Situation of Human Rights of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar

A/HRC/RES/42/3View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 2Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General, published in 2019.

What else is in this group?

16 documents · 2015–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

2025A/RES/80/221Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2025A/HRC/RES/59/2Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2024A/RES/79/182Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2024A/HRC/RES/56/1Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2023A/RES/78/219Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

Grouped automatically by matching titles within the same organ.

What subjects does this mandate have?

11 topics

Accountability Anti-Discrimination Measures Criminal Justice Displaced Persons Human Rights Human Rights Violations Humanitarian Assistance Minorities Muslims Myanmar Repatriation

What does this mandate say?

27 operative paragraphs

Expresses grave concern at continuing reports of serious human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar, including against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, including of arbitrary arrests, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, forced labour, the use of school buildings for military purposes, socioeconomic exploitation, the forced displacement of more than a million Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh, and sexual and gender-based violence against women and children, as well as restrictions on exercising the rights to freedom of religion or belief, expression and assembly, in particular in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and Shan States;

Expresses serious concern at the recent escalation of violence in Rakhine State causing the loss of lives, displacement and further human suffering, and calls upon all parties to show restraint, to respect their relevant obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, to ensure the safety and protection of civilians and to show readiness to re-engage in dialogue;

Reiterates the urgent need to ensure that all those responsible for crimes relating to violations and abuses of international law, including international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, are held to account through credible and independent national, regional or international criminal justice mechanisms, and therefore stresses the need for an urgent criminal investigation into alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in all affected territories in Myanmar, recalls the authority of the Security Council, and welcomes ongoing efforts at the international level;

Calls upon Myanmar to end immediately all violence and all violations of international law in Myanmar, to ensure the protection of the human rights of all persons in Myanmar, including of Rohingya Muslims and persons belonging to other minorities, and to take all measures necessary to provide justice to victims, to ensure full accountability and to end impunity for all violations of human rights by undertaking a full, transparent and independent investigation into reports of all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law;

Emphasizes the importance of conducting international, independent, fair and transparent investigations into the gross human rights violations in Myanmar, including sexual and gender-based violence against women and children, and of holding accountable all those responsible for brutal acts and crimes against all persons, including the Rohingya, in order to deliver justice to victims using all legal instruments and international judicial mechanisms;

Calls for the immediate cessation of fighting and hostilities, of the targeting of civilians and of all violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and the implementation of an inclusive and comprehensive national political dialogue and nationwide reconciliation process while ensuring the full, effective and meaningful participation of all ethnic groups, including Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, women and young people, and persons with disabilities, as well as civil society, with the objective of achieving lasting peace, and calls upon political and religious leaders in Myanmar to work for a peaceful resolution through dialogue towards national unity;

Reiterates its urgent call upon the Government of Myanmar to take the measures necessary to promote the inclusion, human rights and dignity of all people living in Myanmar, to address the spread of discrimination and prejudice and to combat incitement to hatred against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities by publicly condemning such acts and enacting necessary anti-hate speech laws, in accordance with international human rights standards, and by promoting interfaith dialogue in cooperation with the international community, and encourages political and religious leaders in the country to work towards national unity through dialogue;

Also reiterates its urgent call upon the Government of Myanmar to sustain the democratic transition of Myanmar, in particular in view of the general elections in 2020 called by the Government, by bringing all national institutions, including the military, under the democratically elected civilian Government;

Welcomes the restoration of Internet and data services in five townships in Rakhine and Chin States, but calls upon the Government of Myanmar to lift the shutdown in the remaining four townships in Rakhine State and to repeal article 77 of the Telecommunications Act in order to avoid any further cutting of Internet access and the stifling of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and information, in accordance with international human rights law;

Also welcomes the adoption by the Government of Myanmar of a new law on children’s rights allowing, inter alia, the registration at birth of all children, and the agreement by Parliament to the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, but emphasizes the need for the Government to further protect the right of all children, including Rohingya children, to acquire citizenship in order to eliminate statelessness, in accordance with the obligations of Myanmar under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to ensure the protection of all children in armed conflict;

Urges the Government of Myanmar to cooperate fully with and to grant full, unrestricted and unmonitored access to all United Nations mandate holders and human rights mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the ongoing independent mechanism established by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 39/2, referred to by the Secretary-General as the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar in his terms of reference for the Mechanism, relevant United Nations agencies and international and regional human rights bodies to independently monitor the situation of human rights, and to ensure that individuals can cooperate without hindrance with these mechanisms without fear of reprisal, intimidation or attack, and expresses deep concern that international access to affected areas of Northern Rakhine State remains severely restricted for the international community, including for United Nations agencies, humanitarian actors and international media;

Welcomes the entry into operation on 30 August 2019 of the Mechanism, with its mandate to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011, and to prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings, in accordance with international law standards, in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over these crimes, in accordance with international law, and urges the Mechanism to swiftly advance its work and to ensure the effective use of evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law collected by the independent international fact-finding mission;

Calls for close cooperation between the Mechanism and any ongoing or future investigations pertaining to serious international crimes and violations of international law in Myanmar by national, regional or international courts or tribunals;

Calls upon the United Nations to ensure that the Mechanism is afforded the necessary support and resources it needs in terms of staffing, location and operational freedom so it can deliver as effectively as possible on its mandate, and urges Member States in the region to cooperate with the Mechanism, to grant it access and to provide it with every assistance in the execution of its mandate;

