Geneva: Seven United Nations rights experts have called on the government of Myanmar to stop all violence against Rohingya Muslim minority after a month of the military campaign in Rakhine state, described as a “textbook ethnic cleansing”. They also called on the international community to “go beyond” statements and take action to save the Rohingya people.
“There have been credible allegations of serious human rights violations and abuses committed against the Rohingya, including extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force, torture and ill-treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, and forced displacement, as well as the burning and destruction of over 200 Rohingya villages and tens of thousands of homes,” said the experts in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
In the statement, the experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, recalled the briefing last week by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, in which she urged the international community to learn along with the country’s government, the possible reasons behind the current exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
“No one chooses, especially not in the hundreds of thousands, to leave their homes and ancestral land, no matter how poor the conditions, to flee to a strange land to live under plastic sheets and in dire circumstances except in life-threatening situations,” stressed the experts.
The experts also called on Myanmar authorities to ensure unfettered access to humanitarians to the affected locations and displaced people as well as for rights monitors, including the Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission for an independent and impartial assessment of the situation on the ground. They further urged the state counselor to personally meet the Rohingya.
In the statement, the rights experts also called on UN member states to “go beyond statements and start taking concrete action” to stop the military and security forces from what they noted “accomplishing their so-called ‘unfinished business’ of getting rid of the Rohingya minority from Rakhine state.”
According to estimates, more than 430,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh since the violence erupted in the region.
The UN human rights experts include Yanghee Lee, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar; Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Fernand de Varennes, special rapporteur on minority issues; Leilani Farha, special rapporteur on adequate housing; Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, special rapporteur on the rights of internally displaced persons; Mutuma Ruteere, special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; and Ahmed Shaheed, special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.
IINA
