U.N. envoy: Burma junta's efforts to probe rape allegations insufficient ( AP ) October 30, 2002


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U.N. envoy: Burma junta's efforts to probe rape allegations insufficient

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)

A United Nations human rights envoy on Wednesday criticized Burma's junta for not making sufficient efforts to verify allegations that its soldiers used rape as a weapon of war against ethnic Shan women.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who ended a 12-day mission to Burma on Oct. 28, told reporters in Bangkok that he has urged the country's military government to allow independent investigations into the alleged abuses.

He said he told authorities that their efforts so far are "not sufficient, that allegations are not to be denied, allegations are to be investigated and prosecuted."

"I expressed to the government that an assessment of these violations or any other kind of violation in the areas of military conflict needs to have independent evidence," he said.

The Shan are an ethnic minority living in Burma's northeast, and are fighting for autonomy. Earlier this year, two Shan human rights groups accused Myanmar soldiers of raping its women.

The government denied the allegations and invited Pinheiro to investigate independently. However, Pinheiro refused to travel to Shan State, saying the little time he had would not allow a thorough investigation. But he held other intensive meetings with judicial and security officials and political prisoners among others.

Pinheiro said his team was unable "to perform a credible assessment" of the alleged sexual abuses of the Shan.

He repeated earlier calls for the Red Cross to be allowed to have a permanent role in Burma's conflict zones, where the military is battling ethnic insurgents and reports of alleged abuses have repeatedly surfaced.

He said he was pleased that pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to travel freely around the country since her release in May after 19 months under house arrest.

Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate, has held reconciliation talks with the junta since October, 2000 but little progress has been reported. The government refuses to hand over power to Suu Kyi's party, although it won the 1990 general elections.

Since the start of the reconciliation process, a few hundred dissidents have been released.

The number of political prisoners is now believed to be "between 1,200 and 1,300," Pinheiro said, noting that he had requested official figures and would elaborate further during his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Nov. 6.

"Let's be objective about the numbers. There are many other countries that have hundreds of thousands of prisoners," Pinheiro said.

Still, he said he called for the unconditional release of political prisoners as a prelude to political transition, adding that the regime acknowledged "without denial" that scores of dissidents languished in its prisons.

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