UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee visits Rakhine State

23 June 2016
UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee visits Rakhine State
Yanghee Lee (C-L), the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, talks with children in Kali Muslim village in Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, 22 June 2016. Yanghee Lee is on her fourth visit to Myanmar and will stay from 19 June to 01 July 2016. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA

United Nations Special Rapporteur to Myanmar Ms Yanghee Lee met Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu yesterday in the VIP lounge at Sittwe Airport where they discussed regional development, stability and greater human rights.
Ms Lee told Mizzima, “I come here as a true friend of the Rakhine people and I will work for change and development for each and every one in Rakhine State.”
U Nyi Pu told Ms. Yanghee Lee, “As our State government is working under the leadership of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, there will be no misunderstanding or doubt on our work and there will be complete cooperation.”
Ms Lee visited Punnagyun and Kardi village and met Muslims there who were refusing the government’s plan of citizenship verification, she also visited a refugee camp in Pyinnyawa village in Kyauktaw Township.
In a snub to Ms Lee, the Rakhine National Party (RNP) issued a statement which said they had no plan to meet the UN rapporteur as they presumed her visit would not alter fairness in relation to Rakhine people.
Ms Lee is on a 12-day visit to the country through July 1 to address a range of human rights issues with authorities and various stakeholders and compile information for a report she will submit to the U.N. in September.