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

A/RES/75/238View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 72c Human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives, published in 2020.

What else is in this group?

17 documents · 2015–2026

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2026).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	A/HRC/RES/62/3	Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar	9,497	–
2025	A/RES/80/221	Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar	10,694	–
2025	A/HRC/RES/59/2	Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar	8,320	–
2024	A/RES/79/182	Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar	9,122	–
2024	A/HRC/RES/56/1	Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar	6,787	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2021

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2021	A/76/312	Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/75/238

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 subjects

Bangladesh Displaced Persons Good Offices Human Rights Human Rights Violations Minorities Muslims Myanmar Refugees

What’s in this document?

48 operative paragraphs

Expresses grave concern at continuing reports of serious human rights violations and abuses by the military and security forces as well as violations of international humanitarian law in Myanmar against Rohingya and other minorities, in particular in Kachin, Rakhine, southern Chin and Shan States, including those involving arbitrary arrests, deaths in detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, deliberate killing and maiming of children, recruitment and use of children for forced labour, indiscriminate shelling in civilian areas, destruction and burning of homes, deprivation of economic and social rights, the forced displacement of over 860,000 Rohingya and other minorities to Bangladesh, rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, as well as restrictions on exercising the rights to freedom of religion or belief, expression and peaceful assembly, and restrictions on media freedom and full Internet access and other restrictions;

Strongly condemns all violations and abuses of human rights in Myanmar, and 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 and violations and abuses against women and children, and of holding accountable all those responsible for brutal acts and crimes against all persons, including Rohingya, in order to deliver justice to victims using all legal instruments and domestic, regional and international judicial mechanisms, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as applicable;

Calls upon the security and armed forces of Myanmar and other armed groups, in particular in Rakhine, Chin and Shan States, to heed the Secretary-General’s calls for a global ceasefire, end all hostilities and address grievances through political dialogue;

Takes note of the order of the International Court of Justice of 23 January 2020 indicating provisional measures, and urges the Government of Myanmar, in accordance with the Court’s order in relation to members of the Rohingya in its territory, to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to ensure that its military and any irregular armed units that may be directed or supported by it and any organizations and persons that may be subject to its control, direction or influence do not commit, inter alia, any such acts, to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence and to report to the Court as ordered on all measures taken to give effect to the order;

Expresses grave concern about the ongoing restrictions on humanitarian access in all conflict areas, in particular in Rakhine and Chin States, as well as the limited steps taken to ensure access to health care for the Rohingya, particularly in the time of COVID-19, and 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 United Nations country task force on monitoring and reporting grave violations committed against children, the Independent Mechanism for Myanmar, established by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 39/2, and 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 and 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;

Calls upon the United Nations to ensure that the Independent Mechanism for Myanmar, as established by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 39/2, is afforded the flexibility that it needs in terms of staffing, location and operational freedom so that it can deliver as effectively as possible on its mandate, and urges Myanmar, Member States, judicial authorities and private entities to cooperate fully with the Mechanism, including by granting it access and by providing it with every assistance in the execution of its mandate;

Expresses grave concern at the potential retraumatization of survivors of human rights violations and abuses, particularly child survivors and sexual violence survivors, and calls upon all actors engaging in documentation to follow the “do no harm” principle for evidence-gathering in order to respect the dignity of survivors and to avoid retraumatization, and calls upon Myanmar to fully address the needs of victims and survivors and their right to effective remedy, including through prompt, effective and independent casualty recording and guarantees of non-recurrence;

Reiterates the urgent call upon the Government of 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 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 and abuses of human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, starting with a full, transparent and independent investigation into reports of all these violations, and calls upon the President of Myanmar to release the report of the Independent Commission of Enquiry established by the Government of Myanmar in 2018 in full or to share its findings with relevant international mechanisms;

To manifest clear political will supported by concrete actions for the safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return and reintegration of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar;

To create the conditions necessary for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of all refugees, including Rohingya Muslim refugees, particularly in view of the fact that not a single Rohingya so far has returned through a bilaterally set up mechanism for repatriation between Bangladesh and Myanmar owing to the failure of the Government of Myanmar to create such conditions in Rakhine State;

To build trust among Rohingya Muslims in camps in Bangladesh through confidence-building measures, including direct communication between the Rohingya representatives and the Myanmar authorities and by arranging “go and see” visits to Rakhine State by Rohingya representatives;

To ensure full protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons in Myanmar, including Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, in an equal, non-discriminatory and dignified manner, in order to prevent further instability and insecurity, alleviate suffering, address the root causes of the crisis, including by repealing or reforming discriminatory legislation, and forge a viable, lasting and durable solution;

To fulfil its human rights obligations and commitments to protect the right to freedom of expression, including online, and the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly, to create and maintain a safe and enabling environment for civil society and independent media;

To take the measures necessary to address the spread of discrimination and prejudice and to combat the incitement of hatred against Rohingya Muslims and persons belonging to other minorities, and to publicly condemn such acts and combat hate speech, while fully respecting international human rights law, as well as to promote interfaith dialogue in cooperation with the international community and encourage political and religious leaders in the country to work towards reconciliation among communities and national unity through dialogue, and to implement the Peacebuilding Fund project to address hate speech;

To ensure an inclusive COVID-19 response to protect all persons and communities, in line with international humanitarian law and human rights law, including the Rohingya Muslims and other minorities;

To expedite 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 and reforming the 1982 Citizenship Law, which has led to deprivation of human rights, by ensuring 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;

To dismantle the camps for internally displaced persons in Rakhine State with a clear timeline and without further delay, ensuring that the return and relocation of internally displaced persons is carried out in accordance with international standards and best practices, in cooperation with the United Nations and the international community, including as set forth in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement;¹⁵

¹⁵E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, annex.

