The US government wants to formally classify the atrocities against the Muslim minority of the Rohingya in Myanmar as genocide and "crimes against humanity".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the announcement during a speech at the Holocaust Museum in Washington this Monday, a government official said, confirming media reports.

At the end of last year, Blinken announced an investigation into the events of around five years ago.

Human rights groups have long urged the US government to call the atrocities genocide.

The governments of American President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump have so far avoided this step, but have imposed a large number of sanctions on Myanmar.

The Rohingya are being brutally persecuted in their home country of Myanmar.

Myanmar soldiers are said to have murdered thousands of people, raped women and children, leveled villages and burned residents alive in their homes.

More than 700,000 people fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017, fearing attacks by the military in the predominantly Buddhist country.

They have been living there in overcrowded camps ever since.

Around 600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar in the southwestern state of Rakhine.

Years ago, UN representatives had described the violence against the minority as “genocide”.

Human rights activists: A positive step

The human rights organization Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) welcomed the announcement as a "positive step", but complained that it was long overdue.

"Further action must follow this statement," said the organization's founder and director, Kyaw Win.

"A military that commits genocide and coups to overthrow a democratically elected government has no place in the civilized world." BHRN called for the junta to be completely cut off from cash and weapons and "banned from the world stage."

Almost two years ago, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Myanmar (formerly Burma) to immediately protect the Rohingya in an interim ruling.

At that time, the then head of government and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, rejected all allegations before the highest UN court.

She was ousted from power after a military coup in 2021 and sentenced to prison for numerous alleged crimes.

This makes the proceedings before the International Court of Justice against Myanmar even more difficult.

The internationally unrecognized military leadership in Myanmar is also defending itself against the accusations.

The main proceedings in The Hague will probably drag on for years.