Violence Against the Rohingya – Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide: United States
Blinken announcement at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
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Tue, Mar 22, 2022 12:00 AM Last updated on: Tue, Mar 22, 2022 12:05 AM
Anthony Blinken. Photo: Collected
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Anthony Blinken. Photo: Collected
The Biden administration yesterday determined that the violence committed against the Rohingya by the Burmese military amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity – a decision that analysts say should bolster efforts to hold down the Burmese junta responsible.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the decision at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
For all the latest news, follow the Daily Star’s Google News channel. “There was clear evidence of an attempt to destroy the Muslim minority,” he said, citing thousands of murders and forcing nearly a million people to flee the country in 2016 and 2017, reports the AFP.
“The army’s intent went beyond ethnic cleansing to the actual destruction of the Rohingya.
“The attack on the Rohingya was widespread and systematic, which is crucial in reaching a determination of crimes against humanity,” he said.
Blinken noted 2017 remarks by Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military commander-in-chief, that the government was “solving” “unfinished business” in its destruction of Rohingya communities.
He said Min Aung Hlaing led the 2021 coup to overthrow Myanmar’s elected government.
The Holocaust Museum prepared its own report in late 2017 with Fortify Rights which concluded there was compelling evidence of crimes against humanity in Myanmar.
The U.S. decision comes nearly 14 months after Joe Biden took office as president and pledged to lead a new review of violence in a shift in the Trump administration’s stance that had condemned violence against the Rohingya, but failed to determine it as genocide.
Myanmar’s military operation in 2017 forced around 750,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they recounted killings, gang rapes and arson.
Rohingyas have been persecuted and denied citizenship and other basic rights, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh since the late 1980s.
Following the 2017 violence, the UN called it a classic example of ethnic cleansing. Later, the UN fact-finding mission said that the Myanmar military had genocidal intent behind the crackdown.
In 2018, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum called the violence genocide.
In 2019, The Gambia filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice in this regard. The International Criminal Court is also investigating the forced deportation of Rohingyas.
However, the Myanmar military denied the genocide allegation.