EP delegation cancels Myanmar visit over crackdown

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

A trade delegation from the European Parliament decided on Thursday to postpone a planned visit to Myanmar due to the recent violent crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.

Bernd Lange, head of the EP’s Committee on International Trade, said the group "decided to postpone the delegation to Myanmar to an unknown date as it was clear that the current political and human rights situation in the country... does not allow for a fruitful discussion on a potential EU-Myanmar investment agreement."

"It is clear that under these conditions, the ratification of an investment agreement with Myanmar is not possible," he added.

Earlier on Thursday the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on the "military and security forces in Myanmar to immediately cease the killings, harassment, and rape of the Rohingya people, and the burning of their homes".

The Myanmar government "and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in particular, should condemn unequivocally all incitement to racial or religious hatred and combat social discrimination and hostilities against the Rohingya minority," said the resolution.

UNICEF said on Thursday that about 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since Aug. 25, some 60 percent of them children.

The refugees are fleeing a fresh security operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes, and torched Rohingya villages.

According to the government of Bangladesh -- where thousands of Rohingya have fled -- around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as among the world's most persecuted peoples, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Last October, following attacks on border posts in Rakhine's Maungdaw district, security forces launched a five-month crackdown in which, according to Rohingya groups, around 400 people were killed.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel.

In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.