The United States has formally determined that the Myanmar military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.
"I have determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya," announced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
"Only seven times since the Holocaust has the U.S. concluded that genocide was committed. Today, at the Holocaust Museum, marks the eighth, as I have determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya," Blinken said.
Since the coup, security forces have killed at least 1,600 people and detained more than 12,000. Over 500,000 people have been internally displaced and the junta is deliberately blocking aid to populations in need, as a form of collective punishment.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that Rohingya remaining in the country have faced even greater movement restrictions and harsher treatment, abuses that amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty.
John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at HRW, said the US government should couple its condemnations of Myanmar's military with action. "For too long, the US and other countries have allowed Myanmar's generals to commit atrocities with few real consequences."
According to HRW, the US government should coordinate the long overdue action with other countries to pursue justice, both for mass crimes committed against the Rohingya and for those committed against other ethnic minorities and pro-democracy protesters since the military coup in February 2021.
The same military leaders responsible for crimes against the Rohingya carried out the February 1, 2021 coup against the country's elected civilian government. According to the rights group, the junta then systematically attacked those who protested against the coup, subjecting them to mass killings, torture, and arbitrary detention, amounting to crimes against humanity.
The US and other governments should seek justice for the military's crimes against the Rohingya as well as abuses against protesters and ethnic groups, and impose stronger economic measures against the military leadership, HRW said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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