1 December 2018 12:00 am Views - 1222
WASHINGTON (Reuters), NOVEMBER 30, 2018- A human rights law group contracted by the State Department to interview refugees as part of an investigation into atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has found that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that genocide was committed - even though the U.S. government stopped short of saying so.
A report due to be released on Monday by the Washington-based Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) will also say there was a reasonable basis to conclude that the Myanmar military committed crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as genocide.
A U.S. State Department report released in September, which relied on PILPG research, found that Myanmar’s military waged a “well-planned and coordinated” campaign of mass killings, gang rapes and other atrocities against the Rohingya.
But it stopped short of describing the crackdown as genocide or crimes against humanity, an issue that U.S. officials said was the subject of fierce internal debate that delayed the report’s rollout for nearly a month.