World
Rakhine Genocide United States acknowledges Rakhine genocide
Washington DC, March 21: The United States is finally recognizing the ongoing crackdown on the Rohingya minority in Myanmar as genocide. A senior Biden official announced the decision on Sunday. However, the official did not want to be named as the decision was not officially announced. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is expected to make the much-anticipated announcement on Monday.
Calling Myanmar's actions genocide does not mean imposing new sanctions on the country's military rulers. However, since the beginning of the crackdown on the Rohingya in Rakhine in 2017, Myanmar has been under a number of US sanctions.
The Myanmar government has been charged with genocide before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Now, if the United States calls it a genocide, it is expected to put more pressure on the Myanmar government. Prior to the Biden administration, human rights groups had pressured the Trump administration to make the announcement.
The human rights organization Refugees International welcomed the move. The group said in a statement that the announcement was a "significant step forward". The Myanmar army launched an operation in Rakhine after being attacked by a rebel group. More than seven lakh Rohingyas fled and took refuge in Bangladesh after August 25, 2017 to save their lives from that operation. The Myanmar army has been accused of gang-rape, murder and arson in the operation.
