UN monitor warns of mounting human rights abuses in Myanmar
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Yangon - United Nations human rights envoy warned of mounting human rights abuses in Myanmar's Rakhine state after the evacuation of international aid workers.
Tomas Ojea Quintana raised concerns about the deterioration of the human rights situation for the Rohingya Muslim community in a report delivered in Geneva Monday.
International agencies and non-governmental organisations evacuated their workers last month from Sittwe, 500 kilometres north-west of Yangon, after their offices were attacked by local Buddhist residents.
The state's Buddhist majority accuses foreign aid workers of favouring the Rohingya, a Muslim group of about 1 million people who do not have full legal rights in Myanmar.
"Recent developments in Rakhine State are the latest in a long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya community which could amount to crimes against humanity," Quintana said in a statement made available in Yangon.
DPA
