The United Nations human
rights envoy for Myanmar on Friday criticized Myanmar’s crackdown on the
innocent Rohingya Muslims in Arakan and called upon the army to respect the law
and human rights.
Myanmar security forces
launched crackdown against the innocent Rohingya in Arakan in the name of
clearance operation following the attack on BGP outposts in Maungdaw and
Rathedaung by rights defenders on 9 October 2016.
Since then, at least 86
people have been killed according to Myanmar’s statement but the Rohingya
claims hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed and the United Nations
says at least 65,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in
western Arakan.
Rohingya residents and refugees
accuse the Myanmar army of killing, raping women, torching houses and detaining
civilians in northwestern Arakan State.
The so-called NLD
government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, repeatedly denies the accusations of
atrocities although authentic evidences of brutalities have been received.
“It would be particularly
important for the security forces to always act within the parameters of the
rule of law and in compliance with human rights,” Yanghee Lee, the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, said at the end of a visit to the
country.
Lee said she found
government claims that the Rohingya have burned their own houses “quite
incredible” and suggested that a recent footage of police beating Rohingya
villagers could be “not an isolated incident, but a more common practice”.
Suu Kyi, a former political
prisoner and champion of democracy in the military-ruled Myanmar, came to power
last April after a landslide election win, installing her confidant, Htin Kyaw,
as president in the country.
However, violence in border
regions has raised questions about her commitment to human rights and ability
to rein in the military, which retains a major political role.
Suu Kyi’s government has
restricted aid to northern Rakhine, where most people are Rohingya Muslims
denied citizenship in Myanmar, and prevented independent journalists from
visiting.
Lee said the attacks on
border posts happened within the “context of decades of systematic and
institutionalized discrimination against” the Muslim minority.
“Desperate individuals take
desperate actions,” said Lee.
She said that if the
affected population had felt the new government would address their problems,
then militants would not be able to “hijack their cause”.
Lee visited the north of
Arakan, where the military operation is taking place, the commercial hub
Yangon, the capital Naypyitaw and Kachin State in the north, where government
forces are fighting with ethnic Kachin insurgents.
In Arakan/Rakhine, Ms Lee
visited four villages and a prison where the government has detained about 450
people suspected of aiding the October attacks without legal representation,
contact with families or explanation of the charges.
“Many families are unaware
and uninformed of this detention, fearing that they will never see their loved
ones again,” Lee said.