A commission carried out by the Myanmar government rejected allegations of genocide against the Rohingya population in its interim report, published this week.
The report described reports of human rights violations as "external allegations". Warning readers against believing "fabricated news and rumours", it said there was “insufficient evidence of mass rape”.
Human Rights Watch expressed concern over the report. HRW's deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said, "this commission is looking more and more like the Myanmar government whitewash mechanism that we feared it would be."
"This commission report is all about giving the Myanmar government some wiggle room, to try and dispute established facts about burning of Rohingya house and communities and the swelling mountain of evidence about Tatmadaw and police abuses against the Rohingya."
"No doubt that this is the unofficial role of this committee, to raise doubts and counter-points to assertions by the UN, the Kofi Annan Commission, and of course, rights groups like Human Rights Watch – and it’s sad that this is the tactics they are pursuing, rather than allowing a truly credible, internationally assisted investigation that would get both the facts and point to all the perpetrators of the rights abuses on all sides of this situation."
