Resolution 16/24 – Situation of human rights in Myanmar

By United Nations Human Rights Council • March 25, 2011

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights, and reaffirming also previous resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights, the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, including Council resolutions 10/27 of 27 March 2009, 12/20 of 2 October 2009 and 13/25 of 26 March 2010, and General Assembly resolutions 64/238 of 24 December 2009 and 65/241 of 24 December 2010,

Welcoming the work of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, taking note of his latest report [A/HRC/16/59], in which he urges the implementation of the recommendations contained therein and those within previous reports, concerned about the lack of implementation of previous recommendations and regretting that no visit of the Special Rapporteur has been allowed to the country since February 2010,

Increasingly concerned that the urgent calls contained in the above-mentioned resolutions and reports and in those of other United Nations bodies concerning the human rights situation in Myanmar have still not been met, and emphasizing the urgent need for significant progress towards meeting the calls of the international community,

Recalling Human Rights Council resolutions 5/1, on institution-building of the Council, and 5/2, on the code of conduct for special procedures mandate holders of the Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his or her duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,

Reaffirming that it is the responsibility of the Government of Myanmar to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of the entire population of the country, as stated in the Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other applicable human rights instruments,

Particularly concerned by the restrictions imposed on the representatives of the National League for Democracy and other political parties and other relevant stakeholders, including a number of ethnic groups, thus preventing a genuine process of dialogue, national reconciliation and transition to democracy,

Noting the stated intention of the Government of Myanmar to implement a democratic transitional process and, desirous of seeing the full restoration of democracy and full enjoyment of human rights for all, underlining the importance of its prompt
implementation,

Noting also that free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections must be the cornerstone of any democratic reform process, regretting that the 2010 general elections represent a missed opportunity in this regard, and noting in particular in this respect the restrictions imposed by the electoral laws as enacted and implemented by the Government and the lack of independence of the electoral commission, and also expressing concern at the failure of the electoral commission to follow up on complaints about the electoral process, including voting procedures,

Taking note of the participation by the Government of Myanmar in the universal periodic review in January 2011 as the State under review, acknowledging in this regard its support for certain recommendations, expressing hope for the due consideration and acceptance of as many pending recommendations as possible and for the implementation in practice of the many important recommendations that were rejected,

Noting with serious concern that the grave human rights situation in Myanmar forces thousands of people to seek refuge in neighbouring countries,

