It may be a small win for the Rohingya minority of Myanmar. Citing genocide the UN investigators said army chief as well as the top military commanders would be prosecuted in an international court. The immediate reaction was to pressurize social platform Facebook to remove pages tied to the country’s military.
Last August the mainly Buddhist country cracked down heavily on Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine state amid accounts of murder and rape by the soldiers. Around 700,000 fled to neighboring Bangladesh.
However, the country has denied to have processed ethnic cleansing as it is strongly being alleged. It said the move was in response to attacks by Rohingya rebels.
UN-backed fact-finding mission said “(Myanmar’s) top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State.”
The mission added it was crimes against humanity and so the top officers would be investigated and prosecuted. Its report read the war crimes by Myanmar was also against other minorities in the northern Kachin and Shan States of the country.
The fact finding mission was created last year in March by the UN Human Rights Council.
Meanwhile, just six of the top military commanders have been named by the mission, but it is said the list may be long and soon would be shared.
Mission criticized civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for not using her de facto position as head of government to prevent the unfolding events.
