U.S. sees 'open channel' with Myanmar on human rights
by Andrew Quinn

Reuters    Translate This Article
17 October 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has concluded its first set of human rights talks with Myanmar and is confident it now has an 'open channel' to discuss political prisoners and other sensitive subjects as ties improve, the State Department said on Wednesday.

Michael Posner, the State Department's top human rights official, led the U.S. team at the talks in Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

The talks come as the Obama administration dismantles longstanding sanctions to reward Myanmar's leaders for political and economic reforms.

'The results of the dialogue were assessed to be very positive and we look forward to continuing these discussions with Burmese authorities,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.

'We weren't sure whether the Burmese would be open to addressing all of those issues, and they were,' Nuland said.

'We are confident that we have now an open channel with the government of Burma to discuss human rights and to continue to work on bringing them where they want to be in terms of human rights standards for their government.'

The U.S. delegation also included Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Vikram Singh and other U.S. military officials, a signal that the Pentagon also is watching closely as Myanmar begins moving out of the shadow of China, long its chief regional ally.

RAPID CHANGES

The United States has seen ties warm rapidly with Myanmar since a quasi-civilian government took office there in March 2011, ending five decades of military rule.

The new government has launched rapid reforms, including an overhaul of the economy, an easing of censorship, the legalization of trade unions and protests, and the freeing of political prisoners.

The United States has responded with diplomatic and economic gestures, sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Myanmar last year and easing sanctions.

Myanmar released its latest group of political prisoners last month, just before Myanmar President Thein Sein and veteran pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi visited the United States on separate trips.

'We have all spoken out about the need to get to zero in terms of political prisoners and we're continuing to work with the government of Burma on that,' Nuland said.

The United States has also expressed concern over ongoing fighting with ethnic minority groups and violence against ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, as well as the government's continued military ties with North Korea.

Activists say the United States has pressed Myanmar consistently on human rights but warn that a surge in economic and other ties could may push the issue down the priority list.

'The simple fact is that U.S. policy toward Burma is no longer just about human rights,' said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

'Now human rights is just another sector that is part of the dialogue and there are other folks at the table, from the military to the business community, who have their own wish lists. As a result it is that much harder to focus the pressure.'

© Copyright 2012 Reuters

Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. 'Reuters' and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies. For additional information on other Reuters media services please visit reuters.com/newsagency.

Every day Global Good News documents the rise of a better quality of life dawning in the world from good news reported by the press; and highlights the need for introducing Natural Law based-Total Knowledge based-programmes to bring the support of Nature to every individual, raise the quality of life of every society, and create a lasting state of world peace.



Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google) Select a language English to Afrikaans English to Albanian English to Arabic English to Belarusian English to Bulgarian English to Catalan English to Chinese (Simplified) English to Chinese (Traditional) English to Croatian English to Czech English to Danish English to Dutch English to Estonian English to Filipino English to Finnish English to French English to Galician English to German English to Greek English to Hebrew English to Hindi English to Hungarian English to Icelandic English to Indonesian English to Irish English to Italian English to Japanese English to Korean English to Latvian English to Lithuanian English to Macedonian English to Malay English to Maltese English to Norwegian English to Persian English to Polish English to Portuguese English to Romanian English to Russian English to Serbian English to Slovak English to Slovenian English to Spanish English to Swahili English to Swedish English to Thai English to Turkish English to Ukrainian English to Vietnamese English to Welsh English to Yiddish

(Altavista babelfish) Select a languageEnglish to Chinese-simpEnglish to Chinese-tradEnglish to DutchEnglish to PortugueseEnglish to FrenchEnglish to GermanEnglish to GreekEnglish to ItalianEnglish to JapaneseEnglish to KoreanEnglish to RussianEnglish to Spanish

Send Good News to Global Good News.

Your comments.