UN Rights Envoy Slams Myanmar Over Rohingya Abuses

United Nations human rights envoy Yanghee Lee wrapped up a 12-day tour of Myanmar on Friday echoing calls for an independent investigation into alleged abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority, as the country comes under mounting international pressure over the crisis.

At a press conference in the commercial capital, Yangon, on Friday, Lee said she had visited parts of northern Rakhine state where security forces have been accused of raping and indiscriminately killing villagers during a sweeping crackdown on a new insurgent group that attacked police last year.

But she was denied access to two villages where women told Reuters they were raped—with authorities citing security concerns. Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing declined to meet her.

The government has responded to most of the allegations with blanket denials. In December, state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi's Facebook page was emblazoned with a poorly Photoshopped image reading 'fake rape."

"I think we do need an independent, credible investigation on what really happened," Lee said. "It has been three months of complete lockdown and I'm afraid all the evidence has been contaminated by now."

Two or three day visits like hers were not sufficient, she added.

She characterized the government's response as "defend, dismiss and deny," saying "this response is not only counterproductive but it is draining away the hope that had been sweeping the country."

What began as a domestic crisis in restive Rakhine state has mushroomed into an international row in recent weeks as regional neighbors—especially Muslim-majority Malaysia—condemn the alleged abuses and urge the government to act.

Speaking at an Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Najib Razak, called on Myanmar authorities to "cease all discriminatory actions and attacks" on Rohingya and punish those responsible.

The OIC, a coalition of 57 member-states that aims to be the voice of the "Muslim World," resolved to send a high-level delegation to meet affected people in Rakhine state.

In a statement published by Channel News Asia, Myanmar hit back at Malaysia, calling its decision to hold an OIC meeting "regrettable."

"Myanmar understands that Malaysia's concerns sprang from salacious media news portraying dire human rights situations without any factual analysis," the statement from the foreign ministry said.

The Myanmar government has labeled the accusations propaganda, but made some concessions this week including allowing a flotilla of food aid sent by Malaysia to arrive in Yangon after a lengthy back-and-forth. The aid will then be brought to Northern Rakhine, according to recent reports.

U.K. foreign secretary Boris Johnson is also in Myanmar over the weekend and is expected to raise the issue with state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya live across Rakhine state, many in miserable internal displacement camps. Denied citizenship, they are loathed as illegal interlopers from Bangladesh even though many families have lived there for hundreds of years. Persecuted for decades, they have come under increasing pressure since violent clashes with the Buddhist majority in 2012.

The current crisis began on 9 Oct., when hundreds of Rohingya men and boys armed mostly with slingshots and knives attacked a series of border outposts in Maungdaw, a town in Northern Rakhine state, killing at least nine police officers.

The attacks were attributed to a new insurgent group named Harakah-al-Yaqin, or 'Faith Movement', which had hundreds of recruits and some support from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group.

The military responded with security sweeps during which human rights groups say soldiers raped women and indiscriminately killed civilians. Satellite images published by Human Rights Watch show villages razed to the ground.

During Lee's visit to Maungdaw, local authorities told her that the houses were burned by villagers themselves because they wanted the international community to build them new ones. "The authorities offered no evidence for this and I find this argument quite incredible," she said.

Some 66,000 Rohingya from Northern Rakhine have fled across the border into Bangladesh since October, bringing with them horrific stories of violence.

Specific accusations are difficult to verify because the area has been closed to foreign journalists. Some exiled Rohingya have shared images from other conflicts on social media channels, muddling the picture.

Medical staff in camps in Cox's Bazaar, across the border from Maungdaw, have reported treating rape victims and gunshot wounds.

"I think there's been carnage [in northern Rakhine]," said David Mathieson, a Yangon-based analyst and former researcher for Human Rights Watch. "But the actual specifics of it—there is just so much disinformation coming out. But I think anyone should doubt only the specifics, not the scale."

Meanwhile, in Rakhine state, hundreds of Rohingya accused of links to the insurgency remain behind bars with little hope of a fair trial. After three months, most have not yet been charged with any crime.

A table published in state media last month said there were more than 500 "suspected violent attackers" in detention", only 88 of whom had been charged with any offence. Four "died during interrogation" and a further 70 had been "found dead."

"There are many people arrested from every village," the unnamed villager told VICE Indonesia. "From my village there have been 23 since 9 Oct."

On Friday, Lee said she visited one prison holding 450 detainees accused of involvement.

"Except for one suspect whose family knew that the detainee had rights and sought a lawyer for him, the prisoners did not have legal representation," she said. "They did not seem informed of the charges—if any against—them apart from that they could be suspected of being involved in the attacks on the border guard posts."

This week, more than 40 Myanmar-based civil society organization signed a statement asking for a "truly independent international investigation into the situation in Rakhine state."

Three commissions have visited the area in recent months but have either said they would not give a verdict on abuses or—in the case of one appointed by the Rakhine state parliament—denied any had taken place.

"None of these bodies are conducting a serious, impartial investigation into ongoing human rights violations," said Matthew Smith, CEO and founder of Fortify Rights, in a statement. "The international community needs to wake up to the fact that domestic remedies have been exhausted and the situation of the Rohingya is worsening by the day."

But Myanmar authorities have said any outside intervention would be met with "unwanted resistance from local people." And some question what another investigation could hope to achieve, as Myanmar grapples with the biggest obstacle to hopes of reform: the power of the military, which still retains its grip on key institutions.

"What are you going to do?" asked Mathieson, of HRW. "Send [Commander-in-Chief] Min Aung Hlaing to the Hague? No…"