PRESS CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY DENMARK ON 'CURRENT SITUATION IN MYANMAR'
Press Briefing
PRESS CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY DENMARK ON 'CURRENT SITUATION IN MYANMAR'
19970926
Any resolution on Myanmar adopted by the General Assembly's current session should request Secretary-General Kofi Annan to invite countries that were friendly to that Member State to establish a formal consultative body that would recommend steps that would help the international community ensure the implementation of all previous Assembly resolutions on that country.
The suggestion was made today by the representative for United Nations affairs of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Thaung Htun, at a Headquarters press conference sponsored by the Danish Mission to the United Nations. The conference was also addressed by the Minister for South and North American Affairs of the NCGUB, U Bo Hla Tint, after it was launched by an official of the World Federation of United Nations Association (WFUNA), Sharon McHale. The conference was called to inform the international community about the political and human rights situation in the country and to comment on the Assembly speech by Myanmar's Foreign Minister, U Ohn Gyaw.
Speaking further on the kind of outcome he expected from the current session, Mr. Htun said it should ask the High Commissioner for Human Rights to place a team of human rights field officers in the country who would monitor human rights developments and verify reports on the matter produced by non- governmental organizations. Such a move was essential since the Government had not allowed the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Rajsoomer Lallah, to enter the country.
At the beginning of the press conference, U Tint informed correspondents that the ruling regime in his country, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), had hatched a scheme to decimate the membership of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), intimidating and harassing its leaders, detaining and torturing party workers and closing down some of the offices of the movement. The regime had continued to keep the opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under virtual house arrest and isolated from the party and the people. It had a simple motive for its actions -- revenge for what it saw as NLD's role in making the Government unpopular. But it should be clear to all that the regime was unpopular and treated as a international pariah because of its refusal to recognize the outcome of the election held in the country in 1990.
If the regime wanted to solve those problems, he said, all it needed was the political will to enter genuine dialogue with the NLD, without any preconditions. In that context, SLORC's recent call for a dialogue with the opposition was a step in the right direction. However, the appeal for the talks had been torpedoed by the regime's insistence that Aung San Suu Kyi be excluded from them. Such a condition was unacceptable, and including her in any dialogue was likely to lead to some success.
He called on the international community to maintain the pressure it was already applying on the regime and not to ease it. The business community, for its part, should withhold its investments in the country until the right conditions prevailed there. They should promote reconciliation before making any moves to invest in Burma.
Continuing with the press conference, the NCGUB representative for United Nations affairs, Mr. Htun, criticized the statement made to the Assembly by the Foreign Minister of Myanmar. Starting with the Minister's claim that his regime had cooperated fully with the United Nations, Mr. Htun said that was not true. For example, the regime had prevented the Special Rapporteur from entering the country. Moreover, contrary to Assembly resolutions, the regime in the country had continued violating the human rights of its citizens. He challenged the regime to prove its willingness to cooperate with the United Nations by letting the Special Rapporteur into the country.
Commenting on the Foreign Minister's claims regarding drug eradication, observance of anti-narcotics conventions and control of money laundering, Mr. Htun told correspondents that the SLORC had expressed reservations against some provisions of both the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, especially regarding the extradition of Burmese citizens and the use of the International Court of Justice to address drug- related problems. Such reservations, he continued, did not indicate that the regime was serious about implementing the 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, either.
Furthermore, he said, the absence of the rule of law and the lack of an independent judiciary would not facilitate the meaningful implementation of drug laws. Moreover, drug traffickers were now investing their money in tourism, the building of infrastructure and in the construction industry. Also, contrary to the regime's claims about substantially curbing the production of drugs crops, their planting had been moved to areas beyond the monitoring abilities of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. Despite the regime's claims that it was cooperating to tackle the drug problem, what was required was a comprehensive, long-term package to address the crisis. Elements of such a plan should include the pursuit of peace in the country and the recognition of the rights of the country's minorities.
Myanmar Briefing - 3 - 26 September 1997
Turning to the regime's claims that it was fostering economic and social development in the country, Mr. Htun said that SLORC's reforms had failed to substantially improve the lot of the people in the country. While it had partially opened the economy to investments, the proceeds were mainly used to build up the military. Apart from activities in the construction of hotels, military buildings and the opium and heroin trade, the country's economy was collapsing. The local currency's value vis-a-vis the United States dollar had fallen substantially while poverty and malnutrition had spread, especially in the rural areas. Only the friends of those in power were getting richer, unlike the majority of the people. That problem was further complicated by the army practice of extortion, which destroyed the social fabric of the country. In essence, he emphasized, for economic reforms to succeed, they must be preceded by political progress.
Asked how the human rights field worker sent by the United Nations would monitor developments in Myanmar when even the Special Rapporteur had not been allowed into the country, Mr. Htun said they could go to Burma's borders and interview the refugees that flowed out of the country to get accurate pictures of the situation inside the nation.
In response to a question as to which countries he expected to be included in the formal consultative group he wanted to be created, he said that the formation of such a formal association of States would help encourage dialogue with the aim of restoring democracy in Burma.
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