Panel led by ex-UN boss Kofi Annan says camps
where tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are trapped should be closed.
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According to the UN, 74,000 people have fled
the conflict
zone since October [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]
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Myanmar should close bleak camps where tens of thousands
of displaced Rohingya Muslims have been trapped for nearly five years,
according to a commission led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan.
More than 120,000 Rohingya have languished in camps for
internally displaced people (IDP) since they were driven from their homes after
a wave of inter-religious violence engulfed western Rakhine State in 2012.
Most are not allowed to leave the camps, where they live
in piecemeal shelters with little access to food, and are denied access to
basic education and healthcare.
"It’s really about time they close the camps and
allow people, particularly those who have gone through the [citizenship]
verification process, access to freedom of movement and all rights of
citizenship," Annan told the Reuters news agency by telephone.
Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi last year
appointed Annan to head a commission given the task of healing long-simmering
divisions between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine.
"The commission calls for a plan to close all IDP
camps in Rakhine state," Ghassan Salame, a member of the body, told
reporters at the launch of the body's interim report on Thursday.
READ MORE: A fight for survival - Rohingya refugees in
Bangladesh: http://aje.io/xkey
The report also called for the government to ensure
"security and livelihood opportunities at the site of return/relocation"
for those leaving the camps, including the building of new houses.
Residents complain of a system of checkpoints in parts of
Rakhine state and widespread extortion by officials at roadblocks.
Myanmar has long faced international condemnation for its
treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority, with the issue reaching boiling
point in recent months after the army launched a bloody crackdown in the north
of Rakhine following a number of deadly attacks on several police border posts
in October.
UN investigators who interviewed escapees in Bangladesh
have accused Myanmar's security forces of responding with a campaign of murder,
gang rape and arson that may amount to genocide.
IN PICTURES: Rohingya, Chased
from Myanmar, unwelcome in Bangladesh: http://aje.io/6x27
According to the UN, 74,000 people have fled the conflict
zone since October.
In February, a UN report accused Myanmar's security
forces of carrying out mass rapes, burning families to death and other
killings, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity.
Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in
Myanmar, on Monday called the on UN
to launch its highest-level investigation into the violence, which she said may
be part of a government campaign to drive the Rohingya from the country. http://aje.io/3que
But a draft resolution tabled by the UN Human Rights
Council stopped short of calling for a Commission of Inquiry into the violence.
Salame said the Annan commission backed calls for an
independent investigation into the violence in northern Rakhine in its report,
but said anything further would be beyond the body's remit.
It identified three initial camps to close - one housing
more than 200 Rohingya, along with two others that are home to Buddhist
Rakhines and Kaman Muslims who were also displaced in the 2012 violence.
Suu Kyi's office welcomed the report and said it would
implement the "large majority of recommendations" without giving more
details.
