The United Nations Human Rights Council [official website] passed a resolution [materials] Friday to investigate potential human rights violations in Myanmar. The fact-finding mission will be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council with the purpose of establishing the facts and circumstances of the alleged human rights violations [UN report] by military and security forces. The resolution calls for Myanmar to continue its efforts to eliminate the statelessness and discrimination of ethnic and religious minorities, such as the Rohingya minority. The resolution also calls for the government of Myanmar to take measures to ensure a return of all the refugees who had to leave Myanmar that is safe, secure, and in accordance with international law. In response to the resolution, Myanmar said that they were committed to finding a solution to the situation in the Rakhine State, but the country disassociated itself from the draft as a whole.

This resolution comes after the UN Special Rapporteur, Yanghee Lee, on March 14th called for [JURIST report] an international investigation into the crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Myanmar government against the Rohingya minority population. In February, Lee called for [JURIST report] Myanmar to end the persecution of the Rohingya minority. Also in February, Myanmar officials stated [JURIST report] that they would investigated alleged police crimes against Rohingya Muslims. Furthermore, earlier in February, the Human Rights Watch endorsed [JURIST report] an investigation into the abuses against the Rohingya population, specifically the sexual abuses against women. In January, a prominent Muslim lawyer was shot and killed [JURIST report] outside an airport in Myanmar, which led to condemnation from a UN expert on the human rights situation in the country. Earlier in January, the UN sent an envoy [JURIST report] to assess the human rights situation with regards to vulnerable minority populations in Myanmar.