Hawzah News Agency (Rakhine State, Myanmar) - The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, will start a 12-day visit to Rakhine and Kachin states on Monday, the UN said on Friday.

The Rakhine State, in northern Myanmar, where the Rohingya are concentrated, has been under military siege since October last year, forcing tens of thousands of the members of the minority group to flee to neighboring regions in Kachin State or across the border to Bangladesh.

The military crackdown in Rakhine began after a deadly raid on a police post that the government said was carried out by the Rohingya.

Meanwhile, Lee has slammed the military crackdown in Rakhine as “unacceptable” and said it was necessary to investigate reports of troops raping, murdering, and torturing members of the Muslim minority.

“The last few months have shown that the international community must remain vigilant in monitoring the human rights situation there,” Lee said in a statement on Friday.

“Apart from what is happening in Rakhine, the escalation in fighting in Kachin and Shan (states)… is causing some disquiet regarding the direction that the new government is taking in its first year,” she said.

Lee’s criticism of the military’s treatment of the Rohingya in Myanmar has seen her face threats and demonstrations on previous visits to the country.

A hard-line Buddhist monk has previously reacted angrily against the UN official over her criticism of the dire situation of women and minorities there.

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