UN sets up team for Myanmar prosecution

GENEVA/WASHINGTON:The UN’s top human rights body has agreed to set up a team to collect evidence of alleged crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011 that could one day be used to prosecute violators in court.

The 47-member Human Rights Council voted 35-3 on Thursday to create an “independent mechanism” that is intended to complement a fact-finding mission the council previously authorized to help document alleged rights violations in Myanmar. China, Burundi and the Philippines opposed the measure. Seven countries abstained from the vote.

The mechanism’s work is expected to cover a massive security crackdown that began in August 2017. Human rights group say it left at least 10,000 people dead and caused hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh.

U.S. LAWMAKERS URGE TRUMP GOVT TO CALL CAMPAIGN GENOCIDE

Leaders of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee called on the Trump administration on Wednesday to declare the Myanmar military’s campaign against the Rohingya a genocide, days after a state department report stopped short of that description.

“Making a formal determination of genocide must be the next step for the US,” Ed Royce, the committee’s chairman, told a hearing. “Defining these atrocities for what they are is critical to building international public awareness – and support – to stop them.” AGENCIES