Burma Task Force Critical of Suu Kyi Speech Addressing Military Attacks on Rohingya
For Immediate Release - September 19, 2017
Burma Task Force rejects Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech addressing the ongoing military attacks on Rohingyas in Burma. The speech, delivered in English, was clearly meant for the consumption of a foreign audience, in order to temper the growing international outrage and condemnation of Myanmar’s crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya Muslims.
Suu Kyi’s speech boasted ignorance of the well documented crimes against the Rohingya, claiming “solid evidence” was needed before action could be taken. Reacting to the speech, Ahmed Ramadan, Outreach Coordinator of Burma Task Force said, “Over 400,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to Bangladesh, and there are satellite images of 214 burned down villages: what more proof does Suu Kyi need to consider as ‘solid evidence?’
Suu Kyi’s speech boasted ignorance of the well documented crimes against the Rohingya, claiming “solid evidence” was needed before action could be taken. Reacting to the speech, Ahmed Ramadan, Outreach Coordinator of Burma Task Force said, “Over 400,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to Bangladesh, and there are satellite images of 214 burned down villages: what more proof does Suu Kyi need to consider as ‘solid evidence?’
Burma Task Force notes Suu Kyi conceded that 50% of Rohingya Muslim villages are still standing. She must then recognize that the other 50% have been destroyed by the Burmese military.
Burma Task Force has called for continued international pressure and for governments to take greater actions, from cutting military aid to Myanmar’s military and placing targeted sanctions on generals directly complicit in the genocide. “World leaders must start to accurately describe what is happening to the Rohingya, just as the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh has, by calling the violence against Rohingya by its actual name - ‘genocide,’” Ramadan said
Burma Task Force rejects Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech addressing the ongoing military attacks on Rohingyas in Burma. The speech, delivered in English, was clearly meant for the consumption of a foreign audience, in order to temper the growing international outrage and condemnation of Myanmar’s crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya Muslims.
Suu Kyi’s speech boasted ignorance of the well documented crimes against the Rohingya, claiming “solid evidence” was needed before action could be taken. Reacting to the speech, Ahmed Ramadan, Outreach Coordinator of Burma Task Force said, “Over 400,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to Bangladesh, and there are satellite images of 214 burned down villages: what more proof does Suu Kyi need to consider as ‘solid evidence?’
Suu Kyi’s speech boasted ignorance of the well documented crimes against the Rohingya, claiming “solid evidence” was needed before action could be taken. Reacting to the speech, Ahmed Ramadan, Outreach Coordinator of Burma Task Force said, “Over 400,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to Bangladesh, and there are satellite images of 214 burned down villages: what more proof does Suu Kyi need to consider as ‘solid evidence?’
Burma Task Force notes Suu Kyi conceded that 50% of Rohingya Muslim villages are still standing. She must then recognize that the other 50% have been destroyed by the Burmese military.
Burma Task Force has called for continued international pressure and for governments to take greater actions, from cutting military aid to Myanmar’s military and placing targeted sanctions on generals directly complicit in the genocide. “World leaders must start to accurately describe what is happening to the Rohingya, just as the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh has, by calling the violence against Rohingya by its actual name - ‘genocide,’” Ramadan said