Talks to return 620 000 Rohingya
YANGON: Myanmar’s State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, hopes an agreement with neighbouring Bangladesh this week will lead to the return of some 620 000 minority Rohingya Muslims who fled a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine State.
Suu Kyi hoped meetings today and tomorrow “would result in an MoU (memorandum of understanding) signed quickly, to start the safe and voluntary return of all of those who’ve gone across the border”.
Myanmar’s de facto leader made the comments at the end of the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting of foreign ministers in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw.
The democracy icon has faced international pressure over the widespread allegations of human rights abuses committed by government security forces. The UN has said the actions amount to “ethnic cleansing”.
Asked about these allegations, Suu Kyi said she could not say whether abuses occurred, but the government had to make sure they did not happen.
Yesterday, Amnesty International released a report documenting the Myanmar government’s systematic discrimination against the country’s 1.1 million Muslims, saying the actions amounted to “apartheid”, a crime against humanity.
Global efforts were needed to “dismantle” the system, Amnesty said.
“Myanmar authorities have imposed a systematic and state-sponsored system of segregation and discrimination on Rohingya, with all aspects of their lives severely restricted and their rights being violated daily,” said Dr Anna Neistat, Amnesty International’s senior director for research.
“We have concluded that this system amounts to a crime against humanity (like) apartheid,” she added, citing a two-year investigation involving multiple field trips and interviews with hundreds of people.
The rights watchdog said systematic discrimination was “clearly linked to their ethnic (or racial) identity and therefore legally constituted apartheid”.
The group called for the international community to take measures against such discrimination.
“It is a joint responsibility of the international community to address such a situation,” Neistat said.