A bipartisan group of 21 influential Senators have introduced a resolution in the United States Senate urging Bangladesh and Myanmar to ensure the safe, dignified, voluntary, and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees.
Led by Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon, the resolution also calls for immediately release of unjustly imprisoned journalists by the Myanmar government.
Noting that more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh since the Myanmar military commenced its scorched-earth campaign, with the burning of villages and local monuments, and reports of widespread gang rape, starvation, killing, and forcible deportation; the resolution condemns the attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militant group.
Urging the Secretary of State to make a determination whether the actions by the Myanmar military constitute crimes against humanity or genocide; the resolution seeks to impose targeted sanctions on Myanmar military officials, and include Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, responsible for these heinous acts through existing authorities.
Calling on the Myanmar government to allow full access to Rakhine State and ensure the full participation of UNHCR, the resolution commends the positive role of the Government of Bangladesh in receiving Rohingya refugees to date. It urges Bangladesh to continue allowing the full participation of UNHCR and human rights organization in accessing refugee camps.
“It has been more than a year and a half since the Burmese military began its scorched-earth campaign against the Rohingya,” Merkley said.
“Burma’s human rights violations and persecution of a free press are hallmarks of authoritarian rule, not a fledgling democracy. We cannot allow this to stand. The plain truth is that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were prosecuted not for committing any crimes, but simply for doing their jobs,” he said.
Other sponsors of the resolution are Senators Marco Rubio, Dick Durbin, Susan Collins, Dianne Feinstein, Todd Young, Ben Cardin, Thom Tillis, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen, Sherrod Brown, Edward J. Markey, Ron Wyden, Bernie Sanders, Patty Murray, Chris Coons, Amy Klobuchar, Catherine Cortez Masto, Brian Schatz, Kamala Harris, and Tina Smith.
Senator Durbin said that it is critical that the Myanmar government answer for its human rights violations against the Rohingya, releases unconditionally Reuter’s journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and makes significant policy reforms for the future of its country and its people.
“What I saw when I visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh and their razed villages in Burma was jarring and called out for a global response. It is clear that the U.S. must help lead on this issue, and continue to press for the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya to their homes,” he said.
The campaign of atrocities committed against the Rohingya people by Burmese security forces has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, Senator Collins alleged. “As a result of their efforts to bring these brutal acts of violence to light, two journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have been wrongly imprisoned,” she said.
The resolution would hold the Myanmar military accountable for its horrific actions and calls for the immediate release of these two innocent reporters, Collins said.
Senator Van Hollen demanded that Myanmar must immediately address their human rights violations – including their treatment of the Rohingya population and the imprisonment of journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
“Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya people is cause for global alarm – and without the dedicated reporting of these two journalists the outside world may have remained in the dark. Justice must be brought to Burma immediately – and we cannot rest until that is achieved. I hope the Senate will immediately pass this resolution and underline the United States’ commitment to seeking justice,” he said.
Two years after the massive assault on Rohingya communities in Myanmar, which the United Nations and other organizations have called a genocide, there is no relief for the nearly one million people who fled the violence, no opportunity for them to return to their home, and no accountability for the victims, Senator Markey rued.
“This crisis has gone on for too long, and the United States must exercise the moral leadership needed to bring relief to the Rohingya,” he said.