Nov 21, 2007 (AP), A UN General Assembly committee approved a draft resolution Tuesday strongly condemning the Burmese government’s crackdown on peaceful protesters and calling on the military junta to immediately release political prisoners.

The vote in the assembly’s human rights committee was 88-24 with 66 abstentions. The resolution now needs the backing of the 192-nation world body. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion.

The draft resolution calls on Burma’s military government "to desist from further arrests and violence against peaceful protesters" and to lift "all restraints on the peaceful political activity of all persons by … guaranteeing freedom of peaceful assembly and association and freedom of opinion and expression."

It also calls on the junta to provide UN special adviser Ibrahim Gambari with unrestricted access to all parties