Senators urge US sanctions over Myanmar ‘atrocities’

Members of Congress are sharpening their criticism of Myanmar’s crackdown that has forced a half-million Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. Republicans and Democrats said yesterday they want the Trump administration to consider sanctions against the perpetrators and to re-evaluate US policy toward the Southeast Asian nation, reports AP from Washington.

Twenty-one senators said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that there’s a risk of genocide against the Rohingya, who have fled en masse in the past month after Myanmar security forces responded to insurgent attacks with “clearance operations” that have left hundreds dead and thousands of homes burned. The senators said that response has been “extraordinarily disproportionate.”

A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press. It urges the Trump administration to hold perpetrators of atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine State accountable under international law and US law that allows the president to impose sanctions on individuals responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture and other gross violations of human rights in any foreign country.

“Unless immediately addressed, this crisis will have profound long-term consequences for Burma, the region, and the world,” the letter says, using the alternative name for Myanmar.

Signatories of the letter include Ben Cardin, top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and John McCain, Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who recently nixed plans to expand military ties with Myanmar. The senators’ call for action came as the U.N. Security Council prepared to hold its first public session Thursday on the refugee crisis.

 

Senators urge US sanctions over Myanmar atrocities

Members of Congress are sharpening their criticism of Myanmars crackdown that has forced a half-million Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. Republicans and Democrats said yesterday they want the Trump administration to consider sanctions against the perpetrators and to re-evaluate US policy toward the Southeast Asian nation, reports AP from Washington. Twenty-one senators said in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that theres a risk of genocide against the Rohingya, who have fled en masse in the past month after Myanmar security forces responded to insurgent attacks with clearance operations that have left hundreds dead and thousands of homes burned. The senators said that response has been extraordinarily disproportionate. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press. It urges the Trump administration to hold perpetrators of atrocities in Myanmars Rakhine State accountable under international law and US law that allows the president to impose sanctions on individuals responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture and other gross violations of human rights in any foreign country. Unless immediately addressed, this crisis will have profound long-term consequences for Burma, the region, and the world, the letter says, using the alternative name for Myanmar. Signatories of the letter include Ben Cardin, top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and John McCain, Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who recently nixed plans to expand military ties with Myanmar. The senators call for action came as the U.N. Security Council prepared to hold its first public session Thursday on the refugee crisis.