Japan: Press Burma for Justice

September 21, 2010
Dear Foreign Minister,
We write to you regarding the serious human rights situation in Burma. We urge Japan to publicly
support the establishment of an International Commission of Inquiry for Burma and to support an
annual Burma resolution of the upcoming autumn session of the UN General Assembly which includes a
support for a United Nations Commission of Inquiry. This commission should investigate reports of
violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Burma by all parties since 2002, and
identify the perpetrators of such violations with a view to ensuring that those responsible are held
accountable.
For years, countless UN reports, resolutions, and documents have called for an end to serious human
rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law in Burma. These calls have strengthened
following the March 2010 report of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar,
Tomás Ojea Quintana, to the UN Human Rights Council, which recommended the UN to consider the
possibility of establishing a Commission of Inquiry. Former UN special rapporteurs, Paulo Pinheiro and
Yozo Yokota, also support the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry.
We urge the government of Japan to publicly support the establishment of an international Commission
of Inquiry for Burma, and to actively engage on behalf of a UN resolution that will make it happen. We
believes that international calls for a Commission of Inquiry will not have a direct bearing on the
elections scheduled for November 7 in Burma, or possible democratic reforms, including greater
freedoms for opposition parties or the release of political prisoners. That is, calling for a Commission of
Inquiry should not be used or misconstrued as a political tactic or a new agenda for international
pressure, but as a measure necessary on its own terms.
Several EU member states such as the United Kingdom, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, as well as the
governments of the United States, and Australia have already publicly announced their support for an
international commission to investigate crimes in Burma.
The United Nations has established many commissions of inquiry in the past to investigate serious
violations of international law, but never with respect to Burma. The UN has issued highly critical human
rights reports on Burma annually for nearly two decades. These reports have demonstrated that serious
crimes by government security forces are widespread and systematic, and continue with utter impunity.
The Burmese government and non-state armed groups involved in Burma's long-running internal armed
conflicts are bound by international humanitarian law (the laws of war). The Armed Forces of Burma
have been responsible for numerous serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian
law, including sexual violence against women and girls, deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians,
summary executions of civilians and captured combatants, torture, use of child soldiers, attacks on
populations' livelihood and food supplies, forced displacement of populations, and use of anti-personnel
landmines. Non-state armed groups in Burma also have been implicated in serious abuses, including
forced labor, recruitment of child soldiers, and anti-personnel landmine use.
We believe that it is not enough to simply continue to document and publish reports on the human
rights situation in Burma. Instead, Japan should play an active and leading role in helping to bring an end
to these abuses by supporting an international Commission of Inquiry into violations of international
human rights and humanitarian law perpetrated by all parties to Burma's civil conflict: the Burmese
army and the more than 30 non-state ethnic armed groups that have operated throughout Burma for
decades. Such an inquiry will not only support and protect the victims of serious abuses in Burma and
arrest the continuing cycle of impunity, but will also generate support for peace-building and broader
respect for human rights in Burma. The judges panel of the Peoples' Tribunal on Crimes Against the
Women in Burma conducted in June in Tokyo also recommended the establishment of an international
Commission of Inquiry. The victims of serious international crimes in Burma deserve recognition and
justice.
For years UN special mechanisms, international human rights NGOs and others have documented and
publicly reported on serious human rights abuses in Burma; violations that in some cases amount to war
crimes and possible crimes against humanity. It is time for Japan and other like-minded states to ensure
that these crimes will be subject to greater international scrutiny and take steps to halt the cycle of
impunity in Burma. The establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry is an important first
step.
We trust that you will give due consideration to publicly supporting a commission and actively engage to
see that it is established during the upcoming autumn session of the UN General Assembly.
Sincerely yours,
Kanae Doi
Japan Director
Human Rights Watch
Kazuko Ito
Secretary General
Human Rights Now
Keiko Nakao
Director
Burmese Relief Center - Japan
Hiroshi Nagai
President
People's Forum on Burma (Japan)
Mariko Fujita
Chairperson
Amnesty International Japan
Yuki Akimoto
Director
BurmaInfo
CC:
H.E. Mr. Tsuneo Nishida, Permanent Representative of Japan, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United
Nations
H.E. Mr. Shinichi Kitajima, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent representative of
Japan in Geneva
Mr. Naoki Tanaka, Chairperson, Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense of the House of Councilors
Mr. Muneo Suzuki, Chairperson, Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives
Mr. Yoshinori Suematsu, General Secretary of Japan Diet Members in Support of Democracy in
Myanmar
Mr. Koji Tsuruoka, Director General, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Mr. Kunio Umeda, Director General, Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department, Asian and
Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan