RES/28/23 Situation of human rights in Myanmar

GE.15-07090 (E)



Human Rights Council Twenty-eighth session

Agenda item 4

Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council

28/23. Situation of human rights in Myanmar

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

and the International Covenants on Human Rights, and reaffirming previous resolutions on the

situation of human rights in Myanmar, the most recent being Human Rights Council

resolution 25/26 of 28 March 2014 and General Assembly resolution 69/248 of 29

December 2014, and President’s statement PRST/23/1 of 14 June 2013,

Welcoming the work and reports of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human

rights in Myanmar and the cooperation of the Government of Myanmar with the Special

Rapporteur, including the facilitation of her visits to the country from 17 to 26 July 2014

and 7 to 16 January 2015,

Recalling its resolution 5/1, on institution-building of the Human Rights Council,

and 5/2, on the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures Mandate Holders of the Council, of

18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his or her duties in

accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,

1. Welcomes the positive developments in Myanmar and the commitment of the

Government of Myanmar to continue on its path of political, economic and democratic

reform, encourages its continued efforts towards national reconciliation and the promotion

and protection of human rights and, while recognizing the scale of the reform effort

undertaken to date, encourages the Government to take further steps to consolidate the

progress made and to address outstanding issues;

2. Also welcomes the continued engagement of the Government of Myanmar

with political actors within the Parliament and the opposition parties, urges the Government

to continue constitutional reform and to ensure that the constitutional referendum and the

elections to be held in 2015 and beyond are credible, inclusive and transparent, ensuring

equal opportunity for the representation and participation of women as candidates and

voters and that all the people of Myanmar are able to cast their vote, allowing all candidates

to fairly contest and the international community to monitor the elections, and ensuring that

the democratic transition of Myanmar is sustained by bringing all national institutions,

including the military, under a democratically elected, fully representative civilian

government;

3. Recalls the earlier release of prisoners of conscience, stresses the important

role played by the Committee for Scrutinizing the Remaining Prisoners of Conscience,

encourages the continuation of the work of the newly constituted Prisoners of Conscience

Affairs Committee and the incorporation of broader representation from the political

prisoners’ community, and urges the Government of Myanmar to fulfil its commitment to

the unconditional release of all remaining political prisoners, including all political

activists, journalists, human rights defenders and peaceful protesters recently detained or

convicted, and to provide for the full rehabilitation of former prisoners of conscience;

4 Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to implement its obligations to

protect the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, to allow for

free and independent media and to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety and security

of journalists, civil society activists and human rights defenders and their freedom to pursue

their activities, and to maintain particular vigilance to ensure that these freedoms and the

operating space for civil society are fully protected in the approach to the elections;

5. Encourages the Government of Myanmar to ensure that the National Human

Rights Commission is able to discharge its functions fully and in accordance with the

principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of

human rights (the Paris Principles);

6. Urges the Government of Myanmar to step up its efforts to end all remaining

human rights violations and abuses, including arbitrary arrest and detention, forced

displacement, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and cruel, inhuman and

degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary deprivation of property, including land, and

violations of international humanitarian law in some parts of the country, and repeats its

call upon the Government to take the measures necessary to ensure accountability and to

end impunity;

7. Encourages the Government of Myanmar to take further steps to strengthen

good governance and the rule of law, welcomes the ongoing efforts aimed at reviewing and

reforming legislation, including the Constitution, stresses the need for and the relevance of

such reforms, recalls the importance of ensuring their compatibility with international

standards and democratic principles, and calls upon the Government and political actors to

continue legal reform, to address the need for an independent, impartial and effective

judiciary and an independent and self-governing professional organization of lawyers, and

to consider ratifying additional international instruments, including international human

rights conventions, and incorporating them into national legislation;

8. Urges the Government of Myanmar to accelerate its efforts to address

discrimination, human rights violations, incitement to violence, acts of violence,

displacement and economic deprivation affecting members of ethnic and religious

minorities, to take all measures necessary to prevent attacks against Muslims and members

of other minorities and to hold actors who incite and commit violence accountable, calls

upon the Government to ensure the right to vote, freedom of movement and equal access to

services, including health and education, and also calls upon the Government to ensure that

any legislation on the protection of race and religion is consistent with the transition

towards national reconciliation and an open democratic society, and fully consistent with

international human rights treaties to which Myanmar is a party;

9. Expresses concern at the increase in nationalist-based intolerance of religious

and ethnic minorities, as well as of the United Nations and other international

organizations, urges the Government of Myanmar and political leaders to publicly condemn

such discourse, and calls upon the Government to take all necessary and appropriate action,

in conformity with its international human rights obligations, to combat violence;

