EU sanctions Myanmar officials over Rohingya abuses
June 26, 2018
The EU and Canada have placed sanctions on Myanmar military and police officials in response to the Rohingya crisis. The Myanmar army said one of the officials had been fired and another was "given permission" to resign.
"These violations include unlawful killings, sexual violence and the systematic burning of Rohingya houses and buildings," EU foreign ministers said in a statement.
Five army generals, a border guard commander and a police commander have been hit with travel bans and asset freezes for their role in the Rohingya exodus.
"He is responsible for the atrocities and serious human rights violations committed against [the] Rohingya population in Rakhine State by the Western Command during that period," the EU said in a statement.
Hours after the EU's announcement, the Myanmar army said that Muang Maung Soe had been fired from the military for underperformance when responding to Rohingya militant attacks.
Read more:Myanmar: Everything will change
It also said that another sanctioned commander — Deputy Major General Aung Kyaw Zaw, whose Bureau of Special Operations oversaw the Western Command — was "given permission to resign" in May.
He had earlier been removed from his original post after the army found "some flaws" in his performance.
Rohingya children: Raped, kidnapped, orphaned
The plight of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee the atrocities committed by militants and the army in Myanmar is hard to stomach. The most vulnerable are children, as John Owens' photo series shows.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Shot and stabbed
Since August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. "The day the military came, they burnt down the village and shot my mother as she was trying to escape. My father couldn’t walk, so they stabbed him. I saw this with my own eyes," says 10-year-old Mohammed Belal who managed to run away from his village.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Haunted by the trauma
Mohammed’s sister Nur also watched the slaughter. She and her brother now live in a shelter for unaccompanied children in Bangladesh. She can play there and gets regular meals, a stark contrast to her journey from Myanmar where she and her brother nearly starved. But she is still haunted by the trauma of the recent weeks. "I miss my parents, my home, my country," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Deep-rooted conflict
The conflict, which has been going on for 70 years and is rooted in the post-World War II social organization of the country, has claimed more than 2,000 victims since 2016, including the mother of 12-year-old Rahman, above. "They set fire to my home, and my mother was ill, so she could not leave," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Save the children
Dilu-Aara, 5, came to the camp with her sister Rojina after she witnessed her parents being murdered by the military. "I was crying all the time and the bullets were flying over our heads. I escaped somehow." The international aid agency Save the Children is helping minors who come to Kutupalong without parents. Children make up to 60 percent of all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Hunted like animals
Jaded Alam is among the hundreds of kids who came to Kutupalong without parents. Fortunately, his aunt cares for him — and very well, he admits. Jaded grew up in a village called Mandi Para where he used to love playing football, but everything changed when the military attacked. "They told us to leave our home. When I was running with my parents, they shot them. They died on the spot," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Child abductions
Not all families have been separated during their plight, however. Rahman Ali has been scouring the refugee camp for weeks now after his 10-year-old son Zifad disappeared. Rumors of child abductions have swirled around the camp for years, and Rahman fears his son has fallen prey to human traffickers. "I can't eat, I can’t sleep. I’m so upset! It’s like I’ve gone mad."
Image: DW/J. Owens
"My mind is not normal"
When the shooting started, Sokina Khatun did all she could to protect her children — but she couldn't save Yasmine,15, and Jamalita, 20, who were in a neighboring village at the time. "Their throats were cut in front of their grandparents," she says. "I was numb, I couldn’t feel the pain. Right now my mind is not normal," she says. She managed to rescue nine of her offspring.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Attacked, raped and robbed
Yasmine thinks she might be 15 but looks considerably younger. In her village, she used to play with marbles and run in the nearby fields, but different memories haunt her now: The attack by Myanmar forces, the beating and murder of her beloved father and brothers, and the rape by a group of Burmese soldiers who also robbed her. "I felt lots of pain in my body," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
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'International community cannot be silent'
Canada, in coordination with the EU, announced sanctions on the same officials on Monday. Canada also placed sanctions on a number of individuals in February.
"Canada and the international community cannot be silent. This is ethnic cleansing. These are crimes against humanity," Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.
Myanmar's former colonial ruler, Britain, has played a lead role in preparing EU sanctions, and said Monday's sanctions would send a signal to senior military officials that the world was watching, and that those responsible would be held to account.
"These sanctions are a direct response to the appalling violence, including sexual violence, that took place in Rakhine last year. The individuals listed were responsible for units that have been identified as the perpetrators of this violence," Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field said in a statement.
In April, the EU extended and strengthened its arms embargo on Myanmar and prohibited the delivery of military training and cooperation with the Myanmar army.
It has also adopted a legal framework for targeted restrictive measures against certain people from the Myanmar armed forces and the border guard police, which makes it possible to impose individual sanctions if crimes go unpunished.
The EU said further targeted restrictive measures were not out of the question if human rights abuses continued in the country.
