Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02RANGOON1378
2002-10-28 09:22:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:  

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR PINHEIRO BRIEFS DIPLOMATS ON

Tags:  PREL PHUM BM 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001378 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV
CINCPAC FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2012
TAGS: PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR PINHEIRO BRIEFS DIPLOMATS ON
VISIT

REF: RANGOON 1354

Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ FOR REASON 1.5(D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001378

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV
CINCPAC FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2012
TAGS: PREL PHUM BM
SUBJECT: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR PINHEIRO BRIEFS DIPLOMATS ON
VISIT

REF: RANGOON 1354

Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ FOR REASON 1.5(D).


1. (C) Summary: At an October 28 briefing, UN Special
Rapporteur Pinheiro told diplomats in Rangoon that during his
12-day visit to Burma he strongly encouraged the SPDC to
address continuing human rights abuses. He also encouraged
the international community to implement programs that will
promote human rights in Burma (citing Australia's human
rights training program as an example),or conditions will
get much worse. Democratic reform, in his view, is not in
the offing and human rights problems in Burma are too
pressing to wait for this change. Pinheiro said Secretary
One Khin Nyunt was "not negative" in response to his call for
action on abuses and was proud of the SPDC's successes. Khin
Nyunt cited actions to combat narcotics, trafficking in
persons, and HIV/AIDS as evidence of progress. Pinheiro said
the SPDC has been responsive to ICRC recommendations for
improvements in prisons and conditions for political
prisoners, in particular, have improved as a result.
Pinheiro proposed to the SPDC the expansion of ICRC
monitoring to areas of continuing conflict. He also
encouraged the SPDC to endorse one of three options for an
international assessment of the alleged systematic rapes by
the military in Shan State. While Pinheiro's briefing was
characteristically upbeat - designed to keep the door open
with the regime - he privately expressed his frustration to
COM Martinez, noting that he does not know how much longer he
will continue as SR if the regime does not address continuing
serious abuses. End Summary.

General Assessment


2. (C) On October 28, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
in Burma Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (SR) briefed the diplomatic
corps here at the completion of his 12-day visit, the fourth
visit since he was appointed. The SR said that the SPDC had
cooperated fully in his requests for meetings and assisted
him in all logistical aspects of the visit. He had met with
Secretary One Khin Nyunt, the Foreign Minister, Deputy

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Foreign Minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs and other SPDC
officials in Rangoon and at the regional level when he
traveled to Mon State. The SR said he carried the same

message to all these officials at each meeting: the SPDC
needs to do more now to address the serious human rights
abuses in the country. He characterized the officials'
responses to this appeal as "not negative." He said that
while they did not make any specific commitments in response,
they did not harshly rebut his statement that problems exist;
he took this as a positive indication. Secretary One
described to the SR how the SPDC had taken many positive
steps, citing in particular, progress in combating narcotics,
trafficking in persons, and HIV/AIDS. The SR was surprised
by Secretary One's openness compared with previous meetings
in discussing political prisoners. Rather than denying the
existence of political prisoners as he had done in the past,
Secretary One said the GOB has released over 400 political

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prisoners in "direct response" to the SR's requests, and
readily discussed with the SR remaining categories and
subcategories of political prisoners.


3. (C) SR Pinheiro appealed to the international community
to "cooperate now" with the SPDC on ways to improve human
rights in the country. He said there is no reason to hope
for democratic change anytime soon - "democracy (at least the
Western version) is far away in the minds of these gentlemen"
- and conditions demand action now on programs that will
improve human rights. Pinheiro emphasized that "if there is
not greater cooperation now things will get much worse." He
cited the Australian human rights workshops for SPDC
officials as an example of an activity that has been
criticized but which he endorses because it sensitizes
trainees to international human rights standards. He
strongly encouraged the international community to "engage"
by identifying community activities in cooperation with the
NLD that will secure better human rights.

