To: Member and observer states of the UN Human Rights Council Open Letee Excellencies, Re: Call for a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the deterioratng human rights situaton in Myanmar We, the undersigned human rights organisatons, strongly support calls for a UN Human Rights Council special session on the deterioratng human rights situaton in Myanmar and urge your delegatons to support holding such a session as soon as possible. In light of serious reports of human rights violatons, including crimes against humanity, commited by Myanmar security forces – including unlawful killings, rape and other crimes of sexual violence, widespread burning and destructon of Rohingya homes and property, mass deportatons and the unlawful use of antipersonnel landmines – and given the unprecedented exodus of over half a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh, we believe that a special session is imperatve to launch decisive acton and ensure internatonal scrutny and monitoring of the situaton. While the Council must pay partcular atenton to the situaton of the Rohingya and to Rakhine State, it should not restrict itself to addressing one region, in keeping with past resolutons on this issue. It is important that the Council acknowledge and express concern over the deterioraton of the human rights situaton in other parts of the country, including over reports of violatons and abuses of internatonal human rights and humanitarian law in Kachin and Shan States – which in some cases have implicated the same military units as in Rakhine State. These have included torture, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial executons and killing civilians through indiscriminate use of force by the Myanmar military. Such a comprehensive approach would contextualise larger paterns of violatons and address more efectvely structural issues in Myanmar that have contributed to the current crisis and overall deterioraton of the situaton in Myanmar. Therefore, in keeping with past resolutons on the situaton in Myanmar under Item 4 and item 2, the Council should pass a resoluton that covers serious human rights concerns in Myanmar as a whole, or at minimum the human rights of the Rohingya, Kachin, Shan, T¡¯ang and other minorites across the whole country. 1 Failure to do so would not only overlook the situaton of other people in Myanmar including other ethnic and religious minorites but also risk further isolatng the Rohingya within Myanmar and further jeopardising them. In light of the above, our organisatons call for the special session resoluton to: Recognise serious concerns expressed by: the High Commissioner for Human Rights in his address to the 36th session of the UN Human Rights Council; the UN Secretary General in his September statement to the UN Security Council; the UN Special Rapporteur on the situaton of human rights in Myanmar in her October report to the UN General Assembly; the October rapid response report of the Ofce of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and the Presidental statement of the UN Security Council on 6 November. In doing so, the resoluton should also acknowledge the likelihood of the commission of crimes against humanity, consistent with recent fndings by UN bodies and human rights organisatons; Call on the Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar – established by this Council – to ofer its expert advice to relevant UN bodies seized of the situaton in the country including to the UN Security Council for consideraton of appropriate acton and further invite the UN Fact Finding Mission to include 1 htp://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpageee.aspxssiAA/HRC/RES/2//21. recommendatons on an appropriate accountability mechanism for alleged perpetrators of crimes under internatonal law in its fnal report; Recognise the 1/th October joint statement by the UN Special Advisor on the Preventon of Genocide and the UN Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect – which calls on Myanmar to ¡°take immediate acton to stop and address the commission of atrocity crimes that are reportedly taking place.t The resoluton should call on the UN Secretary General to update the Council on the follow up to this statement at the Council¡¯s 37th session; and Call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to update the Council on Myanmar¡¯s cooperaton with UN human rights mechanisms at the 37th, 38th, and 3/th sessions of the Council. The resoluton should also call on the Government of Myanmar to: 1. Immediately cease all human rights violatons, including crimes against humanity, in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States as well as other parts of the country; and call on all partes to refrain from further abuses; 2. Immediately allow full and unfetered access to all parts of the country for internatonal and local humanitarian organisatons; 3. Fully cooperate with the Special Rapporteur on the situaton of human rights in Myanmar, the Ofce of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Fact Finding Mission, including by allowing them full and unhindered access to all areas of the country, including Rakhine State, and to all individuals and relevant documents they deems necessary for their work; and to prevent and seek accountability for any threats, retaliatons or reprisals against individuals for engaging with the UN, including the FactiFinding Mission; 4. Ensure all refugees and internally displaced persons are able to return to their homes voluntarily, in safety and with dignity; without discriminaton of any kind and in accordance with internatonal human rights law, and with full access to internatonal observaton and government support in rebuilding homes and destroyed infrastructure; 5. Postpone economic and infrastructure projects – including the setng up of any new special