UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly expressed
serious concern on Monday over violence between Rohingya Muslims and
Buddhists in Myanmar and called upon its government to address reports
of human rights abuses by some authorities.
The 193-nation
General Assembly approved by consensus a non-binding resolution, which
Myanmar said last month contained a "litany of sweeping allegations,
accuracies of which have yet to be verified."
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Outbreaks
of violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingyas have
killed dozens and displaced thousands since June. Rights groups also
have accused Myanmar security forces of killing, raping and arresting
Rohingyas after the riots. Myanmar said it exercised "maximum restraint"
to quell the violence.
The unanimously adopted U.N. resolution
"expressing particular concern about the situation of the Rohingya
minority in Rakhine state, urges the government to take action to bring
about an improvement in their situation and to protect all their human
rights, including their right to a nationality."
At least 800,000
Muslim Rohingyas live in Rakhine State along the western coast of
Myanmar, also known as Burma. But Buddhist Rakhines and other Burmese
view them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh who deserve
neither rights nor sympathy.
The resolution adopted on Monday is
identical to one approved last month by the General Assembly's Third
Committee, which focuses on human rights. After that vote, Myanmar's
mission to the United Nations said that it accepted the resolution but
objected to the Rohingyas being referred to as a minority.
"There
has been no such ethnic group as Rohingya among the ethnic groups of
Myanmar," a representative of Myanmar said at the time. "Despite this
fact, the right to citizenship for any member or community has been and
will never be denied if they are in line with the law of the land."
(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Paul Simao)
Copyright © 2012 Reuters
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