UN official in Myanmar appalled by conditions in Rohingya refugee camps
A senior UN official has warned of a growing polarisation between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar and said the living conditions in camps housing displaced Muslims are deplorable.
A senior UN official has warned of a growing polarisation between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar and said the living conditions in camps housing displaced Muslims are deplorable.
Yanghee Lee, special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, held a news conference on Saturday at the end of a 10-day visit to the country and called on the government to tackle the inter-communal violence.
Lee's itinerary included camps in the western state of Rakhine housing some 140,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya.
She also visited the northern state of Kachin, where more than 100,000 people have been displaced since fighting between ethnic-minority rebels and the government erupted in June 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire.
Lee said of the camps around the area of Sittwe in Rakhine state: "The situation is deplorable. Many have remained in the camps for two years and I do not believe that there is adequate access to basic services."
In June, another senior UN official, Kyung-wha Kang, said that in the camps in Rakhine state she had witnessed a level of human suffering that she had never seen before.
Lee said that she had received disturbing reports of people dying in camps due to a lack of emergency medical assistance.
