Mr. President, before the United Nations today is a dispute: Myanmar’s military rulers are vying for the UN credentials now held by the democratically-elected government which they overthrew last year by a coup d’état.

UN Watch takes the floor today to urge the General Assembly to reject the junta’s request.

The criteria for deciding such disputes are ill-defined. In the past, the General Assembly has considered effective control of territory. However, in more recent cases, its Credentials Committee has looked to other factors, namely, democratic legitimacy and respect for human rights.

Therefore, given that the coup was a violation of the 2008 Constitution, and followed the military’s refusal to accept the results of Myanmar’s November 2020 election;

Given that the military junta has killed over 1,600 civilians and wielded violence as a form of population control;

Given that, by the High Commissioner’s own account, the junta has shown “flagrant disregard for human life,” detaining and displacing hundreds of thousands of people;

Given that, rather than protecting their own people, the security forces have been the primary threats to them, committing violations that amount to crimes against humanity;

Given that the junta has violated the fundamental norms of international human rights law, and has shown blatant disregard for the purposes and principles of the UN Charter;

We hereby call on the General Assembly to reject the request by the Myanmar junta to be accredited here at the United Nations.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The post UN must reject Myanmar junta’s request for credentials appeared first on UN Watch.

The post Neuer to UN: "Where’s Islamic rage over slaughter of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims?" appeared first on UN Watch.

Delivered by David Choueke

Thank you, Mr. President.
UN Watch remains deeply concerned about the ongoing human rights situation in Myanmar. We call attention to three areas of particular concern in the report that is before us today.
First, we are alarmed by the government’s treatment of the Rohingya community in Rakhine State, and appeal to the Myanmar authorities to end their discriminatory policies. We join the United States in calling on the Myanmar government to repeal the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law and grant the Rohingya community citizenship in a country they have inhabited for generations.
Secondly, we note with regret that Myanmar rejected the recommendation of Ireland to grant the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar unrestricted access to the Rakhine region. We call on the government to allow the Special Rapporteur unhindered access without delay.
Finally, we are gravely concerned with the unequal and discriminatory treatment of minorities in general, exemplified by the recent passing of a deeply troubling legislative package – the so-called “Race and Religion Laws.” The Religious Conversion Law forces citizens of Myanmar who wish to convert to another religion to obtain approval from a registration board. Meanwhile, the Interfaith Marriage Law contains several troubling elements, including one provision allowing local authorities to publicly post marriage applications to determine whether there are any objections. Couples may marry only if there are no objections and they face imprisonment if they violate the law.
In this regard, we note with dismay that Myanmar has rejected recommendations to end violence and bigotry against minorities, as well as multiple recommendations from countries including Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, and Denmark, to repeal these unjust laws.
Mr. President, the encouraging steps Myanmar has taken toward becoming a pluralistic democracy must not distract us from the many human rights challenges that remain.
Thank you, Mr. President.

The post Human rights must not be forgotten amid Myanmar’s positive steps towards democracy appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, Dec. 20 – Today the U.N. General Assembly adopted its annual resolutions on the human rights situations in Iran, Syria, North Korea and Burma. Following are comments by UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer:

ON THE IRAN RESOLUTION
“UN Watch supports this strong resolution in which the U.N. places on record and condemns the Iranian regime’s ‘serious ongoing and recurring’ violations of human rights.”

“We commend Canada for once again leading the U.N.’s annual resolution documenting Tehran’s continuing abuse of the human rights of its children, women, religious and ethnic minorities and human rights activists,” said Neuer.

“Today’s resolution is necessary but not sufficient. Together with Iranian human rights defenders, UN Watch calls on the Human Rights Council to finally convene a much-needed special session on the situation in Iran. We still need to see a full U.N. investigation of Iran’s bloody crackdown in June 2009 which followed protests against fraudulent elections.”

“Moreover, recalling that an all-party committee of Canada’s parliament has found that the Iranian regime has committed incitement to genocide in breach of the Genocide Convention, in calling for the destruction of a U.N. member state, Israel, all nations signatory to that treaty are obliged under international law to take action.”

ON THE SYRIA RESOLUTION
“UN Watch welcomes today’s resolution on Syria, where a ruthless regime has already massacred 40,000 of its own people and the blood continues to flow, but the U.N. must do far more to both send the right message, and to make a real difference,” said Neuer.

“It is high time for Russia and China to stop shielding Assad, and for the Security Council to exercise its responsibility and take real action to end the horrifying slaughter.”

“Moreover, the U.N.’s credibility on the situation of human rights in Syria is undermined so long as the murderous Assad regime continues to sits as a member of the human rights committee of UNESCO, the U.N.’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.”

UN Watch leads a coalition of 55 members of parliament, pro-democracy dissidents, human rights NGOs and religious groups that are demanding that UNESCO reverse its inexplicable election of Syria in November 2011.

