Attacks designed to drive out Rohingyas from Myanmar: UN

Brutal attacks in Rakhine were organised and systematic – designed to drive out Rohingyas and prevent them from returning, a new UN report said today.

The report prepared by a team from the UN, who met the newly-arrived refugees in Bangladesh, was released today, a press release issued from Geneva said.

It also highlights a strategy to "instill deep and widespread fear and trauma – physical, emotional and psychological" among the Rohingya population, the press release said.

The UN Human Rights Office is gravely concerned for the safety of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who remain in northern Rakhine State amid reports the violence is still ongoing, it said.

More than 520,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since the Myanmar security forces launched an operation in response to alleged attacks by militants on August 25.

The report indicates that efforts were taken to effectively erase signs of memorable landmarks in the geography of the Rohingya landscape and memory in such a way that a return to their lands would yield nothing but a desolate and unrecognisable terrain.

Information received also indicates that the Myanmar security forces targeted teachers, the cultural and religious leadership, and other people of influence of the Rohingya community in an effort to diminish Rohingya history, culture and knowledge.