- Title: Rohingya still in Myanmar face 'threat of genocide': United Nations
- Date: 17th September 2019
- Summary: BORDER AREA NEAR COX'S BAZAR, BANGLADESH (FILE - AUGUST 26, 2017) (REUTERS) BUILDINGS AND TREES, AUDIO OF GUNFIRE FROM MYANMAR ROHINGYA MUSLIMS FLEEING MYANMAR WALKING TO BANGLADESH KYEING CHAUNG VILLAGE, MAUNGDAW, RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR (FILE - AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BURNING VILLAGES, PLUMES OF BLACK SMOKE
- Embargoed: 1st October 2019 13:56
- Keywords: genocide Rohingya Aung San Suu Kyi investigation
- Location: GENEVA, UNITED NATIONS/ TEKNAF, COX'S BAZAR AND BORDER AREA NEAR COX'S BAZAR. BANGLADESH/ KYEING CHAUNG VILLAGE, MAUNGDAW, RAKHINE STATE AND NAYPYITAW, MYANMAR
- City: GENEVA, UNITED NATIONS/ TEKNAF, COX'S BAZAR AND BORDER AREA NEAR COX'S BAZAR. BANGLADESH/ KYEING CHAUNG VILLAGE, MAUNGDAW, RAKHINE STATE AND NAYPYITAW, MYANMAR
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA003AX1RFIF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who remain inside Myanmar face systematic persecution and are living under the threat of genocide, a U.N. Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) said on Tuesday (September 17), repeating calls for top generals to face trial.
Myanmar security forces are accused of killings, gang rape and arson during a crackdown that drove more than 730,000 people to flee western Rakhine state for neighbouring Bangladesh after attacks on police posts by Rohingya insurgents in August 2017.
Myanmar has rejected most of the accusations and dismissed a report last September by a U.N.-appointed panel which said military officers carried out the campaign against the Rohingya with "genocidal intent" and should stand trial.
Some 600,000 Rohingya are living in "deplorable" conditions in Myanmar's Rakhine state, subject to restrictions on movement that touch almost every aspect of their lives, the U.N. report said.
Myanmar's Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun told the U.N. Human Rights Council that his government reject, once again, the FFM's accusation as it "has lack of thorough understanding" of Myanmar's culture.
Myanmar rejected the fact-finding mission when it was formed at the rights forum in March 2017, with a mandate to investigate military abuses against the Rohingya and in other conflicts with ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
The new report accuses the security forces of "torture and ill-treatment" of suspected insurgents in northern Myanmar
The U.N. panel said the evidence it gathered from nearly 1,300 interviews with witnesses had been passed to a new investigative mechanism for Myanmar which will support any future prosecution in international courts.
One of the experts, member of the FFM, Chris Sidoti, told a news conference following the presentation of the report in front of the U.N. Human Rights Council, that the civilian government was also responsible for the human rights violation in Myanmar.
(Production: Cecile Mantovani) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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