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UN panel 'alarmed' on Burma rights abuses
Agence France Presse - January 28, 2011
New York – Burma came under pressure in the United Nations human rights council on Thursday to speed up genuine democratic reform, as western nations blasted "alarming" abuse and some Asian neighbors sought more change.
"The human rights situation in Burma is alarming," Sweden said in a statement to the 47 nation assembly as the council held its first regular review of Burma's human rights record.
Western countries including Britain, France and the United States called on the military regime to immediately free more than 2,000 political prisoners, end impunity for abuse, and halt forced labor, arbitrary arrests and torture of critics.
US ambassador Eileen Donahoe warned of "ongoing, systematic violations of human rights" and expressed continuing concern about reports of "hundreds of cases of torture of political prisoners."
"We remain deeply concerned about the very poor state of human rights," she added, warning that the elections last November were neither free nor fair," and "cannot be considered credible."
Asian countries broadly welcomed steps toward democracy with the release of jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and steered clear of overt criticism of the administration.
But many neighboring countries and key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including India, Indonesia and Thailand signaled that they also wanted more progress on democratization and avoided acknowledging the elections.
"Burma stands at an important crossroads in its transition to democracy," India said.
It underlined the need for "more inclusive, broad-based and expeditious" reforms and greater efforts "to address the major human rights concerns."
Thailand sought improvements in the country's laws to "promote greater accountability" as well as more efforts to engage ethnic groups and deal with human rights.
"We urge the authorities in Burma to work to consolidate the gains achieved and ensure further positive developments," Thailand envoy Kanita Sapphaisal said.
However, neighboring China voiced support for Burma and warned that "pressure and sanctions of a political nature will not produce solutions."
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