There is growing concern that the influence of the UN in Myanmar is in serious decline, as confusion surrounds what is being done to tackle the “glaringly dysfunctional” mission there.

According to Guardian sources, it is now clear that during a key visit in May, a senior UN official and his delegation were snubbed by the Myanmar government, which is under fire after allegations of human rights abuses in its troubled Rakhine state.

The “disastrous” trip, led by Miroslav Jenca on behalf of the UN secretary general, was followed within weeks by the announcement that the UN’s top official in the country was being removed from her post.

A UN spokesman insisted that resident coordinator Renata Lok-Dessallien was being “rotated”, but the BBC reported the decision may have been due to discomfort over a “failure to prioritise human rights”, in particular for the Rohingya, a persecuted ethnic minority in Rakhine state.

Diplomatic and humanitarian sources told the BBC the resident coordinator had not done enough on the issue. Editorials in publications dedicated to coverage of events in Myanmar, one of them citing diplomatic sources, said that the mission had “failed” and was losing influence.

A UN statement said it “strongly disagrees with false and inaccurate statements in recent media reports” on the issue. Lok-Dessallien’s work had been “consistently appreciated”, it added.

The Guardian has been told that the decision to replace Lok-Dessallien was prompted by a desire at UN headquarters in New York to recalibrate its troubled relationship with the Myanmar government.

An internal note reviewing the UN’s conduct in Myanmar, written in April and sent to the UN secretary general, described the organisation’s “in-country presence” as “glaringly dysfunctional”, and compared the situation with the way the UN notoriously mismanaged the crisis in Sri Lanka.

“Much like in Sri Lanka, actions are decided and decisions taken in a manner that do not seem to indicate comprehensive ownership or responsibility for their impact,” said the report.

It came after Jenca’s delegation, according to sources in the diplomatic community and the UN, was “stonewalled”. Jenca, attending the country’s Panglong conference as a representative of the secretary general, “was not able to have a senior level engagement” with the government and “was treated like a non-entity”. He was allegedly denied both a meeting with de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and access to Rakhine state.

A review is underway at UN headquarters in New York about the role of resident coordinators worldwide. It is understood it will last until the end of the year.

According to reports, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, recently decided that in Myanmar’s case the position, which is to be elevated to the status of assistant secretary general, will report directly to him.



Last October, violence erupted in Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh in the west of the country, after a newly-formed ethnic Rohingya militant group attacked border guard posts, killing nine people. The subsequent crackdown may have involved “crimes against humanity”, according to assessments by rights groups and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.



Rakhine has long been a source of tension between the different parts of the hybrid civilian-military government of Myanmar and the international community.



In March, the UN Human Rights Council mandated a fact-finding mission intended to investigate rights abuses across the country. Myanmar’s de facto civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, opposed the move and the foreign ministry recently announced it would not provide visas to the mission.

The Guardian understands that in recent months the UN has repeatedly made unsuccessful requests to the government to undertake a comprehensive humanitarian needs assessment in parts of Rakhine state.

Andrew Dusek, of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Myanmar, said “thematic assessments” had been conducted, but added that a “comprehensive assessment jointly with the government would still be very useful for determining the full scale of needs”.

The World Food Programme estimates that more than 80,000 children may need treatment for malnutrition in the area, a figure that reflects worsening humanitarian conditions following the violence.

Akshaya Kumar, of Human Rights Watch, said high-level discussions about the role of UN missions chiefs were ongoing within the organisation. “We hope the lessons learned from northern Rakhine and Sri Lanka are actively informing that process,” she said.

