UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2019) UN Special Rapporteur Myanmar Yanghee Lee urged the Security Council to refer the entire situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to try perpetrators of international crimes, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a press release.
"She [Lee] also said that the [UN] Security Council must refer the entire situation [in Myanmar] to the International Criminal Court or establish an international tribunal to try alleged perpetrators of international crimes," the release said on Wednesday.
Lee, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, also called for targeted sanctions against the country's military-run companies and officials responsible for serious violations against the Rohingya.
There has been no noticeable improvement in the human rights situation in Myanmar, she added, while structural impunity has continued to obstruct people's rights.
She added that since April, the country has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of military reprisals against activists and journalists reporting on the conflict in Rakhine state.
According to Lee, it is, therefore, unsafe for Rohingya refugees to return to Myanmar until the key events which led to their expulsion are remedied.
The special rapporteur also expressed her concern about authorities' plans for hydropower development in conflict areas, such as Rakhine and Chin states, where communities have been displaced.
In 2017, Myanmar's military launched a major offensive on Rohingya villages and outposts in the Rakhine state after unidentified Islamic extremists attacked police and security posts. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled the country as a result, mainly to neighboring Bangladesh. In August, the United Nations said that Myanmar had given Bangladesh a list of nearly 3,500 Rohingya allowed to return to their homes, but no one indicated a willingness to accept the offer at that moment.
