Ref: BE20171117
THE EU MUST DELIVER ON ITS PROMISE AND TAKE ACTION TO STOP GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR
November 17, 2017
BRUSSELS: The European Rohingya Council, a coalition of groups from across Europe who supports the rights of the Rohingya, calls upon the EU to use the upcoming ASEM summit on 21 November – where it will meet the Myanmar government and other regional actors – to end the violence against the Rohingya.
On 16 October EU foreign ministers agreed at the Foreign Affairs Council to act if the violence continued. The situation on the ground has only worsened. The same EU ministers will now meet their Asian counterparts at the ASEM summit on 21 November. What we are witnessing with the Rohingya is not only the World’s worst refugee crisis in terms of people on the move in a short time frame, but acts of violence and killing which deliberately target one ethnic group, which is nothing less than genocide. It is vital that EU uses its leverage now to end the violence.
The ASEM summit is the chance for the EU to lead the global example by using tangible policy options available, including the use of robust and targeted sanction measures. Not only would this send the necessary signal to the Burmese military leadership, it would also cut off financial and military support to the same military that is responsible for the brutal repression against the Rohingya people. We also look at EU leadership to support international mechanisms to hold all those responsible for human rights violations to account. This means the EU needs to redouble its efforts at the Human Rights Council as a vehicle for change on the accountability track.
The ASEM summit is the opportunity for Europe to work with the regional actors towards a comprehensive international response that addresses the root causes of the crisis, chiefly the lack of basic human rights that Rohingya people suffer in Myanmar due to not being granted the right of citizenship that other minorities are granted. We need a complete step change in the international and domestic policies to end once and for all the percussion of the Rohingya.
For more information:
Dr. Anita Schug
Spokesperson for the ERC
spokesperson@theerc.eu
http://www.theerc.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/THE-EU-MUST-DELIVER-ON-ITS-PROMISE-AND-TAKE-ACTION.pdf
