Pinheiro calls for coordinated efforts for change in Burma

Mizzima News
February 15, 2006

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, said the international community needed to coordinate efforts to promote change in Burma.

Speaking to Mizzima in India yesterday, Pinheiro said, "Coordination within the international community is needed . . . We need a lot of diplomacy, diplomacy and diplomacy".

Pinheiro said economic sanctions were not having the desired effect on the military and while he welcomed the release of a few political prisoners in the past few years, he said the human rights situation in Burma was worsening.

But Pinheiro said he did not think Burma would make it onto the UN Security Council agenda in the near future.

As the Burmese military continue to deny Pinheiro access to the country, the Brazilian academic has been spending time in border areas, researching the human rights situation in the country.

Pinheiro, whose tenure as special rapporteur ends in April 2006, said ASEAN could play a key role in promoting change in the country.

The human rights specialist was in India on three-day visit as a UN independent expert on violence against children.