ON THE NORTH KOREA RESOLUTION
“Today’s resolution today rightly notes that North Korea is committing ‘systematic, widespread and grave’ violations of human rights, including against society’s most vulnerable groups: women, children, people with disabilities and the elderly.”

“But what the human rights community wants to see is a full U.N. commission of inquiry, based out of New York or the Human Rights Council in Geneva, to investigate the unconscionable crimes being committed in North Korea’s dark gulag of prison camps.”

To call attention to the massive atrocities being committed there against tens of thousands of victims, UN Watch and 20 other human rights groups will be bringing Shin Dong-Hyuk, the only person known to have escaped from such a camp, to testify before the 5th annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, days before the Human Rights Council opens its session in February 2013.

ON THE BURMA (MYANMAR) RESOLUTION
“While UN Watch welcomes the progress made in Burma, we are concerned that today’s resolution is replete with praise for the government’s ‘engagement’ and ‘commitment’ when in fact there remain many ongoing and serious human rights abuses. The excessive deference in the text is inconsistent with other U.N. human rights resolutions and threatens to downplay Burma’s ongoing abuses, such as its detention of numerous political prisoners, and the persecution of the minority Rohingya Muslims, with more than 100,000 members of this community already displaced from their homes.”

The post Commentary: U.N. Adopts Resolutions on Iran, Syria, N. Korea, Burma appeared first on UN Watch.

The plights of Sithu Zeya, 21, and Hla Hla Win, 27, featured in the We Have a Dream presentation of Dr. Thaung Htun, United Nations representative of the opposition-in-exile National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.

They were serving lengthy prison terms – 18 years for Sithu Zeya; 27 years for Hla Hla Win – for dispatching news video to the exiled Democratic Voice of Burma news service (DVB).

The freeing Friday of more than 300 political prisoners prompted the United States to pledge it would restore full diplomatic ties with Burma as U.S President Barack Obama called the move a “substantial step” towards democracy.

But Sithu Zeya said the authorities attached conditions to his release – telling him that if he commits any “crime” in the future he will be forced to serve his full 18-year term, DVB reported.

“It’s like we are being freed with leashes still attached to our necks. So I’m happy, but with a leash still on my neck,” he told DVB.

It was not clear whether the warning applied to all political prisoners being released, the DVB blogger noted.

In his September 21 UN Watch presentation, Thaung Htun described Sithu Zeya as a “colleague” as he recounted how the authorities had, just a week before, added 10 years to the video journalist’s earlier eight-year sentence.

Thaung Htun shared that Hla Hla Win was also a member of the National League for Democracy, which Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi heads. Hla Hla Win emerged from a prison in northern Burma, DVB reported.

Both journalists faced numerous charges under Burma’s panoply of repressive laws, which remain despite Friday’s prisoner release being hailed as the most significant reformist gesture yet of Burma’s nominally civilian government.

U.S. Secretary of States Hillary Clinton said the United States would “meet action with action” to encourage additional steps from  the so-called “reformist dictatorship,” which seeks an end to Western sanctions after assuming power in March from the former military junta.

But receiving less media attention were warnings that the United States and other Western powers may be re-engaging too fast.

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement she was “distressed” by talk of reinstating a U.S. ambassador in Burma.

“I call on the administration to immediately cease talks with the ruthless tyrants in Burma until the junta has been replaced with a duly elected, democratic government that respects human rights and civil liberties,” the statement says.

Ros-Lehtinen argues there is no evidence that planned elections in April will be any fairer than the 2010 ballot that ultimately led to the installation this year of Thein Sein, a former military general who served as prime minister under the military junta, as president.

“Any concession to the dictatorship would be grossly premature,” she warns. “The world needs to see that the upcoming April elections are not the same kind of sham that we saw in 2010.”

Prominent pro-democracy activist groups for Burma are likewise urging extreme caution.

“The release of political prisoners is often timed to coincide with key political developments in order to try and convince the international community reform is on the way,” says Burma Campaign UK in a briefing on motives behind earlier prisoner releases.

“In the past, these releases have never been an indicator that change is on the way. They have been used by the dictatorship to try and secure positive publicity in order to ease international pressure.”

Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB) notes that Burma’s framework of repressive laws remains, thereby allowing for the re-arrest of everyone released – as the warning handed to Sithu Zeya suggested can happen.

“All of the political prisoners released over the past few months could be jailed again at any time as there is still not a truly democratic system in place in Burma,” the group says in a statement.

Both Ros-Lehtinen and CFOB also emphasize scant attention is being paid to ongoing Burmese army offensives against eastern and northern ethnic groups as headlines focus on a ceasefire announced Thursday with the armed ethnic Karen group in Burma’s south.

