The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar to address the citizenship status of Rohingya Muslims in the country’s western Rakhine state ahead of a general election scheduled to be held later this year. Mr Ban told yesterday a gathering of countries called the Partnership Group on Myanmar that the international community is still deeply concerned about the situation in Rakhine.
He expressed concern that continuing controversies on the race and religious bills as well as absence of swift action to regularize the status of white card holders will be seen as institutionalized discrimination. Myanmar’s parliament voted in February to grant temporary identification called white cards, mostly to Rohingya, so they could vote in a possible constitutional referendum, paving the way for participation in a general election later this year.