Press TV - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for harsh international sanctions against the Myanmar military over its brutal ethnic cleansing campaign against the countrys Rohingya Muslims.
In a statement released on Monday, the New-York based rights body slammed Myanmars army generals for turning a deaf ear to international condemnations of their bloody crackdown against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, saying the time has come for the world community to target the Myanmarese military with such harsh sanctions that it could not ignore.
The United Nations Security Council and concerned countries should impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on the Burmese (Myanmarese) military to end its ethnic cleansing campaign, it said.
The group urged concerned governments to impose travel bans and asset freezes on security officials implicated in serious abuses; expand existing arms embargoes to include all military sales, assistance, and cooperation; and place a ban on financial transactions with key Burmese military-owned enterprises.
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Rohingya children follow a vehicle to get relief supplies near the Bangladeshi town of Teknaf on September 10, 2017. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]The latest escalation of violence against the persecuted Muslim community began on August 25, after a number of police and border outposts in Rohingya-majority Rakhine State in western Myanmar came under attack.
The Rohingya, who had already been under a military siege in Rakhine since October 2016, are now being brutally killed, raped, or forced to leave their homes as their villages are reportedly being set on fire by majority Buddhists, backed by the military.
The new wave of attacks against Rohingya Muslims has trigged an exodus of nearly 410,000 refugees to neighboring Bangladesh, according to the latest UN figures.
The US and its western allies had imposed sanctions on Myanmar for years to end the military rule and support Aung San Suu Kyis pro-democracy campaign, which won the 2015 election.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="550"]
Rohingya refugee children wait for medical treatment at a refugee camp between Myanmar and Bangladesh in the Gumdhum district. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]They started lifting sanctions and build warmer ties with Myanmar since the military began withdrawing from the running of the country in 2011.
Washington has denounced the violence against the Rohignya, saying the situation has made it harder to build warmer relations, according to an administration official, who added that he did not expect a return to sanctions.
People are too invested in the last five years of thawing, which is understood by everyone to be strategically sound, said the official on condition of anonymity. Long-term, the trajectory is probably tighter relations.
In a similar call, Refugee International also expressed concern over the crisis on Sunday and called on the United States to impose stern sanctions against the Myanmar military.
I believe that in situations like this, the sternest and strongest measures must be taken. Our values demand it and our interest demand it, said the organizations Chief Eric Paul Schwartz.
There ought to be multilateral sanctions against the Burmese military; there ought to be an arms embargo; there ought to be a referral of the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court. The United States should re-impose the sanctions that have been lifted over the past several years. Its hard to overestimate how dramatic the abuses, how widespread the abuses have been in Burma (Myanmar), he added.
Refugees risk death in Bangladesh
On Sunday, Save the Children voiced alarm over the dire humanitarian situation at the Bangladeshi refugee camps hosting Rohingya Muslims.
The international NGO further warned that the refugees at in Bangladesh could die due to a lack of food, clean water and shelter.
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A Rohingya refugee woman and her child are pictured in the Balukhali refugee camp near the Bangladeshi town of Gumdhum on September 17, 2017. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]Reports say the camps earlier set up in the Bangladeshi border city of Coxs Bazar are already full as they have they have the capacity to host 300,000 refugees. Many of the newer arrivals have thus been forced to live in the open air or under structures made from plastic sheeting.
Many people are arriving hungry, exhausted and with no food or water, Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director for Save the Children said in a statement.
Im particularly worried that the demand for food, shelter, water and basic hygiene support is not being met due to the sheer number of people in need. If families cant meet their basic needs, the suffering will get even worse and lives could be lost, he added.
The aid agency also called on the international community to fund a $77-million emergency appeal to help the Rohingya, warning that there could be more than 600,000 children in urgent need of aid by the end of this year.
On Sunday, three people, including one woman and two children, were killed during a stampede for aid outside a camp, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group in Bangladesh.
The incident happenedas food and clothing were being thrown from relief trucks. The victims names and ages have not been released.
Monsoon rain doubles Rohingya misery
Adding to the sufferings of Rohingya refugees are monsoon downpours, which are flooding the overcrowded temporary camps in Bangladesh.
Heavy rain, almost 8 centimeters in 24 hours, has made swamp-like conditions in many parts of Coxs Bazar and forced the refugees to move to new areas.
Bangladeshi police chief Mohammed Kai-Kislu said the torrential rain has doubled their misery.
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Rohingya refugees gather around a truck delivering clothes in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]Bangladeshs weather department has predicted more rain in the next two days.
The harsh weather conditions and muddy narrow roads have also made it difficult for aid groups to deliver humanitarian aid and run relief operations for the refugees.
A human rights expert in the town urged the Bangladesh government to close local schools for three days to allow the refugees to camp in them.
It is another disaster unfolding. Thousands of Rohingya had no place to hide when the rain came, said Nur Khan Liton, who headed Bangladeshi rights group Ain O Salish Kendra.
More than half of the estimated 410,000 Rohingya live in camps without proper shelter, clean drinking water and sanitation. In an attempt to prevent an outbreak of diseases, Bangladesh authorities have set up vaccination booths in various camps for children under five.
The United Nations has called on Myanmar to end ethnic cleansing of the Muslim community and appealed for massive help for the Rohingya refugees, in Bangladesh.
The world body warned in a release on Monday that the number could keep rising if Myanmar refuses to end the violence. It also warned of intolerable conditions in the camps around the border city of Coxs Bazar.
Suu Kyi due to address crisis on Tuesday
Suu Kyi, who is now Myanmars de facto leader, has not yet responded to the atrocities against the Rohignya.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has come under harsh criticism by the world community, is set to the United Nations General Assembly meeting this month.
She is due to address the crisis in a nationally televised speech on Tuesday, her office said.
Myanmar describes the offensive as a legitimate operation against terrorists.
