UN Secretary-General Guterres calls on Myanmar’s military-installed government to include ethnic Rohingya in a solution to the country’s political crisis
As Rohingya mark 5th anniversary of exodus to Bangladesh, UN chief notes"the unflagging aspirations for an inclusive future" for the minority, who face widespread discrimination in Myanmar.
He commented on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the start of a mass exodus by the Muslim minority to Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state. The long-simmering conflict with the Rohingya exploded on August 25, 2017, when Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine in response to attacks on police and border guards by a Rohingya militant group.
In March 2022, the United States said the oppression of the Rohingya amounts to genocide after authorities confirmed accounts of mass atrocities against civilians by Myanmar’s military.Earlier this month, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet that some 1 million Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh must return home to Myanmar.