BurmaNet News March 12-14, 2005

[Editor]

March 12-14, 2005 Issue # 2674

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Leading Myanmar journalist turns 75 in prison
Irrawaddy: Shan leaders’ trial “lawful”
Kachin Post: Ethnic Council warned junta
AFP: Myanmar launches crackdown on porn movies to stop rape: report
DVB: Burma increases security in run-up to student death anniversary
DVB: Burmese media notes Maj-Gen Myint Swe as new intelligence chief
DVB: Burmese "veteran politicians" hold meeting with democracy party
committee
Kao Wao: NMSP President Nai Htin passes away

BUSINESS / MONEY
AFP: Myanmar bars foreign firms from new onshore oil and gas exploration:
report

REGIONAL
Newsweek International: Stubborn survivor
Nation: Kantathi to set rights record ‘straight’
Gulf News: 'ASEAN's constructive engagement with Myanmar has failed'

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: UN commissioner attacks selective attitudes towards human rights

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 12, Agence France Presse
Leading Myanmar journalist turns 75 in prison

Yangon: Win Tin, Myanmar's most prominent prisoner of conscience after
Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, turned 75 Saturday while still
languishing in prison, amid international calls for his release.

Win Tin, a close confidant of Aung San Suu Kyi, was jailed in July 1989
while serving as secretary in the central executive committee of the
National League For Democracy (NLD).

Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD won a landslide in the 1990 general elections, but
the nation's military rulers have never recognized the results.

An internationally renowned journalist and winner of several awards for
his writing, including the World Association of Newspapers 2001 Golden Pen
of Freedom award, Win Tin remains in prison despite increased
international appeals for his freedom.

Amnesty International and media rights watchdog Reporters without Borders
(RSF) both used his birthday to renew their long-standing appeals for his
release on Friday.

Thakin Thein Pe, who heads the Veteran Politicians Group of long-time
politicians, said such demands were not likely have much effect.

"The more demands are made for his release, the less likely are his
chances to be released," Thakin Thein Pe said.

Hopes were high last year that he would be among some 9,000 prisoners
freed by the junta in November.

But other than a handful of politicians and Min Ko Naing, a prominent
student activist, the majority of those released were petty offenders.

The latest political prisoner freed was student activist Zaw Win, who was
released last week after serving his full 14 term.

"I expect quite a number of persons will be freed before April when their
jail terms are up," another member of the veteran group, who has been
imprisoned repeatedly, told AFP.

The politician did not however, expect either Aung San Suu Kyi or NLD
vice-chairman Tin Oo, whose house arrest was extended in February by one
year, to be released any time soon.

Win Tin has served nearly 16 years of his 20-year sentence.

Amnesty charged that the journalist -- Myanmar's longest-serving prisoner
of conscience -- has been held in a dog cage, without bedding, and
deprived of food and water for long periods of time.

RSF members in Paris went to the Myanmar embassy to demand Win Tin's
release, and were briefly detained by embassy personnel.

______________________________________

March 14, Irrawaddy
Shan leaders’ trial “lawful” - Aung Lwin Oo

An article that appeared in several Burmese weekly publications this week
claimed that the trial of detained ethnic Shan leaders is “lawful.” The
article, written under the nom-de-plume Tein-Ta-Marn (A Cloud Messenger),
appeared after reports surfaced earlier in March that detained ethnic
leaders had been denied legal access.

“We don’t know whether or not they have access to legal aid from any
source,” Aung Thein, a legal expert from the leading opposition party, the
National League for Democracy, or NLD, said on Monday. According to him,
until recently neither the NLD nor family members of the detainees have
had contact with them, though today several family members were allowed to
visit the detainees in prison. The Irrawaddy could not reach them for
comment.

Aung Thein also reported that the article claims the trial process is in
accordance with the law, and that those on trial were apprehended in
attempting “to disturb the state’s stability and disrupt the state’s
seven-point road map.” The defendants reportedly face charges of treason
and defamation of the state.

A publisher in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy by telephone that many
publications—even sports journals—were forced to run the article.

The trial of the ethnic Shan politicians, arrested after a meeting with
opposition and ethnic leaders in Shan State in early February, reportedly
began in special trials in Rangoon’s infamous Insein Prison on March 1.

The detainees include 82 year-old politician Shwe Ohn; Maj-Gen Sao Hso
Ten, president of the Shan State Peace Council; and Hkun Htun Oo and Sai
Nyunt Lwin, chairman and general-secretary of the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy.

