Rohinya refugees celebrate US declaration of genocide

DACA, Bangladesh (AP) — Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh celebrated Monday the announcement by the United States that it considers violent repression of their Muslim-majority ethnic group in Myanmar to be genocide.

As the news of the announcement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spread through the huge camps set up in the district of Cox's Bazar, which house about a million Rohingya, many residents expressed their enthusiasm.

“We are very happy with the declaration of genocide; thank you very much,” said Sala Uddin, 60, who lives in the Kutupalong countryside.

“It has been 60 years since 1962 that the Myanmar government tortures us and many other communities, including Rohinya,” he added. “I think the declaration has opened a way for the international community to take action against Myanmar.”

The United States decided on Monday to label the repression as genocide based on confirmed accounts of mass atrocities against civilians by the country's military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the Rohingya, Blinken said in a speech at the American Holocaust Museum.

Imtiaz Ahmed, director of the Center for Genocide Studies at the University of Dhaka, said the declaration was “a positive step”, but that it would be important to see what actions and “concrete steps” will come.

“To say that genocide has been committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar is not enough. I think we need to see what follows that statement,” he added.

According to Ahmed, it is too early to say how this will affect the recognition of Rohingya refugees, who for years have been denied citizenship in Myanmar, and the fundamental questions about how and when they will be able to return to their country remain open.

The next step could be Washington's harsh economic sanctions on Myanmar, he added, noting that it is just as important to see if the United States is interested in supporting the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where Myanmar is being tried at the request of the Gambia.

The Myanmar government is already subject to several US sanctions after the military coup d'état that took the elected government from power in February 2021. Thousands of civilians have been killed and imprisoned throughout the country as part of the ongoing repression against those who oppose the mandate of the military junta.

More than 1 million Rohinya refugees currently live in Bangladesh. More than 700,000 have fled their country, mostly Buddhist, to Bangladeshi refugee camps since August 2017, when the Burmese army launched an operation to expel them following attacks by a rebel group.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly said that their repatriation to Myanmar is the solution to the crisis, but that her country will not force them to leave.