Myanmar is ‘unwilling’ to investigate abuses against Rohingya, UN says, suggesting international criminal court must act instead
Myanmar’s powerful armed forces have denied almost all accusations of genocide levelled against it, insisting ‘clearance operations’ were necessary to fight Rohingya militants
Myanmar is “unable and unwilling” to investigate its abuses against Rohingya Muslims, a UN rights envoy has said, bolstering calls for the country’s generals to be hauled before an international court.
A UN fact-finding mission has called for Myanmar’s top brass to be investigated for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes over a brutal crackdown against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state that forced more than 720,000 of the beleaguered minority to flee the country to Bangladesh.
Myanmar has dismissed the allegations, slamming the UN body as biased, and the government has set up its own committee to investigate the crimes.
But UN special rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee – who has been barred from entering the country since December – said the government has shown little capacity for an unbiased probe into the violence, saying it has taken “limited and insufficient steps”.
“[Myanmar] is unable and unwilling to discharge its obligation to conduct credible, prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations and prosecutions,” Lee said in a report she published via her Twitter account on Monday.
