Staff Reporter :
UN office of high commissioner for human rights has called upon Bangladesh and other States to provide effective protection to the recently displaced Rohingyas by the fighting in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships.
“Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent days by the fighting in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. An estimated 45,000 Rohingya have reportedly fled to an area on the Naf River near the border with Bangladesh, seeking protection.
Over one million Rohingya are already in Bangladesh, having fled past purges,” UN rights office spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told this to the reporters on Friday.
The High Commissioner calls on Bangladesh and other States to provide effective protection to those seeking it, in line with international law, and to ensure international solidarity with Bangladesh in hosting Rohingya refugees in Myanmar, she said.
“We are receiving frightening and disturbing reports from northern Rakhine State in Myanmar of the impacts of the conflict on civilian lives and property.
Some of the most serious allegations concern incidents of killing of Rohingya civilians and the burning of their property,” she said.
Elizabeth said that testimonies, satellite images, and online videos and pictures indicate that Buthidaung town has been largely burned.
“We have received information indicating that the burning started on 17 May, two days after the military had retreated from the town and the Arakan Army claimed to have taken full control.
Our Office is corroborating information received about who is responsible,” she said.
Survivors recounted that the Arakan Army had abused them and extorted money from them as they made their way to Rohingya villages around 10 to 15 kilometres south of the town, where Rohingya already displaced by earlier attacks on villages had previously sought shelter, she also mentioned.
“Rohingya in these areas have, for weeks, described sheltering with families they do not know, without enough food to feed their families,” the spokesperson said.
“In this appalling situation, civilians are once more victimized, killed, their properties destroyed and looted, their demands for safety and security ignored, and they are again forced to flee their homes in a recurring nightmare of suffering,” she stated.
The High Commissioner calls for an immediate end to the violence, and for all civilians to be protected without any distinction based on identity.
Prompt and unhindered humanitarian relief must be allowed to flow, and all parties must comply fully and unconditionally with international law – including measures already ordered by the International Court of Justice, for the protection of Rohingya, she said.