The Biden administration determined Myanmar has been committing 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity'



The Biden administration formally determined that the military of Myanmar has been committing genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority.

CNBC reported that U.S. officials said that the Myanmarese military has been perpetrating acts of violence that amount to genocide and “crimes against humanity.” The Biden administration formally recognizing these acts as genocide will make it easier for the international community to hold Myanmar’s ruling junta accountable.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to announce the decision on Monday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The Holocaust Memorial Museum is currently hosting a special exhibit on the plight of the Rohingya people.

The atrocities being carried out on the Rohingya date back to 2017 when Myanmar’s armed forces launched an operation that forced nearly 750,000 Rohingya from their homes and into the neighboring country of Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, the Rohingya people fell victim to mass rape, murder, and arson.

A senior official in the U.S. State Department said that formally designating the plight of the Rohingya as “genocide” will “make it harder for them to commit further abuses [against the Rohingya].”

Myanmar’s military has previously denied committing acts of genocide against the predominantly Muslim Rohingya. It has insisted that operations were carried out against terrorists in the region where the Rohingya historically reside.

In 2018, the United Nations concluded that the military’s campaign against the Rohingya included “genocidal acts.”

Another senior official in the State Department said that Blinken’s announcement on Monday will galvanize the international community to come to the aid of the Rohingya people.

The official said, “It’s really signaling to the world and especially to victims and survivors within the Rohingya community and more broadly than the United States recognizes the gravity of what’s happening.”

The first official echoed this sentiment by saying: “It’s going to enhance our position as we try to build international support to try to prevent further atrocities and hold those accountable.”

That said, a determination of genocide does not automatically initiate punitive action by the United States.

Just days after Joe Biden was sworn into office, the Myanmarese military staged a coup and seized control of the country.

The coup, led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing, quickly suppressed a public uprising and killed more than 1,600 people in the process.

In response to the coup, the United States and its Western allies sanctioned the military junta that took power but has been unable to convince them to relinquish power and restore democratic role.

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A coup was staged in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar Monday when the nation's military detained democratically-elected leaders including Nobel Peace Prize-winner state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

The BBC reports that military leaders are enforcing a night-time curfew in the country after declaring a one-year state of emergency as a pretext to seize power. U.S. President Joe Biden has condemned the coup and threatened new sanctions against the country.

In a video that's beginning to spread virally on social media, a woman filmed herself doing an aerobics workout, oblivious to a convoy of military vehicles headed to the parliament building to seize control behind her.

A woman did her regular aerobics class out in open without realizing that a coup was taking place in #Myanmar. A Mi… https://t.co/uhtQTibvpO
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@Aditya Raj Kaul)1612205702.0

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was ruled under a military dictatorship for 26 years from 1962 until 1988 when the country's socialist military dictator was forced to step down amid nationwide protests. In the period following through the 1990s, Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the nation's modern founder Aung San, became an advocate for democracy, with her party winning free elections in 1990. But the military refused to cede power at the time, placing Suu Kyi under house arrest and remaining in power for another 22 years until 2011.

Between 2011 and 2015, the country began to slowly transition to a democracy, adopting a constitution that was drafted in 2008 and holding elections in 2015, in which Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party was again victorious. The military never fully relinquished power, however, retaining a right to fill a quarter of the seats in the country's parliament under the 2008 constitution.

Monday's coup came on the day the country's new parliamentary session was about to begin following the Nov. 8, 2020, Myanmar elections. In this election, Suu Kyi's party won 396 out of 476 seats in parliament while the military's party only won 33 seats.

According to the Associated Press, military leaders claim that the election was fraudulent and they've cited a law in the 2008 constitution that permits the military to seize power in times of national emergency. The Myanmar electoral commission said that the allegations of widespread fraud made by military leaders were not supported by evidence.

Earlier that day, the army's TV station announced that power had been handed over to commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing. Suu Kyi, Myanmar President Win Myint and other leaders of their National League for Democracy (NLD) party were detained and the BBC reports it is unclear where they are being held.

So far no violence has been reported. After reports emerged that NLD leaders were detained, television, phone, and internet communications in the capital city of Naypyitaw were cut off. The military blocked roads in the city and passenger flights were grounded. Banks also said they were forced to close.

The coup has received international condemnation.

President Biden said the military's actions were "a direct assault on the country's transition to democracy and the rule of law" and promised restored sanctions against Myanmar.

"The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack," he said in a statement.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also said the coup was a "serious blow to democratic reforms" and called for an emergency meeting of the U.S. security council.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the "unlawful imprisonment" of pro-democracy leaders.

"The vote of the people must be respected and civilian leaders released," he tweeted.