Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya Muslims and atrocities that forced nearly 700,000 of them to seek shelter in Bangladesh could spawn a regional security crisis along religious lines, the U.N.’s human rights chief warned Monday in a speech in Indonesia.
“Genocide and ethnic cleansing” may have occurred when security forces in Buddhist-majority Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown in Rakhine state that caused the latest influx of members of the Rohingya minority into neighboring southeastern Bangladesh, Zeid Ra-ad al-Hussein told a regional conference in Jakarta marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Zeid opened his speech by pointing to five decades of systematic discrimination and violence against the stateless Rohingya” by Myanmar, saying this was a case in the Asia-Pacific region where “rights have gone wrong.”
“Myanmar faces a very serious crisis – with a potentially severe impact on the security of the region,” said Zeid, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, according to a transcript.
“It is sometimes said that today’s human rights violations will become tomorrow’s conflicts. If the Rohingya crisis were to spark a broader conflict based on religious identities, the ensuing disputes could be a cause for great alarm.”
He did not elaborate on how such a crisis might take shape and widen outside Myanmar’s boundaries.
At least 688,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh since late August 2017 amid a military crackdown that followed attacks on government security posts by the insurgent group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).
The exodus from Rakhine, combined with reports about alleged atrocities committed against Rohingya civilians, led to anti-Myanmar protests in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and other countries with large or significant Muslim populations.
Zeid, who was starting a three-day visit to Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, gave his remarks after the Associated Press (AP) broke a report last week saying it had confirmed the existence of more than five previously unreported mass graves in Rakhine through interviews of survivors in refugee camps in Bangladesh, including one who provided time-stamped cellphone videos.
In chilling detail, the report described how Myanmar security forces and Buddhist militiamen allegedly used an acid to disfigure Rohingya victims of a massacre in Gu Dar Pyin, a village in Buthidaung township, in order to make it difficult to identify the bodies.
On Friday, Myanmar reiterated its denial that massacres had occurred in troubled Rakhine state and said an investigation had found no evidence to support the claims made in the AP report. The government, however, had blocked reporters and U.N. investigators from entering the areas in Rakhine to verify similar allegations.
Although a definitive finding should be made by an appropriate tribunal, the U.N. had documented brutal killings and sexual violence allegedly perpetrated by Myanmar security forces against the Rohingya, Zeid said.
The U.N. and the United States had previously labeled the crackdown in Rakhine as “ethnic cleansing.”
According to a report published by Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in December, at least 6,700 Rohingya Muslims, including 730 children younger than five, were killed during the first month of last year’s crackdown.
Last week, Rohingya refugees, who said they collected data by going door to door in refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, that they had turned over a list of almost 4,400 Rohingya killed in Rakhine since October 2016 to U.N. special envoy Yangee Lee.
On Feb. 1, Lee, who visited Bangladesh between Jan. 18 and 24, said that the violence against the Muslim minority bore “the hallmarks of a genocide.”
Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
This guy is responsible for August 2017 the Islamic terrorist group the ARSA attacked on 31 Burmese Border guard Posts and Buddhist villages in Rakhine State, Burma. He and the OIC have encouraged and supported the Islamic terrorist group the ARSA to attack Border Guards and Buddhist villagers. The UN Human Rights; High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein is not a saint and he has blind eyes on Saudi Arabia Government attacking to Houthi civilians and blocking foods and medicines aid to Houthi peoples.
There’s no ethnic cleansing and genocide against illegal immigrant Bengali Muslims in Rakhine State. Only the Islamic terrorist group the ARSA has committed genocide by massacred of Hindu villagers. They were slaughtered by the ARSA because they refused to convert Islam religion. The Islamic terrorist group the ARSA members are responsible for torched and burned down of Muslim villages and Buddhist villages. Burmese Government has released information about caught of Bengali men who were coming from refugee Camp in Bangladesh and to act terrorism in Rakhine State but foreign journalists were ignored and didn’t report it. This is one of foreign journalists biased against Buddhist Burmese.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein didn’t denounce the Islamic terrorist group the ARSA massacred of Hindus and Buddhists in Rakhine State. If he and the OIC didn’t support and encourage the Islamic terrorist group the ARSA to attack Burmese Border Guards and Buddhist villages and then the Bengali peoples will not go to Bangladeshi border. The OIC wants Burma becoming like Libya and Syria. So the OIC can establish independent Islamic State for illegal immigrant Bengali Muslims in Rakhine State, Burma.
Also the UNHCR is encouraging Bengali peoples to come to the Bangladeshi border by opening camps in the Bangladeshi border soon after the Islamic terrorists attacked to Border Guards and Buddhist and Hindu villagers. It was interesting matter for us about how the UNHCR has already prepared for refugees reception and camps at the Bangladeshi border before the Islamic terrorist group the ARSA surprised simultaneous attacked to Burmese Border Guards and Buddhists and Hindus villagers. Without pre-preparation, the UNHCR will take at least a month to open first refugees’ camp at the Bangladeshi border.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and the OIC initial plan were to open and operate the UN monitor a Safe Zone for illegal migrant Bengali Muslims by creating a chaotic situation in Rakhine State. The Islamic terrorist group the ARSA was part of the OIC. The OIC may have given financial assistance to the ARSA. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein is an evil man. He is biased person and he only working for interest of Muslims. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein should be removed from the UN Human Rights’ High Commissioner Office.
Feb 06, 2018 02:20 PM