Welcomes the final report of the independent international fact-finding mission, and urges the Government of Myanmar and the international community to give due consideration to the recommendations contained in the reports of the fact-finding mission;

Reiterates the importance of the full implementation of all recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State to address the root causes of the crisis, including those on the right to a nationality and equal access to citizenship, freedom of movement, the elimination of systematic segregation and all forms of discrimination, and inclusive and equal access to health services and education, and birth registration, in full consultation with all ethnic and religious minorities and persons in vulnerable situations, as well as civil society;

Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to make efforts to eliminate statelessness and the systematic and institutionalized discrimination against members of ethnic and religious minorities, in particular relating to Rohingya Muslims, by, inter alia, reviewing the 1982 Citizenship Law, which has led to the deprivation of human rights; by ensuring everyone’s right to a nationality and equal access to full citizenship through a transparent, voluntary and accessible procedure and to all civil and political rights by allowing for self-identification; by amending or repealing all discriminatory legislation and policies, including discriminatory provisions of the set of “protection of race and religion laws” enacted in 2015 covering religious conversion, interfaith marriage, monogamy and population control; and by lifting all local orders restricting rights to freedom of movement and access to civil registration, health and education services and livelihoods;

Urges the Government of Myanmar to take all measures necessary to reverse and abandon policies, directives and practices that marginalize Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, to prevent the destruction of places of worship, cemeteries, infrastructure and commercial or residential buildings belonging to all peoples, to ensure that all displaced persons, including Rohingya Muslims and persons belonging to other minorities, in Rakhine State and throughout Myanmar, including the 128,000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims who have been confined in camps in central Rakhine since 2012, can return to their homes and properties with freedom of movement and unimpeded access to livelihoods and essential services, to review relevant laws, and to address the root causes of their vulnerability and forced displacement;

Welcomes the recent extension for one year of the memorandum of understanding between the Government of Myanmar, the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to associate them to the implementation of bilateral arrangements with Bangladesh on the return of displaced persons from Rakhine State, and emphasizes the need for the Government of Myanmar to continue to cooperate fully with the Government of Bangladesh and with the United Nations, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and in consultation with the populations concerned to enable the safe, voluntary, dignified sustainable and well-informed return of all refugees and forcibly displaced persons, including internally displaced persons, to their places of origin in Myanmar, and to give returnees freedom of movement and unimpeded access to livelihoods, social services, including health services, education and shelter, and to compensate them for all losses;

Calls upon the Government of Myanmar, in line with the bilateral instruments on repatriation signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar, to take concrete steps towards the creation of a conducive environment for the voluntary safe, dignified and sustainable return of the forcibly displaced Rohingya residing in Bangladesh, and to disseminate authentic information, in partnership with the United Nations and other relevant actors, on the conditions in Rakhine State in order to reasonably address the core concerns of the Rohingya, thereby encouraging them to return to their places of origin;

Expresses grave concern at the continuing restrictions on humanitarian access, in particular in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and Shan States, calls upon the Government of Myanmar to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law and to allow the full, safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel to all government-controlled and non-government-controlled areas, and to provide humanitarian assistance, including age- and gender-responsive assistance, as well as the delivery of supplies and equipment, in order to allow such personnel to perform efficiently their tasks of assisting the affected civilian populations, including internally displaced persons, and encourages it to grant access to the diplomatic corps, independent observers and representatives of the national and international independent media, without fear of reprisals;

Encourages the international community, in the true spirit of interdependence and burden-sharing, to continue to assist Bangladesh in the provision of humanitarian assistance to forcibly displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities until their return to their places of origin in Myanmar, and to assist Myanmar in the provision of humanitarian assistance to all affected persons of all communities displaced internally in Myanmar, including in Rakhine State, taking into account the vulnerable situation of women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities;

Calls upon the United Nations and encourages other international agencies to provide all support necessary for the Governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to expedite the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of forcibly displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities from Myanmar, including internally displaced persons, including through the early implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed by the Government of Myanmar, the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;

Encourages all business enterprises, including transnational corporations and domestic enterprises, to respect human rights in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and calls upon the home States of business enterprises operating in Myanmar to set out clearly the expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or jurisdiction respect human rights throughout their operations;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to follow up on the implementation of the recommendations made by the independent international fact-finding mission, including those on accountability, and to continue to track progress in the situation of human rights in Myanmar, including of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, and to present a written report thereon to the Human Rights Council at its forty-fifth session, to be followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue, and to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session;

Decides to transmit the reports of the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar to the General Assembly, and recommends that the Assembly transmit the reports to all relevant United Nations bodies, and requests the Chair of the independent international fact-finding mission to present the reports to the Assembly at its seventy-fourth session;

Welcomes the commitment of the Secretary-General to fully implement the recommendations contained in the report entitled “A brief and independent inquiry into the involvement of the United Nations in Myanmar from 2010 to 2018” dated 29 May 2019, and invites the Secretary-General to ensure a system-wide approach in implementing those recommendations, to ensure that all involvement with Myanmar takes into account and addresses human rights concerns, and also invites him to include an update on the implementation of the recommendations in his presentation to the Human Rights Council at its forty-third session, in accordance with Council resolution 40/29.

Paragraph content is machine-extracted from UN documents. For authoritative content, please refer to the official UN document.

No headings found in this document.

Who created this mandate?

What else is in this group?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What does this mandate say?

Table of contents