By Rachel Harvey
Some prisoners have been freed but rights groups say sentence reductions are ‘a sick joke’ Burma inmates ‘on hunger strike’
Some prisoners have been freed but rights groups say sentence reductions are ‘a sick joke’ A UN envoy has said the treatment of ethnic minorities and political prisoners is undermining Burma’s stated intention to become more democratic.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said abuses were widespread and continuing in border areas.
However, he also said there were some positive signs emerging from the new government and parliament in Burma.
He was speaking in Thailand after being denied permission to visit Burma.
Mr Quintana outlined a familiar litany of abuses suffered by Burma’s ethnic minorities living in border areas.
Land confiscation, forced labour, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence were, he said widespread, continuing and essentially unaddressed by the authorities.
Systematic militarisation was a contributory factor.
Mr Quintana also referred to the recent early release of some prisoners in Burma. With so many political detainees still in jail, the move was, he said, insufficient.
“This decision of the government was also a disappointment because it did not provide the strong signal of commitment to national reconciliation,” Mr Quintana said.
Long-term political prisonersZargana, Burma’s most famous comedian, is serving a 35-year sentence for criticising the government’s slow response to Cyclone NargisU Gambira, a 30-year-old monk who helped lead the August-September 2007 protests, is serving a 63-year sentenceMin Ko Naing, a former student leader, is serving a 65-year sentenceNay Phone Latt, a 30-year-old blogger on the 2007 protests, was sentenced to 12 years in prisonSu Su Nway, a female labour rights activist, is serving an eight-and-a-half-year sentence after raising a banner criticising Burma’s government at the hotel of a visiting UN special envoy
“National reconciliation requires the full participation of all key stakeholders, including prisoners of conscience, some of whom are ethnic minority leaders.”
Mr Quintana is advocating a formal Commission of Inquiry as a possible way to bring about reconciliation.
Several Western governments have offered support for such an idea, though none has yet appeared willing to take the lead.
On a more positive note, Mr Quintana said representatives in the new Burmese parliament had been able to raise some human rights issues, and the new president had suggested some interesting ideas.
But, he said, we will have to watch closely to see how this is translated into action.
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