YANGON – Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has told the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights that the government will avoid using the term “Rohingya” to describe a persecuted Muslim minority in the country’s northwest, an official told Reuters on Monday.

Members of the 1.1 million group, who identify themselves by the term “Rohingya” and live in apartheid-like conditions, are seen by many Myanmar Buddhists as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The term is a divisive issue.

The U.N. human rights investigator, Yanghee Lee, met Suu Kyi in the capital Naypyitaw on her first trip to Myanmar since the Nobel Peace Prize winner took power in April.

Feted in the West for her role as champion of Myanmar’s democratic opposition during long years of military rule and house arrest, Suu Kyi has been criticized overseas, and by some in Myanmar, for saying little about the abuses faced by the Rohingya. “At their meeting here this morning, our Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi explained our stance on this issue that the controversial terms should be avoided,” said Aung Lin, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Suu Kyi is banned from presidency by the military-drafted constitution because her children have British citizenship. She holds offices of the State Counsellor and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, but is the de-facto leader of the administration.

She said during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last month that the country needed “space” to deal with the Rohingya issue and cautioned against the use of “emotive terms”, that she said were making the situation more difficult.

Rohingya, victims of human trafficking

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The previous military-linked government of former junta general Thein Sein referred to the group as “Bengalis”, implying they were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

On Friday, Myanmar representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council Thet Thinzar Tun criticized use of “certain nomenclature” by a U.N. representative as “adding fuel to fire”and “only making things worse”. “For the sake of harmony and mutual trust between two communities, it is advisable for everyone to use the term ‘the Muslim community in Rakhine State’,” said Thet Thinzar Tun, according to a video on the U.N. website.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Monday called on Myanmar to end discrimination and human rights violations against minorities in a report that outlined those violations and focused particularly on the plight of the Rohingya.

Lee is reviled by radical nationalist Buddhists in Myanmar, whose leader, Wirathu, called her a “whore” after she urged the previous government to end the abuses of the Rohingya and criticized laws seen as discriminating non-Buddhists and women.

Some 125,000 Rohingya remain displaced and face severe travel restrictions in squalid camps since fighting erupted in Rakhine State between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012. Thousands have fled persecution and poverty.

Suu Kyi has formed a committee to “bring peace and development” to the state, but its plans are not clear.

Lee will meet several cabinet members and travel to areas where ethnic armed groups fight the military and sometimes between themselves, including Shan, Kachin and Rakhine states.

Aye Win, a U.N. official responsible for contacts with the media during Lee’s visit, declined to comment.

Dawn of a new era in Myanmar as Aung San Suu Kyi’s party takes over

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GENEVA – Widespread and ongoing violations against Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority, including denial of citizenship, forced labour and sexual violence, could amount to crimes against humanity, the United Nations warned Monday.

In a report on the human rights situation for minorities in Myanmar, the UN human rights office said it had found “a pattern of gross violations against the Rohingya… (which) suggest a widespread or systematic attack… in turn giving rise to the possible commission of crimes against humanity if established in a court of law.” The report was published amid hope that Myanmar’s new government, steered by Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party, will address deep hatreds in western Rakhine State.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya are confined to squalid displacement camps after waves of deadly unrest with Buddhists in 2012.

UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he was “encouraged” by statements by the new government in recent weeks.

But, he warned, the fledgling government it had “inherited a situation where laws and policies are in place that are designed to deny fundamental rights to minorities, and where impunity for serious violations against such communities has encouraged further violence against them.” “It will not be easy to reverse such entrenched discrimination,” he said in a statement.

Even so, “it must be a top priority to halt ongoing violations and prevent further ones taking place against Myanmar’s ethnic and religious minorities.” During its year-long probe, his office found “an alarming increase” in incitement to hatred and religious intolerance by ultra-nationalist Buddhist organisations against the Rohingya.

Rohingya, victims of human trafficking

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Buddhist nationalists have staged protests across the country against even using the term Rohingya.

They label the group “Bengalis”, casting Myanmar’s more than one million Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s Rohingya population are denied citizenship even though many can trace their roots in the country back generations.

Monday’s report found that in addition to being denied their nationality, state security forces have committed a wide range of other violations against the Rohingya.

These include summary executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and ill-treatment, and forced labour, the report found.

“Arbitrary arrest and detention of Rohingya remains widespread,” it said, pointing out that “arrests are often carried out without grounds, formal processing or charges, until release is secured by payment of a bribe.” And Rohingya in Rakhine State need official authorisation to move between, and often within, townships, severely restricting their freedom of movement, it said.

The restrictions severely impact all aspects of life, including the possibility to make a living, to access education, healthcare and emergency treatment, it said.

The report also outlined abuses against other minorities, especially in Kachin and northern Shan States, where armed conflict has intensified.

The deliberate targeting of civilians, using child soldiers, forced labour and sexual and gender-based violence figure among the long list of abuses, with the report warning they might amount to “war crimes”.

The report called on Myanmar to order an independent investigation into all the alleged violations, and a comprehensive inquiry into the situation of minorities in the country.

“We stand ready to support the government of Myanmar in ensuring a successful transition to a society based firmly on the rule of law and the protection of human rights for all,” Zeid said.