Three Nobel Peace Prize winners today urged fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to speak out about violence against the Rohingya minority, warning she otherwise risks prosecution for “genocide”.
The trio — Tawakkol Karman, Shirin Ebadi and Mairead Maguire — implored the embattled Myanmar leader to “wake up” to the atrocities after visiting squalid camps in Bangladesh home to nearly one million Rohingya refugees.
“This is clearly, clearly, clearly genocide that is going on by the Burmese government and military against the Rohingya people,” Maguire said Monday, using another name for Myanmar.
“We refuse this genocide policy of the Burmese government. They will be taken to the ICC (International Criminal Court) and those who are committing genocide will be held responsible.”
The UN has described the systematic violence by Myanmar against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state as possible genocide and ethnic cleansing, but has stopped short of outright accusing the army of war crimes.
Suu Kyi, once a global rights icon, has witnessed her reputation among the international community crumble over her handling of the Rohingya crisis.