The families of Hkun Htun Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin sought legal support from
the NLD, but the NLD’s legal team was denied access to the defendants.
Tein-Ta-Marn’s article insisted that the special trials were set up in
order to protect state secrets and that the NLD’s lawyers were refused
access because their practices were not in accordance with the law.

“If we had at all proceeded in an unlawful way, [the government]
definitely would have arrested us,” said Aung Thein, in response to the
article’s allegations. He said the four-member NLD legal team, including
himself, was asked to provide legal aid to at least two Shan leaders by
their families, and that the team had sought official approval for this in
a legal manner.

______________________________________

March 11, The Kachin Post
Ethnic Council warned junta

The Ethnic Nationalities Council, or ENC, a Burmese opposition group based
in Thailand, urged the Burmese military government to adopt their
propositions as a means to reach a political solution, according to a
statement released by the ENC on last Saturday.

ENC released a statement after concluding a two day meeting in Kawthoolei,
Karen National Union control area near Thai-Burma border. During the
meeting, ENC members, advisor and Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and
Coordination Committee, or ENSCC, members discussed the current political
situation in Burma.

The ENC said that if the government did not follow their suggestions, they
would strongly oppose the junta’s new constitution. The current National
Convention is establishing guidelines through which to draft a new
constitution. The ENC said that if the SPDC did not accommodate their
suggestions towards finding a political solution, they would hold the SPDC
responsible for all consequences including the resumption of hostilities.

At the National Convention, the junta dismissed a proposal, which
suggested power sharing between the ethnic states and the central
government, submitted jointly by 13 ethnic ceasefire groups. The ENC urged
the junta to allow ethnic ceasefire groups to freely organize and
participate in the constitution drafting process. Just before the National
Convention reconvened on February 17, several ethnic leaders, including
chairman of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy Hkun Htun Oo, were
arrested for unknown reasons. This suggests that the junta is not
interested in allowing the full participation by the ethnic groups in the
political process.

The ENC does not believe the SPDC’s claim that the current National
Convention will lead to a democratic Burma, noting that the National
Convention does not include the political parties that received support in
the 1990 general elections. Additionally, the ENC claims that the NC does
not reflect the aspirations of the ethnic ceasefire groups, who have
repeatedly called for a dialogue on the future of Burma. The statement
calls for the government to “amend the procedures of the National
Convention to allow free and open debate on the constitutional articles
proposed by the SPDC.”

ENC urged the junta to allow the international community, especially
ASEAN, to observe the National Convention, the proposed referendum for the
new constitution, and the projected general elections under the new
constitution.

The Ethnic Nationalities Council is committed to finding a political
solution to Burma’s crisis through a Tripartite Dialogue as called for by
United Nations General Assembly resolutions since 1994. The ENC was
founded by members of Ethnic Nationalities Solidarity and Coordination
Committee, or ENSCC, in March 2004, aiming to proceed a “United Ethnic
Nationalities Voice and Platform” for the Tripartite Dialogue.

The ENSCC, established in 2001, proposed an ethnic version of Burma’s Road
Map to Democracy plan, which reflects the interests of ethnic groups, six
days after Burmese junta announced its seven steps Road Map to Democracy
in 2003.

______________________________________

March 13, Agence France Presse
Myanmar launches crackdown on porn movies to stop rape: report

Yangon: Myanmar police have launched their first national crackdown on the
sale of illegal foreign movies, mainly pornographic films which they say
contribute to a rise in sex crimes, the Myanmar Times reported.

The campaign, which focuses on X-rated movies that have flooded Asian
markets in recent years, has already resulted in the seizure of thousands
of videos and VCDs since mid-February, police told the semi-official
weekly.

"We are responsible to protect women so we set up the campaign because we
believe it will greatly help to reduce the number of rape cases," Colonel
Win Khaung, director of the police's Planning and Training Department,
said in the issue to be published Monday.

"According to our survey of rape cases that occurred throughout the
country last year, we found out that many occurred as a result of watching
these movies," he said.

Locations in the military-ruled state where facilities for screening
videos or VCDs did not exist recorded "no rape cases," he said.

Win Khaung did not elaborate on his department's findings except to say
the highest number of rape cases were in Yangon Division.

Yangon's soldiers and officials themselves have been criticised by women's
groups for apparently using rape as a weapon of war.

The junta has repeatedly denied the claims, but a report last November by
the Women's League for Burma said widespread use of state-sanctioned
assaults had continued over the past year.

______________________________________

March 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma increases security in run-up to student death anniversary

Rangoon residents have been extremely interested at the appearance of a
dancing peacock in front of Rangoon University Convocation Hall on 9 March
(Burmese students adopted the dancing peacock as their symbol during the
struggles for Burma's independence from British rule). Many people,
curious about the phenomenon, are flocking into the university to obtain
some answers.

A university tutor, who wished to remain anonymous, told DVB (Democratic
Voice of Burma) that the majority of people who came to the university out
of curiosity want to know what the students are planning to do on 13
March, the 17th anniversary of the death of Rangoon Institute of
Technology (RIT) student Ko Phone Maw (which sparked the mass democracy
uprising of 1988).

The tutor said authorities have beefed up stringent security measures
across the city and have positioned armed military personnel at strategic
junctions and locations. Furthermore, random thorough inspection of house
guest registers have been carried out in most wards in Rangoon. Ward
authorities claimed that they are looking for former military intelligence
personnel who are absconding and destructive elements planning to plant
bombs to obstruct Armed Forces Day (27 March).

According to sources close to university circles, they told DVB that
although they are not certain whether there would be any protest to
commemorate the 17th anniversary of the death of RIT student Ko Phone Maw
on 13 March but compare to other years they said something is bound to
happen.

______________________________________

March 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese media notes Maj-Gen Myint Swe as new intelligence chief

On 11 March, the media controlled by Burma's military junta SPDC State
Peace and Development Council started to officially address Maj-Gen Myint
Swe, commander of Rangoon Military Command, as chief of Defence Services
Military Security.

He was mentioned in his new position when he welcomed back an excursion
group including military attaches, their wives, and families of foreign
missions at Rangoon airport. It is the first time the SPDC has mentioned
the chief of Defence Services Military Security since the ouster of former
Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt and the dissolution of the Military
Intelligence Service which he headed.

The SPDC newspapers failed to mention who replaces Maj-Gen Myint Swe as
commander of Rangoon Military Command, the position left vacant by his
appointment as chief of Defence Services Military Security.

U Htay Aung, a military affairs observer based at the Burma-Thailand
border, said this is the first time the junta has officially declared the
position and predicted that there could be more reshuffling of positions
within the SPDC before the Armed Forces Day which falls on 27 March.

He also envisaged not only a change in regional and division commanders
but also within the SPDC leadership. U Htay Aung added regardless of who
becomes the intelligence chief, it is highly unlikely that the SPDC would
give the position of prime minister to the intelligence chief as it was
the case with Gen Khin Nyunt.

______________________________________

March 11, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese "veteran politicians" hold meeting with democracy party committee

It has been learned that five members of the veteran politicians group,
formed with those who participated in Burma's struggle for independence,
held a meeting for almost two hours with the NLD National League for
Democracy Central Executive Committee on 11 March at the NLD HQ on
Shwegondaing Road in Rangoon.

NLD party spokesman U Lwin, who attended the meeting, said the veterans
led by Takhin Thein Pe included Bo Aung Naing, Bo Min Lwin, U Aung Myint,
and another veteran. U Lwin declined to disclose what was discussed at the
meeting but said that they exchanged views on the prevailing political
situation in Burma.

Nevertheless, political observers believe that the meeting was more than
the exchange of views and note that it is possible they plan to move
forward and discuss ways to get back on the political stage. Possible
topics of discussion at the meeting could include their reactions to the
ongoing Nyaunghnapin National Convention; lack of response from the SPDC
State Peace and Development Council ruling junta on the question of
national reconciliation; how to proceed regarding the arrest of Shan
leader U Khun Tun Oo, a member of the CRPP Committee Representing Peoples'
Parliament, and plans to celebrate Resistance Day Armed Forces Day which
falls on 27 March.

______________________________________

March 14, Kao Wao News
NMSP President Nai Htin passes away

Sangkhalaburi: The President of New Mon State Party, Nai Htin passed away
on March 14 in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, southern Burma.  He was
85 years old.

The liaison office of New Mon State Party released the news that the NMSP
President passed away at 6:50 a.m local time at the Party’s residence in
Moulmein.

According to Nai Aye Mon, a senior leader of the party, before he died he
intensely wished to be buried near the NMSP Headquarters by his followers
and grass root supporters.

