Myanmar amnesty to boost state stability, consolidation

Myanmar's new government announced amnesty to more prisoners Monday on the eve of the 64th anniversary of Independence Day which falls on Wednesday, according to an order of the Presidential Office. The announcement said the move was made in view of the country' s stability and national consolidation as well as on humanitarian grounds. The latest amnesty represents the third granted to prisoners in the country since the new elected government assumed office on March 30, 2011. The criminals pardoned by the government will get death penalty commuted to life sentence, while those sentenced to over 30 years (excluding life sentence) will get reduction to 30 years in prison, jail terms of between 20 and 30 years will be cut to 20 years and that below 20 years be reduced by a quarter. The latest amnesty in the form of commutation of sentences for the prisoners came in response to the National Human Rights Commission's repeated appeals to the president. The commission on Dec. 30, 2011 reiterated its appeal to President U Thein Sein for granting amnesty to the remaining prisoners who pose no threat to the stability of the state and public tranquility. The commission issued its latest statement after visiting Yangon's Insein Prison and Hlegu's Prison Labor Camp, saying that "all prisoners interviewed expressed their ardent hope for the granting of the next general amnesty by the president of the Union of Myanmar." The commission had first appealed to the president on Nov. 12 for the amnesty to the remaining prisoners. Moreover, the commission, on Dec. 12, 2011 the International Human Rights Day, vowed to effectively fulfill its mandate of promoting and protecting human rights, stressing that the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) are an integral part of a democratic society and adding that the commission will contribute to the democratization process of the country to the best of its capacity. Myanmar, which became the 58th member of the United Nations in April in 1948, voted for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations General Assembly held in Paris in the same year. The commission also pointed out that Myanmar's constitution adopted in 2008 overwhelmingly by the people of the country also enshrines these fundamental human rights. Myanmar formed the 15-member rights commission on Sept. 5, 2011, chaired by retired ambassador U Win Mra with other retired ambassadors and experts in different sectors as its members. The commission is the first national level human rights body in Myanmar and the fifth of its kind in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Regarding protection of human rights, the commission invited on Oct. 4, 2011 complaints on violations of human rights. The new government respectively freed 14,758 and 6,359 prisoners across the country in May and October 2011 in responding to the appeal of the commission. The previous amnesty, which covered over 200 prisoners of conscience, received widespread support and welcome both domestically and internationally.