Asia

Home page

Asia

UN Envoy Says Rights Abuses Continue in Burma

24 May 2011 02:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A United Nations envoy says widespread human rights abuses continue along Burma’s eastern border despite the inauguration of a new nominally civilian government, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
Tomas Quintana, the U.N. human rights envoy to Burma, said Monday the abuses include land confiscation, forced labor, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence. He said the plight of ethnic minority groups in the region pose serious challenges to the new government’s claims of boosting democracy in the southeast Asian nation.
Quintana spoke in Bangkok after spending a week visiting with Burmese refugees in Thailand. He has not been granted a visa to visit Burma since he called for a U.N. commission of inquiry into Burma’s rights abuses last year.
Burma dissolved its longstanding military junta and installed a new government at the end of March. But, Quintana said, the new administration has done little to address the problems at the border. He said he still believes a commission of inquiry is needed.