Protests expected at UN envoy’s Sittwe visit

Protests expected at UN envoy’s Sittwe visit
by -
Mizzima
Yanghee Lee (C), UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, seen here on a previous trip to Rakhine State in January. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA
Yanghee Lee (C), UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, seen here on a previous trip to Rakhine State in January. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA

UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Myanmar Ms. Yanghee Lee will arrive in Sittwe, Rakhine State on July 12 and looks set to face protests at the airport.

Phyu Phyu Than from Rakhine Ahlin Tagar Organization said, “She is not coming to Rakhine for giving support to Rakhine people but for Bengali people so that we absolutely do not want her coming here. During her last visit too, she wrote in her report that minority Bengali were oppressed and bullied by the majority Rakhine people and Bengali people were in trouble. She brought the international community’s ire on Rakhine. So the entire Rakhine State does not want her and because of that our Rakhine people will stage a demonstration against her.”

She added that all Rakhine people should stage protest against her for giving support to the Bengali cause, referring to the minority Muslim Rohingya.

Yanghee Lee will arrive in Sittwe on July 12 and will visit Buthidaung and Maungdaw during her visit and then she will submit her report on her observations found during this visit to the UN General Assembly to be held in October 2017.

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