A/HRC/25/64
ward to provide education for the children. About 700 university students have been unable
to gain access to education since May 2012. Working-age residents, many of whom are
traders, remain unable to access their livelihoods. The Special Rapporteur also visited the
Khoung Dote Khar Rohingya IDP camp in Sittwe. The violations of the rights to freedom
of movement, access to health care, education, livelihoods and places of worship he saw in
the IDP camp and Aung Mingalar represent a microcosm of the violations suffered by the
140,000 people still in IDP camps and the 36,000 people living in crisis-affected villages
across Rakhine State, the vast majority of whom are Rohingya. Of the six hospitals in
Rakhine State, only two are currently accepting Muslim patients (with a limited number of
beds provided).
45.
Ordinary Rakhine Buddhists have a genuine and legitimate desire to have their
economic, social and cultural rights respected, promoted and protected after years of
neglect. The grievances of the Rakhine Buddhist community must be heard, including with
regard to the regulation and management of borders and to immigration policy. Local
communities under the poverty line and without electricity have voiced their grievances
about not receiving the benefits from projects such as the Kyaukpyu–Kunming dual oil and
gas pipeline in Rakhine State, and they need to be listened to. However, the Special
Rapporteur is concerned that influential community, political and religious groups are
propagating an agenda to rid Rakhine State of the estimated one million Rohingyas who
live there. The organizers of hate campaigns (see para. 21 above) and the instigators of
violence continue to act with impunity. The United Nations and international NGO actors,
who are providing life-saving humanitarian assistance to all communities in Rakhine State,
continue to be harassed and threatened by those groups, with some forced to terminate their
operations. Local and central authorities are not intervening to fulfil their obligations under
international human rights law.
46.
Since the violence broke out in June 2012, the Special Rapporteur has highlighted
the obligation of the State to hold those responsible for human rights violations to account.
Yet up to this point, no credible investigation has taken place to uncover the human rights
violations that have occurred there. The Government has prosecuted people from both
communities accused of being involved in the violence. However, no State officials have
been held to account and, in the absence of an independent and credible investigation, it
remains unclear whether the main perpetrators have been prosecuted.
47.
During his latest visit, the Special Rapporteur met with the chief of Rakhine State
police. He informed the Special Rapporteur that in Du Chee Yar Tan village (in Maungdaw
township) on 13 and 14 January 2014, the police conducted a large security operation
involving over 100 police officers armed with live ammunition to search for a police officer
who was taken by the villagers and reportedly killed. He stated that homes had been
searched in the village and surrounding areas, but that no warrant had been secured to do
that. He said that journalists and NGOs had been denied access to the village, but that the
United Nations and diplomatic community had been on accompanied visits. He denied that
there had been any incident that had compromised the physical integrity or property of the
villagers. However, the Special Rapporteur has continued to receive allegations of serious
human rights violations being committed during that police operation, which also involved
Rakhine mobs, including allegations of the brutal killing of men, women and children,
sexual violence against women and the looting and burning of properties.
48.
The Special Rapporteur is concerned that domestic investigations have so far failed
to satisfactorily address these serious allegations. He recognizes that the Government has
shown a willingness to engage with the international community on key issues such as
forced labour, economic development and even training in international human rights
standards for the police and military. He urges that cooperation to extend to one of the most
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