UN / MYANMAR

The Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said “there is widespread hate speech” in Myanmar, “particularly that is directed at the Rohingya which amounts to incitement of hostility and even violence.” UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:44
• Production Date: 26 October 2017
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: AUNG SAN SUU KYI
• Corporate Name: OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - OHCHR
• Subject Topical: DISPLACED PERSONS; HUMAN RIGHTS
• Geographic Subject: MYANMAR
• MAMS Id: 2016297
• Parent Id: 2016297
• Alternate Title: unifeed171026e

Description

STORY: UN / MYANMAR
TRT: 02:44
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 26 OCTOBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

26 OCTOBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, presser
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar:
“There is widespread hate speech, particularly that is directed at the Rohingya which amounts to incitement of hostility and even violence. And for decades it has been cultivated in the minds of the people in Myanmar that Rohingya are not indigenous to the country and therefore have no rights whatsoever to which they can apparently claim.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar:
“The crisis in Rakhine state, which has not only been decades in the making, but has for some time gone beyond Myanmar’s border. For a very long time now this issue has not been simply a domestic affair. I call to the community, international community to remain seized of the human rights situation in the whole of Myanmar, and not just the situation in Rakhine, given the challenges across the country. And I recommended that the Security Council issue a strong resolution and to have Myanmar as an agenda item.”
6. Wide shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar:
“It has really baffled everyone, and it’s really baffled me about Daw Suu’s position, or non-position on this issue.”
8. Wide shot, dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar:
“She is adored by the public. She is really adored. And if she reaches out and says, you know, this is inhumane, any type of, this type of behaviour should be stopped. I think that would have put a different turn into how people react. There is so much hatred and hostility against the Rohingyas.”
10. Wide shot, dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar:
“The only way is for us to persuade China to put, you know, to use their leverage, because the Chinese have so much invested in Myanmar, and the military would, China would probably be the only country that the military would be able to entertain any talks about easing off their power.”
12. Wide shot, end of presser

Storyline

The Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, today (26 Oct) said “there is widespread hate speech” in Myanmar, “particularly that is directed at the Rohingya which amounts to incitement of hostility and even violence.”

After briefing the General Assembly, Lee told reporters in New York that “for decades it has been cultivated in the minds of the people in Myanmar that Rohingya are not indigenous to the country and therefore have no rights whatsoever to which they can apparently claim.”

The Special Rapporteur called on the international community “to remain seized of the human rights situation in the whole of Myanmar, and not just the situation in Rakhine” and recommended that the Security Council “issue a strong resolution and to have Myanmar as an agenda item.”

With regard to the role played by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Lee said “it has really baffled everyone, and it’s really baffled me about Daw Suu’s position, or non-position on this issue.”

She said Suu Kyi “is adored by the public. She is really adored. And if she reaches out and says, you know, this is inhumane, any type of, this type of behaviour should be stopped. I think that would have put a different turn into how people react.”

The Special Rapporteur said China must be persuaded “to use their leverage, because the Chinese have so much invested in Myanmar,” and the “would probably be the only country that the military would be able to entertain any talks about easing off their power.”

Lee, from the Republic of Korea, is a human rights expert and a professor at Sungkyunwan University.

A Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. This position is honorary and the expert is not United Nations staff nor paid for his/her work.