Articles by UN High Commissioner on Human Rights

We found 1 results.


Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee Brings UN Human Rights Council Up to Date on Human Rights in Myanmar
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service, 2 Jul 2018

27 Jun 2018 – Mr. President, I note the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently signed between the Myanmar Government, UNHCR and UNDP in early June to assist the process of repatriation from Bangladesh. It is disconcerting that the MoU remains not publicly available and there has not been transparency about its terms. I am dismayed about the fact that the parties to the MoU, including the United Nations agencies involved in this process, have apparently failed to recognise Rohingya living in Bangladesh as refugees and as Rohingya. Most frightful still is the fact that the Rohingya refugees have not been included in any of the discussions around this MoU nor consulted in relation to the repatriation process as a whole. I would like to ask your Excellencies, how can the process of repatriation be voluntary with the people who the process is for excluded from it? How can you be sure that any return is based on individual informed consent? Let’s stop for a moment and ask ourselves what “voluntary, dignified, safe, and sustainable” returns really mean, and whether that is achievable in the current framework.

→ read full article