10. Reiterates its serious concern about the situation of persons belonging to the

Rohingya minority and other minorities in Rakhine State, including further instances of

violence and other abuses that have led all communities to suffer tremendous trauma, and

about reports in the past year of attacks against and abuses of Muslim minorities elsewhere

in the country and about intimidation of and threats to the United Nations and other

humanitarian workers operating in Rakhine State, and calls upon the Government of

Myanmar to protect all civilians from violence, to allow for self-identification, to ensure

full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and rapid and unimpeded access to

humanitarian assistance without discrimination across Rakhine State and the safe and

voluntary return of internally displaced persons to their communities of origin, and to allow

freedom of movement for all persons belonging to the Rohingya minority;

11. Expresses concern at the declaration of the Government of Myanmar that all

white card identity documents would expire on 31 March 2015, which will deny persons

belonging to the Rohingya minority any form of identification and the right to vote, and

calls upon the Government to issue identity documents for all current white card holders,

without discrimination, including all persons belonging to the Rohingya minority, to ensure

equal access to full citizenship and related rights and, while welcoming some measures

taken by the Government, encourages it, as well as political and civil society leaders, to

facilitate interfaith and intercommunity dialogue, including in Rakhine State, and to

undertake full, transparent and independent investigations into all reports of human rights

violations and abuses, to address the root causes, to ensure accountability and to bring

about reconciliation;

12. Encourages continued efforts towards a durable nationwide ceasefire with

ethnic armed groups and towards an all-inclusive political dialogue leading to

comprehensive political solutions, emphasizes the importance of the full, equal and

effective participation of women, particularly from communities affected by conflict, in all

activities related to the prevention and resolution of armed conflict, the maintenance of

peace and security and post-conflict peacebuilding, with the objective of achieving lasting

peace; expresses concern at the declaration of a state of emergency and the imposition of

martial law in the Kokang self-administered zone and at the increased fighting in Shan and

Kachin States; and urges the full implementation of existing ceasefire agreements,

including for all parties, to protect the civilian population against violations and abuses of

human rights and violations of international humanitarian law and for safe, timely, rapid

and unimpeded humanitarian access to be granted to all areas;

13. Welcomes the continued engagement and continued cooperation of the

Government of Myanmar with the United Nations, including the Special Representative of

the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, the United Nations Country Task

Force on Monitoring and Reporting, co-chaired by the United Nations Children’s Fund and

the Resident Coordinator for the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and

other international actors, and the progress made towards ending the recruitment and use of

child soldiers in Myanmar and the elimination of forced labour, including the

Government’s continued commitment to the joint action plan with the Country Task Force

on Monitoring and Reporting to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by the

armed forces, and encourages its full implementation and also the implementation of other

relevant agreements, including the commitment to end forced labour by 2015;

14. Expresses concern at further delays, while recalling the commitment of the

Government of Myanmar to open a country office of the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights, notes the ongoing negotiations and calls upon the

Government to promptly establish the office with a full mandate, to specify a process for

the opening of the office in accordance with the mandate of the High Commissioner, and to

cooperate with other United Nations actors in the country;

15. Encourages the international community to continue to support the

Government of Myanmar in the fulfilment of its international human rights obligations and

commitments, the implementation of its democratic transitional process and its economic

and social development, and calls upon all business enterprises to meet their responsibility

to respect human rights in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human

Rights;

16. Decides to extend for one year the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the

situation of human rights in Myanmar in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the

Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Council resolutions 7/32 of 28 March

2008, 10/2 of 27 March 2009, 13/25 of 26 March 2010, 16/24 of 25 March 2011, 19/21 of

23 March 2012, 22/14 of 21 March 2013 and 25/26, and invites the Special Rapporteur to

include in her next report, inter alia, further recommendations on the needs of Myanmar,

including with regard to technical assistance and capacity-building, and information on the

progress in the electoral process and reform in the run-up to the 2015 elections and in the

post-electoral period;

17. Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to continue its cooperation with the

Special Rapporteur in the exercise of the mandate, including by facilitating further visits

and, while recognizing the cooperation of the Government with the Special Rapporteur,

calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner to provide the Special Rapporteur with all

the assistance and resources necessary to enable her to discharge the mandate fully;

18. Requests the Special Rapporteur to submit a progress report to the General

Assembly at its seventieth session and to the Human Rights Council in accordance with its

annual programme of work;

19. Expresses its strong support for the good offices mission and commitment of

the Secretary-General, and calls upon the Government of Myanmar to ensure full

cooperation with the Secretary-General and his Special Adviser on Myanmar.

57th meeting

27 March 2015

[Adopted without a vote.]