Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Ted Yoho (R-FL), senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin detailing the Burmese military’s atrocities against the Rohingya people. In their letter, Connolly and Yoho encouraged the Treasury Secretary to consider these heinous abuses as the Trump administration develops sanctions against Burma.
“Since August 25, 2017, more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya have fled from Burma to Bangladesh to escape widespread and systematic ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Burmese security forces,” wrote Connolly and Yoho. “Numerous credible investigations have found that these abuses amount to crimes against humanity, and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and other senior officials have said the abuses may amount to “acts of genocide.””
“In its investigation, Amnesty International found evidence for nine of the eleven types of crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, deportation or forcible transfer, rape and other sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts, such as forced starvation. Responsibility for these crimes extends to the highest levels of the military,” the members added.
“Last month, the European Union and Canada imposed targeted sanctions on senior Burmese military officials…We urge you to act in concert with our allies and partners in the international community by taking reciprocal measures,” the members wrote.
The full letter follows and is available here.
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