Engel Presses for Accountability for Burmese Military Crimes Against the Rohingya

U .S.HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
COMMETTE on FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PRESS RELEASE 
July 29, 2019

Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and a bipartisan group of members today urged Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to take strong action to hold the Burmese military accountable for crimes against the Rohingya people. In a letter, the members cast the Department’s recently announced visa bans on four Burmese officials as inadequate, pressed for more meaningful and effective sanctions, and called on the Administration to designate the crimes against the Rohingya as genocide.

Suu Kyi should learn from US sanctions on Myanmar military leaders over Rohingya: The Statesman

THE STRAIT TIMES
22 July 2019

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An elected government, technically helmed by Aung San Suu Kyi albeit not as President, has lamentably failed to address what the UN has called the "worst humanitarian crisis" since the Second World War.PHOTO: EPA-EFE

 

In its editorial, the paper praises US President Donald Trump's administration for being the first country to publicly take action against Myanmar military leaders, but questions if the sanctions will lessen the persecution of Rohingyas.

NEW DELHI (THE STATESMAN/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Aung San Suu Kyi, who has maintained a rather intriguing silence on the persecution of Rohingyas, ought to draw a lesson from America's decision to crack the whip with what they call "individual sanctions".

U.S. imposes sanctions on Myanmar military commander over Rohingya abuses

REUTERS 

17-07-2019

 

FILE PHOTO - Myanmar military commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, attends a military exercise at Ayeyarwaddy delta region in Myanmar, February 3, 2018. REUTERS/Lynn Bo Bo/Pool

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday announced sanctions on the Myanmar military’s Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and other military leaders over extrajudicial killings of Rohingya Muslims, barring them from entry to the United States.

The steps, which also covered Min Aung Hlaing’s deputy, Soe Win, and two other senior commanders and their families, are the strongest the United States has taken in response to massacres of minority Rohingyas in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Military to Investigative In-Custody Deaths in Rakhine

The Irrawaddy
By Nan Lwin
15 July 2019

Security forces conduct a manhunt through rural areas of Maungdaw Township, northern Rakhine State, in pursuit of those behind recent attacks on border guard posts. / Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy 

YANGON—The Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) has formed a team to investigate the deaths of civilians held in its custody, amid criticism over the rising number of civilian deaths during their military operations against the Arakan Army (AA) in war-torn Rakhine State.

An announcement from the Tatmataw’s True News Information Team on Friday said the investigation will cover the death of “some civilians” while in detention, plus an investigation of civilian deaths related to the AA and AA-affiliated suspects in four townships in northern Rakhine State.

Rights Groups Hit Myanmar Military Over Mounting Rakhine Deaths in Custody

Radio Free Asia
2019-07-03

Thein Nu Sein, mother of deceased civilian Zaw Win Hlaing, squats next to her son’s coffin following his death from injuries he sustained while in the Myanmar military’s custody in Mrauk-U township, western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, July 2, 2019.  

Rights experts are again criticizing the Myanmar military for possible international law violations after reports that another civilian died in custody amid fighting between national forces and the Arakan Army (AA) in western Myanmar’s Rakhine and Chin states.

According to RFA’s reporting, at least 14 persons died of injuries they received while in military or police custody or detention between March and July during the ongoing armed conflict. Seven were from Rathedaung township, six were from Mrauk-U township, and one was from Kyauktaw township.

Burmese forces may be committing fresh war crimes against Rohingya, UN investigator says

The Telegraph

Gaia Caramazza 

3 July 2019

 

 Rohingya refugee children learn the Koran in a madrasa, or Islamic school, in a Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhia Credit: AFP

Burmese security forces are committing fresh human rights violations that may amount to new allegations of war crimes, a United Nations investigator said on Tuesday.

These claims surfaced with the deployment of thousands of Burmese troops fighting ethnic rebels in Rakhine and Chin, the conflict-ridden Western states of the country.

After a 2017 military crackdown, 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Western Burma, and sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.

“Branded”: Myanmar Military Mutilations of Rohingya Civilians

PHR

By Phelim Kine and Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS
June 28, 2019

Article
 

On the eve of the second anniversary of the August 2017 campaign of extreme violence by Myanmar security forces against Rohingya civilians in northern Rakhine state, the experiences of “Chesa” and Chit” (not their real names) recall the brutality of that campaign.

“Chesa,” a 60-year-old Rohingya woman, and “Chit,” her 20-year-old daughter, were interviewed by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) investigators in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh last year and recounted how, in September 2017, security forces entered their village and forced Chit’s 20-year-old pregnant cousin and her husband into a field. They killed the husband immediately and then raped the cousin, after which they mutilated her breasts with a knife and killed her.

Britain training monstrous Myanmar military

BLiTZ
Vijaya Laxmi Tripura
June 29, 2019

 

Despite the fact of the Burmese military having an appalling human rights record, Britain has been giving training to this monstrous regiment at the cost of British tax-payers.

In September 2017, a group of 157 MPs called on the then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to halt Britain’s military training in Myanmar, which cost the UK around £305,000 in the previous year. Although in response, Mr Jhonson said, Britain was not giving any combat training to the Myanmar military. Rather it was educating them on democracy, leadership and the English language.

Villager Dies in Military Custody in N. Rakhine

The Irrawaddy 
By Min Aung Khine
26 June 2019

Family members retrieve the body of a man who died during military detention from Kyauktaw Township Hospital. / Ko Kyaw Hla Myin

SITTWE—A resident of the village of Pauk Taw Pyin in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township died while being taken to a hospital by the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) on Tuesday, four days after soldiers arrested him.

