Committee on the Rights of the Child examines report of Myanmar

19 January 2012

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today considered the combined third and fourth periodic report of Myanmar on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Presenting the report, U Maung Wai, Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that Myanmar had entered a new era. Just two days ago the Government of Myanmar had ratified the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. New Government bodies on social affairs, education, health promotion and a National Human Rights Commission had been formed, and the National Committee on the Rights of the Child was reconstituted in May 2011. Reforms had been carried out in healthcare, with maternal, newborn and child health at the centre, and free and compulsory primary education had been introduced. The Government placed high priority on the prevention of child labour, particularly child recruitment into the military, and was taking punitive action against perpetrators from the armed forces. Much, however, remained to be done, particularly in awareness-raising, child protection and birth registration. Myanmar might be a developing country but it would not shy away from its obligations under the Convention.

Jean Zermatten, Committee Chairperson and Rapporteur for the report of Myanmar, noted that Myanmar was saying it had entered a new era and it had made strong symbolic gestures such as the release of Aung San Su Kyi and hundreds of political prisoners. The announcement that free and fair elections would soon be held, decreased monitoring of the internet and a ceasefire preceding a peace process were also very encouraging signs. Myanmar still fell behind in terms of its ratification of international treaties, although this month the State party deposited ratification instruments on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The plan to bring the Children’s Act in line with the Convention was commendable, as was the law on trafficking and the new complaints mechanism for children. Mr. Zermatten asked whether the Convention took precedence over domestic law, and wondered what knowledge did judges and the courts have of the Convention?

Kamla Varmah, Committee Expert acting as Co-Rapporteur for the report of Myanmar, expressed concern that the age of criminal responsibility was seven years old, that the employment age was 13, and that there was no minimum age for marriage for boys while girls as young as 14 could be married with parental consent. Ms. Varmah raised issues including adoption, birth registration, the high infant and under five mortality rate, chronic malnutrition of children and the right of children to be heard. She noted that only 1.3 per cent of the national budget was spent on health services and 2009 figures showed that only 0.6 per cent of gross domestic product was spent on education compared to the 80 per cent spent on the military and State-owned enterprises.

Experts also asked questions about the death penalty for children and the age of criminal responsibility, children being used in armed conflict, street children, de-mining and the peace process with armed groups. Experts enquired about harmful traditional practices, breastfeeding promotion and reduction of childhood diseases, freedom of information and human rights abuses in the extraction of resources such as oil, gas and minerals.

In concluding remarks, Ms. Varmah said many children in Myanmar were in need of urgent help, and immediate action was needed to review legislation in respect of the definition of the child, the right to life, birth registration and issuing of birth certificates to all children born in Myanmar, adoption, health, education and many more areas.

Also in concluding remarks, the Permanent Representative of Myanmar said Myanmar would continue to better promote the rights and well-being of its children by improving its domestic legislation. He called for the lifting of sanctions against Myanmar in the real interest of the children of Myanmar, and said that the people of Myanmar and the Government deserved generous international support and understanding, from the United Nations and others, in order to achieve their aim of building a democratic society with a level of development on a par with regional neighbours.

Mr. Zermatten thanked the delegation for answering a barrage of questions in a willing and cooperative manner. He said that Myanmar was indeed entering a new era, and that was something the Committee wished for the children of Myanmar.
The delegation of Myanmar included representatives of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Myanmar Police Force, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Labour, Union Attorney-General’s Office, and of the Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the United Nations Office at Geneva. The Committee will issue its final concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Myanmar toward the end of the session, which will conclude on 3 February.
The next public meeting of the Committee will take place at 10 a.m. on Friday, 20 January 2012, when the Committee will examine the combined third and fourth periodic report of Madagascar (CRC/C/MDG/3-4).
Report of Myanmar

The combined third and fourth periodic report of Myanmar can be read via the following link: (CRC/C/OPAC/MMR/3-4).

