Yesterday, on the third anniversary of the Burmese military’s genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma, U.S. Senator Young is taking steps to ensure justice and accountability for the Rohingya people. Indiana is home to the largest Burmese population in the United States. The largest group of the Rohingya in the United States lives in Fort Wayne.
Senator Young joined a bipartisan group of Senators on a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the Trump administration to take additional action to support the Rohingya community, to hold accountable those responsible for the atrocities, and to refer to these crimes by their proper term: genocide.
“Since August 25, 2017, close to 800,000 Rohingya have fled violence in Burma by escaping into neighboring Bangladesh. Most of them are living in refugee camps in horrific conditions, joining hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya forced to flee from Burma due to decades of government-sanctioned violence. Throughout this time, the systemic campaign of violence against the Rohingya has been well-documented by the State Department and many others. The Burmese military has murdered thousands of Rohingya, committed widespread rape and sexual violence, destroyed hundreds of villages, thrown children and babies into fires, and used mass graves to attempt to conceal their reprehensible crimes,” the Senators wrote.
“We urge you and President Trump to speak out forcefully and publicly about these atrocities, acknowledging the gravity of the crimes with a determination of crimes against humanity and genocide,” they continued. “The Rohingya people continue to face real and imminent risk, and the United States should act today to demonstrate global leadership and stand boldly against these genocidal tactics that have no place in civilized society.”