Family members said they only became aware of the man’s death after his body arrived at Kyauktaw Township Hospital.

Men Detained by Myanmar Army Show Signs of Abuse While in Custody in Rakhine State

RADIO FREE ASIA
2019-06-26

Myo Hein Swe, a Myanmar laborer arrested by the Myanmar military on terrorism charges for allegedly having ties to the Arakan Army, enters Kyauktaw Township Court in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, June 25, 2019.  

Nine civilians detained by the Myanmar military on suspicion of attacking an army column appeared on Tuesday in court in war-ridden Rakhine state’s Mrauk-U township, with two of them accusing soldiers of torture and rights abuses while in custody, their family members and a rights group said.

UN warns of telecom blackout cover for Myanmar military abuses

Aljazeera
25 Jun 2019

Blackout in parts of Rakhine and Chin states imposed amid reports of escalating military offensive against Arakan Army.

The UN Special Rapporteur says the military is stepping up operations against ethnic Buddhist rebels in Rakhine state [FILE/Ann Wang/Reuters]

Myanmar's army may be committing serious human rights violations under cover of a mobile phone blackout in parts of Rakhine and Chin states in the west of the country, Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, said on Monday.

US on Rohingiya Crisis: Congress moves to slap sanctions on Myanmar military

The Daily Star
June 23, 2019

The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs has approved a bipartisan legislation to impose sanctions on Myanmar military in response to the genocide against Rohingyas.

The bill -- The Burma United through Rigorous Military Accountability (BURMA) Act -- will be placed before the full House of Representatives for consideration, said the Committee Chairman Eliot L Engel in a statement on Thursday.
The bill, if passed by the House of Representatives and Senate, would prohibit the expansion of American military assistance to Burma until re-forms take place, and require reporting on crimes against humanity, in-cluding war crimes and genocide.

New Evidence Uncovers War Crimes Committed By Myanmar Military

The Organisation for World Peace
9 Jun, 2019
by Rachel Cowcher

Military operations in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, have been declared as war crimes after recent investigations. Amnesty International’s report ‘“No one can protect us”: War Crimes and abuses in Myanmar’s Rakhine State’ released on May 29, found that since January 2019, Myanmar military has been conducting acts of violence with complete disregard for civilian lives, resulting in innocent people being injured or killed. The report details military activity including “extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment, as well as enforced disappearances”.

Fighting between military and ARSA could not disrupt repatriation says army general

ELEVEN

Published 8 June 2019

Min Naing Soe 

Fighting between the Myanmar army and ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) could not hamper the ongoing repatriation process for those who fled Rakhine State, said Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, secretary of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team.

Seven killed in Myanmar monastery shelling: witnesses

mizzima
By AFP
05 June 2019

Myanmar soldiers stand guard in Maungdaw. Photo: AFP

Seven people were killed when artillery rounds slammed into a monastery where they were sheltering from firefights between military and the Arakan Army (AA) in Myanmar's Rakhine state, witnesses said Tuesday.

Myanmar’s Military Is Still Committing War Crimes Against the Rohingya

Vice News
By David Gilbert
May 29, 2019

The Myanmar military units that committed war crimes against Rohingya Muslims in 2017 are still committing atrocities against the minority group today, according to a new report from Amnesty International.

Myanmar: Military commits war crimes in latest operation in Rakhine State

29 May 2019

 Myanmar,War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

• New abuses come after government order to “crush” armed group

• Military units responsible for past atrocities are committing war crimes, while deployment of additional units suggests involvement of senior generals

• International community is failing – ICC referral urgently needed

Following a recent investigation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Amnesty International has gathered new evidence that the Myanmar military is committing war crimes and other human rights violations. The military operation is ongoing, raising the prospect of additional crimes being committed.

Myanmar military committing war crimes in Rakhine: Amnesty

Aljazeera
by Kate Mayberry

29/05/2019

Human rights group calls for situation in Rakhine state to be referred to International Criminal Court, sanctions.

 Myanmar border guards at Goke Pi outpost in Buthidaung during a government organised media tour of Rakhine state in January [Stringer/Reuters]

The same units of the Myanmar military that in 2017 were implicated in a brutal crackdown that drove hundreds of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya from the country are again committing war crimes as they step up their campaign against ethnic Rakhine rebels, Amnesty International has said.

Chin Rights Group Says Myanmar Military is Forcing Villagers to Serve as Laborers and Porters

RFA
2019-05-24

A sign welcomes visitors to Paletwa township in western Myanmar's Chin state in an undated photo.
Photo courtesy of the Wai Lu Kyaw Foundation

An ethnic Chin human rights group in western Myanmar’s Chin state says the government military has forced residents of four villages to serve as laborers, transporting food rations for troops who are engaged in intense fighting with a rebel ethnic army in the region.

UN Fact-Finding Mission Recommends Suspension of International Dealings with Myanmar’s Military

RFA
2019-05-14

United Nations' Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar chairperson Marzuki Darusman presents the final report on alleged rights violations during a press conference on August 27, 2018 in Geneva.  

 

The government of Myanmar has again rejected U.N. calls for accountability in its handling of the ongoing Rohingya crisis after a statement by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Myanmar Tuesday urged the international community to cut off financial aid to Myanmar’s military.