In a joint resolution put down by the ECR, ALDE, EPP, EFDD, S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL Groups that was adopted on 14 December, the European Parliament called on the EU to adopt sanctions against those responsible for the violence against the Rohingya people. Médecins sans frontiers (MSF) estimates that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed between the end of August and the end of September in the course of operations by the Myanmar military.
MEPs urge the EU and its member states, “as a matter of urgency, to adopt targeted punitive sanctions against individuals in the military and security services responsible for perpetuating widespread human rights abuses in Myanmar” and call for the scope of the existing arms embargo to be extended. They also want the United Nations Security Council to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar. Parliament says that the high representative and the member states must “significantly increase pressure on the Myanmar authorities and security services to end the violence and discrimination perpetrated against the Rohingya people”.
MEPs also called on the EU to organise an inter-governmental summit along with the United Nations in order to “review progress on the Rohingya repatriation process and the restoration of citizenship rights and that the procedure for an independent investigation of crimes against humanity be initiated”.
The Commission should consider consequences in the context of the trade preferences Myanmar enjoys, including considering launching an investigation under the mechanisms provided for in the Everything But Arms provision, MEPs add. They urge “a reinvigoration” of the EU-Myanmar Human Rights Dialogue to specifically address issues relating to the Rohingya community. Parliament also calls for the EU and its member states to increase financial and material support for the accommodation of refugees.
Addressing the Myanmar government, MEPs call for an end to the violence and the segregation of the Rohingya minority and demand investigations into the serious breaches of human rights and prosecution of those responsible, implementation of the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State and the voluntary, safe and dignified return of refugees. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)