As the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council meets today to discuss subjects including Human Rights and Myanmar, Iverna McGowan, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, said:

“In the face of the crimes against humanity, ongoing ethnic cleansing and other serious violations in Myanmar, EU member states must not let infighting scupper their response.

“They must seize this chance and take a united EU stance to end these crimes and violations, prevent the humanitarian crisis from deteriorating further, and help ensure justice for victims. 

“Concretely, this would mean extending the current arms embargo and imposing targeted financial sanctions on senior Myanmar officials responsible for serious violations and crimes.

“The EU has historically led the international response on human rights in Myanmar. Silence now, as a scorched-earth campaign rages, would be deafening – and will not go unnoticed worldwide.”

Background

As of October 6, more than 530,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State to Bangladesh, more information can be found here.  

Amnesty is calling for the EU to pro-actively lead on a UN General Assembly resolution to ensure international scrutiny and increased pressure to stop the violence in northern Rakhine State and address serious human rights concerns countrywide.