Myanmar’s junta has strongly rejected international remarks on the sixth anniversary of the Rohingya genocide, slamming them as “politically motivated” statements that failed to recognize the root cause and context of the violence.
Countries including the UK and US joined international organizations and local civil society groups in releasing statements on the 2017 exodus of more than 730,000 Rohingya forced out of Rakhine State into Bangladesh by the Myanmar military’s so-called ‘clearance operations’. The statements reaffirmed solidarity with the Rohingya community in the pursuit of justice and accountability for victims and survivors.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday also reiterated the call for accountability and justice for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya driven from their homes in 2017, in what has been described as “textbook” ethnic cleansing.
He added that the Rohingya should be afforded safe and dignified return to their homes in Myanmar, but this was currently impossible given the precarious conditions in Rakhine State.
“Furthermore, the military has shown no willingness to address systematic discrimination against the Rohingya,” he said.
The junta’s foreign affairs ministry responded by rejecting the term “Rohingya”, insisting the term could not be found in historical or legal documents of Myanmar.
“Thus, deliberately using such terms and issuing statements and remarks to politicize the incident would not give any constructive support to Myanmar’s sincere efforts at early commencement of repatriation of verified displaced persons based on the bilateral arrangements between Myanmar and Bangladesh reached in 2017 and 2018 respectively,” the ministry said in a statement issued on Monday.
It added that certain countries and international organizations had ignored the brutal acts of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which it claimed had triggered the 2017 ‘clearance operation’ in Rakhine.
The ministry insisted the military’s actions accorded with rules of engagement and were taken to restore peace in response to ARSA’s synchronized attacks on police outposts and a regiment headquarters.
Meanwhile, the parallel civilian National Unity Government (NUG) acknowledged the “egregious atrocities committed against the Rohingya people by the Myanmar military in 2017” in a statement issued on August 25 to mark the sixth anniversary of Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day.
It said the NUG recognizes the Rohingya people as “an integral part of Myanmar and as nationals” and acknowledged “with great shame” the history of prejudice and exclusion that led to the atrocities.
It also pledged to create the conditions necessary to bring Myanmar’s Rohingya people “home” in voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable ways while delivering justice to survivors of historic and continuing military atrocities.
“We are also committed to social change and the complete overhaul of discriminatory laws in consultation with minority communities and their representatives,” it stated.
The NUG recently appointed Rohingya activist U Aung Kyaw Moe as its deputy human rights minister.
The parallel government also pledged full cooperation with national and international accountability mechanisms including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
