BOSTON - The United Nations expert on human rights in Burma said on Monday he would visit the reclusive military-ruled Asian country next month to look into its fierce crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
U.N. special rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro welcomed the junta's decision to let him in, calling it "an important sign that the government wants to engage again in constructive dialogue with the U.N. and the Human Rights Council."
Pinheiro told Reuters he believed last month's suppression of demonstrations, which were led by Bhuddist monks in several major cities in the impoverished Southeast Asian state, killed many more people than officially acknowledged.
In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, which was made public on Monday, Foreign Minister Nyan Win suggested that Pinheiro visit Burma before a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) opening on Nov. 17 in Singapore.
It will be his first visit to the country in four years.
Pinheiro, a Geneva-based Brazilian law professor who reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, visited Burma six times after being asked to check on its human rights performance in 2000. But he has not been allowed back since November 2003, despite repeated requests.
Pinheiro welcomed the development. "I am very glad. It's positive news," he said by telephone from Rhode Island, where he is participating in an academic panel at Brown University. he told Reuters.
RISING PRESSURE
Since the crackdown, Burma's ruling military junta has faced international pressure, including from its main ally China, to make concessions to democracy activists led by Nobel prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
