UN on Myanmar: 'Textbook example of ethnic cleansing'

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The top UN human rights official on Monday denounced Myanmar's "brutal security operation" against Muslim Rohingyas in Rakhine state which he said was "clearly disproportionate" to insurgent attacks carried out last month.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, said that "the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jordanian Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, addresses a session of United Nations Human Rights Council on June 6, 2017, in Geneva. /AFP Photo

Zeid added that more than 270,000 people had fled to Bangladesh, with more trapped on the border, amid reports of the burning of villages and extrajudicial killings.

"I call on the government to end its current cruel military operation, with accountability for all violations that have occurred, and to reverse the pattern of severe and widespread discrimination against the Rohingya population," Zeid said.

This picture taken on June 15, 2015 shows a Myanmar Rohingya people arriving at new temporary shelters for Rohingyas in Blang Adoe, North Aceh. /AFP Photo‍

Meanwhile, a different UN official said on Monday, the number of Rohingya who escaped violence in Rakhine state and entered Bangladesh since August 25 has reached 313,000.

"An estimated 313,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25," Joseph Tripura, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, told AFP.

Source(s): Reuters