File Photo: This handout picture released by Myanmar State Counselor Office shows Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (C) arriving to attend a meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Oct. 15, 2018. Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi called for joint efforts to overcome difficulties and challenges in implementing the nationwide ceasefire accord (NCA) between the government and the NCA-signatory ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) through discussion and negotiation. (Xinhua/Myanmar State Counsellor Office)
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Accountability and inclusive dialogue are two important pillars for national reconciliation in Myanmar, an UN envoy has said.
"Credible fact-finding is the first step towards accountability," said Christine Schraner Burgener, UN Secretary-General's special envoy on Myanmar, in a statement released Saturday.
She concluded a 10-day visit to Myanmar where she held consultations with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, other government and military leaders, ethnic armed organizations, local and religious leaders, NGOs, UN agencies and the diplomatic community.
In Rakhine and Kachin provinces, Burgener engaged with local civilian and military authorities, and directly with those affected by conflict, in particular women, and went to several camps and relocation sites for internally-displaced people, to gauge progress made since her first visit to the country in June 2018.
UN agencies and the Myanmar government reached an agreement in June to create conditions that would allow Rohingya refugees to voluntarily and safely return to their homes in the country's Rakhine province.
Since last August, nearly a million Rohingya from northern Myanmar have been sheltering in camps across the border in Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh.
To ensure that they are able to return home, Burgener said that their full human rights must be respected with the start of equal access to education and health, and freedom of movement.
"They have to be able to live in safety and security. This will be the most positive incentive for the refugees in Bangladesh to return. Knowing that the UN and its partners are present at their places of return will give the returnees confidence and trust in the process," she noted.
Burgener also emphasized the need for greater domestic and foreign investment in the region, one of Myanmar's poorest, which urgently requires inclusive development.
Expressing concern about intensified fighting in the north of the country, the UN envoy reiterated her offer to act as a "bridge" between the Myanmar government and ethnic armed groups so as to help accelerate the peace process.
Offering her views on Myanmar's democratic transition, Burgener urged the government to undertake a public "Zero Tolerance for Discrimination" campaign at the highest level, and expressed commitment to focusing her efforts on strengthening engagement between Myanmar and the international community towards a "more tolerant, democratic and inclusive society that recognizes diversity as an asset."