Rohingya camps ‘more like prisons’, says UN envoy
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| The UN's Special Rapporteur for Human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, visited this camp for displaced Rohingyas in Myebon in Rakhine State. (PHOTO: UNIC) |
Mizzima News
February 18, 2013
February 18, 2013
The United Nations Special Rapporteur to Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, says that the use of excessive force by Myanmar’s government forces against local communities and ethnic groups was worrying to the UN.
Speaking at a press conference at Yangon International Airport before leaving the country on Saturday, Quintana said nearly 120,000 people are now living in camps in Rakhine State with a lack of adequate healthcare, and noted that conditions were worse in camps sheltering Rohingyas and other Muslims.
The UN official said harassment of medical staff by Buddhist extremists in Rakhine State was one of the reasons behind the poor healthcare.
The government needs to address the problem of freedom of movement in the camps, Quintana stated, adding that one of the camps “felt more like a prison than a camp.”
