[DAWN] A new UN report puts Myanmar’s armed forces on a UN blacklist of government and rebel groups "credibly suspected" of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict for the first time.An advance copy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ report to the Security Council, obtained by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, says international medical staff and others in Bangladesh have documented that many of the almost 700,000 Rohingya Moslems who fled from Myanmar "bear the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault."
The UN chief said the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, "at times acting in concert with local militias, in the course of military ’clearance’ operations in October 2016 and August 2017".
"The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorise and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return," Guterres said.