Rohingya situation textbook example of ethnic cleansing: UN Human Rights Commission
Rohingya refugees flee Myanmar
Zeid al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the Myanmar government over its handling of the Rohingya crisis
UN human rights chief said today the situation in Myanmar is "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" even as several thousand Rohingyas continued to flee Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Adding to the misery, UN spokesman said an estimated 313,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25.
Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: "Because Myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
"We have received multiple reports and satellite imagery of security forces and local militia burning Rohingya villages, and consistent accounts of extrajudicial killings, including shooting fleeing civilians," Zeid al-Hussein added.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called the Myanmar government to "end its current cruel military operation, with accountability for all violations that have occurred and to reverse the pattern of severe and widespread discrimination against the Rohingya population".
He said he was particularly "appalled" by reports that Myanmar authorities had begun laying landmines along the border with Bangladesh to prevent those who fled from returning.
Zeid criticised the Myanmar government and asked them to "stop pretending that the Rohingyas are setting fire to their own homes and laying waste to their own villages."
"This complete denial of reality is doing great damage to the international standing of a government which, until recently, benefited from immense goodwill," he declared.
Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama has written to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Myanmar.
"I appeal to you and your fellow leaders to reach out to all sections of society to try to restore friendly relations throughout the population in a spirit of peace and reconciliation," Dalai Lama said in hisletter to Suu Kyi.