US senator Ben Cardin has said that the act of violence that Rohingya people are facing is identical to genocide.
He also called for an answer from the Trump administration in this regard.
Mr Cardin said this at a hearing organised by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Rohingya crisis.
According to a press release on Tuesday by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the committee, presided over the hearing.
The members of the committee, including Senator Cardin, participated in the hearings on ‘Assessing US Policy Towards Burma: Geopolitical, Economic and Humanitarian Considerations.’
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Patrick Murphy and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the State Department Mark C. Storella and Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator of Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance of USAID V Kate Somvongsiri testified before the committee.
Senator Cardin is working with a bipartisan group of colleagues to draft legislation to clarify US policy towards Burma, place limits on military engagement given the situation in Rakhine, explore whether economic or other sanctions are needed, among others.
“This is ethnic cleansing. I know that the administration is evaluating that as we are holding this hearing. Ethnic cleansing is defined by the United Nations Commission of Experts as ‘rendering an area ethnically homogenous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from an area’.
Half of the population of the Rohingyas in Burma have left. Six hundred thousand out of 1.2 million. There’s been a systematic burning of their villages. This didn’t just start. It’s been a campaign that’s gone on for a long period of time, since a 1982 law that denies them citizenship even though they have been residents for generations.
“They are denied freedom of movement, they are denied freedom of education, they are denied health care. This has been a systematic effort to destroy an ethnic community. And once again we see this happening. And once again, the expectation is, ‘well its far away, we’ll just let it go along’.
He said, “We need to be outraged about what’s happening. We need to see the international community come together and say no we will not let this continue. That we will hold those accountable that are responsible. That we will provide the humanitarian need immediately. That we will stop this type of conduct in a civilized society. This cannot occur.”
“Yes, I think it’s genocide. I know there will be some discussion about whether it’s genocide or not. ‘Deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part’. That’s what happening," Cardin said.
"They’re trying to destroy the population. People are arguing intent. What else are they doing this for? Other than the purity of their country and their lack of tolerance for a minority population. For decades the Burmese government has systematically repressed the Rohingya people. That is the fact. And they have deliberately failed to integrate the population into the general population."
“In my opinion, we are witnessing a military-sponsored ethnic cleansing campaign on the Rohingya. And it will take significant engagement from the international community, at the highest levels, in partnership with the Burmese civilian government, to address and to hold the perpetrators accountable for these horrific acts," the Senator said.
“Unfortunately, the Rohingya crisis is not the only vexing challenge Burma faces. The Burmese military continues to hold significant influence in politics and in the economy. The peace process, which sought to end the long-standing civil war in the country, has stalled. There are significant reports of human rights issues such as human trafficking, free speech infringement, and political repression."
He said this is unacceptable that the military still controls Burma these days.
"That’s unacceptable, that’s why we imposed sanctions, because of military control. Sanction relief was given for what? So people can be ethnically cleansed?"
The US Senator, however, complimented the Bangladesh government for keeping the borders open. “That’s been the one bright spot. But there’s the humanitarian crisis of the refugees in Bangladesh that we all have to respond to,” he stressed.