The Human Rights Council,
Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights, and reaffirming previous resolutions on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the most recent being Human Rights Council resolution 19/21 of 23 March 2012 and General Assembly resolution 67/233 of 24 December 2012,
Welcoming the work and reports of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, as well as the cooperation of the Government of Myanmar with the Special Rapporteur, including the facilitation of his visits to the country from 30 July to 4 August 2012 and from 11 to 16 February 2013,
Recalling Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, on institution-building of the Council, and 5/2, on the code of conduct for special procedures mandate holders of the Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his or her duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,
1. Welcomes the continued positive developments in Myanmar and the stated commitment of the Government of Myanmar to continue the path of political reform, democratization and national reconciliation and the promotion and protection of human rights;
2. Also welcomes the continued engagement of the Government of Myanmar with political actors within Parliament, civil society and opposition parties, and urges the Government to continue electoral reform and to pursue an inclusive and sustained dialogue with the democratic opposition and political, ethnic and civil society groups and actors, leading to national reconciliation and lasting peace in Myanmar;
3. Further welcomes the increasing space for political activity, assembly, speech and the press, including the establishment of an interim press council to help resolve media disputes and to draft a new media law, and encourages the Government to fulfil its commitment to carry out comprehensive media reform to allow for free and independent media, including the broadcast media, and to ensure the safety, security and freedom of human rights defenders to pursue their activities;
4. Expresses concern about remaining human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, forced displacement, land confiscations, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as violations of international humanitarian law, and urges the Government of Myanmar to step up its efforts to put an end to such violations and to take necessary measures to ensure accountability and end impunity, including by undertaking a full, transparent and independent investigation into all reports of violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, while also calling for proper investigations into detention and prison conditions and allegations of the use of torture in prisons;
5. Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to continue to implement the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur and those accepted during the universal periodic review, as well as the calls contained in the above-mentioned Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions, and encourages the Government to fulfil its obligations as a party to international treaties and other legally binding instruments, and to become a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
6. Welcomes the continued release of prisoners of conscience in the past year, urges the Government to continue the process of releasing them without delay and without conditions and to ensure the full restoration of their rights and freedoms in accordance with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, and welcomes the establishment of the Political Prisoners Scrutiny Committee and the convening of its first meeting on 23 February 2013 to review the remaining cases of political prisoners, expecting that this mechanism will operate in a comprehensive, thorough and inclusive manner;
7. Also welcomes the progress made in the development of cooperation between the Government of Myanmar and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in particular allowing the institution to resume its visits to places of detention and to carry out activities in Rakhine State;
8. Urges the Government to accelerate its efforts to address discrimination, human rights violations, violence, displacement and economic deprivation affecting persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, and, expressing particular concern at the situation of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State, urges the Government to take action to bring about an improvement in their situation and to protect all their human rights, to repeal and/ or amend laws that deny the Rohingya, inter alia, the right to birth registration, the ability to marry and freedom of movement, including equal access to citizenship, through a full review of the Citizenship Law of 1982 to ensure that it conforms to international obligations defined in treaties to which the Government of Myanmar is a party, including their right to a nationality;
9. Expresses its serious concern about persisting inter-communal tensions following the violence in Rakhine State, calls upon the Government to ensure that those responsible for the violence are held to account, and urges it to grant safe, timely, full and unhindered humanitarian access across Rakhine State to all persons in need and to facilitate the voluntary return of individuals to their original communities, while also calling upon it to continue to implement the various cooperation agreements between Myanmar authorities and the international community for the distribution of humanitarian aid in Rakhine State, and to ensure effective coordination of humanitarian assistance there, and to move speedily to respond to the recommendations of the Rakhine Investigative Commission report once it is published;
10. Expresses deep concern about the continuing armed conflict in Kachin State and the associated human rights violations and allegations of international humanitarian law violations, desecration of places of worship, sexual violence and torture and, welcoming the recent resumption of peace talks between the Government of Myanmar and the Kachin Independence Organization, strongly encourages the intensification of formal political dialogue as part of an inclusive process towards ensuring long-term peace and national reconciliation, and also urges the Government to protect the rights and address the needs of those affected by the conflict and of internally displaced persons, and to grant safe, timely, full and unhindered humanitarian access across Kachin State to all persons in need;
11. Welcomes the joint action plan on child soldiers, signed by the Government of Myanmar with the United Nations in 2012, and other commitments made by the Government to prevent the recruitment and use of children by the armed forces of Myanmar, including the Border Guard Forces, and calls upon the Government to collaborate fully with all parties to the United Nations country task force, and to grant the United Nations and other independent observers unhindered access to all areas where children may be recruited, and to facilitate access for dialogue on action plans with other parties listed in the annual report of the Secretary-General on children in armed conflict for the purpose of halting this practice, and providing demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration services to survivors;
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