Genocide committed against Rohingyas: Holocaust Museum

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum said there is compelling evidence that the Myanmar military committed ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Rohingya, according to UNB

The Museum came to the conclusion based on: a careful analysis in consultation with an advisory group of atrocity experts; its own on-the-ground, original research that resulted in a joint report in 2017 with Fortify Rights; and information recently released in the Department of State's documentation report and the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission.

"The Burmese [Myanmar] military's campaign against the Rohingya, especially the attacks of August 2017, have been deliberate, systematic, and widespread," said Lee Feinstein, a member of the Museum's governing Council and the Chairman of its Committee on Conscience, which advises the genocide prevention work of the Museum.

"For the sake of the remnant community of Rohingya still in Burma and those threatened with being returned, we hope this announcement prods action," Feinstein added.

For decades, the Myanmar government has persecuted the Rohingya, stripping them of citizenship and subjecting them to waves of mass violence, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In March 2015, the Museum issued a report warning that preconditions of genocide against the Rohingya were clearly evident. Other organisations also issued warnings that went unheeded. The Burmese government has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The 2017 report issued by the Museum and Fortify Rights, "They Tried to Kill Us All," documented these atrocities.

"Our analysis concludes there is compelling evidence that Burmese authorities have intentionally sought to destroy the Rohingya people because of their ethnic and religious identity," said Naomi Kikoler, Deputy Director of the Museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide.

"The Rohingya victims we work with feel abandoned. The world has turned a blind eye to their persecution - just as it did for victims of the Holocaust," Kikoler said.