US embassy cable - 02RANGOON1378

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001378 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
CINCPAC FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2012 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, BM, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR PINHEIRO BRIEFS DIPLOMATS ON 
VISIT 
 
REF: RANGOON 1354 
 
Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ FOR REASON 1.5(D). 
 
1. (C)  Summary: At an October 28 briefing, UN Special 
Rapporteur Pinheiro told diplomats in Rangoon that during his 
12-day visit to Burma he strongly encouraged the SPDC to 
address continuing human rights abuses.  He also encouraged 
the international community to implement programs that will 
promote human rights in Burma (citing Australia's human 
rights training program as an example), or conditions will 
get much worse.  Democratic reform, in his view, is not in 
the offing and human rights problems in Burma are too 
pressing to wait for this change.  Pinheiro said Secretary 
One Khin Nyunt was "not negative" in response to his call for 
action on abuses and was proud of the SPDC's successes.  Khin 
Nyunt cited actions to combat narcotics, trafficking in 
persons, and HIV/AIDS as evidence of progress.  Pinheiro said 
the SPDC has been responsive to ICRC recommendations for 
improvements in prisons and conditions for political 
prisoners, in particular, have improved as a result. 
Pinheiro proposed to the SPDC the expansion of ICRC 
monitoring to areas of continuing conflict.  He also 
encouraged the SPDC to endorse one of three options for an 
international assessment of the alleged systematic rapes by 
the military in Shan State.  While Pinheiro's briefing was 
characteristically upbeat - designed to keep the door open 
with the regime - he privately expressed his frustration to 
COM Martinez, noting that he does not know how much longer he 
will continue as SR if the regime does not address continuing 
serious abuses.  End Summary. 
 
General Assessment 
 
2. (C)  On October 28, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights 
in Burma Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (SR) briefed the diplomatic 
corps here at the completion of his 12-day visit, the fourth 
visit since he was appointed.  The SR said that the SPDC had 
cooperated fully in his requests for meetings and assisted 
him in all logistical aspects of the visit.  He had met with 
Secretary One Khin Nyunt, the Foreign Minister, Deputy 
 
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Foreign Minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs and other SPDC 
officials in Rangoon and at the regional level when he 
traveled to Mon State.  The SR said he carried the same 
message to all these officials at each meeting: the SPDC 
needs to do more now to address the serious human rights 
abuses in the country.  He characterized the officials' 
responses to this appeal as "not negative."  He said that 
while they did not make any specific commitments in response, 
they did not harshly rebut his statement that problems exist; 
he took this as a positive indication.  Secretary One 
described to the SR how the SPDC had taken many positive 
steps, citing in particular, progress in combating narcotics, 
trafficking in persons, and HIV/AIDS.  The SR was surprised 
by Secretary One's openness compared with previous meetings 
in discussing political prisoners.  Rather than denying the 
existence of political prisoners as he had done in the past, 
Secretary One said the GOB has released over 400 political 
 
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prisoners in "direct response" to the SR's requests, and 
readily discussed with the SR remaining categories and 
subcategories of political prisoners. 
 
3. (C)  SR Pinheiro appealed to the international community 
to "cooperate now" with the SPDC on ways to improve human 
rights in the country.  He said there is no reason to hope 
for democratic change anytime soon - "democracy (at least the 
Western version) is far away in the minds of these gentlemen" 
- and conditions demand action now on programs that will 
improve human rights.  Pinheiro emphasized that "if there is 
not greater cooperation now things will get much worse."  He 
cited the Australian human rights workshops for SPDC 
officials as an example of an activity that has been 
criticized but which he endorses because it sensitizes 
trainees to international human rights standards.  He 
strongly encouraged the international community to "engage" 
by identifying community activities in cooperation with the 
NLD that will secure better human rights. 
 
