In a nearly unanimous vote, the House passed a resolution today calling on the Myanmar military to cease its ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya and to allow humanitarian aid groups to access northern Rakhine State.Joanne Lin, national director of advocacy and government relations for Amnesty International USA, made the following statement:

“Today the House made clear that the Myanmar military’s commander-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, must take immediate action to halt the executions, mass burnings, and systematic rape of Rohingya people by security forces. At the same time, Myanmar’s civilian government must provide unfettered access for all humanitarian aid groups and take concrete steps towards dismantling the apartheid system that has been imposed on the Rohingya and other Muslims for decades. The Senate must swiftly pass the concurrent resolution.”

The House resolution cited Amnesty International’s research on the campaign against the Rohingya.  Since late August more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh, seeking safety from Myanmar security forces.  The House vote comes one day after the U.N. Human Rights Council held a special session on the attacks committed by Myanmar security forces against the Rohingya.