Myanmar bars UN human rights envoy Yanghee Lee

The government of Myanmar has barred a UN human rights investigator from visiting the nation and withdrawn cooperation alongside side her for the the rest of her tenure.

Yanghee Lee, a UN particular rapporteur, changed into to head to in January to evaluate the affirm of human rights all the method in which thru Myanmar, including in Rakhine affirm where a brutal defense force crackdown has despatched bigger than 650,000 minority Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Refugees fleeing the violence occupy suggested of a systematic marketing campaign of mass killings, rape, and arson. The UN has described the anxiety as « a textbook example of ethnic cleansing ».

« I am indubitably deeply disenchanted and indubitably saddened by this resolution of Myanmar to disclaim cooperation with my mandate and with any diversified human rights mechanisms, and most of all to silence contributors who focus on out on virtually all these atrocities, » Lee suggested Al Jazeera.

In a statement on Wednesday, Lee acknowledged she changed into « puzzled and disenchanted » by Myanmar’s resolution.

« This declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a solid indication that there might well soundless be one thing terribly awful going on in Rakhine, as well to within the the rest of the nation, » she acknowledged.

Abuses by security forces

Lee acknowledged she changed into suggested the resolution changed into in conserving with a statement she made following a visit in July.

On the time, she criticised abuses by security forces in Shan and Rakhine states and complained of rising restrictions on her access.

Journalists and activists who met her had been additionally subjected to affirm surveillance, she acknowledged.

Myanmar criticised her statement as biased and unfair.

Lee took up the rights monitoring role in 2014 and is required to head to Myanmar two instances a one year in notify to symbolize to the Human Rights Council and the UN Customary Assembly.

Myanmar has additionally refused entry to a separate UN fact-finding mission appointed by the Human Rights Council to analyze allegations of human rights violations in masses of battle zones, including in Rakhine.

Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein, the UN rights chief, has acknowledged the safety clampdown against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine might well amount to genocide, a worth the federal government has denied.

The crackdown got right here in conserving with assaults on border posts by a Rohingya armed neighborhood on August 25.

Amnesty World called Myanmar’s resolution to ban Lee « nefarious ».

« It’s a long way a additional indication that authorities will carry out the rest they’ll to retain a long way off from international scrutiny of their human rights file, » acknowledged James Gomez, Amnesty’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.