The US has officially declared that the repression of Rohingya Muslims launched by the military government in Myanmar five years ago was a genocide. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday officially called the violence in Myanmar a genocide. A legal document for war crimes has also been released on the occasion. American investigators prepared it in 2018.
The document, kept at the American Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, states that the Rohingyas were massacred by Myanmar’s military government. During this, about 10 lakh Rohingya were expelled from the country. For this heinous methods like mass murders, crucifixion, rape, burning of families alive and drowning were adopted. With this decision, international pressure on Myanmar’s military power is expected to increase.
Actually, the agency has submitted a detailed report on the matter. Along with this, additional economic sanctions will be imposed against Myanmar’s military government and punitive action can also be taken by cutting aid, the report said. Myanmar’s military government overthrew the democratic government of Myanmar led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
On the other hand, with this decision, a debate can erupt in America because the previous Trump administration had postponed this decision. The US State Department was yet to decide whether to hold Myanmar’s military junta responsible for the genocide of the minority Rohingya. On Sunday itself, a US State Department official confirmed that it would be considered a genocide.
However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Malaysia in December last year that the US was seriously considering whether the repression of the Rohingya could be treated as genocide. For now, after the official declaration of genocide, some sanctions may also emerge and new fines may be imposed.
At present, about eight and a half lakh Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in the neighboring country of Bangladesh. The fleeing people say that Rohingya Muslims were massacred, women were gang-raped and their homes looted. The matter is also being heard at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.