Australia urged to end military ties with Myanmar over Rohingya crisis
Canberra, Sep 12: International human rights bodies urged Australia on Wednesday to end its military ties with Myanmar and impose sanctions on those responsible for "atrocities" committed against the Rohingyas.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI), the Human Rights Law Center and the Australian Council for International Development made a joint statement calling on Canberra to assist in further prosecutions of those responsible for the crimes on the Muslim minority community.
"Those with blood on their hands, for the explosion of violence perpetrated by Myanmar's security forces against Rohingya villagers across northern Rakhine State, must be held to account," Diana Sayed, Crisis Campaigns Coordinator at Amnesty International Australia, said in the statement.
The four organisations urged Australia, a member of the UN Human Rights Council, to support the international call to refer the Rohingya case to the International Criminal Court as well as promote mechanisms to preserve evidence and assist in investigations for future prosecution.
A Rohingya insurgent group carried out a coordinated assault on border security posts in 2016, unleashing a violent response from the Myanmar army which led to an exodus of over 700,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) estimates that at least 6,700 Rohingyas, including 730 children, have died in the military crackdown.
The Myanmar military has been accused of committing murders, rapes and arson against the Rohingyas in what a group of UN experts saw as evidence of "intentional genocide" and crimes against humanity "perpetrated on a massive scale", as indicated in its report.
The document, presented on August 27, will be delivered to the UN Human Rights Council at the end of the week, Efe news reported.
"Faced with such a damning report, there is no excuse for inaction," according to Elaine Pearson, Australia Director at Human Rights Watch.
Myanmar does not grant citizenship to the Rohingyas, considering them to be illegal Bengali immigrants, and for years has subjected them to all kinds of discrimination, including restrictions on freedom of movement.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
