A/51/536 English Page 31 the Kachin population its basic social, human and economic rights and that the profits extracted from the natural resources available were benefiting the central Government. He also reported that most of the Muslim population of Rakhine State were not entitled to citizenship under the existing naturalization regulations and most of them were not even registered as so-called foreign residents, as was the case with foreigners/stateless persons living in other parts of Myanmar. In his conclusions, the Special Rapporteur stated that practices of forced labour, forced portering, torture and arbitrary killings were still widespread, especially in the context of the counter-insurgency operations in ethnic minority regions. On the matter of internal deportations and forced relocations, the Special Rapporteur concluded that government policies violated the freedoms of movement and residence and, in some cases, constitute discriminatory practices based on ethnic or religious affiliations. Specifically, the Special Rapporteur recommended that the Citizenship Law should not apply its categories of second-class citizenship, which had discriminatory effects on racial or ethnic minorities, particularly the Rakhine Muslim population. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression 122. The Special Rapporteur, Mr. Abid Hussain, in his report (E/CN.4/1996/39), provided information on the allegations received concerning cases of violation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. He referred to communications concerning Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Georgia, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Turkey, United States of America, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zaire and Zambia. (Although the reports of violations which occur were not disaggregated according to persons belonging to minorities, inroads into the right to freedom of opinion and expression were inevitably coupled with the erosion of the rights of persons belonging to minorities either because the journalists, writers and press professionals belonged to minorities, because factual information on situations involving minorities was hampered or the press and the media were being used to propagate ethnic or religious-based hatred against certain groups in society.) 123. In the annex to his report, the Special Rapporteur reproduced the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, adopted on 1 October 1995 by a group of experts in international law, national security and human rights. With particular reference to the protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities, the following principles applied: principle 4, which stipulated that in no case might a restriction on freedom of expression or information, including on the ground of national security, involve discrimination based on, inter alia, race, language, religion, national or social origin, nationality, birth or other status; principle 6, which stated that expression might be punished as a threat to national security only if a Government could demonstrate that the expression was intended to incite imminent violence; and principle 9, which provided that expression, whether written or oral, could never be prohibited on the ground /...

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