A special U.N. investigator said Thursday after a visit to military-ruled Myanmar that the junta was receptive to his recommendations but that the human rights situation there remains "challenging."
Tomas Ojea Quintana said Myanmar's home minister agreed to "consider" his recommendation for gradual release of political prisoners.
He told reporters as he left for Bangkok, Thailand that he found "positive signs" in that government officials were receptive to some of his recommendations.
However, he also acknowledged that he found the human rights situation "still challenging" and said it was "difficult ... to affirm that the human rights situation has improved."
Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 1962, is shunned by Western nations because of its poor human rights record. The regime is holding more than 2,100 political prisoners, according to the estimates of human rights groups.
Quintana during his six-day stay was allowed to visit with several political prisoners, but not the most prominent one, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the country's pro-democracy movement who is under house arrest in Yangon.
Quintana said the country's chief justice agreed to begin a dialogue on reforming the judiciary, and the attorney general has started reviewing the legal statutes the contradict the constitution and international human rights law.
Earlier this month, the U.N. Secretary-General's special envoy for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, visited Myanmar on a mission to promote democracy and political reconciliation and obtain Suu Kyi's freedom. He apparently failed to wring any concessions from the regime.
In recent months, the junta has locked away pro-democracy activists in an apparent attempt to clear away dissent prior to a general election promised for 2010. Military courts sentenced hundreds of pro-democracy activists to harsh prison terms of up to 104 years.
The ruling generals came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising and killing as many as 3,000 people. The junta called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's party won overwhelmingly.
