By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 14 -- The Rohingya, Kachin and other groups stand to be lost in the Burmese shuffle amid much praise of Myanmar. Yesterday Inner City Press asked the UN about the Rohingya, specifically Bangladesh saying it will close its borders to those trying to flee. The UN has yet to answer:
Inner City Press: Bangladesh has said, formally, that they will close their borders to Rohingya fleeing from Myanmar, what they view as persecution in Myanmar, and in the past the Secretariat has commented on Bangladesh's treatment of Rohingya. Do you have any comment? Is there anything that the UN system, DPA [Department of Political Affairs] or anyone, is trying to do with regard to this closing of the border?
Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Let me check with my colleagues who deal with that matter; the Refugee Agency, with Political Affairs and others, certainly.
Eighteen hours later, no comment on this, nor on crackdowns in Sri Lanka against the media and about survivors of the 2009 "bloodbath on the beach" who are trying to testify, despite UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's (still only internal) "Rights Up Front" plan triggered by the UN's inaction in 2009.
The Organization for Islamic Cooperation's outgoing Secretary General Ihsanoglu is in Myanmar, with Turkey's foreign minister and others.
Inner City Press twice asked Ihsanoglu about the plight of Muslims in Sri Lanka; he expressed concern but each time noted that Sri Lankan foreign minster GL Peiris has said the country would like to join the OIC in some way. September 26, 2013 video here from Minute 13:05, and October 28 video here, from Minute 20.
Would Sri Lanka joining with the OIC just be public relations, like this from Sri Lanka, or the JP Morgan Chase's abortive #AskJPM question and answer set for today then canceled? At the UN, we're still waiting for the UN's answers, on Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Rohingya, and on Sri Lanka. Watch this site.
