The United States should increase pressure on Myanmar to end persecution of ethnic minorities and restore the citizenship rights of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims driven from that country by government-sanctioned violence, said a Rohingya political activist visiting Washington last week.Tun Khin, president of the London-based FILE -Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves in a car after attending a hearing in a case filed by Gambia accusing Myanmar of genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya population, at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands.A day earlier, the South Asian island nation of Maldives announced it would join the Gambia in its ICJ case. The suit, filed at The Hague in November, accuses Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention in its treatment of Rohingyas. Both Maldives and Gambia are predominantly Muslim; Myanmar has a Buddhist majority.Celebrity attentionThe Maldives’ case will be represented by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. She previously had represented the Maldives’ former president, Mohamed Nasheed, getting a U.N. determination that he had been unfairly tried and imprisoned on politically motivated terrorism charges in 2015. The Maldivian Supreme Court FILE – Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top United Nations court, after court hearings in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar alleging genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya population.Tun Khin urged the United States to describe Myanmar’s actions as “genocide” – a determination that the The dome of the U.S. Capitol Building is seen in Washington. (Photo: Diaa Bekheet)Encouraging Bangladesh to lift restrictions on education and internet access in Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. In January, Bangladesh announced it would expand schooling for youngsters – perhaps as early as April. They currently receive basic lessons in English, Burmese, life skills, math and drawing and only through early primary years. In September, Bangladesh’s government shut down 3G and 4G mobile phone services and internet access in the camps, leaving only limited phone service. The telecommunications minister said the move would enhance “state security” and “public safety.” Human Rights Watch objected, saying the communications block puts refugees “at serious risk” regarding “security, health and other necessary services.”      Tun Khin, who left Myanmar in the 1990s after he was blocked from university access, said he appreciated U.S. humanitarian aid for his people. The U.S. government is the top aid contributor to the crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh, providing more than $669 million since August 2017.
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