Myanmar troops accused of gang-raping Rohingya women and girls
A 15-year-old says she was attacked by 10 Burmese soldiers, and women describe seeing their children murdered before being raped.
Thursday 16 November 2017 10:25, UK
Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar security forces of a systematic campaign of sex crimes - including the rape of women and girls - against Rohingya Muslims in the country's Rakhine State.
Some women described seeing their young children, husbands and parents being murdered before being beaten and raped, according to a report by the group.
The allegation follows interviews with 52 Rohingya women and girls from 19 villages who have fled to Bangladesh.
Twenty-nine of them said they had been raped, and all but one of the sex attacks were gang rapes.
:: Explained: The Rohingya Refugee Crisis
Hala Sadak, a 15-year-old from Hathi Para village in Maungdaw Township, described being stripped naked by 10 soldiers who went on to rape her.
"When my brother and sister came to get me, I was lying there on the ground, they thought I was dead," she told the rights group.
In eight cases, women and girls reported being raped by five or more soldiers.
Many survivors said they endured days of agony walking with swollen and torn genitals to reach Bangladesh.
"Rape has been a prominent and devastating feature of the Burmese military's campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," said Skye Wheeler, author of the report.
:: Why is the Rohingya crisis not classed as genocide?
She said the "barbaric acts of violence have left countless women and girls brutally harmed and traumatised".
The report by the New York-based rights group comes just days after Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, said sexual violence was "being commanded, orchestrated and perpetrated by the Armed Forces of Myanmar".
It urged the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and targeted sanctions against military leaders responsible for human rights violations, including sexual violence.
The latest testimonials by survivors adds to the growing evidence of what has been described as an alarming humanitarian crisis.
This month a Sky News team filmed the first independent evidence of the shocking deprivation and desperation among thousands of stranded Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, including emaciated women and newborn babies who had been dumped on beaches and left to die.
Our crew also spoke to a man recruiting vulnerable Rohingya women and children in Bangladeshi camps, who had fled persecution at the hands of the Burmese army, for the country's notorious sex trade.
He said this latest exodus had been "good for business".
More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have been forced to flee from their homes in the mainly Buddhist country amid the military crackdown.
The government insists the crackdown is aimed at rooting out Rohingya "terrorists" behind an attack on 30 police posts in late August which left 12 members of the security forces dead.
The UN has described the latest mass exodus of the Rohingya as "the world's fastest growing refugee crisis" and "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has faced international criticism for failing to directly condemn the violence by the country's security forces.
However, there has been little intervention by the international community to halt it.
