Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

An Iranian parliamentary delegation is due to visit Myanmar soon to examine the challenges facing ethnic Rohingya Muslims and seek ways to help the minority in the southeast Asian country, Iran's English-language broadcaster Press TV reported.

The representatives of Iran's Foreign Ministry, Imam Khomeini's Relief Committee and the Iranian Red Crescent Society will accompany the lawmakers on their two-day visit, which is scheduled to start on January 9, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy Mansour Haqiqatpour said on Thursday.

Haqiqatpour added that Iran recently dispatched the first consignment of humanitarian aid to the Rohingya Muslims and that the second batch of aid would be sent to the country shortly.

About 800,000 Rohingyas are deprived of citizenship rights and are said to suffer from a policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of naturalization and made them vulnerable to acts of violence, persecution and displacement.

On December 25, the United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution expressing concern over the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar. The resolution called on Myanmar's government to "protect all their (the Muslims') human rights, including their right to a nationality." It also stated that there are "systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" in Myanmar.

Several waves of clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, the first of which occurred in June, have left 115,000 people displaced, as well as more than 100 dead, according to UN estimates.