29 September 2017•Update: 29 September 2017
GENEVA
The UN's human rights body on Friday extended a fact-finding mission in Myanmar till September 2018 to continue an investigation of murder, rape, torture, and arbitrary arrests targeting Rohingya Muslims.
Despite opposition from Myanmar, China, and the Philippines, the Human Rights Council in Geneva decided to scrutinize alleged crimes of the army and security forces on the Muslim population.
The proposal, which was accepted without a council vote, was proposed by Estonia on behalf of the European Union.
The 47-member council first agreed to create an inquiry mission this March, and its term was set to end in March 2018.
A military crackdown has forced more than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee Rakhine state in Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh, in what the United Nations has called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
The refugees are fleeing security forces and Buddhist mobs which have killed men, women and children, looted homes, and torched Rohingya villages.
According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
Reporting by Bayram Altug; Writing by Ilker Girit;
