Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar emphasized that the Government had an obligation to review and revoke all orders which violate international human rights standards.
“This local order is one of many that have been introduced by local Rakhine state authorities that violate the basic human rights of Rohingya Muslims, including with regard to freedom of movement, marriage, and registration of newborn children.”
“These orders provide further ammunition to local authorities, including the border security force Nasaka, to discriminate against and persecute the most vulnerable and marginalized group in Myanmar,” he added in a news release.
Mr. Ojea Quintana noted that the vast majority of the 800,000 Rohingya Muslims are without citizenship and are stateless, making them extremely vulnerable to human rights violations.
“This local order in the northern Rakhine state townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw is a clear-cut human rights violation targeting a particular ethnic and religious group,” he stated. “The Central Government must provide an unequivocal response.”
Myanmar has ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which obliges State parties to respect and protect the right of women and men “to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.”
Also, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on the Government not to restrict the number of children of Rohingya people.
“It is the role of the State to provide information to the public on family planning and to provide contraception and other reproductive health services to women and men throughout Myanmar,” Mr. Ojea Quintana said. “It is not the role of the State to introduce discriminatory and coercive measures such as these.”
The Special Rapporteur has maintained that discrimination against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state is one of the underlying causes of the communal violence that erupted there last year, and is fuelling the spread of anti-Muslim violence across the country.
“Only by addressing this discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities can the Government of Myanmar hope to forge integrated communities that live together in equality, peace and harmony,” he underscored.
Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
UN News Centre