Burmese Army Commits New War Crimes Against Muslims

The United Nations Special Rapporteur, Yangyi Lee, who is said to be resigning her position soon, confirmed, Wednesday, that the Burmese army is committing new war crimes against Muslims in Rakhine and Chen in Myanmar.

According to Reuters, she mentioned in her last statement as a six-year human rights envoy: “While the world is preoccupied with the epidemic of COVID-19, the Myanmar army continues to escalate its offensive in Rakhine State targeting the civilian population,” and called for an international investigation.

The South Korean Special Rapporteur added that the armed forces have intensified their attacks against civilians in the past weeks with air and artillery strikes, “which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The Burmese government has repeatedly rejected requests from the United Nations to enter Myanmar.

The United Nations previously confirmed genocide and crimes against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine in 2017, which forced about 700,000 of them to flee an army campaign.

The army and government consistently deny these accusations and claim that the army has been responding to attacks by Rohingya Muslim rebels.

Myanmar’s military and Buddhist gangs have launched an ethnic cleansing campaign for years against Rakhine Muslims, killing tens of thousands of people and forcing hundreds of thousands more to flee.

More than 720,000 Rohingya Muslims live in camps in Bangladesh, bringing with them horrific testimonies of killings, rape and arson by soldiers and armed Buddhist gangs after their expulsion from Rakhine State in northern Burma. This occurred following a military campaign in 2017 that the United Nations described as ethnic cleansing.

The United Nations and human rights organizations confirmed that the Burmese army committed ethnic cleansing to expel Muslims who have faced discrimination for decades in the country.