(Washington, DC) – The US Congress should adopt legislation to enhance targeted sanctions against Burmese military commanders who are implicated in serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to congressional leaders with 45 other nongovernmental and faith-based organizations.
The groups said it is “imperative” Congress address the human rights crisis in Burma. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and other rights groups have found that the atrocities against the Rohinyga amount to crimes against humanity. Important new measures to toughen targeted sanctions are pending with key congressional leaders. The legislation is needed to address the Burmese military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Rohingya and the country’s sharply deteriorating human rights situation.