Myanmar military's rape of Rohingya sweeping, methodical – AP
Sexual assault survivors' accounts from several refugee camps in Bangladesh bolster the UN's contention that Myanmar's armed forces systematically use rape as a "calculated tool of terror".
This combo photo comprises of portraits of some of the Rohingya Muslim women taken during an interview with The Associated Press in November 2017 in Kutupalong and Gundum refugee camp in Bangladesh.
The rape of Rohingya women by Myanmar's security forces has been sweeping and methodical, AP found in interviews with 29 women and girls who fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
These sexual assault survivors from several refugee camps were interviewed separately and extensively.
They ranged in age from 13 to 35, came from a wide swathe of villages in Myanmar's Rakhine state and described assaults between October 2016 and mid-September.
The AP found distinct patterns in their accounts, their assailants' uniforms and the details of the rapes themselves.
The testimonies bolster the UN's contention that Myanmar's armed forces are systematically using rape as a "calculated tool of terror" aimed at exterminating the Rohingya people. They also belie the Myanmar military's assertion that the rapes never happened.
Doctors and aid workers, however, say that they are stunned at the sheer volume of rapes, and suspect only a fraction of women have come forward. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) doctors have treated 113 sexual violence survivors since August, a third of them under 18. The youngest was nine years old.
TRT World's Nafisa Latic has more.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.