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More than 620,000 people have poured into Bangladesh since August [Anadolu]

November 23, 2017

Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a deal for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, who have taken shelter in the border town of Cox's Bazar after a brutal crackdown by the military.

Myanmar's foreign ministry confirmed the signing of the agreement on Thursday, without releasing further details. 

"I didn't find any clear statement how these refugees will be repatriated. I'm not sure whether they will be allowed to return to their original village," Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin told Al Jazeera.

"It looks like they will be placed in the temporary camps, and later the refugees will be locked up in the camps for a long time like the Rohingya in Sittwe for more than five years now.

"Myanmar minister for resettlement and welfare said they will repatriate maximum 300 refugees a day. So it can take up to two decades to repatriate all those refugees."

Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler, reporting from Yangon, said the deal was the result of international pressure which has been mounting steadily on Myanmar.

'Concentration camps'

"For Myanmar, it's very important because it is showing some progress on this Rohingya crisis," Heidler said.

San Lwin said refugees should not return if their citizenship and basic rights are not guaranteed.

"Bangladesh should not send back any Rohingya refugee to Myanmar unless citizenship and basic rights are guaranteed. The people who fled to Bangladesh lived in the open air prison for almost three decades, now it looks like they will be sent back to concentration camps." 

The agreement comes after Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Bangladesh's foreign minister to resolve one of the biggest refugee crisis of modern times.

More than 620,000 people have poured into Bangladesh since August, running from a Myanmar military crackdown that the US said this week clearly constitutes "ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya".

The talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and her Bangladeshi counterpart come in advance of a highly anticipated visit to both nations by Pope Francis, who has been outspoken about his sympathy for the plight of the Rohingya.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which denies committing atrocities against the Muslim minority, has agreed to work with Bangladesh to repatriate some of the Rohingya piling into desperately overstretched refugee camps.

'Systematically oppressed'

But the neighbours have struggled to settle on the details, including how many Rohingya will be allowed back in violence-scorched Rakhine, where hundreds of villages have been burned.

Last week Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing said it was "impossible to accept the number of persons proposed by Bangladesh".

"Bangladesh should not send back any Rohingya refugee to Myanmar unless citizenship and basic rights are guaranteed. The people who fled to Bangladesh lived in the open air prison for almost three decades, now it looks like they will be sent back to concentration camps." 

The agreement comes after Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Bangladesh's foreign minister to resolve one of the biggest refugee crisis of modern times.

More than 620,000 people have poured into Bangladesh since August, running from a Myanmar military crackdown that the US said this week clearly constitutes "ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya".

The talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and her Bangladeshi counterpart come in advance of a highly anticipated visit to both nations by Pope Francis, who has been outspoken about his sympathy for the plight of the Rohingya.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which denies committing atrocities against the Muslim minority, has agreed to work with Bangladesh to repatriate some of the Rohingya piling into desperately overstretched refugee camps.
'Systematically oppressed'

But the neighbours have struggled to settle on the details, including how many Rohingya will be allowed back in violence-scorched Rakhine, where hundreds of villages have been burned.

Last week Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing said it was "impossible to accept the number of persons proposed by Bangladesh".

Rohingya refugee Mumtaz and her seven-year-old daughter Razia

By Ben Westcott, Rebecca Wright and Kocha Olarn
November 23, 2017

Myanmar and Bangladesh have signed a memorandum of understanding on the return of possibly hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state, a spokesman for Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Thursday.

An estimated 615,000 Rohingya refugees have fled across the border into Bangladesh since August 25 when a new outbreak of violence began between the Myanmar military and armed militants in Rakhine state.

So far, no official details have been released on the agreement, what it would entail and under what circumstances the Rohingya would return.

A statement from Suu Kyi's spokesman confirmed the agreement had been signed but only said the pact was "a win-win situation for both countries."

Ro Nay San Lwin, a European-based Rohingya activist, told CNN that Bangladesh should not send any citizens back to Myanmar "unless citizenship and basic rights are guaranteed."

"I didn't find any clear statement how these refugees will be repatriated," he said. "I'm not sure whether they will be allowed to return to their original village. I'm not sure whether they will get back their own lands."

The Rohingya who have fled Rakhine state have brought with them stories of mass murder, rape and widespread destruction. 

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Myanmar's actions against the Rohingya were clearly "ethnic cleansing." Myanmar's military has repeatedly denied it has mistreated Rohingya civilians.

There is no indication how many displaced Rohingya might want to return to Myanmar in light of what has happened.

The agreement's announcement comes less than a week before Pope Francis is set to make a three-day visit to Myanmar. The Catholic leader is expected to push for greater acceptance of the country's Muslim minority.

It is also unclear how many refugees Myanmar might be willing to accept.

On November 15, Myanmar's commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said preparations were being made to return refugees but "it is impossible to accept the number of persons proposed by Bangladesh."

"The situation must be acceptable for both local Rakhine ethnic people and Bengalis, and emphasis must be placed on (the) wish of local Rakhine ethnic people who are real Myanmar citizens," Hlaing wrote on his Facebook page.

"Only when local Rakhine ethnic people accept it, will all the people satisfy it."

Senior Myanmar authorities refuse to recognize the Rohingya as citizens, saying they are Bangladeshi or Bengali.

UK-based Rohingya activist Jamila Hanan said it's essential all Rohingya be granted citizenship in Myanmar before they're repatriated, something the country has long denied them.

"(Otherwise it) would be a deal to send the victims of genocide back into the hands of their perpetrators, where they would almost certainly be locked up in concentration camps," she said.

(Photo: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)

By Hazel Shearing
November 23, 2017

Human rights groups say the deal is a way for the country's government to "buy time" amid mounting accusations of ethnic cleansing.

Human rights campaigners say they are skeptical about a deal announced by Myanmar's government which will allow hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh this summer to return.

