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<p>We have voiced our strong concerns over proposed legislation on inter-faith marriage
and religious conversion to members of the Burmese government and parliamentarians.
If enacted, these laws would harm religious tolerance and respect for diversity in
Burma, and contravene international standards and treaties to which Burma is a signatory.
Most recently, our Ambassador raised our concerns with Minister of the President’s
Office, U Soe Thein, in June.</p><p>The UN Secretary-General (UNSG) currently chairs
the Partnership Group on Burma, which last met in April. The UNSG and his Special
Representative to Burma, Vijay Nambiar, both play vital roles in raising the international
community’s human rights concerns with the Burmese government whilst providing encouragement
for the wider reform process. We welcome the recent visit by the newly appointed UN
Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, Ms Yanghee Lee, who rightly
highlighted that the government needs to do more to stop the spread of hate speech
and incitement to violence based on religious grounds and recommended the adoption
of specific legislation to address this.</p><p>We remain deeply concerned by continued
violence in Burma, particularly in Rakhine State and Kachin State. Our approach is
to seek an end to all violations, and to prevent their further escalation, irrespective
of whether these violations fit the definition of specific international crimes. Allegations
of human rights abuses must be dealt with through a clear, independent and transparent
investigative and prosecutorial process that meets international standards. We have
made this clear to the Burmese government and will continue to do so. We continue
to believe an independent investigation, supported by appropriate technical assistance,
would make a significant contribution to accountability and reconciliation.</p><p>
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