House Foreign Affairs Committee calls on Trump to acknowledge Myanmar Rohingya conflict as ‘genocide’ News
House Foreign Affairs Committee calls on Trump to acknowledge Myanmar Rohingya conflict as ‘genocide’

Ed Royce (R-CA) [official website], Chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, called upon [materials] the Trump administration Wednesday to “go further” in its reaction to the Myanmar Rohingya conflict and to condemn crimes against the Rohingya people which “amount to genocide.”

Last week UN investigators renewed their call [press release] for charges to be brought against generals who propagated the conflict, which since August 2017 has left more than 700,000 people homeless and has resulted in at least 6,500 alleged war crimes and murders, according to a 2017 UN report [PDF]. The UN last week said for the first time that the conflict may amount to “genocide.”

Last year Royce sent a letter [text, PDF] to Myanmar’s Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, urging the “government and military to end their hostilities against the Rohingya, allow unfettered humanitarian assistance into the Rankhine State, and provide access for journalists.” The Myanmar government rejected [press release] these calls.

Royce protested a US State Department report [text, PDF] documenting and detailing the atrocities but omitting any mention of the increasingly-accepted label of “genocide.”

Last autumn President Donald Trump pledged US support for the Rohingya people, but the US has not yet intervened.

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