Arakan News Agency
A Rohingya advocacy group urged the government of Myanmar on Tuesday to cooperate with a UN fact-finding mission as it presents new evidence of attacks against Muslim civilians in western Arakan state.
The London-based Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K. (BROUK) published a new report that contains evidence Rohingya have been targeted in an organized manner by state forces in northern Arakan state during military operations since last October.
“What is new about the material contained in this report is that it documents, through photographs, testimony and forensic analysis, physical evidence of attacks against civilians,” BROUK said in its report.
The report was based on more than two dozen interviews with Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar region of Bangladesh, who fled the Maungdaw area last year.
Evidence of gunshots and other weapon wounds were checked against information collected by international groups working in the refugee camps, according to the report.
BROUK urged the government to further investigate the physical evidence of abuses against civilians in the area.
“The report argues that the international community must not allow the obstruction of the Fact-Finding Mission by the government of Burma to lead to further impunity for crimes being committed. If obstructed by the government, the Mission must collect evidence by other means, and this report demonstrates that it is possible to collect evidence in neighbouring countries.” it said.
Mr.Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK added that for the past 20 years the international community has failed to act when the government of Burma has ignored recommendations about the Rohingya in UN General Assembly Resolutions, UN Human Rights Council Resolutions, and by Special Rapporteurs,” said . “This must not be allowed to happen again after the Fact Finding Mission reports. This time we need action or we’ll keep seeing this kind of abuses over and over again.
It added that the need for full accountability and justice is essential not only for the Rohingya community but to the broader process of reconciliation in Arakan state.
The UN Human Rights Council decided in March to send an international fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan but the government rebuffed that decision, saying it does not reflect the situation on the ground.
