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UN: Myanmar Military Intended to Perpetrate Genocide Against Rohingya Muslims

Margaret Besheer

   UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. fact-finding mission has concluded that the
   Myanmar military intended to perpetrate genocide on ethnic Rohingya
   Muslims when it drove hundreds of thousands of them from the country in
   2017.

   The report, released Thursday, also said the government has failed to
   meet its responsibility under the Genocide Convention to investigate
   and punish acts of genocide.

   "The human rights violations we have been asked to look into, the basic
   responsibility lies with the Tatmadaw," Radhika Coomaraswamy, an expert
   with the mission, said at the release of the report. The Tatmadaw is
   the Myanmar military.

   More than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine state in
   August and September 2017, after attacks by Rohingya militants against
   state security forces led to military reprisals. They continue to seek
   shelter in a refugee camp in neighboring Bangladesh.

   The fact-finding mission focused on sexual and gender-based violence,
   which was widely reported by survivors who reached Bangladesh.

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