Around 620,000 Rohingya have crossed the border since Aug. 25, according to UN estimates, ejected from their homes in Rakhine State as part of what many rights groups, NGOs, and governments have said is a violent and orchestrated military campaign against them.

On Thursday morning Myint Kyaing, a permanent secretary at Myanmar’s ministry of labor, immigration and population, announced that under the deal Myanmar, also known as Burma, will repatriate refugees who have filled out their personal details on forms.

“We are ready to take them back as soon as possible after Bangladesh sends the forms back to us,” he said.

Nearly half of the Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh are living in squalid conditions in the Kutupalong Extension camp. The site was set up in the wake of the crisis, and is on its way to becoming the largest refugee camp in the world.

Aid groups and campaigners told BuzzFeed News that the new deal is unlikely to improve the situation of those who have fled, and does not address the persecution they would face upon their return.

Under the deal, refugees will be required to record the names of their family, their date of birth and their previous addresses before Myanmar will verify their identities and allow them back into the country.
Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, described the deal as a way of "buying time", since sluggish bureaucracy in both countries means that it could take years to cross-check refugees' identities.

"When people are fleeing their homes under attack they're not grabbing their ID cards, if they have them," he told BuzzFeed News.

"The main problem is not how long it takes to return, or the conditions they have to meet to return. The problem is that it's not safe to return," he continued.

"The problem is that it's not safe to return."

"They will be returning to a country which does not accept they belong. They will have no human rights, they will live in prison camps, and at any moment the military can attack them again and carry out the same human rights violations which forced them to flee in the first place."

Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize-winning de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has refused to condemn the actions of the military, which claims the crackdown was part of anti-terrorist operations after a Rohingya militant group attacked border posts in August.

Ro Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist who documented a number of alleged atrocities including the burning of entire villages by the military, told BuzzFeed News there is "no guarantee" that those who returned would be given basic rights like education, healthcare and freedom of movement.

"Bangladesh should not send back any refugees to Myanmar unless their citizenship and their basic rights are guaranteed," he said.

"Now it looks like they will be sent back to concentration camps," he added, referring to large camps in Rakhine State where persecuted Rohingya have been housed for decades. "They must be allowed to go back to their original villages and get back their own land."

"It's public relations exercise for the government of Burma and the international community. It's not about a genuine return process."

Farmaner said the international community must impose sanctions on Myanmar's military before the persecution of the Rohingya can end.

"[The deal] is a public relations exercise for the government of Burma and the international community. It's not about a genuine return process," he said.

"Burma is going to get praise to agreeing to this return process and no-one is talking about the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi's government is still repressing the Rohingya."

This week the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described Myanmar's policy as "ethnic cleansing", despite avoiding the phrase during a visit to the country this month.

“No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued," he said. “The United States will also pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions.”

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, however, told parliament on Tuesday that while the Foreign Office has received "troubling evidence" with regards to genocide, the crisis would only warrant use of the phrase "ethnic cleansing" if the Rohingya remained outside of Myanmar.

“Unless the refugees are allowed to return, then this crisis, this purge will indeed satisfy the definition of ethnic cleansing," he said.

Farmaner underscored that the international community needs to take firm action to guarantee that those Rohingya who are repatriated can return to a better life.

"Unless we start to see really strong sanctions against the military, so that they face real pressure, we're going to see a repeat of this crisis all over again."

A Rohingya refugee man holding children walks towards the shore as they arrive on a makeshift boat after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border on Nov. 9, 2017. (Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

By Brian Murphy and Max Bearak 
November 22, 2017

The United States sharply escalated pressure on Burmese officials Wednesday, describing apparent state-backed violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority and their massive refu­gee flight as “ethnic cleansing.”

The statement by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signals a greater push by the Trump administration to possibly impose targeted sanctions against Burmese authorities and others blamed for the humanitarian crisis. But it does not automatically trigger broader action against Burma, also known as Myanmar.

More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Burma’s western Rakhine state to neighboring Bangladesh, creating one of the world’s most dire refu­gee dilemmas.

“No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued,” said Tillerson, who cited Burmese forces and “local vigilantes” as responsible.

Last week, following talks with Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Tillerson cited “credible reports” of atrocities committed by Burma’s security forces and said Washington could consider pinpoint sanctions against some Burmese officials.

Authorities in Burma deny accusations of a systematic offensive against the Rohingya and claim the military intervened in Rakhine to battle Muslim insurgents in the mostly Buddhist nation.

On Aug. 25, militants belonging to the extremist group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked outposts of Burmese security forces. According to human rights groups, those forces responded with a brutal and indiscriminate crackdown on Rohingya communities, drawing in local Buddhist mobs as they went.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, as well as many who remain in Burma, have provided chilling testimony of the campaign, which they say was accompanied by widespread arson, rape, and summary executions.

An exact death toll is unknown, and most aid groups and journalists have been prevented from traveling freely to the affected areas. Satellite imagery shows hundreds of Rohingya villages reduced to ashes.

A spokeswoman at the State Department said the decision to employ the term ethnic cleansing was the result of a long, deliberative process, but also said that international definitions of the term are varied and using it carries no imperative to act.

The term “ethnic cleansing” is largely descriptive, as opposed to “genocide,” which carries legal weight.

“Congress has at various points referred to ethnic cleansing but it doesn’t have clear implications for U.S. law,” said David Bosco, an associate professor in Indiana University’s School of Global and International Studies and author of a number of books on international law.

As such, the labeling is distinct from the Bush administration’s 2005 decision to label the killings in Darfur, then a region of Sudan, a genocide. In either case, however, the legal implication was unclear and there were no automatic policy responses mandated by law.

“Ultimately these things come down to the politics of it,” Bosco said. Even if the United States did declare a genocide in Burma, “it’s really just a question of whether that helps generate pressure for action,” he added.

Matthew Smith, co-founder of Fortify Rights, a human rights organization working in Burma, said Tillerson’s statement was nevertheless a significant step toward holding Burmese officials accountable.

“The civilian and military authorities are aligned in their outright denials and crude whitewashing,” said Smith. “Ethnic cleansing is as reprehensible as genocide and crimes against humanity.”

Not lost on Rohingya commentators was the symbolic significance of Tillerson’s statement coinciding with the International Criminal Court’s sentencing of former Bosnia Serb commander Ratko Mladic, convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.

“The U.S. government should find more facts to declare the persecution against Rohingya is genocide,” said Ro Nay San Lwin, a prominent Rohingya blogger and activist based in Europe. “Myanmar’s military commanders must be punished as Ratko Mladic was.”

The United States sharply escalated its pressure on Burma officials on Wednesday over widening attacks on the country’s Muslim minority, describing the violence and massive refu­gee flight as “ethnic cleansing” against the Rohingya Muslims.

The statement by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could signal a greater push by the Trump administration to impose wider sanctions against Burmese authorities and others blamed for the humanitarian crisis.

More than 600,000 Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine State have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, creating one of the world’s most dire refu­gee dilemmas.

“No provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued,” said Tillerson, who cited Burmese forces and “local vigilantes” for the campaign against the Rohingya.

Last week, following talks with Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Tillerson cited “credible reports” of atrocities committed by Burma’s security forces and said Washington could consider targeted sanctions against Burmese officials.

Officials in Burma, a mostly Buddhist nation also known as Myanmar, deny accusations of a systematic offensive against the Rohingya and claim the military intervened in Rakhine to battle Muslim insurgents.

Adam Taylor and Carol Morello contributed to this report.

By Charles Turner
November 22, 2017

Over the course of three months, over 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to escape what the United Nations has described as a case of “textbook case of ethnic cleansing.”

Earlier this week, China proposed a three stage resolution to repatriate Rohingya refugees back to the country formerly known as Burma. The plan emphasizes the need for a long-term solution to the Rohingya “problem”. And according to a new report by Amnesty International, which has investigated the treatment of the Muslim minority, the conflict’s origins can be traced back to decades ago.

Rohingya refugees cross the Naf River with an improvised raft to reach to Bangladesh in Teknaf, Bangladesh, November 12, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

For Ba Sein, a 74-year-old ethnic Rohingya refugee, the current crisis in Southeast Asia began well over 40 years ago. From his home in the United Kingdom, where he helps run the advocacy site Rohingya Blogger, he recalls the Myanmar military’s first campaign to push the Rohingya from the country.

“They were herded like animals onto army trucks” Ba Sein – Rohingya Blogger

In 1978, in an onslaught known as Operation Nagamin, or Operation Dragon King in English, about 200,000 Rohingya made the journey to Bangladesh, along routes today’s refugees are also following, after tens of thousands of Rohingya were rounded up and taken to detention centers.

“They were herded like animals onto army trucks,” Ba Sein told WikiTribune. “Inside the jails, people were making on the ground like goats without any toilet or room. They all died here. I saw this with my eyes. I will never forget this.”

Operation Dragon King marked the military’s first organized effort to discredit the Rohingya as a people native to Myanmar. Similar to the current rhetoric, the government saw the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who needed to be deported.

Historians characterize Operation Dragon King as a prelude to the 1982 Citizenship law. The contentious law established a list of ethnic groups eligible for citizenship. The law excluded the Rohingya, left them without access to public services and limited their freedom of movement. 

The military wanted a window of time in which to register their “approved” ethnic groups, while screening out the “foreigners.” Despite evidence of the Rohingya living in Myanmar for centuries, the military deemed them Bangladeshis who arrived in Rakhine State during British colonial rule. 

Under the 1982 law, the Rohingya had to provide evidence of their heritage to the country before 1823, when Britain invaded what was then known as Burma. Those suspected of arriving during British rule had their citizenship revoked, leaving them stateless. 

Anwar Arkani, a 50-year-old Rohingya who experienced the Dragon King operation as a child, remembers authorities asking his father to prove his ancestry and produce a national identification card.

“[The officer] asked if you have your ID. My father said, ‘Yes.’ The police took it and tore it apart up front of him. He asked him for his ID again. [My father] said, “Are you nuts? You just tore it up, now you want to magical produce it again?” They hit him with the butt of a gun, took him to jail and he died there.”

The push to Bangladesh

Arkani and his mother and brother joined the 200,000 Rohingya fleeing for the Bangladesh border after his father died in police detention. Other migrants reported rape and torture.

His 50-kilometer trek in 1978 was probably not that different from the experience of Rohingya who are part of the current exodus. The biggest change over the past 40 years is how the Bangladesh government and international community has responded, he said. He remembers a Bangladesh government in 1978 that made it clear that the Rohingya were unwelcome.

Myanmar border guard police force patrol near the Myanmar-Bangladeshi border outside Maungdaw, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar, November 12, 2017. REUTERS/Wa Lone

“That Bangladesh camp was the worst thing you can imagine. There was nowhere to toilet,” said Arkani, who now lives in Canada. “They took anything from us.”

Dealing with immense poverty among its own population in 1978, the Bangladesh government used food – or the lack of it – in an attempt to make refugees retreat on their own. In May 1978, food was tightly rationed in refugee camps in order to ensure life was not “comfortable”for the recently arrived Rohingya.

Alan Lindquist, a British humanitarian worker in Bangladesh, recalled the official in charge of the refugee camps, Secretary Syed All Khasru, as saying: “It is all very well to have fat, well-fed refugees. But I must be a politician, and we are not going to make the refugees so comfortable that they won’t go back to Burma.” 

An estimated 10,000 Rohingya died in Bangladesh refugee camps between May to December of 1978, casualties of underfeeding and malnutrition. The tactic was effective in its purpose. Within the year,more than half of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh voluntarily returned to Burma.

