Myanmar's new civilian government should prioritise ending deep discrimination against the Rohingya and other Muslims in restive Rakhine state, a United Nations envoy said Friday.
Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, was speaking after a nearly two-week visit to the Buddhist-majority nation, her first since Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party took office several months ago, ending five decades of military rule.
Suu Kyi, a globally celebrated champion for human rights, has faced criticism for not taking a stronger stance on the Rohingya's plight as she leads her country into a new era.
Lee's visit included a trip to strife-torn Rakhine, a western region scarred by bouts of religious bloodshed between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012.
The state has since been almost completely divided on religious grounds, with Muslim communities trapped in camps or isolated communities and subject to a range of restrictions on their movements and access to basic services and employment.
“My visit to Rakhine State unfortunately confirmed that the situation on the ground has yet to significantly change,” Lee told a press conference in Yangon, describing overcrowding, dilapidated shelters and poor sanitation in the camps.
She stressed that putting an end to “institutionalised discrimination against Muslim communities in state” must be “an urgent priority”.
“The continuing restrictions on the freedom of movement of the Rohingya and Kaman communities cannot be justified on any grounds of security or maintaining stability,” Lee added.
While Kaman Muslims are recognised by the government as an official ethnic minority, the Rohingya are not, rendering the nearly one-million strong group effectively stateless.
Many in Myanmar reject the term Rohingya and insist the group are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, despite their deep roots in the country.
Suu Kyi's government ordered officials ahead of Lee's visit to refer to the group simply as “people who believe in Islam” rather than Rohingya — a term whose use has in the past set off protests by Buddhist nationalists.
The Nobel peace prize winner has asked for “space” while her administration seeks to build trust between religious communities.Myanmar democracy veteran Aung San Suu Kyi angrily complained about being interviewed by a Muslim BBC presenter who pressed her about violence against Rohingya Muslims, a biographer claimed on Friday.
“No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim,” the Nobel laureate reportedly said off air after a tense exchange with British-Pakistani news presenter Mishal Husain broadcast in October 2013.
The claim was made by Peter Popham, a journalist with The Independent newspaper and author of newly published book “The Lady and The Generals — Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's Struggle for Freedom”.
In the BBC interview, seasoned journalist Husain had pressed Suu Kyi about the plight of the persecuted Rohingya minority, who have been hardest hit by deadly bouts of communal violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Suu Kyi insisted the violence was “not ethnic cleansing” and said: “Muslims have been targeted but also Buddhists have been subject to violence.
There's fear on both sides. “Popham wrote about the outburst in an article for The Independent published online Friday, and said it was relayed to him by a “reliable” source.
A BBC spokeswoman contacted by AFP declined to comment.
Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for not taking a stronger stance on the Rohingya's plight, and for failing to field any Muslim candidates in November's polls, a move observers say was designed to placate Buddhist nationalists.
Suu Kyi will be foreign minister in Myanmar's first civilian government for decades, her party said Tuesday, giving the democracy champion a formal post despite being blocked from the presidency.
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