French President Emmanuel Macron describes attack on Rohingayas as a “genocide.”
United Nations / NEW YORK
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has proposed creating UN-supervised safe zones inside Myanmar to protect Rohingya Muslims, who are fleeing a military crackdown to seek refuge in her country.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday she urged the UN secretary general to immediately send there a “Fact-Finding Mission” and suggested several other steps to stop the ethnic cleansing.
“Firstly, Myanmar must unconditionally stop the violence and the practice of ethnic cleansing in the Rakhine State immediately and forever,” she said in her address at the UN headquarters.
Sheikh Hasina reiterated Bangladesh call to create “safe zones” under UN supervision in Myanmar for the protection of all civilian population irrespective of religion and ethnicity and unconditional implementation of the Kofi Annan Commission recommendations to resolve the crisis.
She called for ensuring “sustainable return” of all forcibly displaced Myanmar Rohingyas in Bangladesh to their homes saying these people must be able to return to their homeland in safety and securely with dignity.
She said that these people must be able to return to their homeland in safety, security and dignity. United Nations says more than four lakh 20 thousand Rohingya have fled for safety to Bangladesh in the face of an Army campaign in northern Rakhine state in recent times.
United Nations has described the military operation as “ethnic cleansing” and French President Emmanuel Macron went further, describing it as a “genocide.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has said attacks on Myanmar’s Rohingya minority amounted to “genocide”.
He said France will work with other members of the UN Security Council for a condemnation of “this genocide which is unfolding, this ethnic cleansing”.
Mr Macron’s use of the word “genocide” marks his strongest verbal attack yet on the military drive against the Rohingya.
More than 420,000 members of the Muslim minority have fled Myanmar for the safety of neighbouring Bangladesh.
“We must condemn the ethnic purification which is under way and act,” Mr Macron said.
He added that “asking for the violence to end, asking for humanitarian access … progressively enables an escalation” under UN auspices.
“When the UN issues a condemnation, there are consequences which can provide a framework for intervention under the UN,” he said.
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has described the systematic attacks against the Rohingya minority by the security forces as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
Rohingya, who are predominantly Muslim, are reviled by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.