Time to do our part to stop another genocide

By Letter to the Editor on July 25, 2018.

Last week people commemorated the genocide of Srebrenica with events held in Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Windsor and other cities. Yet, as we commemorate one genocide, there is another one that unfolds before our very eyes today in Myanmar, the Srebrenica of today.

Just like the Serbian troops massacred thousands of people in Bosnia, Myanmar’s military has slaughtered tens of thousands in the villages of Rakhine. According to a Globe & Mail article a few weeks ago, 80 per cent of Rohingya villages have been burned to the ground. Just like there were mass graves in Bosnia, there are an unknown number mass graves besides the “once upon a time” villages of Myanmar.

No journalists are allowed to report mass killings; those very few who dared to do so have been arrested, including two Reuters journalists who were charged last week.

Just like the massacre in Srebrenica involved rapes by Serbian military, the same has happened to the Rohingya women — a few weeks ago CTV reported as many as 80,000 women in the refugee camps who are ready to give birth in the 10 months aftermath of being gang-raped by Myanmar’s military.

Let us never forget the innocent souls that were murdered in Srebrenica, the mass graves, and the rapes. In doing so, let us not forget the tens of thousands of Rohingya that were massacred and are still being massacred in Myanmar, the gang rapes, and the unknown number of mass graves. Let us do our part to stop the Srebrenica of today.

Raess Tinmaung

Montreal

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