He was taken to the capital of Mon State from Chang Luk Christian
Hospital, Karnchanaburi province near the Thailand Burma border last week.
He had been receiving hospital care after suffering from a bout of
malaria. When his health situation deteriorated he wished to be taken from
the hospital and die at home in Monland.

Nai Htin was chosen as President of the New Mon State Party replacing Nai
Shwe Kyin who passed away in March 2003 at the same residence.  He was
well-respected by the majority of the Mon population for his strong
commitment for Mon autonomy.  Despite his age he was active in the affairs
of NMSP, he was known to be loyal and always spoke in a cheerful and
positive manner.

Up until the day he took ill, he lived with his comrades at the NMSP’s
jungle Headquarters, BeeRee Camp in Mon State before being taken to the
hospital for treatment.

The NMSP office said it will elect the new leader in the next party
caucus; however, Vice-President 1 General Htaw Mon is in charged before
the party’s meeting.  The funeral service will be announced to the general
public soon.

______________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

March 14, Agence France Presse
Myanmar bars foreign firms from new onshore oil and gas exploration: report

Yangon: Myanmar's military government has barred foreign firms from
onshore oil and gas exploration and production, opting to reserve the
operations for state enterprises, the Myanmar Times reported Monday.

The report did not say whether existing contracts with foreign firms would
be terminated, but an industry source said he believed current contracts
would be honoured.

The energy ministry has sent letters to foreign firms that are seeking
exploration and production rights for onshore blocks, explaining that the
blocks would be reserved for its Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, the
semi-official weekly newspaper cited ministry official Soe Aung as saying.

The decision became effective March 7, said Soe Aung, a director in the
ministry's energy planning department.

The government has demarcated 46 onshore blocks in Myanmar, of which nine
are under development by foreign firms, the report said.

A source in a private energy company in Yangon who is familiar with the
decision said the junta was not cancelling existing contracts but acting
to ensure sufficient control of its future onshore operations.

"Nine of the onshore blocks ... for which production sharing contracts
(PSCs) have already been signed with foreign companies will not be
affected by the latest government decision," the source told AFP on
condition of anonymity.

A conglomorate including China National Offshore Oil Corporation was the
last to sign a PSC with Myanmar when it aquired rights to three onshore
blocks in early February.

Afterwards, Indian and Chinese firms in February made bids for onshore
blocks but were turned down, the source said.

"Instead, more offshore blocks are being designated by the Myanmar
government and offered to interested new foreign companies," he said.

Yangon has signed dozens of oil and gas exploration and production
contracts with foreign companies, mostly for offshore gas operations,
since the country opened its doors to foreign investment in 1988.

They include firms from Canada, China, France, India, Korea, Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

Export of natural gas is Myanmar's largest foreign currency earner. It
takes some 400 million dollars per year on its gas sales to neighbour
Thailand from its Yadana and Yetagun gas fields in the south.

French oil group Total and US giant Unocal both invest in Myanmar and have
been accused by human rights groups of ignoring abuses during the building
of a 1.2-billion-dollar gas pipeline in the country, which was formerly
known as Burma, in the 1990s.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

March 21, Newsweek International
Stubborn survivor - Joe Cochrane

Despite U.S. sanctions, Southeast Asia's outcast is stumbling along. But
its neighbors are ambivalent.

Singapore foreign minister George Yeo is not known for talking tough on
Burma. Then again, neither are any other Southeast Asia government
officials when the region's pariah state comes up. But times are changing.
Embarrassed by the Burmese military junta's continued oppression of its
democratic opposition, and fearful that it will affect ties with the
United States and Europe, regional leaders are suddenly speaking out.
"Some hard messages may have to be put across" to the generals, Yeo told
his Parliament on March 5. Burma bashing could reach new heights this
month when lawmakers from five regional countries will meet in Singapore
to discuss suspending Burma's membership for one year in the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. Burma is scheduled to take over the
group's rotating chairmanship in 2006. "Yeo's statement brought the cat
out of the bag," one of the meeting's organizers told NEWSWEEK.

But will it matter, as long as many of ASEAN's 10 member nations, along
with China and India, keep doing business with Rangoon? Already boxed in
since 1997 by U.S. sanctions, and persona non grata in Europe, junta
leaders may well shrug off further attempts at isolation. And why not? The
generals of Burma, also known as Myanmar, have a stranglehold on power-and
on the most lucrative sectors of the country's economy. Official
statistics are pure fiction, but outside estimates of Burma's 2004 GDP
growth range from a mere 0.5 percent to 5 percent. The reality is that
Burma's economy is stumbling along. Commodities such as natural gas, wood
and minerals are being shipped to eager markets in China, India and
Thailand, among others. Agricultural production still accounts for 52
percent of Burma's formal economy, and its informal economy, believed to
be twice as large, provides other ways-such as smuggling narcotics-for the
country's 50 million people to squeak by.

