European Parliament denounces Myanmar's persecution of Rohingya Muslims

The European Parliament has strongly denounced Myanmar's continued persecution of the Rohingya Muslim community.

The parliamentarians on Thursday demanded, through a non-legislative resolution, that Myanmar’s government immediately ensure free and unimpeded access for the United Nations, human rights organizations, international observers and journalists to western Rakhine state, where some 120,000 internally displaced Rohingya Muslims live in more than 80 internal displacement camps.

The European MPs also voiced deep concern about the plight of Rohingyas and urged world nations to provide humanitarian assistance to the persecuted minority.

“The Myanmar government should condemn unequivocally all incitement to racial or religious hatred and implement specific measures and policies to prevent direct and indirect discrimination against the Rohingya in the future,” the resolution said.

Earlier this month, the United Nations said the Myanmar government should immediately end the deep discrimination practiced against the Rohingya and other Muslims in Rakhine state.

“My visit to Rakhine state unfortunately confirmed that the situation on the ground has yet to significantly change," said Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, on July 1 during a press conference in the country's southern city of Yangon, after a 12-day visit to the Buddhist-majority nation.

The UN official also called for the improvement of living conditions in the cramped and decrepit camps for Rohingya and other Muslims in the western state, stressing that putting an end to “institutionalized discrimination against Muslim communities in the state” must be “an urgent priority.”

The remarks came days after the UN human rights office warned that widespread and ongoing human rights violations against the country's Muslims could amount to crimes against humanity.  

In a report released on June 20 on the situation of minorities in Myanmar, the world body said that Rohingyas in Myanmar are subject to multiple and aggravated forms of human rights violation, including citizenship denial, forced labor and sexual violence.

The UN also called on Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to launch an independent and comprehensive investigation into all rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims. 

The UN and the European Union (EU) expressed hope earlier that conditions would improve under Aung San Suu Kyi’s government. Many international observers were also hoping that the change in rule will improve the condition of the country's persecuted Muslim Rohingya ethnicity. 

However, Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has come under fire by rights groups for her stance on the violence against Rohingyas.

Rohingya and other Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar for many years. A large number of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in attacks by extremists who call themselves Buddhists.

Myanmar’s government refuses to recognize Rohingya Muslims as citizens and labels them as “illegal” immigrants.

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