“The Burmese regime’s ongoing military assaults, mass rapes, and atrocities against minority groups prove that it is far too early to regard it as ‘a partner and friend.’” Ros-Lehtinen says.

Fighting resumed in northeastern Kachin state under the current regime, CFOB stresses.

“In June 2011 – some three months after Burma’s nominally ‘civilian’ government officially took power – Burma’s army began its offensive against the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the thousands of civilians who in live in KIO territory,” the group says.

“The Army’s decision to unilaterally end a 17 year cease fire with the KIO has brought much suffering to thousands of people in the north of country.”

CFOB says most of the world is “completely unaware” of the conflict.

“At least 60,000 Kachin refugees are thought to be currently trapped in a small strip of territory along the China-Burma border and are facing increasingly dire conditions,” it warns.

Thaung Htun also spoke Burma’s ongoing conflicts during his We Have a Dream presentation.

“There have been serious human rights violations, including attacks against civilians, massive internal displacement of people, land confiscation, recruitment of child soldiers, forced labor, and forced portering for the army,” he said.

The post Released Burma Dissident: We’re On a Leash appeared first on UN Watch.

An order to cut jail terms and release some prisoners has been slammed as focusing too much on “common criminals.”

The League for Democracy Party of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, highlighted that only about a dozen of up to 1,700 political detainees were among 900 prisoners the nominally civilian, but military-sanctioned government released Tuesday as it seeks an end to decades of economic sanctions.

Suu Kyi – herself released from house arrest in November 2010 – told the BBC she thought there would be a “full democratic election” in her lifetime. But she also warned in an interview with the Associated Press that the reforms were not “unstoppable.”

Despite her caution, British Foreign Secretary William Hague emerged from a meeting Thursday with his Burmese counterpart, U Wunna Maung Lwin, and cited the foreign minister’s contention the reforms were “irreversible.”

“The foreign minister has reaffirmed commitments that have been made to release political prisoners,” Hague told reporters.

Hague is visiting Burma on the heel’s of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month.

Hague also met  with Burmese President Thein Sein, who is a former military general, as well as Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann, and other leaders, said a British government press release, which contained prepared remarks by the foreign minister.

“I made clear that the British government expects to see the release of all political prisoners, credible by-elections in April, and a genuine alleviation of the suffering in ethnic areas, including through humanitarian access and peace talks,” Hague said, according to the release.

It also emerged Thursday that financier George Soros and family members visited Burma from Dec. 26 to Jan. 3.

Soros agreed to establish an official base in the country for his democracy-building efforts there – even though he acknowledged that “there is a big gap between the goodwill at the top and conditions on the ground,” according to a statement from his Open Society Foundations group.

Soros said his trip was “in his capacity as a philanthropist and supporter of open society around the world.”

At UN Watch’s “We Have a Dream” global human rights summit in New York in September, prominent Burmese dissident Dr. Thaung Htun warned that the reform process may be fragile.

“Even though there are structural changes to institutions, the government and parliament, the ‘reform’ can be likened to putting old wine in a new glass,” said Thaung Htun, UN representative of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.

“Rulers of the old regime may have shed their uniforms, but they have again taken positions in the government.”

The post Burma Receives High-Level Visitors, but Reforms Slow appeared first on UN Watch.

Thank you, Madam President.

Education is a basic human right guaranteed under Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Access to education in many parts of the world is challenging, but it is especially difficult in areas where minority women face discrimination because of their gender and their status as a minority.

UN Watch wishes to highlight three specific countries in which discrimination against minority women leads to violations of their right to education.

First, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the government discriminates against Baha’i women. While Muslim women in Iran have access to education, Baha’i women are often banned from attending university. For example, after serving as a teacher for 15 years, Mahvash Sabet, a Baha’i woman, was dismissed from her job after the Islamic Revolution. Her gender and her religion prevented her from working in the public education system.

The targeting of Baha’i educators continues today. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with human rights, have both expressed serious concern at Iran’s restrictions against religious minorities and the government’s limitation of access to higher education for Baha’i women.

A second example is Pakistan, where Hindu girls face the most severe obstacles to education because of their religion and their gender. According to a recent study by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, there are disturbing expressions of anti-Hinduism in Pakistan’s schools. This contravenes Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which provides that “education shall promote understanding, tolerance, and friendship among all nations, racial, or religious groups.”

Public schools close on Muslim and Christian holidays, but remain open on Hindu religious holidays, forcing students to choose between attending religious ceremonies or school. Female teachers are threatened by Islamist militants, and less than 25% of Pakistan’s schools are open to females. In some regions, girls’ education is prohibited for “religious reasons.”

Finally, there is the situation in Myanmar (Burma), where the government persecutes the Muslim minority group of Rohingyas, denying them citizenship. In particular, Rohingya women are suffering at the hands of the government. Freedom House has reported mass military rapes of Rohingya women.

Fearing for their lives, many of these women have been fleeing the country. For example, a young Rohingya woman named Haziqah was forced to leave her home in Myanmar when soldiers attacked her village. She has since been living in a refugee camp with limited means for survival, and no access to education.

In his 2011 report for the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar expressed serious concern for the Rohingya population, referring to the “endemic discrimination against the Muslim minority.”

Madam President,

Minorities throughout the world face persecution under the rule of oppressive governments. Minority women are especially endangered because of societal perceptions about the alleged inferiority of females. It is the right of every human being to have access to education.

As a female university student, I am grateful for my own education and I recognize its unique value. Education is essential for development, stability, and peace. We urge the members of this body to address discrimination against minority women, and to take action to ensure that every human being enjoys basic access to education.

Thank you, Madam President.

The post Issue 332: UN Watch Condemns Iran, Pakistan and Burma at UN Minority Forum on Women’s Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

As 83 countries endorsed the measure, 39 abstained from the vote, and 50 were absent, the 20 backing Burma’s opposition were:

Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Nicaragua, Oman, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Viet Nam.

The post UN Member States Denounce Burma Rights Record – With Exceptions appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, Nov. 21 – Following are quotes from Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director, on the UN General Assembly Third Committee votes Monday on resolutions condemning human rights abuses in North Korea, Burma and Iran.  For additional quotes and comments, please call Hillel Neuer at (646) 450-2860.

On the question of “country specific” voting:

“The successful passage of the three resolutions masks the fact that large swaths of the United Nations opposed the measures or abstained from the votes, with most saying they did so because they are against resolutions that focus on a single country,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.

“But these countries are being completely hypocritical because they are the same ones who annually sponsor or support 20 one-sided resolutions against Israel in the UN General Assembly, having made a virtual cottage industry of passing ‘country specific’ resolutions against the Jewish state.”

On Afghanistan’s vote to support Iran:

“People in many Western countries with troops in Afghanistan may be alarmed to note that, after all the blood and treasure expended there to help that country build a democracy, it continues to vote with Iran in opposing the Western-led effort to denounce the Islamic Republic for ­– in the words of one of the resolution’s sponsors – a ‘continued deterioration’ in Iran’s human rights record,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.

General: Who’s not scrutinized

“Of course it’s commendable that the UN would – albeit by a stunted majority – again pass resolutions that highlight gross human rights violations in North Korea, Burma and the Iran,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.

“But though there’ll be an additional resolution on Syrian human rights violations on Tuesday, we regret that the General Assembly continues to overlook a host of other pressing human rights situations, not least in China, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.”

Indeed, UN Watch led a coalition of high-profile dissidents and human rights activist groups recently to compile “model” resolutions of the human rights situations in those countries as well as in Syria. The drafts were submitted to UN General Assembly members for their consideration in time for the current round of Third Committee meetings.

The post UN Watch quotes for human rights votes today on Iran, Burma, North Korea appeared first on UN Watch.

• The new government of Guinea welcomed the resolution slamming the Sept. 2009 incidents (click here for the resolution text as proposed and here for the final text as orally amended):

The adoption by the council of this resolution is eloquent testimony and expression and solidarity felt towards my country in its difficult progression to democracy and peace. On behalf of the African group to salute the invaluable spirit of the international community. Thanks to change and determination of transitional governmentt, opens up real prospects for coming out of crisis and experiencing prosperity. This is why my delegation believes by adopting this resolution our council will have made a contribution to the Ouagadougou declaration signed. Make a strong appeal to council to adopt draft L.14 by consensus as further evidence of unswerving support of fundamental freedoms.

• The resolution on DRC was weak, and praised the government instead of holding it accountable (click here for the resolution text). The United States and France for the EU expressed dissatisfaction that the DRC resolution does not restablish an independent expert. The text of the resolution on Myanmar was modified minutes before its adoption. Spain for the EU introduced the watered-down text, and made oral revisions to remove “gross” from a statement on violations committed in Myanmar. Though it was not put to a vote, several countries, including Cuba, China and Russia, condemned the adoption of the resolution. Ther DRC welcomed it:

The current draft of the resolution in the DRC presented by Nigeria enjoys the full agreement of my country. As compared with the original text, the present text incorporates the views of the African Group, EU, USA and other members, my country did not accept the introduction because it believes the acceptance today of a field office of the OHCHR whenever they send an invitation it shows our good faith. We consider that the 7 thematic special rapporteurs as they are all on equal footing can not have imposed on a particular method. Call or appeal on L.23 by consensus. Determined to live up to its accommodations.

The post Guinea and DRC welcome resolutions; Myanmar criticized appeared first on UN Watch.