Myanmar Prisons Department has no plan to shut down two female rock-quarry camps even though the Myanmar Human Rights Commission has recommended their closure, according to the department’s spokesperson U Min Tun Soe.
Myanmar Human Rights Commission advised the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on May 28 to shut down the two women rock quarry camps in Moke Pa Lin of Kyaikhto Township, Mon State and Htone Bo in the Mandalay Region.
“We don’t make the women carry big boulders. We only made them carry the sizes they can carry,” said U Linn Bo Naung, state head of the Mon State Prisons Department.
Moke Pa Lin rock quarry camp has 282 female prisoners while Htonebo camp has 466 female prisoners.
U Linn Bo Naung told Hinthar Media that the female prisoners have been taught domestic science in order for them to make a living after they have been released from prison and regular medical checkups have been conducted concerning their living and health.
“We’ve only given a recommendation. It’s up to the ministry [to decide] whether it will carry it out. We have no authority so we have only given a recommendation,” said U Yu Lwin Aung from the Human Rights Commission.
Fourteen MPs from respective states and regions discussed the recommendation on May 25 and the commission members submitted to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on May 28, according to U Yu Lwin Aung.
The Myanmar Human Rights Commission inspected 26 prisons across Myanmar in 2017, he added.