The military eventually accepted the repatriation of 187,000 Rohingya after the UN agreed to give Myanmar $7 million in aid, according to the International Boundary Research Unit of UK’s Durham University. 

During the current Rohingya refugee crisis, China has emerged as a mediating force with its proposal of a repatriation deal between the Myanmar military and the Bangladesh government. 

Tension in Rakhine, then Arakan

The Rohingya of today, however, will return to a more hostile Myanmar. 

The military currently practices an “institutionalized system of segregation” of the Muslim minority that “constitutes apartheid” according to a report from Amnesty International released on Monday. 

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called the 2017 Rohingya crisis “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” a designation not given to the 1978 mass exodus.

According to Ba Sein, the Rohingya have a social stigma that did not exist 40 years ago, “You could find work back then…some had an education,” he said.

Ba Sein and his family worked for the government in 1978, an elite position in the socialist Myanmar. His position as an auditor and his connections allowed him to witness the atrocities in the Rohingya detention centers, but survive. Unlike most Rohingya, he also was able to keep his citizenship.

Before the 1982 Citizenship Law, ethnic Rohingya had national registration cards, which did not list the “ethnicity” like the current day citizenship cards.

That Rohingya people worked for the national government is a testament to how much the political climate has changed in Myanmar. The idea of Rohingya being accepted into mainstream society now, let alone in government, is difficult for these previous refugees to imagine.

Besides being denied citizenship and an education, Rohingya now face hostility from the majority Buddhist citizenry of Rakhine State. 

This historic tension, dating back to World War II, has devolved back into violence over the past 10 years. The first major clashes came in 2012, following allegations that Rohingya Muslim men raped a Rakhine Buddhist woman. Dozens were killed in ethnic fighting.

The violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims is something that survivors of Operation Dragon King do not recognize. For the most part, the two groups co-existed peacefully in 1978.

“There was no fighting between the [Rakhine Buddhists] and us, just army” Ba Sein said. “Until 2012, there was no problem. Now all the people are being killed without [government] security.”

Anwar Arkani largely agrees that tensions between Buddhists and Muslims were far less extreme four decades ago, though he said he is not surprised at the escalation. As a child, his parents gave him explicit instructions to never enter Buddhist villages which were largely segregated from their Muslim counterparts. The sentiment of the Rohingya as foreigners has long existed.



“All of my memories of the Rakhine are bad things to be honest,” Arkani said. “To them, it was their country, and if we don’t like it, then we can go back home. But this was my home.”


By Josh Lederman
November 22, 2017

WASHINGTON — The United States declared the ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar to be “ethnic cleansing” on Wednesday, putting more pressure on the country’s military to halt a brutal crackdown that has sent more than 600,000 refugees flooding over the border to Bangladesh.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed Myanmar’s security forces and “local vigilantes” for what he called “intolerable suffering” by the Rohingya. Although the military has blamed Rohingya insurgents for setting off the crisis, Tillerson said that “no provocation can justify the horrendous atrocities that have ensued.”

“After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya,” Tillerson said in a statement.

Those who perpetrated the atrocities “must be held accountable,” Tillerson said. He added that the U.S. wanted a full investigation and would seek justice “through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions.”

The declaration followed a lengthy review process by the Trump administration to determine whether the violence met the threshold to be considered ethnic cleansing. The United Nations came to that conclusion in September, but the U.S. had held off, with Tillerson saying he needed more information even as he expressed deep concern about the crisis.

Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine state have been fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, seeking refuge from what Myanmar’s military has called “clearance operations.” The crisis started in August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar security forces, leading to a brutal crackdown in which soldiers and Buddhist mobs have killed men, raped woman and burned homes and property to force the Rohingya to leave.

Last week, Tillerson traveled to Myanmar — also known as Burma — in the highest level visit by a U.S. official since President Donald Trump took office. U.S. officials dangled the possibility of an “ethnic cleansing” designation ahead of Tillerson’s trip, potentially giving him more leverage as he met with Burmese officials. In the capital of Naypitaw, Tillerson met with the country’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, well as the Myanmar’s powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of operations in Rakhine state, home to Myanmar’s Rohingya population.

Although the “ethnic cleansing” label doesn’t carry specific legal requirements for the U.S., it is likely to intensify calls for the Trump administration and Congress to move toward new sanctions on Myanmar. Sanctions on the Southeast Asian nation were eased under former President Barack Obama as the country made steps toward transitioning to democracy.

Pressure from Congress to take punitive steps against Myanmar has been mounting. Earlier this month, the House passed a non-binding resolution condemning “murderous ethnic cleansing and atrocities against civilians.” It called on Trump to impose sanctions on those responsible for human rights abuses, including members of Myanmar’s military and security services.

Tillerson, during his visit to Myanmar, said the U.S. would consider targeted sanctions against individuals deemed responsible for the violence, but that he wasn’t advocating “broad-based economic sanctions” against the entire nation.

U.S. officials have been concerned that pushing Myanmar’s leaders too hard on the Rohingya violence could undermine the country’s civilian government, led for the last 18 months by Suu Kyi. That could slow or reverse the country’s delicate transition away from decades of harsh military rule, and also risks pushing Myanmar away from the U.S. and closer to China.

The State Department has also examined whether the violence in Rakhine meets the definitions for “crimes against humanity” or “genocide,” but have thus far made no such determinations.

According to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention, “ethnic cleansing” isn’t recognized as an independent crime under international law, unlike crimes against humanity and genocide. It surfaced in the context of the 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia, when a U.N. commission defined it as “rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area.”

Human rights groups accuse the military of a scorched-earth campaign against the Rohinyga, who numbered roughly 1 million in Myanmar before the latest exodus. The Buddhist majority in Myanmar believes they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, but many Rohingya families have lived for generations in Myanmar. In 1982, they were stripped of their citizenship.

