United Nations: A new UN report puts Myanmar’s armed forces on a UN blacklist for carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence. The Associated Press has obtained an advance copy of the report presented by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Security Council which states “The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorise and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return.” The report has been documented by international medical staff and others in Bangladesh.
Nearly 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Myanmar and are bearing the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault. According to the UN chief, the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw in connivance with the local militias, in the course of military ‘clearance’ operations in October 2016 and August 2017.
The report will be discussed during UN Security Council meeting on Monday. The report puts 51 government, rebel and extremist groups on the blacklist, including 17 from Congo including the armed forces and national police, seven from Syria including the armed forces and intelligence services, six each from Central African Republic and South Sudan, five from Mali, four from Somalia, three from Sudan, one each from Iraq and Myanmar, and Boko Haram which operates in several countries.