New UN rights envoy makes first visit to Burma

Yanghee Lee, the new United Nationâ's Human Rights Special Envoy to Burma. Pic: AP.

YANGON, Burma (AP) — The new U.N. special envoy to Burma for human rights is making her first visit to the Southeast Asian nation at a time of renewed political stress and sectarian tensions.

Korea's Yanghee Lee succeeds Argentina's Tomas Ojea Quintana in the job to gather firsthand information on the country's human rights situation.

A statement from the United Nations said she will visit areas in western and northern Burma hit by violence, as well as the central city of Mandalay, where recent clashes between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims left two dead and several injured.

She will also visit Yangon's notorious Insein prison and travel to the capital Naypyidaw to meet Cabinet ministers and key lawmakers, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/new-un-rights-envoy-makes-first-visit-to-burma/