Presentation of the Report

U MAUNG WAI, Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that with the emergence of the new constitutional government Myanmar had entered a new era. The President of Myanmar had outlined his vision for a new democratic state which safeguarded the fundamental rights of citizens and revoked, amended or created laws to provide the fundamental human rights of citizens. In addition, Myanmar stood firm as a respectful member of the global community and actively participated in regional and international organizations, including the United Nations. Just two days ago the Government of Myanmar had ratified the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. New Government bodies on social affairs, education, health promotion and a National Human Rights Commission had been formed. The National Committee on the Rights of the Child was reconstituted on 27 May 2011. In December 2011 a workshop reviewed the Myanmar Child Law of 1993, in association with the United Nations Children’s Fund, to amend that law to meet the stipulations of the Convention. The National Committee on the Rights of the Child had conducted awareness-raising of the Convention in 38 districts, including 203 towns, of the country.

Reforms had been carried out in healthcare, with maternal, newborn and child health at the centre. Free and compulsory primary education had been introduced, with free textbooks and stationery at all primary schools, while scholarships and stipends for secondary and tertiary level students were planned for the 2012–2013 academic year. The private sector was now allowed to operate private schools and a child-centred approach was now practiced in teaching and learning processes. A child protection system had been implemented in 25 townships to raise awareness and offer protection and support to abused children. Approximately 250,000 children with disabilities attended school, while another 68,000 children with disabilities younger than five had been identified. Children with disabilities could access education opportunities while teachers and officials were being trained to implement a policy of inclusive education.

In 2005 the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law was passed, and operating procedures between Myanmar and Thailand on the return, repatriation and reintegration of trafficked victims were being drafted. Between 2010 and 2011 a total of 72 trafficked children were returned from China, Thailand and other countries and reunited with their families. The Government placed high priority on the prevention of child labour, particularly child recruitment into the military, and was taking punitive action against perpetrators from the armed forces. Between 2002 and 2011 a total of 972 children were discharged from the military service, while 168 military personnel were prosecuted for unwittingly recruiting underage children. A total of 997 officials from the Ministry of Defence and other State institutions had participated in training courses on Awareness for Prevention of Underage Recruitment. However, much remained to be done, particularly in the fields of awareness-raising, child protection and birth registration. Myanmar might be a developing country but it would not shy away from its obligations under the Convention. In the past nine months, a very short period, tangible progress in implementing a new political, social and economic reform agenda had been achieved. That reform process would have a great impact on the well-being of the children of Myanmar.

Questions by the Experts

JEAN ZERMATTEN, Committee Chairperson acting as Rapporteur for the report of Myanmar, said that until nine months ago when the new Government came into power, nothing had changed since the Committee’s last concluding recommendations of 2004. The State party was saying it had entered a new era and it had made strong symbolic gestures such as the release of Aung San Su Kyi and hundreds of political prisoners. The announcement that free and fair elections would soon be held, decreased monitoring of the internet and a ceasefire preceding a peace process were also very encouraging signs.

Myanmar still fell behind in terms of its ratification of international treaties, although this month the State party deposited ratification instruments on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. However, the report was well structured and provided the Committee with clear answers. The plan to bring the Children’s Act in line with the Convention was commendable, as was the law on trafficking and the new complaints mechanism for children. Cyclone Nargis of 2008, which left 140,000 persons dead and affected over two million persons, had hampered progress.

Mr. Zermatten asked whether the Convention took precedence over domestic law. What knowledge did judges and the courts have of the Convention? Finally did the new constitution, which entered into force in 2011, have a chapter devoted to the rights of children? In a country of 56 million inhabitants, a third of whom were under 18, how did the Government ensure coordination between authorities and what happened in the field?
What was the status of the National Human Rights Commission; was it independent and currently in operation, and did it have a childcare section and resources?

