INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION PLACE DU PETIT-SACONNEX 1211 GENEVA 19, SWITZERLAND |
MYANMAR
Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
Referring to the outline of the case of the above-mentioned elected members of the Pyithu Hluttaw (People's Assembly) of the Union of Myanmar, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/165/12(b)R.1), and to the relevant resolution adopted at its 164th session (April 1999), Recalling that on 27 May 1990 a national election called by the then State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) was held to constitute a new Parliament (Pyithu Hluttaw) and that the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 of the 485 seats (about 81% of total seats), all the above persons being among those elected; that, however, instead of transferring power as it had pledged before the election, SLORC ruled, in Declaration 1/90, that the duty of the elected representatives was merely to draft a new democratic Constitution and convene a "National Convention" to this end; that, under severe pressure from SLORC, the National League of Democracy participated in the Convention's work but withdrew in November 1995 thus severing whatever link there may have been between the Convention and the popular will as expressed in the 1990 elections, Considering that, since 1990, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, formerly SLORC) not only systematically impeded the functioning of the National League for Democracy, in particular, but eliminated from the political process the MPs elected in 1990, first by invalidating election results, dismissing them from Parliament and banning them from future elections, by forcing them to resign, orchestrating no-confidence motions against them and finally by arresting, detaining and sentencing them under laws (such as the Emergency Provision Act, State Protection Act, Official Secrets Act, Printers and Publishers Registration Act, Unlawful Associations Act, etc.) considered by the competent United Nations human rights bodies to be in breach of international civil and political rights standards, Recalling that the National League for Democracy, together with the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, the Rakhine Democracy League, the Mon National Democratic Front and the Zo-me National Congress, requested the authorities to convene the Parliament and, their request being disregarded, established in September 1998 a body, the Committee representing the People's Parliament (CRPP), temporarily to represent Members of Parliament elected in 1990 and prevented by the authorities from exercising the mandate conferred on them by the people of Myanmar in the democratic elections of 1990; that, as a result of this, scores of MPs elect and other persons supporting the CRPP were arrested and detained in what the authorities called "guest houses", Considering that the CRPP has received support from the leaders of all political parties represented in the Norwegian Parliament, from five parties represented in the Danish Parliament, from the National Assembly of Belgium, which passed a resolution announcing support for the CRPP, and from the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, which in March 1999 urged the Canadian Government to recognise the CRPP as "the legitimate instrument of the will of the Burmese People", Noting that, according to the sources, 40 of the elected members of the Pyithu Hluttaw were in detention as at October 1999, and recalling in this connection that conditions of detention in Myanmar are reported to be harsh and to include cruel disciplinary practices and torture, lack of proper medical care and insufficient food; considering that that Aung Min, an MP elect from Mandalay, died on 24 October 1998 while in custody at a "guest house" and that, on 31 May 1999, Hla Khin, an MP elect, died while in custody; he allegedly committed suicide owing, the authorities stated, to alcohol addiction; recalling further in this connection the death in prison of Tin Maung Win, Hla Tan and Saw Win in January 1991, August 1996 and August 1998, respectively, Bearing in mind the consistent appeals made by the United Nations General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights in their resolutions on the human rights situation in Myanmar to the authorities of Myanmar, urging them to "take urgent and meaningful measures to ensure the establishment of democracy in accordance with the will of the people as expressed in the democratic elections held in 1990 and, to this end, to engage immediately and unconditionally in a substantive dialogue with the leaders of political parties and the ethnic minorities ... to accelerate the process of transition to democracy, in particular through the transfer of power to democratically elected representatives and to release immediately and unconditionally those detained for political reasons",
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