27 February 2017
Concluding a four-day visit to parts of Bangladesh where
she met with members of Myanmar’s Rohingya community who fled the violence
there following attacks on a border post in early October and the ensuing
military operations, a United Nations expert called for urgent action by the
Government of Myanmar to end the suffering of the Rohingya population in the
country.
“The magnitude of violence that these families have
witnessed and experienced is far more extensive than I had originally speculated,” highlighted Yanghee
Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar.
She recounted several allegations of horrific attacks
including the slitting of some people’s throats, indiscriminate shootings,
houses being set alight with people tied up inside and very young children
being thrown into the fire, as well as gang rapes and other sexual violence.
Earlier this month, the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a flash report, based on its interviews
with the people who fled Myanmar, in which it documented mass gang-rape,
killings, including of babies and young children, brutal beatings,
disappearances and other serious human rights violations by the country’s
security forces.
In addition to the alleged human rights violations
occurring within the context of the security operations that followed the 9
October attacks, Ms. Lee also highlighted today how the Government of Myanmar
appears to have taken, and continues to take, actions which discriminate
against the Rohingya and make their lives even more difficult.
RELATED: UN report details ‘devastating cruelty’
against Rohingya population in Myanmar’s Rakhine province
“I urge the Government of Myanmar to immediately cease
the discrimination that the community continues to face, to act now to prevent
any further serious rights violations and to conduct prompt, thorough,
independent and impartial investigations into those already alleged to have
occurred,” said the UN rights expert.
“We all owe it to those I have met and their fellow
community members to do everything in our power to ensure this is done and to
give the Rohingya people reason to hope again,” she added.
During her mission to Bangladesh, Ms. Lee visited the
capital Dhaka and the town of Cox’s Bazar, located near its border with
Myanmar, where many members of the Rohingya community had fled to. Ms. Lee will
present her full report to the UN Human Rights Council on 13 March.
Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed
by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a
specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary
and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
UN rights expert calls on Myanmar authorities to protect
Rohingya population https://t.co/OOePCSa5gp
via @ https://twitter.com/Rtv914
Read also: End of Mission Statement by Special Rapporteur
on the situation of human rights in Myanmar: https://shar.es/1U1dUn