UN Human Rights Council calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's release
The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva during the hearing of the Burmese ambassador by videoconference on February 12, 2021. AP - Salvatore Di Nolfi
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4 min
In the midst of protests against the coup, the Burmese junta announced the release of 23,000 prisoners.
Powder in the eyes for human rights NGOs, while the main political leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi are still detained.
In Geneva, the Human Rights Council urgently adopted a resolution calling for their immediate release.
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With our correspondent in Geneva,
Jérémie Lanche
The High Commissioner for Human Rights denounces a step backwards for Burma, which jeopardizes all the efforts undertaken for 10 years to take the country on the path of democracy.
The junta is today the main obstacle
to the development of the country.
“
The High Commissioner and I admire the conviction of the Burmese demonstrators.
They are the future of Burma,
said Deputy High Commissioner Nada al-Nashif.
Let it be clear: the indiscriminate use of lethal or non-lethal weapons on peaceful protesters is unacceptable.
Any further violence against the Burmese people will only underline the illegitimate nature of the coup and the culpability of its perpetrators
”.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on states to take targeted sanctions against the military.
But the latter still have powerful supporters.
If the resolution on Burma was adopted unanimously by the Council, it is also because Russia and China have emptied the text of its substance.
For example, there is no longer any question of supporting the request for access to Burma by the special rapporteur.
None have been able to visit the country since 2017 and the campaign of persecution against the
Rohingya minority
.
This is not the first time that the Burmese junta, the Tatmadaw, has cynically shown that it believes itself above the law.
It is imperative that she understands that the Burmese people and the world will not let her steal Burma's burgeoning democracy.
We are here following a military coup that the junta deems necessary for the safeguard of the country after suspicions of electoral fraud in the last elections.
Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma
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