Already, the United States has curtailed its ties to Myanmar’s military over the violence. Earlier this year the U.S. restored restrictions on granting visas to members of Myanmar’s military, and the State Department has deemed units and officers involved in operations in Rakhine state illegible for U.S. assistance.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report.

A Rohingya refugee woman waits for aid with her daughter along a road in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Photo: REUTERS)

Min Khant
RB Opinion
November 22, 2017

The Republic of China becomes a rescuer for Myanmar atrocious military regimes, which have been crushing Myanmar democratic activists since 1988 until today. 

Since 26 August 2017, due to systematic destructions of Rohingyas people villages; inhuman acts of Myanmar forces’ atrocities; villages torching; killing of Rohingyas innocent people; gang-rape of Rohingyas women; throwing of their children to the fire; and forcefully eviction of the villagers by the coordinative act of Myanmar military forces and Rakhine militants. 

Right now, there have been approximately (630,000) of Rohingyas refugees, who have had to abandon their localities and flee to Bangladesh for their temporary survival.

Rakhine militants have been given arms by Myanmar military to kill and loot randomly the innocent Rohingyas’ lives and properties together with Myanmar forces under the request of animal doctor U Aye Maung, the chair of Arakan National Party. 

Because of the global people constant demands to stop the severe violence on helpless Rohingyas and settle down the issue permanently, there had been three-time gatherings in the world UNSC within couple of months to discuss the matter for the last time with the unanimous agreement of the Security Council members. 

Though, the United Nations Security Council is as the final decision maker to handle the issue, it was unable to handle the matter because of the prior green light protest of the Republic of China and Russian Federation in the UNSC.

What a sad fortune of Rohingyas people! Now, the main problem lies on China and Russia, which become the culprits for the Rohingyas’ survival in their ancestral territory of Myanmar. 

To be flourishing democratic system, in Myanmar, which being demanded by the mass people of Myanmar in 1988, the USA and the West collective multiply advocacy in the UNSC have been frequently stopped by both CHINA & RUSSIA in favor of Myanmar regimes.

The Republic of China has been advocating the brutal Myanmar regime that has been committing crimes against multiple ethnic brethrens in the nation as the SAFEGUARD from taking action by the world community who have been championing in regards the human rights promotions in Myanmar due to all ethnic groups. 

Myanmar consecutive military regimes have gotten the CHINA as a giant PAUKPAW brother to protect all Myanmar monstrous regimes, which have been committing crimes on their own people, in the world arena, in response, Myanmar regimes have been rewarding the CHINA the state aboveground and underground resources whatever and whenever CHINA wishes as are fond of it. 

The wise and intellectuals of some Myanmar expertise thought the CHINA’s haphazard and carelessly taking free-hands advantages in Myanmar’s earth might make worse in the climate transform and environmental explosion that may cause severe natural devastation that may blemish to entire people of the nation. 

Similarly, the state of Myanmar and its leaders have gotten the habits to commit crimes bravely and inconsiderably in the country, and would quickly run to come close to the CHINA to save the criminal officials, taking action them by the world communities. 

China being the giant neighboring and developing country next to Myanmar, and Myanmar is a poor, isolated, and dependable to China in economically and politically, Myanmar market is so small, cheap and ultimately MYANMARESE have to choose just the Chinese out-dated products and commodities. The nation of Myanmar becomes the dumping market for the Chinese so-called products in return the CHINA hag got upper hand without question to exploit all the things in Myanmar through discounted value. All are in double standard dealings because of consecutive Myanmar military leader’s tenacity and nowadays-LAUREATE depressing skillfulness. 

The Myanmar regimes and its military leaders have sold out the nation’s fate and its sovereignty as the state-compensation to CHINA for their intentionally committed crimes On ROHINGYAS for which CHINA has been paying and defending on behalf of Myanmar regime in the world arena. What a beautiful game played by CHINA and MYANMAR at the cost of entire Myanmar people fates and destinies!

Concerning Rohingyas, who are unanimously agreed by the world community as the world longest persecuted minority in Rakhine BUT the CHINA does not recognize the world’s humanitarian investigation. CHINA having the negative view to the reality of Rohingyas, it always stands by the side of Myanmar to show partnership with the criminals who has been cooperatively committing cruelties against Rohingyas innocents. China would have been standing with Myanmar vicious regimes though there have been the bulk of evidences in regards the criminalities of Myanmar forces who committed on hopeless and helpless Rohingyas in the last occurrence. 

The CHINA the world most populous and potential world economic might, having been aggressive to punish the ROHINGYA hand in hand with Myanmar regime, hasn’t stood by the persecuted Rohingyas instead it supports constantly the Myanmar current regime and military unit for their belligerency on the proposal of the world body concerning Rohingyas issues to be settled down. 

Having been failed after multiple negotiations by the world nations in all relevant UN bodies, the world bodies had to bring the ROHINGYA issues to the UNSC table to have unanimous settlement, but the CHINA had shown its prior objections to the proposals. MOREOVER, failing the UNSC’s coming out of undisputed ultimatum to abide by Myanmar, it had only issued the UNSC presidential statement, which is non-binding resolution, to abide by Myanmar regime by the end of November 2017. Again, because of the CHINA’s persistent belligerence to the world UNSC’s continuous & various attempts after having true evidences of Myanmar regime’s cruelties on Rohingyas, the UNSC failed again and again by the stubborn position of the CHINA that wants Myanmar regime to kill all ROHINGYAS at the absence of the world bodies’ action.

Bangladesh and Myanmar are both the partners of CHINA. CHINA has the similar economic strategy in both countries. While the problem of Rohingyas lies between the two partners of CHINA, it stands by Myanmar who oppresses ROHINGYA and the world stands by the oppressed Rohingyas people. CHINA’s views now is to shield Myanmar brutal regime from taking action of the world community’s, and from the other, CHINA wants Bangladesh to accept or strike the agreement between Bangladesh & Myanmar rather than being participated the world communities in the event. In this regards, Bangladesh wanted to participate all relevant parties including CHINA in the event to be witnessing in this time while Myanmar’s regimes behaviors in the previous bilateral agreements had been neglected, failed to abide and stop all wrong-headedness of Myanmar government in future. It has been nothing wrong by Bangladesh.

