The United States is expected to declare that Myanmar's army has committed a genocide against its Rohingya Muslim population.
Sources have said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to officially designate Myanmar's years-long campaign of oppression against Rohingya Muslims as a genocide during a visit to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum this week.
The State Department has not confirmed the plans, but announced on Sunday that Blinken would deliver remarks on Myanmar after touring an exhibition called 'Burma’s Path to Genocide.' Myanmar is also known as Burma.
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More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh, with thousands more killed in violent attacks after the country's military launched a 'clearance operation' in August 2017 in response to attacks by a rebel group.
Myanmar's forces have been accused by human rights observers of committing atrocities including massacres, mass rapes, and the burning of homes and villages where Rohingya Muslims lived.
The country is currently facing charges that it has committed a genocide at the International Court of Justice.
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Prior to her arrest last year following a military coup, Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi drew international condemnation for defending Myanmar at the ICJ, with her failure to condemn the military's actions against Rohingya Muslims leading a number of international organisations, including the Holocaust Memorial Museum, to end their association with her.
The US has already placed significant sanctions on Myanmar since it began its campaign against the Rohingya Muslims, with the imminent declaration not expected to lead to any further new measures against the military junta.
Nevertheless, the decision has been welcomed by campaigners, with Refugees International calling the anticipated declaration a 'welcome and profoundly meaningful step.'
'It is also a solid sign of commitment to justice for all the people who continue to face abuses by the military junta to this very today,' the group said in a statement, referring to a mass campaign of repression against civilians opposing the military coup that has been ongoing since the junta re-took power in February 2021.
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More than 1,500 are estimated to have been killed since the regime came to power, with opposition activists kidnapped and tortured, and civilians engaging in protests targeted by live rounds as observers warn the country is descending into a civil war.
In a statement Oregon senator Jeff Merkley called the Biden administration's anticipated declaration 'long overdue,' adding 'it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account'.
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Topics: World News