WASHINGTON, July 17: The US Government is designating senior Myanmar military commanders and their families for their involvement in extrajudicial killings and gross human rights abuses, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
“Today, the Department of State is publicly designating the following individuals and their immediate family members for? gross human rights violations, including in extrajudicial killings in northern Rakhine State, Burma, during the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya,” Pompeo said on Tuesday.
Pompeo identified the senior commanders as Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Soe Win, Brigadier General Than Oo and Brig. Gen. Aung Aung, the statement explained.
The designations were made under Section 7031(c) of the fiscal year 2019 Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Act, Pompeo said in the statement.
“Section 7031(c) provides that, in cases where there is credible information that foreign officials have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States,” the statement said.
With the announcement, the United States became the first government to publicly take action with respect to the most senior leadership of the Myanmar military, Pompeo said.
(AGENCIES)
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