Rohingya refugees are reflected in rain water along an embankment next to paddy fields after fleeing from Myanmar into Palang Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh November 2, 2017.
China, backed by Russia, failed on Wednesday to stop a United Nations Security Council briefing by the chair of a U.N. inquiry that accused Myanmar’s military of genocide against Rohingya Muslims and urged the 15-member council to push for justice.
“Atrocities continue to take place today,” Marzuki Darusman, chair of the U.N. Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar, told reporters ahead of the council briefing. “It is an ongoing genocide that is taking place.”
Global pressure is mounting on Myanmar to act on accountability after a Myanmar military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine last year drove some 700,000 of the largely stateless minority over the border into Bangladesh.
Darusman told the Security Council that remaining Rohingya in Rakhine were “at grave risk” and returning those who have fled “in this context is tantamount to condemning them to life as sub-humans and further mass killing.”
Atrocities tantamount to genocide against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority continue to take place, the chair of the UN's fact-finding mission in that country said Wednesday.Marzuki Darusman told reporters at the UN's New York headquarters that Myanmar officials are destined to continue cycles of violence against the Rohingya unless there is an end to impunity for the violence.As many as 400,000 Rohingya who have not already fled the country continue to face "the most severe" part of the ongoing crackdown, Darusman said."This is an ongoing genocide," he said, while calling on the international community to act to stop the abuses.Also addressing reporters, UN special investigator Yanghee Lee said despite hopes State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi would usher in a new era for Myanmar, the situation "is really not that much different from the past.”Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report issued by the Ontario International Development Agency.More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience".Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children, and women, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Genocide ongoing in Myanmar, says UN investigator
Myanmar has rejected the findings of the U.N. report.
“We are willing and able to take on the accountability issues for any alleged human rights violation where there is sufficient evidence,” Myanmar’s U.N. Ambassador Hau Do Suan told the Security Council.
The military crackdown followed attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts. Myanmar has denied committing atrocities against the Rohingya, saying its military carried out justifiable actions against militants.
“The crimes we have heard echo those committed in Rwanda and Srebrenica some twenty years ago. The Security Council acted in those two situations. It acted too late to prevent them which is all to our lasting shame but it did act to ensure accountability,” British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce told the council.
Australia on Tuesday slapped travel and financial sanctions on five top Myanmar military officers, accused of overseeing brutal violence against Rohingya Muslims by units under their command, following similar moves by the European Union and United States.More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh year, according to U.N. agencies, following a counter-insurgency operation launched by Myanmar's military after attacks on security posts by Rohingya militants in August last year.A recent U.N. report accused Myanmar's military of gang rapes and mass killings with "genocidal intent" and called for its commander-in-chief and five generals to be prosecuted under international law.Myanmar has denied most of the allegations in the report, blaming Rohingya "terrorists" for most accounts of atrocities.India’s Rohingya refugees struggle with hatred, fear as first group is expelledHowever Australia, which has previously provided training for Myanmar's army and refrained from imposing sanctions, on Tuesday responded to the U.N. report by targeting four of the men named, and one other senior commander."I have now imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans against five Myanmar military officers responsible for human rights violations committed by units under their command," Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement.A separate document named the officers; Aung Kyaw Zaw, Aung Aung, Maung Maung Soe, Than Oo and Khin Maung Soe. It said financial dealings with them can now attract penalties of A$1.7 million ($1.2 million) for companies and 10 years jail for individuals.UN says Rohingya children in need of basic educationMyanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay did not pick up a call seeking comment on Tuesday.The United States imposed similar restrictions on top generals in August. Like the United States, Australia omitted Myanmar's military chief, Min Aung Hlaing from the sanctions.The European Union imposed similar restrictions in June. ASEAN urges Myanmar to give inquiry into Rakhine violence full powers
Australia slaps sanctions on Myanmar army top brass
Britain coordinates council action on Myanmar and Pierce said she would push for “accountability that genuinely ends the Burmese military’s impunity.”
The U.N. inquiry’s report, released in August, called for the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar, targeted sanctions and set up an ad hoc tribunal to try suspects or refer them to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“National sovereignty is not a license to commit crimes against humanity or genocide,” Darusman told the council. “The Rohingya and all of Myanmar’s people, in fact the entire world, is looking at you to take action.”
However, diplomats say council veto powers China and Russia are likely to protect Myanmar from any action. Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador said the country would never accept an ICC referral.
A Malaysian deputy prime minister on Friday criticized Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for inaction over the persecution of minority Muslim Rohingya in the country.“I am sad that Aung San Suu Kyi has done little. We had hoped that she would intervene,” said Wan Azizah Wan Ismail after a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini at the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in Brussels.She said she has informed Mogherini that Malaysia received a large number of Rohingya refugees and was doing its best “to help” them.The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.India’s Rohingya refugees struggle with hatred, fear as first group is expelledSince Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience".Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.UN ‘concerned’ over India’s deportation of RohingyaAccording to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children, and women, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.ASEAN urges Myanmar to give inquiry into Rakhine violence full powers
Malaysian deputy PM criticizes Myanmar leader
Britain, France, the United States and six other members requested Wednesday’s briefing, but China called a vote to try to stop it. Nine countries voted in favor of the briefing - the minimum needed - while China, Russia and Bolivia voted against and Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea and Kazakhstan abstained.
China’s U.N. Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu told the council “it should not get involved in country-specific human rights issues” and that the briefing would be counterproductive to efforts to solve the situation.
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had always maintained that the international community should allow a compromise and cooperation between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
“The Security Council is not the appropriate place to discuss human rights issues,” she told a regular news briefing, adding that the briefing interfered with the talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh and was not beneficial to an appropriate resolution of the issue.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the nine members who called the meeting of “intentionally torpedoing” council consensus on the issue.