Myanmar turns down UN findings
YANGON — Myanmar Wednesday rejected the findings of a UN investigation alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, after the US and other countries joined growing calls for them to face justice.
Mainly Buddhist Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year's military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh.
On Monday the UN probe detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale" against the Rohingya, including acts of rape, sexual violence and mass killings.
In a UN Security Council session a day later, several countries – including the US, Britain, France and Sweden – called for Myanmar's military leaders to be held accountable. But Myanmar rejected the UN mission's findings in a typically defiant response to a crisis that has heaped international opprobrium on both its military and civilian leadership.
"We didn't allow the FFM (the UN Fact-Finding Mission) to enter into Myanmar, that's why we don't agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council," said government spokesman Zaw Htay, according to yesterday's state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. He pointed to the formation of Myanmar's own Independent Commission of Enquiry, which he said was set up to respond to "false allegations made by the UN agencies and other international communities".
The country has "zero tolerance for human rights violations", Zaw Htay said, but he added that "strong evidence" including records and dates of any alleged abuses must be provided before investigations are undertaken.
The government would take "legal action against any violation of human rights", he said.
FACEBOOK BAN
Zaw Htay also lashed out at Facebook for shutting down the pages of Myanmar's army chief and other top military brass on Monday, saying the move could hamper the government's efforts at "national reconciliation".
The social media giant has admitted it was previously too slow to react to the crisis, which saw its platform – wildly popular in Myanmar – become an incubator of hate speech against the Rohingya.
Much of Myanmar's public has vilified the Rohingya since the army's crackdown, with little sympathy for a minority who have for years been refused citizenship and denied freedom of movement and access to healthcare and education.
Myanmar's military retains significant constitutional and political power and is essentially free of civilian oversight.
But the country's civilian leaders, including Nobel laureate and de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, have repeatedly defended the military crackdown as a proportionate response to Rohingya insurgents in Rakhine state who staged deadly raids on police posts on August 25, 2017.