Proceedings are underway before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the United Nations, to determine whether the Burmese government was guilty of such a crime.
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The United States recognizes the “genocide” of the Rohingya. “I have established that members of the Myanmar military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017”, said Monday, March 21 in Washington the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Proceedings are underway before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the United Nations, to determine whether the Burmese government was guilty of such a crime.
A series of evidence from “from independent and impartial sources”including NGOs, “in addition to our own research” show that “the intentions of the army went beyond ethnic cleansing, to real destruction” of this minority, estimated the Secretary of State.
In particular, he cited a report by American diplomacy focused on two periods beginning in October 2016 and August 2017. In September 2017, for example, Burmese soldiers “razed villages, killed, tortured, raped men, women and children”, he listed. He estimated that the 2016 attacks “forced about 100,000” members of this Muslim minority to flee Burma for Bangladesh, and that those of 2017 “killed more than 9,000 Rohingya and forced more than 740,000 of them to seek refuge” in this neighboring country.
“The attacks against the Rohingya were widespread and systematic, which is essential to qualify as crimes against humanity”, added Anthony Blinken. The head of American diplomacy did not accompany this recognition with new sanctions against Burma. The United States has already imposed a series of sanctions on Burmese leaders and, like other Western countries, has long restricted its arms exports to the Burmese military.