UN: Myanmar Generals Must Face Justice for 'Genocidal Intent'

Myanmar's commander-in-chief and five top generals should be prosecuted for orchestrating one of the gravest crimes under the international law, said United Nations (UN) investigators Monday.

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The 20-page report is the result of a UN Human Rights Council mission established to find facts about the event, which was led by former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman. The findings conclude that elements of a  "genocidal intent" have been found in the military operations that were carried out, last year, by Myanmar's Army.

In the report, it is stated that the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi has allowed hate speech to thrive, destroyed documents and failed to protect minorities from crimes against humanity as well as war crimes by the army. By doing so, the government "contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes."

The military actions were "consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats," said the report which is based on hundreds of interviews and calls for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Little over a year ago, Myanmar armed forces led a brutal crackdown in the Rakhine State, as a response to attacks orchestrated by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) against 30 police stations and military bases. Almost a million, half of them children, Rohingya fled the military crackdown and are mostly living in refugee camps in Bangladesh, Myanmar's neighbor. 

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“The crimes in Rakhine State, and the manner in which they were perpetrated, are similar in nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed genocidal intent to be established in other contexts,” the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar concluded.

The UN board named the Myanmar army’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, along with five other generals, who should face justice for these crimes committed.

"There is sufficient information to warrant the investigation and prosecution of senior officials in the Tatmadaw (army) chain of command, so that a competent court can determine their liability for genocide in relation to the situation in Rakhine state,” declared to the report.