Possible elements of genocide in Myanmar: UN

This article is more than 12 months old

Dec 07, 2017 06:00 am

GENEVA: United Nations member states said yesterday that Myanmar was likely committing "crimes against humanity" against its Rohingya minority, while the UN rights chief voiced alarm over possible "elements of genocide".

Following a special session of the UN Human Rights Council, the nations overwhelmingly voted in favour of a resolution expressing grave concern over widespread abuses committed against the largely Muslim minority.

Thirty-three of the council's 47 members backed the text listing a long line of horrific abuses, including summary killings of children, rape, torture and large-scale forced displacement, which it said indicated "the very likely commission of crimes against humanity".

An army-led crackdown has forced some 626,000 people to flee from northern Rakhine state and across the border into squalid camps in Bangladesh in recent months, leaving hundreds of villages burned to the ground. Myanmar's military vehemently denies accusations by the UN and the United States that it has committed ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.

Myanmar's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Mr Htin Lynn, slammed the resolution, decrying it as "unethical and unprofessional" and as "infringing on the state sovereignty of Myanmar".- AFP