economic, industrial or trade zones – untl necessary safeguards are put in place to ensure that they are for the beneft of all communites without discriminaton, and in partcular do not prejudice the land and property rights of Rohingya and other communites that have been displaced from their habitaton as refugees or as internally displaced populatons; 6. Initate prompt, impartal, independent and efectve investgatons into all credible allegatons of violatons and abuses of internatonal human rights law and crimes under internatonal law. Where sufcient, admissible evidence is found of individuals (including those with command and other superior responsibility) commitng ofences involving such violatons, and in partcular those consttutng crimes against humanity, ensure that such individuals are prosecuted, in fair proceedings before independent civilian courts and without the impositon of the death penalty – while acknowledging that currently no investgaton by the Myanmar military and security forces could reasonably be seen as independent or impartal. Myanmar should further be urged to cooperate fully with all internatonal eforts to ensure accountability including through investgatons and prosecutons by internatonal tribunals or foreign jurisdictons ; 7. Ensure that such prompt, impartal, independent and efectve investgatons duly address allegatons of rape and other forms of sexual violence including gangirape by multple soldiers, forced public nudity and humiliaton, and sexual slavery in military captvity. Furthermore, ensure that the survivors of genderi based violence have immediate access to health services and psychoisocial support; 8. Take immediate acton to address the longistanding and systematc discriminaton and segregaton of the Rohingya and other Muslims in Myanmar; including by ensuring that the right to a natonality is granted free of any discriminaton; and removing arbitrary and discriminatory restrictons on freedom of movement; access to healthcare, educaton and other services; /. Condemn unequivocally all advocacy of natonal, racial or religious hatred that consttutes incitement to discriminaton, hostlity or violence and to take efectve measures to tackle and counter it, in line with internatonal human rights law; and 10. Immediately and unconditonally release all individuals deprived of liberty solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights, and revoke all pending criminal proceedings against such peaceful actvists. Review and amend laws which arbitrarily restrict the peaceful exercise of these rights and take appropriate steps to ensure the safety and security of journalists, civil society actvists and human rights defenders and their freedom to pursue their actvites without fear. The resoluton should further: 1. Call on all States to exercise universal jurisdicton in investgatng, prosecutng or extraditng any person under their jurisdicton who may reasonably be suspected of commitng crimes against humanity or other crimes under internatonal law in Myanmar, while ensuring that all proceedings meet internatonal standards of fairness and do not involve seeking or imposing the death penalty; 2. Call on all States to use all their infuence and all diplomatc tools at their disposal to urge Myanmar to immediately work to implement the recommendatons listed above; 3. Call on all States to assist with meetng the humanitarian needs of persons displaced within Myanmar and in other countries including Bangladesh, including as regards protectng women, children, and others at risk of sexual violence, trafcking, and similar abuses. 4. Call on all business enterprises, including transnatonal corporatons and domestc enterprises, to ensure they are not, intentonally or otherwise, contributng to violatons or abuses of human rights addressed by the resoluton, and call upon home States of business companies operatng in Myanmar to set out clearly the expectaton that all business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdicton are to respect human rights throughout their operatons, highlightng the need for partcular scrutny of any operatons or commercial relatonships that could prejudice the rights of Rohingya or other displaced communites. Please accept, Excellencies, the assurances of our highest consideraton, 1. Actons Birmanie, Belgium 2. ALTSEANiBurma 3. Amnesty Internatonal 4. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUMiASIA) 5. Artcle 1/ 6. Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), India 7. Burma Acton Ireland 8. Burma Campaign UK /. Bytes for All, Pakistan 10. Cambodian League for the Promoton and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) 11. Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria 12. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citzenship Partcipaton 13. Commission for the Disappeared and Victms of Violence (kontraS), Indonesia 14. Commonwealth Human rights Initatve 15. Conectas Direitos Humanos, Brazil 16. European Rohingya Council 17. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect 18. Info Birmanie 1/. INFORM Human Rights Documentaton Centre, Sri Lanka 20. Internatonal Commission of Jurists (ICJ) 21. Internatonal Bar Associaton¡¯s Human Rights Insttute (IBAHRI) 22. Internatonal Federaton for Human Rights (FIDH) 23. Internatonal Service for Human Rights (ISHR) 24. Korean House for internatonal Solidarity 25. Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) 26. Odhikar, Bangladesh 27. Partnership for Justce, Nigeria 28. Peoples' Vigilance Commitee on Human Rights (PVCHR), India 2/. People¡¯s Watch, India 30. Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI), India 31. Progressive Voice 32. Pusat KOMAS, Malaysia 33. Rohingya Community Ireland 34. Savitri Bai Phule Women Forum (SWF), India 35. Stefanus Alliance Internatonal 36. Swedish Burma Commitee
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