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Iran appeals for UN attention to plight of Rohingya Muslims

Xinhua, January 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has written a letter to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres urging international action to stop what he called rights violations of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Press TV reported on Saturday.

The plight of the Rohingya has caused international concerns, Zarif wrote in the letter on Friday.

The ethnic Muslims in Rohingya have not only been deprived of their most basic rights, they are also being exposed to killings and violent inhumane treatment on a daily basis, the letter was cited as saying.

Zarif said that "the systematic violation of the Rohingya Muslims' basic rights and denying them citizenship ... and forcing them to leave their homes" would have adverse consequences on peace and stability in Myanmar as well as in neighboring and regional countries.

He said it was expected of Myanmar's government to take immediate and effective action to protect the rights of the Rohingya and not allow extremist groups to tarnish the peaceful image of Buddhism.

It is also expected of Guterres and his special envoy to Myanmar to communicate to Myanmar's government the demand of the international community and the Islamic world concerning immediate humanitarian access to affected areas.

He also expressed hope that the UN would take the necessary measures to address the situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar.

Violence, escalated in the northern Myanmar State of Rokhine over the past months, has resulted in the loss of innocent lives and displacement of people.

According to the UN, up to 30,000 people have been displaced by violence and hundreds have been killed in communal clashes and army crackdown since 2012. Endit