KAMLA VARMAH, Committee Member acting as Co-Rapporteur on the report of Myanmar, said that the definition of the child had not been implemented; currently a child aged between 16 and 18 years was held distinct from a child under the age of 16. The employment age was 13 years, and the age of criminal responsibility was 7 years. The Committee was still concerned that there was no minimum age for marriage for boys, and that girls as young as 14 could be married with parental consent. Ms. Varmah referred to the three types of adoption available in Myanmar; which all held that only Buddhists could adopt children. She also asked whether children belonging to minority groups and those from rural areas had access to basic services like health, education and social aid, as many children and families were badly affected by poverty.

Only 1.3 per cent of the national budget was spent on health services, which was very low compared to the 80 per cent spent on the military and State-owned enterprises. 2009 figures showed that only one dollar per capita – 0.6 per cent of gross domestic product - was spent on education. The Committee was concerned about the high under-fives mortality rate and the infant mortality rate, the chronic malnutrition and the high prevalence of underweight children. What steps had been taken to increase budget allowance for the health sector?

Although the 1993 Child Law mentioned respect of the views of the child, little had been done in that respect. Children were not allowed to express their views within the family, at school, in court matters concerning them and in the community at large, due to traditional patriarchal attitudes.

Birth registration remained a problematic issue in Myanmar, where approximately one third of the total births were unregistered. There was insufficient awareness-raising on the importance of birth registration and the system was not user-friendly, highly-centralised and carried unofficial fees. What was being done to prevent children born in Myanmar from being stateless? Why did Muslim couples have to sign an undertaking that they would not have more than two children – what would happen if a third child was born to them? Could the delegation give more information on the children who were “black listed” and children who were born out of wedlock?

A Committee Expert welcomed the news from the delegation that Myanmar had just ratified, two days ago, the Optional Protocol to the Convention. He asked whether Myanmar intended to soon ratify the other Optional Protocol on children in armed conflicts, as that was a serious concern to the Committee. It appeared that children under the age of 18 were often listed into the armed forces, sometimes against their will, and could be called on to perform forced labour in military camps or work for military personnel. Finally, would Myanmar consider adopting the Committee’s newest and third Optional Protocol, on a communications procedure?

It was notable that Myanmar had so far acceded to almost none of the United Nations human rights treaties. As the State party had now entered a new era, would it consider marking its accession by acceding to those international instruments, and others, such as the International Labour Organization’s Convention on Child Labour?

Could the delegation elaborate on the right to life, specifically the case of Aung Ko Htay, a 16 year old soldier sentenced to death in 2010 for possibly killing a military person during a fight, who was recruited into the army when he was 14 years old.

An Expert asked about the right to freedom of information: it seemed the youth of Myanmar had little opportunity to voice their views and be involved in public access. That included the rigorous restrictions and oversight of internet access. Would the youth be able to enjoy unlimited internet and press access in the future – what new prospects would be available to the boys and girls, the young men and young women of tomorrow? Another Expert referred to a 14-year-old boy who was arrested by the police for holding a book about democracy.

The Committee was deeply concerned about discrimination of minorities in Myanmar – both ethnic and religious, and including the Rohingya group.

There was currently great investment in Myanmar, especially in the oil, gas and metals fields, and there had been colossal income from foreign firms in those sectors. It was not clear what the destination of that income was, but it was clear that the money was not reaching the public.

There had been reports of grave human rights violations in the extraction of non-renewable resources, particularly in the mining industry. The impact on people and their human rights was huge. People had been forced from their land and homes and there were cases of forced labour and of child labour. The Expert referred specifically to the hydro-electric Tashan project on the border with Thailand, the Myitsone Hydroelectric project on the border with China, gas pipelines with China and deep-mining projects funded by Thai, Italian and French investment. Could those projects be regulated to protect people from human rights violations?

An Expert raised the situation of corporal punishment in Myanmar, and referred to the report which said that as most teachers were Buddhist, there was no problem with them inflicting physical discipline on children. The Expert questioned that affirmation.

