Elections in Myanmar, (Burma) are scheduled for 8 November, 2015. But will they reflect true democratic reforms, or will results be a continued mirror of injustice, hatred, and discrimination against the Muslim Rohingya minority and the Christian Kachin minority?  News reports from the United Nations portend the latter as continued hate speech among the extreme element of the Buddhist majority community as well as provocation and the abuse of religion for political purposes continue.   (See: “UN Chief Concerned by Continuous Exercise of Hate Speech ahead of Myanmar Elections. “)

Photo: childrenontheedge.org/ Kachin Displaced Child                                                

UNSG Ban Ki-moon also cited antagonism against international organizations including the United Nations.  Vulgar remarks against UN Special Rapporteur, Yanghee Lee were used for carrying out Ms. Lee’s mandate.  Ban Ki-moon addressed a letter to President U Thein Sein expressing his full support and confidence in Ms. Lee’s  work and warned that “continued impunity for such behavior could gravely damage the international image of the country.”

For more Diplomat Artist reports on the plight of the Rohingya and Kachin, see: “Smuggled Rohingya Found Dead in Thai Trafficking Camps,”  “Aung San Suu Kyi – Silence to Genocide?”  “Angelina Jolie, in #Myanmar, Bridges Peace & Humanitarian Work,”  and ” Does Any Celebrity Amplify Cry of Rohingya?”