U.N. condemns its own actions concerning Rohingya crisis in Myanmar

The United Nations has condemned itself for its conduct surrounding the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, The Guardian reports.

A new report commissioned by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, written by Gert Rosenthal, a Guatemalan former foreign minister, and seen by The Guardian before publication, reportedly concluded that there was a systemic failure on behalf of the organization, including competing strategies between agencies, a "culture of mistrust" in relations with Myanmar's government, and "mixed and incomplete signals coming from the field," all of which prevented the UN from adequately responding to the alleged genocide of Myanmar's Rohingya minority. Thousands of people have been killed, and villages razed, while more than 70,000 Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh.

The report places particular emphasis on between the variance in approaches among U.N agencies, The Guardian writes — some practiced quiet diplomacy with the Myanmar government, others publicly condemned the human rights abuses. "Even at the highest level of the organization there was no common strategy," Rosenthal wrote in the report. The different approaches also reportedly devolved into "unseemly fighting."

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Rosenthal's report also addresses the actions of former U.N. resident coordinator for Myanmar, Renata Lok-Dessallien, who was accused of downplaying concerns about worsening abuses against the Rohingya. He found that there were, in fact, "instances of deliberately de-dramatizing" the situation by Lok-Dessallien.

The report is expected to be made public this week. Read more at The Guardian.