U.N. investigators urge nations to snap financial ties with Myanmar military

Young journalists club

News ID: 39328
Asia » Asia
Publish Date: 17:05 - 14 May 2019
TEHRAN, May 14 - The world must cut off financial and other support for Myanmar's armed forces, a U.N. fact-finding mission said on Tuesday, repeating a call for top generals to be prosecuted for abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

U.N. investigators urge nations to snap financial ties with Myanmar militaryTEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Myanmar security forces are accused of killings, gang rape and arson during a crackdown that drove more than 730,000 people to flee western Rakhine state for neighboring Bangladesh after attacks on police posts by Rohingya insurgents in August 2017.

Myanmar has rejected most of the accusations and dismissed a report last September by the U.N.-appointed panel, which said military officers carried out the campaign against the Rohingya with "genocidal intent" and should stand trial.

Australian human rights lawyer and panel member Christopher Sidoti said it had seen no evidence Myanmar was trying to resolve the crisis or ease the safe return of refugees.

Myanmar has barred the experts from visiting the country, but they visited the region, including refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, beginning early this month.

"Due to the gravity of the past and continuing violations, attention must be given to the political, economic and financial ties of the Myanmar military, to identify who and what should be targeted," Sidoti said.

That would aid efforts to cut off the money supply, as a means of boosting pressure and reducing violence, he added.

Source: Reuters

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