A United Nations independent human rights expert Wednesday urged the government in Burma to keep its promise to that national elections are transparent and inclusive enough to be considered credible.
TAVS REGERING
– The government of Burma has not yet responded to pleas from inside and outside the country for conditions that allow credible elections, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, said in a statement released Wednesday, on the eve of a key deadline for political party registration.
PÅ TIDE AT VISE VILJEN TIL FRIT VALG
– Now is the time that the government could show its sincerity in achieving peace and progress for the people of Burma by freeing all prisoners of conscience, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to take part in these momentous elections, said Tomás Ojea Quintana.
– Such a release of prisoners of conscience would allow political parties that have decided against participation to reconsider, and would facilitate the active participation of all citizens in this landmark process, he added.
NØGLEPERSON
Ms. Suu Kyi, leader of the party known as the National League for Democracy (NLD), was sentenced August 2009 to an additional 18 months of house arrest.
That bars her from taking part in the polls.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was reportedly convicted of violating State security laws after an uninvited United States citizen gained access to her home.
A date for the national elections – the first in Burma in two decades – has yet to be announced, but the Government issued election laws in early March.
