Myanmar hunger strikes trouble U.N.

The health of a Buddhist monk on a hunger strike at a prison facility in Myanmar is a major human rights concern, a U.N. special envoy said. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. special envoy on human rights in Myanmar, said he received reports that 15 prisoners of conscience are staging a hunger strike at the Insein Prison in Myanmar. Eight of the prisoners are allegedly being held in dog kennels and several were reportedly tortured and denied drinking water. Buddhist monk Shin Gambiera, jailed since 2008 in Kalay Prison is need of urgent medical care, the envoy added. "I have received information that he was beaten during his transfer between prisons, leaving him suffering fits of extreme pain," Quintana said in a statement. Quintana had told the U.N. General Assembly that despite the political progress in Myanmar after last year's general election, he was receiving allegations of human rights violations. Human Rights Watch staff members expressed concern about ethnic violence in northern Myanmar. The organization in September said sexual violence and torture against ethnic communities were on the rise in that region.