Written statements to the CHR by non-governmental organisations

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Description: " 1. The Asian Legal Resource Centre has, over a number of years, brought credible reports of food scarcity in Myanmar to the attention of the Commission (most recently at its fifty-ninth session, E/CN.4/2003/NGO/84). Hunger persists in Myanmar not due to natural disaster or causes otherwise beyond human control, but rather because of the policies and practices of the Government of Myanmar, which deny people?s right to food. 2. In the past year, the Asian Legal Resource Centre announced the launch of the Permanent People?s Tribunal on the Right to Food and the Rule of Law in Asia. In its introduction to the Tribunal, which comprises a number of eminent Asian jurists and activists, the Asian Legal Resource Centre observed that the Tribunal comes at a time when many governments still falsely assert that economic and social rights can be addressed separately from civil and political rights. In fact, political equality among human beings can be guaranteed only when the right to food is adequately met. However, apart from people in a few industrialised countries, the populations of the world are yet to know even the most rudimentary equality, evidenced daily by the billions denied access to adequate and safe food and water. Such inequality affects the organization of all societies, including those in Asia. Authoritarian rule has an explicit link to inequalities relating to food and water. It is not possible for a government to win popular consent until it has satisfied its people?s basic nutritional needs. Therefore, societies where large numbers of people are going hungry are inevitably ruled without popular consent and participation..."
Source/publisher: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) via United Nations (E/CN.4/2004/NGO/29)
2004-02-12
Date of entry/update: 2004-03-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: " 1. On 30 May 2003, hundreds of government-organised thugs carried out a well-organised and premeditated attack on members and supporters of the National League for Democracy, killing, according to eyewitness accounts, at least 70 people. Although this was but one of many atrocities committed by the Government of Myanmar against its citizens, it should be regarded with particular seriousness given the number of persons killed at one time, the extent to which the event appears to have been planned in advance with the conivance of the highest authorities, and because it directly targetted the embodiment of popular democractic aspirations in Myanmar, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. 2. In making this statement the Asian Legal Resource Centre concurs with the preliminary findings of the Ad Hoc Commission on the Depayin Massacre, presented on 25 June 2003. In its summary observations on the attack, the Ad Hoc Commission observed that:the attack was clearly premeditated and well-organised, as indicated by the following: a) Up to 5000 persons were brought to a remote rural location for the purpose of attacking the convoy. b) The attackers were all well-armed and located strategically at two killing sites. c) Before the motorcade arrived, local authorities threatened people living in nearby villages to stay indoors. d) The authorities systematically searched for and arrested survivors of the attack. 3. The attack is described by a number of eyewitneses, from whom the Ad Hoc Commission has collected affidavits, in the following terms:..."
Source/publisher: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) via United Nations (E/CN.4/2004/NGO/38)
2004-02-13
Date of entry/update: 2004-03-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Written statement submitted by the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. "1. In the year 2000, as in the past 12 years, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Burma?s ruling military junta, continues to be among the worst human rights violators of our times. Reported human rights violations included: extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions, enforced disappearances, rape, torture, inhuman treatment, mass arrests, forced labour, forced relocation, and denial of freedom of assembly, association, expression and movement..." ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Creator/author: Rights & Democracy (ICHRDD)
Source/publisher: United Nations ((E/CN.4/2001/NGO/124)
2001-02-13
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : htm
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Description: Written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC). "The right to food is a fundamental human right, guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [article 25(1)] and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 11). Notwithstanding, the right to food of people in the Union of Myanmar has been submerged by the military domination of that country. Substantial evidence suggests that the Government of Myanmar is systematically denying food to the civilian population through a range of practices implemented to ensure perpetuation of its undemocratic rule..."
Creator/author: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2002/NGO/66)
2002-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC). "...MYANMAR: Although the government of the Union of Myanmar claims to safeguard religious freedom, indications are otherwise. While a predominantly Buddhist country, there are also large Christian and Muslim communities in Myanmar. Notwithstanding, the government emphasises Buddhist ceremony in its performance of routine state functions. In so doing it ostracises other religious groups and sets Buddhist standards as the norm for state institutions. Students in schools are thus obliged to participate in Buddhist ritual irrespective of their religious beliefs. Office-holders in state agencies are almost without exception Buddhist..."
