40 Rohingya villages burned since October: HRW

18, Dec 2017 | CJP Team

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that analysis of satellite images has found that Rohingya villages have been further destroyed in Myanmar’s Rakhine state during October and November. HRW said it has pinpointed 40 villages “with building destruction,” making the number of villages “that have been partially or completely destroyed” 354 since August 25, 2017. HRW said satellite images verify that several dozen buildings were burned in the same week as November 23, when Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the repatriation of refugees in Bangladesh. According to HRW, at least 118 of the 354 villages that were impacted were partly or completely destroyed after September 5, which Myanmar’s State Counsellor’s office said was the date when “clearance operations” ended.