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Northern Rahkine has been under strict military
lockdown
since October [AFP]
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UN's Yanghee Lee denied access to Rohingya
villages
UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee looking into country's
human rights record, including alleged abuses against Rohingya
UN special rapporteur on human rights Yanghee Lee has been
denied access to some areas in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State, with the
government citing "security concerns" for its decision.
Al Jazeera also learned on Sunday that Lee was only allowed
to speak to individuals who were pre-approved by the government while she
visited Muslim Rohingya villages in the area.
"These are things that will certainly hamper her
investigation," Al Jazeera's Florence Looi, reporting from Sittwe, said.
"Lack of access will make her job more difficult."
As part of her 12-day visit to Myanmar, Lee is spending
three days in Rakhine - home to around 1.2 million stateless Rohingya, a Muslim
minority that has suffered decades of poverty and repression, and been denied
basic rights such as citizenship and freedom of movement.
READ MORE: Global
leaders warn Aung San Suu Kyi over Rohingya
Lee also visited the border guard posts, attacked in
October, as well as a prison.
Northern Rakhine has been under strict military lockdown
since October 9, when a gang killed nine border police officials near the
border with Bangladesh, leading to a clampdown that has left anywhere between
84 and 400 Rohingya dead.
According to the UN, at least 65,000 Rohingya have
reportedly fled across the border to Bangladesh to escape violence allegedly
committed by the military, including the burning of homes, rape and murder of
civilians.
The Myanmar government and military have denied all the
allegations.
On Friday, Lee met Muslim community leaders during her visit
to a Rohingya neighbourhood in Sittwe.
Lee also visited border guard posts, the attacks on which in
early October triggered clearance operations by the military.
But a powerful ethnic party rejected a request for a meeting
with Lee on Friday evening.
"We are not meeting her because we don't believe she
and her organisation [the UN] have a will to resolve the issues fairly,"
Ba Swe, joint secretary of the Arakan National Party, told Anadolu Agency on
Saturday.
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UN special rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee (C) departs
from Sittwe to visit areas of northern Rakhine State on Saturday [AFP]
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"The issues will never be solved as long as they accept
these Bengalis as members of this country’s ethnic groups,” Ba Swe said, using
a term that suggests Rohingya are illegal immigrants from neighbouring
Bangladesh.
International pressure
The crisis in Myanmar has put Aung San Suu Kyi's
administration under international pressure, with rights watchdog Human Rights
Watch criticising the government of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate for failing
to hold the country's military accountable for the crackdown on Rohingya.
Lee continues her travels through the conflict zone on
Sunday before returning to Yangon later in the week.
Al Jazeera's Looi also said the UN envoy will also look into
reports that the flow of aid to Rohingya has been "severely
curtailed" since the military operation began three months ago.
Read more and watch: Rohingya abuse by Myanmar border police
"The UN said they are concerned about the rising rate
of malnutrition among the Rohingya in this area, because this is an area, where
food security is already in doubt," Looi said, adding that as many as
150,000 people are dependent on aid.
Across the border in Bangladesh, Al Jazeera's Maher Sattar,
who is reporting from Cox's Bazar, said Rohingya refugees have also
corroborated reports of abuse.
"We've come across people, who have been shot. We've
come across children. Every single person here, they are quite unanimous in
their stories of villages being burned and relatives being killed."
A law passed in Myanmar in 1982 denies Rohingya - many of
whom have lived in Myanmar for generations - citizenship, making them
stateless.
The law denies Rohingya rights to Myanmar nationality,
removes their freedom of movement, access to education and services, and allows
arbitrary confiscation of property.
Rohingya have fled Myanmar in droves for decades, with a new
wave of migrations occurring since mid-2012 after communal violence broke out.
Because of their lack of citizenship, they are also
considered as refugees in Bangladesh, and many of them are confined in refugee
camps for decades.
Source: http://aje.io/vz5k