Creator/author: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2002/NGO/77)
2002-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Written statement submitted by the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy). "In the year 2001, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Burma?s ruling military junta, is still holding on power by the use of force. Gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law continued. Reported human rights violations included: extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary executions, forced disappearances, rape, torture, inhuman treatment, mass arrests, forced labour, forced relocation, and denial of freedom of assembly, association, expression and movement..." ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Creator/author: Rights & Democracy
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2002/NGO/56)
2002-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) "...MYANMAR: In contrast to the above, Myanmar has not ratified any international covenants that would offer protection against torture, nor has it domestic laws to do likewise. Ample evidence collected by independent agencies working from outside the country indicates that the use of torture in Myanmar is particularly prevalent in military intelligence detention centres and prisons, and in areas of the country subjected to counter-insurgency operations. In the later case, rape and other forms of sexual abuse have been employed systemically as an act of war against populations in remote regions. Regards the former, to date the military government has extended limited cooperation only to the International Committee of the Red Cross for occasional visits to prisons and detention centres. Sadly, the Government of Myanmar remains largely oblivious to international attempts at scrutiny and reform."
Creator/author: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2002/NGO/72)
2002-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Minority Rights Group International (MRG) would like to draw the attention of the Commission on Human Rights to the situation of minorities and ethnic nationalities in Burma (Myanmar), in particular, with regard to conflict resolution. MRG recently addressed this issue in detail in the report �Burma (Myanmar): The Time for Change� (Martin Smith, 2002) but would like, here, to focus the attention of the CHR on three specific themes: a) the pressing need for constructive dialogue between all groups, in particular to ensure that any new constitutional set-up for Burma provides for the full and effective participation of all communities; b) the occurrence of gross violations of the human rights of minorities and ethnic nationalities, including sexual abuse of women and forced displacement; c) the situation of refugees from Burma living in neighbouring States..."
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/157)
2003-03-12
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The right to food of people in the Union of Myanmar continues to be denied by the military government in that country. During the last year the Asian Legal Resource Centre has increasingly received credible and disturbing reports of serious food shortages throughout Myanmar, both directly and indirectly linked to government practices implemented to ensure perpetuation of its undemocratic rule..."
Creator/author: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/84)
2003-03-10
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...Despite the release of democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest again during 2002, and the release of many members of the National League of Democracy from imprisonment, the people of Myanmar continue to be denied even the most basic rights to freedom of expression. While most of those released from political detention had served full seven or fourteen-year terms, others who in the last year have raised their voices in opposition to the military regime continue to be sentenced to similar periods..."
Creator/author: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/91)
2003-03-10
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "In a written statement to the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2002/NGO/85), the Asian Legal Resource Centre raised concerns at the lack of security for millions of people trying to survive as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Asia. To illustrate, the Asian Legal Resource Centre now draws the attention of the Commission to the massive internal displacement in Myanmar, and concomitant policy of forced repatriation of asylum seekers by Thailand. 2. The Asian Legal Resource Centre has for a number of years made written statements to the Commission on the widespread and chronic food insecurity visited on Myanmar as a consequence of relentless human rights violations either perpetrated directly by the military regime or arising due to its rule. Those in Myanmar who suffer the greatest hunger, and insecurity in every aspect of their lives, are the internally displaced. 3. Internal displacement in Myanmar is the result of over fifty years of conflict, insecurity and militarization. It is a deep and long-term crisis exacerbated by the hardening of both anti-refugee sentiment and policies in neighbouring countries, notably Thailand and Bangladesh, during recent years. In its separate submission on food security in Myanmar, the Asian Legal Resource Centre has noted the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees forcibly repatriated from Bangladesh. In this statement it also considers those seeking refuge in Thailand..." 10 March 2003
Creator/author: Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC)
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/100)
2003-03-10
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The absence of respect for rights pertaining to democratic governance is at the root of all major violations of human rights in Myanmar (A/RES/C3./54/L.76). The key to progress toward democracy and respect for human rights is direct negotiations on the political future of the country between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the National League for Democracy (NLD), and the ethnic minorities...The UNCHR resolution on Myanmar should: 1. Deplore the slow pace of the progress of national reconciliation and democratization and conclude, as the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, that it is time for the Government of Myanmar to start a substantive dialogue with the leaders of the NLD and all other political parties and ethnic nationalities, since only through the building of an all-inclusive, accountable and transparent process will it be possible to preserve and consolidate peace and national reconciliation and to restore democracy (E/CN.4/2002/45); 2. Call SPDC to declare a nationwide humanitarian cease-fire; 3. Urge SPDC to release unconditionally all political prisoners under a general amnesty; 4. Express its grave concern at recent report of rapes committed by the Burmese Army against women in Shan State and urge the SPDC to accept the visit of an independent international inquiry mission to investigate the situation including the visit of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences; 5. Express concern about the SPDC?s policy to dedicate scarce resources to military expenditures instead of providing essential services to the people of Burma; 6. Express concern about food security crisis in Myanmar and call both the Special Rapporteur on the right to food and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar to investigate the situation; 7. Call SPDC to address the humanitarian situation more adequately, with the commitment of the Government and with the involvement of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in the planning and managing of international humanitarian assistance."
Creator/author: International Centre for Human Rights, Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy)
Source/publisher: United Nations (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/76)
2003-03-07
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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