Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (The Paris Principles)

Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions
(The Paris Principles)

Adopted by General Assembly resolution
48/134 of 20 December 1993

Competence and responsibilities

1. A national institution shall be vested with competence to promote and protect human rights.

2. A national institution shall be given as broad a mandate as possible, which shall be clearly set forth [...]

Downgrading of Accreditation by the International Coordination Committee (ICC) of the National Human Rights Institution

Downgrading of Accreditation
by the International Coordination Committee (ICC)
of the National Human Rights Institution
Malaysia’s Human Right Commission might lose ‘A’ status
Malaysiakini’s Fauwaz Abdul Aziz | Jul 25, 08
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) may lose its ‘A’ status from a key regulator, thus potentially barring it from attending sessions of the UN Human Rights [...]

Burma: Between paradise and a police state

Tourists will love it, says this picture. Tourists should avoid it, says the ‘Boycott Burma’ lobby. Christopher Hope, who lived in South Africa under apartheid, is well placed to comment on the issue
06 Apr 2001
I WAS in Rangoon, walking through the great Shwedagon Pagoda, listening to a Burmese friend. You might imagine, given the idiocies [...]

Tibet like Burma

Tibet like Burma: the same abuse of power, the same suppression of human, civil and religious rights. In Tibet as well as in Burma mass protests have been led by Buddhist monks melting the religious and political parts of the society asking for a different regime. Records of 1988 demonstrations in Tibet show violence everywhere, [...]

Burma temples in red brick

Archaeologists are aghast at efforts to rebuild ancient Bagan.
 By Simon Montlake

BAGAN, BURMA – For centuries this vast plain of temples has cast a spell over visitors to Burma (Myanmar), long after its imperial reign faded into history.
Invaded by Mongols in 1287 and abandoned by its rulers, many of Bagan’s glittering temples today lie ruined [...]

US Congress renews Myanmar import ban legislation

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Congress has voted to renew a legislation banning all imports from military-ruled Myanmar and sent it for President George W. Bush’s signature, lawmakers said Thursday.

Bush asks Myanmar to set free Aung San Suu Kyi

Friday, July 25, 2008
Washington (PTI): US President George W Bush on Thursday asked Myanmar to set free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest.
Maintaining that free societies were the peaceful ones, Bush said the United States must continue to lead the cause of freedom.

U.N. Security Council split on how to deal with Myanmar

Thu Jul 24,2008
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council was split on Thursday over how to push Myanmar to improve human rights and adopt democratic reforms as a U.N. special envoy prepared for a key visit to the Asian nation.

No Political Prisoner in Burma: Junta’s Mouthpieces

By WAI MOE
Thursday,July 24 ,2008
Burma’s state-run newspapers rejected the use of the term “political prisoners” to describe imprisoned dissidents, saying in a series of articles published ahead of
Thursday’s commemoration of the United Nations’ Declaration on Prisoners of Conscience that detained activists were actually guilty of criminal offenses.