Global Rohingya groups urge US to take urgent action against Myanmar

Rohingya organisations across the world on Monday called for accountability for genocide and crimes against humanity in Myanmar and urged the US government to take urgent actions.

“We urge the US government to urgently act to hold Myanmar military official’s accountable for genocide,” said a statement jointly issued by the Rohingya groups.

The US government has referred to what happened to Rohingya people as "ethnic cleansing,” which is partially accurate, they said.

However, they claimed, the US should make a clear legal determination of the facts which amount to the crime of genocide. “The Myanmar military and authorities made systematic preparations to commit mass atrocity crimes against our Rohingya community - with the intent to destroy us.“

“We’re deeply concerned by international inaction, including from the US government. We urge the US government to make a clear genocide determination and to pursue other policies and responses,” the statement said.

The Rohingya groups also called on the Donald Trump administration and all the people of conscience within the US government to make sure the United Nations Security Council impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC should investigate and prosecute the Myanmar military’s crimes against Rohingya people as well as the Kachin, Shan, and others, said the statement.

United States House passed a resolution 1091 stating that atrocities against the Rohingya as crimes against humanity and genocide, according to the statement.

The resolution is calling for “all those responsible for these crimes against humanity and genocide should be tracked, sanctioned, arrested, prosecuted, and punished under applicable international criminal statutes and conventions.”

On December 3, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum came to the conclusion that there is compelling evidence that the Myanmar military committed crimes against humanity and genocide against the Rohingya of Rakhine State.

On the same day, the international law firm Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) hired by the United States State Department to investigate the august 25, 2017 military “clearance operations” on the Rohingya in Myanmar, said it found the evidence of genocide based on interviews with over 1,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, according to the joint statement.

The signatories to the statement are Arakan Rohingya Development Association – Australia (ARDA), Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO), British Rohingya Community in UK, Burmese Rohingya Association in Queensland-Australia (BRAQA), Burmese Rohingya Association Japan (BRAJ), Burmese Rohingya Community Australia (BRCA), Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), Canadian Burmese Rohingya Organisation, Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative, Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation in Malaysia (MERHROM), Rohingya Advocacy Network in Japan, Rohingya American Society, Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee, Rohingya Association of Canada, Rohingya Community in Finland, Rohingya Community in Germany, Rohingya Community in Sweden, Rohingya Community in Switzerland, Rohingya Organisation Norway, Rohingya Society Malaysia (RSM), Rohingya Society Netherlands and Rohingya Women Development Network (RDWN).

Many of the organisations have documented how Myanmar authorities are responsible for human rights violations in Rakhine State including killings, rape, destruction of property, and burning of villages.

The government of Myanmar denies Rohingya citizenship and the very existence of their ethnicity, the statement adds.

On September 24, the US State Department released its report documenting mass human rights violations against our Rohingya people. The report shows that the campaign was "well-planned and coordinated."

The report, however, makes no determination that the violence amounts to genocide or crimes against humanity.

On September 18, the UN independent international Fact-Finding-Mission on the situation in Myanmar released its final report concluding that Myanmar’s top military generals should be prosecuted for genocide against Rohingya in Rakhine State as well as for crimes against humanity.

In July, human rights group Fortify Rights published an extensive report exposing how the Myanmar authorities made “extensive and systematic preparations” for attacks against Rohingya civilians during the weeks and months before Rohingya militants attacked police on August 25, 2017.

Source: unb