Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar

A/RES/56/231No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 119cHuman rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives, published in 2002.

What else is in this group?

46 documents · 1994–2026

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2026A/HRC/RES/61/30Situation of human rights in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
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2023A/HRC/RES/52/31Situation of human rights in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2022A/HRC/RES/49/23Situation of human rights in MyanmarCompare with earlier document

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Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2002.

2002A/57/484Situation of human rights in Myanmar report of the Secretary-General

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What does this mandate say?

28 operative paragraphs

Expresses its appreciation to the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Myanmar for his interim report as well as his oral presentation;6

Welcomes the assistance extended to the Special Rapporteur by the Government of Myanmar during his exploratory visit in April 2001 and his first fact-finding mission in October 2001, which enabled him to establish direct contacts with the Government and all other relevant sectors of society, and calls upon the Government to continue to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur, to allow him to conduct further field missions, without preconditions, and to implement fully his recommendations;

Also welcomes the report of the Secretary-General7 on the visits to the country of his Special Envoy for Myanmar, strongly endorses his efforts to help facilitate the national reconciliation process among all interested parties in Myanmar, and encourages the Government of Myanmar to establish a constructive and regular dialogue with the Secretary-General in order to make better use of his good offices;

Deplores the continued violations of human rights in Myanmar, including extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, enforced disappearances, rape, torture, inhuman treatment, forced labour, including the use of children, forced relocation and denial of freedom of assembly, association, expression, religion and movement;

Welcomes the initiation of confidence-building contacts between the Government and Aung San Suu Kyi, General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy, and hopes that such talks will be extended at an appropriate time to include, among others, representatives of ethnic minorities, thereby facilitating broad-based and inclusive national reconciliation and the restoration of democracy;

Expresses its concern at the slow progress in the talks between the Government of Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi, General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy, and urges that the increasing development and progress of the confidence-building measures ensure the irreversibility of the process towards democracy;

Recognizes the steps taken by the Government of Myanmar to allow some political functions to be resumed by the opposition, including the reopening of some branch offices of political parties and the cessation of the negative media campaign, but expresses deep concern at the unnecessary and discriminatory stringent restrictions that continue to hamper political parties’ freedom of assembly, association, expression, information and movement, as noted by the Special Rapporteur, as well as at the use by the Government of intimidatory methods such as arbitrary detention and abuse of the legal system, and calls for an early restoration of political rights and freedoms;

Notes the dissemination of human rights standards for public officials through a series of human rights workshops, and encourages the Government of Myanmar to widen participation in these workshops to ensure that this information, and its practical implementation, can benefit all citizens of Myanmar;

Also notes the establishment by the Government of Myanmar of a national human rights committee, and encourages it to bring this committee into conformity with the Principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights annexed to General Assembly resolution 48/134 of 20 December 1993 (the Paris Principles);

Welcomes the release from detention of a number of democratic political activists, and strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to release all remaining detained political leaders and all political prisoners, including journalists, to ensure their physical integrity and to permit them to participate in the process of national reconciliation;

Notes with satisfaction the continued cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, allowing the Committee to communicate with and visit detainees in accordance with its modalities of work, and hopes that the programme will be pursued further;

Welcomes the reopening of most university courses, but remains concerned that enjoyment of the right to education continues to be limited, often for political reasons, by the reduction in the length of the academic year, the division of the student population and its dispersal to distant campuses and the inadequate allocation of resources;

Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to take urgent and concrete measures to ensure the establishment of democracy in accordance with the will of the people as expressed in the democratic elections held in 1990 and, to this end, to extend the talks initiated with Aung San Suu Kyi, General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy, to encompass a genuine and substantive dialogue with all the leaders of political parties and of ethnic minorities, with the aim of achieving national reconciliation and the restoration of democracy, and to ensure that political parties and non-governmental organizations can function freely, and, in this context notes the existence of the committee representing the People’s Parliament;

