Foreign Secretary To Visit Myanmar After UN Reveals 'Shocking Crimes'

Rohingya refugees wait for relief materials at a refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh, 2017. (Picture: PA Images) 

Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt has said he will visit Myanmar at the "earliest opportunity" to seek answers after a United Nations report called for military leaders to be prosecuted for genocide against Rohingya Muslims.

The UN has named six generals it said should be prosecuted for orchestrating mass murder, rape and torture.

Mr Hunt described the findings as "deeply disturbing" and said there should "never be a hiding place for those who commit these kind of atrocities".

Myanmar's UN representative called the report one-sided and said it was designed to put pressure on his country.

Mr Hunt tweeted: "Deeply disturbing to read UN report on crimes against Rohingya people.

"There must never be a hiding place for those who commit these kind of atrocities."

The three-member "fact-finding mission" and their team, working under a mandate from the UN-backed Human Rights Council, meticulously assembled hundreds of accounts from expatriate Rohingya, as well as satellite footage and other information to assemble the report.

Fact-finding mission chair, Marzuki Darusman - a former Indonesian attorney-general, told a news conference:

"The military's contempt for human life, dignity and freedom, for international law in general, should be a cause of concern for the entire population of Myanmar (Burma), and to the international community as a whole."

The council created the mission in March last year, nearly six months before a string of deadly rebel attacks on security and police posts set off a crackdown that drove Rohingya to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.

More than 700,000 people are thought to have fled, according to UN estimates.

The team compiled accounts of crimes including gang rape, the torching of hundreds of villages, enslavement, and killings of children, some before the eyes of their own parents.

But it was not granted access to Myanmar and has decried a lack of co-operation or even response from the government, which received an early copy of the report.

The UK's ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, said she was "not confident" the UN Security Council would unanimously back referral to the International Criminal Court.

"To date, Russia and China have taken a different view of ICC referral and without acceptance by them of a referral then I'm afraid it will be very difficult for the Security Council to take that step," she told Channel 4 News.

Ms Pierce said Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi had not been "as bold or as firm as she could have been" in dealing with the violence, but added:

"The responsibility does not primarily lie with the Burmese government but with the Burmese military, and it is their role that needs a proper judicial investigation and accountability mechanism."

Minister for the UN Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon will use a speech at the UN Security Council on Tuesday to urge the international community to increase financial support for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.