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UN Human Rights envoy Ms. Yanghee Lee meets
Rohingya in Aung MinGalar ghetto of Sittwe at
5:45 PM
on January 12, 2017. (Photo – Fokir
/Msf)
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ROHINGYA VICTIMS ARE EAGERLY WAITING TO WITNESS UN ENVOY
Rohingya victims raped by military in Gaw Du Tha Yar of
Southern Maungdaw on 7 January 2017, expressed their desires to witness
atrocity of Myanmar army to UN human rights envoy Ms. Yanghee Lee. Yanghee Lee
arrived in Burma on a 12-day visit amid growing concern about reports of abuse
of members of the Rohingya minority in a government security crackdown.
I have documented around 350 cases of rapes until the end of
December, since the military crackdown began in October and among those who
have been raped about a dozen are children.
I wrote a heartbreaking story; a 12-year-old Rohingya girl
was gang-raped by soldiers on November 28 in the village of Tay Mi Ywa of
Buthidaung township. The government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi, denies the accusations and insists a lawful counter-insurgency
operation is underway.
The government has restricted aid to northern Rakhine State,
where most people are Rohingya denied citizenship in Burma, and prevented
independent journalists from visiting. A dozen of Rohingya women from Gaw Du Tha
Yar of Southern Maungdaw were raped on 7 January. Most of them want to see UN
envoy to express their feeling face to face.
Hasina said ” Me and my two daughters; one is 15 years old
and another 12 years old and my son are at home. Military arrested my husband
and taken him away. Military entered into our home at 9 PM. They beat us and
raped us” Like Hasina, other victims also said they were raped by military. A
short interview of them is post on my Youtube
account.
United Nations Human Rights envoy Ms. Yanghee Lee visited
Aung MinGalar of Sittwe from 5:45 pm to 6:10 pm on 13 January 2017. When she
asked about situation, a Rohingya answered her ” We have no right to go out and
work, no basic rights, worse than prison. In Maungdaw District, killing
civilians, torching homes of Rohingya, raping women and girls against Rohingya
going on that causes fear in us, we feel no safety.”
