Expert: UN failed before Rohingya crackdown in Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS – An independent review of United Nations operations in the years before hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled a violent crackdown by Myanmar's military has concluded that the organization's many bodies failed to act together resulting in "systemic and structural failures."

The 36-page review by Guatemala's former foreign minister Gert Rosenthal released Monday said the U.N. could conceivably have reconciled competing views on whether quiet diplomacy or outspoken advocacy against human rights abuses should have been used — but it didn't.

"Without question serious errors were committed and opportunities were lost in the U.N. system following a fragmented strategy rather than a common plan of action," he said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who commissioned the report, is committed to implementing all of its recommendations.