Response of the Delegation

Since signing up to the Convention in 1993 the Government had placed importance on ensuring children were registered at birth and had a national identity. The Central Statistical Office and the Department of Health were responsible for birth registration. However, it was true that, due to Myanmar’s diverse geographical terrain, some persons had difficulties accessing local authorities to register births; only seven in every ten children were registered at birth. To tackle the problem the Government had analysed obstacles to birth registration and found difficulties concerning household registration. The Government had subsequently issued a new, revised birth certificate that detailed the names and address of the parents, as well as religion and ethnicity.

Follow-Up Question

In answer to a question from the delegation as to what the Experts meant by ‘black-listed babies’, an Expert replied that the term had been used in the Myanmar parliament and described babies born out of wedlock. ‘Black-listed babies’ also apparently referred to babies born to parents who had not received official permission to marry, a process which took over two years, and any ‘third child’ born to couples who were not allowed to have more than two children.

Response by the Delegation

With assistance from the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Government was trying to find a new model of birth registration which involved registered midwives – who were currently limited in number and jurisdiction – and also community volunteers who could register infants on behalf of the mother.

There was no ‘two-child policy’ in Myanmar, not even when the pro-natalist policy was exercised during the socialist era. In Myanmar it was clearly and explicitly known that couples could decide how many children to have, and they exercised their own family planning by consensus between husband and wife.

Follow-Up Question

An Expert said it still appeared that Muslim families must commit themselves to not having more than two children when they asked for permission to marry – that was a fact and not a supposition by the Committee. It may not be a national policy but it was applied in the Rohingya territory and to the Muslim Rohingya minority group. It was the Government’s responsibility to ensure equal rights to all persons. Rohingya women who had been unable to obtain permission to marry, and who became pregnant often resorted to dangerous backstreet abortions, or couples would flee to Bangladesh.

Response by the Delegation

There were many discrepancies between the situation on the ground and Government policy, the delegation said. There was no denial that there was a problem in the Northern Rakhine State and with the Rohingya people, but that was a matter of illegal immigration. People used the term ‘Muslim’ but the Government felt much pain in their heart as Myanmar was a secular state and did not mix politics with religion. When Experts posed questions using the term ‘Muslim Rohingya’ that was a painful thing for the delegation. A delegate confirmed that there was no discrimination based on religion, race or gender in Myanmar.

There were over 100 different races in Myanmar, where the term ‘ethnicities’ was not used because it sounded discriminatory - instead ‘races’ was used. The term ‘Rohingya’ was not used in Myanmar, and Rohingya was not one of the national races – those people were called ‘Bengali’.

A delegate spoke about the hydro-electric, mining and gas pipeline projects to extract natural resources. He said that every foreign company operating projects in Myanmar provided schools, family support programmes, child centres, skills training for poor people and many social development programmes.

On education, a delegate said there were 161 universities and colleges in Myanmar, of which 64 were supervised by the Ministry of Education while the others came under other Ministries. Over 41,000 schools came under supervision of the Ministry of Education. In the 2009/2010 fiscal year 4.2 per cent of total government expenditure went to education. In 2011 the new Government had promised to increase that budget significantly, by over 162 per cent, for the fiscal year 2012 to 2013. Myanmar was still a developing country, and could not compete with neighbouring countries, such as Thailand, which was very rich, and China, which would become the world’s biggest economy.

Follow-Up Questions from the Experts

An Expert touched on the comment about comparisons with neighbouring countries, and said that as the children were the future of Myanmar, they needed a lot of attention now through investment in education and health. In 2009 the State accrued as much as
$ 3 billion from oil and gas sales. While tiny amounts were being spent on education and social sectors, a huge amount was spent on the military. That was contrary to developing the human capital vital to the emerging State. The structure and imbalance of Myanmar’s budget was of great concern. Heavy military spending needed to be reduced.

