Oral Statement to the 17th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

The ALRC is of the opinion that the Council need only look at the recommendations that Myanmar has not accepted to understand the challenges that the UPR faces in attempting to be relevant and effective concerning extreme human rights situations. Myanmar has rejected repeated recommendations to end impunity and to reform its legal system in line with international standards […]

Oral Statement Delivered by Mr. Thaung Htun on Behalf of Worldview International Foundation at UPR Plenary on Burma

Thank you, Mr. President. Worldview International Foundation makes this statement on behalf of the
Burma Forum on the Universal Periodic Review (BF-UPR).

Mr. President, we deeply regret that the State maintained its blatant denial of the existence of 2,000 prisoners of conscience during the UPR Working Group session in January 2011. The so-called amnesty recently issued by the government only reduced the sentences by one year and commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment […]

Oral Statement Delivered by Mr. Aung Myo Min on Behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) at UPR Plenary on Burma

Thank you, Mr. President. FORUM-ASIA and its member organization HREIB make this statement on behalf of the Burma Forum on the Universal Periodic Review (BF-UPR).

Mr. President, despite the November 2010 elections’ illusory promise of a democratic transition in the country, “systematic militarization contributes to widespread abuses of human rights which remain essentially unaddressed by the authorities”, as noted by the Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana in his recent mission to Thailand […]

Oral Statement Delivered by Ms. Mariana Duarte on Behalf of Conectas Direitos Humanos at UPR Plenary on Burma

Mr. President, Conectas Direitos Humanos, on behalf of the Burma Forum on the Universal Periodic Review (BF-UPR), wishes to draw the Council’s attention to the deteriorating status and well-being of women in Burma/Myanmar, in particular due to the lack of political participation and scarce humanitarian assistance. Also, systematic and widespread sexual violence is being perpetrated against ethnic women by the Burmese army […]

Universal Periodic Review of Burma: Total Denial in the Face of Widespread and Systematic Human Rights Violations

Today, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva examined Burma’s human rights record as part of its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Burma’s ruling military regime sent a large delegation to Geneva, led by Deputy Attorney General Dr. Tun Shin, who categorically denied state-orchestrated widespread, systematic and persistent human rights violations against the people of Burma […]

Burma’s Grave Human Rights Situation Stands Before the UN’s Review

Representatives from the Burma Forum on the Universal Periodic Review (BF-UPR), a coalition of fourteen human rights and civil society organizations, are currently in Geneva to raise concerns over the grave human rights situation in Burma ahead of the country’s first Universal Periodic Review on 27 January. The Review comes at a time when Burma is under the international spotlight, due to the recent release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the controversial November elections which were neither free nor fair, and the forthcoming first session of the new Parliament on 31 January […]