KEEPING ARMY IN CHECK
UN General Assembly urged to impose sanctions on Myanmar’s military
PRESSURE tightened on Myanmar as a rights group urged world leaders yesterday to impose sanctions on the country’s military, which is accused of driving out more than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims in an orchestrated “ethnic cleansing” campaign.
The call from Human Rights Watch came as the UN General Assembly prepared to convene in New York, with the crisis in Myanmar billed as one of the most pressing topics.
The mass exodus of Rohingya refugees to neighbouring Bangladesh has billowed into an humanitarian emergency as aid groups struggle to provide relief to a daily stream of new arrivals, more than half of whom are children.
There are acute shortages of nearly all forms of aid, with many Rohingya huddling under tarps as their only protection from monsoon rains.
Myanmar’s government hinted on Sunday that it would not take back all who fled across the border, accusing those refugees of having links to militants whose raids on police posts last month set off the army backlash.
Any moves to block the refugees’ return will likely inflame Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, who will press the UN General Assembly for more global pressure on Myanmar to repatriate all of the Rohingya massing in shantytowns along her border.
Human Rights Watch also called for the “safe and voluntary return” of the displaced as it urged governments around the globe to punish Myanmar’s army with sanctions for the “ongoing atrocities” against the Rohingya.
“The United Nations Security Council and concerned countries should impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on the Burmese military to end its ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims,” the group said.
It called on the General Assembly to make the crisis a priority, urging countries to issue travel bans and asset freezes on Myanmar officers implicated in the abuses, as well as expand arms embargoes.
“Myanmar’s senior military commanders are more likely to heed the calls of the international community if they are suffering real economic consequences,” said John Sifton, HRW’s Asia advocacy director. AFP