Web Desk (September 18, 2017): A rights group Human Rights Watch has demanded imposing sanctions and an arms embargo against the Myanmar military in response to an offensive that has forced 410,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh for safety. The United Nations has condemned the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.
The latest spasm of violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State began on August 25 after rumors of Rohingya insurgents attacking police posts and an army camp killing about 12 people.
Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya Muslims say Myanmar security forces and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes responded with what they describe as a campaign of violence and arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population.
The Human Rights Watch group said that Myanmar security forces were disregarding condemnation by world leaders over the violence and the exodus of refugees, and the time had come to impose tougher measures that Myanmar’s generals could not ignore.
In a press release the group said, “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.”
Myanmar state of Rakhine housed about one million Rohungya Muslims until the recent violence. Muslims are subjected to draconian travel restrictions and are denied citizenship in Buddhist-majority country.
Myanmar government leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has faced immense criticism from abroad for not stopping the violence.
The United States has called for the protection of civilians and a deputy assistant secretary of state, Patrick Murphy, is due in Myanmar this week.
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