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Govt must take responsibility for past abuses, says UN rights envoy

March 6, 2019/in News

By FRONTIER YANGON — The government must recognise and take responsibility for past human rights abuses, because a failure to do so would lead to more denial and avoidance and encourage further “systematic” violations, a senior United Nations official has warned. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Ms Yanghee Lee, issues the warning in […]

Prison Overcrowding and the Need for Urgent Reform

December 13, 2018/in ND-Burma Members' Reports

Introduction Prisons are a direct reflection of a country’s administrative, legislative andjudicial systems1.Hidden from public view, facing stigmatization and afforded little publicsympathy, prisoners face a greater risk of having their human rightsabused2. These issues are compounded even further in light of rising prisonpopulations around the world and the prevalence of prison overcrowding.Reducing prison overcrowding, is […]

Govt must take responsibility for past abuses, says UN rights envoy

March 6, 2019/in News

Prison Overcrowding and the Need for Urgent Reform

December 13, 2018/in ND-Burma Members' Reports

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Govt must take responsibility for past abuses, says UN rights envoy

March 6, 2019/in News

By FRONTIER

YANGON — The government must recognise and take responsibility for past human rights abuses, because a failure to do so would lead to more denial and avoidance and encourage further “systematic” violations, a senior United Nations official has warned.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Ms Yanghee Lee, issues the warning in a report due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on March 11.

Lee addresses the issue in a section of the wide-ranging March 5 report that focuses on accountability, which she says “necessarily involves criminal justice”.

“The people of Myanmar must not be forced to wait decades for justice as a result of the combined inability and unwillingness of their Government and the inaction of the international community to bring it about,” she says.

“It is imperative that the international community’s focus remains on justice and accountability for victims in Myanmar,” says Lee, who calls on the UN to make an evidence-gathering body established by the Human Rights Council last September operational as soon as possible.

The body, known as an Independent Mechanism, was established after a damning report on human rights abuses in Myanmar was released last September by a UN fact-finding mission that investigated violations in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states.

The fact-finding mission called for Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officers to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Describing the Independent Mechanism as an interim measure, Lee said the situation “must be referred to the International Criminal Court for full investigation and prosecution of those responsible forthwith”.

If there was no referral to the ICC, Lee suggested establishing an international tribunal to independently and impartially adjudicate on the international crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011.

She reiterated concern over the government-appointed Independent Commission of Enquiry formed in May last year to investigate human rights violations in Rakhine, saying she doubted whether it was capable of achieving accountability.

On another issue involving the Tatmadaw, Lee expressed extreme concern that three officers had received training for UN peacekeeping duties.

On the Rohingya crisis, Lee said conditions did not exist for the safe, voluntary and sustainable return of refugees from Bangladesh under a repatriation agreement signed with Myanmar in December 2017.

She also expressed concern about proposals to establish “safe zones” for returnees in northern Rakhine, saying they could result in repatriated people being more vulnerable, further constrain their freedom of movement and segregate them from other communities.

As well as accountability, the 28-page report also addresses issues such as armed conflict and the peace process, refugees and displaced persons, land rights, transparency and military commercial interests and resource extraction and infrastructure development.

Lee, who was appointed to the UN role in 2014 but was banned from further visits to Myanmar by the National League for Democracy government in late 2017, expressed alarm in the report about the use of hate speech by senior government officials.

She condemned a comment last December by the Minister of Religious Affairs and Culture, U Aung Ko, about “Bengalis”, the term used by the government to describe the Rohingya to imply that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

“Such incendiary comments by a senior official are entirely antithetical to the Government’s stated aim of reconciliation and desire to address the problems of hate speech and incitement to violence,” said the special rapporteur, who also drew attention to “discriminatory and incendiary material” in primary school textbooks, as reported by Frontier in January.

She cited a fourth grade lesson that says, “we loathe those of mixed blood, for they prohibit the progression of a race”.

Lee said teaching children these ideas promotes racial superiority and communal disharmony and she urged their immediate removal from the curriculum.

The report was critical of the number of people in jail or detained for political activities, which Lee said was “totally unacceptable” in a democratic society.

“As of 28 February, this includes 33 people serving sentences and 311 people awaiting trial in relation to exercising their rights, of whom 86 people are detained while awaiting trial. This is worrying as it represents a significant increase from the same time last year, when 184 people were under trial,” said Lee, who called for a halt to politically motivated charges.

Lee ends her report by calling on the international community to keep the situation in Myanmar at the top of its agenda.

“It is only through the international community’s actions that justice can be brought about in Myanmar,” she says.

Prison Overcrowding and the Need for Urgent Reform

December 13, 2018/in ND-Burma Members' Reports

Introduction

Prisons are a direct reflection of a country’s administrative, legislative and
judicial systems1.
Hidden from public view, facing stigmatization and afforded little public
sympathy, prisoners face a greater risk of having their human rights
abused2. These issues are compounded even further in light of rising prison
populations around the world and the prevalence of prison overcrowding.
Reducing prison overcrowding, is an essential first step in reforming the
criminal justice system in Burma where prisons have a notorious history of
human rights abuses and impunity.
Presidential amnesties, as have occurred in Burma and the construction
of more prisons, as is proposed, are short term and costly solutions to
much more systemic issues, that contribute to prison overcrowding. If laws
and prison conditions remain unchanged, these measures will not have
a lasting impact on improving human rights in prisons. Systemic reform,
addressing issues related to broader issues of social justice, disproportionate
punishments, and the lack of an adequate separation of powers in Burma will
ensure sustainable and long-term solutions to prison overcrowding can be
implemented, reducing the high social and financial costs of incarceration.
This will improve prospects for development, the advancement of human
rights and social justice for all of Burma3.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) urges the
Government of Myanmar to seize this opportunity to demonstrate their
commitment to ending human rights abuses across Burma by actively
engaging in prison reform, starting with the most pressing issue of prison
overcrowding.

“Prison Overcrowding and the Need for Urgent Reform”

Spring Revolution

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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