War crimes, not genocide committed against Rohingya: Myanmar probe

Military operations from August 2017 forced about 740,000 Rohingya to flee over the border into sprawling camps in Bangladesh

A Myanmar-appointed panel concluded Monday that some soldiers likely committed war crimes against its Rohingya Muslim community but the military was not guilty of genocide, findings swiftly condemned by rights groups.

The “Independent Commission Of Enquiry (ICOE)” released the results of its probe just ahead of a ruling Thursday by the UN’s top court on whether to impose urgent measures to stop alleged ongoing genocide in Myanmar. It conceded some security personnel had used disproportionate force and committed war crimes and serious human rights violations, including the “killing of innocent villagers and destruction of their homes”. But the crimes did not constitute genocide, the panel decided. “There is insufficient evidence to argue, much less conclude, that the crimes committed were undertaken with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical (sic), racial or religious group.” Military operations from August 2017 forced about 740,000 Rohingya Muslim to flee over the border into sprawling camps in Bangladesh.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has always maintained the crackdown by the armed forces, or Tatmadaw, was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents after a series of attacks left a dozen security personnel dead. But refugees carried consistent accounts of widespread murder, rape, torture and arson with them and have so far largely refused to return for fear of their safety…