08 February 2017•Update: 09 February 2017
By Bayram Altug
GENEVA
The testimony of Rohingya Muslims who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh has been described as "absolutely horrendous" and "shocking" by a top UN investigator.
Linnea Arvidsson, leader of a four-member team of UN human rights investigators, told Anadolu Agency late on Tuesday the violence against Rohingya Muslims was being committed in the name of the state.
Her remarks followed the release of a UN report last Friday based on interviews with victims across the border in Bangladesh.
According to that research, out of 204 people individually interviewed by a team of UN investigators, the vast majority reported witnessing killings. Almost half reported having a family member killed or who went missing.
Of 101 women interviewed, more than half reported having suffered rape or other forms of sexual violence, the report read.
"Everyone had experienced some kind of violence," Arvidsson told Anadolu Agency. "Either their house was burned, or a family member had been killed or disappeared, or they had personally been beaten,” she added.
Describing some of the human rights violations as being of “absolutely the most serious kind,” Arvidsson said what she heard in personal interviews with victims was "horrendous" and "shocking”.
- State violence accusations
"We are talking about violence which is committed and perpetrated by state officials, because the police officer and soldier in uniform is the state official,” the investigator said.
Arvidsson condemned the ongoing violence, saying the authorities could not possibly kill civilians "for some security reasons or for any kind of operational objective”.
"No such objective can justify those killings," she stressed.
About the reasons for the violence against Rohingya, Arvidsson said there were both ethnic and religious factors.
Asked whether the violence could be described as "genocide," Arvidsson said a much deeper analysis was needed to answer that question.
However, she reiterated that the events in Myanmar "very likely" constituted crimes against humanity.
Since 9 Oct. 2016 an estimated 66,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to the Bangladeshi border following attacks against border guard posts which prompted intense military operations.
The military said it was conducting “area clearance operations” in the region.
According to the UN report, the violence against Rohingya appears to have been “widespread as well as systematic, indicating the very likely commission of crimes against humanity”.
