· Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and the Commander-in-Chief and five generals should be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under international law, UN investigators said.
· In a report, they called for the UN Security Council to set up an ad hoc tribunal to try suspects or refer them to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
· The Security Council should also impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and targeted sanctions against individuals most responsible for crimes.
· They blamed the country’s de facto civilian leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, for failing to use her ”moral authority” to protect civilians.
· The report also criticised Facebook for allowing the world’s biggest social media network to be used to incite violence and hatred.
· A year ago, government troops led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base.
· Some 7,00,000 Rohingya fled the crackdown and most are now living in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.
· Ms. Suu Kyi’s government has rejected most allegations of atrocities made against the security forces by refugees. It has built transit centres for refugees to return, but UN aid agencies say it is not yet safe for them to do so.
· There is sufficient information to warrant the investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the Tatmadaw (army) chain of command.
· The UN panel, set up last year, interviewed 875 victims and witnesses in Bangladesh and other countries, and analysed documents, videos, photographs and satellite images.
Source : The Hindu