(Extract)
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville
Location: Geneva
Date: 15 March 2013
- Thailand/Rohingyas
We are very concerned by allegations that in north of Phuket the Thai Navy shot dead at least two Rohingya asylum seekers, fleeing Myanmar by boat. The shooting allegedly took place on 22 February while the Navy was transferring around 130 people from the boat they had arrived in into smaller boats.
The Prime Minister has said to the media that the Government is investigating the incident. We urge the Government of Thailand to ensure that the investigation into these allegations is full, prompt and impartial, and that anyone who has committed a crime during this incident is brought to justice.
We further urge Thailand, along with other countries in the region, to consider alternatives to the "help-on" policy, which leads to deaths at sea, and to find alternatives to detaining migrants and asylum seekers, including children, in accordance with its international human rights obligations.
The regional implications of the outbreak of ethnic violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state last year have increasingly raised concerns about reports of smuggling and trafficking in persons and tragic incidents such as this one involving the boat. We call on the Government of Myanmar to address the root cause of the discrimination and violence in Rakhine state. We also believe that a regional response is needed to address the multiple dimensions of the current crisis.
- Kenya
The team deployed by the High Commissioner to monitor human rights issues linked to the elections in Kenya returned on Wednesday, 13 March.
The team visited several polling stations on election day and interacted with other international and local observers, UN agencies, national institutions, government officials and security agencies. It has reported that the elections were peaceful and characterised by an absence of any systematic violations of human rights.
Nevertheless, some challenges were noted including broken biometric voter registration kits, long queues and the length of time it took for many voters to cast their ballots -- in some cases up to 10 hours. In some polling stations, vulnerable people including pregnant women, nursing mothers and the disabled abandoned the queues and did not vote at all, because they did not have the physical strength to endure such a long wait.
The team also looked into the circumstances surrounding the fatal attacks on the eve of the elections in a suburb of Mombasa, allegedly carried out by the Mombasa Republican Council. Nine policemen were killed in these attacks, and three suspects have been arrested, arraigned in court and placed under investigative custody.
The Office of the High Commissioner congratulates the government and people of Kenya for the broadly successful conduct of the national elections, and we hope that Kenya will continue on the path of reform and social justice.
ENDS
For more information or media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Cécile Pouilly (+ 41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org)
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