Where the Bush administration sees an "outpost of tyranny," Burma's
neighbors see a lucrative trading post. Beans and pulses feed Bangladeshis
and Indians; offshore gas fields supply Thailand with up to 30 percent of
its needs. Companies from at least five ASEAN countries have business
interests in Burma. The willingness of Asian countries to forgo moralizing
in favor of commerce, along with Rangoon's switch from U.S. dollars to
euros to do business, have made American diplomatic pressure largely moot.
Last year China gave Burma $200 million in aid, and is its sole supplier
of military hardware. One Rangoon-based development worker says the West
has no leverage: "The generals don't care because they are looking for
regional legitimacy, and they have it with China and India."

International condemnation of Burma stems from 1990, when pro-democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, or NLD, won
national elections in a landslide, but the junta refused to relinquish
power and rounded up opposition figures. Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, has
spent more than half of the last 14 years under house arrest.

It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. ASEAN, at the insistence of the
then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed, reluctantly allowed Burma
to join in 1997. The plan was to quietly coax it toward democracy and
civilian rule as in the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia. Promises of
increased foreign investment and the resumption of international loans
were dangled in exchange for much-needed economic reforms. But just the
opposite happened. The regime kept harassing Suu Kyi and her party, and
reports of human-rights violations continued.

The only reforms that Burma has made to its economy have benefited the
junta and its cronies. Two military-run corporations dominate business,
ranging from textile mills to agriculture. The State Peace and Development
Council-the junta's official name-has a monopoly on licensing, and can
kill projects on a whim. Gas companies from South Korea and China are
doing on- and offshore exploring, trying to get in on Burma's most
valuable export. Shin Corp., owned by the family of Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, has a telecommunications venture, made possible by a
multi-million-dollar loan from a Thai state-owned bank.

Not that it's all fun and games for foreign investors. The junta is
notorious for mind-boggling regulations. All the country's economic
policies are made by the junta's top two leaders: Senior Gen. Than Shwe
and Vice Senior Gen. Maung Aye. Three years ago Burma stopped issuing or
renewing licenses for foreign businesses, forcing many out.

Burma's recalcitrance, along with its failure to release Suu Kyi and
invite her to the national constitutional convention, which reconvened
last month and is still going on, has come back to haunt ASEAN. But
regional officials and lawmakers aren't clamoring on behalf of the
oppressed Burmese people. They're speaking out because Burma is tarnishing
ASEAN's image. Next year, as ASEAN's chair, the country is slated to host
a leadership summit and several ministerial meetings. The United States
and the European Union have indicated they will boycott all ASEAN meetings
held in Burma. ASEAN officials admit the fear of being a pariah by
extension is driving them to demand that Burma ease up politically or give
up the chairmanship next year.

Isolation has been part of U.S. policy toward Burma since the Clinton
administration, which banned new foreign investment by U.S. companies
eight years ago. Bush followed suit in 2003, banning Burmese exports to
the United States. But are there any circumstances in which Asian
countries would unite to reprimand an outcast in their midst? For now, the
region remains without a way to deal with its pariahs, especially when
there's a commercial incentive to maintain ties. "ASEAN is at a loss over
what do with Burma, that's for sure," one Western ambassador told
NEWSWEEK. So much for tough talk.

_____________________________________

March 14, Nation
Kantathi to set rights record ‘straight’

A priority for the new foreign minister is to forge a greater
understanding of the government’s handling of human rights issues with the
local and international media.

Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said the task would be difficult
and take time, but his ministry would explain that the government worked
within the Constitution.

“We will work closer with the media, domestically and internationally, to
explain the government’s implementation and handling of human rights
issues," Kantathi said.

International agencies, Western governments and Muslim organisations have
criticised the Thaksin government for its tactics in trying to end the
violence in the deep South.

The newly appointed foreign minister said he would continue to follow the
policies of his predecessor Surakiart Sathirathai, who is now a deputy
prime minister.

Kantathi said he would adopt “constructive engagement” in dealing with
neighbouring countries, including military-led Burma, which continues to
detain opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite international
condemnation.