Response from the Delegation

The Committee had asked where the money went, and the delegation said the answer was that infrastructure was needed – and that was where the revenues from oil and gas had been spent. The biggest investment was on the East-West highway, which was based on Malaysia’s best practice, and reduced a 14 hour journey to five hours. The highway would transform Myanmar and be a turning point for its future.

The health budget had now become two per cent of gross domestic product, and would reach five per cent by 2015. A delegate noted that on 26 January 2012 the first ever parliamentary session solely on the budget would be held. By the end of that session, it would be possible to give exact answers to the questions raised about State spending.

In schools, ethnic languages and dialects were not taught, just the Myanmar language, as the common national tongue, and also English, which was the language of the world. However, it was not prohibited to speak ethnic languages; it was just very difficult to teach them all.

The National Human Rights Commission was openly funded by the Government, and had 15 members. The Commission would accept complaints from any citizen, who should provide all necessary facts related to their complaint.

Questions from the Experts

A population census was planned for 2012 to identify minority groups and street children: could the Committee have more information on that, and also on the so-called ‘Cleaning Up Streets’ programme to move street children – how many street children were there estimated to be, and was it true that street children ended up in forced labour working in military camps?

What measures were in place to protect people taking no active part – especially children – in hostilities? What was the status of recruitment to the national army, and also what was being done to prevent impunity for those who violated children’s rights? What rehabilitation care was given to children who were brought out of the military?

What was being done about landmines and unexploded ordinance, which killed and maimed many people, especially vulnerable individuals such as children?

An Expert asked about the death penalty: had there been any executions of children who were under the age of 18 at the time the offence had been committed? Could the delegation comment on information that showed that children were often summarily executed due to their involvement in armed conflict?

On judicial issues, an Expert pointed out that the age of criminal responsibility was currently six, but the Government were considering raising that to ten – that was extremely low. Furthermore, children 16 years and over were treated and sentenced as adults. There were no child courts in Myanmar: children should be tried in different places. The country report said that children who breached the law on narcotics were sentenced to death, or perhaps life imprisonment – that applied to children from the age of seven years old. The State party must amend that criminal system as it did not protect vulnerable children, or child victims of crime.

Breastfeeding information was disappointing, and only 15 per cent of children were exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their life. That could be the reason why malnutrition, diarrhoea, tuberculosis and other infections were high. There was no national code on the marketing of breast milk substitutes – infant formula was aggressively marketed, and having restrictions on that was a very cost-effective way of improving infant and child nutrition.

Experts asked about the possibility of human rights education for children, and what was being done to improve the standard of living in Myanmar, particularly rural poverty alleviation. An Expert noted that the official food poverty line was 10 per cent nationally and in one region it was as high as 40 per cent.

Response from the Delegation

The delegation said that despite tremendous efforts Myanmar still had a high infant and maternal mortality rate, but given their limited resources, those rates were decreasing, albeit slowly. The Government planned to meet the Millennium Development Goal on infant mortality by 2015, and was planning how best to utilize existing resources. The last national multiple-indicator cluster survey conducted by the Government, which used United Nations Children’s Fund methodology, showed impressive reductions in infant and under five mortality rates.

Over 90 per cent of mothers breastfed their children, as it was a tradition in Myanmar, but the exclusive breastfeeding rate was indeed very low, at 15 to 16 per cent. The Government was conducting research in the reasons, but believed that because Myanmar was a tropical country, however much they tried to convince mothers their breast milk was enough for the baby, mothers could not resist giving their babies rice or water on a spoon. The United Nations Children’s Fund was helping the Government to run a new campaign to promote exclusive breastfeeding.

Diarrhoea was one of the main causes of child mortality, so the Government had started providing zinc-sulphate and educating basic health staff on prevention techniques, who would in turn educate mothers. Tuberculosis treatment was provided free of charge to children in all townships, there was a National Malaria Control Programme and strategic plans for reproductive health, which also aimed to eradicate the stigma of sexually transmitted diseases.

