June 22, 2016

Myanmar Government Orders State Media Not To Use ‘Rohingya’

The Myanmar government has ordered state-run media not to refer to the persecuted Muslim minority group that lives in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state by the divisive term “Rohingya” during a visit by a United Nations human rights official.

The Ministry of Information’s letter dated June 16 instructed official news outlets to describe the 1.1 million Rohingya who live in Rakhine as the “Muslim community in Rakhine state” during a visit by Yanghee Lee, the U.N.’s special envoy on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, who is visiting the country from June 19 to July 2.

“We submitted the phrase ‘Muslim community in Rakhine’ to the United Nations, and we will continue using it in the Burmese language in Myanmar,” said Myo Myint Aung, deputy permanent secretary at the ministry of information. (Courtesy of rfa.org)

No comments:

Post a Comment