UN Changes Top Myanmar Official

By The Irrawaddy 13 June 2017

YANGON — The UN confirmed on Tuesday that its top official in Myanmar, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Renata Lok-Dessallien, would be leaving the post.

“The position has been advertised,” information officer U Aye Win told The Irrawaddy, though he refused to comment on the reason behind Lok-Dessallien’s departure.

She will be ending the role a year and a half before the usual term of five years, had been criticized for not doing enough regarding human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Internal UN documents prepared for the new UN Secretary General described the Myanmar office as “glaringly dysfunctional” with “strong tensions” between different parts of the UN system, BBC News reported on Tuesday.

Lok-Dessallien faced criticism in November last year for forbidding journalists from recording a press conference held after the UN and foreign ambassadors visited Rakhine State amid accusations of human rights abuses by government security forces.

The Canadian citizen began the job in January 2014 and was the first woman to take up the role. She previously worked as resident and humanitarian coordinator in Bhutan, Bangladesh, and China.