RANGOON — Burma has appointed Htin Lynn as the permanent representative to the United Nations (UN) and other international organizations, according to a statement issued by the foreign affairs ministry on Wednesday.
Previously acting as a director-general of the ministry’s international organizations and economic department and deputy permanent representative to the UN, he has served with the ministry for more than three decades, Aye Aye Soe, ministry spokesperson and member of the consular and legal affairs department, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
In May of last year, he joined the Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean, in Bangkok, Thailand, as Burma’s special representative. At the meeting, he rejected Burma being “singled out” by the UN when addressing the issue of thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants attempting to reach Malaysia and Indonesia by boat.
Htin Lynn has been recognized as a staunch defender of the previous administration’s stance on the Rohingya. According to a report issued by the state-run daily Global New Light of Myanmar last January, he said that Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law would decide their citizenship eligibility.
He has denied accusations of discriminatory policies in the country toward the Rohingya, while recognizing that some ethnic groups were left behind due to geographical difficulties and poor infrastructural development.
Recently, he represented Burma at the World Humanitarian Summit, which was held in Istanbul on March 24.
