Myanmar must ease citizenship restrictions and quell violent crackdowns to bring peace to Rakhine state, a commission led by former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan said Thursday.
After a year-long mission, the group tasked with finding ways to healing long-standing divisions between Rohingya Muslims and local Buddhists released its final report Thursday, detailing actions to "prevent violence, maintain peace, foster reconciliation, and offer a sense of hope to the state's hard-pressed population," the commission's press release read.
"Tensions remain high and they risk becoming worse. Violence will not bring lasting solutions to the acute problems that afflict the Rakhine State," Annan told a press conference.
"Nevertheless, the status quo cannot continue."
The report, released after a year of research, including meetings with political and religious leaders, civil society organizations, communities across the state, and others, concluded that poverty was a central issue in Rakhine state.
The commission presented "ambitious steps" to ease restrictions on movement and citizenship for the Rohingya Muslim minority - an issue that the commission acknowledged would be contentious in the state.
The report also provided recommendations on further cooperation with the neighboring state of Bangladesh, where thousands of Rohingya have fled.
Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been criticized for not speaking out more about the problem, even as the military conducts operations against Rohingya militants that have resulted in widespread claims of human rights abuses. The government has rejected the criticism.
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