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Text: Amb. Moose Expresses U.S. Support for U.N. Burma Resolution
(Moose also criticizes imprecise language in one paragraph)
The United States strongly supports the resolution on Burma's human rights record adopted April 18 at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) meeting taking place in Geneva, according to Ambassador George Moose, a member of the U.S. delegation to the UNCHR.
"We believe the resolution accurately describes the many and significant human rights challenges faced by the people of Burma," he said.
At the same time, Moose expressed U.S. concerns about imprecise language in the resolution relating to the recruitment of minors for military service and Burma's obligations as a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The resolution was co-sponsored by Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States and was adopted by consensus without a vote.
Following is the text of Moose's remarks:
(begin text)
Amb. George Moose
U.S. Delegation, U.N. Commission on Human Rights
General Comment: L.20, Burma
April 18, 2001
Mr. Chairman:
My government strongly supports this resolution, and has co-sponsored it again this year. We believe the resolution accurately describes the many and significant human rights challenges faced by the people of Burma. The resolution also notes a few recent suggestions that the Government of Burma may be beginning to realize the importance of listening attentively to the human rights concerns of the international community and starting to discuss these issues seriously with its own people.
Mr. Chairman, while supporting this resolution, I would like to note two areas of concern about the text: first, in Operative paragraph 4(e), we regret that the language criticizing Burma for recruitment of minors into the Burmese armed forces was not more legally precise. The Resolution implies that all recruitment of children, even voluntary recruitment of 17 year olds, is deplorable. That, however, is not the international law standard. The Resolution should have, instead, called upon Burma to comply with international law standards with respect to its military recruitment practices.
Secondly, in the same paragraph we believe it would have been more precise to state clearly that, as a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Burma has undertaken an international obligation to harmonize its laws with that Convention. It is precisely that Convention's voluntary ratification by Burma that forms the basis for the criticism made by the Commission in this resolution.
Thank you.
(end text)
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