Committee on the Rights of the Child examines report of Myanmar
Attachments
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.