Samantha Power calls for diplomatic pressure to be
applied on government
The “benefits of destroying the Rohingya population
exceed the costs” for Mynamar, a former US ambassador to the United Nations has
said.
Samantha Power, who served in the role from 2013 to 2017,
said there was a lack of diplomacy surrounding the crisis.
There have been accusations of ethnic cleansing in
Myanmar after continued attacks on Rohingya Muslims forced hundreds of
thousands of them to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Speaking in Armenia at the Aurora Prize for Awakening
Humanity, Ms Power, a former adviser to Barack Obama, said the Rohingya had
been “systematically murdered, raped and deported from their country”.
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“And no contact group has been formed, there has been no
high level ministerial summit that I am aware of,” she said. ”There has been
humanitarian systems, the United Nations Secretary General has used his voice,
but if you actually want to change the calculus of a government that has
decided to expel and destroy a group, which it looks like the Myanmar
government and military have decided to do, you have to change the incentives
for them.
She added: “Right now they think the benefits of
destroying the Rohingya population exceed the costs. The only way that gets
changed is through dealing with their sources of revenue, and through them
feeling such concerted and sustained diplomatic pressure, not just from the UN
secretary general, or the high commission for human rights, but from a
coalition of diverse countries – the neighbours, bringing in China.”
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the
border to Bangladesh amid increasing violence. Representatives said they were
disappointed that a UN agreement signed earlier this week did not address one
of their key demands – citizenship of Myanmar.
Most refugees say they are desperate to go home, but fear
going back unless they are given protection and citizenship.
Earlier this week Burmese and UN agencies signed an
agreement that could – eventually – lead to the return of some of the 700,000
Rohingya who fled persecution in their homeland and are now crowded into
makeshift camps in Bangladesh.
Asked what needs to happen in order for the situation to
change, Ms Power said: “Diplomacy and then changing the calculus of government,
which right now – like many governments around the world – feels a great sense
of impunity.”
Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in
Myanmar, despite many of their families having lived in the country for
generations.
They have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively
rendering them stateless, and forcing many to cross by land into neighbouring
Bangladesh.