Visiting Nobel laureates blame Suu Kyi for Rohingya genocide

Terming the genocide of the Rohingya a deliberate one, three Nobel laureates have held Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi responsible for the atrocities committed by the country’s security forces in the Rakhine state. The trio- Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, Shirin Ebadi of Iran and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen- also demanded the matter be placed before an international court. They made the call while speaking to reporters after a meeting with the officials of district administration at the office of Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Md Abul Kalam in Cox's Bazar on Monday. Mairead Maguire talking to the Rohingyas while visiting the camps in Cox's Bazar | Abdul Aziz/Dhaka TribuneThe three Nobel laureates agreed categorically that the Rohingya crisis is one of the worst human catastrophes in recent history. They also praised and thanked the government and the people of Bangladesh for standing beside so many Rohingya refugees by providing shelter to them.

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The trio, who visited the Balukhali and Thaingkhali rohingya camps in Ukhiya upazila, are expected to brief the media on Tuesday on their overall visit. On Sunday, they spoke to five Rohingya women who were victims of rape and others in a makeshift refugee camp at Kutupalong’s Modhu Chhora area. Tawakkol Karman and Mairead Maguire talking to the Rohingya refugees while visiting the camps in Cox's Bazar/ Abdul Aziz/Dhaka TribuneThe Nobel Women’s Initiative, in partnership Naripokkho, is hosting the delegation to Bangladesh to witness and highlight the situation of the refugees and the violence against Rohingya women, including high levels of sexual violence. The visits at the Rohingya camps were part of that initiative. The delegation builds on more than a decade of work of the Nobel Women’s Initiative in the region and with women’s rights organizations in Myanmar. Bangladesh is now hosting over one million Rohingyas including around 700,000 new arrivals since August 25, 2017 – from when Myanmar carried out operations in Rakhine state against ARSA militants.