UN Special Rapporteur to Visit Burma

The UN human rights special rapporteur for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, will visit the country from Feb. 14 to 20. When he made a number of requests last year to visit the country for the second time in one year, the regime said the timing was not right. 

He will make a report on his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in March, according to the UN Human Rights office in Thailand.

Tomas Ojea Quintana. (Photo: AP)

Quintana has asked the authorities to meet with the detained pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and leaders of ethnic cease-fire groups during his visit, according to an interview he gave to a Burmese radio station on Tuesday. He has also asked to visit Arakan State to study the human rights situation there.

In his report to the UN last year, Quintana called for the release of all 2,156 political prisoners before the 2010 election in order to ensure national reconciliation and a transition to democracy.

Since his appointment by the Geneva-based UN human rights group in May 2008, Quintana has made two trips to Burma, the second in February 2009. His mandate comes from the UN Human Rights Council.

During his last visit, he had private meetings with political prisoners in Insein Prison. He also visited a prison in Karen State where he met with inmates who were imprisoned for trying to escape after they had been conscripted as porters by the regime's army.

Quintana has urged the military regime to take four human rights steps before the 2010 election: the release of all political prisoners; review and reform laws that are not in compliance with international human rights standards; reform the judiciary to assure independence and impartiality; and reform the military to respect international humanitarian laws in conflict areas, as well as the rights of civilians.