UN human rights investigator spars with Myanmar

An independent U.N. investigator clashed with Myanmar's representative over the nation's human rights record Thursday and called for the release of all 2,000 political prisoners before national elections in 2010.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, who was appointed the U.N.'s special rapporteur for Myanmar in March 2008 by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, said he saw "a pattern of widespread and systematic violations" of human rights during two trips to Myanmar this year. Those ranged from forced labor to political prisoners to abuses of women and children in a nation that has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Quintana also described a "starvation situation" in many parts of the country, including Kayin, North Rakhine, Chin, North Shan and East Shan states, compounded by dire living conditions.

"The situation of human rights in Myanmar remains alarming," he told the U.N. General Assembly's committee for social and humanitarian issues. "There is a pattern of widespread and systematic violations which in many conflict areas results result in serious abuses of civilian rights and integrity."

Quintana, a lawyer from Argentina, said the judiciary delivered harsh sentences against prisoners of conscience - most notably Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi - and that a culture of "prevailing impunity" under the military government allows abuses to continue unchecked. Next month he plans his third visit this year.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, recently has allowed Suu Kyi, the detailed democracy leader, some contact with Western diplomats as the United States has launched a new policy of trying to engage the country's leaders.

But a recent court ruling upheld her August conviction for breaking the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an uninvited American at her home earlier this year. She was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest, meaning she cannot participate in elections scheduled for next year, the first in Myanmar in two decades.

Myanmar diplomat U Thaung Tun hotly disputed Quintana's assessment as "less than objective" but said the ruling military junta is ready to cooperate with him.

"It is regretable that allegations of human rights violations from exiled groups have found their way into the report. These allegations should be taken with a grain of salt," U Thaung Tun said. "We find it perturbing, troubling that the report focuses principally on selected individuals and groups, instead of engagement with the Myanmar authorities to grow cooperation."

U Thaung Tun sought, in particular, to deflect widespread concern about the scheduled 2010 elections next year in Myanmar.

"We are deeply disappointed that the special rapporteur casts doubts on the elections and the judicial system. ... Let there be no doubt that the government's determination is to hold them and that they will be free and fair," he said.