Myanmar Refuses to Cooperate with UN Investigator into Human Rights

A Rohingya boy carries a child after after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 1, 2017. (Reuters)
A Rohingya boy carries a child after after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 1, 2017. (Reuters)
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Myanmar Refuses to Cooperate with UN Investigator into Human Rights

A Rohingya boy carries a child after after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 1, 2017. (Reuters)
A Rohingya boy carries a child after after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 1, 2017. (Reuters)

Myanmar said that it will not cooperate with a United Nations independent investigator into human rights in the country.

Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur announced on Wednesday that Myanmar will not grant her access to the country for the rest of her tenure.

She had been due to visit in January to assess human rights across Myanmar, including abuses against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.

“This declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a strong indication that there must be something terribly awful happening in Rakhine, as well as in the rest of the country,” she said.

On Tuesday, Myanmar's military said a forensic investigation has begun after the discovery of 10 bodies in a mass grave in a village in troubled Rakhine state, where the country's security forces have carried out a brutal crackdown against the Rohingya.

Local officials said that they were investigating the 10 unidentified bodies found Monday near a cemetery in Inn Din village.

More than 630,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since security forces in neighboring Myanmar launched a violent crackdown against them on August 25, turning it into Asia's worst refugee crisis in decades.

The United Nations and the US accuse Myanmar's military of human rights violations against Rohingya in Rakhine, including killings, rapes and the burning of homes. The UN has condemned the violence as ethnic cleansing.

International aid group Doctors Without Borders said last week that it conducted a field survey that found at least 6,700 Rohingya Muslims were killed between August and September in the crackdown.

International rights groups blame the government and military for being unwilling to investigate possible wrongdoing by government officials and have urged the government to accept the assistance of international investigators.

"It's critical they (the government) accept the assistance of impartial, independent investigators and allow them to immediately travel to Inn Din to probe what happened and make a full report," said Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division.

The military said in a statement Monday that legal actions would be taken against the perpetrators.



Russian Forces Hit Ukrainian Troops in Sumy Region with Iskander Missile

A resident carries window screens outside a damaged apartment building that is on fire after a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A resident carries window screens outside a damaged apartment building that is on fire after a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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Russian Forces Hit Ukrainian Troops in Sumy Region with Iskander Missile

A resident carries window screens outside a damaged apartment building that is on fire after a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A resident carries window screens outside a damaged apartment building that is on fire after a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Russian forces hit a Ukrainian troop position in the northeast Sumy region with an Iskander missile, state news agency TASS cited the Russian defence ministry as saying on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The Russian defense ministry did not provide the date of the strike, but said the area around city of Konotop was targeted.

Ukrainian authorities in the region reported an Iskander missile strike on Konotop on Monday. The local administration said on Facebook that it had damaged flats in several multi-storey buildings and that there were no casualties.

Ukraine in recent days has been trying to drive Russian forces from Sumy region, where border areas are gripped by heavy fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the weekend that Russia has amassed 53,000 troops in the region.