Editing Human rights in Myanmar (section)

==Overview==
International human rights organisations including [[Human Rights Watch]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/01/burma9290.htm |title=Statement to the EU Development Committee |access-date=11 July 2006 |author=Brad Adams |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620074005/http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/01/burma9290.htm |archive-date=20 June 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Amnesty International]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar |title=Amnesty International 2009 Report on Human Rights in Myanmar |access-date=4 January 2010 |author=Brad Adams |publisher=[[Amnesty International]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912013419/http://report2009.amnesty.org/en/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar |archive-date=12 September 2009  }}</ref> and the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sciencemode.com/2007/09/28/satellite-images-verify-myanmar-forced-relocations-mounting-military-presence/ |title=Satellite Images Verify Myanmar Forced Relocations, Mounting Military Presence |access-date=1 October 2007 |publisher=ScienceMode |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226124205/http://sciencemode.com/2007/09/28/satellite-images-verify-myanmar-forced-relocations-mounting-military-presence/ |archive-date=26 February 2008  }}</ref> have repeatedly documented and condemned widespread human rights violations in Myanmar. The ''Freedom in the World 2011'' report by [[Freedom House]] notes that "The [[military junta]] has... suppressed nearly all basic rights; and committed human rights abuses with impunity." In 2011 the "country's more than 2,100 political prisoners included about 429 members of the NLD, the victors in the 1990 elections."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2011&country=8007 |title=Burma (Myanmar) (2011) |publisher=Freedom House |access-date=29 August 2011}}</ref> As of July 2013, according to the [[Assistance Association for Political Prisoners]], there were about 100 political prisoners in Burmese prisons.<ref>{{cite news |title=Myanmar set to release some 70 prisoners |url=http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/7577-myanmar-set-to-release-some-70-prisoners.html |access-date=24 July 2013 |newspaper=The Myanmar Times |date=24 July 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Weng |first=Lawi |title=Burma Govt Releases 73 Political Prisoners |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/40563 |access-date=24 July 2013 |date=24 July 2013}}</ref><ref name="irin">{{cite news |title=Myanmar: Final push on political prisoners needed |publisher=Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/50659a382.html |access-date=19 March 2013 |date=27 September 2012}}</ref><ref name="Burma Frees 56 Political Prisoners">{{cite news |title=Burma Frees 56 Political Prisoners |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/burma-frees-fifty-six-political-prisoners-day-after-sanctions-dropped/1647578.html |access-date=26 April 2013 |newspaper=Voice of America |date=22 April 2013}}</ref>

On 9 November 2012, [[Samantha Power]], US President [[Barack Obama]]'s Special Assistant to the President on Human Rights, wrote on the White House Blog in advance of the President's visit that "Serious human rights abuses against civilians in several regions continue, including against women and children."<ref name="SH">{{cite web |author=Samantha Power |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/11/09/supporting-human-rights-burma |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |title=Supporting Human Rights in Burma |date=9 November 2012 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref> The [[United Nations General Assembly]] has repeatedly<ref>{{cite web |title=List of UN General Assembly Resolutions on Burma |url=http://www.altsean.org/Research/UN%20Dossier/UNGA.htm |access-date=4 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104120635/http://www.altsean.org/Research/UN%20Dossier/UNGA.htm |archive-date=4 November 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> called on the former Burmese military governments to respect human rights and in November 2009 the General Assembly adopted a resolution "strongly condemning the ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" and calling on the then-ruling Burmese military junta "to take urgent measures to put an end to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."<ref>{{Cite press release |title=UN General Assembly Resolution: Time f or Concrete Action |publisher=International Federation for Human Rights |date=20 November 2009 |url=http://www.fidh.org/UN-General-Assembly-Resolution-time-for-concrete |access-date=4 January 2010}}</ref>

