Deplore current measures in India to deport Rohingyas: UN
September 11, 2017  16:15
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The top UN human rights official on Monday denounced Myanmar's "brutal security operation" against Muslim Rohingyas in Rakhine state, saying it was disproportionate to insurgent attacks carried out last month.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council, said that more than 270,000 people had fled to Bangladesh, with more trapped on the border, amid reports of the burning of villages and extrajudicial killings.

Rohingyas have been stripped of civil and political rights, including citizenship rights for decades, he added.

"I call on the government to end its current cruel military operation, with accountability for all violations that have occurred, and to reverse the pattern of severe and widespread discrimination against the Rohingya population", Zeid said.

"The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
Last year, Zeid's office issued a report, based on interviews with Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh after a previous military assault, which he said on Monday had "suggested a widespread or systematic attack against the community, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity".

"I deplore the current measures in India to deport Rohingyas at a time of such violence against them in their country", Zeid said, noting that some 40,000 Rohingyas had settled in India, including 16,000 who had received refugee documentation.

Noting India's obligations under the international law, he said, "India cannot carry out collective expulsions, or return people to a place where they risk torture or other serious violations.

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