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Rohingya crisis: Suu Kyi should have resigned, says Zeid; cannot be stripped of Nobel prize, committee declares

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 30 Aug 2018, 06:58 am Print

Rohingya crisis: Suu Kyi should have resigned, says Zeid; cannot be stripped of Nobel prize, committee declares

Naypyidaw: The outgoing head of United Nations Human Rights said that following the Rohingya crisis, Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi should have stepped down.

Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein told the BBC that the senior Myanmar leader's actions were deeply regrettable.

"She was in a position to do something," Zeid said in an interview with the BBC's Imogen Foulkes.

Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the outgoing United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Suu Kyi should have stepped down following the Rakhine violence, which targeted the Rohingya population. Image: Twitter 

"She could have stayed quiet - or even better, she could have resigned.

"There was no need for her to be the spokesperson of the Burmese military. She could have said look, you know, I am prepared to be the nominal leader of the country but not under these conditions," he added. 

Earlier this week, a United Nations report said that military leaders in Myanmar should face genocide charges, over the latter's role in the violent Rakhine clash last year.

However, the report was strongly rejected by Myanmar.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said that Myanmar did not agree or accept any report published by the UN Human Rights Council.

Htay also added that Myanmar is strictly against human rights violation.

"We didn't allow the FFM [the UN Fact-Finding Mission] to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," Htay told local Global New Light.

He said that the country has its own independent enquiry commission to respond to the "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".

At least 700,000 Rohingya people were displaced and thousands of others killed since the outbreak of the violence in Myanmar. Image: UNHCR/Roger Arnold 

Meanwhile, the Nobel committee said on Wednesday that the prize awarded to Suu Kyi in 1991, cannot be taken back.

While reports have clearly stated that Suu Kyi did not control the military, she faced a lot of criticism for failure to condemn the country's forces.

The Rohingya issue, which made headlines last year, has displaced over 700,000 people. The violence has also killed thousands.

 

Suu Kyi Image: Wallpaper