Rohingya violence is 'ethnic cleansing,' United Nations says

The United Nations has denounced Burma‘s operations against Rohingya Muslims as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. The UN High Commissioner of Human Rights said the “brutal security operation” in Rakhine state was “clearly disproportionate and without regard for basic principles of international law”. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva that more than 270,000 people had fled to Bangladesh, with more trapped on the border, amid reports of the burning of villages and extrajudicial killings.

“I call on the government to end its current cruel military operation, with accountability for all violations that have occurred, and to reverse the pattern of severe and widespread discrimination against the Rohingya population,” he added. “The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” The military campaign began on 25 August, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of Burmese police and paramilitary posts in what they said was an effort to protect their ethnic minority from persecution by security forces in the majority Buddhist country. In response, the military unleashed what it called “clearance operations” to root out Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militants.