US to declare Rohingya repression in Myanmar a 'genocide'
Source: Associated Press
US to declare Rohingya repression in Myanmar a ‘genocide’
By MATTHEW LEE
March 20, 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmar’s years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is a “genocide,” U.S. officials said Sunday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to make the long-anticipated designation on Monday at an event at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been publicly announced.
The designation does not in and of itself portend drastic new measures against Myanmar’s military-led government, which has already been hit with multiple layers of U.S. sanctions since the campaign against the Rohingya ethnic minority began in the country’s western Rakhine state in 2017.
But it could lead to additional international pressure on the government, which is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Human rights groups and lawmakers have been pressing both the Trump and Biden administrations to make the designation.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/travel-lifestyle-religion-genocides-asia-0a8a74c4887fba89acb42756972ce294