“Myanmar is going through a unique moment in its political history,” he
says, noting that the country’s new Constitution was finalized in
February and adopted through a referendum in May. “The next step in the
road map for national reconciliation and democratic transition is the
election in 2010.”
He stresses that if those general elections are prepared and conducted
in an atmosphere in which human rights are fully respected, “the
process will be credible, resulting in progressive achievement of
democratic values.”
Mr. Quintana proposes four core human rights elements to be completed
by the Government before the 2010 elections. The first is to review and
amend those domestic laws which limit fundamental rights – such as
freedom of expression, opinion, peaceful assembly and association – and
contravene the new Constitution and international human rights
standards.
“The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, as well as
the right to freedom of opinion and expression, are fundamental rights
to be respected in the process towards the establishment of a solid and
reliable democracy,” stated the Special Rapporteur.
“However, full enjoyment of those rights remains outstanding in
Myanmar, according to reliable reports on the extension of detentions
and/or new arrests of political activists.”
Mr. Quintana proposes the progressive release of prisoners of
conscience, of which there are more than 2,000 detained in different
facilities around the country.
“Without the free participation of prisoners of conscience, the very
credibility of the general elections of 2010 would be at stake,” he
stressed, adding that prisoner release would also reduce tension and
inspire political participation.
Last month the Myanmar authorities freed several detainees as part of
an amnesty procedure, including the country’s longest-serving political
prisoner, U Win Tin, and six other senior members of the National
League for Democracy (NLD), whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under
house arrest.
Mr. Quintana had welcomed the move, saying he hoped it “would be the
first in a series of releases of other prisoners of conscience.”
The transition to multi-party democratic and civil government, as
planned by the new Constitution, will require “an intensive process of
incorporating democratic values,” the Special Rapporteur notes.
Among the measures the Government should adopt are repealing
discriminatory legislation, continuing efforts to respond to the
aftermath of the deadly cyclone that struck the country in early May,
and avoiding the recruitment of child soldiers.
He also suggests a number of changes for the country’s judiciary, which
currently “is not independent and is under the direct control of the
Government and the military.” Proposed measures include guaranteeing
due process, exercising full independence and impartiality and setting
up mechanisms to investigate human rights abuses.
Mr. Quintana, who took up his post in May 2007, serves in an
independent and unpaid capacity and reports to the Geneva-based UN
Human Rights Council, as do all Special Rapporteurs.
News