[JURIST] The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] issued a report [materials] on Tuesday documenting the systemic discrimination of minorities in Myanmar [BBC profile] and calling for concrete steps end these human rights violations. The report focused on particular concern of the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine region. The Rohingya face restrictions of movement, denial to health care, denial to education, and limitation of political rights. The report stated: “The human rights situation of the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar is a cause of utmost concern. The scope and patterns of violations and abuses reported cannot be ignored; systematic and systemic discrimination and policies of exclusion and marginalization are all too often at the root of future conflicts.” High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein recommended that the Rakhine state abolish all arbitrary discriminatory local orders.

Human rights have been on the forefront of Myanmar’s new democratic government since ending a decades-old military rule. Earlier this month Myanmar abolished [JURIST report] a law from 1950 that was used by the military to jail dissidents within the country. The OHCHR released a report in June stating that human rights abuses against the Rohingya in Myanmar may amount to crimes against humanity [JURIST report]. Also in June UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed [JURIST report] shock at the increasing number of children recruited and killed in armed conflicts in several countries; the government of Myanmar alone released [JURIST report] 46 underage child recruits from the military in March as part of a UN join action plan made in 2012. In May Human Rights Watch urged [JURIST report] the Myanmar Parliament to reconsider a proposed law that they say has the advocacy organization says has the potential to limit free expression and peaceful assembly.