[[Forced labour]], [[human trafficking]] and [[child labour]] are common.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/020/1998/en/ |title=Myanmar: 10th anniversary of military repression |access-date=14 July 2006 |date=7 August 1998 |publisher=[[Amnesty International]]}}</ref> The Burmese military junta{{clarify|reason=which regime?|date=April 2013}} is also notorious for rampant use of [[sexual violence]] as an instrument of control, including allegations of systematic rapes and taking of [[sexual slavery|sex slaves]] by the military,<ref name="womenofburma2007">{{cite web |url=http://www.womenofburma.org/Statement&Release/state_of_terror_report.pdf |title=State of Terror report |access-date=21 May 2007 |date=1 February 2007 |publisher=[[Women's League of Burma]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070528044207/http://www.womenofburma.org/Statement%26Release/state_of_terror_report.pdf |archive-date=28 May 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> a practice which continued in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-burma |title=Human Rights Watch World Report 2012, Burma |website=Human Rights Watch |access-date=6 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630121229/http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-burma |archive-date=30 June 2013}}</ref>

In March 2017, a three-member committee in the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]] ran a fact finding mission. This mission was aimed to "establish the facts and circumstances of the alleged recent human rights violations by military and security forces, and abuses, in Myanmar … with a view to ensuring full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/MyanmarFFM/Pages/Members.aspx|title=Biographies of the members of the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar|website=United Nations Human Rights Council}}</ref>

Unfortunately, the government of Myanmar did not work with the Fact Finding Mission (FFM). They neither allow the [[UN special rapporteur]] on the situation of human rights in Myanmar into the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22553|title=Myanmar refuses access to UN Special Rapporteur |website=United Nations Human Rights Council}}</ref> What the Fact-Finding Mission found and announced was that [[security forces]] in Myanmar committed serious violations of [[international law]] "that warrant criminal investigation and prosecution", namely [[crimes against humanity]], [[war crimes]], and [[genocide]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFM-Myanmar/A_HRC_39_64.pdf|title=Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar*}}</ref>
[[File:Mae La refugee camp2.jpg|thumb|[[Mae La refugee camp|Mae La camp]], Tak Province, Thailand, one of the largest of nine [[UNHCR]] camps in Thailand where over 700,000 [[Refugees]], [[Asylum seekers|Asylum-seekers]], and [[Statelessness|stateless]] persons have fled.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Refugees|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|title=Thailand|url=https://www.unhcr.org/thailand.html|access-date=2021-01-04|website=UNHCR|language=en}}</ref>]]

In response to these claims, the Myanmar Government has taken the position that the work of the FFM has been irresponsible and unconstructive. In September 2019, for example, U Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, provided comments during a Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. U Kyaw Moe Tun said that the "People of Myanmar, who used to stand with the UN in their long struggle for democracy and human rights, are increasingly disappointed with the less than objective stand taken by some elements of the UN with respect to Myanmar."<ref>'{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190920230917/https://www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com/myanmar-permanent-representative-makes-rebuttal-statements-to-special-rapporteur-and-ffm-at-interactive-dialogues/ Myanmar Permanent Representative makes rebuttal statements to Special Rapporteur and FFM at interactive dialogues']}}, ''The Global New Light of Myanmar'', 20 September 2019.</ref>

[[Aung San Suu Kyi]] led the opposition [[National League for Democracy]] which was victorious in the [[1990 Myanmar general election|1990 general election]]. She was imprisoned or under house arrest for 15 out of the 21 years from 1990 to 2010.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2024558,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101012221344/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2024558,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 October 2010|title=Top 10 Political Prisoners|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]|date=15 August 2010|access-date=1 January 2011|quote=Full List FREEDOM FIGHTERS: Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Andrei Sakharov, Vaclav Havel, Akbar Ganji, Benigno Aquino Jr., Ho Chi Minh}}</ref> In 2021, she was imprisoned by the [[Tatmadaw|Myanmar military]] in a [[2021 Myanmar coup d'état|coup d'état]]. As of August 2022, she is being held in solitary confinement serving a 17-year sentence following a series of secret trials.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chen |first1=Heather |last2=Diamond |first2=Cape |title=Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to 6 more years in prison |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/15/asia/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-prison-junta-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=30 August 2022 |agency=CNN |date=16 August 2022}}</ref>