By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 25 --
Even on a day
when in
Myanmar 56
Rohingya are
reported to
have been
killed, a
thousand homes
burned down,
at the UN
their plight
is largely
downplayed.
In the online
report of the
Special
Rapporteur on
Human Rights
in Myanmar,
Tomas Ojea
Quintana,
the Rohingya
appear twice,
in Paragraphs
71 and 72 (in
the first,
they are
misspelled.)
Inner
City Press
asked Ojea
Quintana what
he or other
human rights
officials in
the UN system
do for the
Rohinga who
have been
chased in
Bangladesh. He
replied that
his mandate is
focused on the
territory
of Myanmar. He
said he has
visited
Thailand and
Malaysia, but
did not
mention
Bangladesh.
On
October 24
Inner City
Press asked
Special
Rapporteur on
Internally
Displaced
Persons Beyani
about the
Rohingya IDPs.
He said he has
asked to visit
Myanmar, but
has been told
this is not
possible in
2013.
Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky if Ban
or his former
chief of staff
and now
Myanmar "Good
Offices" envoy
to Myanmar Vijay Nambiar
"believe, as
part
of the
progress they
have praised
in Myanmar,
that it should
involve
extending
invitations or
accepting
requests to
visit by
mandate-holders
like Mr.
Beyani."
Nesirky
replied,
"I think the
short answer
is that, yes,
it should. The
longer answer
is that this
is a work in
progress, and
I think you
will see, and
you will have
seen, some
movements,
positive
movements
in this
particular
area, and we
would
anticipate
that that will
continue."
Positive
movements?
The next day
it was
reported that
1000 homes had
been
burned, and 56
Rohingya
killed. What's
being done?
After
Ojea Quintana
presented his
report in the
Third
Committee of
the
General
Assembly,
Myanmar's
representative
said his
government is
trying to stop
the violence.
Here's an
idea: don't
leave the
Rohingya, who
Beyani notes
have long been
in the
country,
stateless.
Watch this
site.