The birth attendant rate for pregnant women was still very low, although the Government aimed to reach 80 per cent ante natal care coverage. However, during labour it was often impossible for a pregnant woman to travel to a midwife or visa versa, so the home delivery rate was very high. Obstetric emergency care was extremely important, and all health facilities throughout the country were mandated to have an equipped labour room staffed by skilled midwives.

Follow-Up Question from Experts

An Expert said the State party had provided no information on HIV Aids infection rates and treatment, and also on how accessible contraception was. What access did girls have to reproductive healthcare and family planning?

Another Expert said he read that the universities of Myanmar trained many doctors, but almost all had emigrated to work abroad. There was a shortage of doctors – why could the Government not retain them, was it because of the low wages?

Response from the Delegation

In 1991 a family planning programme aimed at married couples was introduced, but recently the Government had told all health care providers that nobody should be denied family planning advice and contraception because of their marital status. There was an insufficient supply of contraceptives in Myanmar – there were only enough for one third of the country – it was not because the Government did not want to supply people with them.

A National Aids Programme was launched in 2001, with the support of the United Nations Fund for Children and the United Nations Population Fund, which was both hospital and community based. Over 39 hospitals and 200 townships were covered by that programme, which also worked to prevent mother to child HIV infection.

Retention of health workers in Myanmar was an important issue, and the Government wanted to improve the salaries of nurses and doctors to retain them. The working environment also needed to be improved, and Myanmar needed to attract more people to work for their country in the public sector. A delegate transmitted some good news to the Committee, that 500 new doctors would be appointed in the coming months, with another 500 doctors to be appointed soon afterwards. Each year nearly 3,000 students graduated from university with a degree in medicine.

It was not necessary to repeal the penal code, although amendments to the child law, penal codes and law on corporal punishment were necessary, and were currently going through the parliamentary system. A new definition of the child was adopted following a 2011 workshop, and it now met the Convention’s definition, that a child was aged 0 to 18 years. The Government had decided to criminalize corporal punishment for children, although a review process must be held first.

A delegate confirmed that the death penalty, life imprisonment or whipping could not be imposed on a child, by law.

Follow-Up Question by an Expert

An Expert noted that it was provided for in law that the death penalty could be given to a child, although there was a moratorium on the death penalty. The Convention expressly forbade the use of capital punishment or life sentence for children. There was the case of the 16 year old boy Aung Ko Htay who had been given the death sentence; what was his situation? Street children were often detained, as if they had broken the law. Street children were victims, whose human rights had been violated – they had no access to education, for example. Reports say that street children were often impounded and locked away whenever dignitaries visited Myanmar.

Response from the Delegation

A delegate said that if a child, aged seven or even ten, was punished it would only be for the offence of ‘depraved behaviour’, behaving in a way that contravened social standards, rather than laws.

Most street children stayed around the market place and the river. They were not retained, but they were collected and taken to a safe place, before being reunited with their families or guardians. If they did not have parents or guardians the children were sent to a social welfare school for informal education and vocational training.

Children had the right to be adopted, and under national law there was no prohibition of inter-country adoption. There was no discrimination as to who could adopt – Buddhist and Christian parents could both adopt. Christian parents could also adopt Buddhist children. There were many different religions in Myanmar, including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Farsi, Judaism, and they all had their own adoption customs.

A delegate said there were many examples of children participating in public life, taking part in township workshops and so on.

A delegate confirmed that school uniforms were not obligatory for children to attend school, and that the Government was working on providing free uniforms, school bags and equipment for children. There were 2,396 basic education high schools in Myanmar, and 658,202 students were in attendance, with an average of 300 students at each school. A total of 5.1 million children went to school in Myanmar. Basic education consisted of five years compulsory primary education (from five to ten years old), then a possible four years at lower secondary level education and two years at secondary level.

Due to human error underage children were recruited into the State military. The Government was urgently working to prevent that happening again, with a Plan of Action being drafted to ensure no underage child soldiers would again be recruited by the army.

