UN calls on Myanmar to refrain from disproportionate force in Rakhine

The UN human rights chief has called on authorities in Myanmar to ensure that security forces refrain from using disproportionate force against the persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that Myanmar authorities should issue clear instructions to security forces to refrain from using disproportionate force.

The UN rights chief said the political leadership had a duty to protect all civilians "without discrimination".

Elsewhere in his remarks, he condemned coordinated attacks by an insurgent group on security forces last Friday.

Renewed violence erupted on August 25, after dozens of police and border outposts in Rakhine allegedly came under attack by a group claiming to be advocating the Rohingya against the government crackdown in Rakhine. A total of 89 people, including 12 security personnel, were killed during the violence.

At least 104 people have been killed in the fresh bout of violence involving Myanmar’s military and the armed group.

Separately, Zeid said in a statement that more than 8,700 Rohingya had fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh since the attacks. “This turn of events is deplorable. It was predicted and could have been prevented.”

Video clips circulating on social media showed there was widespread burning of buildings and even whole neighborhoods in Maungdaw township in northern Rakhine on Sunday.

Arakan Times, an online news website serving the Rohingya community, said Myanmar border guards and soldiers had burned down 1,000 homes from Saturday through Monday.

Satellite data indicates burning in Rakhine: HRW 

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said new satellite data was consistent with widespread burning in at least 10 areas in the northern parts of Rakhine.

The international rights body also demanded that the government grant access to independent monitors to determine the sources of fire and assess allegations of human rights violations.

Phil Robertson, the HRW deputy Asia director, has expressed concern over the destruction across the violence-wracked region.

“This new satellite data should cause concern and prompt action by donors and UN agencies to urge the Burmese government to reveal the extent of ongoing destruction in Rakhine State,” Robertson said.

“Shuffling all the blame on insurgents doesn’t spare the Burmese government from its international obligations to stop abuses and investigate alleged violations.”

In March, the UN Human Rights Council established an independent, international fact-finding mission with a mandate to investigate allegations of recent rights abuses in Myanmar, especially in Rakhine. The government has refused to cooperate with the mission and indicated it would deny visas to three experts appointed to the mission.

“The Burmese government has repeatedly shown that it has neither the interest nor the skill to credibly and impartially investigate abuses in Rakhine state,” said Robertson. “Concerned governments should press for independent investigations of serious rights violations, or there will be many more victims.”

On Thursday, a commission led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Myanmar must scrap restrictions on movement for the Rohingya Muslims and end use of excessive force against them in Rakhine if it wants to avoid fueling extremism. 

Read more:

• Annan commission calls on Myanmar to end use of excessive force against Rohingya

Myanmar’s government brands the 1.1 million-strong Rohingya population in the country as “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims, however, have had roots in the country that go back centuries. They are considered by the UN the “most persecuted minority group in the world.”

The government used a militant attack on border guards back in October 2016 as a pretext to enforce the blockade on Rakhine.

There have been numerous eyewitness accounts of summary executions, rapes, and arson attacks by the military since the crackdown began.

Some 87,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since last year amid the crackdown.

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