Ottawa – The federal government should urge the international community to hold accountable those responsible for crimes recognized under international law, including the crime of genocide, perpetrated against the Rohingya in Myanmar, said the Senate Committee on Human Rights in its report released Thursday, following a series of hearings on the ongoing crisis.

The Rohingya are an ethnic and religious minority population who have lived in western Myanmar for at least 600 years. Despite their long history in the region, they are not recognized as citizens. Moreover, they have been brutally oppressed since Myanmar gained independence in 1948.

Myanmar military forces launched its most recent series of violent attacks against the Rohingya in August 2017. Canada’s Parliament has recognized that “these crimes against the Rohingya constitute genocide”. From the time the attacks began, more than 730,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, where most are living in austere refugee camps that one witness described as “an ocean of misery.” Further, over half a million more Rohingya remain in Myanmar under oppressive conditions; more than 125,000 Rohingya are confined to camps for internally displaced people.

The perpetrators of crimes against the Rohingya must be held accountable. And, while the committee recognizes the federal government’s current support of the Rohingya, members believe that more can and must be done.

To that end, the committee makes five recommendations aimed at increasing humanitarian support for the Rohingya, raising awareness of their plight, and working with United Nations member states to ensure that the UN Security Council takes steps to hold human rights violators accountable for their crimes.

Quick Facts

• The recent exodus of more than 730,000 Rohingya from Myanmar is the largest in the country’s history.
• The majority of the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh live in inhumane conditions in an archipelago of camps in Cox’s Bazar, also known as Kutupalong, which one witness said constitutes “the largest refugee camp in the world.”
• The Rohingya who remain in Myanmar live in an atmosphere of fear and under constant surveillance; even sympathetic Myanmar citizens are targeted and silenced by the state.

Quotes

“The violent persecution of the Rohingya is deeply troubling, which is why Parliament has recognized these attacks as genocide. Countless women and girls have been subjected to obscene sexual violence and have very few resources available to them to aid in their recovery. Canada can help — and we must.”

- Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, Chair of the committee

“The Myanmar government is engaging in a violent campaign of hate against the Rohingya people. We must show the Rohingya that we stand with them and that the international community will hold responsible those who seek their destruction.”

- Senator Salma Ataullahjan, Deputy Chair of the committee

“The Rohingya in Myanmar are justifiably fearful of continued attacks; those who have escaped to Bangladesh live in miserable conditions. We cannot allow the world to turn its back on these flagrant violations of basic human rights.”

- Senator Jane Cordy, Deputy Chair of the committee

Associated Links

• Read the report, ‘An Ocean of Misery’: The Rohingya refugee crisis 
• Follow the committee on social media using the hashtag #RIDR.
• Sign up for the Senate’s eNewsletter.

For more information, please contact:

Sonia Noreau
Public Relations Officer
Communications Directorate
Senate of Canada
613-614-1180 | sonia.noreau@sen.parl.gc.ca