As a matter of fact, people of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Rohingyas are under the guardianship of CHINA. What the state of CHINA should stand by and to participate is in the peaceful trilateral agreement in which every concerning party is happy and legitimized to benefit the results that the world communities agree. 

The question now is “Why does CHINA stand by the MYANMAR regime that has been oppressor against the ROHINGYA minority, and stop all attempts of world communities to fulfill the rights of Rohingyas. And at the same time, forcing the BANGLADESH to strike bilateral agreement with Myanmar alone, it seems to get rid of agreement after repatriation of ROHINGYAS, and will punish the ROHINGYA after being repatriated them to their localities, and the ROHINGYAS will leave again to the Bangladesh due to possible aggressions on ROHINGYA Muslims”? 

Why doesn’t CHINA stand by the Bangladesh position to settle down the ROHINGYA issue once and for all? CHINA should not build its dynamic political and economic strength on the lives of ROHINGYAS miserable condition. What the Republic of CHINA should do now is to participate with the world community who has been trying to normalize the rights of Rohingyas and to avoid the future human rights violation by the Myanmar people and that of the regime against vulnerable ROHINGYAS. Now, the people republic of CHINA needs to stop the double standard dealing with the government of Bangladesh and stop the aggression on innocent Rohingyas people.

A Rohingya Muslim girl carries a vegetable from the market on the outskirts of Kutupalong refugee camp on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, in Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

By Rachel Lau
November 21, 2017

Since August, more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar‘s Rakhine state to Bangladesh, in search of safety against what the country’s military describes as “clearance operations.”

Maung Zarni, a Buddhist native of Burma, genocide scholar and human rights activist, explains the crisis started as an insurgent rising up of the Rohingya people against an oppressive regime — contrary to the belief that the state is defending itself against a rebellious population.

“‘The problem is the international community, including the UN and national governments, are buying into this,” he told Global News.

“No, no, no. We are looking at a situation where the population is essentially held prisoners for 40 years.”

In 2013, the United Nations (UN) declared Myanmar’s Rohingya population one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Over the last 39 years, the Rohingyas, indigenous to western Myanmar, have faced several military crackdowns — most recently in 2016 to 2017.

Zarni insists that this is genocide — contrary to UN officials and Human Rights Watch (HRW), who have described Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya as an “ethnic cleansing.”

“If there is a genocide happening, member states have the obligation to use force to end it, but because there is no political will within the security council who can make the decision, senior officials are not prepared to call it genocide,” he told Global News.

“The UN has been a failure since the end of the Second World War. Every case of genocide, the UN has failed.”

Zarni points out Rohingya have no legal rights in Myanmar.

In fact, the country’s 1982 Citizenship Act denies citizenship to Rohingya people on the basis of ethnicity.

“The Burmese government has imposed conditions that have been designed to make life unsustainable, intentionally,” Zarni told Global News.

“Why is the UN still sitting on its hands? By the time the UN comes out and says this is genocide, there will be not one Rohingya left in the country.”

Amnesty International said Tuesday that the “Rohingya people in Myanmar are trapped in a vicious system of state-sponsored, institutionalized discrimination that amounts to apartheid.”

“Their rights are violated daily and the repression has only intensified in recent years,” said Anna Neistat, Amnesty International’s senior director for research.

“This system appears designed to make Rohingyas’ lives as hopeless and humiliating as possible.”

“The security forces’ brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in the past three months is just another extreme manifestation of this appalling attitude.”

Unlike previous years, the international outcry has accelerated in recent weeks with public figures, including Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, whom the Taliban attempted to kill, condemning the actions of the Burmese government.

“This the very first genocide that has been witnessed on Facebook and Twitter — think about it,” Zarni said.

“The staggering number — 100,000 women and children, elderly people — filing out every week consecutively for six weeks has to hit international headlines.”

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi (who has honorary Canadian citizenship) in Danang, Vietnam to discuss evidence of the state-led violence that set off an international refugee crisis.

Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) at Concordia University argues Canadians should care about what’s happening in Myanmar.

“There’s still at least half a million people that are still facing danger by the Myanmar military,” he told Global News.

“That’s where Canada can stand up and try to be more forceful and not just hope that Aung San Suu Kyi will take action, by forcing her to take action or at least push her to be stronger, otherwise it’ll make the promise of ‘never again’ another unfulfilled promise.”

Since Trudeau’s meeting with Suu Kyi in Vietnam, Canadian government officials say they have committed to help refugees safely return home.

“The most disappointing thing to me is not the western disappointment that Buddhist are killing,” Zarni said.

“The most painful thing [is] that, to me, the society that I was raised in has grown totalitarian and fascist.”


Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh on makeshift rafts have accused the Burmese military of murder and rape (Photo: AP Images)

By Adam Lusher
November 21, 2017

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tells Commons the evidence will have to be collated and analysed to see whether it amounts to something fitting the legal definition of genocide

The UK has received "very troubling" evidence which will be used to assess whether genocide has been committed against Rohingya Muslims in Burma, Boris Johnson has said

The Foreign Secretary added that the treatment of the Rohingya risked meeting the definition of ethnic cleansing, and called on Burma’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader Aung San Suu Kyi to condemn what was happening in her country before it was too late.

Mr Johnson’s intervention came as human rights group Amnesty International published a report saying the roots of the current crisis lay in long-term “persecution” of Rohingya Muslims that amounted to apartheid and was a crime against humanity.

Burma’s military has insisted it is conducting a counter-insurgency clearance operation that was provoked by Rohingya militants' synchronised attacks on 30 security posts in the northern part of Rakhine state on 25 August.

But there has been widespread international condemnation of Burma over a crisis that has seen 620,000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh since August, many of them alleging murder, rape and arson by Burmese soldiers.

Boris Johnson has now suggested that the UK has received evidence that might on further examination point to genocide having been committed in Burma. 

After being pressed about the situation by Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi on Tuesday, the Foreign Secretary told Parliament: “I agree very much that unless the refugees are allowed to return, then this crisis, this purge will indeed satisfy the definition of ethnic cleansing.

"As for genocide, it is I'm afraid it is the case that we have recently received evidence of a very troubling kind, and what we will do is make sure that such testimony as to what has been taking place is collated and used so that the proper judicial authorities can determine whether indeed it answers to the definition of genocide.”

Stressing that further analysis would be needed before it could be decided whether or not genocide was happening, Mr Johnson added: “Genocide is a strict legal term and we hesitate to deploy it without proper judicial decision."

Accusing Aung San Suu Kyi of so far failing to show proper leadership in the crisis, Mr Johnson said: "It is vital that the Burmese government acknowledge the scale of what is happening and the horror with which events are being greeted around the world.

"For many years the world has looked to Aung San Suu Kyi as a great moral leader, and we still salute her for her struggle for democracy in the face of the generals.

"It is absolutely vital now, however, that she stands up and condemns what is happening and brings the nation together.

"So far, I'm afraid, the Burmese government has failed to do that."

His comments came as Amnesty International published a report saying that the current crisis was merely the most extreme manifestation of decades of systematic state-sponsored discrimination by the Burmese authorities that broke international humanitarian law.

The human rights group’s Caged Without A Roof report, based on two years of investigation, stated that the authorities of Burma, a predominantly Buddhist country, had imposed a “dehumanising” apartheid system on the Rohingya Muslim minority. The Burmese government, the report said, had: 

:: maintained an “institutionalized system of segregation linked to ethnic identity”

:: imposed a “ghetto-like existence” on the Rohingya through “extreme restrictions on freedom of movement”

:: “routinely violated” Rohingya rights to adequate healthcare, education, work and food

:: subjected them to “discrimination so severe and extensive that it amounts to a widespread and systemic attack on a civilian population”.

Anna Neistat, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, said the report showed Burma’s Rakhine State region, where the Rohingya usually live, had for years been “a crime scene.”

“The authorities are keeping Rohingya women, men and children segregated and cowed in a dehumanising system of apartheid,” she said. “Their rights are violated daily and the repression has only intensified in recent years.

“This was the case long before the vicious campaign of military violence of the last three months. 

“This abhorrent system of discrimination and segregation permeates every aspect of Rohingyas’ lives.”

After alleging a series of abuses, the report concluded: “The racial base of the discrimination against and segregation of the Rohingya, the way in which they have been characterized as “outsiders”, and the clear aim of dominating and isolating these communities have led us to conclude they amount to the crime against humanity of apartheid.”

This, the report said, puts Burma in breach of both the UN’s International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which defines apartheid as a crime against humanity.

Underpinning the discrimination, the report claimed, was Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law which was said to be “blatantly discriminatory on ethnic grounds”.

The law excluded the Rohingya from the “national races” of Burma that were entitled to full citizenship, and, it was claimed, “Its implementation in Rakhine State allowed authorities to deprive Rohingya of citizenship en masse.”

Making clear that the discrimination continues to this day, the Amnesty report said successive Burmese governments refused even to use the term Rohingya.

Last year, the report said, Aung San Suu Kyi asked diplomats to “refrain” from using the word Rohingya and suggested that they talk instead about “Muslims living in Rakhine State.”

In Burma, the report added: “Rohingya are often referred to as ‘Bengalis’, a divisive term used to imply that the Rohingya are migrants from Bangladesh.”

The report said that since 2012, the Burmese authorities have imposed such tight restrictions on access to education that in large parts of Rakhine State Rohingya children were no longer allowed into previously mixed government schools at all.

The Rohingya people’s freedom of movement, the report said was also severely restricted by what was described as an intricate web of national laws, “local orders” and policies implemented by state officials displaying “openly racist” behaviour.

Travel between townships required a “Form 4” permit and in some parts of Rakhine State, the report said, Rohingya people needed a “Village Departure Certificate” before they could spend the night outside their own village without being arrested. 

The result of such movement restrictions, the report said, was that in an already poor part of Burma, “Rohingya and other Muslim communities are prevented from accessing places they rely on for their livelihoods such as farmlands, fishing areas, and local markets. 

“The inevitable result is that most Rohingya and other Muslims are poor.”

“Their situation and overall food security,” the report added, “Is further threatened by government-imposed restrictions on international aid access. According to UN agencies, northern Rakhine State, where most Rohingya lived until recently, has alarming rates of malnutrition, in particular among children.”

The report claimed the situation was summed up by one 25-year-old Rohingya man who told journalists: “We don’t have enough to eat. 

“We would be better in jail or prison because at least then we would have food regularly. It is like we live in a prison anyway.”

Aung San Suu Kyi has previously described the Rohingya issue as a “very complex problem” caused by “long-term socio-economic problems” that cannot be solved overnight.

Rohingya refugee Suray Khatun, 70, is carried by her son Said-A-Lam, 38, as they enter Kutupalong refugee camp, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh a day after crossing the Myanmar border, November 20, 2017. REUTERS/Susana Vera

By Antoni Slodkowski, Yimou Lee
November 21, 2017

YANGON/NAYPYITAW -- Members of the U.S. Congress said on Tuesday operations carried out against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar had “all the hallmarks” of ethnic cleansing, while the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed doubts about allegations of rights abuses.

The U.S. Senate members also said they were disturbed by a “violent and disproportionate” security response to Rohingya militant attacks that have driven more than 600,000 people from Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh. 

Human rights monitors have accused Myanmar’s military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during so-called clearance operations following insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base.

Myanmar’s government has denied most of the claims, and the army last week said its own probe found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops. 

“We are not hearing of any violations going on at the moment,” Suu Kyi told reporters in response to a question about human rights abuses at the end of the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw. 

“We can’t say whether it has happened or not. As a responsibility of the government, we have to make sure that it won’t happen.” 

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi said she hoped talks with Bangladesh’s foreign minister this week would lead to a deal on the “safe and voluntary return” of those who have fled. 

Suu Kyi’s less than two-year old civilian government has faced heavy international criticism for its response to the crisis, though it has no control over the generals it has to share power with under Myanmar’s transition to power after decades of military rule. 

HALLMARKS OF ETHNIC CLEANSING

While a top UN official has described the military’s actions as a textbook case of “ethnic cleansing”, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on a visit to Myanmar last week refused to label it as such. 

In early November, U.S. lawmakers proposed targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on Myanmar military officials. 

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who was among the sponsors of the legislation introduced in the Senate, led a congressional delegation that visited Rakhine this week, but was blocked from traveling to the violence-hit north of the state and to Rohingya camps. 

The group also traveled to Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh, where Rohingya refugees are huddled into makeshift camps and fed by overstretched aid agencies. 

“Many refugees have suffered direct attacks including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries. This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing,” Merkley told reporters in Myanmar on Tuesday.

“We are profoundly disturbed by the violent and disproportionate response against the Rohingya by the military and local groups,” he said. 

The delegation called for Myanmar to allow an investigation into the alleged atrocities that would involve the international community. 

“We want to emphasize that the world is watching,” Merkley said, adding that it was important Myanmar allow anyone who wants to come back to return to their homes and their farms. 

Merkley said the delegation was “not here today to recommend…what the U.S. government would do or should do,” when asked about the legislation introduced in the Congress. 

‘ISOLATION IN CAMPS’

Myanmar officials have so far said they plan to resettle most returnees in new “model villages”, rather than on the land they previously occupied, an approach the United Nations has criticized in the past as effectively creating permanent camps. 

“Individuals cannot be coming back…simply to return to camps where there would be continued discrimination, restrictions on full participation in the economy and society,” said Merkley. 

He warned that isolating people in camps creates a “two-tier society that is fundamentally incompatible with the future of democracy and it guarantees perpetuation of suspicions and misunderstandings and conflicts.” 

Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Suu Kyi said discussions would be held with the Bangladesh foreign minister on Wednesday and Thursday about repatriation. Officials from both countries began talks last month on how to process the Rohingya wanting to return. 

“We hope that this would result in an MOU signed quickly, which would enable us to start the safe and voluntarily return of all of those who have gone across the border,” Suu Kyi said. 

The Rohingya are largely stateless and many people in Myanmar view them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

Suu Kyi said Myanmar would follow the framework of an agreement reached in the 1990s to cover the earlier repatriation of Rohingya, who had fled to Bangladesh to escape previous bouts of ethnic violence. 

That agreement did not address the citizenship status of Rohingya, and Bangladesh has been pressing for a repatriation process that provided Rohingya with more safeguards this time. 

“It’s on the basis of residency...this was agreed by the two governments long time ago with success, so this will be formula we will continue to follow,” Suu Kyi said. 

Earlier talks between the two countries reached a broad agreement to work out a repatriation deal, but a senior Myanmar official later accused Bangladesh of dragging its feet in order to secure funding from aid agencies for hosting the refugees. 

Additional reporting by Thu Thu Aung; writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Hugh Lawson


The government in the mostly Buddhist country views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh (Photo: AFP/Getty)

By Alexandra Wilts
November 21, 2017 

Burma’s army last week said it found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops

Washington DC -- Operations carried out against Rohingya Muslims in Burma had “all the hallmarks” of ethnic cleansing, a US senator has said.

The country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has continued to express doubts about allegations of human rights abuses. But members of the US Senate have said they were troubled by a “violent and disproportionate” security response to Rohingya militant attacks that have driven more than 600,000 people from Burma to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Human rights groups have accused Burma’s military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during so-called clearance operations. 

Burma says the operation, which the United Nations has also likened to a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, was necessary for national security after Rohingya militants attacked 30 security posts and an army base in the state in August.

“We are not hearing of any violations going on at the moment,” Ms Suu Kyi told reporters at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Burma’s capital Naypyidaw.

“We can’t say whether it has happened or not. As a responsibility of the government, we have to make sure that it won’t happen.”

The government in mostly Buddhist Burma views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

In early November, members of the US Congress proposed targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on Burma’s military officials.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who was among the sponsors of the legislation, led a congressional delegation that visited Rakhine, a state in Burma located on the western coast. 

The group also travelled to Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh, where Rohingya refugees are residing in makeshift camps and fed by overstretched aid agencies.

“Many refugees have suffered direct attacks including loved ones, children and husbands being killed in front of them, wives and daughters being raped, burns and other horrific injuries. This has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing,” Mr Merkley told reporters. 

“We are profoundly disturbed by the violent and disproportionate response against the Rohingya by the military and local groups,” he said.

The delegation called for Burma to allow an international investigation into the alleged atrocities. 

“We want to emphasise that the world is watching,” Mr Merkley said, adding that it was important Burma allowed anyone who wants to come back to return to their homes and their farms.

Mr Merkley said the delegation was “not here today to recommend what the US government would do or should do”, when asked about the legislation introduced in Congress.

Ms Suu Kyi’s civilian government has been heavily criticised for its response to the crisis. However, it has no control over the generals it shares power with following decades of military rule.

The Burmese leader has said she hopes to talk with Bangladesh’s foreign minister this week about an agreement that could lead to the “safe and voluntary return” of those who have fled.

Reuters contributed to this report


    • Rohingya Exodus