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Myanmar army still committing genocide against Rohingya Muslims, UN says

Wednesday, 24 October 2018 11:16 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 24 October 2018 11:22 PM ]

The head of the UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar, Marzuki Darusman, answers questions during a press conference ahead of a UN Security Council session on violations of human rights in the country, October 24, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

The head of the UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar says the country's army is still committing war crimes against Rohingya Muslims.

"I stress that atrocities continue to take place today. Even until this very moment the remaining Rohingya community continues to suffer the most severe restrictions, the most severe oppression and nothing has fundamentally changed over the past one year, since August of 2017," Marzuki Darusman told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday ahead of a UN Security Council session, which was held at the request of Britain, France, the United States and six other members.

"It is an ongoing genocide that is taking place at the moment," he noted.

Darusman further condemned what he called the systematic massacre and gang rape of Rohingya Muslims, adding that the government's denial of the accusations "only strengthens the case that the international community needs to act and accountability cannot be expected from the national processes."

Darusman's remarks come as the UN's special envoy to Myanmar also had previously said that the Myanmar government is “unwilling” to investigate violence against Muslims.

Rapporteur Yanghee Lee said in a report published on her Twitter account on October 8 that the government had taken “limited and insufficient steps” to investigate the atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.

PressTV-Myanmar ‘unwilling’ to probe Rohingya genocide: UN

The United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar says the Myanmarese government is “unwilling” to investigate state-sponsored violence against the Rohingya Muslim community.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's UN Ambassador Hau Do Suan told the UN General Assembly's human rights committee on Tuesday that "there will be no impunity" for "perpetrators where there is sufficient evidence" with regards to the human rights violations in the country.

Last year, Myanmar’s army launched a deadly crackdown on the country's Muslim minority group, which led to the death of thousands of people and forced around 700,000 Rohingyas to flee their villages and cross into Bangladesh, where they live in overcrowded camps with limited access to food, medicine and education.

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