A/HRC/28/72 reconciliation. The military continues to have a guaranteed 25 per cent of seats in each of the legislative houses (arts. 74, 109 (b) and 141 (b) of the 2008 Constitution) and guaranteed key ministerial posts in the executive, namely Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs (art. 232 (b)); and individuals remain barred from running for the Presidency on arbitrary and discriminatory grounds (art. 59 (b), (e) and (f)). Further reforms will be needed to article 40 (c), which authorizes the Commander-in-Chief to assume State sovereign power under a broad set of vague conditions related to a state of emergency. The military also stands above the country’s judicial and legal framework, outside of civilian control and oversight. Those shortcomings will also need to be addressed to secure national reconciliation with the country’s ethnic armed groups, together with a strengthening of the decentralization that is already provided for in the 2008 Constitution. 26. The Special Rapporteur reiterates statements contained in her previous report that under international standards, the right to stand for election may be limited only on the basis of objective and reasonable criteria, for instance, minimum age and mental incapacity. Disqualifications should not be based on unreasonable or discriminatory requirements such as education, residence or descent, or on political affiliation. 13 C. Minority and gender-based discrimination 27. The Special Rapporteur continues to be concerned at the lack of comprehensive policies and leadership to address discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities. In the current era of reform, she urges the Government to create a legal and policy framework, based on the international human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination, to address intercommunal tension and violence. In that context, the Special Rapporteur was disturbed to learn of the progress of a package of four bills relating to religious conversion, interfaith marriage, monogamy and population control. Not only are the bills inconsistent with international human rights law, but they have the potential to fuel existing tensions between ethnic and religious minorities in the country. 28. The Religious Conversion Bill establishes a State-regulated system for religious conversion, including through interview with an 11-member Township Registration Board. The Special Rapporteur considers that process inconsistent with the right to freedom of religion. She is further concerned that offences and penalties in the bill for “insulting religion” are vague and could be used to discriminate against minority religions. In a designated region found to have a high birth rate, provisions of the Population Control Bill would be activated to deliver health and population control measures, including potentially requiring 36 months birth spacing between two pregnancies. The Special Rapporteur considers that a legal requirement for birth spacing is an illegitimate interference by the State in the right of a woman to determine the number and spacing of her children, as stipulated in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which Myanmar is a party. Strategies to address poverty, maternal and child mortality and the use of birth spacing are most appropriately pursued through education, accessible health care and other strategies that empower women. On 19 February 2015, the upper house of the parliament passed the Population Control Bill with 154 votes in favour and 12 opposed. 29. The Myanmar Buddhist Women’s Special Marriage Bill would impose additional requirements and potential penalties on non-Buddhist men intending to marry, or who are married to, Buddhist women. It therefore specifically discriminates against non-Buddhist men. The substantive issues that the bill seeks to address, such as the inheritance rights of 13 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 25, paras. 4, 15 and 17. 9