U.N. says military leaders in Myanmar must face genocide charges against the Rohingya

Myanmar’s military

carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “ genocidal intent ” and the commander-in-chief and five generals should be prosecuted for the gravest crimes under international law , U.N. investigators said.

In a report, they called for the U.N. Security Council to set up an ad hoc tribunal to try suspects or refer them to the International Criminal Court in the Hague . The Security Council should also impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and targeted sanctions against individuals most responsible for crimes .

They blamed the country’s de facto civilian leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi , for failing to use her “moral authority” to protect civilians. Her government “ contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes ” by letting hate speech thrive, destroying documents , and failing to shield minorities from crimes against humanity and war crimes .

Remove Aung San Suu Kyi's Nobel Peace Prize

The report also criticised Facebook for allowing the world’s biggest social media network to be used to incite violence and hatred . Facebook responded on Monday by announcing that it was blocking 20 Myanmar official s and organizations found by the U.N. panel to have “ committed or enabled serious human rights abuses .”

Facebook also said it was removing 18 Facebook accounts , one Instagram account , and 52 Facebook pages .

“The ethnic violence in Myanmar has been truly horrific . Earlier this month, we shared an update on the steps we’re taking to prevent the spread of hate and misinformation on Facebook. While we were too slow to act, we’re now making progress—with better technology to identify hate speech , improved reporting tools, and more people to review content.”

Contacted by phone, Myanmar military spokesman Major General Tun Tun Nyi said he could not immediately comment. The Myanmar government was sent an advance copy of the U.N. report in line with standard practice.

Zaw Htay

, spokesman for Suu Kyi’s government , could not immediately be reached for comment.

A year ago, government troops led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army ( ARSA ) on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base . Some 700,000 Rohingya fled the crackdown and most are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh .

The U.N. report said the military action, which included the torching of villages , was “grossly disproportionate to actual security threats.”

“The crimes in Rakhine State, and the manner in which they were perpetrated are similar in nature, gravity, and scope to those that have allowed genocidal intent to be established in other contexts,” said the U.N. panel, known as the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar .

Suu Kyi

’s government has rejected most allegations of atrocities made against the security forces by refugees. It has built transit centers for refugees to return, but U.N. aid agencies say it is not yet safe for them to do so.

Aung San Suu Kyi breaks her silence on the Rohingya crisis

Suu Kyi 

"has not used her de facto position as Head of Government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events, or seek alternative avenues to meet a responsibility to protect the civilian population”, the report said.

The United Nations defines genocide as acts meant to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. Such a designation is rare but has been used in countries including Bosnia , Rwanda , and Sudan .

In the final 20-page report, the panel said: “There is sufficient information to warrant the investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the Tatmadaw (army) chain of command so that a competent court can determine their liability for genocide in relation to the situation in Rakhine state.”

The U.N. panel, set up last year, interviewed 875 victims and witnesses in Bangladesh and other countries and analyzed documents, videos, photographs and satellite images.

Decades of state-sponsored stigmatization against Rohingya had resulted in “institutionalized oppression from birth to death,” the report said.

The Rohingya, who regard themselves as native to Rakhine state, are widely considered as interlopers by Myanmar’s Buddhist majority and are denied citizenship .

“The Tatmadaw acts with complete impunity and has never been held accountable. Its standard response is to deny, dismiss and obstruct,” the U.N. report concluded.

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