Amnesty International is urging Australia to cut financial ties with Myanmar’s military and a report has been released naming 13 senior military officers it believes are most responsible for human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Amnesty wants countries including Australia to support a push to have the officials tried by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, committed amid a military crackdown that has forced more than 702,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh since August.
“We want to send a message to the Myanmar security forces — we know who you are,” said Amnesty’s Myanmar researcher Laura Haigh.
“This was not a series of rogue soldiers or rogue units, this was a tightly controlled operation that targeted the Rohingya just on the basis of who they were.”
The UN has described the situation as a “textbook case of ethnic cleansing”. Myanmar denies the accusations.
Australia has also donated $70 million to help the Rohingya who have fled to the Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp in Bangladesh, and has earmarked $76.9 million in official development assistance for Myanmar this financial year.
>Shiuly Rina
Australia should Cut Ties with Myanmar military
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