Socialists and Democrats are appalled by the findings of the UN investigators' report on the violence against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar that explicitly recognises what happened as genocide. The report is presented today in AFET committee by the members of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The S&D Group demands the accountability for all the perpetrators and call for a global comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar.

 

 

 

"The scale of atrocities committed by Myanmar’s military and described in the UN report are just unspeakable. More than 700,000 people had to flee and 10,000 were killed. We deplore the brutal mass massacres, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and all inhumane acts committed against the civilian Rohingya minority population in the Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States.

 

"The UN investigators explicitly blame Myanmar’s military for carrying out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent”. This must not go unnoticed! We join the UN investigators' call to bring the Myanmar’s commander-in-chief and five generals to justice and we call on the EU and its Member States to lead at the UN Security Council the requested reaction to refer this situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes under international law.

 

"To our great disappointment the UN report confirmed the disgraceful performance of Sakharov and Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who has not used her de facto position as head of government to prevent the unfolding events in Rakhine. Once again we urge her to use her key position to improve the inhumane situation of the Rohingya minority and bring the perpetrators to justice, including by cooperating with the ICC."

 

 

 

"The S&D Group was at the forefront of the recent EP resolutions, calling, inter alia for the UN fact finding mission to be enabled. And yet we are shocked by its findings and fully support the conclusions. The report recognises what happened in Rakhine State as genocide. This is the most serious allegation the UN can levy against a country.

 

"Myanmar has a heavy responsibility to remedy the situation as a matter of the utmost urgency, or risk destroying its democratic reform process. The international community must also take a united and strong stand. We call on the UN Security Council to impose a global comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar.

 

"Finally, let us not forget that it was the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, whose death we still mourn, who made a series of recommendations on how to address the situation in Myanmar. We must implement them without delay. To put an immediate end to this genocide and seek justice. This will be the best way to pay tribute to his outstanding work to defend some of the world's most vulnerable people."