Jeremy Hunt to visit Burma after ‘deeply disturbing’ UN report on crimes against Rohingya people

‘There must never be a hiding place for those who commit these kind of atrocities,’ foreign secretary says

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt will visit Myanmar “to seek answers” after a damning United Nations (UN) report on the army’s violent crackdown on the country’s Rohingya muslims.
Investigators have declared the systematic targeting of the Rohingya to be a campaign of genocide, involving crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The human-rights observers said Myanmar’s commander-in-chief and five other named generals should face prosecution for acting with “genocidal intent”.
Mr Hunt said the report was “deeply disturbing”, adding there should “never be a hiding place for those who commit these kind of atrocities”.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “Deeply disturbing to read UN report on crimes against Rohingya people. There must be never be a hiding place for those who commit these kind of atrocities. Have decided to visit Burma to seek answers at the earliest opportunity”.
Save the Children has called on Mr Hunt to “show leadership by pushing to refer the perpetrators of these systematic, ruthless and deliberate attacks to the International Criminal Court”.
It was this time last year that the Myanmar military launched a purge of Rohingya muslims in Rahkine state in what was widely thought to be a case of brutal ethnic cleansing.
Refugees who fled to neighbouring Bangladesh described the burning of entire villages, the gang rape of women and mass extrajudicial killings of civilians.
The UN’s fact-finding team, which investigated under the mandate of the Human Rights Council, today called for the resignation of military commander Min Aung Hlaing after estimating 10,000 people were killed in the purge.
The investigators also said the situation in Myanmar should be referred to the International Criminal Court.

The Independent