UNITED NATIONS, July 5 (InnerCityPro.com) -- Back on July 1, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Partners' Group on Myanmar met in UN Conference Room 8. ICP asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about Myanmar's new Ambassador saying the term Royingya shouldn't be used, and minimizing the Muslim group's problems. On July 5, Ban is scheduled to publicly greet and accept credentials from this new Ambassador - hours after, from Geneva, UN High Commission for Human Rights issued this:
"We are alarmed by two major acts of mob violence directed against Myanmar’s Muslim community in the space of just eight days. Last Friday, a mob burned down a mosque in Hpakant Township in Kachin State and a week earlier, on 23 June, another mob attacked and partially destroyed a mosque and other properties in a village called Thaye Thamain, in Bago Region.
We are particularly concerned by initial reports that the police were present at the mosque in Hpakant but failed to take action to prevent it being destroyed, and that the authorities in Bago have not carried out any criminal investigation into the incident there.
We call on the Government to investigate both these incidents, as well as the responses by local authorities, in a prompt and thorough manner. These acts of mob violence could fuel a further cycle of hostility in the country, and we urge immediate steps be taken to prevent further incidents of religious intolerance.
Failure to investigate and prosecute such crimes would send a worrying message that attacks against religious minorities will go unpunished. The Government must send a clear signal that everyone is subject to the rule of law and that incidents against Muslims and other religious minorities must come to an end."