Myanmar troops charged with sexual assault on Rohingya

However, the country’s army has denied the allegations

Rohingya refugee children slide down the road at Balu Khali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday accused Myanmar’s security forces of committing “widespread rape against women and girls as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing” during the past three months.

“Rape has been a prominent and devastating feature of the Burmese military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya,” said Skye Wheeler, researcher at HRW who authored a report on the issue.

On Monday, Myanmar’s Army had released a report denying all the allegations.

Rights panel chief meets UN official

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Bangladesh’s National Human Rights Commission chief Kazi Rezaul Hoque met UN Resident Coordinator to Bangladesh, Mia Seppo and pleaded that the officials responsible for the atrocities be brought to justice.

Accusations of organised mass sexual assault have been levelled at the Myanmar military by another senior UN official, Pramila Patten, who visited recently Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.