GENEVA 

The safe return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar cannot happen until violence ends and perpetrators are held accountable, the head of the UN's Myanmar investigative body warned Thursday.

"More than one million Rohingya forcibly displaced to Bangladesh will not be able to safely and sustainably return to Myanmar until the violence against them ends and perpetrators can be brought to justice," Nicholas Koumjian, the head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), said in a statement.

Koumjian will join the Stakeholders' Dialogue in Cox's Bazar on Aug. 24-25, organized by Bangladesh and feeding into a high-level UN conference in September. The event coincides with the 8th anniversary of Myanmar's 2017 clearance operations, when security forces carried out mass killings, sexual violence and village destruction that forced three-quarters of a million Rohingya to flee, the statement underlined.

"No one has yet been held accountable for these horrific crimes. When crimes go unpunished, this fuels more violence," he said.

He underlined that he consistently hears from Rohingya refugees that they want to return to their homes in Myanmar, but only when it is safe to do so.

"Ending the violence and atrocities against civilians from all communities in Rakhine is critical for the eventual safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return of those that have been displaced," he added.

The IIMM has launched new investigations into recent reports of killings, torture and rape amid renewed violence in Rakhine, which has displaced 150,000 more Rohingya in the past 18 months. It is also examining the 2017 destruction and appropriation of Rohingya land.

"The loss of their land and property has destroyed the social and cultural fabric of the Rohingya communities," Koumjian said.

The mechanism's evidence has been shared with the ICC, ICJ, Argentina and the UK, according to the statement.