Rohingya Muslims

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate's international reputation has taken a severe beating over her government's failure to halt atrocities against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.

The U.N. and Myanmar government are touting the new pact as the first steps to returning some of the 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled brutal persecution. Aid groups remain skeptical.

The Nobel laureate's handling of the Rohingya Muslim crisis in Myanmar led to the museum's decision.

The Associated Press interviewed more than two dozen refugees in neighboring Bangladesh, some of whom had time-stamped cellphone videos backing claims of several mass graves.

Myanmar's leader has "moved in a dangerous direction," the veteran negotiator tells NPR. "She doesn't want any dissent," he says. "She's got to change."

Yanghee Lee, the U.N.'s human rights special rapporteur to Myanmar, was told that she will not be allowed to enter the country for the rest of her term. Lee had been scheduled to visit in January.

Doctors Without Borders conducted field studies in neighboring Bangladesh, where Rohingya Muslims have fled since the beginning of what the U.N. describes as "ethnic cleansing."

Francis, on a visit to the Southeast Asian country, was advised against talking specifically about the persecuted Muslim minority for fear of causing a backlash against Myanmar's Christians.

Myanmar says it is ready to accept refugees back into the country, but many details of the deal are unclear.

The visit comes as violence against the minority Muslim population has forced hundreds of thousands to flee across the border to neighboring Bangladesh.