Suu Kyi criticizes two-child limit on Muslims

(CNN) - Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has joined human rights activists in criticizing a two-child limit imposed on Muslim families by authorities in areas of western Myanmar in an attempt to control their population.

The government of Myanmar's Rakhine State, which borders Bangladesh, says the restriction was ordered in two townships that have the biggest populations of Rohingya -- a persecuted, stateless Muslim minority -- because of concerns about their high birthrate.

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"If they want to live here, they have to follow the rules and orders of this state," Win Myaing, spokesman for the Rakhine government, said Tuesday, referring to the Rohingya. "If not, we can't live together tranquilly."

The ordering of the two-child limit is the latest measure taken against the Rohingya, who were the main victims in outbreaks of communal violence involving the Buddhist majority in Rakhine last year. The clashes killed scores of people and left tens of thousands of others living in makeshift camps.

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Deadly ethnic unrest has become a major challenge for the national government of President Thein Sein, who has overseen a series of reforms over the past two years that have moved Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, closer to democracy.

'Not in line with human rights'

"I think this is against the law," Suu Kyi, who leads the opposition National League for Democracy, said Monday in reference to the two-child limit on Rohingya families.

"It's not good to have such discrimination," she said after a meeting in Yangon, the country's biggest city. "It is not in line with human rights."



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