To accelerate full implementation of all the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State to address the root causes of the crisis;

To establish an ongoing system to ensure the conduct of free, fair, credible, inclusive and transparent general elections that enables unimpeded participation of all irrespective of ethnic or religious identity or status, including Rohingya Muslims and other minorities;

To continue its collaboration with the United Nations to implement the remaining gaps in the joint action plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by all armed forces, including by the Tatmadaw, and to address protection gaps by engaging with the task force on monitoring and reporting grave violations committed against children to develop a joint action plan on killing and maiming and rape and other forms of sexual violence committed against children, while taking note of the ratification by Myanmar of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict;

To cooperate and engage meaningfully with the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the Independent Mechanism and other United Nations mandate holders and mechanisms working on Myanmar, including by facilitating visits and granting unrestricted access throughout the country;

To take concrete steps to strengthen institution-building and structural reforms to uphold the rule of law, human rights and democratic principles, through a participatory and inclusive approach, including efforts to ensure the independence of the judiciary, and by reforming the security sector to enhance civilian control;

To conduct independent, impartial and thorough investigations into all allegations of violations of international humanitarian law, including into conduct that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity in Rakhine and Chin States, crimes of sexual violence and allegations of human rights violations, and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice through transparent and credible processes;

To continue to ensure access to COVID-19 pandemic-related information, supplies and health-care services to all, in a targeted, necessary, transparent, non-discriminatory, time-bound, proportionate manner and in accordance with obligations under applicable international human rights law;

Encourages the Government of Myanmar to consider acceding to international human rights conventions;

Underscores the importance of providing protection and assistance, including non-discriminatory access to services such as medical and psychosocial care, specifically tailored to women and girls, especially those who are victims of sexual and gender-based violence and human trafficking;

Reiterates its deep concern at the continued plight of Rohingya and forcibly displaced persons living in Bangladesh and in other countries, and appreciates the commitment by the Government of Bangladesh to provide temporary shelter, humanitarian assistance and protection to them;

Commends the Government of Bangladesh for containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Rohingya camps effectively since the beginning of the pandemic and avoiding loss of life with the support of all relevant national and international partners, including the host community;

Encourages Myanmar to continue to work with Bangladesh, in line with the bilateral instruments on repatriation signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar, in order to expedite the creation of a conducive environment for the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of the forcibly displaced Rohingya in Bangladesh, with the full support and meaningful involvement of the international community, including the United Nations and its funds, programmes and agencies, and stresses the importance of meaningfully engaging with civil society;

Recognizes with appreciation the assistance and support of the international community, including regional organizations, in particular the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the countries neighbouring Myanmar, and calls upon the international community to continue to support the Government of Myanmar in the fulfilment of its international human rights obligations and commitments, the implementation of its democratic transition process, inclusive socioeconomic development and sustainable peace, as well as its national reconciliation process involving all relevant stakeholders;

Calls upon the international community to effectively address increasing irregular maritime movements of Rohingya, in cooperation with the relevant United Nations agencies, as well as ensure international burden- and responsibility-sharing, especially by the States parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees;¹⁶

¹⁶United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, No. 2545.

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 and 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 for the prompt implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Development Programme with the Government of Myanmar in 2018, as extended in 2019 and 2020, to support the creation of conditions for the return of refugees from Bangladesh;

Encourages the international community to (a) assist Bangladesh in providing humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees and forcibly displaced persons until such time as they are voluntarily repatriated to Myanmar in safety and dignity; and (b) assist Myanmar in the provision of humanitarian assistance to affected persons of all communities who have been internally displaced, including those in camps for internally displaced persons within Rakhine State;

Urges the international community to support the 2020 joint response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis to ensure adequate resources for addressing the humanitarian crisis;

Encourages all business enterprises, including transnational corporations and domestic enterprises operating in Myanmar, to respect human rights in accordance with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights¹⁷ and the recommendations made by the independent international fact-finding mission in its report on the economic interests of the Myanmar military;

¹⁷A/HRC/17/31, annex.

Requests the Secretary-General:

To continue to provide his good offices and to pursue his discussions relating to Myanmar, involving all relevant stakeholders, and to offer assistance to the Government of Myanmar;

To extend the appointment of the Special Envoy on Myanmar and submit the report of the Special Envoy covering all relevant issues addressed in the present resolution to the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session;

To provide all assistance necessary to enable the Special Envoy on Myanmar to effectively discharge her mandate and to report to Member States every six months, or as warranted by the situation on the ground;

To identify ways in which the existing mandates can more effectively deliver in their respective areas of responsibility concerning Myanmar and can complement each other’s work through enhanced coordination;

To ensure that all in-country programmes incorporate a human rights-based approach and undergo due diligence processes;

To call the continued attention of the Security Council to the situation in Myanmar with concrete recommendations for action towards resolving the humanitarian crisis, promoting the safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and forcibly displaced persons and ensuring accountability for those responsible for mass atrocities and human rights violations and abuses;

To support the implementation of the recommendations of the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar and assisting the work of the ongoing Independent Mechanism;

To fully implement the recommendations contained in the report of the independent inquiry into the involvement of the United Nations in Myanmar from 2010 to 2018;

Requests that the Special Envoy continue to participate by way of interactive dialogue in the seventy-sixth session of the General Assembly;

Decides to remain seized of the matter, inter alia, on the basis of the reports of the Secretary-General, the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar, the Independent Mechanism, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar.

48th (resumed) plenary meeting

31 December 2020

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What else is in this group?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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