US Rejects The Genocide Label Related To Rohingya Ethnicity, Myanmar Junta: Far From Reality, Cannot Be Verified

Illustration of Rohingya refugees. (Wikimedia Commons/Seyyed Mahmoud Hosseini/Tasnim News Agency)

JAKARTA - The government of Myanmar's military junta rejects the labeling of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic by the United States, saying they have never been involved in such acts.

"The narratives mentioned in the (United States) Secretary of State's speech are found to be far from reality. And, the references made are also from unreliable and unverifiable sources," Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released late Tuesday, Kyodo News, March 23.

The remarks came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the appointment on Monday, describing the atrocities against the Muslim minority as "widespread and systematic."

The decision to categorize the incident as genocide was reached, after reviewing detailed documentation compiled by human rights organizations and other impartial sources, as well as through the government's own fact-finding efforts, according to Foreign Minister Blinken.

Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it firmly rejected Foreign Minister Blinken's statement, describing it as politically motivated and tantamount to interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

In 2017, when the country was ruled by a civilian government that was later toppled, the military launched a campaign against the Rohingya who mostly live in the country's western Rakhine State. More than 9.000 died in the violence and more than 740,000 were forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

The International Court of Justice in 2019 began hearings on allegations of persecution and genocide against the Rohingya minority. The following year, the ICJ issued an interim order for Myanmar to take 'all measures' to end the persecution of the Rohingya.

It is known, hearings aimed at determining whether the genocide was carried out continued in The Hague, Netherlands.

Under UN conventions, genocide is an act such as killing and causing serious physical or mental harm, "perpetrated with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

In the matter of the Myanmar coup. VOI editors continue to unify the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Civilian casualties continued to fall. Readers can follow news about the Myanmar military coup by tapping this link.