A UN high official described Northern Rakhine in Myanmar as one of the most prolific ‘slaughterhouses’ of humans in recent times.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said not enough was done early and collectively to prevent the rising horrors in Rakhine and other places.
“Eastern Ghouta, the other besieged areas in Syria, Ituri and the Kasais in the DRC, Taiz in Yemen, Burundi and Northern Rakhine in Myanmar have become some of the most prolific slaughterhouses of humans in recent times…,” Zeid said in Geneva on Monday.
The UN rights boss was addressing the opening of the 37th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
He said the Rohingyas are dehumanised, deprived and slaughtered in their homes – with all these examples bedevilling them, why are they doing so little to stop them, even though they should know how dangerous all of this is.
Zeid said the second to those who are criminally responsible -- those who kill and those who maim -- the responsibility for the continuation of so much pain lies with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, reports UNB.
“So long as the veto is used by them to block any unity of action, when it is needed the most, when it could reduce the extreme suffering of innocent people, then it is they – the permanent members – who must answer before the victims,” he said.
France has shown commendable leadership among the P5 in championing a code of conduct on the use of veto; the United Kingdom has also joined the initiative, now backed by over 115 countries.
Zeid said it is time, for the love of mercy, that China, Russia and the United States, join them and end the pernicious use of the veto.
The United Nations has now documented more than 688,000 Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh since the Myanmar military began their offensives against Rohingya civilians in August 2017.
Medecins Sans Frontieres has recently documented almost 7,000 Rohingya civilians, including 730 children, killed in just one month last year. They believe this figure is likely to be significantly higher than their initial estimates.
