Myanmar failing to stop spread of religious violence, UN envoy says // Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar's great hope fails to live up to expectations
Poppy McPherson in
Yangon
Myanmar must do more
to prevent the drastic escalation of religious intolerance and violence
following clashes between ultranationalist Buddhists and minority Muslims in
Yangon, a senior UN envoy has said. Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar,
called on the year-old National League for Democracy government led by Aung San Suu Kyi to
strengthen its efforts to curb hate speech and violence drummed up by
nationalist groups. “I have, in the past, raised concerns
regarding incidents of hate speech, incitement to discrimination, hatred and
violence, and of religious intolerance, and these appear to be drastically
escalating,” she said.
“I believe that the
spread of anti-Muslim sentiments and rhetoric is not receiving the serious
attention that it requires, and is too often left unchecked by the authorities.
This cannot be tolerated any longer. The government must step up to take more
concerted efforts to tackle and address such incidents.”
Last week, a fight
broke out in a Muslim neighbourhood of Yangon after dozens of nationalists
raided the home of a family they believed was hiding Rohingya Muslims, members
of a persecuted minority deemed by many to be illegal immigrants. The violence, which
left several injured, came two weeks after another radical group, involving
some of the same people, forced the closure of two Islamic schools. While the Myanmar
authorities have arrested several Buddhists in connection with the recent violence,
they bowed to nationalist pressure to shutter the Islamic schools. Zaw Htay, a
spokesperson for Aung San Suu Kyi, declined to take questions… read more:
It was never meant to
be this way. The script called for
the lead actor, a Nobel
prize winner, to seize control of a country, bring peace where there was
conflict and prosperity where there was poverty. A nation emerging from years
of military dictatorship was to become a beacon of hope not only for its cowed
population but also for much of a fractured and turbulent south-east Asia.
But like many
political dramas – especially over the past 12 months – the script has not been
followed by Myanmar and its de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Now, a year since one
of the world’s most famous prisoners of conscience came to power in the specially
created position of state counsellor, the talk is not of progress. Instead, it is of
drastically escalating ethnic conflicts that have simmered and sporadically
exploded for decades; a new Rohingya Muslim insurgency that has prompted an
army crackdown some say may
amount to crimes against humanity; a rash of online defamation cases that
have fostered a panic over freedom of speech; and a repressive legal framework
that allowed the generals to jail so many still being in place. And all the
while, Aung San Suu Kyi is accused of remaining mostly silent, doggedly
avoiding the media... read more