Recalls the resolution adopted by the International Labour Conference at its eighty-eighth session, held from 30 May to 15 June 2000, recommending that international organizations reconsider any cooperation with Myanmar and that Governments, employers and workers take appropriate measures to ensure that the Government of Myanmar could not take advantage of such relations to perpetuate or extend the system of forced or compulsory labour referred to by the Commission of Inquiry established to examine the observance by Myanmar of the International Labour Organization Convention concerning forced or compulsory labour (Convention No.29) of 1930;

Welcomes the recent visit to Myanmar undertaken by the high-level team of the International Labour Organization, with the objective of assessing the practical implications and impact of measures taken by the Government to eradicate the practice of forced labour and the cooperation that was extended to the team by the Government of Myanmar;

Notes with regret that the conclusion of the high-level team was that there was only moderately positive evolution in the situation, since there have been only uneven efforts to disseminate the orders, since the orders have not been observed by the military at the local level and since, despite widespread instances of forced labour, there have been no criminal prosecutions, and that much more will have to be done to address adequately the situation, including movement towards national reconciliation;

Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to implement, in close cooperation with the International Labour Organization, concrete legislative, executive and administrative measures to eradicate the practice of forced labour, in conformity with the relevant recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, and, in this context endorses the recommendations of the high-level team, including the establishment of a long-term representation of the International Labour Organization in Myanmar and the creation of an ombudsman, and encourages the Government of Myanmar to pursue the dialogue with the Director-General of the International Labour Organization to this end;

Deplores the continued violations of human rights, in particular those directed against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities, including summary executions, rape, torture, forced labour, forced porterage, forced relocations, use of anti-personnel landmines, destruction of crops and fields and dispossession of land and property, which deprives those persons of all means of subsistence and results in large-scale displacement of persons and flows of refugees to neighbouring countries, with negative effects for those countries, and an increasing number of internally displaced persons;

Urges the Government of Myanmar to end the systematic enforced displacement of persons and other causes of refugee flows to neighbouring countries and to create conditions conducive to their voluntary return and full reintegration in conditions of safety and dignity and to allow the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel to assist in the return and reintegration process;

Deplores the continued violations of the human rights of women, especially women who are internally displaced or belong to ethnic minorities or the political opposition, in particular forced labour, trafficking, sexual violence and exploitation, including rape;

Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to implement fully the recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in particular the request to prosecute and punish those who violate the human rights of women, and to carry out human rights education and gender-sensitization training, in particular for military personnel;

Deplores the recruitment of children as soldiers, in particular children belonging to ethnic minorities, and strongly urges the Government of Myanmar and all other parties to the hostilities in Myanmar to end the use of children as soldiers;

Notes that the Government of Myanmar is starting to address the growing incidence of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), while recognizing that much still needs to be done, particularly in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention, and urges the Government of Myanmar to recognize fully the severity of the situation and the need to take necessary action against the disease, in cooperation with all relevant political and ethnic groups, and through the development of the United Nations joint plan of action on HIV/AIDS, to be delivered through non-governmental organizations or international agencies with a view to reaching the communities most affected and most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection;

Urges the Government of Myanmar to promote and protect the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and guard against the marginalization and discrimination that they may experience and to ensure that the health-care system receives sufficient funding to enable health workers to provide the highest possible standard of health care;

Expresses its grave concern at the high rates of malnutrition among pre-school-aged children, which constitutes serious violations of their rights to adequate food and the highest attainable standard of health and may have serious repercussions for the health and development of the affected children;

Strongly urges the Government of Myanmar to ensure full respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including economic and social rights, and to fulfil its obligation to restore the independence of the judiciary and due process and to end the impunity of and bring to justice any perpetrators of human rights violations, including members of the military, and to investigate and prosecute alleged violations committed by government agents in all circumstances;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue his discussions on the situation of human rights and the restoration of democracy with the Government of Myanmar, to submit additional reports to the General Assembly during its fifty-sixth session on the progress of those discussions, and to report to the Assembly at its fifty-seventh session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-eighth session on the progress made in the implementation of the present resolution;

Decides to continue its consideration of this question at its fifty-seventh session.

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Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar

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