UN envoy visits Rohingya slum
The UN's rights envoy for Myanmar Yanghee Lee yesterday visited the newly built Rohingya slum at Paschim Balukhali in Ukhia upazila of Cox's Bazar.
Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, spoke to the Rohingyas who recently entered Bangladesh from Myanmar's Rakhine state following an army crackdown against them.
During her three-hour stay at the slum, Lee wanted to know from some Rohingya men and women what type of torture and repression they had to endure in Myanmar and how they entered Bangladesh, said Nuruddin Shibli Noman, Ukhia upazila assistant commissioner (land).
In reply, the refugees told her horrific stories of torture, killing, rape and arson by the Myanmar army. Around 7,000 Rohingyas are living in the slum built on the forest land, he added.
Baki Billah, joint secretary of Bangladesh foreign ministry, Shibli, and officials of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were with the UN envoy.
She is also scheduled to visit other Rohingya slums today.
Shibli said Lee left for Cox's Bazar town after visiting the slum. She would submit a report to the UN on this visit.
Lee reached Dhaka on Monday on a three-day visit. The UN special envoy earlier visited Myanmar on January 9 to 21. At that time, she visited Rakhine and Kachin states. During the visit, Lee also met Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and other top government officials.
Later, in a statement issued from Geneva, the UN special envoy said that what was happening in Myanmar could be described in one word "revengeful". Rohingyas were victims of a planned and institutionalised discrimination.
After her visit in Bangladesh, Lee will issue a statement on her experience. She will present a report on Myanmar at the UN Human Rights Council on March 13 with her opinion on the situation of human rights and recommendations to the Myanmar government.
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