Paris-Bangkok - September 1, 2011. Member organizations of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) have called on Governments of Asian, African and Latin American countries to support the creation of a United Nations Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into international crimes that have been well documented by the United Nations in the past 20 years.
In a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mozambique, the Mozambique Human Rights League (Liga Mocanbicana does Direitos Humanoes, LMDDH) stressed that governments have a fundamental obligation to oppose widespread and systematic abuses of international humanitarian and human rights law.
The Ecuadorian Ecumenical Commission for Human Rights (Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos, CEDHU), in its letter to the Ecuadorian Government, pointed to the on-going detention of almost 2000 political prisoners and the renewed military offensives against ethnic nationalities as “disturbing evidence that impunity reigns unchecked Burma despite so-called elections last year.”
In its letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Tokyo-based Center for Prisoners’ Rights (CPR) expressed its deep concerns with the on-going detention of a large number of political prisoners and echoed the UN Special Rapporteur’s concerns with the “continuing allegations of torture and ill-treatment during interrogation, the use of prisoners as porters for the military, and the transfer of prisoners to prisons in remote areas where they are unable to receive family visits or packages of essential medicine and supplemental food.”
FIDH’s member in Thailand, the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL), told the Thai government that the “recent elections [in Burma] were carried out in service of a threadbare democracy” where soldiers changed from uniforms to business suits “to pose as a ‘civilian government’. But crimes against civilians continue at even higher levels, creating tens of thousands of new refugees and displaced persons.”
“Civil society around the world is urging the international community to recognise that lasting reconciliation and genuine transition to democracy in Burma requires accountability and the truth,” said Debbie Stothard, Coordinator of Altsean-Burma and Deputy Secretary-General of FIDH. “The recent cosmetic and tactical steps the regime has taken are insufficient to meet the basic benchmarks for reconciliation and peace. At best they are attempts to delay accountability and provide a smokescreen for the brutal war they are waging against civilians in ethnic areas with full impunity.”
In March 2010, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma has recommended that the UN seriously consider establishing a UN Commission of Inquiry into international crimes in Burma, in light of on-going impunity and unwillingness of the regime to respond to numerous calls for credible investigations into these crimes. He reiterated this call in May 2011 and again in August 2011 called on the government to “take the necessary measures for investigations of human rights violations to be conducted in an independent, impartial and credible manner, without delay.”
The Special Rapporteur also stated that the on-going offensives in ethnic areas “continue to engender serious human rights violations, including attacks against civilian populations, extra-judicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, internal displacement, land confiscations, the recruitment of child soldiers, as well as forced labour and portering.” The letters by FIDH member organizations also reflect these concerns, especially the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war by government soldiers which has been reported in Kachin State between June and August 2011.
The FIDH member organizations call on their government to join 16 other countries to publicly support the recommendation of the UN Special Rapporteur to create a Commission of Inquiry through the annual UN General Assembly resolution on Burma.
“One of the best ways for the Burmese regime to demonstrate a real commitment to human rights and reform is by accepting and fully cooperating with a UN Commission of Inquiry,” said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President. “The creation of a Commission of Inquiry will give the international community an excellent tool to ensure that international standards of investigation and accountability mechanisms are applied in Burma and that the authorities, including the judiciary and law enforcement personnel, will have the opportunity to witness and learn how impunity can be adequately addressed.”