By HTET NAING ZAW 31
May 2017
NAYPYIDAW — Burma’s
government will not accept members of a UN fact-finding mission appointed on
Tuesday to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Arakan, Kachin, and Shan
states, confirmed government spokesperson U Zaw Htay.
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| A Rohingya family in PwinPhyuChaung Village of MGD North |
“[The mission
members] will proceed according to their resolution, we will stand according to
our statement released on March 24,” said U Zaw Htay, referring to Burma’s
rejection of the UN’s resolution to form the mission at the Human Rights
Council meeting in Geneva in March.
“We need the final
report of Kofi Annan’s commission,” he said, referring to the Arakan State
Advisory Commission headed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan assigned
by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi last year, due to release a final
report in August.
“We’ll cooperate
when [the commission report] comes out. And we will also take actions according
to the report of the commission chaired by Vice President U Myint Swe,” said U
Zaw Htay.
The fact-finding
mission is scheduled to present an update to the Human Rights Council at its
36th session in September this year and a full report at its 37th session in
March 2018.
Burma’s State
Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—also chairperson of the Central Committee for
Implementation of Peace and Development in Arakan State—reiterated she would
only listen to the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-led commission and that
recommendations from any other individual or group may further fuel tensions
between communities in Arakan State.
“Why do they need to
come? We have not released false information. This is an internal issue of a
sovereign country. The UN has no reason at all to form a fact-finding mission,”
the administrator of Maungdaw District told The Irrawaddy.
The three-member
mission comprises Indira Jaising of India as Chair, Radhika Coomaraswamy of Sri
Lanka and Christopher Dominic Sidoti of Australia are members of the mission.