UN mission urges financial boycott of Myanmar military

ANKARA

A UN panel Tuesday urged the international community to halt financial and other support to Myanmar’s military, as it accused it of human rights abuses.

The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) in a statement recommended the isolation of military commanders and bringing them before a "credible court" to answer for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

FFM chair Marzuki Darusman said Myanmar "has not done enough" to solve the nation’s conflicts and protect human rights, including the crisis of over a million ethnic Muslim Rohingya civilians who have been forced into exile.

“There has been no movement toward a resolution of the crisis,” Darusman said at the conclusion of a 10-day visit to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, where FFM experts met government officials, UN agencies, regional actors, humanitarian workers and representatives of different communities.

“The situation is at a total standstill,” he said.

In September 2018, the FFM submitted a 444-page report to the UN Human Rights Council that documents the brutal violation of human rights of ethnic minorities in Myanmar.

Darusman implored Myanmar’s government to “focus on the real betterment of the remaining Rohingya community in Myanmar,” adding that many people live in fear of security forces, as well as more than 120,000 are still restricted to displacement camps they were forced to flee to after violence in 2012.

Darusman said meeting with different ethnic communities only underscored the FFM findings on similar atrocities committed by the military against many ethnic groups living in Myanmar.

"Acknowledging that human rights violations have been committed, holding people accountable and reforming the Tatmadaw [military] is the only way forward,” he said.

The statement also reiterated FFM's interest in engaging in dialogue with the Myanmar government to advance accountability, ensure justice and promote the right to safe, voluntary and dignified return.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children, and women, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces.