Arakan News Agency
UN Special Envoy for Human Rights in Myanmar Ms. Yanghee Lee said the army’s violent military operations against Rohingya carry “features of genocide.”
Lee told reporters Thursday in the South Korean capital, Seoul, where she is based, that she can not make a final declaration on genocide until a credible court or tribunal assesses the evidence. “But we are seeing evidence and leading to it.”
Nearly 700,000 Rohingyas have fled their villages to Bangladesh since the Aug 25th Myanmar army campaign. The Myanmar government has refused to enter the country.
Asked about a report by the Associated Press about the details of the massacre and the appearance of at least five mass graves in the village of Gudaa Pyin between Myanmar, she explained that such reports should be investigated.
“That’s why we called for a fact-finding mission … and international media access to areas in the northern Arakan province where Rohingya lives,” she said. Lee added that Myanmar’s actions “amount to crimes against humanity.” “It is part of the characteristics of genocide,” Lee said.
“I think that Myanmar needs to get rid of these obsolete arguments and if they are proven to have massacres, then there must be accountability and accountability. There must be no place left without inspection because people, the families of the victims certainly deserve an answer,” she said.
