United to End Genocide Calls for Commission of Inquiry on Genocide in Burma

Contact:

Erik Leaver, eleaver@endgenocide, 202-556-2130

United to End Genocide Calls for Commission of Inquiry on Genocide in Burma

Seeks Obama Administration Support for UN Human Rights Council Inquiry

Yale Law School Report Finds “Strong Evidence” of Genocide Against Burma’s Rohingya Minority

United to End Genocide, a U.S. based human rights advocacy group, today called on the Obama administration to support an international Commission of Inquiry through the UN Human Rights Council on genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority of Burma. The call was issued as Yale Law School’s Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic released a report, finding “strong evidence” that genocide is being committed against the Rohingya.

“The Yale Law School report is consistent with our findings and reports of conditions facing the Rohingya of Burma,” said former U.S. Congressman Tom Andrews, President of United to End Genocide. “It is past time for concerted international action in light of the overwhelming evidence that the Rohingya of Burma are under siege and facing disaster.

The systematic persecution and repression of the Rohingya will likely continue regardless of the outcome of next month’s national elections in Burma. Not surprisingly, the Rohingya are prohibited from voting in these elections and are denied all citizenship rights.

Our nation is complicit in the march to genocide in Burma if it is not actively working to stop it. At the very least, our U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, should be raising her voice on behalf of the United States and calling for the UN Human Rights Council to open a formal inquiry into genocide in Burma. 

The Yale Law School’s Clinic’s findings reinforce our own research in Burma. In a report based on a fact finding mission to Burma’s Rakhine State last year, United to End Genocide concluded that nowhere in the world are there more know precursors to genocide than in Burma today.”

Last week Andrews testified at a Congressional hearing on Burma that the Obama administration was failing to take appropriate action to address the deteriorating conditions in Burma and to hold anyone in the government accountable for backsliding on its commitments to uphold human rights. 

The Yale Law School Lowenstein Human Rights Clinic report was prepared for Fortify Rights a human rights research organization that United to End Genocide works closely with. Andrews commented, “We congratulate and are grateful for Fortify Rights’ role in exposing horrendous conditions and standing up and for the Rohingya of Burma. We are proud to partner with them in this important work.”

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United to End Genocide is an advocacy organization dedicated to preventing and ending genocide and mass atrocities worldwide. For more information visit: endgenocide.org