Thailand had been on the right track in maintaining a dialogue with Burma,
Kantathi said. “It would be difficult for a country like Burma that has
closed its doors for many decades to change its character suddenly. We
should encourage it to have more dialogue and participation,” he said.

_____________________________________

March 13, Gulf News
'Asean's constructive engagement with Myanmar has failed' - Estrella Torres

 The Association of Southeast Asian Nation's constructive engagement with
Myanmar's junta has been a failure, said an exiled member of Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy-Liberated Area.

"Asean's constructive engagement is a total failure. It is supposed to
encourage the military junta to democratise, but it has spoiled the
oppressive regime," said Nyo Ohn Myint, head of a forum in Manila on
prevention of Southeast Asian conflict.

This is because Asean has supported "a repressive regime", he said.

"Asean should not allow Myanmar's military junta to sit as Asean chairman
next year until it changes its policy on human rights," Myint said.

"Right now, the military junta has stopped allowing political colleagues
to communicate with Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar," said Myint, adding Asean
leaders should pressure the junta to respect an international clamour for
Suu Kyi's immediate release.

In response, Philippines Senate President Franklin Drilon said, "Our
country is supporting the policy of Asean's constructive engagement on
Myanmar but this constructive engagement has apparently not succeeded in
enabling the democratic forces in Myanmar to put back the parliament that
was abolished in 1963."

The Myanmar issue will be highlighted in the meeting of the International
Parliamentary Union that will be held in Manila on April 3-8, said Drilon.

Myint was one of the 25 bodyguards of Suu Kyi, from 1998 to 1989. He
sought political asylum in Thailand where he now heads a civil society
organisation. Suu Kyi has been in house arrest since 1989.

"Right now, the military junta has stopped allowing political colleagues
to communicate with Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar."

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 14, Agence France Presse
UN commissioner attacks selective attitudes towards human rights

Geneva: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday urged world
leaders and organisations to be less picky about whose rights they
supported, particularly in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region.

"Our approach to human rights diplomacy remains unsatisfactory. It is
sporadic and selective," Louise Arbour said in an address opening
proceedings of the 61st session of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in
Geneva.

In western Sudan, where a two-year insurgency by rebel groups fighting on
behalf of the local black African population has met with a brutal
crackdown by a Khartoum-backed Arab militia known as the Janjaweed, Arbour
said "mass violations of human rights being perpetrated in Darfur" had
gone largely unchallenged.

Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) claim many the countries
among the 53 represented on the commission, which has embarked on six
weeks of hearings, have poor human rights records themselves.

Last year, the HRC criticised and pressured only small countries, while
widely reported cases of rights violations on a big scale in Iraq,
Chechnya and Darfur, where Washington last year used the word "genocide"
for the raids by the Janjaweed, went unremarked by the UN body.

"The Commission must take the lead in developing more effective
approaches," Arbour said.

"So far, we have fallen short in the task of implementing human rights. We
readily give the impression of viewing declarations as our final
destination," she warned. "We readily settle for selective and sporadic
implementation of rights of convenience," Arbour said.

Arbour, a Canadian appeal court judge until she was called in 1996 to
serve on UN tribunals for war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia,
also alluded to the case of the United States and the torture of
prisoners.

She was especially worried, she said, to see long-established basic human
rights, such as the one not to be tortured, being given what she described
as unprecedented new interpretations.

The United Nations' HRC is the only global forum for human rights. Its
member states are elected in New York for three-year terms, but the
Geneva-based body must always represent a cross-section of the five
continents.

After initially concentrating on standard-setting and reviewing particular
themes, the commission gained additional powers to examine alleged abuse
in specific countries in 1970.

The body can vote by a simple majority to place a country under scrutiny
for a year, or more if the term is renewed.

Currently 41 independent experts or special rapporteurs -- generally
lawyers or ex-judges -- report back to the commission at its annual
meeting.

Fifteen of them are examining situations in countries, partly through
field missions and meetings with governments if they are allowed into the
countries or from reports and testimony often provided by advocacy groups.

The remaining 26 are dealing with more general themes such as children's
rights, women's rights, torture, disappearances, arbitrary detention, or
the right to education, to food and to housing.

Special rapporteurs or experts are currently keeping an eye on
Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, Cuba, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Haiti, Liberia, Myanmar, North Korea, the Palestinian Occupied
Territories, Somalia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.