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U N I T EDN A T ION S U N G A6 1 3'd Committee SI T U AT I ON H U MA NR IGH T SIN M YANMARA/C.3/ 6tl1. 38/Rev.1) OF (

R e -In tro d u cti o n ta tementon behalfof the Eur opeanUnion S H . E . M s . K i r s t iL i n t o n e n Ambassador P e rma n e n tR e p re sentive Finlandto the United Nations of N e w Yor k, 22 Novem ber2006

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P e r m a n e n tM i s s i o no f F i n l a n dt o t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s 8 6 6 U n i t e d a t i o nP i a z a , u i t e 2 2 ,N e w o r k N . Y1 0 0 1 7 N s S 2 Y , . -0 t e l .+ 1 - 2 1 2 ' 1 5 5 1Z 0 ,f a x+ 1 - 2 1 2 5 9 6 1 5 6 ' h t t p : / / w w w . lfa n d u n . o r g 7 in

M r . C h a i r p e rso n ,

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O n b e h a l f o f th e E u ro p e a nU n i on and the co- sponsor s listed in L.3B/Rev.1, hav e I t h e h o n o u r to i n tro d u ce u n d e r agenda item 57( c) the dr aft r esolutionen ti l ed "Si t u a t i o n o f H u ma n R i g hts in Myanmar ," contained in doc um ent A / 6 L / C . 3 / 1 . 3 8 / R e1 . v M r . C h a i r p e rso n u n ti l l a st w e e k the Eur opeanUnion was closelyengagedwi th the / d e l e g a t i ono f Mya n ma ro n th i s dr aft r esolution.Our consultations wer e conduc ted i n a c o n stru cti ve a tmo sp h e re. In addition to sever al bilater al meeting s , the E u r o p e a n U n i o n h a d a l so or ganised consultations with other inter es ted d e l e g a t i o n s, i n p a rti cu l a r th e ASEAN countr ies. The co- sponsor shad alr eady r e f l e c t e dso me o f th e co mme nts of the delegationof M yanmar in the text , and e x p r e s s e dth e i r w i l l i n g n e ss wor k fur ther on it in or der to find a consensusT he to . c o - s p o n so rs w e re a l so h o p i n g that the ver y r ecent visit of Under - Secr etar y G e n e r a l , Mr. Ga mb a ri , to Myanm ar , would have given an im petus for fu r ther p o s i t i v ee le me n tsfo r th i s re so l ution. M y a n m a r 'sd e ci si o nto b re a k o ff the negotiationslast week ther efor e cam e as a s u r p r i s e a n d d i sa p p o i n tme n t us. W e never thelesswent ahead, though, and to t a b l e d t h is re vi se d ve rsi o n o f the r esolution to r eflect som e of M yinm ar 's c o m m e n t s.We a re tru l y co mmi tted,M r . Chair per son, dialogueand cooper ati on, to a s t h i s g e s tu rea mp l y d e mo n str ates. I t i s i m p o rta n t to re ca l l ,h o w e ver ,the r easonswhy it is necessar y the Ge ner al for As s e m b l yto a d d re ssth e si tu a ti onof hum an r ights in Myanmar . It is 14 years since the UN special rapporteurs first began reporting on the s i t u a t i o n in Mya n ma r, a n d w e have seen no substantiveimpr ovem entson the a r e a s o f f un d a me n ta lco n ce rnto the inter national comm unity.Im punity conti nues t o p r e v a i l fo r se ri o u s vi o l a ti o n sof hum an r ights, includingextr ajudicialkil l i ngs , r a p e a n d f o rce d l a b o u r. M o r e o v e r, d e ve l o p me n tsd u ri n g the cour se of this year have given even m or e r e a s o n f o r a l a rm. A s th e S e c r etar y- Gener al, the Special Rappor teur and the Under-Secretary-General PoliticalAffairs have reported, the intensive military for c a m p a i g nsi n e a ste rnMya n ma rand the associated hum an r ights violationsagai ns t p e r s o n sb e l o n g i n gto e th n i c n a tionalities, have led to extensivedisplacem en both i i n t e r n a l l y a n d a cro ss th e b o rd er dur ing this year . Independent obser ver shav e d e s c r i b e d e si tu a ti o na s th e w or st offensiveand wor st hum anitar ian th situati oni n a d e c a d e .It i s i n cu mb e n tu p o n the Gener alAssem blyto call for an im m ediateend t o t h e t a r ge ti n go f ci vi l i a n s n th e ethnic ar eas. i B u t , M r . Ch a i rp e rso n , i s re solutionis not just an exer cise in expr essin gour th c o n c e r n s ' T h i s re so l u ti o n s a l so a ver y im por tanttool for assistingMyanmari ts el f i i n g e t t i n g o n co u rse to w a rd s a ddr essing the human r ights violatr :ons covered by t h i s t e x t an d a ch i e vi n ga n i n cl u siver estor ationof dem ocr acy,as well as bu i l di ng t h e f o u n da ti o n s fo r su sta i n able developm ent and national r econcili ati on. En g a g e m en t w i th th e U N , p a rticular ly thr ough the Secr etar y- Gener al' s good

o f f i c e s ,a s w e l l a s th ro u g h co o per ation with the SpecialRappor teur will be crucial , f o r M y a n ma r i n th a t re g a rd . A doptionof this r esolutionis essential for pavingthe w a y f o r t h a t to h a p p e n . M r ' C h a i r p e rso n , i s re so l u ti onhas th _beenadopted by consensusin the p as t, a d e m o n s t r a ti o no f th e co mmi tment of the whole of tl.r eUN member ship to w or k w i t h t h e Go ve rn me n to f Mya n marto impr ove the situationof human r ights i n that c o u n t r y . We u rg e me mb e rs o f the Gener alAssem bly again to adopt this dr aft r e s o l u t i o nw i th o u t a vo te . T h a n ky o u , M r . C h a i r p e r s o n .

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