
                                        
(h) That most of the representatives duly elected in 1990 are
still excluded from participating in the meetings of the
National Convention, created to prepare basic elements for the
drafting of a new constitution, and that one of the objectives
of the National Convention is to maintain the participation of
the armed forces in a leading role in the future political 
life of the State, and notes also with concern that the  
composition and working procedures of the National Convention
do not permit the elected representatives of the people freely
to express their views, and concludes that the National
Convention does not appear to constitute the necessary steps
towards the restoration of democracy; 
                                        
(i) At the restrictions placed upon political leaders,
particularly Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, at the continued
harassment, arrest and detention of members and supporters of
the National League for Democracy and other democratic groups,
students, trade unionists and members of religious orders for
peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression,
assembly and association, and at the harsh sentences imposed
on supporters of the National League for Democracy in December
1997, and at the forced resignations of elected
representatives; 
                                        
(j) At the imprisonment of members of the National League for
Democracy, among others, and restrictions which have
substantially disrupted legitimate gatherings of the National
League for Democracy;
 
 
4. Calls upon the Government of Myanmar:
                                        
(a) To guarantee an end to violations of the right to life and
integrity of the human being and to ensure full respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedoms of
thought, opinion, expression, association and assembly, the
right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial
judiciary and the protection of the rights of persons
belonging to ethnic and religious minorities; 
                                        
(b)To take urgent and meaningful measures to ensure the
establishment of democracy in accordance with the will of the
people as expressed in the democratic elections held in 1990
and, to this end, to engage immediately and unconditionally in
substantive dialogue with the leaders of political parties,
including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and with leaders of ethnic
groups, with the aim of achieving national reconciliation and
restoration of democracy, and to ensure that political parties
and non-governmental organizations can function freely; 
                                        
(c) To take all appropriate measures to allow all citizens to
 participate freely in the political process, in accordance
with the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, and to accelerate the process of transition to
democracy, in particular through the transfer of power to
democratically elected representatives; 
                                        
(d) Urgently to improve conditions of detention and to allow
the competent international humanitarian organization to
communicate freely and confidentially with prisoners; 
                                        
(e) To cooperate fully and unreservedly with the relevant
mechanisms of the Commission, in particular with the Special
Rapporteur, and to ensure his access to Myanmar in order to
establish direct contact with the Government and with any
person in the country whom he may deem appropriate, to allow
him fully to discharge his mandate;
                                        
(f) To continue to cooperate with the Secretary General or his
representatives and to broaden this dialogue, including
through access to any person deemed appropriate by the
Secretary General, and to implement their recommendations;
                                        
(g) To ensure the safety and physical well-being of all
political leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to
permit unrestricted communication with and physical access to
Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders, and to release
immediately and unconditionally those detained for political
reasons, to ensure their physical integrity and to permit them
to participate in a meaningful process of national
reconciliation; 
                                        
(h) To fulfil its obligations under the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, including as set out in the concluding
observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and to consider becoming a party
to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the 
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, as well as to
other human rights instruments; 
                                        
(i) And all other parties to the hostilities in Myanmar to
respect fully their obligations under international
humanitarian law, including article 3 common to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, to halt the use of weapons
against the civilian populations, to protect all civilians,
including children, women and persons belonging to ethnic or
religious minorities, from violations of humanitarian law and
to avail themselves of services offered by impartial
humanitarian bodies; 
                                        
(j) To fulfil its obligations as a State party to the Forced
Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and to the Freedom of
Association and Protection of the Right to Organize
Convention, 1948 (No. 87) of the International Labour
Organization and to cooperate more closely with the
International Labour Organization, in particular with the
Commission of Inquiry appointed in accordance with article 26
of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization; 
                                        
(k) To end the enforced displacement of persons and other
causes of refugee flows to neighbouring countries and to
create conditions conducive to their voluntary return and full
reintegration in safety and dignity including, where these are
lacking, rights of full citizenship, in close cooperation with
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees; 
                                        
(l) To fulfil its obligations to end impunity of perpetrators
of human rights violations, including members of the military
and to investigate and prosecute alleged violations committed
by government agents in all circumstances; 
                                        
(m) To investigate the circumstances which led to the death in
June 1996 of Mr. James Leander Nichols while detained by the
Government of Myanmar and to prosecute the person or persons
responsible; 
                                        
 
5. Decides:
 
(a) To extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, as
contained in Commission resolution 1992/58 of 3 March 1992,
for a further year, and requests the Special Rapporteur to
submit an interim report to the General Assembly at its
fifty-third session and to report to the Commission at
its fifty-fifth session, and to keep a gender perspective in
mind when seeking and analysing information; 
                                        
(b) To request the Secretary-General to continue to give all
necessary assistance to the Special Rapporteur to enable him
to discharge his mandate fully and to pursue all efforts to
ensure that the Special Rapporteur is authorized to visit
Myanmar; 
                                        
(c) To request the Secretary-General to continue his
discussions with the Government of Myanmar and anyone he may
consider appropriate in order to assist in the implementation
of General Assembly resolution 52/137 and of the present
resolution; 
                                        
(d) To continue its consideration of this question at its
fifty-fifth session.