The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution Friday which strongly condemns Myanmar for abuses of human rights committed against the muslim minority in the rohinyás, by the arbitrary arrests, the torture, rape and deaths of detainees. The body of 193 members was approved with 134 votes in favor, nine against and 28 abstentions, the resolution calls on the government of Myanmar to take urgent measures to combat the hatred against the rohinyás and other minority groups of the society in the states of Rakhine, Kachin and Shan. The resolution, which does not have legal effect, it does reflect the opinion of the world on the subject.
The most buddhist of Myanmar believes that the rohinyás are bengali in Bangladesh, even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Virtually all have been denied citizenship since 1982, so they are stateless and have no freedom of movement and other basic rights. The crisis of the rohinyás exploded in August of 2017, when the Myanmar military troops launched an offensive in Rhakine in response to an attack by an insurgent group rohinyá. That campaign led to the mass exodus to Bangladesh and fired accusations against the security forces, identified by mass rapes, killings and burning of homes.
The ambassador of Myanmar at the United Nations, Hau Do Suan, described the resolution as “another classic example of double standards and selective application and discriminatory human rights standards” designed to “political pressure being put on Myanmar”. The ambassador said that the resolution does not seek solutions to a complex situation in Rakhine state and does not recognize the government’s efforts to manage the challenges of the area. The resolution, he said, “will sow distrust and create a greater polarization of the different communities in the region.”
The resolution of the United Nations shows its alarm at the continuing flow of muslims rohinyás to neighbouring Bangladesh over the past four decades, which have reached 1.1 million people from Myanmar, including 744.000 that have done so since August of 2017 “in the aftermath of the atrocities committed by the security forces and Myanmar armed”. The assembly has also expressed its alarm at the finding of an international mission, independent of the country “of brutal human rights violations and abuses suffered by the muslims rohinyás and other minorities” by the security forces, who committed “undoubtedly the most serious crimes under international law”.
The text of United Nations calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and reiterates the cessation of “systematic discrimination and institutionalized” against the rohinyás, the dismantling of the camps for internally displaced people and other minorities of Myanmar and “create the necessary conditions for the return safe, voluntary, dignified and safe of all the refugees”, something that the rohinyás have been repeatedly rejected for fear of the absence of those conditions of security in Myanmar.
The setback to Myanmar comes two weeks after the policy of burmese Aung San Suu Kyi, 73 years old, counselor of State of Myanmar, he defended his country before the International Court of Justice of the UN (ICJ) and rejected the allegations of genocide against the rohinyás. Suu Kyi called “the internal conflict of the fight against terrorism, without genocidal intent,” the situation that has provoked the exodus of tens of thousands of members of this community to the neighboring Bangladesh. The policy burma / myanmar said that Myanmar was “not intended to rohinyás to disappear”.
