UN mission urges cutting off financial ties with Myanmar army
UN Human Rights Council calls for financial isolation of the army as part of effort to hold it accountable for abuses.
A United Nations fact-finding mission has called for financial isolation of Myanmar’s military as part of efforts to hold the army accountable for human rights abuses.
The independent investigators, working under a mandate from the UN Human Rights Council, said in a statement that there has been no progress toward resolving the crisis over Myanmar’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The mission found that the military has committed atrocities against many ethnic groups living within Myanmar. It also faulted armed ethnic groups for committing human rights abuses.
Myanmar denies allegations of human rights violations in Rakhine, saying its security forces have not targeted civilians and have taken action only in response to attacks by Rohingya militants.
The Fact-Finding Mission is to hand over its findings to a new group of the Human Right Council, the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar, in September. That organisation was set up to handle criminal prosecution of violations of international law.
