UN urges int'l community to continue to pressure Myanmar

The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, on Thursday urged the international community to continue to put pressure on Myanmar to follow whatever decisions come from the U.N.'s top court, saying that the Buddhist-majority nation could not avoid its responsibility to respect human rights.

On Thursday, the court ordered Myanmar to take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people.

Lee criticized Russia, China and the U.N. Security Council for their role and failure in referring the case of Rohingya to the International Criminal Court.

She said Myanmar failed to respect human rights

Lee, who will end her assignment in March, said she would recommend the formation of an international ad hoc tribunal to try those responsible for crimes against Rohingya.

She criticized Myanmar for not allowing her to visit the country in recent years.

In August 2017, Myanmar's military launched what it called a clearance campaign in northern Rakhine state in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group.

The campaign forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh and led to accusations that security forces committed mass rapes, killings and burned thousands of homes.