ICRC Gets High Marks 
 
4. (C)  SR Pinheiro said his visits to prisons indicate that 
the International Committee for the Red Cross is continuing 
to make good progress in improving prison conditions.  He 
said the ICRC has made over 200 visits to 80 facilities in 
the last two years, and prisoners confirm to him that, as a 
result, conditions have greatly improved.  Pinheiro said that 
he has heard no reports of abuses of political prisoners in 
the last two years.  He noted that while prison conditions 
for the general prison population are now generally worse 
than that of political prisoners, the conditions are not that 
bad compared to some others in the world (e.g. he cited the 
deplorable conditions in some lock-ups in Sao Paulo.) 
 
5. (C)  Hoping to build on the ICRC's successes in prisons, 
Pinheiro proposed to the SPDC (after previously clearing with 
ICRC) that ICRC be allowed to establish a presence in all 
areas of armed conflict to report on abuses in 
confidentiality to the SPDC.  He did not yet have a response 
 
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to the proposal. 
 
Follow-up on Shan Rape Allegations 
 
6. (C)  Pinheiro said the SPDC had thoroughly briefed him 
their latest investigation into the Army's alleged use of 
systematic rape in Shan State.  He said that while the 
investigation appeared to be professional and the SPDC had 
apparently put a lot of energy into it, he told them that no 
one would believe it because it was done by the military. 
Warning SPDC officials that if they persisted in just denying 
the allegations they would face serious consequences from the 
international community, he offered three options for an 
independent assessment (as reported in reftel).  The options 
were: 
 
-- a national Ombudsman or Commission (composed of opposition 
and government members) created with the assistance of the 
UNHRC (which ASSK agreed to participate in although she was 
skeptical if it could work, he said); 
 
-- a team of experts led by the SR to investigate the 
charges; and 
 
-- a Commission of Inquiry with a mandate from the UN 
Secretary General or UNHRC. 
 
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7. (C)  Pinheiro said he believes the second option would be 
the most effective and he had told the SPDC this.  He noted 
that a prerequisite for any of the options would be 
sufficient funding from the international community (Note: 
COM Martinez told the group the U.S. would support the idea 
but pressed others, not just the EU but ASEAN and other 
neighboring countries, to also provide resources so that it 
did not appear to be a U.S. controlled activity.  End Note.) 
Pinheiro also said that any inquiry should not be limited to 
just the Shan State rape allegations but should address 
abuses in general in areas of conflict; "black areas."  He 
emphasized that abuses by armed insurgent groups must also be 
addressed in the inquiry, as this is a problem that is rarely 
mentioned. 
 
8. (C)  Pinheiro said he will not mention these options in 
the press briefing on his trip (wanting to give the SPDC 
flexibility in its response) but he told the SPDC that if 
they do not express a preference to him by the time of his 
report on November 6, he is prepared to initiate option two 
(in which he would personally participate).  He said the 
regime appears seriously concerned about international 
criticism regarding the allegations and he thinks the SPDC 
will allow some independent assessment, although they have 
previously stated this was out of the question. 
 
Comment 
 
9. (C)  While Pinheiro's briefing to the diplomatic corps was 
characteristically upbeat (he wants to keep the door open 
with the regime in order to continue to push for reforms), he 
has privately expressed his frustration to COM Martinez 
regarding the regime's lack of action to curb continuing 
abuses.  He told the COM early in the visit that he came to 
Burma with a view to keeping communications open with the 
regime and giving them the benefit of the doubt whenever 
possible.  He said his patience is running out as he sees 
very little progress on curbing serious human rights abuses, 
especially in areas of conflict.  He said he does not 
believe, on balance, that abuses of religious freedom or 
prisoners for instance make Burma the "world champions" 
compared to abuses in other countries, but he does find the 
pervasive SPDC control over every citizen's life oppressive 
and the abuses against citizens deemed enemies of the state 
unacceptable.  It is these abuses, unfortunately, that the 
SPDC seems least willing to address.  Pinheiro told the COM 
that he may not continue as SR if he does not see some change 
by the SPDC in the near future.  He quipped that they would 
be sorry to lose him, someone who has been willing to try to 
work with them, if he is replaced by an SR from a country 
with a less flexible Burma policy than Brazil, i.e., the 
Scandinavians or EU. 
Martinez