Burma doubles down on claims to justify treatment of Rohingya minority
Repatriation efforts for Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Burma to Bangladesh in the face of alleged ethnic cleansing – even genocide – at the hands of the Buddhist-majority Burmese military are slated to begin this month. However, much of the international community and human rights groups have expressed grave concern that a return is only a recipe for further persecution. Yet even as allegations of widespread abuse pile up, the government of Burma – officially now known as Myanmar – and its permanent representative to the United Nations are doubling-down with the narrative that they are merely attempting to stop violent Islamic “extremism” from spreading.