YANGON: Myanmar has formed a National Human Rights Commission in response to an appeal by a United Nations (UN) envoy for the new government to investigate alleged abuses, an official said on Tuesday.

State media reported that the panel would be made up of 15 former ambassadors, government officials and academics.

It comes less than two weeks after the visiting UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said that “serious human rights issues remain” under the country’s new nominally civilian government.

“The commission was formed to focus on Mr. Quintana’s report,” said a government official who did not want to be named, without providing further details about its mandate.

Quintana called for the release of more than 2,000 of Myanmar’s political prisoners and voiced concern about the situation in ethnic conflict zones, including attacks against civilians, extrajudicial killings and sexual assault.

The Myanmar regime has shown signs recently that it is seeking to improve its image by reaching out to critics like opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who met President Thein Sein for the first time last month.

Suu Kyi was released by the junta in November after seven straight years of house arrest, just days after elections that were marred by allegations of cheating and which was won by the military’s political proxies.

The new civilian administration is dominated by former generals.