The UN General Assembly on Wednesday strongly condemned widespread human rights violations in Myanmar and called on the government to halt politically motivated arrests and free all detainees and political prisoners, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
The sharply worded resolution, sponsored by the US, Australia, South Korea, Israel and many European countries, was approved by a vote of 80 to 25 with 45 abstentions.
Myanmar accused the assembly of “blatant interference” in its internal political process and said it would not be bound by the resolution. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but carry weight because they reflect the views of the 192-member world body.
Myanmar’s representative, who was not identified, told the assembly the country had made significant political strides and was now on track for a smooth transition to democracy, with a seven-step political process including multiparty elections in 2010.
But the resolution expressed “grave concern” at the failure to include members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and other political parties and some ethnic groups “in a genuine process of dialogue, national reconciliation and transition to democracy.”
It said Myanmar’s political processes “are not transparent, inclusive, free and fair, and that the procedures established for the drafting of the [country’s new] constitution resulted in the de facto exclusion of the opposition from the process.”
The General Assembly also expressed grave concern at the government’s decision to go ahead with a referendum on the Constitution “in an atmosphere of intimidation and without regard to international standards of free and fair elections at a time of dire humanitarian need” just after Cyclone Nargis devastated coastal areas in early May.
It took note of the government’s cooperation with the international community in delivering aid to cyclone victims “despite its initial denial of access, which resulted in widespread suffering and increased the risk of loss of life.”
The cyclone affected 2.4 million people and left an estimated 130,000 people dead or missing.
Myanmar’s military, which has ruled since 1962, when the country was known as Burma, tolerates no dissent and crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September last year. It holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, up sharply from nearly 1,200 before the demonstrations, human rights groups say.
The General Assembly “strongly” called on Myanmar’s government “to desist from further politically motivated arrests and to release without delay and without conditions those who have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, as well as all political prisoners.”
The resolution said those freed should include Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her party, leaders of the 88 Generation — a group at the forefront of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising — leaders of ethnic groups and all those detained as a result of last year’s protests.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.
The General Assembly expressed deep concern that urgent calls to Myanmar’s government to improve human rights and institute democratic reforms “have not been met.”
It strongly condemned “the ongoing systematic violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the people of Myanmar.”
The resolution expressed “grave concern” at Myanmar’s “continuing practice of enforced disappearances, use of violence against peaceful demonstrators, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment” and arbitrary detentions.
It singled out Aung San Suu Kyi, last year’s protestors, “as well as the high and increasing number of political prisoners.”
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
RSS