CSOs to report to UN on human rights

Civic society organisations (CSOs) are going to compile a report on Myanmar’s human rights situation and send it to the United Nations for the first time.

Published on Monday, 09 February 2015 08:37

The report will emphasise freedom of expression, the role of groups protecting human rights, farmland and development, the role of the human rights commission, legal reforms, the rule of law, freedom of religious rights and armed conflicts.

“We represent more than 20 organisations. We are collectively compiling the report. Our heading is Universal Periodic Review. The first draft will be issued after all organisations put forward the points they want. After that we will call a meeting in order to respond to the suggestions. We hope the draft should have been finished by mid-March and the report will be sent at the end of the month,” Aung Myo Min of Equality Myanmar said.

A report on human rights has to be submitted to the UN every four years. The government and border-based organisations put forward their reports in the past. This time will be the first from Myanmar’s CSOs.

“We have a report on human rights to be submitted to the UN. The organisations working for child rights will put forward a report on child rights,” Aung Myo Min said.

The compilation of the report started last November and includes input from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), Bureau Partnership, Equality Myanmar, ethnic human rights organisations, community-based bodies from Yangon and Mandalay, groups representing farmers and workers and different religious groups.

The CSOs claim the government turned a blind eye to the rights of individual citizens and the voices of the people, that the administrative sector interfered in the judiciary and that the current reform process has stalled.

SOURCE www.elevenmyanmar.com