ICRC Gets High Marks


4. (C) SR Pinheiro said his visits to prisons indicate that
the International Committee for the Red Cross is continuing
to make good progress in improving prison conditions. He
said the ICRC has made over 200 visits to 80 facilities in
the last two years, and prisoners confirm to him that, as a
result, conditions have greatly improved. Pinheiro said that
he has heard no reports of abuses of political prisoners in
the last two years. He noted that while prison conditions
for the general prison population are now generally worse
than that of political prisoners, the conditions are not that
bad compared to some others in the world (e.g. he cited the
deplorable conditions in some lock-ups in Sao Paulo.)


5. (C) Hoping to build on the ICRC's successes in prisons,
Pinheiro proposed to the SPDC (after previously clearing with
ICRC) that ICRC be allowed to establish a presence in all
areas of armed conflict to report on abuses in
confidentiality to the SPDC. He did not yet have a response

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to the proposal.

Follow-up on Shan Rape Allegations


6. (C) Pinheiro said the SPDC had thoroughly briefed him
their latest investigation into the Army's alleged use of
systematic rape in Shan State. He said that while the
investigation appeared to be professional and the SPDC had
apparently put a lot of energy into it, he told them that no
one would believe it because it was done by the military.
Warning SPDC officials that if they persisted in just denying
the allegations they would face serious consequences from the
international community, he offered three options for an
independent assessment (as reported in reftel). The options
were:

-- a national Ombudsman or Commission (composed of opposition
and government members) created with the assistance of the
UNHRC (which ASSK agreed to participate in although she was
skeptical if it could work, he said);

-- a team of experts led by the SR to investigate the
charges; and

-- a Commission of Inquiry with a mandate from the UN
Secretary General or UNHRC.

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7. (C) Pinheiro said he believes the second option would be
the most effective and he had told the SPDC this. He noted
that a prerequisite for any of the options would be
sufficient funding from the international community (Note:
COM Martinez told the group the U.S. would support the idea
but pressed others, not just the EU but ASEAN and other
neighboring countries, to also provide resources so that it
did not appear to be a U.S. controlled activity. End Note.)
Pinheiro also said that any inquiry should not be limited to
just the Shan State rape allegations but should address
abuses in general in areas of conflict; "black areas." He
emphasized that abuses by armed insurgent groups must also be
addressed in the inquiry, as this is a problem that is rarely
mentioned.


8. (C) Pinheiro said he will not mention these options in
the press briefing on his trip (wanting to give the SPDC
flexibility in its response) but he told the SPDC that if
they do not express a preference to him by the time of his
report on November 6, he is prepared to initiate option two
(in which he would personally participate). He said the
regime appears seriously concerned about international
criticism regarding the allegations and he thinks the SPDC
will allow some independent assessment, although they have
previously stated this was out of the question.

Comment


9. (C) While Pinheiro's briefing to the diplomatic corps was
characteristically upbeat (he wants to keep the door open
with the regime in order to continue to push for reforms),he
has privately expressed his frustration to COM Martinez
regarding the regime's lack of action to curb continuing
abuses. He told the COM early in the visit that he came to
Burma with a view to keeping communications open with the
regime and giving them the benefit of the doubt whenever
possible. He said his patience is running out as he sees
very little progress on curbing serious human rights abuses,
especially in areas of conflict. He said he does not
believe, on balance, that abuses of religious freedom or
prisoners for instance make Burma the "world champions"
compared to abuses in other countries, but he does find the
pervasive SPDC control over every citizen's life oppressive
and the abuses against citizens deemed enemies of the state
unacceptable. It is these abuses, unfortunately, that the
SPDC seems least willing to address. Pinheiro told the COM
that he may not continue as SR if he does not see some change
by the SPDC in the near future. He quipped that they would
be sorry to lose him, someone who has been willing to try to
work with them, if he is replaced by an SR from a country
with a less flexible Burma policy than Brazil, i.e., the
Scandinavians or EU.
Martinez