NEW YORK (Reuters) :
A U.S. government probe into Myanmar’s campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority was not aimed at determining whether genocide or crimes against humanity had been committed, but those responsible could still be held accountable for those crimes, a top State Department official said on Thursday.
The U.S. State Department report released on Monday said 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 other U.S. officials said was the subject of fierce internal debate that delayed the report’s rollout for nearly a month. “There weren’t legal judgments expressed in it because that wasn’t the point of the report,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told a news conference in New York when asked why the report had not used the words “genocide” or “crimes against humanity.” He added: “We are working toward holding those accountable, including judgments like the one you have offered – characterizing it as a crime against humanity or genocide.” Sullivan spoke on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, shortly before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmar’s minister.
A U.S. government probe into Myanmar’s campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority was not aimed at determining whether genocide or crimes against humanity had been committed, but those responsible could still be held accountable for those crimes, a top State Department official said on Thursday.
The U.S. State Department report released on Monday said 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 other U.S. officials said was the subject of fierce internal debate that delayed the report’s rollout for nearly a month. “There weren’t legal judgments expressed in it because that wasn’t the point of the report,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan told a news conference in New York when asked why the report had not used the words “genocide” or “crimes against humanity.” He added: “We are working toward holding those accountable, including judgments like the one you have offered – characterizing it as a crime against humanity or genocide.” Sullivan spoke on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, shortly before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmar’s minister.
