UN empty-handed again from Myanmar visit: Analysts

Agence France Presse	
02/21/2010
Times of India
Original Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/UN-empty-handed-again-from-Myanmar-visit-Analysts/articleshow/5598505.cms

BANGKOK: A visit by a UN rights envoy to Myanmar has yielded little progress ahead of elections, experts say, in the latest setback for the world body's efforts in the military-ruled nation. 

Making his third trip to Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana had his request to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi turned down and said he was given no information about the polls promised for some time this year. 

Myanmar authorities also continued to lock up dissidents during his stay, gave no sign that it would free Suu Kyi, and even denied there were any prisoners of conscience in the country. 

It clearly hasn't gone well, said Benjamin Zawacki, Myanmar expert for the London-based rights group Amnesty International. 

Despite the fact that the government has claimed that cooperation with the UN is a cornerstone of its foreign policy, it's quite clear it's not. 

The UN's efforts to foster democratic reform in Myanmar have met with little apparent success, with secretary general Ban Ki-moon also being refused access to Suu Kyi, the world's only Nobel Peace laureate still in detention. 

Quintana, who was appointed in 2008, left Myanmar after a five-day visit on Friday with a parting shot for the regime, saying that he deeply regretted its denial of a meeting with Suu Kyi. 

I am disappointed that even this time I was unable to meet her at this crucial time in this election year, the first national election in 20 years, Quintana said. 

The UN rights envoy was also refused access to reclusive junta chief Than Shwe and instead met Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Home Affairs minister Maung Oo the chief justice, attorney general and police chief. 

But he was allowed to meet some political detainees during visits to the country's prisons, and called for their release before elections, which analysts predict will be held towards the end of the year. 

It's good for Mr. Quintana to get in to see some prisoners and see how bleak things are, but that doesn't mean any of them are going to be released any time soon, said David Mathieson, Myanmar expert for Human Rights Watch. 

Myanmar authorities refuse to allow any international organisations access to its prisoners. The United Nations says there are at least 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar's jails. 

Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years. She had her house arrest extended by 18 months in August and is effectively barred from standing in the upcoming elections. 

They've made no progress on human rights whatsoever in the past year, added Mathieson. 

They (the junta) manipulate the domestic and international scene to create an illusion of some slow progress towards democracy, but it's still the same repressive system leading up to an election, he said. 

Quintana is due to report his findings to the UN's Human Rights council in March, and then to the UN General Assembly. 

The Argentinian diplomat did hold talks with key figures from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party during his visit, including its vice chairman, Tin Oo. 

Tin Oo was freed on February 13 after seven years in detention. 

But five other dissidents were imprisoned during Quintana's visit -- a Buddhist abbot and four women activists. 

The timing suggests these jailings are a statement. It's a way of saying 'we're still in control, we are making the decisions here,' said Zawacki. 

If anyone expects that fundamental human rights changes are going to come about strictly through UN visits and efforts they're ignoring 20 years of history. Change has got to come from within, he said. 

The NLD has not yet said whether it will take part in the polls, the first in Myanmar since 1990 when the NLD won by a landslide. The military subsequently annulled the result.