The child Aung Ko Htay was an underage soldier who joined the army, then at the age of 16 committed a heinous crime, although at the time he said he was 18. He stood trial in 2004, was court marshalled and then sentenced to death. Subsequently his true age emerged, and when the new Government came into power he appealed his sentence. In September 2011, at the age of 21, he was released. Aung Ko Htay had since received vocational training, and was now in employment earning a monthly salary.

Since Myanmar gained independence, it had encountered armed struggle by armed groups, and there were still 17 armed groups opposing the Government. Recently two of those groups entered into a ceasefire agreement, and peace negotiations continued with other national groups. However, as long as the conflict lasted children would be affected, and the situation was very vague – nobody really knew what was happening in the border regions. The armed conflict affected the de-mining programme: anti-personnel landmines were used by non-State actors engaging with the Government. The Government must conduct awareness-raising programmes to tell the people about the dangers of mines and their grave consequences. De-mining programmes could not be carried out while the conflict continued, but soon landlines would become a thing of the past.

Question from the Experts

An Expert asked what was being done to eradicate the harmful traditional practice of elongating the necks of girls, particularly by the Padaung tribe in the north of Myanmar.

At exactly what age could children legally work? The lion’s share of work occurred on farms and in the domestic sphere, where there were no controls, regulations or good working conditions. For a few children the labour law may suffice, but other child labourers did not benefit.

An Expert asked for information about the situation of children who lived in prison, namely children who lived with their imprisoned mothers, and who had very poor access to healthcare and education in those prisons.

Response of the Delegation

The Government respected both human rights and traditional practices, so it relied on awareness-raising to educate people about harmful practices.

The Ministry of Labour was amending its labour laws to be in line with the International Labour Organization Convention on Child Labour. Alongside non-governmental organization partners, the Government was drawing up minimum standards for working children, including standards, rest-time, the obligation to attend school and so on. Children could only work once they were 13 years old, and were not allowed to work between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The Government was practising the micro-credit loan system in order to reduce rural and urban poverty rates, while the President had recently declared that the current poverty rate of 26 per cent should be reduced by half.

Children whose mothers were imprisoned were sent to live in a State nursery or preschool, and returned to their mother after she was released from prison.

Concluding Remarks

KAMLA VARMAH, Committee Expert acting as Co-Rapporteur for the report of Myanmar, thanked the delegation for giving a clear picture of the lives of children in Myanmar and telling the Committee about their progress. However, many children in Myanmar were in need of urgent help, and immediate action was needed to review legislation in respect of the definition of the child, the right to life, birth registration and issuing of birth certificates to all children born in Myanmar, adoption, health, education and many more areas. The Committee recognized the progress made by the newly elected Government and was confident that the positive trend would continue. Ms. Varmah hoped the Government would implement all of the Committee’s concluding observations, and wished them good luck and good courage in their work.

U MAUNG WAI, Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said he would take all of the Committee’s useful views, opinions and recommendations back home and that Myanmar would continue to better promote the rights and well-being of its children by improving its domestic legislation. It was very unfortunate that Myanmar was subjected to economic sanctions from some countries, which negatively impacted on the well-being of the whole nation, including the children. For the past two decades there had been no United Nations Development Programme presence, and no official development assistance had been received. Despite that Myanmar had survived. For the children, the Government would do what they could, with what they had. The people of Myanmar and the Government deserved generous international support and understanding, from the United Nations and others, in order to achieve their aim of building a democratic society with a level of development on a par with regional neighbours. Now the time had come for international sanctions to be lifted in the real interest of the children of Myanmar, the future of Myanmar.

JEAN ZERMATTEN, Committee Chairperson and Rapporteur for the report of Myanmar, thanked the delegation for the clear and constructive dialogue, and for answering a barrage of questions in a willing and cooperative manner. Mr. Zermatten said that Myanmar was indeed entering a new era, and that was something the Committee wished for the children of Myanmar.

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