Myanmar leader quiet on UN genocide report in first public appearance since its release

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained silent on the United Nations report calling her military’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims a genocide in her first public appearance since its release.

Suu Kyi on Tuesday spoke about poetry, novels and literature during remarks at the University of Yangon, according to The Irrawaddy.

The event was a forum and the first time Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, had appeared in public since the U.N. human rights agency released a report Monday condemning Myanmar’s treatment of its ethnic-Rohingya Muslim population, calling it a genocide.

{mosads}The U.N. agency estimated that Myanmar forces have killed 10,000 people, a calculation it called “conservative.”

Until the report’s release, the events that caused 700,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh had not been officially ruled a genocide, a characterization that comes with specific legal connotations.

The U.N. agency recommended the matter be moved to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or a similar judicial body. However, prosecution may be difficult since Myanmar refused to cooperate with the ICC last week.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday described Myanmar’s actions as an “abhorrent ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya and promised to hold those responsible to account.

The Trump administration leveled sanctions against four Myanmar commanders and two army units earlier this month for what it called the “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya.