"The genocide" Rohingya in Burma continues, said Wednesday to the press a UN investigator. He said that with the exception of killings, all the characteristics of this mass crime (ostracize and discriminate a population, prevent births, lock up a population in camps ...) were still very present.
"The genocide" of the Rohingya in Burma continues, a UN investigator told the press on Wednesday, before presenting a report on this crisis to the Security Council at a meeting wanted by Westerners against the advice of China and Russia.
"This is a genocide that is still ongoing," said Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN fact-finding mission on Burma. He said at a press conference that with the exception of killings, all the other characteristics of this mass crime (ostracize and discriminate a population, prevent births, lock up a population in camps ...) were always present.
Against the Rohingya Muslim minority, "the genocidal intent ... can be reasonably inferred," he later insisted before the Security Council, without reaffirming at the presentation of his Mission's report that the genocide continued.
Pursue six Burmese generals
Released in September, this 444-page document from a team unauthorized to visit but which has collected numerous testimonies from Rohingyas exiles has denounced a "genocide" and called to bring six Burmese generals before international justice. Among them is the commander of the Burmese armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing.
As he had done the day before when presenting the same report to the UN General Assembly, the investigator called on the Security Council to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court or to create an ad hoc tribunal, and to impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo.
The Burmese government rejected the findings of the UN mission, questioned its independence and membership, and said it had established a commission of inquiry including Asian diplomats.