An outspoken critic of the Burmese junta, the United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro arrived in military-ruled Myanmar on Sunday, his first visit in four years. He would investigate alleged abuses during September’s bloody crackdown on democracy protests, says Reuters.
“One aide said the Myanmar authorities, who responded to international outrage at their suppression of the monk-led protests by granting Pinheiro a rare visa, had shown ‘cooperative engagement’.
“He is due to report back to the U.N. Human Rights Council at its next session on December 10-14, but was expected to hold a news conference in Bangkok on November 16 immediately after his trip.” More here…
Meanwhile Amnesty International said Friday it had new evidence of ‘grave and ongoing’ human rights violations in Myanmar despite government claims that normality had returned to the country. Read on…
Another report says that efforts in recent years by the United Nations to achieve reconciliation between the ruling military and pro-democracy forces in Myanmar have been punctuated by frustration, false hopes and failure.
The Guardian says: “Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi received rare front-page billing Saturday in Myanmar’s state-controlled press, which said the ruling military junta was ‘putting energy” into democratic reforms demanded by the international community.
“Suu Kyi, under house arrest, was allowed to meet leaders of her opposition party Friday for the first time in more than three years and told them she believes the generals intend to work toward democracy.
“It was the third time in a month that Suu Kyi’s image has appeared in state-controlled media, which refused for years to print her picture or even refer to her by name. Suu Kyi has been detained for 12 of the past 18 years, and continuously since May 2003.”
“Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N.’s independent rights investigator for Myanmar, had been barred from visiting the country since November 2003. He has said he will abandon his current visit unless he gets full support from the junta.”
Photo above: UN envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (Courtesy Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images)
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.