Strongly condemns the ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Myanmar;
Urges the Government of Myanmar to begin an inclusive post-election process of national reconciliation for a credible transition to democracy, including through meaningful dialogue and the participation of representatives of all groups in the political life of the country, within the framework of a transition to a civilian, legitimate and accountable system of government, based on the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to these ends to take immediate measures to engage in a meaningful and substantive dialogue through all channels with all opposition parties, political, ethnic and civil society groups and actors, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi;
Welcomes the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi following the most recent period of her arbitrary house arrest, and noting that her release is unconditional, calls on the Government of Myanmar to guarantee the full enjoyment of all human rights, including civil and political rights, and fundamental freedoms, for all people in Myanmar, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in particular with regard to unrestricted movement in and outside the country and unrestricted contact with all domestic stakeholders;
Calls on the Government of Myanmar to protect the physical safety of all people in Myanmar, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in a manner that is consistent with respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
Calls upon the Government to recognize the pre-election registration status of all political parties, including the National League for Democracy, and to lift all restrictions imposed on the representatives of political parties as well as on other political and civil society actors in the country;
Strongly calls upon the Government of Myanmar to cooperate with the international community in order to achieve concrete progress with regard to human rights and fundamental freedoms, and political processes;
Strongly urges the unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience without delay, while expressing concern over their continuing high number, and also strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to desist from carrying out further politically motivated arrests and to release, without delay and without conditions, all prisoners of conscience, whose number is estimated to be approximately two thousand two hundred, including the Chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, U Khun Tun Oo, the leader of the 88 Generation Students’ Group, U Min Ko Naing, and one of the founders of the 88 Generation Students’ Group, Ko Ko Gyi, and to allow their full participation in the political process;
Strongly calls upon the Government of Myanmar to lift restrictions on the freedom of assembly, association, movement and expression, including for free and independent media, by ensuring the openly available and accessible use of Internet and mobile telephone services and ending the use of censorship, including the use of the Electronic Transactions Law to prevent the reporting of views critical of the Government;
Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to undertake a transparent, inclusive and comprehensive review of compliance of all national legislation with international human rights law while engaging fully with democratic opposition, political, ethnic and civil society groups and actors, and recalling once more that the procedures established for the drafting of the Constitution resulted in a de facto exclusion of opposition groups from the process;
Urges the Government of Myanmar to ensure the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, the independence of lawyers, to guarantee due process of law and to fulfil previous assurances given by the authorities of Myanmar to the Special Rapporteur with respect to beginning a dialogue on judicial reform;
Strongly calls upon the Government of Myanmar to take urgent measures to put an end to the continuing grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the targeting of persons based on their belonging to particular ethnic groups, the targeting of civilians as such in military operations, and rape and other forms of sexual violence, and to end impunity for such acts without delay;
Expresses serious concern that previous calls to end impunity have not been heeded, and therefore strongly renews its calls upon the Government of Myanmar to undertake, without delay, a full, transparent, effective, impartial and independent investigation into all reports of human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, forced displacements, forced labour, arbitrary detention, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and torture and other forms of ill-treatment, and to bring to justice those responsible in order to end impunity for violations of human rights, and also strongly calls on the Government of Myanmar to do so as a matter of priority and with appropriate attention from the United Nations;
Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to address, as a matter of urgency, consistent reports of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience, and to ensure that proper investigations are conducted on all deaths in prison, with family members duly informed of the findings, as well as to improve conditions in prisons and other detention facilities and to avoid the dispersal of prisoners of conscience to isolated prisons far from their families where they cannot receive regular visits or deliveries of supplementary supplies, including food and medicine;
Strongly recommends that the Government of Myanmar resume cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross;
Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to end all forms of discrimination and to protect civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, in particular, to comply with its human rights obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in this regard;
Expresses its serious concern at the continuing discrimination, human rights violations, violence, displacement and economic deprivation affecting numerous ethnic minorities, including, but not limited to, the Rohingya ethnic minority in Northern Rakhine State, and calls upon the Government of Myanmar to take immediate action to bring about an improvement in their respective situations and to recognize the right of members of the Rohingya ethnic minority to nationality and to protect all of their human rights;
Welcomes the prolongation in February 2011 of the Supplementary Understanding between the International Labour Organization and the Government of Myanmar, the Government’s commitment to introduce new legislation making forced labour illegal and repealing the provisions of the Villages and Towns Acts 1907, and the joint Government-International Labour Organization awareness-raising activities, but strongly condemns the continued and serious harassment of complainants and facilitators and urgently calls for the release of those who remain in detention, and urges the Government to proactively intensify measures to end forced labour, including the agreement to produce information brochures in local languages and to facilitate the strengthening of cooperation of the International Labour Organization in Myanmar to further enhance the efficiency of the educative and complaints-management activities undertaken by the liaison officer of the International Labour Organization;
Strongly calls upon the Government of Myanmar to end the practice of systematic forced displacement of large numbers of people within their country and to neighbouring countries, and to end other causes of refugee flows, including the targeting of persons based on their belonging to particular ethnic groups;
Also strongly calls upon the Government of Myanmar to put an immediate end to the recruitment and use of child soldiers in violation of international law by all parties, welcomes the recent engagement of the Government on this issue and urges it to intensify measures to ensure the protection of children from armed conflict and to pursue its collaboration with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict, including by granting access to areas where children are recruited, for the purpose of implementing a plan of action to halt this practice;
Urges the Government of Myanmar to provide, in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, adequate human rights and international humanitarian law training for its armed forces, police and prison personnel, to ensure their strict compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and to hold them accountable for any violations thereof;
Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to ensure timely, safe, full and unhindered access to all parts of Myanmar, including conflict and border areas, for the United Nations, international humanitarian organizations and their partners, and to cooperate fully with those actors to ensure that humanitarian assistance is delivered throughout the country to all persons in need, including displaced persons;
Also calls upon the Government of Myanmar to consider acceding to the remaining international core human rights treaties, which would enable a dialogue with other human rights treaty bodies;
Further calls upon the Government of Myanmar to allow human rights defenders to pursue their activities unhindered and to ensure their safety, security and freedom of movement in that pursuit;
Decides to extend for one year the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolutions 1992/58 of 3 March 1992 and 2005/10 of 14 April 2005, and Human Rights Council resolutions 7/32 of 28 March 2008, 10/27 of 27 March 2009 and 13/25 of 26 March 2010;
Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to respond favourably and on a more timely basis to the Special Rapporteur’s requests to visit the country, to extend its full cooperation, including by providing access to all relevant information, bodies, institutions and persons, so as to enable him to fulfil his mandate effectively, and to implement, without delay, the recommendations addressed to the Government contained in his reports [A/HRC/6/14, A/HRC/7/18, A/HRC/7/24, A/HRC/8/12, A/HRC/10/19, A/HRC/13/48 and A/HRC/16/59] and in Human Rights Council resolutions S-5/1 of 2 October 2007, 6/33 of 14 December 2007, 7/31 of 28 March 2008, 8/14 of 18 June 2008, 10/27, 12/20 and 13/25;
Requests the Special Rapporteur to submit a progress report, and encourages him to provide an assessment of any progress made by the Government in relation to its stated intention to transition to a democracy to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session, and to the Human Rights Council in accordance with its annual programme of work;
Calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner to provide the Special Rapporteur with all the assistance and resources necessary to enable him to discharge his mandate fully;
Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to continue to engage in a dialogue with the Office of the High Commissioner with a view to ensuring full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
Expresses its strong support for the good offices mission and commitment of the Secretary-General, and calls upon the Government of Myanmar to ensure full cooperation with the Secretary-General, his Special Adviser on Myanmar and the Special Rapporteur.