Aung San Suu Kyi

UN rights envoy urges inquiry into abuses of Rohingya in Myanmar

Evan Quick

Source: IRIN News

By Jared Ferrie

The front page of Myanmar's state-run newspaper on 9 February 2017 carried two articles about government attempts to investigate alleged military abuses of Rohingya. Pic by Jared Ferrie/IRIN

The front page of Myanmar’s state-run newspaper on 9 February 2017 carried two articles about government attempts to investigate alleged military abuses of Rohingya. Pic by Jared Ferrie/IRIN

The UN should launch an inquiry into military abuses of Myanmar’s minority Rohingya Muslims, because the government is incapable of carrying out a credible investigation, the UN’s rights envoy will tell the Human Rights Council next month.
Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told IRIN that she will urge member states to sponsor a resolution for a commission of inquiry when she presents her report to the Council in Geneva on 13 March.
“I never said in the past to a reporter what I plan to put in my report,” she said in a phone interview. “This time I am making this point: I will certainly be pushing for an inquiry, definitely, on the Rohingya situation.”
Rights groups have, over the past few years, been urging the UN to investigate reports of abuses against the Rohingya, a mostly stateless minority forced to live under an apartheid system. But the calls have become more urgent since reports of mass rapes, killings, and other atrocities began to emerge in early October, when the military launched counterinsurgency operations.

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Nobel laureates criticise Aung San Suu Kyi, urge UN to intervene in Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis

Coordinator

Source: The Malay Mail Online

23 Nobel laureates, politicians, philanthropists and activists criticised Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi (pic) for what they called a lack of initiative to protect the Rohingyas. — Reuters pic.

23 Nobel laureates, politicians, philanthropists and activists criticised Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi (pic) for what they called a lack of initiative to protect the Rohingyas. — Reuters pic.

NEW YORK, Dec 30 — More than a dozen Nobel laureates yesterday urged the United Nations to “end the human crisis” of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority group, whose members have been fleeing to Bangladesh to escape a bloody military crackdown.

In an open letter addressed to the UN Security Council, 23 Nobel laureates, politicians, philanthropists and activists said “a human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is unfolding in Myanmar.”

They also criticised the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi — herself a Nobel Peace Prize winner — for what they called a lack of initiative to protect the Rohingyas. Read more →

MP: Asean’s failure to help Rohingya ‘deeply disappointing’

Coordinator

Source: FMT News

DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago laments that Asean foreign ministers caved in to Aung San Suu Kyi’s sweet talk. Pic form FMT News.

DAP lawmaker Charles Santiago laments that Asean foreign ministers caved in to Aung San Suu Kyi’s sweet talk. Pic form FMT News.

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP MP Charles Santiago says it is “deeply disappointing” that the Asean members failed to act decisively to address the ongoing Rohingya crisis, despite urgings from Malaysia.

He said this following a meeting of Asean foreign ministers in Yangon focused on the situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

“That Malaysia failed to convince other Asean members of the urgent need to act is deeply disappointing. Through continued inaction, Asean risks failing the people at its centre.

“This meeting should have been an opportunity to take decisive action to protect vulnerable civilians and hold the Myanmar government and military accountable.

“Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, it seems it was largely an act of political theatre,” said Santiago, who also serves as chairperson of Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR). Read more →