E-Paper
Myanmar committed genocide against Rohingya: US
Antony Blinken said that the US is committed to accompany the Rohingya on the path out of genocide, towards ‘truth, accountability, and a home that will accept them as equal members’.
The United States (US) has officially concluded that members of Myanmar’s military committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” against Rohingya, secretary of state Antony J Blinken announced on Monday.
He said that the US is committed to accompany the Rohingya on the path out of genocide, towards “truth, accountability, and a home that will accept them as equal members”.
Speaking at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, Blinken, who toured an exhibit titled “Burma’s path to genocide”, said that the state department’s conclusion drew from detailed documentation by independent human rights organisations and the Department’s own fact-finding reports based on interviews with more than 1,000 Rohingya refugees in refugee camps in Bangladesh. He claimed that the Myanmar military’s attacks in 2016 had forced nearly 100,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh; in 2017, another set of attacks killed more than 9,000 Rohingya, and forced another 740,000 to seek refuge in Bangladesh.
“Three-quarters of those interviewed said that they personally witnessed members of the military kill someone. More than half witnessed acts of sexual violence. One in five witnessed a mass-casualty event - that is, the killing or injuring of more than 100 people in a single incident. These percentages matter. They demonstrate that these abuses were not isolated cases. The attack against Rohingya was widespread and systematic, which is crucial for reaching a determination of crimes against humanity.”
Blinken added that the evidence also pointed to intent - “intent to destroy Rohingya whole or in part”. To substantiate his claim of intent, Blinken referred to accounts of Myanmar’s soldiers that they had been ordered to shoot at every sight of a person, use of racist slurs, soldiers bragging about the killings on social media, public comments by Myanmar’s military leaders, preparatory steps taken in the run-up to atrocities, and efforts to prevent Rohingya people from escaping.
“Percentages, numbers, patterns, intent: these are critically important to reach the determination of genocide,” said Blinken. The groundwork for genocide, he added, had been laid for years with dehumanisation and demonisation, and Rohingya has been systematically, over decades, been stripped of their rights and citizenship. “The path is a familiar one, mirroring in so many ways the path to the Holocaust and other genocides.”
The secretary of state said that the same military leaders who had overseen the genocide had then orchestrated a coup against the democratically elected government in Myanmar in 2021, and then use similar tactics to repress dissenters. “The similarities in these atrocities underscore a fundamental truth of this museum and of history: People who are willing to commit atrocities against one group of people can swiftly be turned against another.”
Blinken said that the US was committed to the path of accountability for these crimes, and to “stop the military’s ongoing atrocities, press for the release of all those unjustly detained, support the people of Burma as they strive to put the country back on the track to democracy”.
