US supports UN commission of inquiry

Wednesday, 18 August 2010 14:47 Thomas Maung Shwe

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Washington Post has just reported that the US government had pledged its support to calls for a UN commission of inquiry to investigate human rights abuses committed by the Burmese regime. Britain, Australia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have already indicated they support the launch of such an investigation.
In March, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, issued a report to the UN Human Rights Council, which called for the UN to further investigate rights abuses committed by the Burmese regime and consider launching a commission of inquiry with a specific fact-finding mandate to address the question of international crimes.

According to Quintana’s March report “in Burma there is evidence of ‘gross and systematic’ human rights abuses which suggest the abuses are ‘a state policy that involves authorities in the executive, military and judiciary at all levels”. His report also stated that in Burma the “possibility exists that some of these human rights violations may entail categories of crimes against humanity or war crimes under the terms of the Statute of the International Criminal Court”.

The Washington Post also revealed that sources in the US government say the Obama administration is considering strengthening existing financial sanctions that target the Burmese regime.