March 16, 2017
The European Union has called for the United Nations to send an international fact-finding mission urgently to investigate allegations of torture, rapes and executions by the Tatmadaw in Maungdaw North.
The EU draft resolution, submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday, steps up the pressure from an earlier draft that stopped short of demanding an international probe into alleged atrocities.
The 47-member forum, currently holding a four-week session in Geneva, is to vote on resolutions from March 23-24.
If adopted, the UNHRC would “dispatch urgently an independent international fact-finding mission with a view to ensure full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims”.
The U.N. Security Council will be briefed behind closed doors on Friday on the situation in Arakan, at the request of Britain, according to Reuters.
The EU resolution calls on the government to “fully cooperate with the fact-finding mission, including by making available the findings of the domestic investigations”.
Both Rohingya and international activists have blasted the investigation initiatives set up by the government and security forces.
Many Rohingyas who spoke to investigation teams have been hounded, and at least one have been killed.
Myanmar continues to deny allegations of gross human rights abuses in spite of clear evidence to the contrary.
