Letter: We failed in the genocide against the Rohingya
A year and a half ago, the latest round of atrocities against the Rohingya started. Rohingya were brutally murdered, raped and forced from their homes, not because of anything other than their ethnicity and religion. Governments including Canada as well as the United Nations named it a genocide — the first in the world in 14 years. Since then, accountability for the regime has been limited to sanctions on a handful of officials which have likely not affected their standing within Myanmar. The sanctions did not even extend to the leader of the military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Talks of bringing the regime to an international mechanism for justice have remained as just reports, rarely mentioned it seems these days, although in cases, all it takes is one country to initiate the process. All the while, over a million Rohingya remain in decrepit conditions in Bangladesh (in the largest refugee camp in the world) with no hope currently of safely going back, let alone being recognized as citizens. In Myanmar, the UN has indicated the genocide is “ongoing” for the 250,000–400,000 Roghinya who are still there.
We have failed to live up to the promises made after Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur and continue to let down a generation of innocent Rohingya men, women and children.
